Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 21:43:30 EDT
From: Gryffindor6698@aol.com
Subject: City Of Dreams Chapter One

City Of Dreams

The following is a complete work of fiction.
Any resemblance between the characters and any real life person is
completely coincidental.  Please do not copy or distribute the story
without the author's permission.

This is my first attempt at writing.  I would appreciate feedback on what
you think of the story, but please keep it constructive.   I have a fragile
ego. LOL  The first chapter will be more background information on the
characters and a setup for the story.  If people like it then I will
continue, so if it seems a bit slow to start, I am sorry.

Disclaimer:
The following story may contain erotic situations between consenting
adults.  If it is illegal for you to read this please leave now.

I would like to thank Sara, the wonderful author of "The Magic In Your
Touch", for giving me the inspiration to write.  You are a very special
person Sara and I count myself lucky to call you my friend.

Chapter One

I was walking through Central Park with my headphones blasting Britney
Spears' song Stronger.  Now say what you will about her, but I love her
music.  And at the moment the song really fitted my mood.  Why you may ask?
Well I just went to my boyfriend's apartment to surprise with a romantic
dinner.  Josh, my boyfriend, and I had gotten into a fight last night about
his job.  He works for a very successful law firm and has been putting in a
lot of hours.  Now this normally didn't bother me, but it had been
literally two weeks since I had last seen him.  He called and cancelled the
dinner plans we had for tonight because he had some meeting he had to be
at.  Well I bitched about not seeing him and things just kind of took off
from there.  We ended up screaming at each other and hung up.  So being the
thoughtful boyfriend that I am I picked up some things at the store today
and was planning on surprising him with a home cooked meal.  But it seems
the surprise was on me.  I walked into his apartment to find him screwing
some guy on his living room couch.

Did you ever have one of those moments in life when time seems to stop?
That is exactly what happened to me.  I was in complete and total shock.
And to top everything off, the bastard didn't even stop when saw me.  He
just smirked at me and then the piece of shit actually winked.  I suddenly
felt like I was in some bad television movie of the week. At any moment I
expected Kelly Martin to come running down the hallway being chased by the
cops or something.  The bag of groceries I was holding dropped to the floor
and I hauled ass out of there.

It seemed that once again in my life fate has decided to throw me for a
loop.  So that is how I ended up with my song choice.  It made me feel a
little bit better with the situation.  Music was my outlet.  Whenever
things in life got shitty I would blast some music and just zone out.

I headed back to my apartment hoping that my roommate Gina was there.  I
really needed to talk to someone and I knew that she would be the one that
could cheer me up.  I bartend at a gay club called Diversity or Sity for
short.  She was there with a group of friends and we ended up chatting for
most of the night.  She stopped in a few more times to hang out for the
next week and ended up offering me a place to stay when she heard I was
having roommate problems, and since that we have been the best of friends.

I unlocked the door to the apartment and walked in to find Gina on the
couch smoking a cigarette and watching TV.  You will never believe what she
was watching.  You guessed it; she was watching some movie of the week on
Lifetime starring Kelly Martin.  I had to laugh.  Life can be just too damn
ironic sometimes.

"Hey stud," Gina said as she glanced up from the screen. "What are you
doing home so early?  I thought you were going to surprise your man with
dinner?"

"That was the plan, until he had a surprise of his own."

I went on and rehashed all the disgusting details of what happened, and
Gina, true to form, started going off.

"That dirty son of a bitch!  Who the fuck does he think he is doing this to
you Miah?!?!  When I am done that bastard won't know what hit him!"

She was one of the few people that called me Miah.  Only close friends were
able to use that shortening of my full name, Jeremiah.

"He will get what he deserves Gina.  Trust me.  But I think we should leave
this one up to fate ok?  Remember the last time I helped you in a revenge
scheme?  I ended up with a broken ankle."  We both had to laugh about that.
Gina's boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend now, had cheated on her.  It was her
bright idea that we would go and let the air out of his tires.  We actually
got to his house and just as we were about to start deflating the tires, he
came out of the house with a date.  We had to get out of sight quickly and
hoped a wall into the neighbor's yard.  I landed wrong and ended up
breaking my ankle.

"How was I supposed to know that he would be home, you big homo!" Gina said
with a laugh.

"The point is that we are not going to imagine we are Charlie's Angels or
something this time, ok?"

Gina sighed, "Fine, fine.  Have it your way.  Did you think about what Duke
talked to you about at work the other night?"

Gina lost her job about a year ago and ended up bartending with me at Sity.
Duke is the owner and manager of the club.  He wanted to try and do a male
review type show and had asked me if I would be interested in performing.
I was very proud of my body, but was very unsure about showing it off to
people.  I was still very self-conscious and I am still working on my
self-esteem.  You see when I was younger I was always a bit chubby and
wasn't very athletic.  So naturally I got teased endlessly.  Kids can be
cruel.  Well when I first moved to the city I started working out hardcore.
I figured if I was starting a new life, then I wanted a new body.  I
started practically working out every day, but now I am down to just a few
times a week.  I am not a bodybuilder by any means, but I finally was able
to trim my body down and got the 6-pack abs that I always wanted. I am
about a little over six feet tall, and I let my dark brown hair grow to
about shoulder length.  I'm clean-shaven and have blue eyes.  I feel like
my life is finally getting to where I wanted it to be.  Too bad it took
almost 22 years to get there.

