Two Worlds Collide

*** This is a work of fiction.

Normal? I would not exactly describe myself as normal. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a musician. Not one of those boy-band types that looks like an anorexic woman on stage, or one of those surfer-guitar guy types that play in coffee houses– not that there is anything wrong with either of course. I wanted to be a classical musician. At age three, I was in piano lessons and was excelling very fast. By the time I was eight I decided that I wanted to play cello.

Soon after, I discovered that I wanted to sing as well. All through school I was known as “the music kid”. The books I read growing up were those of Paul Hindemith: Theory and ear training, and also copies of the manuscripts of Mozart’s own theory worksheets. Not only was I playing and performing, I was reading and understanding music as math, science, literature, anthropology and perhaps something divine.

Music to me is everything. The idea that “God sang [the world] into being” resonated so much within me. I was a freak some would say, but it was just me looking at the world in a different way. I attended a fantastic private liberal arts institution and became a triple major. I studied opera performance, cello performance, and music composition. This of course meant that I would be spending five years in college instead of just four, but I was completely okay with that.

Where am I now? Well, I am currently 23, composing, singing for the Met’s young artist program and occasionally filling in as a cellist for some area orchestras. The young artist program would expose me to the world of opera and would help me get a job after a few years. I would do outreach programs in the community for the opera company and also have a few minor roles. My life is a constant go go go, but I am doing what I love to do.

Perhaps it is an appropriate time to describe what I look like. I stand 6 feet and 3.5 inches tall. I weigh about 197 pounds. I’m certainly not fat, but I am not a gym rat. I am just normal for my height. I am certainly strong but not overly. I have very dark brown hair and hazel eyes that have hints of blue, green, yellow and brown. And finally, I have medium color skin– from my Eastern European lineage. I’m sort of the tall, dark and somewhat okay looking. This is where my story begins.

I’ve never given much thought about the romantic aspect of my life. To me, the word ‘romantic’ refers to a period of Western Classical music that includes composers such as Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Brahms, and Wagner. I knew that I indeed like men and have certainly fancied four or five men in my life time– that’s an utter lie, I have fancied hundreds of men! The type of men I am most attracted to are athletic men that know they are handsome, but are not overly cocky about it. To me, reservation of one’s words and actions go a long way. Unfortunately this rules many men out who I am physically attracted to. I am also a very independent person, probably to a fault. So for right now, I am single.

Today is the 1st game of the regular season for the NY Giants. The NFL has asked the Met to provide some singers for the National Anthem. They decided that the young artists in residence would sing because the main actors and actresses were getting ready for a performance of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. So, I was asked to arrange the Star Spangled Banner for me (baritone), my friend Lexi a soprano, Julia a mezzo, and Josue a tenor. As we were standing there waiting to walk out onto Giant Stadium (the brand new stadium built for the Giants so that they would not have to share a stadium with the NY Jets) a man caught my eye.

He was one the linebackers for the Giants. I had seen him on TV before. His name was Bjorn Hanson. I remember hearing that he grew up in Norway, moved to the United States to receive an education, then became a walk-on for the University of Michigan football team and by his sophomore year won a scholarship and was a first string lineman. He was drafted right after college by the Giants. He was hot! I mean he looked like Thor, the god of thunder himself. Blond, blue eyes, and muscles that could move mountains. He was about 6’6 and 280 of pure muscle. It was known that he kept his personal life personal. When he was interviewed, he only answered questions that pertained to football, his children's charity, or the Wolverines (University of Michigan).

Apparently I had also caught his eye. Josue and I were dressed in tuxes while Lexi and Julia were in long black dresses. Basically, the four of us looked pretty damn hot. Bjorn was staring at me. It was not a creepy stare. It was welcoming. It was like feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin after a long cold winter. The team then walked out onto the field. We waited for about five minutes and then walked out. As the four of us were walking out, I noticed Bjorn looking our way and we made eye contact. Then we got our cue to start the National Anthem. I gave my quartet the starting E flat and we began: “O say can you see” (oh dear God he is still looking at me) “by the dawn’s early night” (Those eyes are so incredible!) “what so proud- (I need to meet him) -ly we hailed, at the twilight’s last gleaming.”

