Chocolate

 by: Staley Cole Smith

© 2019 by the Author

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

scsmith@tickiestories.us

Calvin sat on the edge of the bed and, reached under the sheet for his underwear. He jumped to his feet and started to put on his jeans.

“Don’t get dressed yet, we might want to do something else before we leave,” said Logan.

Chapter 1

The Story

It was one of those remarkably beautiful September days a year ago; when Logan shared a taxi cab in New York City with a stranger, whose name was Calvin.

Logan a white businessman from the state of Delaware and Calvin a black southern capitalist from North Carolina hailed the same cab on Madison Avenue. They weren’t very old and they weren’t very young but a healthy in-between.  They were strangers, but hit it off immediately being talkative and friendly during the ride from Grand Central Station to Penn Plaza.

“Looks like we are headed to the same place” said Calvin.

“I know - how unusual is that? I bet that doesn’t happen very often in a city like this.” Logan replied.

“I’m going to Penn Plaza for a job interview.” Said Calvin.

“You got to be kidding me, I work at Penn Plaza. The name is Logan”.

“Nope, I’m not kidding, he replied, the name is Calvin”, and the two of them shook hands.

“Are you a New Yorker”” asked Calvin.

“No, Delaware.” Logan replied, actually New Castle.  I live in New York now, at least for the time being.  Living expenses are greater here than New Castle, but the wages are higher; so it’s a wash - and you”.

“North Carolina – actually North Carolina……just jazzing you – it’s Chapel Hill” Said Calvin.

“Okay, Mr. Calvin from Chapel Hill.” replied Logan smiling at his new acquaintance.

“This is it gentlemen, this is Penn Plaza, the driver announced.

“I’ve got it.” Said Logan.

“No, you don’t,” replied Calvin trying to pay the driver, but he lost out because the driver took the money from Logan and drove away.

They stood in front of Penn plaza and Calvin tried to give half the fare back to Logan but he wouldn’t accept it. I’ll be finished with my interview before noon, can I buy you lunch? You do, get a lunch hour don’t you?” asked Calvin.

“Sure, lunch would be fine, but nothing fancy, if you want to grab something quick on the concourse here in the plaza, I’m game,” said Logan.

They exchanged cell numbers and Calvin agreed to call Logan around noon, since Logan could leave work at any time. Calvin’s time was tied up with an interview.

It was nearly 12:30 when Calvin phoned Logan.  “Hey there, it took longer than I anticipated but it’s over, still want to do lunch?”  He asked.

“Damn straight, I’ll meet you at the bottom of the escalator in ten minutes.” He said.

“Got it,” replied Calvin.

Calvin got there first standing in the sun, coming through the skylight, his black frame looked like chocolate velvet. He was tall with a hot body, short cropped hair, a trimmed beard, a beautiful smile with snow white teeth, and a classy dresser.  The brother was fine.

Logan came down the escalator looking like a suit packaged for a gay auction. He was smiling, fairly husky with no fat, dark brown short cropped hair, nice looking and spotless. He had a sexy stance poised on the escalator, with is hands on his hips and his jacket unbuttoned... He was sporting a bulge shifting in his crotch, as the steps moved downward.  But it could have been the sunlight playing tricks. In any regard, Logan was packing.

“How’d the interview go?”  He asked.

“Better than expected. It’s a job in securities and with my banking background, I may have a shot. I’ve been in banking in North Carolina for the past eleven years; I’m 32 and young enough to grow with some company, but who knows”.

“I hope something comes of it, so I can have a lunch buddy, working in the same building.” Logan said, but he was kidding.

“Yeah, I hope so, replied Calvin.

“What do you do” he asked Logan.

“Amtrak – I work for Amtrak” was all he said.

“Cool”.

“Yup, I like it, and I get a free pass to ride Amtrak anyplace in the country. And in case you’re wondering, I’m 29.”  Logan added.

“Damn cool” said Calvin.

“Do you like seafood?’ Logan asked.

“Hell yes, all us Carolinians like seafood, well maybe not all, but I sure do.”

“Let’s go to TRACK’S, for lunch. They have a good selection of food and drinks at reasonable prices. I dig their shepherd’s pie seasoned stew topped with browned mashed potatoes. They have a super lunch menu even fish and chips.”

