Carolina On My Mind

It's great to be back home. If you're ever in the Charlotte area, don't stay at the Days Inn I was at. It was ghetto as hell. I couldn't even say ghetto fabolous. It was just ghetto. The outside grounds were nasty and the inside wasn't any better. I had to switch rooms because the sheets in the one room looked really old and there was the matter of a cigarette butt in the toilet. The other room was slightly better but I still didn't trust the sheets so I went to a local Sears and picked up a cheap set to tide me over for my stay.

What it comes down to is you get what you pay for. The rate was only $50 a night so you know that was bargain basement.

I was reminded of the 'quality vs. quantity' debate Eugene always has with me. Eugene states that he likes quality while I tend to go for quantity. In other words, I try to cut corners whenever I can. In this case, quantity didn't pay off. I think my next trip, I'm gonna treat myself to a 4 star hotel, regardless of the cost.

As if to prove my new quest for quality, I went so far as to purchase a $140 pair of Ecco shoes at Dillard's. while on my errand to find sheets. They were so comfortable. I may never buy a pair of $60 shoes again....*LOL*.

Hemingway the only solid plans I had was the Sting basketball game I alluded to in my last post. It was pretty exciting being so close to the action. Unfortunately Sacremento whipped Charlotte's butts despite a good attempt by Charlotte to try and take back the lead.

During the game, an older lady that sat two seats away from me was marveling about a baby that was in her Mom's lap two rows in front of us. She was amazed how quiet the baby was despite all the noise going on, even falling asleep at various points. We later learned that the baby belonged to Allan Iverson, who himself was sitting where the coaches normally sit. We figured the baby was probably used to all the noise. I didn't get to take a picture of Iverson, though. Oh well. It was a pretty cool evening.

Earlier that day, I was in contact with my Raliegh connection (RC) and he mentioned there was a get together in Charlotte for a few of the 30-something gay men in the area. RC put me in contact with a dude named Doog. Doog sounded sexy as hell on the phone. I was trying to picture what he looked like while he was explaining the particulars of the event. Doog told me to call him after the game to get directions.

So the game finishes and after I take a mini-tour of the downtown section I was in, I give Doog a call. He starts to give directions but then has the owner of the home give me further clarification. Clyde does that briefly.

After a brief stop at the wrong house, I make my way to Clyde's place. I step outside and walk towards it. Clyde lives in a relatively quiet subdivision, which was cool.

As I reach the front, I'm greeted by Doog & some other guy I can't remember. Doog was fine as hell and just what I like - a real man's man. He appeared to be about 5'11 and weighed around 215-220 lbs and was quite solid. He was so handsome and unfortunately so taken. Story of my life...*LOL*.

So Hemingway I'm mingling with the guests at the party and two guys take a clear liking to me. One of them is Clyde who's being the perfect host and goes out of his way to make sure I'm comfortable. He also seemed to want to get me drunk.

The other guy Frenchy seemed to be into me as well. We conversed about the state of gay relationships & whether two black men could sustain a healthy relationship. I have my doubts...*LOL*. But yeah, they do exist. The only negative I could see was the smoking.

So Hemingway, somehow during the course of the evening, I found myself parked in the sofa next to Clyde. By this time, I had chatted with several guys, including Beyonce2. Beyonce2 actually kept us in stitches trying to imitate the infamous Beyonce. He's the furthest thing from looking like her, though. He actually on the outside is a bodybuilder type guy with nice pecs & big shoulders and the flat stomach. But he smoked which was a turn-off. Nonetheless he was a nice guy.

Beyonce2 wanted to sit down between Clyde and myself but Clyde refused to move. I couldn't because I was sitting at the end of the sofa. It was a bit hilarious. At some point later, Clyde stuck his hands on my lower back. I didn't move but I thought he was being rather bold. Luckily he didn't try getting in my pants or I would've screamed.

Later on I somehow got pulled by Clyde to chat with his core friends, of which Doog was included. Clyde wanted to inflate a mattress for one of them. He wanted me to follow him upstairs on the pretense of helping him with the mattress. Yeah..*LOL*.

Fast forward to twenty minutes later, I'm in Clyde's room and he starts making out with me. It's been a minute for me so I actually went with it. I'm not going to lie. It felt good. But truth was I wasn't really feeling Clyde despite his best attempts. And there was no way I was going to make out with him with guests in other rooms. I mean what kind of hoe did he think I was...*LOL*. I knew I had to stop him before he tried to take it to that next level. Seeing my resistance, he asked if he had to go with me back to my hotel. I laughed. It took me a minute but I finally broke free.

He made some noise about us hanging out Tuesday. I knew the time if I agreed but to keep the peace, I told him I'd think about it. Since I felt a bit awkward afterwards, I decided to leave the party. I ran into Frenchy and we exchanged numbers.

Of course after I left, I was on the phone with Eugene giving him the lowdown. It was after 2AM when I arrived back in my dingy, ghetto hotel. The room was a bit cold with the A/C blasting but the minute I turned it off, it got hot again. So I kept it on and continued chatting with Eugene. I noticed that while chatting with him, Frenchy was calling on the other line. I didn't switch over. Eugene commented that Frenchy was looking for a bootie call, which cracked me up.

I did feel an attraction to Frenchy at the party but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I wind up watching back to back episodes of Next before eventually calling it a night.

I'll post the rest of my adventures in Charlotte, including an unexpected date and a hilarious street altercation I found myself involved in later.