Chapter Four
Three weeks later, the inevitable happened: Alex told Terry over dinner and wine, that his family wanted to meet "the person" who had captured Alex's time and attention. The family tradition was that Alex should bring Terry home for Sunday dinner. Both Alex and Terry were extremely nervous about that idea and had a lot to talk about as it would be a new challenge for both of them.
Terry asked "Do they know I am not a woman?"
Alex laughed and said "No, that is your responsibility to tell them."
"Very funny." Terry grimaced, then said "Perhaps we can ask Stuart and his husband Raj for some advice; Stuart Warden is a partner in the law firm, and he and his husband Raj have been married for a while and might be able to guide us. I truly do not want to screw this up. If your family hates me..." Terry looked at the floor, shyly.
"I am sure they will not hate you, but of course they will have a barrage of questions for both of us" Alex admitted.
"So, when is this firing squad going to take place?" Terry wanted to know.
"Sunday after next; this week is Father's Day, so of course I have to be with the family for that huge Greek celebration. Holidays are a big deal in my family, all of the Greek ones as well as the American ones and then of course the church ones too." Alex was exhausted just thinking about it.
Terry was contemplative; "I want to go out to the cemetery and visit and take some flowers on Father's Day" he told Alex.
Alex grabbed Terry's hand; "I'm truly sorry for your loss. I don't know what I would do without my Dad, even though he is a jerk some of the time."
"I'm sorry, I don't want to be depressing about this, but yeah, I really miss him. And my uncle, too."
They were having dinner at Alex's apartment; Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica is perhaps the most spectacular spot on the beach, and afforded views of the entire coast north and south. Alex did not actually pay rent, it was a building developed and owned by the family's construction company.
Alex had cooked dinner for them; grilled chicken thighs in Greek `avgolemono' marinade, a tossed Greek salad, wine of course, and baklava which he had purchased at his favorite Greek restaurant, Delphi. "I could fall in love with you just because of your cooking" Terry said.
"And I thought you just loved my cock" laughed Alex.
"Oh Hell yeah, but this is an added bonus" Terry smiled, holding up his wine glass for a refill. Alex filled the glass, and then gave Terry a kiss; the wine was almost spilled, because the kiss went on for several minutes.
"Oh my god, here we go again" Terry whispered, as the kiss broke, and they stood up and leaned against the balcony railing staring off across the beach westward to the Pacific. Alex took Terry in his arms, and they embraced; it was warm, sensual, enticing, thrilling, and fulfilling.
"Ready for desert?" Alex asked.
Terry said "Do we plan on having it naked?"
Laughing, Alex replied, "I can imagine that having baklava naked here on the balcony may scare away the seagulls."
It was still twilight when they had finished the first round of making love; two men who had always been straight, who now together were exploring the joys of gay sex, were falling into love with each other and falling into a sense of how to fulfill each other's needs and desires sexually. Kissing, hugging, rimming, 69, sucking, jacking, and penetration; all were desired and enjoyed and craved by both Alex and Terry, and they especially enjoyed sharing these with each other.
Terry was lying on his side with his head on Alex's chest; as his breathing slowed, he turned to Alex and said "Since we are both novice gay fuckers, do you think we should get some directions on how to have sex?"
Alex replied, "Don't you like what we are doing now?"
"Yes, I do, but I want to make sure I am making you happy and I also want to find out what we can do to keep the fire going."
Alex then asked "And, I am a little hesitant to ask you about this, but do you think we should get some testing done also? I mean, I'm probably ok, and you probably are too, but after having a few women, maybe I ought to get tested?"
Terry was jarred at first, but then said "You are right, that's a good idea, maybe we can go together." He fumbled with his phone for a minute, and then located a walk-in clinic that did STD testing. They showered together, which delayed things by another half hour: since they were going to get tested they might as well enjoy more sex, so sucking each other in the shower was another manifestation of their mutual enjoyment.
An hour later, seated nervously in the waiting room, Terry was the first to be called into the consultation room by the technician; he turned to Alex and asked if he wanted to accompany him into the little room adjoining.
"Mr. Baylor, you have chlamydia, which is not a big deal, and can be cured with a single dosage. I have a prescription for you to fill, and just one big ugly horse-pill will be the end of that for you." Terry sighed deeply.
"That's a horrible sounding word."
"Sir?" The technician was confused.
"Chlamydia. It sounds like a horrible life-ending disease of some kind."
"Sorry, sir, yes it sounds horrible, but in reality, it is very common in America, many people have it and don't even know it, but it can also be cured very easily with just this one dosage. Take your pill and you will be fine."
Terry looked at Alex and said "Alex, I am so sorry."
The technician looked at Alex and said "Mr. Cipriani, no worries, you are clean, nothing to report. But I might advise both of you to be cautious; we have a package of goodies for you when you check out."
"No HIV, no STD's?"
"No HIV in either of you."
After paying the bill and sitting in the Vantage slumped down in his seat, Terry was still depressed by the diagnosis; "Alex, I am really sorry this happened. I hope you don't hate me."
"How could I hate you? The guy said there are lots of people walking around with it, and besides, just one little pink pill and you are done." He smiled, but Terry was not in a mood to be coddled.
While driving to the pharmacy, Alex opened the goody-bags from the walk-in clinic: they contained condoms, lube, a miniature vibrator, and a coupon for a free drink at a West Hollywood gay bar.
Alex laughed: "Have you ever been to a gay bar?"
"Hell no, I have never even thought about it." Terry was still depressed.
"Well maybe we should go, and you can take your pill along with our free drinks!" Alex thought he was being very funny, but Terry was not buying it.
