Cosmopolitan US May2020

lust

By GABI CONTI

My boyfriend and all

his friends made me think he was

10 years younger than he is

for an e ntire year

I guess that’s why all his pics from his 20s were printed out.

t was his driv-

er’s license

that gave

Robert*

away. He’d

jus t t o l d m e t o p i c k o u t

a movie on his iPad,

with a casual “pass-

c o d e is my b ir t h d a y ”

from the other room. I

knew his birth month,

o f c, b u t did n’t wa n t t o

admit I’d blanked on

the exact date, so I

reached into his wal-

let. And then there I

stood, staring, mouth

wide fucking open. I

got out my phone’s

calculator to check

the math I fooled

myself into believing

was my error. But

nope: He was fully

FORTY-FIVE years

old—not already-

pushing-our-age-gap

35, as he’d said.

When the two of

us first locked eyes

at a rooftop bar, I

could tell Robert was

slightly older (regular

20somethings don’t

wear watches that

c o s t m o re t h a n my

rent), but I also didn’t

notice any deep wrin-

k l e s t h a t l o o ke d like

my dad’s. And hey, at

23, I was all too eager

to meet someone who

didn’t consider Chi-

potle a date-night

spot. So I accepted

his invitation to take

me out for bucatini.

Robert impressed

me with his knowl-

edge of fine wines

and classic cinema,

and I leaned into his

kiss at the end of the

night, even after he

shared that he was 12

years older than I am.

How lucky I thought I

was to have found this

L.A. producer who

seemed genuine (lol).

*Name has been changed to protect a despicably fragile ego.

i

“A
nd
fo
rt
he
frost
ing,it’sL-I-A-
R...

.”

86 Cosmopolitan May 2020