I stopped counting around 25 (TTT's birthday party)

The Thursday after Black Party weekend was TTT’s birthday, so the gang with to Gym Bar. I had texted Grrber to meet us there after he was done at the actual gym. I went downstairs to check my coat and noticed that it wasn’t nearly as crowded in The Locker Room as the main bar. As I was about to get to the bar to order my drink, I saw Duplex on the other side. Did I mention Duplex may or may not still be more attached than one might expect 3 years later… and less knowledgeable of my relationship status than he should be. When I went over to say hi, he told the bartender, who was his friend, to make me a drink “in a tall glass,” slapping a 10 on the bar.

Duplex: “Have you met [bartender]?"
Me: “Yeah, a couple of times. Both times, he barely glanced in my direction and went back to whatever he was doing.”

Duplex: “Oh… well he’s a really great guy.”

Me: “I’m sure.”

Duplex: “So what are you doing here?”

Me: “Oh, just here with some of The Crew. An Ivy made it to the Sweet 16 [NCAA Basketball Tournament], so they came to support.”

Duplex: “Well that’s mighty butch of y’all!”

Me: “I guess. They were like, ‘It’s amazing because Ivy League schools don’t give athletic scholarships.’ I said, ‘Yeah, just like Donald Trump pays his fair share of taxes!’ Anyway, I should get back up to them.”

Duplex: “So… you wanna come over later?”

Me: “I’m actually pretty tired. I’m not gonna stay very late.”

Duplex: “Well, come say bye before you leave.”

I went upstairs freaking out. Grrber was on his way in the next 10 minutes!

Grrber would be the type to laugh at the awkward situation. Duplex, on the other hand, would want to make it a big fight. And that’s how I found my solution. As soon as Grrber arrived, I told him the situation. He was willing to dip right then, but I figured that since his crowd was all downstairs, Duplex wouldn’t be venturing up for a while. A half hour later hen I went to retrieve my things from coat check, I gave him a smile and wave from across the room.

Crisis averted.

Friday was TTT’s big birthday celebration, for whieh she’d reserved the 3^rd floor of the Ritz. I wondered how she could have any desire to celebrate with more people than could fit into her large (for Hell’s Kitchen) apartment, but then I remembered all the hook ups she’d added on various social media. Whereas I avoid Facebook contact with guys I’m fucking (does it really need to get that personal), a Facebook add is part of TTT’s foreplay (I may or may not have seen her add a guy in a bar before). So I could see how she was more or less obligated to invite a whole slew of tricks friends people to whom she was connected.

On the train downtown (with my Gatorade bottle), my car was empty except for me and 4 homeless guys that weren't too smelly. When I got on the train in Washington Heights, one of them had a Nutcracker in his Tupperware container (that’s how they come). When we got to 59th St, the nutcracker had turned into apple juice. When he poured it out (on the platform!!! Not even in the crack), I had to change cars.

TTT had asked me to help out with the music. He sent me a list of 50 songs he wanted (which included "Out Tonight (Rent Remix)" and "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"). Needless to say, I had about 3 of the songs he’d requested. We decided that I'd give him some music, and he'd work it out. I ended up burning about 3-hours of carefully thought-out selections onto 5 CDs meant to be played in blocks for dancing, allowing for flexibility and blocks of his own songs. Needless to say that with TTT’s attention span and gays having unfettered access to his iphone (from which the music was coming), about 4 of the songs I’d burned for him actually played more than 5 seconds.

At one point, The Ivy League Crew et al premiered Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” and did a reprise of “Bad Romance”.

I eventually got tired of watching TTT make out with guys (I stopped counting around 25), so I went downstairs and ran into a guy from my gym, who bought me a drink. Then I started talking to a random who took my invisible-below-96^th-street thing way too seriously for 1am on a weekend night. I went downstairs to dance for a bit, but that party was starting to fizzle out (though the music was still good).

Did I mention that ugly lights are never a good way to end the night? Yeah.

Pieces has an underwear party this Friday. Click here to check out the first one.

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Images borrowed from gymsportsbar.com and TTTs facebook page.