![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soulmatejunkeeTitle: 1 wedding, 4 rings and 1 almost funeral, Part 10/? (You & Me-Series)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soulmatejunkee
Fandom: Queer as Folk US
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Timeline: Post 5.13; POV's
Word Count: 6.269
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. It’s all CowLip and Showtime.
Beta: Anna - thanks so much!
A long chapter - with a new little mini drama. I didn't plan this drama, it just popped into my mind while writing. Don't worry, it's really a short one, starts and ends here :) Hope you enjoy it.
Things are going to change with that story, moving forward - finally! I hope you still enjoy it. As always: Every comment is welcome. I Love to read what you think. Thanks!
1. Listen to me
2. Trust me
3. Babylon Part 1 | Part 2
4. Find a way Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
5. ...remember what's missing?
6. The Party
7. Thanksgiving 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
8. 1 wedding, 4 rings and 1 almost funeral 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Brian's POV
Justin warmed the food up and we ate in the kitchen. I decided that Christmas needed to end immediately. With eating stuff like that every evening I would be fat as soon as the year was over. Even though I had to admit that Debbie’s Christmas roast was very good.
Justin seemed to get better during the dinner. “I think I’ll call Zack tomorrow and tell him that I’ll take the offer and then I’ll call Chuck from the coffee shop and tell him that I quit my job. Not that I think he’ll miss me, but I will miss him, he was a really great boss. And then I’ll call Larry from the Gallery and… tell him that I quit, too. And then I’ll check the website for shows in New York, to see if there are some coming up. It’s never wrong to show up there, you could meet someone important. And then I’m going to Sidney and give him two of my paintings, which he wants to show at his gallery. And then… mh, I could come to Kinnetik for lunch?”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“And then I’ll drive back here and… am I allowed to tell anyone that we’re living here for the week?” he asked. “Or do we want to keep it a secret?”
“Do you want anyone to come over?” Actually I would’ve preferred to keep it a secret, at least for a while. It was like a secret place, no one knew the house or where it was or that I kept it and so no one would show up unexpected.
“I thought about asking my sister to spend the afternoon with me. Probably not tomorrow afternoon, but… well, I want to introduce her a little more in my life, our life. She felt excluded. So I thought seeing this house and how we live and maybe even have dinner with us might help.”
I didn’t mind Molly, I barely knew her. So I nodded. “That’s fine by me. I just thought we could keep the gang out of it for a while. As soon as they know we’re not safe here anymore.”
He laughed. “I know and I agree. It’s also not the right time of year for a housewarming party.”
We would do… “What?”
“A housewarming party – a pool party. O, that’ll be cool. We should do it in summer, when Gus is here and we can also invite the girls for a weekend and Daphne and Noelle, I would love to show her the house. Emmett could plan the party and…”
What did I get myself into here?
“Are you still breathing?” he asked.
“I try.”
He laughed. “Come on, it will be cool and it’s just one weekend.”
Did I have a choice? “Until then it’s a secret?”
“Until then you just disappear every second weekend.”
After we were done with eating we showered. He sucked me off, which is something I would love to have daily… because even if I really found a guy who’s good with sucking cocks, it was always different, it always felt different. As good as they were I never felt completely satisfied when it was over. With Justin it felt more real and more intense. I enjoyed every second when my dick was in his mouth.
After I came he got up again, kissed my chest and my neck and waited for me to recover from my orgasm, while his still hard cock was pressed against my thigh.
“When do we use the Jacuzzi?” he asked. “I guess you had something in mind while planning it, right?”
“I told you I always wanted a Jacuzzi.” I kissed him and started to stroke his hard cock slowly. He hated that, he always called it a torture, but I always loved to make him hornier as he ever thought he could get. I kissed his lips and he moaned into my mouth.
He leaned his head against my chest and started to fuck my hand. I loved to do that, too, because he thought he kinda tricked me with doing it. I had no intention to really torture him and I loved to watch him coming, no matter if he came from fucking, sucking or stroking. And I knew that he had already stroked himself when he sucked me off, so it wasn’t a surprise when he came all over my thigh a few strokes later.
“How about tomorrow?” I asked while kissing his head. He was still leaning against me, breathing hard, his eyes closed and his dick pulsing in my hand, while the warm water sprinkled on us.
“Huh?” he sighed breathlessly and kissed my chest.
“The Jacuzzi”, I said. “Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah.”
We went to Babylon, just as he wanted to, and just as I expected, the club wasn’t as full as normal. Typical for holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. I ordered two beers and gave Justin one bottle.
“Cheers”, he said and drank a slug. “I was hoping Em and Ted would be here, I haven’t seen them so far.”
“We’re pretty early, maybe they’ll show up later”, I nodded. I doubted it, I was pretty sure that Debbie had tied up Emmett in the house to make sure that he would appreciate every single second of the Novotny-Bruckner-Horvath-Christmas time. And I was also pretty sure that Ted and Blake preferred to spend Christmas at their home, together.
He took my hand. “I want to dance.”
“We will”, I said and leaned over to him. “I just have to go to my office to check the calls, since I wasn’t available on my cell since it broke. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He kissed my neck and smiled. “I’ll wait here!”
Living without a cell phone wasn’t funny at all, I needed a new one. I kissed him goodbye and went to the office. When I turned around I saw him at the bar. Obviously, he already had found an admirer, who tried to land a shot. I watched them for a few seconds and thought it was kinda funny to know that that guy didn’t stand a chance.
I knew that guy, he had once blown me. He wasn’t bad, but he was obviously looking for something else, since I remembered that he offered me a drink – before, during and after the blow job. Somewhere in between I got worried he might dehydrate. In the end I left him in the backroom and drank a beer all by myself.
While watching them I thought about what Justin had told me the day before, how he felt when he watched me going after some guy and I tried to imagine how I would feel if Justin would start to make out with that guy right now.
We had our rules and normally I wasn’t jealous when he fucked someone else… but I had to admit it was a lot easier for me, since Justin barely fucked around. When we were together, we were together – he never left me anywhere just to fuck someone else. I bit my lower lip and walked into my office.
When I came back to the bar ten minutes later, the thirsty admirer was gone and Justin had one of those pink drinks in his hand and was sucking on a straw.
“What the fuck…?” I asked him.
“He tried”, he said and nodded towards the guy he had talked to and who was now busy hitting on someone else. “But I said no. And then he tried again and gave me this drink and I took the drink and said no again. He was a little pissed, but left. And I have to admit, it tastes really good. No wonder Emmett loves it. I should drink it more often.”
I decided to change color of that pink drink to blue, before I let him drink more of it in my presence.
“It’s pretty strong”, he said and emptied the glass. “But it was good.”
Well, it was stronger than we expected it to be. He pulled me to the dance floor and after a few minutes he was totally out of control, jumping, giggling, laughing and sweating. Normally I would appreciate some of those aspects, but it made me a little nervous after a while. He acted as if he had a dose of E or some other drug. And normally Justin didn’t do any other drugs than the ones he got from me.
I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to the bar and ordered water. He didn’t stop dancing and jumping and doing some weird moves. I tried to get control over him, to make him look at me, at least for a few seconds. I took his head between my hands. “Justin, what did you take?!”
“I take you!” he murmured and giggled again.
