The summer before my freshman year of college I went to stay with my dad's old friend Ken for two and a half months.
I was enrolled in a summer class, but my parents couldn't really afford housing for me outside of the regular semester. Luckily, Ken lived 20 minutes from campus, lived alone, and had room in his condo to spare. It was the perfect set up.
Ken was a nice guy, very friendly, welcoming and easy going. His wife had died 5 years before. He had never remarried but always seemed to have a smile on his face or a joke to tell. We got along great but I noticed a few odd things. Ken would leave the house late at night and usually not come back until early the next morning.
I figured he might be out drinking, or maybe the poor lonely guy was visiting hookers. Wasn't my place to judge, and it didn't effect me so I didn't much care.
One afternoon, after I'd been there for about 2 weeks, I came home early after my professor cancelled class. As I entered the house Ken and another guy I'd never met before were standing in the doorway chatting. They both looked at me, surprised, said a hurried goodbye, and as they passed, Ken gave the guy an envelope and he quickly turned and left.
Ken didn't look at me, he just went into his office and didn't come out for the rest of the day. I had no idea what was going on, the interaction definitely seemed awkward but I had no idea what I had really just witnessed. It all became clear later that night.
Around 10 pm as I was sitting on the couch watching a movie, Ken emerged from his office and sat down across from me, he said, "Hey Steve, mind if we talk?"
Ken seemed very nervous, looking at the floor running his hands through his thinning brown hair.
"Sure," I said, "what's up?"
He stammered, "That young man you saw here today, I ... I mean I don't want living here to be uncomfortable for you, it's just that...Steve, I'm gay."
I was honestly shocked. It hadn't occurred to me that that was what was going on at all. What came next was even more shocking.
"Steve, I was married for 15 years when my wife died, and I lived with the urges to be with men. When I lost my wife, I knew I had to try it, but I had no idea how to pick up guys. So that guy you saw today...was a prostitute."
I gulped. This was getting kinda crazy, and my own repressed urges started to creep into my head.
He continued, "It all started 3 weeks after she died, I went on a website called Gay.com, have you heard of it?"
Now it was my turn to be uncomfortable, "Uh maybe I have, not really my thing though." That was a lie. Ever since I was 13 I'd secretly fantasized about men. My family was Catholic and conservative, I never allowed myself to think I might actually be gay. But when I was 17 I started going in to chat rooms on Gay.com.
He was really nervous now, sweat on his brow, his eyes wide. He said "I'd chat with guys on there, young guys like your age, and they'd send me nude pictures, and I'd get so horny chatting with them but I could never convince any of them to get together with me. So I started finding male escorts. And I'd have sex with them. And pay them, and they'd leave. And I'd feel soo depressed."
I thought he was going to start crying, and then he got quiet. "One night last summer I was chatting with this guy who called himself Steve. He was so sexy, submissive, and eager to please. He sent me pictures of himself, he was so hot. Tall and lean, almost feminine, I printed out all his pictures and stared at him while we chatted. And he seemed to like me, like really be into me sexually. He asked to see what I looked like, and I panicked. I mean I'm not model material." This was technically true, Ken was short and stocky but not out of shape. He had thinning messy hair and frankly he dressed like a construction worker. "So I stole a picture off the internet of some hot guy about my age, and sent it to Steve. When he got it he asked to meet me."
I thought my heart was going to stop.