I ran into an old friend today. We have known one another for almost a quarter of a century. I have always liked this guy. He was fun and jovial; but most of all he was sincere. He was a part of a group of guys that I grew up with. They are two to three years older than me. I was always just one of the guys. I lifted weights with them. I drank with them. I did every drug known to man with them; and sometimes, I slept with them. Tim, the guy I ran into today was fortunate to have escaped my clutches. That was a good thing. I was always so at ease with him. He was like my brother. Then there was Joe. Joe the genius! He has a photographic memory. Probably one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He holds degrees in German, Political Science, and a Masters in some sort of Economics. He is a walking encyclopedia. Some of my fondest memories in life were with Joe. (But those stories will come.) I never slept with him. He tried, but he remembers it the other way around. Ces’t la vie! Chad was the heartthrob of the bunch; at least in my opinion. I think I fell in love with him immediately. He had silky blonde hair and a face of Nordic god. The verdict is out on whether or not I slept with Chad. I say no, but Joe insists I did. This is the pattern with Joe. That leaves us with Ashley. Very Gone of the Wind, if I do say so myself. This is the one I lost my virginity to. We were in his burgundy Camaro at Sports World, and it sucked. Not really his fault though, it just hurt like hell.

This was the core group. Over many years I slept with lots of guys who knew these guys. Joe will quite freely state to anyone who will listen that I slept with just about all of his friends. In the end, I look back on those years with great fondness and sadness. I was having a good time and I always had these guys to fall back on, even when whatever got fucked up was really my fuck up.