I took the water and gave it to him. “Drink that.”
“No, I want another pink thing.”
It was hard to understand him, he was slurring. But it was impossible that he was already drunk like that from one beer and one drink. I grabbed him again. “Justin! Look at me!”
Suddenly his mood changed from high to down and he looked at me as if he was going to burst into tears any second. “Promise me you won’t do that.”
He was still slurring and now he almost whispered, too, which made it even harder to understand him. He grabbed my shirt and I could see the fear in his eyes. Something was totally wrong with him. We had to get out.
“Promise me”, he said again.
“I promise you.” I had no idea what I promised him in that moment, but it didn’t matter anyway. By now I was sure that this guy had put something into that pink drink. I looked around, but I couldn’t see him anymore. Normally I wasn’t that worried about drugs, but with Justin it wasn’t that easy, because I had no idea what had been in that drink and if he was probably allergic to it.
“No suicide, never”, he mumbled and leaned against me. “Promise.”
He looked panicky, he was shaking and he almost ripped my shirt.
“Promise.”
I looked him straight in the eyes; I tried to fix him, to get his attention. “I promise.”
We had to get out; we had to go to the hospital. “Come on, let’s go.”
As suddenly as he fell from high to down before he became very tired now, almost sleepy and if I wouldn’t have caught him he would’ve fallen.
“Headache”, he mumbled.
I put his arm over my shoulder to hold him up and left the club. “Stay awake, okay?”
I had to slap him a few times to make sure he was still awake. I doubted he was. He mumbled something sometimes, but he didn’t move or speak. Fuck!
When we arrived at the hospital they took him with them immediately and left me alone, without telling me anything. I had to wait almost an hour before the doctor came back.
“You brought him here?” He asked.
I nodded.
“He’s okay”, he said with a calm voice and when I sighed relieved and covered my face with my hands he saw the ring. “You’re his husband?”
I still hated that word, but if it would get me some information, I would’ve even called us a married couple or me a husband or what the fuck ever this doctor needed to hear.
“Yes.”
“You were right, the drug test was positive and we assume it was the so called rape drug.”
Fuck! Fuck that guy! Now it made sense that he was almost obsessed with drinking.
“You don’t have to worry. He’s going to fully recover. He’s asleep now and he will sleep for a few hours. Thanks to you nothing bad happened to him. He probably will have a huge headache when he wakes up and he won’t remember anything. That’s part of the drug.”
I was really angry. I was pissed. There was a guy running around my club giving other guys drugs to rape them?! What the fuck!
“What about his allergies?” I asked.
“No allergic reaction so far. We’ll keep him under observation for tonight, but I don’t expect anything to happen.”
“Can I see him?”
“Sure you can. But be aware that he won’t answer you. Those drugs contain a strong soporific.” He nodded. “I think you should know that… we have to call the police and I’m sure they want to talk to you. This is a crime and we have to report it.”
“Okay.”
The nurse brought me to Justin and I looked at him. He was asleep, he had a drip on his right wrist and I asked her what it was. She told me that it was just some fluid to prevent that he dehydrated, since that was also a side effect of the drugs.
Then she smiled at me and nodded. “Your husband is going to be okay, don’t worry.”
After she left I sat down beside his bed and just looked at him. I knew they were right, they wouldn’t lie to me. There was no reason to not believe them, but I couldn’t help it, I was worried. I would’ve preferred him to wake up immediately.
I saw the ring on his left hand and sighed. Who had ever expected this ring to be so helpful?
When the cops showed up, I told them everything I knew. They were obviously uncomfortable with all the information they got – gay club, backroom, cock sucking – but they believed me, probably because I was the owner of the club and probably because it was my (so called) husband who was the victim.
“He might still be there”, I said. “Maybe you should go there and just book him.”
The cops looked at each other before one of them asked me. “Have you seen him? Would you recognize him?”
“Yes, I... saw him, he’s a regular visitor.” Fuck! This was odds-on not the first time he did this. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“This might have happened before”, the other cop said and looked at the doctor. “Did you have any other patients here with the same symptoms?”
The doctor shook his head. “Well, there are drug patients at the ER every night, but most of them just break down and someone calls 911. It’s rare that someone brought a friend who had seen anything. And the victims don’t remember anything the next day.”
The cops nodded. “Mr. Kinney, would you please accompany us to your club? If he’s really still there it’s the easiest way to find him.”
I swallowed. “I can’t leave... I have to be here.”
“He’s not gonna wake up until morning”, the doctor said. “He’s in good hands here.”
I closed my eyes briefly. I didn’t want to leave, but I also didn’t want this guy to disappear. He raped guys – in my club! I looked at the doctor. “I’ll be back. And you better make sure that they let me see him, because I won’t leave.”
He nodded.
Thirty minutes later I walked through my club with another cop, who was wearing civil clothes. He was my age and good looking and he seemed to be cool. The night was still young and the club was still relatively empty and he was still there. I saw him on his way to the backroom with some guy, who was – just as Justin before – totally high.
“That’s him!” I said to the cop. “And if you ask me, the other guy’s drug test might be positive, too.”
The problem was that they needed to catch him in the act. The cop called one of his colleagues, asked him to go into the backroom and raise hell there, acting drunk or whatever, to break up whatever was going on and effectively, forcing the rapist to the bar to look for a new victim. And there we were – waiting for him.
All I could think about was Justin. What if the drugs would have acted sooner, before I came back from the office? What if that guy would have pulled him to the backroom and would have touched him without Justin being able to react? This had been the third time I wasn’t able to protect him.
We were waiting for the guy to come back to the bar and he did. How many guys did he already use for his pervert games that night? And since when did he do it in my club? He was standing right beside me when he ordered another pink drink. The cop stood on my other side. We didn’t pay any attention; at least not obviously. I really had to contain myself to not grasp him and punch him in his ugly face.
We didn’t have to wait long, a few seconds later we saw how he poured a clear liquid into the drink and offered it to his newest victim. Right that moment the cop beside me grabbed him and pushed him against the bar, his head almost bumped on the table and then the handcuffs clicked.
The cop called the others from outside and of course we got more attention than I would have appreciated. They hauled him out of the club and I followed them. They thanked me and told me that they would inform me about the following procedure before they drove away.
I walked to my car and sat a few minutes behind the steering wheel without driving. “God.”
Justin's POV
When I woke up I had a headache, a really bad one and the light was so fucking glary. I could feel something heavy on me or beside me and around me. I blinked and saw an arm and leaned back again. This morning I didn’t wake up alone. But since when did the loft have such a glary light?
I sighed and put my hand on my eyes when I felt something hanging on my wrist. I blinked again and saw a small tube and a huge plaster on my hand. Then I opened my eyes and tried to ignore the headache.
That wasn’t the loft, it wasn’t the right bed. This was a hospital room.
“What the fuck?”
I turned my head and saw Brian lying beside me on that small bed, one arm and one leg around me, his head placed between my shoulder and my neck. He jerked when I moved and opened his eyes, apparently relieved to see me awake.
„Hey… how do you feel?“ he asked and propped himself up.
“My head hurts.” But it was absolutely possible that it hurt because of that uncomfortable sleeping position I was in. “What happened?”
He sat up and cleared his throat. “What do you remember?”
