Goodbye, Hollywood Blvd

Let me just say that I started this post last night, then I popped onto Facebook to dig up some dirt; I said to myself, "You know you'll close Firefox and lose your post. Save it, copy the text, or do something. I decided to trust in my ability to not completely fuck it up, and I closed Firefox just the same. Alan has often said that "The Internet Is A Dick," but I think I'm the dick here.

Okay, so it's been good to get away from the internet for a few weeks. Nobody loves the blog liek Chaz loves the blog, but if you spend too much time writing down everything that happens to you, the internet eats your soul. So it's been good to get a little part of my soul back, even if I had to hang out with my high school friends to do it. Dave, Blake and Cody, this one is for you:

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I've known Cody the longest, since summer camp between 3rd and 4th grade. He didn't come to Oakwood until high school, which is when he got really into drama and putting on plays and things like that. I met the other guys through him.

Blake is, has been, and will probably always be Mr. Center Stage. He met Cody at the beginning of freshman year, and I met him that spring, when Cody dragged me to an audition and I got the part of the janitor who doesn't talk much, but when he does say something it's really important. Anyway, Blake used to call himself the "Drama King," and nobody could really argue.

Dave is just like me; a normal guy who got stuck in the acting troupe and can't remember how or why. I think, maybe, he had a girlfriend who did plays, convinced him to join, then broke up with him. I think I met Dave my sophomore year. He just started showing up, you know?

Anyway, because scheduling conflicts (vacations, internships, drinking until blackout) have kept our foursome apart since last winter break, I invited everyone over to chill and catch up. I know that a lot of people "find themselves" in sophomore year, but it seems like these guys have changed a lot.

At first, we basically did what I do with my friends at Wash U: we sat around watching TV and movies, drinking, smoking and talking. Thanks to Vlad, I can hold my liquor better than these guys; Dave is just too short to drink, and Cody and Blake rarely drink real booze. I evened things out with a triple tequila shot. We turned the TV off and started talking.

I told them all about everything, as quickly as I could. I told them they could read the old blog posts for highlights (see, part of my soul has been eaten). Dave went to school up in Portland, and he's now a bisexual hippie stoner dude; I probably could have guessed the stoner bit, but where the hell did the bisexual thing come from? Cody and Blake both ended up in NYU's acting and film school, and they pretty much study what they did for fun in high school. Apparently, they got some money and equipment and made a porno last summer.

Growing up in LA, I'm pretty comfortable with porn and things like that. I won't say I enjoy it; just that I'm not opposed to it. The mention of porn made me curious, so I asked more about it.

"It's a standard delivery-man premise. Blake plays the pizza guy and (this is where they lost me) we got Blake's boyfriend to play the 'grateful recipient'."

It was weird. The word "boyfriend" just bounced off of my ears, at first. I nodded, said "awesome," and then it hit me. Apparently, Blake and Cody has discovered their homosexual sides since going to college. Cody said that he's always known he was gay, but didn't feel comfortable coming out in high school. Blake was less certain, but dated three guys in the last year.

I'm not bragging, but I'm the least homophobic person I know. Still, this puts a whole different spin on everything that happened in high school. Did people know about Cody? Did people suspect Blake? Did they suspect me for being their friend? Even Dave, straight-arrow Dave, is not quite as straight as we thought. I know it's dumb to worry about what people used to think of me, especially since I don't really see anyone from high school, but I can't help wondering....

Everybody found a couch or a bed to pass out on, and they all left the next day. I got a few calls from Cody and one from Blake, but I didn't call them back until the end of the week; I was still sorting everything out, adjusting to the my new old friends. I finally called them back, and we all spent the rest of the break mixing high school traditions with college ones; more drinking and smoking, but also hitting fast food places, seeing movies and things like that. It was chill, but a tiny bit awkward.

It was a tense moment, lined up at the box office, trying to pick a flick. All eyes fell on Brokeback Mountain, and then on me. We saw Syriana, instead, but I still felt weird about it.

Were the signs always there? I used to be really close to Cody, so how come I never knew? Was he sending hints the whole time? Am I just a moron?

The answers to these questions and more on the next, Chaz Durango Post.

-Chaz