The Greek God on the Plane

Dear Adam,

It was late in august of 2010, the day I met Khalil, I was the happiest boy when I did. I was on a thirty hour trip back from the US. If you want to fly for under a 1000 USD then you need to stop at five airports to have a good price. The last leg of my trip was Dubai – Beirut. I was tired I had barely slept, I smelled, I washed myself in the bathroom and changed my shirt twice already, my uncontrollable OCD with hygiene kicked in. I was wearing the worst clothes you could possibly imagine, completely black shoes, socks that went way past my ankles, grey and white checkered shorts, a dark green tshirt and I had my superman looking glasses instead of my irritable contacts. I felt beyond crappy.

The very epitome of a Greek God walks through the gate, he makes brief eye contact and I flush red as I dive into his dark eyes. The brief eye contact lingered  slightly longer than I expected  that ever. His complexion is tanned, he wore a black shirt that hugs his body and outlines a perfect physique, nothing quite too muscular but something extraordinary nonetheless. He is also wearing black trousers. I use any excuse to sit next to him and make small talk about how the flight is delayed. I strike conversation with ease, we exchange first names; it turns out he works in PR and is quite well spoken.  In the 30 minutes to boarding we talk about everything possible the chemistry is electric and the conversation dynamic and smooth flowing. I prayed that time would just stall right then and there. We spoke of the most random things, I kept trying to steer around the conversation to flush out his sexual orientation, a crying baby helped strike the subject , he told me that he would one day adopt a child. Bingo. He’s wrapped in the rainbow flag, I got confirmation.

He boarded the plane, and as he handed in his boarding pass I glance at his last name at keep record of it. I found my seat and hoped he wasn’t too far from where I sat. He was sitting a few rows in front of me, every time he would get up to fumble around the overhead storage area I would be sure to peer.  He would also briefly pass by my seat and tell me how bored he was, I believed it was just an excuse to chat with his new friend.

We landed in Beirut and we gathered our bags, he asked me what I was doing and if I wanted to head over to Hamra with a couple of his friends. I wonder if he was going to Bardo? I politely declined as my friend was picking me up from the airport and I had 30 hours of flight on me. I gave him my number, but in awkward rush of things he never reciprocated.

Weeks go by and I look him up on Google and Facebook, he was nowhere to be found.  I try different versions of his name to see if he might have spelled it differently. No luck. I tried LinkedIn and found his profile, I sent him a message and conversation was short and to the point with weeks before he would respond to a single message. We got to talking and I thought it would a good idea to ask him out. I am not the guy that takes the plunge, but life’s too short what the hell. I ask him out for a drink, he says he has been in a long term relationship with his partner. I sink.

 I was so sure he was the one. After sometime had passed, I realized I might have found the one… in someone else. 

Love,

You.