“We went to the club, you had to go to your office, there was a guy hitting on me and that’s it.” There was obviously something missing.
He nodded. “That guy had put something in your drink.”
“What?!”
“They already arrested him. The police was here and… they got him. He’s probably already out again, but they said he will be indicted.”
“O my god…” What the fuck?! Such an asshole. I tried to remember anything, but I couldn’t. It was all gone, as if the last night didn’t happen. Like the prom night. It just didn’t feel that heaviness on me, it didn’t make me that angry. “Did you call my Mom?”
“No, I don’t have my cell phone, so I don’t have her number and I couldn’t find yours. But we can call her, I’m sure the nurse can find out the num...”
“No, no”, I interrupted him and put my hand on his. I didn’t need my mother; I was fine, except for the headache. “It’s okay. She would just worry.”
“How dare she?” He raised an eyebrow. “Honestly… could you please stop to almost die over and over again? That’s not healthy for me.”
If we weren’t in a hospital with my arm pinned to a bottle full of something I didn’t know, I would’ve laughed. So I just smiled and put my hand on his cheek. “So bad?”
“No, we were in time. I was worrying that you might be allergic to it or something.”
Obviously he had saved my life – again. “Thank you.”
He nodded and took my hand in his, before he pushed the emergency button. “I’ll get the doctor.”
“I’m sorry”, I said. “I shouldn’t have taken the drink, I mean, it’s not really new that that can happen, I just… I didn’t expect that.”
“It’s okay.”
I swallowed. “I’m thirsty.”
He gave me some water and after a few minutes a nurse came in and smiled when she saw me awake. She said, she would call the doctor to look at me. Another few minutes later the doctor was there and told us some stuff about the drugs that asshole had put into my drink and that I was lucky that nothing worse happened – like a rape. I remembered another party I once went to and took drugs at and got almost raped. I never told anyone about that.
“How long do I have to stay?” I asked the doctor.
“How do you feel? Tired? Stunned?”
“No, just a little headache”, I answered. I hated hospitals. I had no intention to stay a minute longer than I had to.
“We’ll just check your blood, give you something against your headache and then you can go home. Take it easy today. And don’t take any drinks from strangers or leave your glass unattended.”
“I promise.”
He nodded and left and the nurse released me from that needle in my arm and the drip. Then she took some blood and said that it would take one or two hours. I nodded and lay back again, after she had left. I looked at Brian.
“You don’t have to wait here with me. I’m fine. As soon as the tests are here, I’m gone.”
“And as soon as you’ll leave I’ll leave with you”, he said.
Brian's POV
The blood test was alright and so Justin was allowed to leave. We went to the car and I looked at him. “We drive home and get you back into bed.”
“I’m not tired”, he answered. “Actually I feel fine. I still have some plans for today. And so have you.”
“Justin...”
“Brian”, he raised his eyebrows. “I mean it. I’m fine. Lets go to the loft and then... you do what you have to do and I do what I have to do and tonight we...”, he smiled at me, “...meet at the Jacuzzi.”
There was no chance to argue with him. I was still worrying and he still didn’t remember anything. So we drove to the loft and when we arrived Justin went straight to the bathroom.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I need a shower, I feel… dirty.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Maybe it was better for the other guys to not remember anything. “He didn’t touch you.” I followed him and watched him getting undressed. “Nothing happened.”
He looked up to me. “I know, it’s just… I want to wash it away, you know?”
I nodded. So did I. The night had been a nightmare. He pulled me closer and started to unbutton my shirt.
“I’m absolutely sure that the doctor told you to take it easy”, I said.
“I just don’t want to shower alone.”
I offered to stay with him but he practically kicked me out of the loft and told me to do my job. I had a message from Cynthia on my answering machine that Leo Brown had called because of an emergency. For Leo everything was an emergency, but his company was one of our biggest clients and so it was my job to rescue him from all his emergencies.
When I walked into the office it was 10 AM and Cynthia almost jumped on me. “He called five times, he’s really upset.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but it must be something big. Where have you been? And what happened to your cell phone?”
I pulled the smashed phone out of my jacket and gave it to her. “I need a new one, a cool one. Take care of it. And give me Leo Brown.”
“Okay.”
As soon as I was in my office, Ted came in and looked really worried. “Emmett called me that the police was at the club last night. What happened?!”
“Some idiot put drugs in our guests’ drinks, a so called rape drug. Last night it was Justin’s drink”, I said, sighed and sat down.
“O my god... Brian, what...?”
“He’s fine. Nothing happened.” I looked at him.
“Thank god.”
“But I have no idea how many guys he already put under drugs to make them amenable.”
“Did they get him?” he asked.
“Yeah, they did.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m tired.” I massaged my temples. “Okay, so what’s the matter with Brown Athletics?”
“I don’t know”, he answered and sat down in front of me. “He called five times this morning, he seemed upset but said that he only wants to talk to you. I checked everything. The payment is all right and so are the campaigns, nothing happened. I have no idea what he could want. But… Brian?”
“Hm?” I looked up.
“What does that ring… what?”
I looked at my hand. Guess I would have to answer that question to a lot of people in the future. I flicked my tongue and shrugged. “It’s just a ring.”
“You two got married?!” I stopped him when he got this I-have-to-hug-you-look.
“No, no, we didn’t. We bought the rings, I never returned them, and so we decided to wear them. No minister, no I dos and no other romantic bullshit, just two rings.”
It didn’t stop him, he smiled brightly and congratulated me and I was very happy when Cynthia had Leo Brown on the telephone and Ted went back to the chair.
“Leo”, I greeted him and pushed the button for the loudspeaker. “I heard there’s some trouble, what can I do to clear it up?”
“Go find Drew Boyd and make him sign for our new campaign.”
I looked at Ted who just shrugged, but before I could say anything, Leo continued, “I’m in Pittsburgh already; I’ll be at your office in two hours. I need your best staff members for this, Brian. And bring me Drew Boyd.”
And then he hung up. I shook my head and sighed. So much for my lunch plans with Justin. I looked at Ted who rolled his eyes. “Peter Watson will be here at 12.30 too. I guess that’ll be my date then?”
“No, no, I need you with Brown, try to get Watson and ask him if 1.30 is okay, too.”
“But at 1.30 we have a date with Eyeconic Optics.”
“We do?” I raised an eyebrow and made a face. “It’s Christmas week, why do they all come today?”
“Not only today, the entire week is going to be busy.”
I nodded and got up. “I need to call Justin, give me your cell phone.”
“Sure”, he said. “What happened to yours?”
“A lot.” I took his phone and saw the pic with him and Blake on the screen. Such a couple!
Justin's POV
“Thanks for calling me”, Molly said when she came out of the house. I leaned on the car, it was a sunny day, but it was really cold. I smiled at her and saw someone behind the drapes. I knew it was my father, but I tried not to pay any attention.
“I was around and thought we could get lunch together.” It hadn’t been the original plan but since Brian cancelled our lunch date, I called her.
“Great.” She hugged me. “I want to go to the Liberty Diner.”
Huh? “Why?”
“Because I never had been there and Mom never lets me go there. She said it’s because this place is not where a girl my age should be.”
I laughed. “I won’t take you to the Diner when Mom doesn’t allow it.”
“O come on, what’s going on at that place that I can’t eat lunch there?”
