Unexpected Events - 3. Chapter 3: Fun Times

Several days had passed and I was on my way to Jon’s office to sign the papers to make him my lawyer and Anne my accountant. I knew I shouldn’t be having my new friends also be a part of the professional side of my life. I couldn’t trust someone though with things like that unless they were my friends.

The thought that I will be a millionaire was still foreign to me. I felt like my life was changing so fast and I needed to try my best to keep up. I still had to decide on what Ida would want me to do with her money. I couldn’t accept that it will be my money.

I walked into Jon’s office and found that only Anne was there. She came up to me and said, “Alden, I have to thank you for this. I’ve been wanting to leave my job for a while. It is just too large of a company for me to be happy. This will get me started on having my own firm. I can make enough money to help John’s and mine bills and have some put away for when we have children.”

“Calm down Anne. Alden still has to wait before he receives the money.” Jon told her as he joined the two of us, entering into the room.

He turned to me and said, “I was just with my partner Michael next door. Ida’s son, Christopher found out about the will. To say he is taking it bad would be a huge understatement.”

“Are there going to any problems?” I asked him. “Will he try to sue me or something like that?”

“No, nothing like that. Don’t worry, Alden. He isn’t going to do anything to you. There is no weakness in the will, so he won’t be able to get his mother’s money. He’s just upset that she duped him. You won’t lose the money.” John assured me.

“I don’t really want the money.” I told Jon and Anne.

With much shock and confusion on their faces, I clarified, “Ida left everything to me for a reason. If she didn’t want Christopher to have anything in the will then I will accept it and honor that. I have no interest in him taking it. I have been thinking about it and I will probably donate a good portion of the money.”

“You are one of the few people that I have met that isn’t swayed by wealth.” Anne said to me, smiling. “You’ll be going far with your attitude on that. I bet you will be a famous chef someday.”

As we was sitting down at John’s desk, I asked him, “How did you know so much about me when we met?”

Jon had a twinkle in his eyes as he was laying out the paperwork. “I am a lawyer, Alden. I was curious about when I saw that Ida put you as her beneficiary, I decided to do some research. I wanted to make sure you wasn’t some punk that had somehow got into Ida’s affections. What I found was a smart gay man with not one negative thing on record. While I was digging I saw that you received a culinary degree from The Art Institute in Pittsburgh. You would be surprised on the amount of information available to the public.”

“You knew I was gay before I told you at dinner?” I asked him, shocked that it was that easy for somebody to search up someone through public records.

“Yep. I saw the restraining order that was put in and it wasn’t too hard to put two and two together. Jon answered me and added, “Don’t worry, I won’t go into that. If you ever want to talk about that, it will be up to you.”

“Thanks Jon. You’re turning into a great friend.” When he mentioned the restraining order my breathing froze and I felt like I was about to have one of my panic attacks. I do appreciate that Jon wouldn’t pry into my past until I was open to share it.

“Let’s get this paperwork out of the way so that you can head on to work.” Jon announced.

After reading over everything and giving signatures in the appropriate places we were done. Before I left I asked Jon and Anne, “Would you all like to join my friend’s, Vince and Katie, at Club Moon this Saturday night?”

“We would love to go. It’s been much too long since me John and I have let our hair down and have some good fun.” Anne answered. She was positively excited at the prospects of going.

“That it has. I haven’t danced with this beautiful woman in a while. We would love to go with you and your friend’s Alden. It’s been a few years since we’ve been to Club Moon. The last time we went was with my brother and his ex-boyfriend.” Jon said with a wryly smile.

“That’s great. We’ll meet you both outside of the club at ten. We can have an hour of dancing before the show begins.” I told them before I left.

I walked to work after that. My shift was pretty busy for a Wednesday evening. Vince was busy with everyone up front while I was busy getting all the food quickly up and ready for him to take to the customers. It looked like he wanted to tell me something but he had no time alone with me to say anything. Ray was also unusually busy which was fine by me. He never talked to me about my outburst towards him the other day. It’s not that bad of a job if it wasn’t for Ray. I was paid enough to get by and that is all that mattered.

It got to closing time and we were cleaning up the restaurant for the night. Once Ray and everyone else had left, Vince came up to me.

“You are coming to the club Saturday night right?” he asked me, “The show is to be really great.”

Rolling my eyes I told him, “You’ve been asking me this now for almost a week. I am going to be there. I invited John and Anne to join us if that’s ok.”

Vince got excited and said, “That is great! It will make it a nice big group. I did want to mention that I’m bringing this guy with me.”

“Wasn't you dating that guy named Greg?” I asked him. I was sure that was the name of the guy he talked about a couple weeks ago that he was dating.

Shaking his head, Vince answered, “I’m not dating this guy. Greg is my date but I thought that you and this guy could meet and talk.”

He tried to give me his most charming smile and it wasn’t working. I was pissed that he would try to set me up again. He keeps finding these lame guys hoping that I find love or whatever he wants to call it. I gathered up my stuff and headed on to my car. Vince ran up behind trying to catch up to me.

