Growing up, I had a mad crush on Emmanuella "Manou" Jean-Pierre, the six-foot-tall, dark-skinned and tomboyish daughter of one of my father's friends. We used to play together, but Manou was a lot closer to my older sister Annabelle since they were the same age. I was a year younger than them, and in the world of females, that's a monumental difference. Chicks, man. They act as if twelve months difference is the end of the world.
Still, Manou and I were destined to be together. I could feel it in my bones. My name is Stephen Duchene and I got a story to share with you, dear reader. The story of how I found the lady I was destined to be with, when I least expected it. Basically, it's about how life caught up with me and forced me to make the decisions I'd been delaying for the longest time. Follow my life through these lines, please. Learn from my mistakes. Might help you on your own path, who knows?
I was born in the City of Quartier Morin, northern Haiti, and left the island with my parents and sister in the summer of 1999. For the next fourteen years we lived in the City of Miami, Florida. I graduated from Miami Dade Community College, then transferred to the University of Central Florida, where I earned a criminal justice degree. These days, at the age of 27, I'm a Law student at Florida State University. Tall, burly and dopey-smiling, that's me. A proud member of Miami's Haitian community. I live in Little Haiti, which was considered "the hood" for the longest time, until gentrification changed its demographics.
My neighborhood used to be mostly Black, with a few Mexicans and Chinese people, but now it's forty five percent White, with an assortment of minorities forming the remaining sixty percent. Actually, we're not minorities anymore since, collectively, we outnumber White folks in the area. It's a brand new day, ladies and gentlemen. I live in a nice two-bedroom apartment that I'm having trouble paying for since my ex-boyfriend Trevor Whitaker and I broke up for what might be the last time.
It's not easy being Haitian and bisexual, and I used to hate myself because of my sexual orientation. The day I met Trevor is the day I stopped hating myself. Six-foot-one, lean and athletic, with caramel-hued skin, curly Black hair and lime-green eyes, Trevor was simply beautiful. Born in the City of Hartford, Connecticut, to a Haitian immigrant mother and a White American father, he's got the unique good looks of a mixed brother. He was playing soccer for Bridgewater State University at the time we met. We hooked up, my first time with another man, and it's an experience that changed my life.
Trevor Whitaker is bisexual, like myself, and totally comfortable with who he is. The dude had the guts to share his secret with his family and close friends. Me? I was beyond closeted. Hell, I was behind the closet. As a six-foot-four, burly and somewhat chubby, dark-skinned brother with a masculine swagger, I cultivated my personal image to avoid even throwing a hint of who and what I truly was. I dated a lot of females at school, and I made sure my friends and family knew it. Along came Trevor, and my carefully ordered life turned upside down. Yup, I fell in love with that man.
Trevor Whitaker is the man who brought me out of my shell. He's the brother I introduced to my parents, Louis and Marielle Duchene, at our family home in South Miami, as my future partner. For three glorious years we were together. And then one day I came home to find Trevor getting busy with Jessica, a chubby middle-aged White woman who lived in our building. Yup, Trevor had Jessica face down and ass up on the bed we shared, and he was so into fucking her that he didn't notice that I'd come home. Shocked, I just stood there, frozen. Trevor and Jessica looked up, saw me and Trevor disentangled himself from her, and came to me with a plethora of excuses. I took off. Thus ended our relationship.
When a long-time relationship ends, it can make you question many things. I decided to focus on school and work, and forget about Trevor's cheating ass. I wasn't looking for casual fun or serious relationships with anyone, male or female. The way I see it, people suck and when you trust them, all they do is betray that trust. I told my parents what happened between Trevor and I, and they were secretly thrilled about it. My father has never liked the fact that I swing both ways and he encouraged me to go back to dating women now that Trevor was out of my life.
Honestly, I wish I could make straight people understand male bisexuality. I was born bisexual. I'll be bisexual until the day that I die. If I'm with a female, and I like sex with her, and enjoy our relationship, I am still bisexual. I cannot become straight. If I'm with a man, and I enjoy a relationship with him, I am still bisexual. I cannot become gay. Even when I was sharing a bed with Trevor, I still jerked off thinking about big-booty Black girls or curvy Hispanic women. That's just the way I feel. Please try to understand.
One Friday afternoon, out of the blue, I went to visit my parents. My sister Annabelle was back in town, since her fling with some Chinese dude named Andrew Lee from San Francisco didn't work out. Guess who my sister brought with her? Her old friend Emmanuella "Manou" Jean-Pierre, the proverbial gal next door. The one we played with when we were younger. Apparently, Manou left Haiti in 2004 and spent the next ten years in San Francisco, California. After graduating with her MBA from San Francisco State University, Manou got hired by Excelsior Tech and relocated to Miami because of her new job. Good for her.
Man, I must say, the sight of Manou triggered all kinds of memories and feelings in me. I hadn't seen this gal in fourteen years. The awkward tomboy I remembered had grown into a tall, curvaceous cutie with thick thighs, a big round ass and the kind of ripe, cone-shaped tits that would give naughty ideas to a gay man. Hot damn. I hadn't felt this aroused in the presence of a female since Minnie, the Asian chick I dated before embarking on a relationship with Trevor. Manou was all smiles upon seeing me. I was happy to see her too. My parents definitely noticed the way Manou and I reacted to each other. I swear, the whole thing was a setup!