The Attack of the Nineteen-Year Olds

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My friends and I noticed a couple of cute guys inside the club and after a few drinks, we began flirting with them. I found out they were both from Davao and that …

"Honey, they're nineteen," I told Vackie, pulling him away from them as we retreated to a corner.

"What????" V said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Nineteen??? Fuck. Ang bata naman. (They're too young.) That's like almost a decade younger than us."

"Now now, let us not be too specific," I replied laughing.

"OMG! Don't tell me they're still in school?"

"Well, apparently... they're out of school. Drop outs."

"Oh."

We stared at them again and I suddenly noticed the glowing skin, the bright eager eyes. Ahhhh, the telltale signs of youth.



"Honey, why is it so difficult to meet guys our age?" V asked the next day during lunch. "I mean, a girl like you should be at the hands of a designer at a ball one day and skiing in the Alps the next. Not getting drunk at parties and making out with these teenagers!"

"Hahahaha. Gaga ka talaga," I said. "But I have been thinking about that. We keep meeting these really young boys no? Where are the 30-something men with bank accounts and titles?"

We both gave a big sigh and munched on in silence.

"But come to think of it honey, you have been going out since you were what… eighteen? You're bound to have met everyone already," V continued. "I mean, you've probably dated half of Manila's most eligible gay bachelors."

"Well… what about the other half?"

"Well… I guess we, your friends have dated them," V replied and we burst out laughing.

"Fucker," I said. "Honey, Manila is soooo tiny."

"Is it? Or are we just making it smaller?"

"Maybe we need to move to another city," I ventured.

"No. Maybe you need to move to another city and give us poor girls more room to breathe!" V said pointing a forkful of chicken at me.



The world is becoming smaller. It is not uncommon for my friends to date or hook up with someone I went out with before, and vice versa. In fact, it has almost become de rigueur. Someone's old boy can be your new toy. Why waste a pretty face? Or ... a hot body?

But the pool of attractive and out gay men in Manila is modest to begin with, and all these interactions and cross breeding is further shrinking it.

It should therefore, be no surprise, that most of the new people we are meeting belong to the latest generation of gay men in Manila exploring the scene. These are the young men eager to see the world, and find their place in it, much like my friends and I did once upon a time. It is their time now.

And of course, we are always there at the gates, to welcome them.
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