Tattered Pavements

     As he little by little plods through the tattered pavements of the street, he feels his muscles tightly enveloping his skin. He immediately turned his gaze into the view ahead" as if that (view) will ease the sound of his unstoppable rippling heartbeat. He is close to the point of turning back like a wild animal that suddenly felt fear from its opponent. As he approached his destination, his toes complained like a child.

     Then he heard the words that he agonizingly anticipated; the words that kept him awake all night: "I think it's time to end this."

    He is 33 and he is 26. They, sometime ago in a public gathering specifically intended for their kind, met each other. Louis was just 28 then and James was 21. It was not love at first sight like the ones that people normally expect from a romantic-themed movie. In fact, they hated each other. Louis hated James' guts, and James hated Louis' thick, hard, and almost snobbish facade. They didn't intentionally want to become friends, but because of several fate-determined events, they became closer" maybe even closer than what they thought of becoming.

2014, January 5th

     It is an ordinary day for Louis. He got up at 5:00 a.m. and started hitting the showers because he has to be at work earlier. He didn't mind taking breakfast since this has been his routine for the past 4 years. While he meticulously screens his face in front of the mirror, he wonders about how this day is going to unfold. It's his birthday, unfortunately he didn't even plan for anything special today. This, he thought, is probably one of the best things of living an independent life: he rarely thinks about anything special because he just needs to provide for himself.

     He is an only child of a businessman who rose to fame because of his brilliant idea of putting together make up brands in one packaging. After several trials in the market, it finally boomed. Its success was beyond imaginable and even transcended the international market. His father is now one of the most powerful men in the Philippine business world.

     His living alone in the metro was his choice. He does not want to be under the shadow of a man whose life revolves around his business. His mother is an abandoned wife - abandoned at home to take care of that vast, empty house provided for both of them. His childhood was never a happy one. He can still recall how several times when he was still studying, that his father was always missing in action. From Parent-Teacher Conferences to school programs, his presence was never felt. His mother, on the other hand, is one faithful woman. She never left her husband even if in many other occasions, she knew that he was cheating on her. Louis adores his mother. To him, she's a saint, one whose holiness is felt through her unconditional love for her family.

     He was in the middle of his thoughts when he heard his phone beeped. It's Jacob, his one and only friend.

     "R we pushin thru, bro?" he said.

   He typed through his phone and replied, "Yes. Don't have other plans."

     Another second later, Jacob replied and told him that he'll be bringing along two more of his friends from college. Up to this point in time, Louis still wonders how he even became close to him. They were poles apart when it comes to their personality. Jacob has always been the breaker of silence. He is loud, proud, and obnoxious. Louis can tolerate him though. Apart from being the ladies' man, he's also the life of the party, one who never misses out on any drinking sessions. Louis' love for this friend of his probably springs out of that energy that Jacob infects him with. When he's with Jacob, he rarely feels sad.

     It's half past 6 in the morning when he finally gets into his car. Driving around the city is the only thing that pisses him off; the heavy traffic around Manila takes over almost two hours or more from his daily routine. When he finally reached his office, he immediately sat down and started tipping off the keyboard. Not a minute passed by when he heard a faint sound of voices who are about to render a tune. As it became louder, he starts to understand what is happening.

     "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!" The sound of the out-of-tune voices of his employees drew a grin on his face.

     "Happy birthday, Sir Louis!" They all together pronounced.

     "Thank you!" He shortly answered. He is not close to most of his employees. There are only a few of them who had that chance of getting to know him.

     They placed the cake on top of his table and one by one exited his office. Mona, his personal assistant stayed and waited for his instructions.

     "You can bring this out and share it to the rest of the team," he said.

     "Would you like to have a slice, Sir?" Her words were laced with disbelief and regret.

     Louis is used to these kinds of impression. It is not new to him that he is seen by most of his employees as the "monster boss." He doesn't care. He doesn't owe anybody an explanation. He believes that as long as everyone is doing their job right, they need not establish any relationship of some sort. He is not proud of how distant he is with his employees but he does not have a choice. He feels like it would be better if he would just be alone, like how he is most of his life.

     Before the clock turns to 5 in the afternoon, Louis is on his way to the parking lot. Jacob agreed to meet with him at 7 in the evening at their favorite hangout place. It's Friday night, so he's expecting the worst of the traffic in Libis, which will take him about an hour or two to get to. As he was passing by the heavy traffic in Makati, he thought about the last time that he went partying. It's been quite a long time since he last got laid. Maybe, this is the perfect timing for him to get down to business, he thought.

     Louis never had a problem with both men and women. Yes. He is gender-fluid: one who falls in love not with gender but with personality. Some may totally sigh in disbelief but Louis never dated anyone because of their gender. When he falls in love, he falls in love. He had several relationships in the past, bragging aside, he knows that his face has the tendency to magnetize people of both genders. His prominent jaw line looks like a sculpted image of a perfect man. To say that he's tall is an understatement; his height is a towering 6 feet 2 inches. His skin is as if it was soaked in the moderate heat of the sunlight. His is the typical face of a Filipino, the tradition tall, dark, and handsome.

