Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:11:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: k s <iwnt2burb@yahoo.com>
Subject: Revel Pt. 1

The first time I met Arturo I was in Placcid having the monthly with the
circle.  I had picked up my water to take a sip when I heard Miguel
exclaim,

"ARTURO!"  I looked up to see a small bear before me.  "How've you been?"
Miguel stood and embraced this man, with the neatly trimmed beard.  I heard
a deep baritone voice come across the table, but I couldn't make out the
words.  I glanced around the table at the others as we waited patiently to
be introduced,

"Oh, I'm being so rude," Miguel chided himself turning to us, "Arturo,
these are the girls, girls this is Arturo, a friend from way back in
middle...high school?"  He looked back to Arturo for confirmation,

"Middle," He said shining his perfect, small, white teeth.  I, for one, was
not impressed, we had important things to discuss here, important nights to
go over.  We hadn't all gotten together at the same time since last month's
meeting!

"This is Chad, Sam, Aaron, and Ron.  And this," he said ending on me, "is
Jared, the social queen of the group," we all smiled politely at this.
"You guys may have met before," I took a look into those brown eyes and
knew that we hadn't.

"No, I don't think I've had the pleasure," I said plastering a smile on my
face.  I tried to tell him with my eyes to go away, but wasn't quite sure
if I got the point across.

"No, I don't go out as much as I used to," Arturo said, looking right back
into my eyes.  I took another sip, and averted my eyes quickly placing the
name in my mental Rolodex.  There was a small awkward silence before Arturo
excused himself,

"Well, I don't mean to interrupt your lunch, and I really do have to run.
I'm meeting the guys for practice, so I'll look you up on Facebook?"  There
was a pause before Miguel nodded,

"Do that," he said.  I could hear the insincerity in his voice, as I shared
a glance with Ron.  Out the side of my vision I could see Sam mouth
"Facebook?"

"Well it was nice meeting you guys," Arturo gave the table a smile before
turning to leave.

"Ohhhh, god Miguel why didn't you make him walk away before?"  Ron
whistled.  I turned my attention to a retreating set of perfect globes
encased in a pair of what I pegged as Diesel jeans.  Miguel sighed,

"He's one of those, hate to see you go, love to watch you leave types," the
table fell silent as we all watched the spectacle exit the building.  Once
he'd walked beyond our vision, Ron spoke up,

"I just want to dive in head fi-"

"FACEBOOK?"  Sam started in immediately.  The "lunch" lasted 3 more hours,
burying Arturo's name amongst stories and escapades of the last month, as
well as names, and associating debates and theories.



The next time I saw him, things were no better.  I was in a dancing mode.
We had hit up FEVA! for a good time, and it was Monday so there was
vogueing on the floor to be had!  The virgins were feeling fierce and were
duckwalking all over the place while upstairs the certified divas were
battling.  It was amongst all of this that Ron and I bumped into Arturo
again.

"Arturo?"  Ron yelled over the noise.  The expansive back clothed in a
tight red polo turned to us, Lacoste.

"Ron," those small teeth were on display again, and then there was an
embrace between the two.  I bounced to the beat and took a sip.

"And you are...Jared right?"  I nodded and gave him a smile which prompted
him to lean in and hug me too.  I threw Ron a raised eyebrow over his
shoulder.

"Jay, you remember Arturo right?"  My mind began pilfering through names,
dates and events as I nodded.  I didn't remember him.  "Miguel introduced
us a few months ago," he continued.  Bingo, gotcha!  I smiled and turned
back to him.

"So you're going back out now I see?"  I asked.. He raised his eyebrows
questioningly.  "You told us that you didn't go out as much," His head
began to nod in recognition and my eyes began scanning the action, if it
was this hot down here, imagine UPSTAIRS!  I had to remove myself from this
little... whatever it was.

"Yeah, I just started back getting into the social scene," he said.  I
nodded back, listening but expressing my short attention by looking around,
still bobbing.

"You should totally go out with us some time," Ron offered,

"Will do," there was a small pause before, "Well, I was actually headed out
so, it was really nice seeing you guys again, but if you'll excuse me," he
said, giving us a small wave.  "I'll see you Monday Ron," he said smiling
and walking away, a path opening before him.

"OOOOHHHH If only I could just rip off those clothes!!!" Ron exclaimed when
he was out of earshot.

"You're going to have to do that another time, " I said grabbing his arm,
"But right now, we are going to go see the House of Dahl slay some
newcomers!"

"YYYYEEEEEEAAAAASSSSS!"  Ron squealed.  Three hours later we were sprawled
out in Ron's condo, four bodies sleeping heavily in his custom bed.



The third time was the charm though.  I'd been invited to dinner/meeting
for a new social committee.  This would be the first meeting and we would
be actually told what we were to be doing.  No one had been told who was on
the committee and all of those invited had been told that they could not
divulge the information that we had, which was basically none.  I had done
my homework though, and through roundabout ways basically found that the
heavy hitters were all coming in.

