TNT ... Chicago 10
1 There was a certain financial strategy to making sure that one would be single over the holidays -- to making sure that no relationship existed after Thanksgiving and before Easter. 2 The money saved by not having to splurge on anyone else for Christmas gifts -- and by avoiding expensive dinners and chocolates and such on Valentine's Day -- that was all money one could divert to spending on oneself, or, if one was the conservative type, to lock away in savings for a rainy day.
3 Matthew was not exactly the conservative type, though, so all of his hypothetical extra moneys went toward his New Year's Eve bar crawl each year. 4 He knew better than to spend those funds on buying a ticket to the best shindig in town, because it was highly likely that those places were teeming with pairs of people partying into the night.
5 His analysis was that his best chances were to bounce from bar to bar, parlaying his friendships with the tenders and tendresses to gain entrance, to peruse the place and to make a move if he saw someone that struck his fancy.
6 He was certain that he had perfected the bar crawl that was by any other name actually a bar prowl, and he counted on the skills he had gained in the months since he had moved to Chicago to ensure that he'd start the night by himself, but that he'd end it in the arms of another.
7 Sex for sport. 8 It was a young man's game ... and Matthew was a young man. 9 He only went out once a month, so he rationalized it as just a bit of a diversion from his otherwise mundane life. 10 "You have to get your excitement where you can," he had said to himself earlier that evening as he put on the shirt he had bought just for that particular night of activities, as making such an annual purchase of a New Year's shirt had been his tradition since he was old enough to go out drinking back home in Pennsylvania where he had gone to college.
11 Of course, drinking back home in Pennsylvania was never like drinking in Chicago. 12 Back there, everyone knew everyone else, and if they didn't, then for sure everyone knew OF everyone else. 13 There were no secrets. 14 There were no evenings that existed only for the experiencing of that one moment in time. 15 There were no opportunities to be free in the way of the anonymous for just one night.
16 He had fallen in love with Chitown back when he had visited it with a friend on a vacation of sorts, which was another story for another time. 17 Being in the big city hadn't led to the career that he thought he'd have had, but at least that location had no small town drama. 18 And he was paying bills. 19 And he was living life. 20 And he was able to go out and about with enough regularity to keep him happy.
21 In addition to his special sartorial purchase, he had also upheld another tradition earlier that night. 22 It wasn't one that was tied to the holiday, but it was the way he started each bar crawl. 23 As he had every month in this city since his first night out in April, he flipped his lucky quarter up into the air.
24 Here were the rules: if it landed heads, he'd head to Halsted; if it was tails, he'd be on Clark instead..
25 Those streets in his neighborhood were right next to each other, having actually intersected just a few blocks away. 26 Despite being so close together geographically, the bars, though, were vastly different. 27 Matthew's flip of the coin would determine more than just on which street he'd be crawling and prowling -- it would also determine his classification of prey.
28 On this particular New Year's night, the coin had landed face up.
29 And *that* was why Matthew was ushering in the upcoming 365 and a quarter days by kissing the *boy* next to him at the bar.
30 Sex for sport -- a young man's game. 31 Except, for that particular night, it was going to be a game for TWO young men.