We continued to sing– beautifully I might add. Of course Bjorn never took his beautiful chiseled face off of me. “and the home of the brave!” We finished and the audience erupted. Our rendition was stunning and perfect. Bjorn’s eyes followed me as I left the grid iron.
Lexi, Julia, Josue and I were given beautiful seats right behind the Jets on the 50. Of course we were not going to wear our performance garb in a stadium– no matter how nice and new it was. Josue and Julia changed quickly and got to the seats, but Lexi had something to say to me.

“Aloysius, I am pretty sure that that hot hunk Bjorn Larson likes you” Lexi said.

I retorted “His name is Bjorn Hanson, and I highly doubt that he does.”
“I have known you since our freshman year of college, I can tell you like him, and I am pretty sure he likes you. Aloysius, I knew you when you liked girls. You like him more than anyone I have ever seen you like.”
“Fat chance Lexi, there is no way in hell! I do wish he did though.”

Just then, one of the stadium security guards knocked on the door.
“Mr. Paulus, I have a message for you.”
“From whom?” I asked.
“I don’t know” He answered.
“Okay thank you very much Sir” I said as he put the message in my stretched out hand.

“Who is it from!?!?” Lexi asked.
“Wow, um, it is from Bjorn. He wants me to meet him after the game tonight at .”
“Are you serious? You better meet him, otherwise I’m going to go in your place!” she jokingly said.
“Okay, well, I guess it would not hurt to meet him. Let’s get to our seats before too much time goes by.” I said.

We got to our seats. They were really amazing! We could see everything up close. I may be gay, but I grew up watching football and love it. When the D-line was out on the field, Bjorn looked at me before every play. It was like a cute high school game where the star player looks over at the hot cheerleader before each play, except that this was so much more real. A handsome stud was looking at me, not the hot cheerleader. Lexi was fully aware of his looking the whole time.

“Aloysius, he likes you. When you get to know him, can you introduce me to some of his hot football friends?” she laughed.
“Of course Lexi, of course.” I answered

The Giants won and all was good.
Bjorn looked in my direction as the four of us were leaving. We made eye contact and gave each other a “see you soon” sort of glance.

The message that Bjorn had given me said to meet him at Il Violino which happened to be only a block from the apartment that the Met has it’s young artists stay in. I arrived at 7:30 in punto. Sitting at the table for two was the most handsome man I had ever seen. Bjorn wore a stylish blue blazer, white oxford with a few buttons open, and khaki pants that framed his amazing lower body perfectly. I was wearing a similar blue blazer but underneath wore an olive colored shirt that brought out the green in my hazel eyes. I wore a darker khaki colored pants. We both looked great, but Bjorn looked like a model.

As I walked in he smiled, waved and stood up to greet me.
“Aloysius, I am glad you showed up” he said in his slight Northern European accent.
“I could never pass this up Bjorn” I answered. “My friend Lexi kept saying that you liked me because you were looking at me a lot.”
“She is right, I do like you. There is something about you that is special.”

“Thank you. I’m just me.”
“You sang very beautifully today.”
“You played very well today!”
“Well, I had some inspiration in the crowd today. I actually heard you sing some scenes from Mozart’s Don Giovanni about a month ago. I thought you were so handsome on stage and was jealous of the woman who played Zerlina.”
“Wow really? You saw that? The Zerlina was actually my friend Lexi. She is really incredible at singing and acting. I on the other hand lack with the acting a bit.”

“You are just hard on yourself! Your acting was sexy and very good. It is how Don Giovanni is suppose to be.”
“Wait, so how do you know Don Giovanni, and why were you at that community opera scenes performance?”
“I was actually giving a presentation at the school you were at earlier in the day and I saw a poster for the performance and thought I’d check it out. Believe it or not, but my mom actually sang opera back in Norway when she was younger. She played opera around the house when I was growing up, along with other classical music.”

“Wow! That is awesome. My parents played 60’s music all the time. I never listened to classical with them. It was all on my own.”
“That is neat that you found it though, I mean most young boys do not go searching for classical music.”
“Very true. I grew up with an jock older brother. He started out as a soccer player but switched to football in high school. He actually was on the Michigan football team after you left. He was in special teams.”
“That is how I recognize your name! You are Grzegorz Paulus’s younger brother!”