Actually, she was right. There was nothing going on – except for Debbie.
“I promise, I won’t tell Mom.”
“Okay.”
Before we drove to the diner, I had to give Sidney my paintings. He recognized Molly. He took the paintings and gave me a very satisfied smile. “The selling was a good thing, Justin. Regular visitors saw that the painting was gone and asked me about your stuff. Nothing’s better than selling stuff to get people’s attention.”
I nodded and smiled back at him. I knew I should be proud, but I couldn’t. It was just… weird. Everything was weird. I had no inspiration. I couldn’t paint. My Dad had bought the other painting, I would work as a computer animator … it was just weird. I was happy to hear that people asked about me, but something felt just different. If this would’ve happened the day I arrived, I would’ve been happier and euphoric.
Then we drove to the diner and when we went in, Molly just stood there and looked around. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Mom really needs to calm down”, she said and sat down at one of the tables, and right before Kiki came along. Or as Debbie would say: Kiki the new waitress; formerly Kenny the waiter. And as always Kiki’s makeup was very… special.
“Hey Baby”, she greeted me and looked at Molly. “Who’s that beautiful girl?”
That beautiful shocked girl… “My sister, Molly. It’s her first lunch at the Diner, so can you bring us a pink plate special please and a chocolate milkshake?”
“Sure honey.” Kiki looked at Molly again, who was still starring at her without saying anything. Guess Kiki was one of the reasons why Mom didn’t want Molly to visit the Diner. Kiki raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Obviously she never saw a waitress before.”
I waited until Kiki was gone and kicked Molly under the table. “That was not nice.”
“Have you seen her boobs?” Molly whispered, still shocked. “Whatever she’s using to fill the bra she should think it over, they look like grapefruits and that is not a compliment. And what the fuck happened to her face? Doesn’t she have a mirror?” She shook her had. “What a poor wannabe lady.”
Okay… was I supposed to laugh or to be shocked or to reprehend her? “Molly, she’s doing it on purpose.” At least I hoped so. “If you want to see a really good drag queen you have to go to Shanda Leer. Darren’s the best – as far as I know. But… you’re too young to go to places where you could see him, so…”
She made a face and kicked me back under the table.
“Just try to not stare at her okay? It’s disrespectful”, I said.
“I’m sorry.” She took a napkin and started to play with it. “He keeps asking for you, you know? He wants to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing and such stuff.”
“And you should find out?” I asked her.
She looked at me. “No. But he’s always asking me, since Mom totally overreacts when he asks her. And I can’t tell him anything.”
“If he wants to know anything he can ask me, but… I bet he doesn’t have the balls to do that. And you’re free to tell him that.”
“I think he really cares”, she said. “I mean, he has no reason to lie. It’s not that he’s getting anything out of it.”
I felt sorry for her. She tried to interfere between Dad and me, but she had no idea what had happened between us. She probably just wanted us to be a family again. “Look, Molly…”
“I know, he sucked as a father and did horrible things to you. Unfortunately, no one’s going to tell me what exactly he did and so I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I feel sorry for him.”
“Did you ask him?” I wanted to know.
“Sure”, she answered. “I asked him, I asked Mom and I asked you.”
Kiki brought us the milkshakes. After she was gone, Molly looked back at me and shrugged. “Why does no one talk to me? I’m not a baby anymore, I can handle it.”
I nodded. “I know. I can tell you that your age is not the reason why I don’t tell you anything. I just don’t want to badmouth him in front of you. You have a good relationship with him and that’s how it should be. He’s a good father, isn’t he? Except for the attempted suicide.”
“Yeah, guess so.” She looked down. “This sucks. Really. Why can’t you just tell me the reason why you don’t want to talk to him?”
“I still think that he should do it.”
“He just says, some things happened, honey, some bad things.”
I bit my lower lip. “I don’t think that my point of view is very objective. Maybe he had some good reasons for some of his decisions, I don’t know.”
“But if you tell me, I could ask him. Mom always tells me that it’s none of my business and that I should stay out of it, but that doesn’t work. You moved out, they broke up, Dad got married again… and it’s all none of my business?”
“He gave me some rules for living at home, rules I didn’t want to accept and so… I left. He… he attacked Brian, twice. He refused to pay for my school, twice. And … in February he got me arrested when we fought against Proposition 14 in front of his store.”
“Couldn’t you find another place to demonstrate?” she asked.
“We always demonstrated in front of the supporters.”
“O.” She frowned. “What is Proposition 14?”
“It’s a law that takes away almost every right from homosexuals. No marriage, no family… nothing.”
“I remember Mom wearing a button…”, she mumbled and shook her head. “And dad supported that law?”
I nodded.
“Did you ask him about it?” She looked totally confused and I knew my mother would slap me for talking to her about Dad.
“Yes, I tried.” I shrugged. “We disagreed.”
She took the napkin again. “And… you could’ve come back home if you would’ve accepted some rules?”
“Yes.” I had absolutely no intention to tell her the rules.
“What kind of rules?”
I just looked at her and she nodded. She knew I wouldn’t answer that question. I put my hand on hers. “Molly, don’t worry about it okay? Promise me. It happened a long time ago and none of it had anything to do with you.” My mother would so kill me.
“You’re wearing a ring.” She was staring at my hand and then she was staring at me. “Did you get married without me? You asshole! That was my only chance to become a flower girl! I’m already 12 years old.”
“I’m not married.” I laughed. “And trust me, if I’ll ever get to marry, it doesn’t matter how old you are when you strew the flowers. You won’t be the oldest flower girl there.” For some reason I could easily imagine Emmett as one of my flower girls.
“But the ring…”
“It’s just a ring. We decided to wear them as a symbol.”
“Cool.” She smiled at me. “Are you moving back here?”
“No.”
“Is Brian moving there?”
“No. But…”, I smacked my tongue. “There’s something I want to show you. But only if you promise me to keep it a secret.”
“What is it?”
I remembered the date at the Jacuzzi. “Tomorrow, okay? I come and get you after breakfast and we buy some stuff and then… I show you.”
She nodded, her eyes were shining. “Okay.”
“Not a word to anyone.”
“I promise.”
I had to admit, my little sister was kinda cool – for a twelve years old girl.
Brian's POV
Thank god a Jacuzzi with a beautiful blond naked boy was waiting for me at the end of that day. Otherwise I would’ve started screaming.
“I didn’t see that coming”, Ted said after Leo Brown had left the office.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. Somehow I was gleeful.
“How are we supposed to handle this? What are we supposed to do? What if it doesn’t work out?” he asked in his typical nervous way.
“Find Drew Boyd, bring him here, we have to talk to him. And if it doesn’t work out – it’s really not our problem”, I answered and laughed. Finally a homophobic asshole got what he deserved, a kick in his ass.
“I doubt that he’ll work for us again, or for Leo Brown, not after what happened”, Ted shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”
“That’s my job.” And since I was good at my job, I was very confident that I would be able to convince Drew Boyd. “Go find him.”
“Yeah, I will!”
“Brian”, Cynthia came in and leaned over my desk. “There’s someone who wants to talk to you. He says it’s urgent.”
“Who is it?” I asked her.
“Well, he says he’s… mh…”
“What? The Pope?” I shrugged.
“Worse”, she said and tipped the ring on my finger. “He says he’s your father in law.”
