“Let’s just say that her relationship with Nadine was what made her decide to, like, exclusively date other trans people,” Minna said.

“Now none of us have a chance with Morticia Addams,” Adelaide said.

“Leo still has a chance,” Minna said playfully.

I was tempted to pry, but this felt like dangerous territory, and I had to leave anyway.

The subway was delayed, and by the time I got there, it was dark. I wasn’t meeting many people in those days, and whenever I ended up in a stranger’s apartment, I noticed everything. There was a grimy window in the stairwell that had a view of the streetlights and winding paths of Maria Hernandez Park, a gigantic playing card laid flat. When I knocked on the door a pair of women answered, one significantly taller than the other with her arm around the other’s waist. They introduced themselves as Katie and Sophie, and then Sophie ran off.

“What was your name again?” Katie said. She had the same nasal tenor with a little bit of a rasp under the lowest notes that Violet had. It was like her voice was on stilts.

“Leonora.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

She offered me a drink and I accepted a cup of white wine, then I went to the bathroom and looked at my phone for a few minutes while drinking it. When I finished, I filled the cup with water and drank that in two big gulps, then I opened the door and re-entered the party.

Katie and Violet’s apartment was a larger and better-decorated version of the one I lived in. There was a big bookshelf and some tasteful, expensive-looking furniture. I recognized a few of Nadine’s grad school cohort, professional people having difficulty relaxing, and a few of whom I gathered were the “lesbian poets,” who were dressed flamboyantly and mostly talked to each other.

I didn’t know anyone here, really. Nadine was in the corner, but she was deep in conversation with two women from her program and looked unapproachable at the moment. No one noticed me as I went to the kitchen to get another drink. As I was pouring gin into my wine glass, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Violet.

“Hiya,” she said, and hugged me.

When she let go of me I got a good look at her. She was wearing a big, shoulderless black dress and had a silver chain dangling down below her Adam’s apple. She had the middle finger on her left hand poised over her bottom lip.

“Let me introduce you,” she said. I noticed a small circle of trans women in the corner of the kitchen. Violet rejoined them and got their attention.

“Katie, Veronica, Sarah, Helen, this is Leonora,” Violet said, pointing to each of the girls in turn. They all nodded politely.

“So, you’re the fourth tenant of the lesbian love triangle apartment,” Veronica said to me.