Page 75 of Hurricane Love

“Your mom didn’t tell you?” his cousin asked, eyeing him with suspicion.

“She told me to call you, which I thought was weird,” Diego admitted.

Arturito nodded sagely. “The Tías be talkin’.”

“Always. So, what the hell happened?”

“Dawg, did you know Apple devices are, like, all connected? Like fuckin’ Skynet an’ shit?”

Diego would be the first to admit that he was behind on technology, never fully grasping it even before he went into prison. “No?” he said.

“Yeah, so I was lookin’ at porn on my iPad–myiPad, mind you–and turns out, it was somehow linked to my mom’s account, so she could, like,seewhat I was watching.”

Diego sat back in the booth and tried very hard not to explode into laughter at his young, dumbass cousin. “Damn,” he said.

“Yeah, and man, let me tell you, she didnotlike what she saw.”

Diego tried to imagine what his own mother might have done if she’d caught him watching porn at that age. Considering all the other shit he’d been pulling, porn seemed kind of low on the list of grievances, but it definitely would have been awkward trying to explain himself.

“Yo, she asked me what a twink was.” Arturito hid his face with his hand, either from shame or embarrassment, Diego couldn’t tell.

“Wait, what kind of porn were you watching?” Diego asked.

Arturito didn’t answer, only stared back at him while nodding his head meaningfully.

“Gayporn?” Diego asked, mouthing the word.

“Yup.” Arturito bit into a fry and chewed, glancing out the window toward the automotive shop with a faraway look.

“Are you gay?” Diego asked, finally putting two and two together.

“Seems that way, based on the algorithm,” he said with a little snort while swirling another fry in his ketchup.

It took Diego a minute to recover, wanting to find the right thing to say and finally coming up with, “Congratulations? I mean, that’s great.”

Arturito shot him a dubious look. “Is it?”

Diego understood now why his mom had been so cagey about him calling his cousin. Clearly, she thought the two of them had something in common, which was actually kind of thoughtful of her. And Diego was incredibly honored that his little cousin was choosing to come out to him, even after it seemed he’d been outed to the entire family.

“So, did they kick you out of the house?” Diego asked.

“Nah, bro, it’s just, there’s this tension now. Like, we never really talk about it. I mean, my mom told my dad and probably my sister too, though Carolina already knew, but we haven’t talked all together, and no one has said shit to me about it. I keep trying to bring it up, but they like, change the subject. Typical, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Diego thought back to his most recent conversation with his mother, which had actually felt like a huge achievement. But Arturito was part of a generation that was generally more accepting and up front about this shit. This cloak and dagger approach was tiring, to say the least. “It’ll get easier,” he tried to reassure his cousin. “Just keep coming around. They’ll get over it.”

“Yeah, prolly so. Thanks for breaking ‘em in, Unc.”

Diego wasn’t sure he’d set the best example. Hopefully their family didn’t assume that homosexuality and drug addiction went hand-in-hand, but even if they did, all he could do was focus on himself.

“Anyway,” Arturito continued. “That’s what’s up with me. What’s up with you? How’s that blond guy doing? Wylie, right?”

“He moved to Gainesville. Got accepted into law school,” Diego said.

“Damn.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty torn up about it.” Diego didn’t feel like acting tough with his cousin, especially after all that he’d shared.

“Isn’t Gainesville, like, two hours away?” Arturito asked, like the math wasn’t mathing.