“Come on Alden. I just don’t want you to be all alone with everyone else having a date.” Vince gasped out as he caught up with me.

With my key inside of the door lock of my car, I turned around to face him. “Katie doesn’t have a boyfriend. Why do I have to be hooked up with another one of your freaky guys then?” I asked him, giving him my look that said to explain fast or I was going to leave.

“Well, the thing is that Katie is now dating a guy. She asked him out from work at the courthouse. Harold isn't a freaky guy. Not from what I saw of him at the complex.” Vince said with a small smile.

He had me in a corner. I hate meeting the guys that Vince finds for me but I don’t want to be the only one without a date. He really tries to be a great friend by trying to find me a boyfriend but I just wasn’t into blind dates at all.

After heaving a sigh, I growled out to him, “Fine. I’ll do it. Just don’t expect much from me. You know damn well how I hate blind dates.”

“Thank you Alden. I hope you’re not mad at me.” He told me while he gave me a tight hug.

I chuckled and said, “I could never be mad at you Vince. With all the craziness you bring to my life things would be terribly boring without you. You’re always there for me, so I will try to not be so grouchy when it comes to these blind dates that you set up.”

“You’re the best, Alden. I’m going to head home. I’ll see you here tomorrow. Have fun with Samuel and your fitting for that suit on Friday.” Vince told me before walking away to his car a couple blocks away.

Before I knew it two days had passed and it was Friday. I was glad that it was Friday and was strangely happy that I wasn’t working the weekend for two weeks in a row. As an added bonus, Ray told me last night that I wasn’t needed at the restaurant tonight. I was a little nervous that he was going to say I was needed on Saturday but that never happened. I know Ray is only doing it to try to agitate me with the fact that I’m not getting as many hours. He just doesn’t bother me like he bothers Vince.

I arrived at Samuel’s shop at around noon for the measuring of my suit. As he saw me at the door he said, “Alden, You came right on time. I love punctuality and its sorely lacking with some of my customers when it comes to appointments here with me.”

I laughed and told him, “I never liked being late for anything. I’m ready for you to use that tape measure and get this done. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the finished product will look on me once it’s ready.”

He rolled his eyes and while smiling said, “With your nice body and my expertise I will have you a suit that will have all the men begging to be yours.”

“I never told you I was gay.” I told him as I got into position for him to measure me.

With a swish of his wrist, he giggled, “Hun, I have the best gaydar from here to Pittsburgh. I’ve lost count of how many married supposedly ‘straight’ men come in and I know that they really go for the cock instead of the fish. Also, I know you’re shy but you need to lose all but your undies and socks. I am not going to get good measurements with all these clothes on.”

With a red face I removed all my clothes and let Samuel measure everything that he needed to for my suit. Once I thought he was finished I asked, “Can I please put my clothes on now?”

“I don’t know why you are so shy with your body. I find that body hair is very sexy, even though you’re not my type. You’re gay and that means you should be proud about yourself inside and out.” Samuel told me in a confident voice.

As I was putting on my shoes I told him, “You're right about that. I’ll try to be more like that.”

He smiled and said, “That is all that matters. You have a great day Alden. I will call you when your suit is ready for pickup. It’ll be in about a week or so.”

“Thanks Samuel. I will see you when it’s ready then. Have a great day.” I said to him as I left his shop.

As I was sitting in my car and looking at myself in the rear-view mirror I decided to take everyone’s advice. If I was going to go on this blind date with this guy at the club, I was going to make myself look like the best man in the room. I decided to go and do a little shopping since I was already near the shopping centers out on route 119.

I shopped for several hours. The first thing I found was a great pair of jeans that fit so perfectly and showed off my ass which something that I don’t usually do. After much trepidation I then headed into the Areopostale and bought a muscle tee. I knew I didn’t have any bulges of fat on me anymore so it would look good on me. I just never been the type of guy that flaunts himself.

I had a very small meal at Olive Garden out of an irrational fear that the shirt I just bought wouldn’t fit right tomorrow. I went on back to the mall in downtown and bought new underwear socks shoes and cologne at Macy’s. With my credit card hot from use I decided to finish the day by getting a new edgy haircut and buy some new hair products that the hair stylist told me to use. Exhausted from the stress of doing all the shopping and doing my new club look, I went home and slept for over twelve hours.

I decided to show up outside of the club before everyone to give them a big surprise. Club Moon has been in the city since 1991, it has always been located in this great two story building not too far from my job with four wonderful columns at the front. There is a second story porch above the entrance that has rainbow flags hanging on either side of the American flag in between the center two columns. To me the club was the most beautiful building compared to any of the other bars in the city.

After a few minutes Vince showed up with his boyfriend Greg. He squealed once he saw me and gave me a bone cracking hug.

“Alden you look completely different! I can’t believe it! You look totally awesome tonight!” He screamed at me.

His boyfriend Greg was giving me a suspicious look which made me give a nasty look back at him for being jealous. I then remembered Greg, he was giving me the same look the brief moment I saw him a few weeks prior.

