It was late December 2007, and something was happening. Something hit me without warning as I was busily enjoying my first holiday season as a thin-American. I had just broken up with a guy who I started seeing in late October. I had not been to the clubs very often when I was with him. But there I was, at my favorite hang-out, Partner's Bar and Grill in Huntsville, Alabama. Apparently, sometime during the preceeding two months I had crossed a line. On one side, I was former-fat-guy-cute. Apparently, on the other side, I had become hot property.

It was just a few nights after I had, for the first time ever, bought a guy a drink. The man's reaction was that he couldn't believe that I was interested in him. My friends' reaction was that I could do so much better. I was just happy that I had finally grown some balls.

I was a quick learner in the gay singles game. I studied the rules and was already playing like a pro. And there I was, New Year's Eve 2007, surrounded by friends who still couldn't believe that this person next to them was the funny fat guy they had known in the past, still making them laugh but now also making them envious. I was there with my ex-partner, who had just a few days earlier pulled so classic a cock-block on me that I had to shake his hand and congratulate him on its flawless execution. But when I saw the two young Hollister clones walk in, one a stocky 6' with jet black hair, wearing a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up just under the elbows and the other a skinnier and younger 5'10" with dirty blonde hair sporting a tight, brown Lucky Brand muscle shirt, I knew nothing was going to stop me.

I had become an expert in cruising. And the darker haired one and I were cruising each other like the Royal Caribbean from opposite ends of the bar. The clock was approaching midnight and 2008. No alcohol tainted my system, enabling me to keep my focus on the young man. Finally, he approached me. He stopped short of my position at my regular stool, instead talking to the lesbian friend seated next to me, a person with whom he was obviously acquainted as well. I stayed cool. I knew the game. I watched them out of the corner of my eye. He didn't give a shit about what she was saying; he was watching me.

The techno beat from the Bose speakers was booming off of the brick walls and the high ceilings of the small and densely populated establishment. He grabbed my lesbian friend by the shoulders and they started dancing, moving their bodies in synch with each other's and the music. My lesbian friend turned to me, and with her lavender-tipped pointer finger, motioned me to join them. I was now dancing with my admirer, separated from him only by the petite lesbian that had brought us together. As we moved, his arms reached past her body and rested on my shoulders. My arms did the same and caressed his pelvis. We smiled at each other. Then, exactly on cue as if we had just been cleared by the big gay director in the sky, we pushed our intervener out of the way. It was only me and him. Our bodies so close, the sweat we were expelling mingled on our shirts. I could feel his moist breath on my cheeks. His lips were soft and pouty, as if he'd stolen them from Angelina herself. Finally, at the same time, we kissed. We moved. We never lost the beat. Then, as if we both knew that had our lips been connected for a moment longer, we would suffocate under the weight of our own lust, we separated. A smile formed over his lips, one I reflected in mine.

His name was Kevin, he told me as we took our places together at the bar. He was 23 years-old, had just left the Navy, and was looking for work in the civilian field. I never asked for any more specifics. Like they say, don't ask don't tell. The guy he walked in with, the dirty blonde, was Cole. He was 19, active duty Navy, and on holiday leave. They were friends from high school in a small town outside of Huntsville. Kevin and Cole. Like a couple of freaking supporting characters on The OC or something. Kevin was bisexual, he told me. Cole was gay. But most importantly, they weren't together. Cole was staying at Kevin's house while on leave.

"You want to take this party to my place?" Kevin asked. I nodded quietly. I've never been one to turn down a party. So I followed them, Cole driving as he hadn't been drinking, away from the comforting lights of the city and into the infamous Alabama countryside.

Real concerns about gay-bashing aside (we actually did talk quite extensively and my friends did know exactly where I was going) we finally pulled up to a brightly lit, albeit rather small, house with plenty of land in which to hide the bodies. It really did look like a couple of bachelors lived there, with two sofas and a tv in the living room, mattresses with no frames between them and the floors, and a refrigerator with only clear liquids and potatoes; i.e. vodka. We took a few shots between the three of us before retiring to the living room.

I don't remember what movie we were watching. Kevin and I lay on one sofa while Cole lay by himself on the other sofa, directly across the room and parallel to our's. We started where we left off in the club, kissing for a minute or two before our hands traveled down to their inevitable destinations. We concentrated on each other, in silence, for a few minutes before Kevin whispered to me, "Hey, Chris." I saw his eyes look toward the solitary Cole on the other sofa. "Want Cole to join us?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied while thinking, Fuck yeah!

