Being in love means making love and wanting to make love even more. That didn't mean we weren't talking to each other between those times. There usually wasn't much to say, while we made love. We did take a break now and then. No one can make love all the time. At least I don't think we can.

"You work at that restaurant. When do you go back?" I asked.

I leaned my head against Chet's chest, while we caught our breath.

"This Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. I work from six to eleven. I'm out of there before midnight most nights."

"Tonight is Monday," I said, thinking over what he told me.

"He's closed this weekend. Remodeling. I told you that."

"How do you know this guy again, Chet?"

He put his arm across my shoulder to hold my hand, while he talked.

"T saw me dance at Rainbow. That's been over three years now. I hadn't been back long when we saw each other the first time."

"Dancing isn't like waiting on tables. Why would you do that?" I asked.

"You'd be surprised. Customers actually like me, because I dance around their table while delivering their meals," he said sounding convincing.

"Yes, I can see that. I can see you doing it. I can see people being impressed with you. I'm impressed with you," I said. "How you move."

"I'll tell you everything, Z. I'll tell you how I got here from there. It's long and complicated. Between the time I left here and came back, I lived two lifetimes. None of it was planned. It merely happened. It unfolded in front of me. I didn't know where I was going until I got there. I didn't know where I'd end up. Part of those years at Rainbow, I didn't know where I was. At nineteen, I danced with the other male dancers while Claud prepared to present Romeo & Juliet"

"I can't imagine it, Chet. You knew you would be Romeo?"

"They talked about me dancing with Dorothy. I'd heard them talking about Romeo and Juliet, but I wasn't sure I was Romeo, although it was obvious that Claude's daughter was always Juliet."

"How old were you at this time?"

"About to turn nineteen. I'd been with Kim for nearly a year. I met Kim after I left Skippy's house. I figured his parents had taken care of me for long enough. I told Skippy I was going to LA to find work."

"What did your friend say?"

"Tried to talk me out of it. Said he didn't want me to go. I told him it was what I had to do. I left the next day."

"What made you think you could make it in LA? Did you know anyone?"

"No. It was time to do or die. I had to do something. I didn't want to do it anywhere near my mom. I knew where LA was. I'd never been there."

"I can't imagine it. I saw a sign in the window at Hitchcock's Market: Stock Clerk Wanted. I was it. I went inside and I started working that day. Almost three years now."

"You lived an ordinary life. Your people were good to you. You were well adjusted and ready to rock and roll," Chet said. "I wasn't ready for anything. I didn't know if I might get run over by a bus or fall down and break my leg. I didn't know anything. I stuck out my thumb and headed north. I was about to get an education. What I learned would help me make it LA, once I got to LA."

"And."

"And I became a dancer," Chet said as a matter of fact.

Chet gave me a big smile.

"Give me a break. You described a lost boy to me, and you just went to LA and become a dancer? There has to be more to it than that, Chet."

"Maybe there was a little more to it. I was halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles. A ride dropped me off when he got to his exit. I walked down the ramp to the 5. I stuck out my thumb, and Kim stopped for me almost right away. Kim was a dancer. Actually, she was way more than that. I saw her watching me as I watched ahead of her car. I felt as though this would be no ordinary ride, and I was right."

"That sounds more like it. A dancer picked you up, and you just happen to end up dancing in LA, when you didn't even know you could find LA. Were you wearing tight blue jeans, while you hitchhiked? Of course, if you were wearing the spandex, cars would be crashing trying to give you a ride," I said lasciviously.

Chet laughed.

"All I had were skin tight jeans. I wore the ones I arrived at Skippy's with. I'd grown a tad, while I was wearing Skippy's clothes. When I left, I left his house in the clothes I arrived in. They were tight. I figured that wouldn't hurt my odds of getting good rides."

"Showed off what you got, I bet," I said.

"The way it slipped down beside my leg was fairly apparent to anyone looking for such a thing," Chet explained.

"You were hoping a nice hunky guy might pick you up?"

"You do much hitchhiking? You seem to know how it works."

"No, but I've seen you naked. I don't need to imagine what you got. There has to be guys out there, hoping to meet like minded guys."

"Well, if there were, they didn't pick me up. Kim picked me up, and before it was all said and done, I was a dancer at Over the Rainbow in Hollywood. I didn't think showing off what I had would do me any harm. That's why I wore those jeans. You don't get rides if you look like a dip shit. I didn't know much, but I knew that much. I figured I'd get where I was looking to go."

"You could have meant a guy who did pornographic films. What would you have done then?"

"Probably made pornographic films. I had nothing. I was open to offers."

"Kim was a hussy," I said.