Before our stare down continued I heard Katie’s voice say, “Oh my fucking god!”

Before I could turn around as Vince released me Katie started hugging me as well. I saw Katie’s date walking up and he too was giving me a suspicious look. I gave him a glare as well as I let go of Katie. I was getting slightly annoyed that these two guys are thinking I want anything sexual with my friends. They think it’s a crime that friends give each other hugs.

After a couple minutes Jon and Anne showed up. I almost couldn’t recognize them out of their regular clothes. John was wearing a white muscle tee and torn blue jeans. Anne was wearing a pale yellow off the shoulder top with lace sleeves and light blue stone wash skinny jeans with a thin black stripe up the sides of both legs.

“Wow Alden, You look great. These must be your friends.” John said to me as he saw Vince and Katie beside me.

“My name is Jon and this is my wife Anne.” John said to Katie as he greeted them. “It is great that you all let us join you all tonight.”

Katie told Jon, “Not a problem at all. The more the merrier.”

As she faced Anne she commented, “Anne, I absolutely love your top.”

As we headed inside, she and Anne just chatted away as we all went to get drinks. I had a feeling that they were going to get along just great. The interior of the club has a high dancing floor in the center of the room that also is utilized for the drag shows. I liked that there was ample room for tables and having the dance floor elevated. I haven’t seen many gay clubs set up like it was here. As we luckily commandeered a couple tables next to each other I noticed my supposed blind date wasn’t here yet.

“Where’s this man Vince?” I asked him as we got our drinks and were sitting at our tables.

“He will be here. Just give it a few minutes since it’s just after eleven.” He assured me.

After a minute longer Vince waved a man down that entered the club. He had a slight mean look about him and I had a feeling that this was going to be another dud of a date.

As he approached Vince announced him to everyone. “This is Howard Hayes, everyone. He just recently moved into my apartment complex and we got to talking and I decided to invite him to join us and experience some of the nightlife of the city.”

After everyone greeted Howard he sat beside me. He stuck out his hand and said, “You must be Alden.”

“Not much of a conversationalist” I chuckled to myself in my head. “Nice to meet you Howard.” I said to him.

The night went quite well overall. John and Anne were pretty much cemented into our group just after a night of conversation and dancing. I noticed Howard really wasn’t much into talking and was more interested in getting his hands on me for most of the night. He was downing shots repeatedly most of the night and was turning into a sloppy drunk. I was getting pretty annoyed with it as he had slowly been grabbing me harder and harder to the point it was getting uncomfortable. I shrugged him off, focused on my friends and we had a great time watching the drag show. Soon after I noticed that it was getting close to one in the morning so I decided to call it a night.

“Guys, I’m going to call it a night. I’m going to head back home.” I announced.

After a round of goodbyes and me giving a couple of looks at Vince and Katie’s dates I headed to the door. A hand grabbed my wrist and I was spun around with Harold inches away from my face.

“Why don’t you let me take you home? We can get to know each other more.” He said with a smirk.

Tearing my hand away from him in a rough and demanding voice I said, “I am tired and just want to go to bed.”

I left the club and walked quickly to my car, ready to be done with this night. I was tired and was getting a headache from a hangover that was already coming on. I was parked at the same lot I use for work and was almost there when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and even though the light was dim I saw that it was Howard.

As he was walking up to me I sighed and said, “Harold, I am really tired and not feeling good. I am going home and get some…”

I didn’t finish my sentence as he grabbed for my throat and snarled out, “I am going to get what I want.”

My brain kicked into overdrive and I did the first thing I thought of, I kneed him as hard as I could and was able to get loose. I ran as fast as I could towards my car. I heard him getting closer to me and I realized that I wasn’t going to get inside of my car because being a cheapskate that I am I never bought a newer car with a key fob.

With tears in my eyes I tried to get the door unlocked when I felt something slam into the back of my skull and my face slammed into the window. The impact was so hard the glass shattered and I felt slices of glass tearing into the sides of my face. Blood was pouring out of my nose. I felt so many punches and kicks all over my body that I lost count. I was wanting him to stop, I was moaning and crying from the pain because it was so bad.

I then realized I felt the cold smoothness of the hood of my car on my face with my pants down around my ankles. Realizing what he was about to do I tried to fight him but my face was quickly slammed back onto the hood with a resounding thud that echoed in the alleyway. With one hand holding my hands behind my back his other hand spread open my ass and spit onto the crevice. My heartbeat quickened as I knew what he was about to do.

With my strength giving out and the pain creeping in on me, I tried one more time to free myself. He quickly grabbed my head and slammed it onto the hood once more and shoved all of himself into me. The pain was too much and all I could do was wish that he killed me and ended it. I just wanted peace. I wanted to be free.

I don’t know how long time passed but I felt different hands on me. I opened my eyes and could hardly see anything with the blood flowing into them. I could just make out a shadowy face and a man’s deep soothing voice kept repeating just three words, “You’re safe now.” After hearing those words my body and mind gave out on me and I blacked out.