"Mwen renmen gade porno ki gen gason ki fe afe avek gason, I like watching pornos where guys fuck guys," Astrid Jean-Baptiste said with a grin. Quite the conversation starter on a first date, to be sure. Mere seconds ago, Astrid rummaged through her purse while looking for something, and her handsome and well-dressed date Jean Duchene glimpsed the gay porn mag she'd apparently been reading. Of course, he had to ask about it and of course she answered. An awkward silence reigned over their table afterwards...
"Intriguing," Jean Duchene replied, trying to keep his cool. When Jean's paternal aunt Jacqueline Duchene set him up on a date with Astrid, he wasn't sure what to expect. This was totally out of the blue and not what he wanted or needed right now. Jean is, by all accounts, a perfect exemplar of the modern Haitian American male. Born in the environs of Miami, Florida, to Haitian immigrant parents, Jean is the son of two worlds. This is something his parents, schoolteacher Marie-Ange Dumont and accountant Leonel Duchene don't fully understand. Jean is a man of mystery.
A lot of Haitian parents struggle to understand their Americanized sons and daughters. After completing his Criminal Justice studies at FAMU, Jean opted to spend a summer in Italy instead of going straight for law school, a move which perplexed his family, to say the least. Why did Jean take off to Italy? Oh, the brother had his reasons. Refusing to explain himself to anyone, Jean flew to Tuscany, Italy, with his good buddy Gaetano Pavolini, the Italian lothario. Perhaps the brother wanted to see the world, or something to that effect.
"Tell me more about yourself," Astrid said while sipping her Pepsi. Jean leaned back in his chair and grinned before taking a sip of his lemonade. A sumptuous meal consisting of white rice, brown bean sauce and fish sat before Astrid but she barely touched her food. Jean admired Astrid, and wondered what her deal was. The gal was tall and sexy, and on the fast track to getting her engineering degree from the University of Miami. What was such a pretty lady doing in the singles lane? Surely someone wanted a piece of Astrid's action...
As Jean pondered what to say to Astrid, a couple walked by, accompanied by Luther Bien-Aime, the owner of Café Du Port. The dark-skinned, silver-haired little man led the couple to a table by the window. Luther insists on that personal touch with everyone who comes to his restaurant. Jean looked at the couple, a curvy white woman with blonde hair and a big ass, and her date, a slim, light-skinned brother with a goatee. Jean checked out the blonde gal's ass, but his eyes did linger on the brother's physique a trifle longer than socially acceptable. Astrid, being observant, totally picked up on that.
"I just ended a relationship," Jean said at last, and Astrid nodded, an enigmatic smile on her lovely face. Astrid reminded Jean of a former crush of his, WNBA player Diamond DeShields...only curvier and with more ass. Yeah, Jean does love the ladies. If only it were that simple. Jean has always felt attracted to both sexes, and since being bisexual is considered taboo in Haitian culture, he kept it to himself. As far as Jean's friends and family are concerned, he and his college buddy Gaetano are just friends, and that's the way he liked it...
"Was it a girl or a guy?" Astrid asked innocently, as if discussing the weather, and Jean, caught off guard, nearly spilled his drink. Astrid grinned, pleased by his reaction. Jean took a deep breath and stared at his date, a bewildered expression on his handsome face. The tall, dark-skinned and ruggedly handsome young black man is a normally astute person, but Astrid totally threw him off his game. Jean steepled his fingers as he wondered what to say to Astrid. The lady had him dead to rights alright...
"A guy, a good friend of mine, he moved to Italy and married the woman of his dreams," Jean said with a shrug. Sighing deeply, Jean locked eyes with Astrid. The young man braced himself for the rejection and disgust that he was sure were coming his way. The modern black woman may be tolerant of gay rights, but for the most part, she finds bisexual black men unacceptable. That's why most black men who swing both ways remain closeted until the day they die. Black women cannot accept them, and neither can the black community...
"Was that so hard to say, Jean? We've all lost someone to someone else at some point," Astrid said softly. Jean kind of gasped upon hearing that. He'd been bracing himself for many reactions, but this wasn't one of them. Astrid grinned, and Jean almost jumped when he felt her foot, her bare foot, press against his under the table. Jean grinned nervously, and Astrid licked her lips. She looked at him the way a hungry person looks at fast food.
"Alright, Astrid, I guess, you could say, I'm Bi, I prefer ladies, mostly, but yeah," Jean said, unsure whether to be relieved or alarmed by Astrid's ways. Astrid took a forkful of fish from her plate, and ate it. Nodding, she then took some chicken from Jean's plate, and he smiled, knowing better than to oppose her. For some reason, ladies think it's cute to take food from a guy's plate while on dates. Jean doesn't understand it but knows not to say anything about it. Whatever the ladies want, they usually get...
"Hmm, I like your honesty, Jean, I think you got a nice ass, too," Astrid said, grinning. Leaning back in her chair, Astrid smiled at Jean. Under the table, Astrid's foot traveled up Jean's foot, toward his crotch. Jean sat up, abruptly, and Astrid laughed. She continued to tease him by brushing her foot up and down his crotch. Jean groaned in surprise and frustration. It had been three months since Jean came back from Tuscany, Italy, following Gaetano's wedding to his sweetheart Annabella Tartaglia. Jean hasn't been with anyone, female or male, since that disaster. Astrid pressing her foot against his crotch was pure torture...
