Bed Ridden

Last Saturday evening for the first time in a looong time I went to Bed, still the most popular bar among Manila urban gays. They’re the account-executive, med-rep, call-center kind of gays—they can blend in with their straight male co-workers but are still detectable on gaydar.

At the stroke of midnight I entered the place, only to find more waiters than customers. What’s this? I panicked. Has Bed become a has-been place? But I already paid the Php200 consumable cover charge so might as well have my drink.

Bed is a two-storey place but I chose to hang out at the ground floor bar because the video monitor there was showing So Close on Star Movies. The pounding techno dance music complemented the slam-bang fight sequences of that Hong Kong action flick, and soon I was engrossed in it. When I glanced back after a particularly wicked gunfight scene, there were more people in the bar. By the time the movie ended, the first floor was getting crowded with guppies (gay yuppies) in their tight tees, labeled shirts and designer jeans. Their clothes scream: I’m hot and ready to take them off for the right face or bod. Wow, all these pretty zombies in just 30 minutes past midnight. It’s the dawn of the drop-dead fabulous.

I went upstairs where it was less crowded and there I ordered another bottle. After a while I went back down again. I saw two officemates by the bar so I hung out with them. Then another friend, an ex-officemate from advertising, came in with his group of friends, so I ended up shooting the breeze with him.

Three bottles afterwards I was already dancing to the music. We inched closer to the half-naked guys dancing on the “ledge” (actually a set of boxes). There I spent the whole time dancing. The others were eyeing possible prey; I was oblivious (though I’ll admit I was open to the possibility of someone eyeing me as their prey). I wanted to dance non-stop, but the crush of the crowd made it impossible. A quick trip to the bathroom turned into fifteen minutes of jostling and squeezing in between hot, gorgeous men. So I went four times even though I only needed to pee twice.

By the time my companions bade their goodbyes it was already past four but I was still grooving to the beat. It was just like my college and post-college parties with TA; I was reliving the past.

But I knew the present would catch up with me. Walking back to my car at 4:40am my legs were weak and my feet heavy. I thought: Bed-ridden tonight, bed-ridden tomorrow.

When they woke me up Sunday for lunch, I was surprised that my body had recovered admirably from the previous night’s abuse. And although I drank three bottles of beer, my stomach was fine.

Hmmm. I just might go back this weekend.