Journal Entry #26 – First Night in Connecticut
Hi Journal!
Well, I have another one for you! I'm in New Haven, Connecticut, scouting colleges (or at least that was the excuse I gave Daddy for the trip. It's my first real trip out completely on my own, which I think is important at this point of my life.
Enough boring stuff, you know why I'm here.
Yesterday I drove into Connecticut from New York. The roads here are so pretty, but the freeways (they call them highways) are miserable! I swear I never saw more than two lanes each way! They do have these cool little places where you can exit to get McD's and gas and then pull right back on to the road. I wish we had more of those back home.
I got into New Haven after passing through a nasty looking place called Bridgeport (more on that later) and eventually found my hotel.
I checked in and went up to my room where I unpacked, took a looooong bath, and then took a nap. When I got up I was so hungry, so I threw on some shorts and a tank with sneakers and went down to ask where I could get some food. The clerk (cute, but more later) told me about the hotel restaurant, but I asked him about other places. He gave me directions to a diner near "the Common" which was nearby.
I guess it was nearly four, and the streets were pretty crowded. This didn't look like too good of a neighborhood, and I started to get worried, but then figured the buildings and streets were just old, not bad.
I noticed that all of the girls were dressed in skirts and they all wore tights. Not going to see that in California any time soon! I couldn't figure out why, since it wasn't even cold, but I guess it's just the fashion.
I found the little restaurant the clerk had told me about and went inside. I didn't have to wait too long for a table, and the food was excellent. The service wasn't great, but maybe I just got a bad waitress.
Anyway, when I finished I went back out and down the street, where I found a great big park right in the middle of everything, surrounded by buildings and the University. I decided that this was where I was going to run the next morning, and I visited a few bookstores just to see what was up.
I was looking through the magazines when I saw this guy looking at me. He was at least 6'4", built like a football player, and had long shaggy brown hair and a long beard and mustache. He was dressed in a flannel shirt over a T-shirt and jeans, and he smiled at me with the biggest, most beautiful smile I'd seen in a long time.
His big brown puppy-dog eyes were so soft and full of warmth that I couldn't help but stop and smile back at him. When I did he stopped smiling and looked down, and then shuffled away.
I saw that he was heading for the counter, so I grabbed a couple of magazines and chased after him. I guess I wasn't paying too much attention because I found out later in the hotel that I bought an issue of Guns & Ammo and Field & Stream. I got into line behind him and waited patiently before dropping one of my magazines next to him.
Being the gentleman I knew he would be, he stooped and picked it up and then turned to hand it to me, getting a long look up my legs and past my chest at my smiling face. After a second I crouched down with him and took the magazine and said thank you. He laughed really loudly, a pleasant strong laugh, and he stood up. His eyes were twinkling when he said, "You're very welcome!"
I told him my name, and he said his was Jeff. I told him that I was in town to visit the University and I asked him if he was a student. He confirmed that he was, but of the community college just a little ways from New Haven.
I asked him what he did, and he blushed. I expected him to say he worked in a porn shop or something, but he said he worked in a comic book shop.
I said that was cool, and he looked like I had just took the world's troubles away from him. I looked at the book he was carrying and it was some kind of paperback about Batman. I asked him if Batman was his favorite. THE Batman, he corrected me, and then he went on to tell me that his favorite character was Hulk. I told him I saw the TV show on reruns, and he said that it wasn't like that at all.
Just when he got to the front of the line I asked him why he liked Hulk, and he looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Sometimes it feels good to see the big guy cut loose and let out all of his feelings, and nothing can stop him, you know?" I got wet and my legs went weak in the knees.
After I bought my magazines I raced out and saw him walking (it really did look like he was shambling, but how do you describe that?) across the street and into the park. It took me a minute to get across the street because of traffic, but once I got across I went running after him as fast as I could.
I found him sitting back against a tree reading the paperback and he looked surprised when I ran up.
"Are you stalking me?" he asked, looking bewildered.
I leaned on my knees and said that I kind of was. I told him that I was just visiting for a couple of days, and that he was the first really nice person I'd met. I asked him to have dinner with me.
He looked around like he expected guys with cameras to jump out, and then he said he had a girlfriend.
"It's just for a couple of days and then I'm gone. She never has to find out." At this point in every story I'm always torn. A part of me wants them to jump up and say, "Let's go!" But there's a big part of me that enjoys it when they say, "No, I love her and wouldn't do that." He picked the middle.
"Okay, but just dinner and talking, right?" he asked.
"Sure," I said, and in my mind I knew that if I didn't have a piece of this guy that night I'd never feel right about myself again.
We walked over to his car, a beat up little Toyota, and he drove me back to the hotel. He seemed really nervous going up to my room, but once we were inside he sprawled out on the bed. I asked him if he knew anyplace nearby to eat and he said he knew a place. I asked him how I should dress, and he just looked at himself and told me to dress casually.
We had pleasant chitchat about the world and where we fit into it, and where we didn't. He was a really sweet guy, and I could see myself falling for him if everything ever worked out that way.
It was nearly seven when he asked if I was hungry yet, and I said I was. I changed (in the bathroom) into jeans and a sweater with heels and he whistled when I came out. I ran over and kissed his fuzzy cheek and he blushed beet red.
We went down to his car and he drove us back down the highway to that crappy looking city I mentioned before, Bridgeport. We parked in a neighborhood I wouldn't have even slowed down in with my Lexus, and he escorted me into a little Italian restaurant.
It was so loud, big guys in work clothes drinking and laughing and watching sports on a crappy old TV over the bar. The waitress, who looked like she hooked on the side and didn't charge much, sat us and after a few minutes the waiter came over. Jeff ordered Chianti and garlic bread, and we settled down to talk. I do not know why I wasn't carded, but it was a good thing I wasn't.
Jeff was telling me about Hulk again, about how the world didn't understand him, and how his rage was uncontrollable because of it, when I brushed my foot against his ankle. The first couple of times he moved his leg out of the way, but as he talked he became more intense and I was able to run my foot up and down his calf.