No Two Ways

by Chi Yu Rodriguez

I could smell the fresh, flowery scent of her perfume—it reminded me of when I was trailing wet kisses up her neck. There were no cameras yet, but I had to fight the urge to moan. Because professionalism. I could do that.

was being so good at first, eyes focused somewhere over her head. But I couldn’t win with her face being kissing distance. She caught me staring at her lips.

Being gay was still mostly used for comic relief, and being a lesbian was commonly brushed off as a phase. Never mind being bisexual, trans, ace, enby, or any other part of the spectrum.

It was impossible not to meet at least one queer Filipino woman who grew up in an all-girls Catholic school. If not, it would be someone’s girlfriend or an ex-girlfriend who was from an all-girls Catholic school.

It was never the most comfortable experience explaining my sexuality to other people. Being bisexual was literally not black or white.

Whatever you tell me you are, I’m going to believe you. Because you know yourself better than anyone ever will. And if on some off chance things change, I’m not going to judge you.

Pampanga

Capampangan pala ang main character? Sayang lang hindi ko nafeel

I never got anywhere with people by making them feel guilty for how they felt. If they wanted to understand me, I wasn’t going to make it more difficult for them by making them feel like they should’ve known better from the get-go. Nothing was ever solved by I-told-you-so’s.

crispy fried danggit, tocino, garlic rice, and a mound of fried eggs.

There should be burong Capampangan!