CHAPTER 12 – COUNTING DOWN…TO THE PITCH OBVIOUSLY!

DAY 15 – EARLY MORNING

JUSTIN’S SUITE – BEDROOM

JUSTIN

“Brian!”  I scream and shudder before slumping back onto the bed.  After taking some much needed air, I open my eyes and groan.  “Seven more days.”  I sigh.

BRIAN’S BATHROOM – SAME TIME

BRIAN

“Oh fuck!  I so needed that!”  I slump against the tiles and swallow hard.  I turn on the shower to wash it off the walls and step under the water.  But then I imagine soaping his creamy, soft skin.  Kissing his perfect mouth.  His legs wrapping around my waist… I rest my head against the tiles and turn the water to cold.   Then I turn it to the most powerful spray and aim it at my cock…that does the trick!  “This is going to be the longest seven days ever!”  I shiver.

LILAH’S – AN HOUR LATER

DEBS

Michael wisely spent most of the day as far away from me as possible!  I didn’t say anything to anyone but it seems that Tyler, another Michael fan, has made sure everyone knows and they have been giving him a slightly cold shoulder.

“Morning grandma!”  Gus clambers onto the seat next to me.  “Momma and Bumpy have gotten bigger, look!”

I watch Mel wander to the table and she does look a bit bigger.  “Thank you Gus.”  She grins.

He peers round her and smiles.  “Momma, can Uncle Carl sit next to me please?”

Everyone but Brian, Ted and Michael arrive at the same time.

“Brian and Ted are in the business centre.”  Ems explains their absence and I nod.

“Well then, I think that in his stead, his mini-me should be the head of the table. It’s only right.”  Carl decides.

Gus looks confused.  “Grandma, why aren’t we sitting down?  And what’s a stead?”

“A stead.”  Carl hunkers down so he’s at his level.  “That’s someone who takes the place of someone who is not here, like your daddy.  So because your daddy is not here, you should sit in his place because you are being him for breakfast.”

Gus thinks for a minute.  “So I sit where daddy sits?”  Carl nods and we move so that he can scramble to seat.

Vic clears his throat and bows.  “Now my liege, pray tell where shall your subjects sit?”

“Uncle Vic, you’re talking funny.”  Gus giggles.

“What’s so funny?”  Michael’s arrival causes a drop in the atmosphere.

“King Gus is addressing his subjects and we are waiting for him to bestow his seating orders.”  Vic explains.  “My liege, please proceed.”

“Liege?   Is that me?”  Gus asks and Vic nods.  “Okay so grandma sits here.  Then Uncle Carl on my other side.”  He pauses.  “Momma next to grandma and Auntie Emmy next to Uncle Carl.  Um…Uncle Rodney next to Auntie Emmy and Uncle Vic next to Momma and then Unca Mikey can sit next to Uncle Rodney…”

RODNEY

“Ooh lucky me.”  I mutter as I take my seat.

Michael virtually ignores me as he sits down and that’s perfectly fine.  Vic has been filling me in on the Brian and Michael relationship. I can’t believe that the idiot still thinks he has a chance with Brian considering he never even tried to finish that long-forgotten-by-anyone-but-the-whiner handjob.  

And now there’s the little matter of Justin.  Everyone but Michael has noticed their increasing closeness.  When he’s been genuflecting about Brian and his previous conquests, Michael always seems to preen about the fact that the guys are always dark haired and dark eyes…as if he thinks that Brian is trying to fuck him out of his system…

“Ohmygod.”  I gasp as that realisation hits me.  That’s exactly what he thinks!

“Rodney, are you okay?”  Vic asks concerned

I nod.  “I’ll explain to you later.”  I reassure him.

“Morning all.”  Ted joins us smiling and he’s with a statuesque woman.  “Allow me to introduce you to Bella. She’s working closely with Brian and myself on the pitch.  So Bella, this is Mel, she’s Gus’s mom, Carl, you know Gus, that’s Debs his grandma, Vic who is Debs’ brother, you know that reprobate that is Emmy, this is Rodney and where’s Michael?  I could have sworn I just saw him.”

MICHAEL

When I saw Ted and the bitch approaching, I went to bar because quite frankly I don’t want to talk to either of them. But then I realised that this meant that Brian would be unguarded so I head to the business centre.