"Kim was a lot of things. She wasn't a hussy. She was a dancer and she'd worked in Hollywood productions. She knew the dance world. She knew who was looking for what in the way of dancers. She was past her prime, but she was a gorgeous female who had been to the promised land. She knew her way around."

"And you were her stud."

"Among other things and only for a little while. Kim had never been a star, but she was one of the best dancers around and once she was too old to keep up with the competition, she began training dancers, doing choreography for shows, and when she met someone she thought she could make into a dancer, she did."

"She trained you?"

"Trained me. Fed me. Dressed me. Screwed me. She taught me to be a gentlemen and she took me places on her arm."

"You were a kid. She was like fifty, and she took you around as her boyfriend? I bet that went over big."

"Kim was somebody. She furnished things that were in demand. She did what she damn well pleased. No one asked her my age, or hers. She took me wherever she was going. She'd park me out of the way while she did business, and we danced and drank at clubs, once she taught me how to dance. I stood next to her while she talked to folks who knew her at the clubs we went to. Everyone knew she was screwing me. That made her even more in demand."

"Sounds like a match made in heaven," I said. "How come you ended up in LA? It doesn't sound like she lived in LA."

"Nothing in Hollywood comes from heaven. Much comes from far below heaven. Every year thousands of hopefuls head for Hollywood to be discovered. I went with Kim. She'd been discovered and I was discovered being with her."

"She took you to Hollywood? A hot nineteen-year-old stud."

"She did business in Hollywood and I wasn't a hot stud. I didn't look that good. I had pimples. My skin was a mess. Kim took me to her spa. They treated my skin while they were treating her skin. It was only after I met Kim that my skin became better. Kim was creating Romeo, but I didn't know that. I don't even know Claude knew it, although we danced at Rainbow. We danced at Rainbow, and the dance floor cleared once Kim went into action. She was well known, and she danced for her audience. Claude, the owner, was smart enough to see how many people wanted to come and see professional dancers dancing."

"You ended up dancing at Over the Rainbow?"

"I did," he said.

I kissed him. He kissed me back.

"Do you think you were in training to be Romeo, or did it just happen to come up after Claude saw you dancing? Was Claude on the gay side and prone to gobbling big cock?"

"No, but he had a daughter who was classically trained to be a dancer. Kim dancing at Rainbow gave Claude the idea of having dance shows in between periods when his customers danced."

"Did he see you and Kim dancing as Romeo and Juliet?"

"I don't know what he thought. Kim had me in training, and I became Romeo, so draw your own conclusions. I thought she was in love with me, but that shows you how much I knew. Kim trained dancers and choreographed movie dance scenes. She was known and no one cared who she was screwing. That's all I knew at the time. If there was a plan, she didn't let me in on it. I think the idea of Romeo and Juliet came to Claude while watching Kim and I dance. If he mentioned it to her, she didn't tell me."

"You met Kim and went from her house to Over the Rainbow?"

"It's more complicated than that. I was younger than you are now. My brain was capable of being in the here and now. I couldn't see the future like Kim saw it. She was a mature professional woman who might like changing lovers now and then. I wasn't wild about needing to please her in bed, but I did what I needed to do."

We kissed and kissed some more. I turned so my face was against his chest and I was looking at his beautiful face, trying to imagine Chet with pimples.

"Go on. I'm hooked. I want to hear it all. I want to know all about your life."

"I met Claude about six months into knowing Kim. We were invited to sit at his table at Rainbow. Kim knew Claude. They talked. I drank and acted bored. I think this was the time when Claude spun the idea of a Romeo and Juliet."

"Rainbow was fairly new and fast becoming one of the Hollywood hot spots. It was one of the places where the in crowd wanted to be seen. Kim took me there to dance with her a few times before I met Claude. It's the kind of thing she did, once she taught me how to dance with her. Kim was not going to be seen with a hayseed. We'd danced for hours every day, until I could do it her way. Then, she took me dancing, mostly on weekends, where she wanted to be seen. She was the queen. Everyone in Hollywood knows Kim. She choreographs for shows and movies. She provides dancers she trains."

"As in dancers like you?"

"Dancers like me. We'd go into a club and get a table close to the dance floor, because everyone knew her and they wanted to see that she was happy. We'd drink for an hour or so, and then we'd take the dance floor by storm. No matter who was dancing, once Kim arrived on the floor, they stopped dancing to watch her dance. She made me look good, but she controlled every step we took. I've got to admit, I loved the applause. It was for her, but I danced with her. We'd finish a set we'd practiced at her house and go back to sit by her ringside table."

"Ring side?"

"Comes from boxing. Ringside seats are right up against the ring where the fighters fight. In this case, we were right next to where the dancing was done. Even before we danced, people would come by the table to speak to Kim. Some were people she trained, others were men she danced with, and still others were just hangers on, who wanted to rub shoulders with a star from yesteryear."

