Page 29 of Dance This Song With Me?

"But think about it! That's gotta hurt, right?"

I shrugged, unable to stop the corner of my mouth quirking up. "If you say so. I wouldn't know."

"Let's go see. Maybe they'll have a southern right whale."

"And why would we want them to have a southern right whale?" I asked cautiously.

"Those guys have the biggest cojones - those m-f's can weigh around a thousand kilos!" Emi said, eyes wide in excitement? Admiration?

"How do you even know that?"

Emi shrugged. "Eh, I like to research things. Better than doomscrolling, right?"

Emi's enthusiasm was infectious and so hard to resist. We had such a fun time together, laughing and holding hands or sneaking in a cuddle and a quick kiss, in between seeing all the animals in the different enclosures, Emi rattling off unusual and lesser known facts about many of the creatures there. Some of them had me in stitches, but I was still thinking about the right whale's 'cojones' when I heard an unfamiliar voice shout out.

"Hey, Emilio! Over here!"

"Ai, carajo!" muttered Emi, as two men detached themselves from the crowd hanging around the orangutang enclosure and headed towards us. They appeared to be of similar age to us, and the guy who had called out hurried over to engulf Emi in a massive bearhug. His friend hung back a little.

The stranger released Emi, but kept his arm around him. "Who's your friend, Emilio?"

Strangely, Emi's lightly tanned skin took on a rosy hue, as he introduced us.

"Eddy, Jase, this is... Lucas." I noticed the slight hesitation and wondered if one or both of these guys might have been one of Emi's many one-night-stands. "Lucas, this is Eddy and Jason."

I didn't miss the way Jason's eyebrows had shot up, a few lines appearing across his forehead. I wondered what was going on. There was obviously a story here.

"Hey," I said. "It's good to meet you. Where do you know Emi from?"

"Oooh, Emi is it? It's nice to meet you too, Lucas. Didn't know Emilio had a boyfriend. You sly dog!" the latter was addressed to Emi, as Eddy shoulder-bumped him playfully.

"Hey, Lucas," Jason's greeting was considerably cooler, more assessing. Perhaps this was the ex then?

"What's with attitude, babe?" Eddy pulled a face at Jase.

Jase's lips were a straight line. Yeah, he was not happy. More than ever, I was convinced he had to be an ex.

"Maybe we should all go have a drink," said Emilio. He looked... not worried exactly, but uncomfortable. The stiff set of his shoulders and wary expression looked unnatural on him. There might have even been a bit of guilt in that.

"Yeah, maybe we should. Looks like we have a bit to talk about," Jason's tone was clipped.

This was not looking like a great idea, but it seemed I wasn't being asked my opinion. Eddy chattered excitedly about the animals they'd seen already, seemingly oblivious to the seething undercurrents. Oh well, I guessed whatever was going on would come out during our drinks. Hopefully it wasn't going to blow up our day which had been pretty much fantastic until now.

Once we were inside the kiosk, which fortunately had a bar because I had a feeling we were going to need some fortification for the conversation that was about to go down, we found a free table.

As we sat, Jason surprised me by saying, "My shout. What are you having?"

"Beer, thanks."

"Me too."

"My usual, if they have it," said Eddy.

Jason went to the bar to fetch our drinks. While he was gone, we talked casually about random things, nothing heavy. Eddy seemed like a good guy. I learnt that he and Emi had met and struck up a conversation at an art exhibition not long after Emi emigrated here, and had become good friends although they moved in different circles.

By the time Jason came back with the drinks, we'd established a friendly rapport.

Jason smiled at his boyfriend as he placed a fancy looking cocktail in front of him. The smile disappeared as he turned to us.