“Lead the way.” Said Calvin – “I’m with you, man”

“I hope so,” replied Logan looking at him in the special way gay men look at other men and Calvin picked up on it immediately.

They sat across from one another at TRACKS enjoying lunch and talking about whatever happened to pop into the conversation.

“I’m gay” said Logan.

“I know” replied Calvin.

“Jesus, am I that obvious?”

“You’re not obvious at all and if you were, so what, nobody cares. Do you have a boyfriend waiting at home to tear your clothes off?” asked Calvin.

“Not any longer, I have been tossed aside like an old shoe”.

“Poor baby, I like old shoes.  I am gay too”.

“I knew that” said Logan.  “The way your eyes locked on to me, only a gay person would do that. It was more than just a look. It was looking….if you follow me?”

“I follow you.” said Calvin. “Would you go out with me sometime, like maybe tonight?” he asked coming right to the point.

“Would I get a good night kiss, since it is a date?”

“Count on it. My friends call me Cal, but Calvin is okay too, whatever makes you happy’ He said. “I don’t have my own place yet; I am staying with my cousin on 128th street until I land a job.”

“That’s Harlem, isn’t it?

“Yup, it’s not Tallassee”.

They both laughed and Logan put his hand over Cal’s hand and squeezed just a little. There was definitely some chemistry there and it was growing.

It’s a good thing they both had cell phones and could text one another. It was the only way they could keep in touch and not get lost among eight million people in a concrete jungle.

Logan returned to work and Cal took the train to 125th street and walked to his cousin’s building three blocks away. Nobody was home and he sat on the sofa with some ice tea thinking. The Metro-North train passed by the window and although it was a distance away, it felt like it was coming into the room. “Damn, this place is fucked up, nothing like the peace and beauty of Chapel Hill,” he thought to himself.  He was a black man in a well-known section of New York surrounded by other black men and women who were not like him.  They looked comparable being black, but the difference was on the inside. He was a southern democrat, and not liberal, but a conservative democrat, something he never discussed with anybody. He left politics to the story tellers.

He found that younger blacks in the north, at least in New York, were different in their behavior. They were more “in your face” with attitude, than he saw in the south. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. Cal was confused. He remembered the lecture his grandmother gave him before going to New York. Imagine that, a grown man, getting a lecture from his grandmother. She said to him.

“Calvin, that New York place can gobble you up. Those northern blacks ain’t like us southern nigga’s down here. You watch your step boy and play it with dignity; you hear what I’m sayin?”

Yes, it was etched in his mind; he heard what she was saying.  He got along well his cousin and the people he met in Harlem. There was nothing different about people; there were just more of them in Harlem. One thing was for sure, he didn’t want his grandmother messing up his mind; so he pushed her words aside, which he didn’t believe anyway, and instead concentrated on his new friend Logan.

Calvin received a message, not from Logan, but from a Mr. Ellsworth, the employment manager who interview him for the position at Penn Plaza. The message read;

Mr. Calvin Gibson,

I have gone over the applications and the job is between you and one other applicant. Your credentials in banking are impeccable, however I fear you may be overqualified for this particular position. We normally look for the most talented and trained people for our firm, but not this time. The applicant we are looking for, we prefer to train ourselves from the bottom up; so the position has been filled.

Thank you for stopping to speak with us. I wish you all the best.  

Signed – Michael Ellsworth, employment manager Penn Plaza.

Calvin read the mail a couple of times and gave a big sigh. “Whoever heard of being over qualified?  Companies want the best people, I bet it’s a money thing; they probably offered some dummy half of what I was asking and he took It.” he said talking out loud to himself. “This news is enough to spoil your slant on just about anything; life’s a hard business in New York, that’s for sure,” he mumbled.

Calvin got a text, this time from Logan.

“Are we still on for tonight?” Logan wrote.

“No”.

“Really – something I did?”

“No, something Penn Plaza did.”

“You didn’t get the job.”

“Right on target.”

“Awe man, you need some company, meet me for a drink.”

“Where.”

“By the fountain in Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Street.”