"You know what, ok then, let's do it. What the Hell. The only gay people that I know are Joaquin and Ross, Stuart and Raj, Mickey and Sam, Mario and Peter, and Simon. We could make all kinds of new gay friends."
Terry was not trying to be funny; he was still pretty morose over the chlamydia diagnosis, but Alex was trying to make light of the whole situation.
"Look" Alex offered, "just this once, let's drop in on the `WeHo' crowd, we have never been, we are not really gay, are we? We are just gay between us, you and me, we have sex, and it is oh-my-god-amazingly-terrific sex, thank you very much, we don't have sex with other gay people, let's just go have a drink, take the pill, and go home and relax. I know this has been stressful for you but look at the up-side: it could potentially have been a lot worse."
Terry finally appreciated what Alex was trying to do for him; he pointed the Aston-Martin toward West Hollywood and followed Alex's directions until they parked in the lot next to The Gold Coast on Santa Monica Boulevard.
It was the very first time in a gay bar for either of them, and in the early evening, there was a small crowd; happy hour had just begun. Terry presented their coupons to the waiter, who looked at them and smiled broadly; "Newbies?" he asked.
"How about a round of Cosmopolitans?" the waiter continued, smiling even more broadly. Terry felt like he was being made fun of by the waiter, and started to say something, but Alex smoothed his feelings with a hand on his leg.
"Sure. Sounds great." Alex decided to trade smiles with the waiter as the best way to get a drink and not get thrown out of the bar. Terry surreptitiously took the pill- which looked huge to him- out of the brown envelope when the drinks were served; Alex held up his glass toward Terry and saluted him.
Within a couple of minutes, the maître d' came over to their table and welcomed them to the club; he introduced himself and asked if this was their first visit to The Gold Coast.
"Yes, and so far, it is our favorite gay bar" Alex joked.
"Well we hope you enjoy it and come again soon" the maître d' replied.
"I'm surprised" Terry volunteered.
"Why?" Alex was curious.
"Well, nothing in here is like I expected; there are a bunch of normal looking guys here, not anything like the stereotypes we see on TV."
"Look at us" Alex said. "Do we look gay? We certainly do not look like Modern Family."
"Nope, you certainly don't, that's for sure, but after that pill, maybe I will turn into a flaming fag." Terry was still depressed.
"If you do, I will still love you, but I won't take you out in public." Alex laughed.
Terry put down his drink; "I'm sorry. This just hit me kind of hard. I am not sure what I was expecting but having a sexually-transmitted disease with a horrible big long Latin title scared me. And I was also scared for you. I don't want to be responsible for giving you anything either." He looked down at the floor; Alex took his hand and said, "You don't have anything to be sorry for except that first kiss."
"Why? What was wrong with that kiss?"
"Not one thing, but it sure started the ball rolling."
They both laughed, and finishing their drinks, Alex left a large tip for the waiter and they drove home casually, silently, with Alex's hand on Terry's leg.
"Home" was the penthouse at the Beverly Wilshire; it was just turning dark, and both were feeling worn down from the day's events. Alex asked, "Do you want to have a talk with Stuart and Raj before we have that Sunday dinner with my family?"
"Oh Hell yeah, I can't go into that torture chamber without some ammunition."
Terry turned toward Alex: "Look, I'm sorry, that was not fair, I am sure your family are wonderful, I am just really nervous about saying to them, `Hi, nice to meet you, and thank you for letting me fuck your son'."
Alex could not keep from laughing; he fell to his side, and finally gaining some composure, said "Well it looks like you already have your speech ready."
Terry said "Very funny. I really need your help with this. I am scared to death."
"Why? They are just family. They can't kill you."
"Maybe not, but they can tell me to stop seeing you."
Alex looked stricken: "Like Hell. They can't do that."
"Really?" Terry asked.
They both looked a little nervous; finally, Terry said "Babe, I am going to dinner with you and your family. I will be there willingly, and I will face up to the fact that you and I are in love, which certainly does not fit with what are probably their long-held traditional expectations for their oldest child and only son. But please know this, and please always remember this and never forget it, I will love you until the day I die, and I want that to be a million years from now and I want to spend every one of those days with you, no matter what others may think about us."
Alex blew out a deep breath; he stood, and pulling Terry up with him, held him in both of his arms, kissed him, and said "me too." They stood for a long moment, holding each other, silently, immersed in the love that had suddenly blossomed between them unexpectedly. A 1960's song flitted through his mind: "This Magic Moment"...
The following Sunday, Terry was kneeling at the little granite marker which held only the words `Theodore Winslow Baylor, September 1, 1950- August 20, 2005". Terry silently wiped a tear from his eye, and said "Dad, I miss you very much, and wherever you may be in this great big beautiful Universe of ours, I hope you are happy. I am trying to do my best for you and the law firm, and I want you to know I think of you every day."
He stood and walked slowly back toward his Aston-Martin; driving home to the penthouse, he thought about Ted, and Tommy, and then his mother and sister, and then Alex. Finally smiling as his thoughts turned to the man he loved, he had an idea.
When he entered the Beverly Wilshire, he jogged to the florist shop and picked out the biggest arrangement he could find; he smiled all the way up in the elevator to the penthouse. When his hands were free after entering the suite and settling the flowers on the credenza nearest the windows, he called Alex: "Would you like to meet me for a drink?" he wondered.
"Where and when?" Alex asked.
"The Gold Coast, in one hour."
Alex laughed. "The gay bar? Really? Again?"
"Sure. Maybe it will inspire me for next week's meeting with your family."
"Oh Hell. Well OK. See you in an hour."