"Rub shoulders with the rich and famous," I said.

"I suppose. The dance floor wasn't all that big at this time, but Claude expanded it to take up almost the entire backstage that was there. By the time I became Romeo, the dance floor was huge. There were a million dollars' worth of lights, and a live band played all evening. No more canned music. Those touches made Rainbow the hot ticket, if you could even get near the place."

"How does someone get where you were to where you are?"

"I got there a step at a time. Skippy let me live at his house. I graduated high school and took my act on the road. Kim picked me up and taught me her trade. Once she wanted a change, she took me to Claude to be his Romeo, more like Juliet's Romeo. Juliet being Dorothy, Claude's daughter. Rainbow was one of the hot clubs to go to. Romeo and Juliet made it the place to be. That's how I got where I was for Tevo to find. I got there one step at a time."

"You danced at Rainbow for a while?"

"Almost two years. Claude signed me to a two year contract to be Romeo."

"And you became Romeo, because you didn't know who Chet was?"

"That's a thought. I was Romeo while I danced and while I didn't dance. Everyone called me Romeo. T called me Romeo. I think Mama Rosa did too."

"Mama Rosa?" I asked, not remembering the name.

"That's a step too far for tonight. Mama Rosa came after Rainbow and before T brought me here."

"Kim had to know you were in training to be Romeo."

"When she took me to Rainbow, once we were asked to sit at the owner's table, I think she knew I was going to be Romeo. I don't know that Claude knew he wanted to do Romeo and Juliet at first, but with Kim's help, I became Romeo."

"Where was Chet all this time, Romeo?"

"I can't say. Chet was numb. I wasn't capable of being two different people. I hadn't solved the mystery of who Chet was yet. Maybe that made it easier for me to be Romeo. I don't know if I could separate Romeo from Chet. I became Romeo. Chet waited in the wings for the next act in his life to unfold."

"As I got my feet wet as a professional dancer, I danced with Dorothy, Claude's daughter. She danced with several of the male dancers, and then, she only danced with me. Kim began training us to dance together. She was in the process of letting me loose. She hadn't moved me out yet, but there was another young stud living with us. One night she took me to Rainbow. When we passed the marquee Claude erected in front of Rainbow, it read: "Dancing Tonight Romeo & Juliet" Up until that night, I only danced with the dozen men who all danced together in part of the show. Kim choreographed the dancing, and she worked with me on doing those dances, which meant I looked far better than any of the other male dancers, because I spent a lot of time on the steps involved. The other men worked full time and danced at Rainbow as a second job."

"Kim stacked the deck in your favor," I said.

"I guess she did. This was how she was going to call the whole thing off. She taught me to dance, dressed me, and let me take her on my arm, and we'd gone as far as we were going together. "Chet, Darling," Kim told me, "Claude has a contract for you to sign. Of course, you'll sign it. You belong to him now. You've gone as far as I can take you, Sweetheart. Claude has a place for you behind the club. Claude would like it if you took up with Juliet. He approves of you. Do you understand?'"

"Cold," I said.

"I understood all too well. It was fine with me. Kim smothered me. She was temperamental and prone to fits of anger and deep depressions. She was a star, and she acted the role out for me. I couldn't take a piss without her holding my dick. I'd had enough but I was afraid to give up the good life. She actually set me up to have a career. Claude hoped his daughter would fall in love with me. I was the answer to his prayers and his daughter's Arab boyfriend."

I laughed.

"You were smarter than that, I hope," I said.

"Claude was a good at owning a club. He was a lousy father. He knew nothing about his daughter's feelings, and I became her confidant. I was close to Dorothy. She treated me well and I covered for her so she could be with Ahmed."

"Sounds like the part of all this you could do while being yourself," I said.

"I suppose. I liked Dorothy. She was my friend. First girlfriend I ever had. I wasn't very social, but Kim helped me get over that too. You had to be social with Kim on your arm. She was the center of attention in places where she took me."

"She only went to places where she was the center of attention," I said.

"You could be right. I was on her arm. No one cared who I was," Chet said. "I drank quite a bit, but I drank more at Rainbow, once I lived in an apartment behind the club. I literally lived at Rainbow. It was nice. I turned nineteen shortly after I became Romeo. Each night, Juliet and I danced for an hour or more. Kim taught us all the moves we made. It was an amazing change from the way I grew up," he said.

"The applause. The people who want to suck off of who you are as a headliner in a club in Hollywood was amazing. I didn't buy my drinks. I didn't buy cocaine. It was there for the taking. I sat ringside at a table with Juliet, and we were there to chat up the customers. Now Juliet was in love with Ahmed. Claude hated Ahmed. Juliet and I were close, but it was Hollywood, we weren't that close, we were a couple. Claude loved it. He wanted us to be married and cut Ahmed totally out of Juliet's life, but when Juliet and I went off together. She met Ahmed and I went on my way to do whatever it was I had it in my mind to do."

