Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:10:00 -0500
From: Joey Weaver <69.avid.reader@gmail.com>
Subject: Limitless - Chapter 1

Limitless
Wrote by: Joseph Weaver
Edited by: Lisa Tepper

Hello,

My name is Joseph Weaver but you can call me Joey. I've been a writer on
Nifty for only a couple of months, with only one story on the Gay Male High
School Section called "Joey's Tale". I was determined to write another
chapter for that story but last week I had an intense dream. It was so
vivid that kept thinking about it for days, so I decided to write it down
to get it out of my system. That is how Limitless started, anyway I hope
you enjoy it and that you send your comments or constructive criticism to
69.avid.reader@gmail.com.

Enjoy and comment!

Love,
Joey

-------

				 Limitless
				 Chapter 1

 "Five, six, seven, eight and turn." I ordered the group. "Use your hips
more Cynthia, Matt remember it's step, step then twist, not the other way
around."

Finally the song came to an end.

"Ok guys, great class! You're doing awesome, felicidades!" I said to the
beaming faces of my Salsa students.

They each said their goodbyes as they left the room still discussing this
new routine. I liked this group, I had worked with them last semester and
all of them came back with a really great attitude for another six months
of classes.

When I first entered Enrique's studio as a dance instructor, he asked me if
I spoke any other language besides Spanish. I told him I was fluent in
English and knew some French. He was ecstatic that finally one of the
teachers there could communicate with the gringos. He gave me four groups,
most of the people in them American and several European tourists that were
taken by the beauty of Cancun's beaches and stayed here for a year, give or
take a few months.

I empathized with them; I was also seduced by the beautiful, turquoise
colored ocean and white sanded beach. I wasn't born here but I've always
considered it my hometown. I came here from the northern part of Mexico
five years ago and have been giving dance lessons at Enrique's since then.

That day, I had two new groups of semi-resident gringos. I sighed at the
thought.  As much fun as it was to give dance lessons, I hated to have to
start over every year with a different group of people. I remember the
first time my initial group left back to their hometowns across the
world. I cried the last class and hugged each one of them as they promised
to return and visit; some of them did, most did not.

By then I knew better than to grow attached to my students, I still cared
for them but was very careful not to build any sort of expectations that
they might stay here for more than a year. It was the eternal curse of
touristic hot spots: its residents change every year or so.

I went into my little office and grabbed a cup of coffee; I had a fifteen
minute break between classes.

"­Hola guapo!" said Enrique when he saw me walk in. I smiled at him,
greeted him back and kissed him on the cheek.

"How was your class?" he asked in Spanish.

"It went by pretty well. One of my male students finally had the courage to
ask this beautiful French girl to partner with him." I answered in the same
language. He loved it when this happened; he was very proud to be the owner
of a place where people could lose their inhibitions and develop
self-confidence.

I will be forever grateful with Enrique and his unconditional love towards
mankind. I loved him as a son worships his father, and he had taken me
under his wing since I first came here. Not only did he give me a job, but
he offered me a family and I was very eager to find one that would embrace
me the way I am.

Enrique was sort of a town star. He had been a moderately famous dancer
back in the day, winning national competitions in multiple Latin and
European dance styles. Not to mention he was gorgeous. He had a tall, lean
frame with strong muscles from all the exercise he did. His tanned skin and
dark brown eyes gave him this aura of mystery and sensuality. He used to
keep his black hair long and would always wear it in a ponytail when he was
young, but since he opened his studio he keeps it short.

I finished my cup of coffee and reminded Enrique to call someone to fix the
sound system in my classroom. The sound system had given me trouble since
day one, but had gotten worse the past week.

I entered the room and saw that there were some people there already. They
looked as most of them did: blond, white (or bright red with painful
looking sun burns) and wearing brand new dancing attire.

I smiled and went directly to start setting up the sound system. This was a
beginner's course so I chose a calm, basic song to start off
easy. Surprisingly, the sound system worked almost normally that day.

I waited until the room was almost full to start talking.

"Hello everyone!" I said loudly so that they would focus on me. "My name is
Carlos de León and I will be your dance instructor for the next semester. I
am twenty- three years old, I was born here in Mexico and have lived here
in Cancun for five years now. I want each of you to introduce yourselves to
the rest of the class by stating your name, age and country of residence.

This seemed to be a very nice group as each of them introduced him or
herself.  Most of them were American as usual. I had a young couple on
their extended honeymoon from Ohio, and the rest of them were on sort of
sabbatical. They were taking years off college or something like that and
wanted to practice their Spanish. The guys were very hot I must admit. I've
always been a sucker for men with blond hair and green eyes, there's
something about them that just draws me in.

Some of the hotties were Brett; he was very muscular and had light brown
hair.  Tyler had gorgeous green eyes and dirty blond hair and Rob who
looked like he could've been a bodybuilder.

There was also a French couple celebrating their 30th anniversary, they
were super cute together and I liked them instantly. Anyway, so after the
introductions began I started to explain how my classes work.

"Ok, so what I normally do is I will set up a choreography for a song every
Monday and we will work on it during a week. Each dance routine will start
to get a little more complicated and a lot more fun, but don't worry, we'll
start off easy." I said.

I started explaining the routine and answering their questions; all the
while laughing a little inside as they made their first attempts at
Salsa. I'm no geneticist, but I have a theory that there is something
embedded directly into every Hispanic's DNA that makes us react to music
and make up new dances.  Whatever that gene is, it always seemed to be
missing in all my American students.

This first dance wouldn't be in partners because I wanted them to feel
comfortable with their moves before having to work with someone
else. During the class, I noticed that most of the girls weren't paying me
that much attention and were mostly just looking me over. This was always a
problem with these classes, I wanted the men, the men wanted the women, and
the women wanted me.