TBC
Author:
soulmatejunkee Fandom: Queer as Folk US
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Timeline: Post 5.13; POV's
Word Count: 6.269
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. It’s all CowLip and Showtime.
Beta: Anna - thanks so much!
A long chapter - with a new little mini drama. I didn't plan this drama, it just popped into my mind while writing. Don't worry, it's really a short one, starts and ends here :) Hope you enjoy it.
Things are going to change with that story, moving forward - finally! I hope you still enjoy it. As always: Every comment is welcome. I Love to read what you think. Thanks!
1. Listen to me
2. Trust me
3. Babylon Part 1 | Part 2
4. Find a way Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
5. ...remember what's missing?
6. The Party
7. Thanksgiving 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
8. 1 wedding, 4 rings and 1 almost funeral 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Brian's POV
Justin warmed the food up and we ate in the kitchen. I decided that Christmas needed to end immediately. With eating stuff like that every evening I would be fat as soon as the year was over. Even though I had to admit that Debbie’s Christmas roast was very good.
Justin seemed to get better during the dinner. “I think I’ll call Zack tomorrow and tell him that I’ll take the offer and then I’ll call Chuck from the coffee shop and tell him that I quit my job. Not that I think he’ll miss me, but I will miss him, he was a really great boss. And then I’ll call Larry from the Gallery and… tell him that I quit, too. And then I’ll check the website for shows in New York, to see if there are some coming up. It’s never wrong to show up there, you could meet someone important. And then I’m going to Sidney and give him two of my paintings, which he wants to show at his gallery. And then… mh, I could come to Kinnetik for lunch?”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“And then I’ll drive back here and… am I allowed to tell anyone that we’re living here for the week?” he asked. “Or do we want to keep it a secret?”
“Do you want anyone to come over?” Actually I would’ve preferred to keep it a secret, at least for a while. It was like a secret place, no one knew the house or where it was or that I kept it and so no one would show up unexpected.
“I thought about asking my sister to spend the afternoon with me. Probably not tomorrow afternoon, but… well, I want to introduce her a little more in my life, our life. She felt excluded. So I thought seeing this house and how we live and maybe even have dinner with us might help.”
I didn’t mind Molly, I barely knew her. So I nodded. “That’s fine by me. I just thought we could keep the gang out of it for a while. As soon as they know we’re not safe here anymore.”
He laughed. “I know and I agree. It’s also not the right time of year for a housewarming party.”
We would do… “What?”
“A housewarming party – a pool party. O, that’ll be cool. We should do it in summer, when Gus is here and we can also invite the girls for a weekend and Daphne and Noelle, I would love to show her the house. Emmett could plan the party and…”
What did I get myself into here?
“Are you still breathing?” he asked.
“I try.”
He laughed. “Come on, it will be cool and it’s just one weekend.”
Did I have a choice? “Until then it’s a secret?”
“Until then you just disappear every second weekend.”
After we were done with eating we showered. He sucked me off, which is something I would love to have daily… because even if I really found a guy who’s good with sucking cocks, it was always different, it always felt different. As good as they were I never felt completely satisfied when it was over. With Justin it felt more real and more intense. I enjoyed every second when my dick was in his mouth.
After I came he got up again, kissed my chest and my neck and waited for me to recover from my orgasm, while his still hard cock was pressed against my thigh.
“When do we use the Jacuzzi?” he asked. “I guess you had something in mind while planning it, right?”
“I told you I always wanted a Jacuzzi.” I kissed him and started to stroke his hard cock slowly. He hated that, he always called it a torture, but I always loved to make him hornier as he ever thought he could get. I kissed his lips and he moaned into my mouth.
He leaned his head against my chest and started to fuck my hand. I loved to do that, too, because he thought he kinda tricked me with doing it. I had no intention to really torture him and I loved to watch him coming, no matter if he came from fucking, sucking or stroking. And I knew that he had already stroked himself when he sucked me off, so it wasn’t a surprise when he came all over my thigh a few strokes later.
“How about tomorrow?” I asked while kissing his head. He was still leaning against me, breathing hard, his eyes closed and his dick pulsing in my hand, while the warm water sprinkled on us.
“Huh?” he sighed breathlessly and kissed my chest.
“The Jacuzzi”, I said. “Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah.”
We went to Babylon, just as he wanted to, and just as I expected, the club wasn’t as full as normal. Typical for holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. I ordered two beers and gave Justin one bottle.
“Cheers”, he said and drank a slug. “I was hoping Em and Ted would be here, I haven’t seen them so far.”
“We’re pretty early, maybe they’ll show up later”, I nodded. I doubted it, I was pretty sure that Debbie had tied up Emmett in the house to make sure that he would appreciate every single second of the Novotny-Bruckner-Horvath-Christmas time. And I was also pretty sure that Ted and Blake preferred to spend Christmas at their home, together.
He took my hand. “I want to dance.”
“We will”, I said and leaned over to him. “I just have to go to my office to check the calls, since I wasn’t available on my cell since it broke. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He kissed my neck and smiled. “I’ll wait here!”
Living without a cell phone wasn’t funny at all, I needed a new one. I kissed him goodbye and went to the office. When I turned around I saw him at the bar. Obviously, he already had found an admirer, who tried to land a shot. I watched them for a few seconds and thought it was kinda funny to know that that guy didn’t stand a chance.
I knew that guy, he had once blown me. He wasn’t bad, but he was obviously looking for something else, since I remembered that he offered me a drink – before, during and after the blow job. Somewhere in between I got worried he might dehydrate. In the end I left him in the backroom and drank a beer all by myself.
While watching them I thought about what Justin had told me the day before, how he felt when he watched me going after some guy and I tried to imagine how I would feel if Justin would start to make out with that guy right now.
We had our rules and normally I wasn’t jealous when he fucked someone else… but I had to admit it was a lot easier for me, since Justin barely fucked around. When we were together, we were together – he never left me anywhere just to fuck someone else. I bit my lower lip and walked into my office.
When I came back to the bar ten minutes later, the thirsty admirer was gone and Justin had one of those pink drinks in his hand and was sucking on a straw.
“What the fuck…?” I asked him.
“He tried”, he said and nodded towards the guy he had talked to and who was now busy hitting on someone else. “But I said no. And then he tried again and gave me this drink and I took the drink and said no again. He was a little pissed, but left. And I have to admit, it tastes really good. No wonder Emmett loves it. I should drink it more often.”
I decided to change color of that pink drink to blue, before I let him drink more of it in my presence.
“It’s pretty strong”, he said and emptied the glass. “But it was good.”
Well, it was stronger than we expected it to be. He pulled me to the dance floor and after a few minutes he was totally out of control, jumping, giggling, laughing and sweating. Normally I would appreciate some of those aspects, but it made me a little nervous after a while. He acted as if he had a dose of E or some other drug. And normally Justin didn’t do any other drugs than the ones he got from me.
I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to the bar and ordered water. He didn’t stop dancing and jumping and doing some weird moves. I tried to get control over him, to make him look at me, at least for a few seconds. I took his head between my hands. “Justin, what did you take?!”
“I take you!” he murmured and giggled again.
I took the water and gave it to him. “Drink that.”
“No, I want another pink thing.”
