Lunch last Saturday with N and J

A couple of weeks ago, one of my old friends N sent me an e-mail telling me that he was gay (It is really possible to be an asexual human being?). Last weekend N and his boyfriend were visiting London so myself and boyfriend number 1 met up with them for lunch.

We meet at a restaurant in town. N is happy to see me. Somehow he seems friendlier now than he used to be, more open. His boyfriend J isn’t what I expected though. For some inexplicable reason, I always associate the name Jason with the old singer Jason Donovan, but it turns out that N’s boyfriend is Moroccan.

“No, Jason’s not my real name”, he says, “I chose it when I moved over here because my actual Arabic name is difficult for you brits to pronounce!”

It turns out that they’ve known each other for about 6 months or so.

“We first met online, on Out in the UK”, says N. “There's Gaydar too of course, but it’s such a meat market ...”

Yes N, I know what you mean about Gaydar but it does have it’s uses! Later N tells me that he’s come out to most of his close friends now.

“I had some fun actually”, he explains, “I sent a couple of them an e-mail, but I sent it last April 1st, i.e. April Fools Day! One of the them ignored the date and sent me a warm reply, but the other replied

Errr, can you send this e-mail on another day please!?

I guess I could have gone back in again if there had been a negative reaction, but they’re all fine about it of course”.