I had two major problems to deal with when I was growing up.  The first
being my father.  I think he may have been the meanest man to walk the
earth.  He was the ultimate man's man.  Without going into too much detail,
because it is still very tough to deal with, my dad was very abusive.  I
dealt with a lot of physical and mental pains up until the day I turned 18
and walked out of my father's home never to look back.  The other problem
that I had to deal with went by the name of Bailey Masters.  He and I were
the best of friends until we reached high school.  All of a sudden he
became one of the popular guys and stopped hanging out with me.  It wasn't
too long after that happened that he was joining in on the taunting and
teasing I had to endure everyday.  I guess he teased me more than anyone
else to prove that he wasn't really my friend anymore.  And that hurt me
more than probably anything my dad ever put me through.  And believe me, my
father put be through a shit load of stuff.  Bailey was the brother I never
had, and to have him turn on me like that, well it felt like a part of me
had died.

"Earth to Miah, come in Miah."  Gina was snapping her fingers in front of
my face.  "Hey mister, don't zone out when I talking to you."

"Sorry about that G.  I don't know yet what I am going to do about the
offer from Duke yet. I highly doubt that I will do it.  I just don't feel
like getting groped and fondled by a bunch of guys.  Well not anymore than
we already put up with at the club."  I replied with a laugh.

"Come on you lazy bitch.  We have to get ready for work. You know Friday
nights are always busy."  Gina got up and turned off the TV and headed back
to her room to get dressed.

"Ok I will get ready in a minute mom!"  I flipped my headphones on again
and listened to Britney's voice singing about moving on.  I had a long
night a head of me.

* * * * * * * * *

Diversity was really packed to capacity tonight.  Gina and I were working
our asses off at the bar trying to keep up with the drink orders.  The only
good thing about this was the amount of tips were getting.  We both decided
to wear leather pants tonight.  I had on a black pair and she had on a red
pair.  We both had on tight t-shirts with the club's name across it.  The
only difference was that Gina cut her shirt and turned it into a half top.
I had to admit that we both looked pretty damn good tonight.

The great thing about Diversity was that anyone could come in and have a
great time.  It was primarily a gay bar, but we always had a very large
mixed crowd and tonight there was no exception.

I finally got to take a quick break and ducked behind the bar to grab a
bottle of water and a quick smoke.  I swayed to the heavy beat of the music
and just tried to relax for a second.  Friday nights were always hectic and
tonight it seemed like everyone in the city had stopped in for a drink.  I
finished my cigarette and headed back out since my break was just about
over.  It seemed like the crowd had died down a bit and most people were
out enjoying themselves on the dance floor.  I heard someone calling my
name and turned around to see our friend Genesis leaning against the bar.
She worked at the club as well, but we didn't get to see each other often
since we worked different nights.

"Hey there!  I was hoping you would stop down and visit us on your night
off Gen." I said as I leaned over the bar and gave her a quick hug.

"I had nothing else planned tonight and figured I would see what the two of
you were up to tonight.  Gina called me too Miah.  I just wanted to check
up on you and see how you were doing."

"I am doing ok.  It'll take a little bit for me to get past it, but things
will work out."  I gave her a wink and a smile.

Gina came up and put a rum and coke in front of Genesis.  This was our
little group's drink of choice.  Just then the club version of Stronger
came on.  I smiled and danced to the beat.

"Miah, do me a favor and take this pitcher of beer down to the guy in the
dark blue shirt at the end of the bar.  My break is coming up and I am want
to talk to Gen real quick."

I nodded my head and grabbed the pitcher and headed off to the end of the
bar singing along with the music. I reached the end of the bar and set the
pitcher down. The guy still had his back to me.

"Here's your pitcher of beer buddy." I yelled over the music as I tapped
him on the shoulder.

"Thanks," he said as he turned around with a really great smile.  He looked
familiar, but it was so dark at this end of the bar.  We have so many
regulars that come in and I was searching my brain frantically to place a
name with the face, but before I could I had to get another drink for
someone else.

"Miah! Hurry up and get your ass down here when you're down there.  Gen has
some big news to share!" Gina yelled from the other end of the bar.

I gave the girl the drink that she ordered and was turning to go see what
Gina and Gen wanted when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"What can I get ya?" I said as I turned around.  It was the guy in the dark
blue shirt.  His mouth moved but I couldn't hear what he was saying over
the music.  He looked a bit concerned so I leaned over a bit to hear what
he was saying.

"Miah?"

I was able to see him more clearly now that I was up closer and my breath
caught in my throat as our eyes locked.  I heard him say my name again.

"Miah, is that you?"

I started to feel dizzy and suddenly I couldn't hear the music that was
pounding through the club.  My mouth moved, but no sound came out.  I was
in shock.  Suddenly my brain connected a name to the face.  And my brain
finally allowed me to utter one single word.

"Bailey"

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Well that is it for chapter one.  I really hope everyone enjoys it.  Please
let me know what you think of the story.  I would appreciate feedback.  If
there is interest I would love to continue with the story.  You can either
send your comments to Gryffindor6698@aol.com Please mention something about
the story in the subject title if you email me.  I get lots of Spam and I
don't want to delete anyone on accident.  Thanks!!!

Michael

Copyright - Gryffindor 2003