"Complicated," I said. "You were living a double life."

"Double, triple. I was what people wanted me to be. For the fans, I was Romeo. For Juliet I was the boy who allowed her to be with the man she loved. For Claude, I was Juliet's savior. For me, I don't know there was a me. I was a dancer, a prancer, and entertainer, an all-purpose bought boy."

Chet seemed to disappear for a minute. He wasn't there but somewhere in that complicated past of his. He'd gone from rags to riches. I don't know how rich, but he kept a boatload of cocaine in the apartment behind Rainbow. People knocked on his door to party, and when Chet wasn't dancing, he partied. Most of the time he was with Juliet, until he took her to Ahmed and went off to himself.

"I really didn't know who I was any longer. You've got to remember it was all about the drugs and alcohol by this time. Romeo and Juliet lasted for two years. Rainbow was the place to be, and Romeo & Juliet were the people to see. The applause, admiration, the fawning was heady stuff. I was somebody. I didn't know who, but everyone else seemed to know."

"T?"

"Ah, T. T was in Hollywood to look for a spot to put the next Tevo's. He was being wined and dined by real estate people who wanted some of T's money. They took him to Rainbow to see the gorgeous couple, Romeo & Juliet. They didn't know they had cut their own throat. T wasn't interested in a Tevo's in Hollywood any longer. Once he saw me dancing, he couldn't forget about me."

"T isn't gay?"

"No, he's not. He had never been with a man until we met."

"You went to bed together?"

"We did. He needed to see what it was like with a man. I was the man."

"His wife, and you said he had daughters? They didn't find out?"

"Three. They were still in Kingston when he met me. There are three Tevo's in the Caribbean. He wanted to open a restaurant in the US. He wanted to bring his family to the States. A new Tevo's would offer him the foundation for his life in a new country. Hollywood sounded like the place to be, until he met me."

"Met you? You were in Hollywood when he met you. Didn't that fit his plan?"

"It didn't take him long to figure out that I was a drug addict, not to mention a mess. He thought he loved me, but T was no fool. Getting involved with a drug addict wasn't a good plan. How'd he know that? He was a drug addict at one time. Before he could have anything to do with me on a long term basis, which is what he thought he wanted, I had to kick cocaine and alcohol."

"He didn't want you anywhere near where you could get cocaine?"

"Exactly. Hollywood was a no go for the new Tevo's. He found out where I was from, El Cajon, and he began making plans to put his Tevo's here. He knew a place where I could kick my addictions. Once his new restaurant opened, I'd go to work for him as a waiter. If I kicked my habit."

"He'd been an addict, but he wasn't any longer?" I asked.

"He was no longer an addict. He wanted to take me to the same place where he kicked his addiction. He knew the woman and trusted her to help me."

"She obviously did. How long have I known you? I've never seen you high."

"Because I don't get high. Mama Rosa, you asked about her, was the woman who took care of me until I was clean. Same as she did for T."

"Good woman," I said.

"An angel, and cook, oh my god, she cooked the best food. For the first time in my life, I didn't think of MacDonalds as fine dining."

I laughed.

"We'll go to dinner at my house this week. My father will bring in food from one of the restaurants they like best. It's always good."

"T brings me food from Tevo's and things I keep on hand to be able to cook meals comes from Tevo's. T doesn't buy anything that isn't first class. It's why he goes to Hitchcock's. He says they have quality food. Since he found Hitchcock's, he's never gone away disappointed."

"Mr Hitchcock will be glad to hear that. I'll be sure to tell him. I'm sure I've seen Tevo. Big black man with a wonderful Jamaican accent."

"That's T. He knows other Jamaicans, but none live in El Cajon. Of course his wife and daughters live nearby. I've never been to his house, but it only takes him a few minutes to get here from there."

"You see a lot of T?"

"Four nights a week at work. He brings food to me from the restaurant."

"How come I haven't seen him? He avoiding meeting me?"

"No, he's remodeling. He'll like you. He's always telling me to circulate a little. He wants me to have fun. I haven't needed anyone, not before I met you."

"Does he know about me?"

"He knows. I went to see how the remodeling was going while you were at work. I told him I'd met someone," Chet said.

"He said?"

"He smiled at me and then told one of the workman where to put some machine they were bringing in."

"You tell him I'm anxious to meet him. He sounds too good to be true. I can't be jealous of a man who might have saved your life, Chet."

"You don't know the half of it. If I hadn't met T, I'd be dead."