“I know where it is –Okay 8:00 O’clock.”

“Later.”

“Yeah, later.”

Calvin had just finished showering when his cousin Lawrence came into the apartment. “Hey man, how’d the interview go?”

“Good, He talked about himself mostly, and I just answered questions.”

“Cousin Cal, did you get the job?”

“Nope, I’m overqualified.”

“Over….what?”  Lawrence asked.

“I’m too fuckin smart” Calvin shouted back.

“Dats better than being too fuckin dumb” Lawrence said not really caring one way or the other.

“That’ right bro – that’s what I’m sayin too.” Calvin replied.

It was early pm, and Calvin went to 125th street. He took the train downtown to Times Square and walked to Sixth Avenue. He looked at his watch and it was after 7:00 pm. He was early but he had nothing else to do, so time didn’t matter.

The street was crowded with tour busses and loads of people milling around, waiting for their charter bus to pick them up and bring them back to places like Jersey or upstate to Albany. The sidewalks’ were extremely crowded but the park itself was thinning out.

Calvin saw the huge marble fountain which had small tables and chairs surrounding it.  Most of the tables were occupied with scores of Chinese and Korean tourist...  Sitting at a lone table was a man who began waving to Calvin when he saw him standing by the fountain. It was Logan.

“Hey man, you’re early.” Said Calvin.

“I know - so are you? I have been waiting here all week for you” replied Logan.

Calvin laughed and sat down next to Logan. “All week huh?

“It seems that long. I met a terrific black guy this morning. We shared a cab; we had lunch, and sent text messages to each other, but I can’t remember his name.” Logan said kidding around.

“It wouldn’t happen to be ‘Cal’ would it?

“That’s it. Logan whispered, he’s crazy handsome.”

They were both now in their comfort zone and Cal took Logan’s knee and squeezed it like a football. “I like to dream small and work my way upward.”  He said to Logan.

“Exactly my thoughts, only I prefer to work my way down. How about that drink; there’s a restaurant in the park, want to grab dinner? Logan asked.

“I’m not that hungry”

“What do you want to do?”  Logan asked.

“You” – replied Cal.

They were both smiling at each other. “You know something, began Logan, I would truthfully like some chocolate, smooth, strong and creamy. Got any idea where I can get some of that?”

“I’m enough chocolate for you bro?” 

“Think so, huh?”

“I said it, didn’t I?”  Calvin was a delicious all around black man, with a packin crotch, willing to be seduced. His body was smooth and very chocolate. They clicked like magic in a way that took care of itself.

Logan, was no slouch, the bulge Calvin saw when Logan came down the escalator was real – very real.

“From here, we are a short walk to Grand Central” said Logan.

“I know that, and I’ve seen Grand Central; it’s a step into history and a magnificent building.  So what, are we taking the train?”

“No - I live near Grand Central and I have drinks, sandwiches, condoms and a bed.”

“Damn, I’m getting hit on by this white dude, how cool is that?  I can’t stand up just now, my jeans are so tented out that it looks like I have a medical condition, with a lot of junk, behind this zipper” Calvin said.

Logan couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the expressions that Cal used. He was genuine class and Logan liked him a lot.

“Okay, let’s go to Grand Central,” Calvin finally said standing up. He was wearing jeans that clung to his body accenting how built he really was.  Dressed in a suit and tie, like he was this morning, his assets were hidden. Logan could only imagine how luscious he would be naked.

After passing Madison Ave, they saw a small pizza eatery with different toppings of pizza pies on display in the window. The smell was wonderful.

“Want to pop in for a beer?” Cal asked “I’ve got to take a wicked piss.”

“Sure” said Logan…

They order a couple of brews and got a pizza slice to go with it.  Cal rushed off to the men’s room and was back by the time the beer and slices were on the table. People were coming and going like they always do, so they didn’t sit there too long taking up table space. Calvin paid the bill and they left.

“This is it,” said Logan, putting his key in the apartment door. I don’t bring a lot of people here.”

“That’s because some say, NO” Calvin said, trying to be funny as usual.

Logan didn’t reply to that. To him that wasn’t funny; however the comment was forgotten immediately. It was nothing.

To be continued...