I have to be up at 5 to get into the city to go up to White Plains. Yay! So I met with Tom. That is ... when he finally made it here. He got lost. Poor guy. I live on John F Kennedy Boulevard East. There's a street parallel a couple blocks away ... John F Kennedy. Yup. One's East ... the other's plain. When I gave him my address I made sure to say East. I if you're not from the area ... you just figure that John F Kennedy Boulevard will just become John F Kennedy Boulevard East as you drive ... mm hmm ... east! Nah uh! And Tom found that out the hard way.

I don't drive. So calling me for directions doesn't help. I also barely know the area other than where I have to stand to get a bus into the city, where Pathmark and the Galaxy theater are. Oh ... and Hudson County Park. Anything else about Jersey? I would have absolutely no clue.

When Tom called me the first time I told him to just ask someone how to get to 'Boulevard East'. Everybody here pretty much knows that. I'm not sure if he pulled the macho "I'm a guy dammit! I don't need no directions" crap or not but about 2 hours later he called again. He was lucky this time because Mark was home and was able to give him directions.

It's funny that I can be so trusting/stupid and just run off with some guy I barely know and met in person for the first time. He got here. I was on the phone with Rudy. Hung up, grabbed my zippered sweat and bailed. Usually I know who I can trust or not. My judgement hasn't been bad so far. The weird thing is ... I'm so dark ... I would make up newspaper headlines in my head.

'ANGEL BOI FOUND STRANGLED IN CAR TRUNK'

'BOY FOUND DEAD AFTER MEETING ONLINE STALKER'

I would imagine Oprah doing a special on 'Internet Safety' and using my death as an example. I have no idea why I'm so jaded. The really crazy part is ... the thoughts don't scare me.

Anyway ... we drove into the city. Talking and listening to CD's he had burned. Tom took a wrong turn and ended up ... on the bus ramp. Yup. The bus ramp to Port Authority. I wasn't paying attention but soon found myself saying ... "Uh ... I don't think we're supposed to be here."

And soon after those words ... we saw a police car. The cop was very nice and I guess after seeing the Pennsylvania license plates ... he explained what we had to do. Even stopped the buses so we could get the hell out of there.

"You have a pretty exciting life don't you?" I smiled at Tom.

We got to his cousin's around 10 after finding a parking garage. I wasn't sure how comfortable I would've been. I mean ... I barely know Tom and I'm hanging out with him and his cousin? It's like ... whoa bucko! But ... it was fine. Really nice, even. Becky. She has a cute apartment in Midtown East. Small studio. So nicely decorated. Tom and Becky caught up on stuff. I thought at first I would've been bored out of my mind. I wasn't. I listened to them talk about family. People who of course I don't know. But they talked about them so well and freely and I somehow felt so relaxed that they became my family as well. We took some pictures. Left Becky's like 10 minutes to midnight.

Now ... Tom's original plan was to drive here, see his cousin and then drive to Boston. The guy was wired on caffeine. It was cute hehe. I couldn't have him drive to Boston like that. Plus he couldn't get a holf of the friend he was planning on visiting. He called from Becky's just before we left and the guy told him back in 20 minutes.

I was in this ... content mood. I always feel that way when I'm around people i want to be around. Like Rudy, Husani, Aaron, Amber. Pretty much anyone I consider a friend. I guess because I'm at home a lot ... when I'm experiencing the contact ... I just fall into this satisfied state. I'm not greedy. I know it doesn't last all that long so I just enjoy it.

We came back to my apartment and he tried his friend in Boston again. Called him the tried to find him online and called him again. We stood in the kitchen drinking juice and trying to think of what to do. I really didn't want him driving like that. Not for 4 hours and 1 in the morning. I told him he could stay the night.

The problem was ... finding a place to park. It took forever. No .... really. Took like an hour driving around until we found a spot. About 10 blocks from my building. We walked back and he tried the Boston guy again. It was like a sleepover. Like with my best friend at that time (13), Kris.

Tom took out his portfolio and showed me some of his work. So good. He's so talented. Crazy how I was there sitting on my bed with a guy I barely knew. It was late and we were both tired. Mark has a sleeping bag but it's in his room and of course ... he was asleep. The only other person to sleep in this bed with me is Husani.

"Thank you for going with me to see Becky," whispered Tom in the darkness.

"No prob. It was fun. She's pretty cool."

He talked a while about how pretty she was in some wedding pictures she showed us. She was.

"I can't believe you're here," I whispered, looking over at him. Our eyes met. The light that came through the window right over us gave him this angelic look.

We stared at each other for a long while. Smiling. And then ... we kissed. There was a strange man in my bed and I kissed him. Or he kissed me. We kissed. Lips met and we kissed.

Thing is ... we have a lot in common and I like him. But of course ... with the luck I have ... we didn't meet until he planned on moving to Seattle.

"Do you have to move?" I whispered.

"Yah. I have to do this for me. I've moved so much. I want some place that'll be home. Seattle feels like home."

I felt sad and happy at the same time. I was able to at least spend time with him ... but compared with the life of a damsel fly. Only for one day.

"At least we have now," Tom whispered. "And I'll never forget this."

I nodded and we kissed again.

It went no further than kissing and fingertips under shirts on bare skin. I'm selfish and if we had sex ... any kind of sex ... I'd be even more upset of his moving to Seattle. We drifted and faded until morning.

The weather was shitty today. Still is actually. We woke up and laid around in bed talking. Got up and had cereal. It was raining like crazy. I showered and got dressed while he checked email and wrote a poem. A poem about the day and of us. It's really sweet. He showered and got dressed and we went out for pizza. I was starting to miss him already and he hadn't even left yet. We came back to the apartment and waited for the rain to ease up a bit.

I was strangely drowsy and felt myself falling very quiet. The rain eased a little and we walked over to the car. He took a couple pictures of the city on the way. He got a ticket. We didn't know the street was for residential parking only.

"I say don't pay it. You're moving anyway," I grinned.

He drove me back to my building, leaned over and kissed me.

"Well ... you have my address right?" I asked. "And my phone number?"

"Yup. Thanks for everything," he smiled.