BUSINESS CENTRE, BUSINESS ROOM 1

BRIAN

I watch the video once more and look at the photos and they look hot.  I think the nightclub photos need cleaning up a bit.  We’re going to shoot the video in the nightclub in a few hours.  I am so engrossed in looking at the photos that I don’t hear the door open.

“Hi Brian.”  Michael’s voice grates on my nerves as I’m still not ready to speak to him yet.

“What are you doing here?”  I demand.

“I wanted to see you.  I haven’t seen you for a while.”

“I’ve been avoiding you.”  I carry on doing what I’m doing.

“Why?  Is this still about Gus?”  He asks and I take a couple of calming breaths.

“Yes it’s still about Gus!  You hurt my son Michael and…”

“Well you hurt me too! You know when you threw my stuff out of the window. They were important to me!”

I whirl round and face who I thought was my friend and an uncle to Gus.  “Are you seriously comparing the loss of your comics and toys to the trauma your thoughtlessness caused to my son?”

“No of course not, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“And you shouldn’t have done it in the first place! You’re fucking lucky it wasn’t you that went sailing head-first into the water followed by those trash-rags!  You don’t allow kids that age in your store and to this very second, you’ve not even said you’re sorry!”

“I said I won’t do it again!”  He protests.

“Not the same as apologizing!”  I bark at him.

“Okay I’m sorry Brian that…”

“Get out Michael!  I’m busy and don’t have time for your stupidity!”

“You heard him Michael.  Get out!”  Ted orders.

He looks between the two of us before stomping out.

MICHAEL

I storm up back to the bar only to find that it’s locked up.

“Why is the bar closed?”  I ask a passing guy.

“Video shoot for later.”

“Thanks.”  I call out as he continues walking.

I decide to walk around trying to clear my head.  I can’t believe how Brian is being about this.  I find myself standing next to a group of men chattering excitedly and decide to listen in.

“I can’t wait.  I can’t believe I got chosen.  So looking forward to it!”  One says.

“I know right!  Which did you get?”

“The wine galley, which is tomorrow.  What about you?”

“Nightclub and that’s today!  Beat you bitch!”  He shoves his friend.

“Rumour has it that the guy who is in charge of the shoot is the winner of the cruise.  Oh shit, we’d better get going! We need to be smooth in time for hair and make-up.  Emmy can be such a meanie!”  The guy actually fucking giggles. He’s six foot and built like a barn for fuck sake.  “But sweet as a lamb!”

Oh this is ridiculous!  Brian is going to be busy again!  How the fuck can he make his behaviour up to me if he’s busy with this shit?!

As I glower across the deck, I spot Gold and he doesn’t look happy.  I can’t help but sneer at him and click my fingers to get his attention.

“Can I help you sir?”  He smiles tightly at me.

“I would like a glass of your finest beer in a chilled glass.”

“I bet that’s not all you’d like!”  He mutters.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  I snap.

“Oh please, I know a puppy dog please love me look when I see it!”  He sneers back. “I heard what happened with his kid and you.  How was that time out for you?”

I feel my face flush.

“Now excuse me sir, let me get your drink.”  He smiles and then walks off. I glare at his retreating back and then notice he has dropped his swipe card, so pick it up.

“Oh you fucker, let’s see what I can do with this.”  I smirk to myself.

NIGHTCLUB SHOOT – TWO HOURS LATER

BRIAN

We’ve almost got this perfect but it’s missing something.  Emmy and I exchange looks. The guys look hot, the music is pumping but it still looks a little off.

“What is it?  Why doesn’t it feel quite right?”  I watch the video again and sigh.

“I don’t know.  Maybe change the music?”  Emmy suggests.

“Hi guys!”  Justin calls out as he comes in looking delicious.  “Wow this looks great…okay what’s up?”  He looks between the pair of us.

“What’s up is that this is just not working.”  Emmy points at the screen and we play it again and he frowns.

“It looks a little, um too sexual.”  Justin bites his lip.

“Too sexual?!  There is no such thing as too sexual when it comes to selling sex!”  Ted scoffs.

“True.  But hear me out. It doesn’t have to be so in your face to have the same impact this time.  All we’re seeing here is how hot everything is, which is great. But some people do actually come to a nightclub to dance with the person that they came on the cruise with.  Show the sexy side but show the loving side too. This is a gay family friendly ship; that’s the demographic not represented here. The actual friends and lovers!”

We just look at him in astonishment.   

“That’s it, that’s exactly what is wrong!”  I exclaim.  “Ted how much time do we have for today?”