     He finally arrives at the bar. He's running late; if he's not mistaken, it's been an hour and a half since their agreed time of meet up. He can now imagine how Jacob's face looks. As that shame of being late slowly sinks in, he absentmindedly passes through the dark hallway that leads to the main entrance of the bar. His mind is joggling words to explain to Jacob that the heavy traffic totally wrecked his plans. He was in the middle of his word joggle when his chest created a thumping sound as if something stone-like hit it. As he looked down to his chest, he sees a thick plump of black hair.

    "Ouch!" The voice said.

     Louis immediately looked for the owner of that voice and searched for his face.

     "S**t! That hurts! Aren't you going to apolo - -" Well, well, well..."

     Louis observed his face as it changes from angry to annoying to seductive.

     "Now, he's trying to flirt with me?" He thought to himself.

     He scans the face of the boy and he figures he's about 20 or 21, small in height - maybe about 5'7 or less. His orange oversize shirt looks new, like it was probably bought just yesterday. He has an ordinary face - cute maybe - but what infuriate Louis is the boy's guts! He has the confidence of about ten lions, ready to devour a large buffalo prey. He now slowly walks near him and would unceasingly tease him with his seductive glances.

     "Don't be too confident. You're kind is not even my type!" Louis whispered to the boy's ear and walked past him with his brooding masculine face, proud of what he did.

     "What? That was downright rude! Hey! Hey!" The boy shouted as Louis walks away. The boy's voice sounds like he is about to throw tantrums in a while.

     Louis walks towards Jacob whom he immediately saw as he entered the place. Jacob's face is smiling, to his surprise. He thought the opposite of what he is seeing.

     "Bro, I'm so sorry! You know, right? I mean, my reason for being late?" He explained.

     "Happy birthday, Bro!" He hurriedly threw Louis a tight hug.

     "Thank you!" Louis replied.

     "I didn't prepare anything for you. Nah, I know you won't appreciate it anyway!" Jacob is evidently full at the moment. His mood is absolutely freaking drunk.

     He just nodded his head and waited for him to introduce two other guys seated on the couch. He starts to introduce both of the guys who are quite professional looking and definitely straight. He set his attention on the people around the place - very crowded he thought. As he explored through the bar, he heard a familiar voice, speaking. He began to scour the area where that voice is coming from. When he turned his head at the back of their table, he saw a group of young people teasing the boy he bumped on a while ago. It's this boy's loud tone that he hears.

     "I can take home whoever I want to take home, tonight!" He probably is not aware of how loud his voice is. He's standing in front of his friends while shouting these words. Sure, the music is loud, too, but his voice sounds even louder.

     By the looks of it, Louis surmised that this boy's friends challenged him into doing something very weird or difficult - something that pressured his ego. He is obviously drunk and at any moment, he figured he will lose his consciousness.

     Louis wanted to take his eyes off this group of "kids." Unfortunately though, as he was about to turn his gaze back onto his friend, the boy tilted his head towards his direction and his eyes met his eyes. It was weird though because Louis felt a tinge of excitement on his stomach. The moment that their eyes met, Louis also knew that that is going to cause him too much trouble.

     The boy is now wobbly walking to his direction. Louis felt panic creeping in. He wanted to excuse himself to go to the bathroom, but it is too late. Now, the boy is in front of him, smiling from ear to ear.

     "What did you say a while ago? That my KIND is not YOUR TYPE?" There is a threat on that question, some kind of a sick warning.

     Louis was stunned for a moment. He blinked his eye and just let out a sigh of impatience as if this could mask the tension that he feels from the inside. The boy looks absolutely seductive. He felt a throb from his belt down.

     "I -" ahm, I --"" Louis ran out of words to say.

     Just when he was about to say the words that he urgently hunted in his head, the boy sat on his lap with his head facing Louis' face.

     "Let's just see if I am really not your type." He whimpered.

     And in an instant, they boy's lips landed securely on Louis' lips. The heat was undeniable. Louis' hard on is now beyond control. The boy opened his mouth and gently nibbled through Louis' lower lip" teasing him with those naughty lips. The kiss becomes more passionate. Louis responded with such ease and longing. When it starts to become deeper, the boy taunted Louis more by letting out soft moans until he finally let go of his lips.

     "I see. My KIND is not YOUR TYPE, right?" The boy scoffed and left a small twitch of smile as if telling Louis that he just lost the game.

     Louis was left staggered. 

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Reviews

[Alison Barker]

Dear writer, I have 2 comments.
1] I really like your turns of phrases. e.g. ..small twitch of smile. 2] To him she's a saint...
2] To be publishable, your English would need improvement.
Hope that these comments helped.
Cheers,
Alison.

[Louie Doctolero]

Thank you!