Kevin motioned Cole over, with Cole's response being, "There's no room."

I rolled my eyes. Damn teenagers, I thought. "There's always room on top," I told him. A moment later, there were the three of us, thrusting and breathing, as if performing some horizontal ritual we had rehearsed thousands of time before. We moved like waves in the ocean with each other, each breath, touch and groan perfectly timed. Clothes were flying across the room and landing on random spots on the floor. The couch was too confining and seemed to be straining under the weight of three men and all of their intentions. It seemed to thank us as we retired to Kevin's bedroom.

I won't go into detail about what transpired over the next five hours. Everything happened. After three of those hours, Cole left Kevin and me alone. Damn kid couldn't keep up, I guess. But Kevin and I kept on for the next couple of hours, finally collapsing into an exhausted heap of flesh and sweat on top of each other.

The sun was only an hour or two from its scheduled appearance in the cold winter sky when Kevin turned his head to me and between heavy breaths said, "We can't stay here. We'll have to sleep in the living room."

I was confused, but really didn't care. I knew it was only a one night stand. At that point, I should have been fishing my shirt from the pile of clothes in the living room, pulling up my pants and stuffing my underwear into my back pocket. But I shook my head and just smiled. "I can go now."

He ran his fingers over my lips lightly, and I closed my eyes to concentrate on the feeling. "No," he said. "I'd like it if you stayed." I nodded my head. Besides, my legs were still like rubber and all of the alcohol had yet to leave my system.

I elevated my torso on my bended elbows and looked at Kevin. "Why can't we stay here?"

He told me, in a matter-of-fact way on par with how one might relay their birth date, "My girlfriend was at a party last night. She lives here with me and will be back in the morning. Remember, I told you I was bisexual."

My eyes turned to the size of a couple of saucers. "Does she know you fool around with guys?" He shook his head in the negative. "What would have happened if she would have walked in while we were fucking?" I asked.

Again, he answered matter-of-factly, "She probably would have killed us both." Oh, great, I thought. I could just see the headline in the Huntsville Times. Big, Slutty Homo Sins and Gets What He Deserves. I almost tripped myself while pulling up my boxers as I hastily exited the bedroom. I found my clothes and quickly threw them on, fearing that the crazy girlfriend could reappear at any second and turn me into the lead story on an otherwise slow news day. I laid down on the sofa opposite Kevin, but could only concentrate on the impending meeting with the girlfriend. How would I greet her? Hello, please excuse the bad breath, but you should be used to the smell, hardly seemed appropriate. So I asked if he would be fine with my sleeping with Cole in the other room. Kevin nodded and continued watching the tv.

Really, I should have just taken my ass home. But as I looked down on Cole, so innocently sleeping on his twin size mattress on the floor, I was glad I stayed. "Cole," I whispered. He woke up. I explained the situation to him before he smiled and moved over so that I could lay next to him.

It was quite a different ending to a one night stand than I was used to. I lay close to Cole from behind with the contours of our bodies matching at every point. I ran my left arm over his hip and rested it on his stomach. He took hold of my hand and never let it go. We laid with each other in just that way until the sun came up.

I was awaken by Kevin's and a woman's voice coming from the other room. They were bantering lightly with each other, the girl probably relaying highlights from the previous night's party while Kevin conveyed what had to be nothing more than a complete concoction of details. I took the opportunity to get up quietly from Cole's side before silently putting my clothes back on. He awoke as I finished tying my last shoe. He smiled at me and I smiled back. I stood up, put on my coat and started toward the door. But I stopped before my hand touched the knob and turned back toward the young man. His eyes were open, his smile had gone and he was watching me walk out the door. I knelt down toward him while he raised himself up on his elbows, his blanket falling from his perfectly shapen chest, giving me one last look at this beautiful young man who I had no intention of ever seeing again. We touched our lips as I rested my hand gently onto his chest, just for a moment, before I rose back up to my feet and continued toward the door. I opened it and took one step out of the room before turning for one last look at Cole. His eyes were closed and he was sleeping silently.

I snuck out without being discovered by Kevin or the crazy girlfriend. I drove home slowly with the bright winter sun behind me, down off their mountain and back toward the city. I was exhausted and smelling of cheap vodka and last night's men. But that didn't stop me from revealing every detail to my friends before finally returning home and getting some much needed rest. Hump day was fast approaching, and I needed to be rested to see what I would end up with next.