He winces.  “For a complete reshoot?  Not really enough.  If we can get some guys dressed in…”

“No, wait…”  Bella interrupts and pulls out her phone. “Blake, can you get down here now?  Thanks doll.”  She then puts in another call.  “Tyler, can you get here with Marcus?”

“Uh Bella sweetie…”  Emmy begins, which saves me from asking.

“It will take too long…”  She turns to look at me.  “And you two!  Emmy get them to hair and make-up!”

“No!”  Justin and I shout at the same time.

“Emmy Lou... first and you know this, I can’t dance!”  I point out.  “And secondly, I’m shooting this thing!”

“Hmm, he does raise valid points. Trust me on the first one!  Which is kind of amazing consid...”

“Yeah but generally Bri, you’re not actually moving.”  Ted points out hurriedly cutting off Em’s innuendo, to my relief and undying gratitude. He looks over and beams as Blake comes scurrying in followed quickly by Tyler and I presume Marcus.

“Schmidt not helping!”  I grouse.

“No-no-no, Teddy that’s perfect, come-come you lot!”

Within half an hour, we are all on the dance floor.

“Ooh my first video shoot!”  Emmy cries.  “Now I want you to get up close to your partner and basically move to the beat like you mean it.  Is that what you had in mind Justin?”

“Yeah-yeah, that’s what I meant.”  He mutters going pink.

“Okay cue the music!”  Emmy cries and I want to kill him!

As the beat pumps, Justin giggles.  “Oh you really can’t dance, can you?”

“Nope.  I just generally hold the guy to me and let them lead.  I can kinda follow but leave me to my own devices…”  I trail off.

“For goodness sake Brian, dance like you would in Babylon!”  Emmy instructs as we have to start again.

“Someone is getting too big for his britches!”  I mutter.

“Come on Mr Ad man, let me show you how to groove.”  Justin smiles and he loops his arms around my neck.  “No tickling.”  He warns me as my arms slip around his waist.

“Cue the music…again!”  Emmy calls out, poking his tongue at me.

As the music starts, Justin kicks my legs a bit wider so that he can get closer. Then he starts to move his hips and I follow his lead. “This might not have been the best idea.”  He mutters, breathing hard.

“You think!”  I hiss back but can’t help it when my hands slide to his ass.  “Sorry!”

“No it’s fine, I think.  Let me just think of Mort!”  He sighs and I can’t help it, the question is out before I can stop myself…

“Mort? Who the hell is Mort?”

He grins at me.  “Calm yourself.  He’s the lemur in the Madagascar movies and he’s cute. If I think of cute, I can’t be thinking about how good your hands feel on my ass.  Mort-Mort-Mort!”

“I don’t want you to think I’m a jealous type of guy.”  I whisper and he looks up at me, all big blue eyes dancing with laughter.

“Shame that, I rather like it.”

“Shut up twat and let’s keep moving.”

“ONCE AGAIN GUYS CUT!!”  Bella shouts.

We stop and look round; we’re the only ones on the floor!

“How was that?”  I clear my throat.

“Well not as good for us as it was for you two!”  Bella giggles.

“Let’s go and get changed then watch the video.”  I order and drag him off the dance floor.

DRESSING ROOM

JUSTIN

We just stare at each other.  “Okay we’re not invoking, right?”  Brian asks and I nod.

We start to get changed in silence but it’s when he unzips his pants to tuck in his shirt, I groan inwardly. He’s gone commando!

“What?”  He looks at me, smirking.

“Bastard!”  I mutter and stomp out with his laughter ringing in my ears.

BRIAN’S SUITE – LATE EVENING

BALCONY

BRIAN

I have turned off every light so I am enjoying the coolness and darkness.  Today was a good day. We managed to get all three shots done.  Tomorrow is the last day of videoing and that’s the gallery. I can’t help but laugh at the indignant expression on Justin’s face when we were getting changed. His ass bounces deliciously when he stomps off!

I chuckle reading the last text from Justin.  I decide to head to bed but because of the darkness in my suite I notice the feet outside the door and text Justin to ask if he has temporarily resigned.  But he says no, as he’s tired.  Then I freeze as that persistent knocking starts.

For fuck sake, why doesn't he get it?!

Stalking to the door, I wrench it open.  “Mi…”

“Now we’re even!”  Justin grins and then runs down back the corridor giggling.

“Twat!”  I whisper loudly and go to bed chuckling.