I knew I was attractive physically, though I never considered myself a
model or anything like that. I'm of average height, lean complexion with
defined muscles because of all the dancing. I have honey brown eyes and
wavy light brown hair.  I've always worn it a bit long but never beyond
shoulder length. I'm very fair skinned and I hardly ever tan; that's
something that really frustrated me, no matter how much time I spent
tanning on the beach I wouldn't achieve more than the lightest of coloring.

To my surprise, I noticed that some of the gringos were actually catching
up pretty fast, I was delighted to see that they were getting along great
with each other. This would make things so much easier when I paired them
up for the more intense routines. Salsa dancing is very passionate, I adore
the sensuality of it, how two bodies move together as one, coordinating
each step but making it look as natural as breathing.

As always, there were some students that were having a tougher time than
others.  I noticed that Brett and Tyler seemed to be friends and that Brett
was the one eager to be here. Tyler was having a lot of trouble remembering
the steps and keeping a rhythm. He looked incredibly cute as he blushed
with the enormous effort of doing the simplest set of moves.

He had a tight V-neck shirt that outlined his strong muscles: an athlete,
football probably. He was very much in shape and had the most incredible
bubble butt.  His blond hair was a bit long and it kept getting in his
beautiful green eyes. He had the cutest baby face ever, he was very manly
but his features were very soft and relaxed.

As the class ended, I congratulated the group and answered a couple of
questions on where I was from and where I learned to speak English so
fluently. I explained briefly that I had taken classes since I was very
young and I would always read in English and watch American TV.

As they finally started to leave, I noticed Brett was talking to a couple
of pretty girls from Ireland and Tyler was standing next to him. He smiled
at the girls, but looked a bit uncomfortable with them. All of a sudden he
turned to look at me. I blushed slightly because I had been staring at him
when he turned. I was about to drop my eyes, but he kept my gaze, also
blushing a little and smiled; just a small, shy twitch of his gorgeous full
lips.

STOP! WALK AWAY!  A loud emergency alarm went off inside my head. I had one
golden rule: NEVER crush after a straight guy, much less one of my
students. I had once committed the incredibly stupid mistake of falling for
a straight guy and promised myself never to do it again.

I still cringe at the thought of that one guy that broke my heart. His name
was Ricardo; he was the son of my father's business associate, and my best
friend throughout high school.

My dad was a very important entrepreneur in one of Mexico's largest
industrial cities. He was also somewhat involved in the state's politics
and was very sought after by aspiring politicians who wanted his
blessing. Both my mom and my dad's families were very well off and my dad
made a small fortune by himself with his many businesses. I was an only
child and went to the most prestigious schools in the city. The public
education system in Mexico was horrible at the time, so I was raised in
Catholic private schools with all the city's rich kids.

I met Ricardo when we were both freshmen in high school. We clicked
instantly, and by the end of the year we were inseparable. One night when
he stayed over at my house, he said he wanted to show me something. He took
a magazine out of his bag and showed it to me. It was gay porn. I was very
confused at the time but I was too excited to care. That was the first time
we had sex. We were lovers all through high school; we would often
fantasize of how our lives would be when we left this homophobic country
and got married. I always felt incredibly safe in his embrace.

After graduation we were both going to take a sabbatical before starting
college.  My father had already paid for my ticket to France and my trips
to Spain and Italy.  We would do it together and secretly marry on a beach
somewhere in Europe.  The week before our flight was scheduled, he told me
that he wasn't going to be able to come; he had to help out in his father's
business.

There was something about it that didn't sound right to me but I just
assumed he was telling me the truth. I cried that week thinking he was
going to be angry at me for deciding that I still wanted to go to Europe
but when I told him he seemed pleased, like that's what he had wished
for. The night before I left I went to his house to say goodbye.

His mom opened the door for me and said that Ricardo had gone out but had
left a note for me. I found that incredibly weird but rushed to read the
letter; it was something like this:

Dearest Carlos,

I'm really sorry about doing it like this, but I just couldn't face you. I
haven't been completely honest with you. I am staying because I do want to
help my father, but also because I've met someone else. Her name is
Erika. Please don't hate me, I couldn't stand it if you did, but I just
can't continue with whatever this is between us. I'm asking Erika to be my
girlfriend and I wish to marry her eventually. I want her to be the mother
of my children and to start my own business like my father did.

What you and I had was incredible to say the least, but I could never be
able to face my family and admit that I am in love with another man... that
I used to be. I love Erika, I truly do. I'm not gay; I think it was just a
phase, but I don't want you to think it didn't mean anything to me. I love
you and I always will, but I'm just not in love with you. I'm sorry.

Ricardo

I must've read that short note a million times. I could literally hear my
heart shatter into tiny pieces. I cried during the whole plane ride to
France

"Goodbye Carlos." I heard someone say and snapped back to my dance
classroom. It was Brett; he left the room while he told a joke to the girls
he had just met, and had them laughing a lot. I smiled and said my goodbyes
to them as well.

As I gathered my things and locked the door on my way out, I saw Tyler with
Brett and the girls. He had been staring at me now and he blushed a little.

"GOLDEN RULE CARLOS, GOLDEN RULE" I said to myself. This was going to be a
long semester.

---------

I hope you liked the first chapter and have a lot of comments to send to me
at 69.avid.reader@gmail.com I respond every e-mail I get prompty. Thank you
for reading it =)

I would also like to thank my gorgeous editor, Lisa Tepper! Thanks for
helping out this illiterate writer. Te quiero!

Love,
Joey