Carlos (name’s changed to keep him anonymous) was a beautiful man from Spain, slightly younger than me, around 27, slightly shorter than me at around 5’9", with juicy lips, a full moustache, short stubble and dark brown tussled voluminous short hair. In his photos, he looked like he took himself seriously and had what seemed like an artistic flare. His Instagram was full of art and some shots of himself that although mode...

In the summer of 2021 I had been exchanging heated messages here and there with a Spanish dude (yes, there’s a pattern forming here) called Emilio, who lived on the other side of the city from me. He was pretty active with checking in but the distance and his very dashing good looks had me thinking this was more an ego stroke for him and that it was unlikely to materialise into anything. This guy was 37 but already a tota...

“Thank you so much! Pete’s no trouble. You’ll barely know he’s there, I promise,” Jared's text from Cate read. The city’s saturated art scene meant that both Jared and his new guest were entering into a haphazard collective together, with an exhibition planned for that evening in hopes of sales for everyone involved.   Jared didn’t mind hosting a relative stranger for the weekend, at all. His unassuming and inquisitive ap...