This is a completely fictional story.
The Traveler on Grindr Ch 1: Arrive Two Hours Early
If you name you child Flower, you can't really have high hopes you are setting her up for great achievements. You're basically telling her from day one to float about and see what the universe provides, smoke herbs and look for auras. I think that is what she was doing that afternoon when I was furiously texting her to get her ass to the airport, where I had already been waiting at the check-in area for an hour.
"Leaving the house soon, just saying goodbye to all my plants and looking for my passport!" she texts.
Right. This is my best friend. Flower Dubois. I've met her parents, sweet people, I would accuse them of treacherous parenting though. Two hours before take-off and she is still in Cincinnati, not even Cincinnati, she is in Mt. Carmel a full 35 minutes away from the airport in Kentucky. If she misses this flight I will absolutely come right back and -- no -- I am not a violent man. I've made it 38 years on this earth promoting loving and kindness, not Flower's dopy kindness, my kindness, like, watching documentaries about important stuff, I don't like to brag.
I finally gave up because I was not going to stress myself into an early grave over this woman's reckless travel habits. This trip was two years in the making, I have been saving and scrimping like a crazy person, turning down nights out and dinners just so I could stay on budget, travel like a king, sleep like a royal and hopefully, if the stars align, meet Mr. Chile and have him plow me a new one. Yessss! I was going to CHILE, BTICHES! Wine, wide vistas, that super dry desert that I was not going to, great food, this was going to be awesome!
I texted her back, "You are a menace! Get the fuck here. Can't wait anymore, will shit my pants. Checking in, meet you at the lounge."
I checked in and sailed through security because I was prepared. Flip flops for shoes (I had actual shoes in my carry-on, I am not an animal), a plastic belt, no coat, no underwear in case I had to do the thing where you raise your hands and those perverts at TSA can see your junk like they were spying on you at the old-timey adult video arcades, and a clear plastic bag with emergency toiletries. Boom! That is expert traveling.
At the lounge I saw I still had 110 minutes until the flight would take off, maybe 80 minutes before it would board. Like any self-respecting man in 2023, I ordered an Aperol Spritz, walked over to a less busy part of the business class lounge and opened up Grindr. I mean, what is not to love about an app whose chief purpose is to get you laid? Yes, everyone is headless, yes, tons of catfishing, but I think of it as a game. Hide and seek, find the fraud, if you fall in love with the profile, you're fucked. They will own you in ten minutes and before you know it, you thought Ryan Reynolds had finally come to the light side but instead, your ass is being plowed by an obese married accountant from Toledo in the back of his sub-compact rental. Or worse, true story, your cock is balls deep inside your old high school American Civics teacher and he does not care for douching, which he tells you during the deed.
Take your time, Grindr is just as good and just as bad as the gay men and closeted men and bicurious men and demisexual men and transexual men make it, on its own it is just a big giant darkened room. In my view, Grindr delivers if you put in the work, that's my philosophy.
So, I opened Grindr and saw a new grid of men pop in, there had to be at least twenty at or very near the airport. Three were within fifty feet of me. Now, you may think I am a tight-laced control freak because I arrived three hours early and am a little judgy about Flower's parents, but I do have my freaky side and it loves public restrooms. I tried to have talks with that freaky side, explain why prison is bad, but he made some really compelling points and we've come to an understanding -- we will fuck in bathrooms every chance we get.
As I was perusing the menu, I got my first message. SUKKYSUKKY_NOW wrote me, "Up for some NSA oral? You will never forget my work."
That sounded oddly ominous but I really was in the mood to get fucked. Out of curiosity I opened the profile, the main picture was of a person on a kayak like three thousand feet away. Can't fuck rivers, buddy, thanks for the pic. Inside, the profile included a few shirtless pics and some underwear photos too. He was definitely older, mid to late sixties, but all the age was on his face. His body looked terrific, especially the giant salami he was pretending was his dick. If it was real, it was worth exploring but he wanted oral. I was proud of myself for not being ageist, that was very decent of me, I think. But I was definitely roleist, and that day I wanted to travel loaded and dilated.
"Looking for a top today, sorry."
"Ok, have fun. Good luck!"
Ooooh, how sweet! See, not everyone on Grindr is repulsive. Normal, nice people there too. Speaking of which, my next message was from HUNGHUNKATL. That was promising.
He wrote, "Hey there RESTROOMDILF, how are you today?"
"I'm great, just checked in, waiting now. Where are you?"
He writes back, "In the Delta lounge, same as you."
"You can see me? Show me you, Hung Hunk."
"Sit in front of me, I got your live feed ready."
I looked around, one young man was staring right at me, then he winked. I think the gays should claim the wink as a symbol of our culture. It would be global and universal for 'Let's fuck now.' Imagine how much sex this could generate!
In this case, it could actually mean that so I grabbed my drink and walked my bag over to the wall directly in front of HUNGHUNKATL and I sat down, maybe ten feet from him.
"What's your name?" I texted.
"Liam," he wrote. "What's yours?"
"Pedro. So what where you going to show me?"
"Look up."