Last time I wrote I had just returned to The Algarve…alone…and was trying to work up the nerve to go into a bar by myself. Well, I finally did. The bar was called The Camel, and I went in because I’d remembered that the bartender there was really cute. I sat down at the bar and we started to chat. I tell him I’ll be staying for a month and he offers me a job. The next night I start bartending with him. His name was Tom, he was 23, a Brit, and was just about to start Law School. When I found out that he was also funny and liked all the same music as me…well, I was definitely lusting.

I knew he was only in Lagos for 10 more days, so after a few nights of flirting and getting no response, I decided to be more forward. I’d become friends with two locals who came to The Camel each night. I asked them to translate a note for me into Portuguese saying “I know you’re leaving soon, but I really like you, and I think we should spend tonight together.” I got the locals to give it to him while we were working, and help him translate it. After they asked if he knew who it was from, and he said he had a good idea. Sweet.

After work we went to the town’s centre where the late night bars were still open. We stood talking with some friends for a while, then suddenly Tom disappears into a bar. I follow him and say “So I go to all the trouble of writing you a note in Portuguese, and then you just leave me?” He just stared at me in shock. “That was from you?!” I asked who he thought it was from, and he says the gay local guy who had given it to him. Ha. I’d been flirting with him for days and he said he hadn’t even noticed. Then he tells me that he kind of has a girlfriend back home. I quickly apologize and say to just pretend the note never happened. When I try and leave he stops me, saying she’s not REALLY his girlfriend, and asks if I want to go talk somewhere quieter.

We walk into my room and within seconds we are both naked. Diary, I have been with my fair share of men, but hands down this guy is in my top 5. We had sex 3 times that night (third time in the ass….didn’t see that one coming), and then again in the morning. We go for breakfast, see each other again that night at work, then he and another guy from the bar ask if I want to come watch a movie after work. Halfway through the movie Tom just leaves and goes to bed. Weird. The next evening I text him asking if he wants to come over to fuck before work. No response. Hmmmm. I ask him about it at work later that night. He looks at me…like I am totally crazy…and says “Ummm, I told you I have a girlfriend.” Mother-fucker.

The next week was, needless to say, awkward. I was pissed at him, but still had to stand beside him every night, working together at the bar. A couple nights before he left I wrote him another note, explaining how I felt, and that even though he was a complete ass, that I’d like to be friends. He never said anything after, but at least the air was cleared, and I felt a lot better. I also decided that I should just stay away from guys the rest of my time in Lagos. Easier said than done, however.