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!"