“Yes I am. Well anyway, I would always get mad when my brother beat me in basketball in our drive way that I would march into the house and play piano for hours to let out steam. It made me good at piano, loosing to my brother. It also made me love music because it was something that I could do better than my brother.”
“That is very funny Aloysius. I am an only child. I wish I had siblings”
“Really? Siblings are not always the best, but I love my brother to death.”
“I bet. Grzegorz seems like a really awesome person.”

“He sure is. He at least has produced a two baby nephews for me with his wife.”
“Oh yeah? What are their names?”
“Nicholas and Cynthia”
“Very nice, very nice. Well, what do you want to drink handsome?”
“Why don’t we go with a good bottle of Pinot Noir?”
“Sounds great to me!”

Bjorn waved the waiter down, “will you bring us a bottle of Pinot Noir?”
“Absolutely!” the waiter answered.

Bjorn then asked me “so are you a football fan then?”
“Yes” I replied. “Very much so.”
“Awesome! So what else do you like to do other than music?”
“I am a fan of being outdoors in the country or mountains camping, caving, rock climbing, kayaking, and hiking. I also read a lot. Probably need to get more of a life, but it is what makes me happy. How about you?”

“Well, obviously I like sports and working out (as he flexes his huge arms). I also love reading and keeping up with current events around the world. I love the arts, even though I am awful at singing or acting or dancing for that matter.”
“That is all really awesome.”
The waiter appeared with our wine, “here are your drinks gentlemen.”
“Thank you” we said in unison.

The waiter bowed and walked away.
“You know Aloysius, I was worried that you were not into guys. I thought that Lexi was your girlfriend when we were standing there. It was not until our eyes met that I thought I’d have any chance with you. Even though you are in music, you don’t exactly wear the ‘gay card’.”
“I know. I’m not in the closet, but I don’t tell someone unless they ask. Most people do not ask me anyhow. It is sort of really nice at times.”

“I know what you mean. I don’t think anyone has the right to know my personal details unless I wish to share them.”
“Thank you!”
“No one knows that I am gay Aloysius. The only people that know are some really close friends on the team and a few girlfriends.”
“Same here. Growing up with a jock brother and his jock friends toughened me out a bit. I never really developed the ‘lisp’.”
“That is why I could not tell if you were into guys or not. So do you have many guy friends or are most of your friends girls?”

“I have a lot of friends that are girls, however I have a fair amount of guy friends– most of them are athletic jocks. How about you?”
“Pretty much the same actually. Why are most of your guy friends jocks?”
“Well, I just feel comfortable around jocks. It is what I grew up around.”
“Very nice. Say, why don’t we finish our wine and go on a walk. Are you really hungry?”
“To be honest, I’m not. I ate too much junk at the game.”
“Yeah, I’m not too hungry either.”

We finished our wine as we continued to talk. When we got up, he insisted on paying for the wine. I wanted to protest so bad, but I know that he really wanted to pay so I let him. We walked out into the crisp September night. It was not too warm or too cold. You could feel the beginning of fall approach us. It was my favorite time of year. The nights cool off enough to cuddle with your man comfortably– especially a big hunk of meat like Bjorn.

We walked around Lincoln square and then decided to go take a walk in central park. We talked more about our dreams and goals and also our childhood and college years. It was starting to get late so I invited him back to my apartment. Before we left central park, he kissed me. It was strong and passionate, yet it was gentle and kind. We kissed for about 4 minutes and then decided to head back to my house.

I did not know what was in store and neither did he... To be continued

*** Alright, so I am completely new to writing. Please critique! Be kind though. Aloysius is not my real name but it is a variant of a part of my name for those of you wondering. Yes, I am a very musical person. I am currently at that “awesome liberal arts school” I mention. I am 19 and a first year. Aloysius is not me per-say but has some of my qualities and many other good qualities which I regret I do not possess.

Bjorn is completely fictional but is based on people that I know from my school. My school has a Norwegian Heritage. I do have an older brother but his name is not Grzegorz. He did in fact play football for Michigan. Paulus is not our last name at all but has a similar root and meaning. Lexi is a real friend. So is Josue (pronounced ho-Sway) and Julia. Please comment. Should I continue?

What do they do when they go back to Aloysius’s apartment? Should it lead to sex right away or should they get to know each other more? If it were me personally then it would not lead to sex right away, even though I’d want it with a hot Norse god like Bjorn.