It was hard to understand him, he was slurring. But it was impossible that he was already drunk like that from one beer and one drink. I grabbed him again. “Justin! Look at me!”
Suddenly his mood changed from high to down and he looked at me as if he was going to burst into tears any second. “Promise me you won’t do that.”
He was still slurring and now he almost whispered, too, which made it even harder to understand him. He grabbed my shirt and I could see the fear in his eyes. Something was totally wrong with him. We had to get out.
“Promise me”, he said again.
“I promise you.” I had no idea what I promised him in that moment, but it didn’t matter anyway. By now I was sure that this guy had put something into that pink drink. I looked around, but I couldn’t see him anymore. Normally I wasn’t that worried about drugs, but with Justin it wasn’t that easy, because I had no idea what had been in that drink and if he was probably allergic to it.
“No suicide, never”, he mumbled and leaned against me. “Promise.”
He looked panicky, he was shaking and he almost ripped my shirt.
“Promise.”
I looked him straight in the eyes; I tried to fix him, to get his attention. “I promise.”
We had to get out; we had to go to the hospital. “Come on, let’s go.”
As suddenly as he fell from high to down before he became very tired now, almost sleepy and if I wouldn’t have caught him he would’ve fallen.
“Headache”, he mumbled.
I put his arm over my shoulder to hold him up and left the club. “Stay awake, okay?”
I had to slap him a few times to make sure he was still awake. I doubted he was. He mumbled something sometimes, but he didn’t move or speak. Fuck!
When we arrived at the hospital they took him with them immediately and left me alone, without telling me anything. I had to wait almost an hour before the doctor came back.
“You brought him here?” He asked.
I nodded.
“He’s okay”, he said with a calm voice and when I sighed relieved and covered my face with my hands he saw the ring. “You’re his husband?”
I still hated that word, but if it would get me some information, I would’ve even called us a married couple or me a husband or what the fuck ever this doctor needed to hear.
“Yes.”
“You were right, the drug test was positive and we assume it was the so called rape drug.”
Fuck! Fuck that guy! Now it made sense that he was almost obsessed with drinking.
“You don’t have to worry. He’s going to fully recover. He’s asleep now and he will sleep for a few hours. Thanks to you nothing bad happened to him. He probably will have a huge headache when he wakes up and he won’t remember anything. That’s part of the drug.”
I was really angry. I was pissed. There was a guy running around my club giving other guys drugs to rape them?! What the fuck!
“What about his allergies?” I asked.
“No allergic reaction so far. We’ll keep him under observation for tonight, but I don’t expect anything to happen.”
“Can I see him?”
“Sure you can. But be aware that he won’t answer you. Those drugs contain a strong soporific.” He nodded. “I think you should know that… we have to call the police and I’m sure they want to talk to you. This is a crime and we have to report it.”
“Okay.”
The nurse brought me to Justin and I looked at him. He was asleep, he had a drip on his right wrist and I asked her what it was. She told me that it was just some fluid to prevent that he dehydrated, since that was also a side effect of the drugs.
Then she smiled at me and nodded. “Your husband is going to be okay, don’t worry.”
After she left I sat down beside his bed and just looked at him. I knew they were right, they wouldn’t lie to me. There was no reason to not believe them, but I couldn’t help it, I was worried. I would’ve preferred him to wake up immediately.
I saw the ring on his left hand and sighed. Who had ever expected this ring to be so helpful?
When the cops showed up, I told them everything I knew. They were obviously uncomfortable with all the information they got – gay club, backroom, cock sucking – but they believed me, probably because I was the owner of the club and probably because it was my (so called) husband who was the victim.
“He might still be there”, I said. “Maybe you should go there and just book him.”
The cops looked at each other before one of them asked me. “Have you seen him? Would you recognize him?”
“Yes, I... saw him, he’s a regular visitor.” Fuck! This was odds-on not the first time he did this. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“This might have happened before”, the other cop said and looked at the doctor. “Did you have any other patients here with the same symptoms?”
The doctor shook his head. “Well, there are drug patients at the ER every night, but most of them just break down and someone calls 911. It’s rare that someone brought a friend who had seen anything. And the victims don’t remember anything the next day.”
The cops nodded. “Mr. Kinney, would you please accompany us to your club? If he’s really still there it’s the easiest way to find him.”
I swallowed. “I can’t leave... I have to be here.”
“He’s not gonna wake up until morning”, the doctor said. “He’s in good hands here.”
I closed my eyes briefly. I didn’t want to leave, but I also didn’t want this guy to disappear. He raped guys – in my club! I looked at the doctor. “I’ll be back. And you better make sure that they let me see him, because I won’t leave.”
He nodded.
Thirty minutes later I walked through my club with another cop, who was wearing civil clothes. He was my age and good looking and he seemed to be cool. The night was still young and the club was still relatively empty and he was still there. I saw him on his way to the backroom with some guy, who was – just as Justin before – totally high.
“That’s him!” I said to the cop. “And if you ask me, the other guy’s drug test might be positive, too.”
The problem was that they needed to catch him in the act. The cop called one of his colleagues, asked him to go into the backroom and raise hell there, acting drunk or whatever, to break up whatever was going on and effectively, forcing the rapist to the bar to look for a new victim. And there we were – waiting for him.
All I could think about was Justin. What if the drugs would have acted sooner, before I came back from the office? What if that guy would have pulled him to the backroom and would have touched him without Justin being able to react? This had been the third time I wasn’t able to protect him.
We were waiting for the guy to come back to the bar and he did. How many guys did he already use for his pervert games that night? And since when did he do it in my club? He was standing right beside me when he ordered another pink drink. The cop stood on my other side. We didn’t pay any attention; at least not obviously. I really had to contain myself to not grasp him and punch him in his ugly face.
We didn’t have to wait long, a few seconds later we saw how he poured a clear liquid into the drink and offered it to his newest victim. Right that moment the cop beside me grabbed him and pushed him against the bar, his head almost bumped on the table and then the handcuffs clicked.
The cop called the others from outside and of course we got more attention than I would have appreciated. They hauled him out of the club and I followed them. They thanked me and told me that they would inform me about the following procedure before they drove away.
I walked to my car and sat a few minutes behind the steering wheel without driving. “God.”
Justin's POV
When I woke up I had a headache, a really bad one and the light was so fucking glary. I could feel something heavy on me or beside me and around me. I blinked and saw an arm and leaned back again. This morning I didn’t wake up alone. But since when did the loft have such a glary light?
I sighed and put my hand on my eyes when I felt something hanging on my wrist. I blinked again and saw a small tube and a huge plaster on my hand. Then I opened my eyes and tried to ignore the headache.
That wasn’t the loft, it wasn’t the right bed. This was a hospital room.
“What the fuck?”
I turned my head and saw Brian lying beside me on that small bed, one arm and one leg around me, his head placed between my shoulder and my neck. He jerked when I moved and opened his eyes, apparently relieved to see me awake.
„Hey… how do you feel?“ he asked and propped himself up.
“My head hurts.” But it was absolutely possible that it hurt because of that uncomfortable sleeping position I was in. “What happened?”
He sat up and cleared his throat. “What do you remember?”
“We went to the club, you had to go to your office, there was a guy hitting on me and that’s it.” There was obviously something missing.
