I'd spent ten years in the army, and now was finally coming home to the country to meet up with my family for a get together welcoming me home. I was thirty five and single and spent most of my time in college and then in the military, never really finding the time to build a social or romantic life.
I didn't regret signing up for the army. I was great at what I did, and I got to travel the world. That afternoon my mom and dad picked me up at the airport, and we went back home to re-think how I was going to continue my life now that I was out of the service for long while. They'd offered to put me up in their guest house, and it was a great way to bond with them, even if I didn't love the idea of living with my parents at age thirty five.
That evening they'd prepared the hero's welcome with a large dinner and very small gathering which included my twenty two year old sister from college. Upon her arrival, I never expected she'd be so beautiful. And most of all I never expected she'd bring a friend of hers. While in college she'd made friends with many new people, one of which was Tina. My family was very liberal and often very welcoming of new people, so it never really made them all too surprised that Tina was actually a gay young Cuban man who'd been very comfortable in his skin.
Though he was very feminine and went by the name Tina, he was a slim and somewhat slender young man with shoulder length dark hair and a slight touch of make up on. Clearly Tina wasn't expecting the gathering and it'd looked like my sister made a good friend as they were obviously very close upon their entrance in to the house.
When he first caught sight of me with my short hair, large arms and soft stubble, he wasn't shy about introducing himself to me. He shook my hand with a flirtatious smile and engaged in conversation with me for a moment showing his light accent off. My sister and parents knew he found me very good looking and they mostly found it comical, if only because they figured I wasn't the kind of guy often attracted to Tina.