Le Gars de Chocolat Chaud

There I was. It was a busy morning at work. Paperwork had piled up, emails awaited response, and appointments waited to be arranged. I couldn’t get any of this work done. A tingly sensation was in the air. Partly out of worry and partly out of sheer giddiness, I completely lacked focus.

A half hour into work, a visitor arrived. It was my first time seeing him in person. His skin a gorgeous olive tone, his hair jet black and receding ever so slightly, I was taken immediately by the gesture.

“Hi, GMB. I hope your day’s going well. I just thought I’d bring you some hot chocolate and say hi.”

He flashed me a smile and chuckled briefly as he watched my reaction, then turned around and left.

“Catch you later.”

He quickly made his way out of the door, a little faster with the joy of a good deed done. It was a sort of expected surprise.

He started up a conversation on connexion. A simple hello leading to a discussion on the proper ways to pronounce the words “either,” “tomato,” and “banana.” His name was Toni and he definitely wasn’t from Utah.

“Do you mind if I ask where you’re from?” I asked via instant messaging.

“Of course not. I’m from the Middle East.”

“Really? That’s awesome. I guess that’s a bit like my situation. Being gay and Mormon.”

“Yeah. I guess. It’s different. Harsher, I think. My mom’s been really supportive. Sure, she put me in counselling and thought I was a terrible person for a while, but she always loved me.

“I worry about that happening. We’re not meant to be fixed, Toni.”

Perhaps for the reason that we were from two distinct cultures tied together by conservatism and ‘traditional’ ideas of love we formed a bond.

“Let me take you out for a drink sometime,” he said.

“Sure. Anytime,” I quickly replied.

“Let’s grab a beer sometime.”

“Nah. I don’t drink.”

“How about a coffee sometime on campus?”

“On campus would be fine. I work near the café, but I don’t drink coffee. I’m down with hot chocolate, though.”

“Okay,” he said, “expect a surprise tomorrow. Have a good night.”

In a matter of minutes, I’d contacted Cole and told him exactly what had happened.

“So this Hot Chocolate Boy is pretty cute then?

“Definitely. We’ll see where it all goes. I’m excited, but I don’t want that to rule my emotions.”

“That’s a very GMB thing to say, you know—you don’t want it to, but it will.”

And, of course, he was right. The next morning, I was very distracted, and even after he arrived with said ‘surprise.’

I was taught that taught in church that random acts of kindness can melt our hearts and that’s really what happened in this case. The hopeless romantic—the one I’d always dreamed of becoming but never thought would exist before I realized my sexuality—was being touched once again. The act was nothing extravagant, but somehow reminded me of the dream I held looking at the timeless romances of my straight friends like Nate and Chenese. I was reassured that the sweetness of their ‘everyday fairytale’ romance could exist for me.

That said, Toni later shared with me much more difficult lessons for a hopeless romantic.

End, Part 1.