Full Circle

Thirty-nine years ago I met Darian while attending college with his fiancé. They were childhood sweethearts and had become engaged prior to her first year of college. They decided to delay their marriage until she had finished her college degree. Taryn, Darian?s fiancé, and I hit it off the college from day one. Essentially, we had the same sense of humour and got on famously. It was, however, clear that she was totally in love with Darian and that our friendship was purely platonic. Later that year I finally met Darian.Darian was awaiting Taryn and me at the top of the stairs of the Main Building of our college. He was slim, six feet tall, and totally stunning. He had a dark complexion, expressive light brown eyes, and the most intoxicating smile I had ever seen. His black hair was very short because he was doing national service at the time. Our interaction was very brief before the two of them wandered off. I did not see Darian again for several months.Upon finishing his national service at the end of that year, Darian and Taryn spent six weeks of their summer vacation with her dad?s family in Italy. I did not return to college, and I started a job in early January. Taryn and I kept in touch, and in March she invited me to her parent?s home for dinner on a Saturday evening.After I rang her doorbell, a hefty attractive man opened the front door. When he saw the perplexed look on my face he laughed, he invited me in, reintroducing himself as Darian. As we walked through to the lounge he continued laughing, informing Taryn that I had not recognized him. The reason for my confusion was; that Darian had put on at least thirty pounds during isvecbahis their visit to Italy. Apparently, the plentiful Italian cuisine had met with his approval. Darian?s new bulkiness did not detract from his good looks and was still unbelievably sexy.I also met Taryn?s mom and dad for the first time that evening, and they were charming. From our general conversation, I also discovered that Darian had started working in his dad?s business.The three of us saw each other fairly frequently over the following two years, and after Taryn graduated from college, her father bought her an apartment after she commenced working for her dad in his furniture business.Taryn and Darian again decided to postpone their marriage by another year or two at this time. Every six weeks we would have dinner together at her home, and I have to admit that she was not a very good cook. Enjoying their company, however, compensated for her culinary misdemeanours.Taryn was rather demanding, and Darian was a laidback kind of guy. It always amazed me how these two opposites had found one another. She was into the arts and he was into all kinds of sports. I always accompanied Taryn to all the theatrical shows she wanted to attend, and Darian seemed very comfortable with the arrangement. I believed that he instinctively knew that I wasn?t a threat to him.It was, therefore, no surprise to me when she invited to dinner alone one evening, to tell me that she had broken up with Darian. Remarkably, Taryn and Darian always remained friends thereafter, and their friendship would endure for decades. I also remained friends with both of them.I finally moved into isveçbahis giriş my own apartment, after residing in residential hotels for years. Darian now began visiting me every two weeks, for what we referred to as; our musical evenings. Darian had never been much of a chatterbox and was able to spend prolonged periods without uttering a word. Silence simply was never a problem for him. It had been disconcerting to me when I first met him, but I had come to accept this personality trait.Late on one such musical evening as I was lying on the carpet browsing through my LP?s, as Darian sat on the sofa observing me. As I looked up at him there was a strange look on his face, as he fixedly stared at me. His expression was so intense that I uncomfortably began to blink my eyes.Then he said, ?If you were a woman, I?d fuck you.?I had never been so gob-smacked in my entire life. Thankfully it was quite late in the evening, and after an awkward period of silence, he departed. Our musical evenings effectively came to an end after this incident, but I would spend a lifetime pondering those words. It always bothered me that my unease may have seemed like a rejection. On the other hand, I reflected that it may simply have been an innocent comment, into which I had read too much.A few months later I ?came-out? to all my friends. I had started frequenting gay clubs and bars, having finally decided to embrace my sexual orientation. I saw less of Darian over the next two years and wondered if my ?outing? had been the catalyst for our dwindling interactions.I also met my lifelong partner, James, during this period. All my friends liked James isveçbahis yeni giriş and Taryn took to him from day one.Taryn had a further two relationships after Darian. The first was with Ruben, which only lasted a few months. In confidence, Taryn told me that Ruben didn?t live up to Darian in the bedroom, and worst of all was underendowed. After Darian, who according to her was ?huge,? dear old Ruben just didn?t cut the mustard. Taryn?s second relationship was with Peter, and within six months they were married.At their wedding, James and I were seated at a table with Darian and Trixie, Darian?s new fiancé. Darian and Trixie also married shortly afterward, and with emigration being the newest trend in South Africa, Darian and Trixie moved to Australia shortly after they got hitched. Taryn and Peter also followed suit and immigrated to England.James and I twice visited Taryn in the UK, and Peter turned-out to be a complete prick. She left him shortly after our second visit. After Taryn?s bust-up with Peter, she immigrated for a second time to the USA. There she married a fairly innocuous man named Saul.I did see Darian for another thirty-three years after his move to Australia. We lost contact completely, and all news of him came via Taryn?s emails. Darian had two sons with Trixie, before getting divorced many years later. In one of Taryn?s emails, she said that Darian had paid her a surprise visit her in the USA, and according to her had become obese.Thirty-nine years after my friendship with Taryn began I got a shocking email, telling me that Darian had cancer, and was undergoing treatment. He had also lost a lot of weight due to this ordeal. Although he had played a small part in my life over the previous decades, I always remembered him very fondly, because he had been part of a very special period in my life. I was, therefore, devastated reading the bad news.