He nodded. “That guy had put something in your drink.”
“What?!”
“They already arrested him. The police was here and… they got him. He’s probably already out again, but they said he will be indicted.”
“O my god…” What the fuck?! Such an asshole. I tried to remember anything, but I couldn’t. It was all gone, as if the last night didn’t happen. Like the prom night. It just didn’t feel that heaviness on me, it didn’t make me that angry. “Did you call my Mom?”
“No, I don’t have my cell phone, so I don’t have her number and I couldn’t find yours. But we can call her, I’m sure the nurse can find out the num...”
“No, no”, I interrupted him and put my hand on his. I didn’t need my mother; I was fine, except for the headache. “It’s okay. She would just worry.”
“How dare she?” He raised an eyebrow. “Honestly… could you please stop to almost die over and over again? That’s not healthy for me.”
If we weren’t in a hospital with my arm pinned to a bottle full of something I didn’t know, I would’ve laughed. So I just smiled and put my hand on his cheek. “So bad?”
“No, we were in time. I was worrying that you might be allergic to it or something.”
Obviously he had saved my life – again. “Thank you.”
He nodded and took my hand in his, before he pushed the emergency button. “I’ll get the doctor.”
“I’m sorry”, I said. “I shouldn’t have taken the drink, I mean, it’s not really new that that can happen, I just… I didn’t expect that.”
“It’s okay.”
I swallowed. “I’m thirsty.”
He gave me some water and after a few minutes a nurse came in and smiled when she saw me awake. She said, she would call the doctor to look at me. Another few minutes later the doctor was there and told us some stuff about the drugs that asshole had put into my drink and that I was lucky that nothing worse happened – like a rape. I remembered another party I once went to and took drugs at and got almost raped. I never told anyone about that.
“How long do I have to stay?” I asked the doctor.
“How do you feel? Tired? Stunned?”
“No, just a little headache”, I answered. I hated hospitals. I had no intention to stay a minute longer than I had to.
“We’ll just check your blood, give you something against your headache and then you can go home. Take it easy today. And don’t take any drinks from strangers or leave your glass unattended.”
“I promise.”
He nodded and left and the nurse released me from that needle in my arm and the drip. Then she took some blood and said that it would take one or two hours. I nodded and lay back again, after she had left. I looked at Brian.
“You don’t have to wait here with me. I’m fine. As soon as the tests are here, I’m gone.”
“And as soon as you’ll leave I’ll leave with you”, he said.
Brian's POV
The blood test was alright and so Justin was allowed to leave. We went to the car and I looked at him. “We drive home and get you back into bed.”
“I’m not tired”, he answered. “Actually I feel fine. I still have some plans for today. And so have you.”
“Justin...”
“Brian”, he raised his eyebrows. “I mean it. I’m fine. Lets go to the loft and then... you do what you have to do and I do what I have to do and tonight we...”, he smiled at me, “...meet at the Jacuzzi.”
There was no chance to argue with him. I was still worrying and he still didn’t remember anything. So we drove to the loft and when we arrived Justin went straight to the bathroom.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I need a shower, I feel… dirty.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Maybe it was better for the other guys to not remember anything. “He didn’t touch you.” I followed him and watched him getting undressed. “Nothing happened.”
He looked up to me. “I know, it’s just… I want to wash it away, you know?”
I nodded. So did I. The night had been a nightmare. He pulled me closer and started to unbutton my shirt.
“I’m absolutely sure that the doctor told you to take it easy”, I said.
“I just don’t want to shower alone.”
I offered to stay with him but he practically kicked me out of the loft and told me to do my job. I had a message from Cynthia on my answering machine that Leo Brown had called because of an emergency. For Leo everything was an emergency, but his company was one of our biggest clients and so it was my job to rescue him from all his emergencies.
When I walked into the office it was 10 AM and Cynthia almost jumped on me. “He called five times, he’s really upset.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but it must be something big. Where have you been? And what happened to your cell phone?”
I pulled the smashed phone out of my jacket and gave it to her. “I need a new one, a cool one. Take care of it. And give me Leo Brown.”
“Okay.”
As soon as I was in my office, Ted came in and looked really worried. “Emmett called me that the police was at the club last night. What happened?!”
“Some idiot put drugs in our guests’ drinks, a so called rape drug. Last night it was Justin’s drink”, I said, sighed and sat down.
“O my god... Brian, what...?”
“He’s fine. Nothing happened.” I looked at him.
“Thank god.”
“But I have no idea how many guys he already put under drugs to make them amenable.”
“Did they get him?” he asked.
“Yeah, they did.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m tired.” I massaged my temples. “Okay, so what’s the matter with Brown Athletics?”
“I don’t know”, he answered and sat down in front of me. “He called five times this morning, he seemed upset but said that he only wants to talk to you. I checked everything. The payment is all right and so are the campaigns, nothing happened. I have no idea what he could want. But… Brian?”
“Hm?” I looked up.
“What does that ring… what?”
I looked at my hand. Guess I would have to answer that question to a lot of people in the future. I flicked my tongue and shrugged. “It’s just a ring.”
“You two got married?!” I stopped him when he got this I-have-to-hug-you-look.
“No, no, we didn’t. We bought the rings, I never returned them, and so we decided to wear them. No minister, no I dos and no other romantic bullshit, just two rings.”
It didn’t stop him, he smiled brightly and congratulated me and I was very happy when Cynthia had Leo Brown on the telephone and Ted went back to the chair.
“Leo”, I greeted him and pushed the button for the loudspeaker. “I heard there’s some trouble, what can I do to clear it up?”
“Go find Drew Boyd and make him sign for our new campaign.”
I looked at Ted who just shrugged, but before I could say anything, Leo continued, “I’m in Pittsburgh already; I’ll be at your office in two hours. I need your best staff members for this, Brian. And bring me Drew Boyd.”
And then he hung up. I shook my head and sighed. So much for my lunch plans with Justin. I looked at Ted who rolled his eyes. “Peter Watson will be here at 12.30 too. I guess that’ll be my date then?”
“No, no, I need you with Brown, try to get Watson and ask him if 1.30 is okay, too.”
“But at 1.30 we have a date with Eyeconic Optics.”
“We do?” I raised an eyebrow and made a face. “It’s Christmas week, why do they all come today?”
“Not only today, the entire week is going to be busy.”
I nodded and got up. “I need to call Justin, give me your cell phone.”
“Sure”, he said. “What happened to yours?”
“A lot.” I took his phone and saw the pic with him and Blake on the screen. Such a couple!
Justin's POV
“Thanks for calling me”, Molly said when she came out of the house. I leaned on the car, it was a sunny day, but it was really cold. I smiled at her and saw someone behind the drapes. I knew it was my father, but I tried not to pay any attention.
“I was around and thought we could get lunch together.” It hadn’t been the original plan but since Brian cancelled our lunch date, I called her.
“Great.” She hugged me. “I want to go to the Liberty Diner.”
Huh? “Why?”
“Because I never had been there and Mom never lets me go there. She said it’s because this place is not where a girl my age should be.”
I laughed. “I won’t take you to the Diner when Mom doesn’t allow it.”
“O come on, what’s going on at that place that I can’t eat lunch there?”
Actually, she was right. There was nothing going on – except for Debbie.
“I promise, I won’t tell Mom.”
