Cruised

He walked past the shop. I looked out the shop. He saw me. Then, he turned back and walked past the shop again, while looking at me inside the shop.

“Do you believe in love at first sight or shall I walk past you again?”

This could be the beginning of a beautiful love story. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

I was cruised while paying the cashier at Watsons. I was looking out of the shop while waiting for the cashier to return my change. This guy in pink shirt walked past the shop and saw me paying at the counter. He turned back and walked past Watsons again while fixing his gaze at me. I quickly looked away and pretended I didn’t notice. Wouldn’t want him to misunderstand had I made eye contact with him.

Urban dictionary defined “cruise” as a verb; to seduce someone, look for a sexual partner in a public place or to seek out and make a sexual overture to. For example, "The men were cruising the park."

I think the word cruise can be taken more lightly in today’s modern context. I think it shall be, looking for eye-candies in public places.

The guy at Watsons didn’t dare walk into the shop. I guess I intimidate some people. I am no hunk. I think of myself to more to a “boy next door” look. There are only two groups of people who dared to approach me, and some were quite aggressive about it.

I love swimming and when I am available on the weekends, I try to visit the public swimming pools around KL. Once in the changing room of a famous pool, after a good workout, I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the vibe the place was giving me. Instead of a shower, I quickly changed out of my Speedos and rushed out to shower back home. When I was walking out, this old perverted looking uncle grasped my hand and pulled me towards him. He was in his fifties, balding with a big, protruding belly. He looked so pale. It seemed like he spent his entire time in the changing room instead of the pool. Shocked buy his sudden action, I pushed him away and quickly walked off. I was angry. Yet at the same time, in a weird sense of emotion, I felt pitiful for him. Is that what happen to gay men when they become old and single? I am single and I am aging, therefore I am pretty worried. I never returned to that swimming pool.

At another pool in Cheras, after my swim, I was driving back in my car. At the traffic lights, I felt that someone was looking at me. You know how we sometimes have the innate ability to sense that someone is staring at us even at a distance far away. I looked to my left and realized a man was looking at me from inside his car next to mine. He had been following me from the pool. Fortunately, I was making a right turn when the lights turned green while cars on his lane had to go straight ahead. He was again, aged with a receding hairline. I think people become less shy and more “thick-faced” as they grow older but this group of perverts exists amongst us and they scare me. This is the group of people who cruise without shame and does not understand no for an answer. The worst is that they prey on young, helpless (or helpless-looking) young adults like me.

The second group of people to have cruised me are the gym people. Huge biceps, big pecs and all. These are people who take good care of their appearance and is confident when approaching me. The good thing is that they are really polite in their approach and do not do it in a sexual, perverted kind of manner. Prince Charming was one of them when my car had a heart attack and died on me in the middle of the night.

I was not comfortable with the attention as I was growing up, but as I got older I began to take it in my stride. Sometimes I am flattered when attractive people show me their interest. When the attention comes from girls, it can be suffocating at times. The endless sms, facebook, msn and friendster messages from female juniors and student nurses. I think they figured out my sexual orientation when they throw themselves at me and I did not reciprocate like the other horny straight boys out there. I stopped using my friendster for a year until I forgotten my password and could no longer log in!

The latest adventure I had happened on a plane while I was travelling. While waiting for my flight at the airport’s international departure hall, I found myself drawn to the perfume shop like any gay metrosexual guy would. There I saw this gym stud in figure hugging t-shirt with short, spiky hair. His shirt showed off his figure nicely (it wasn't the very tight kind but tight enough to show off his body) and he was not campy in his style. He was in his late twenties but has a serious looking face with no smile on it. I couldn’t believe I was the one cruising him. Eye-candy should be appreciated, no?

When I sat down on one of the chairs, I sensed someone looking at my direction from afar. That innate ability doing its work again. I looked up and saw a guy looking at me from a distance. He was slightly older than the stud earlier and dressed more conservatively. He was very pleasant looking and carried more weight in terms of looks. I think he is in a professional line of work and looking more matured would be helpful to him. I pretended I didn’t notice and continued reading my Lonely Planet book.

It wasn’t until I saw the stud at the perfume shop walking over and sat with the other nice looking guy. Two attractive people could not possibly be travelling alone. I put two and two together and conclude that they are couples. How nice to go on a trip with your loved one.

As the gates opened, I went into the plane with no idea who will be sitting beside me. I was separated from my friends as we bought our tickets on different days. To my sweet surprise, my seat number was just right next to the hot couple. I didn’t even know they were on the same flight. Let’s call them hot stud and handsome man to make things easier.

The hot stud ignored me most of the journey but handsome man was trying to chat me up. It was kind of difficult as the hot stud was sitting in the middle separating us. Suddenly one of my friends appeared and informed me there was an empty seat beside theirs. He called my name aloud and asked me if I wanted to change seats. Being a nice boy, I declined with the excuse that it was difficult to get out of my window seat without disturbing the other two sleeping fellows. I thought he was sleeping but he caught my name! I had no idea until I asked for his name while exiting the aircraft and he already knew mine, from hearing my friend calling out my peculiar English name. I am just glad my parents did not name me Valentino Cupidus, Julius Beckham Caesar or Beauty Divine! These are real names I’ve seen in people. You get all this amazing names when you are born in the land where I come from.

He was being very friendly to me despite having the hot stud around. Maybe they are not a couple after all? As we walked into the arrival hall for baggage collection, the hot stud walked behind and let us continue our conversation. But the handsome man did not express interest of exchanging contacts so we left it at that, beautiful memories in an airplane. Maybe they are a couple after all.

During my trip around the scenic tourist places, I bumped into them once. They were in tank tops showing off their heavenly bodies. The handsome one has a nice toned body that was hidden by his conservative looking shirt when we first met.

I became shy and avoided them. But I took a souvenir. Maybe certain things are better left as beautiful memories.

Here is the little souvenir I took from the beautiful memory of my trip.