Dinner was clouded in mystery.  The car that picked me up was discreet, and
tasteful, the latter of which in no way applied to the venue of dinner.  We
pulled up and I could have sworn we were in the wrong place.  We were in
the Industrial District with huge buildings all around and truthfully the
one that the car pulled up to looked completely abandoned.  I sat in the
car looking up at the building,

"We're here," the driver said as we pulled up in the alley beside the
place.  I didn't move.  I just looked at the building.  "You can get out
now,"

"Umm, are you sure this is the place," he laughed.

"I promise it looks a lot different in side," he said turning around, his
blue eyes piercing me under the black cap.  I immediately felt at ease.

"Okay, you'll stay out here for five minutes?"  I asked taking out a fifty.
He shook his head,

"I've been instructed not to take any money, and none of the other guests
can be dropped off while there is a car sitting here," My eyebrow rose, and
I placed the money back in my wallet and checked for my phone.

"Okay," I sighed and got out of the car.  I walked up the ramp and to the
only entrance I saw.  The door was opened and I found myself in a small
room.  After the man closed the doors, it began to move, and I realized
that it was an elevator.  We stopped, and I stood there waiting for him to
open the doors when I heard the noise from behind me.  I turned to find a
bright, swanky room that I would expect for a meeting of the caliber I'd
been expecting.

I was ushered into the room by a slim man dressed in vanilla tuxedo
bottoms, a crisp white shirt, and a golden vest on top.  His hair was
slicked back into a smart ponytail, and his face was clean shaven.

"Mr. Chilsen," An eyebrow rose, "Your coat?"  I took it off, and handed it
to him.  He then turned, and motioned for me to follow him.  My eyes took
in the room discreetly.  It was brightly lit, the color tone, complimenting
the light.  Everything was a shade of yellow or gold, bright but muted.  It
spoke of money, as did the entire operation.  The tables that were set were
medium sized, enough space for each individual to not feel cluttered, but
close enough that one would feel compelled to talk to those sitting next to
you.  There was a name card, and instead of a menu there was a wrapped
gift.  The golden stalks tipped with two or three golden leaves that served
as the centerpiece of each table all were tall enough to not disrupt
anyone's views who was sitting.  Meticulous detail had been paid to the
entire event.

I sat down and slowly took in the people.  Like I said, the heavy hitters
had been brought in.  There were 5 tables, of 5 place seatings.  The tables
were set in a cross, the "head table" in the center.  My mental Rolodex
began to roll, Jean DuLac, the owner of Shear Salon, Vincent Durby, founder
of Push PR, Keith Lance, Editor-in-Chief of Scribe, and Fredrick Timothy,
of YouTube fame.  The room was ablaze with socialites, and the movers and
shakers.  25 of the most noted celebrities associated with the gay
community were all here.  I was a bit perturbed by why I'd received an
invite.

My table was almost all seated.  There was a blogger, a fashion designer, a
real estate owner and I.  We made idle chatter as we waited for the last
person, who was sitting to my right.  I couldn't bring myself to look at
the name card.  I knew the designer and the real estate owner by notoriety
but the blogger, I had limited experience with.  I only had heard of the
blog once, never visited, and had also not felt the need to know the
author.  They all had heard of me though, and I had apparently been in
articles on the blog a few times, because it was about the social circuit
in town.  I quickly made a mental note to check it out.

That's when he walked in.  Arturo made me feel underdressed in his black
Armani.  It was tailored and clung to his muscled curves.  I watched as he
trailed behind the maitre de.  He led him directly to the seat beside me
and I smiled.  I recognized him instantly because I'd made a note after Ron
had divulged that he saw him running every weekday, and they had made it a
habit to run together.

Arturo smiled back at me and I introduced him to everyone.  He smiled to
them all, and turned to me,

"So it seems like we keep bumping into each other," He said with a smile.
I nodded,

"So it does, fate apparently has something lined up, " I giggled.  It was
unbecoming I know, but I'm not perfect.

"If I were paranoid I'd swear you were arranging these occurrences and then
ignoring me when they came up," my eyebrow rose,

"I wasn't ignoring, you, that wasn't my intention at all," I explained, "I
apologize if that's how it came off."  He waved me off,

"I'm just joking," his smile widened.

"So do you know what this is about?"  I whispered.  He shook his head,

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me," I shrugged.

"No clue," I said glancing around the table.  "but the invite lists
promises something good," I said leaning in a little further.

"Yeah, I don't know how I made it," he admitted.  My eyebrows rose,

"Me neither!"  I exclaimed in hushed tones.  His face contorted before he
began to laugh.  I sat up straight, retracting myself from his area.

"You're only THE one to watch right now," he exclaimed after he finished
laughing.  "Where you go, gold and success follows.  You are like the up
and coming Diddy of the gay community!  Like Miguel said, you are THE
social queen!"  My eyebrows furrowed for a second and I glanced around the
table to find all eyes on me.

"He's telling the truth," Deon, the blogger announced matter-of-factly.
The table had been listening to the entire conversation, and this was
confirmed as Phillip and Connor nodded in agreement with Arturo and Deon.
I take a sip out of my glass before turning back to Arturo, newly composed.

"Well what got you here then?"  My question was more blatant than I
normally am but, well, circumstances considered, I don't blame myself.

"I-"

"Everyone, dinner is served!"