“Okay.”
Before we drove to the diner, I had to give Sidney my paintings. He recognized Molly. He took the paintings and gave me a very satisfied smile. “The selling was a good thing, Justin. Regular visitors saw that the painting was gone and asked me about your stuff. Nothing’s better than selling stuff to get people’s attention.”
I nodded and smiled back at him. I knew I should be proud, but I couldn’t. It was just… weird. Everything was weird. I had no inspiration. I couldn’t paint. My Dad had bought the other painting, I would work as a computer animator … it was just weird. I was happy to hear that people asked about me, but something felt just different. If this would’ve happened the day I arrived, I would’ve been happier and euphoric.
Then we drove to the diner and when we went in, Molly just stood there and looked around. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Mom really needs to calm down”, she said and sat down at one of the tables, and right before Kiki came along. Or as Debbie would say: Kiki the new waitress; formerly Kenny the waiter. And as always Kiki’s makeup was very… special.
“Hey Baby”, she greeted me and looked at Molly. “Who’s that beautiful girl?”
That beautiful shocked girl… “My sister, Molly. It’s her first lunch at the Diner, so can you bring us a pink plate special please and a chocolate milkshake?”
“Sure honey.” Kiki looked at Molly again, who was still starring at her without saying anything. Guess Kiki was one of the reasons why Mom didn’t want Molly to visit the Diner. Kiki raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “Obviously she never saw a waitress before.”
I waited until Kiki was gone and kicked Molly under the table. “That was not nice.”
“Have you seen her boobs?” Molly whispered, still shocked. “Whatever she’s using to fill the bra she should think it over, they look like grapefruits and that is not a compliment. And what the fuck happened to her face? Doesn’t she have a mirror?” She shook her had. “What a poor wannabe lady.”
Okay… was I supposed to laugh or to be shocked or to reprehend her? “Molly, she’s doing it on purpose.” At least I hoped so. “If you want to see a really good drag queen you have to go to Shanda Leer. Darren’s the best – as far as I know. But… you’re too young to go to places where you could see him, so…”
She made a face and kicked me back under the table.
“Just try to not stare at her okay? It’s disrespectful”, I said.
“I’m sorry.” She took a napkin and started to play with it. “He keeps asking for you, you know? He wants to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing and such stuff.”
“And you should find out?” I asked her.
She looked at me. “No. But he’s always asking me, since Mom totally overreacts when he asks her. And I can’t tell him anything.”
“If he wants to know anything he can ask me, but… I bet he doesn’t have the balls to do that. And you’re free to tell him that.”
“I think he really cares”, she said. “I mean, he has no reason to lie. It’s not that he’s getting anything out of it.”
I felt sorry for her. She tried to interfere between Dad and me, but she had no idea what had happened between us. She probably just wanted us to be a family again. “Look, Molly…”
“I know, he sucked as a father and did horrible things to you. Unfortunately, no one’s going to tell me what exactly he did and so I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. I feel sorry for him.”
“Did you ask him?” I wanted to know.
“Sure”, she answered. “I asked him, I asked Mom and I asked you.”
Kiki brought us the milkshakes. After she was gone, Molly looked back at me and shrugged. “Why does no one talk to me? I’m not a baby anymore, I can handle it.”
I nodded. “I know. I can tell you that your age is not the reason why I don’t tell you anything. I just don’t want to badmouth him in front of you. You have a good relationship with him and that’s how it should be. He’s a good father, isn’t he? Except for the attempted suicide.”
“Yeah, guess so.” She looked down. “This sucks. Really. Why can’t you just tell me the reason why you don’t want to talk to him?”
“I still think that he should do it.”
“He just says, some things happened, honey, some bad things.”
I bit my lower lip. “I don’t think that my point of view is very objective. Maybe he had some good reasons for some of his decisions, I don’t know.”
“But if you tell me, I could ask him. Mom always tells me that it’s none of my business and that I should stay out of it, but that doesn’t work. You moved out, they broke up, Dad got married again… and it’s all none of my business?”
“He gave me some rules for living at home, rules I didn’t want to accept and so… I left. He… he attacked Brian, twice. He refused to pay for my school, twice. And … in February he got me arrested when we fought against Proposition 14 in front of his store.”
“Couldn’t you find another place to demonstrate?” she asked.
“We always demonstrated in front of the supporters.”
“O.” She frowned. “What is Proposition 14?”
“It’s a law that takes away almost every right from homosexuals. No marriage, no family… nothing.”
“I remember Mom wearing a button…”, she mumbled and shook her head. “And dad supported that law?”
I nodded.
“Did you ask him about it?” She looked totally confused and I knew my mother would slap me for talking to her about Dad.
“Yes, I tried.” I shrugged. “We disagreed.”
She took the napkin again. “And… you could’ve come back home if you would’ve accepted some rules?”
“Yes.” I had absolutely no intention to tell her the rules.
“What kind of rules?”
I just looked at her and she nodded. She knew I wouldn’t answer that question. I put my hand on hers. “Molly, don’t worry about it okay? Promise me. It happened a long time ago and none of it had anything to do with you.” My mother would so kill me.
“You’re wearing a ring.” She was staring at my hand and then she was staring at me. “Did you get married without me? You asshole! That was my only chance to become a flower girl! I’m already 12 years old.”
“I’m not married.” I laughed. “And trust me, if I’ll ever get to marry, it doesn’t matter how old you are when you strew the flowers. You won’t be the oldest flower girl there.” For some reason I could easily imagine Emmett as one of my flower girls.
“But the ring…”
“It’s just a ring. We decided to wear them as a symbol.”
“Cool.” She smiled at me. “Are you moving back here?”
“No.”
“Is Brian moving there?”
“No. But…”, I smacked my tongue. “There’s something I want to show you. But only if you promise me to keep it a secret.”
“What is it?”
I remembered the date at the Jacuzzi. “Tomorrow, okay? I come and get you after breakfast and we buy some stuff and then… I show you.”
She nodded, her eyes were shining. “Okay.”
“Not a word to anyone.”
“I promise.”
I had to admit, my little sister was kinda cool – for a twelve years old girl.
Brian's POV
Thank god a Jacuzzi with a beautiful blond naked boy was waiting for me at the end of that day. Otherwise I would’ve started screaming.
“I didn’t see that coming”, Ted said after Leo Brown had left the office.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. Somehow I was gleeful.
“How are we supposed to handle this? What are we supposed to do? What if it doesn’t work out?” he asked in his typical nervous way.
“Find Drew Boyd, bring him here, we have to talk to him. And if it doesn’t work out – it’s really not our problem”, I answered and laughed. Finally a homophobic asshole got what he deserved, a kick in his ass.
“I doubt that he’ll work for us again, or for Leo Brown, not after what happened”, Ted shook his head. “I wouldn’t.”
“That’s my job.” And since I was good at my job, I was very confident that I would be able to convince Drew Boyd. “Go find him.”
“Yeah, I will!”
“Brian”, Cynthia came in and leaned over my desk. “There’s someone who wants to talk to you. He says it’s urgent.”
“Who is it?” I asked her.
“Well, he says he’s… mh…”
“What? The Pope?” I shrugged.
“Worse”, she said and tipped the ring on my finger. “He says he’s your father in law.”
TBC