After a quick introduction, they sat down at the large table. Justin’s stomach was in knots. His mind was racing with all the information that he had learned over the trial.

“We need to appoint a jury foreman,” Juror three, Lucas, said. Lucas was a thin, forty something year old, white male with a bit of a long face.

“Who wants to be foreman?” Jaya, Juror Eleven, asked. Jaya was a beautiful dark-skinned, middle-aged woman who was visibly pregnant.

“I volunteer,” Edger, Eight, said. Justin didn’t like the man, and by the look on the man’s face the sentiment was returned. The man looked like a bully and acted like he always got his way too.

“All for Edger, raise your hands,” Jaya said.

Surprisingly, only three raised their hands. One, three and twelve.

“I guess I could do it,” Melvin, Two, said.

Justin instantly liked Melvin, he reminded him of a big teddy bear. He had a sweet demeanor and likable personality. A dark-skinned man with a round belly and a ready smile. Justin put him at about forty. When he introduced himself, he had said he was a high school chemistry teacher.

“All for Melvin,” Jaya asked.

Eight hands went up, including Justin’s. Edger looked pissed off but it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just the person who talked to the judge for them and the bailiffs.

Sitting around the large rectangle table, he was in between Melvin and Jaya.

“This guy’s guilty as fucking sin,” Edger said.

“Language,” Mrs. Dobbins, nine, hissed. Edger glared daggers at the old woman.

“Maybe we should do a secret ballot, just to see where we stand,” Jaya said.

“That’s a great idea,” Melvin said, smiling shyly at Jaya.

“Fine,” Edger said, begrudgingly.

After the slips of paper was distributed they wrote guilty or not guilty. Justin thought it was a bit premature but he decided to go with his gut. The prosecution’s biggest argument was that Brian Kinney killed the guy simply because he could. That made no sense at all.

Melvin grabbed all the slips. “Not guilty. Not guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Guilty. Not guilty. Guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. That’s eight not guilty and four guilty. It looks like we have to review the evidence.”

They had barely started talking before the bailiff was back in telling them that it was time to stop for the night. They were again told not to speak about the case or anything about their time in court. It didn’t surprise him that he was lead out a different way and told that they would park in the court’s parking spots tomorrow. He found out it was because it was more secure and media couldn’t get to them. Leaving the parking garage, he had a lot on his mind.

Brian sat at Debbie’s kitchen table. He thought back to the trial, it felt so wrong. He begged his lawyer to let him testify but Greg had said that his attitude would work against him. Everyone else and their brother got to say their piece about him, why couldn’t he defend himself?

Twelve strangers were now in charge of his future. He hadn’t prayed since he was a little boy, praying that his daddy would stop hitting him. His prayer wasn’t answered then when he believed in god, it wouldn’t be answered now when he didn’t.

His first boss out of college, when he started with Ryder said he could sell water to a drowning man. Why wouldn’t Greg give him the chance to speak up for himself? What if they listened to that bitch of a mother of his? If it was up to her, he would be sentenced to death. No better feeling than knowing your own mother wants you dead.

“Brian, you really need to eat,” Deb told him.

“I think I’m just gonna go out for a while.”

The people around the table looked at him suspiciously. Well, fuck them. It wasn’t their lives on the line. He behaved during his part of the trial. It was up to the jury now. If he wanted to go out and fuck, that was his prerogative. Fuck them.

He didn’t go to any of his usual hangouts, everyone knew him there. In fact, everyone knew him everywhere, his face had been on all the newspapers.

Because of his ‘fame’ he decided to go to a sketchier part of the city. He just hoped he didn’t regret it.

Justin tossed and turned in bed. His mind wouldn’t settle. “I need to get out,” he muttered to himself.

It was just before midnight when he slipped out of his grandparents’ house. He didn’t know where he was going to go, he knew one thing for sure, it couldn’t be Liberty Avenue. He had heard too much about that place, it was Brian Kinney’s stomping ground. No way would he not hear anything about him there. Also, what if someone recognized him from the jury. It was an open courtroom. Anybody could have seen him.

It was after some thinking that he remembered Daphne telling him about a place that didn’t card. Her ex had gone there a few times. It was in the shadier part of Pittsburgh but maybe a drink would calm him. One drink wouldn’t be terrible.

Brian was working on his third whiskey when the door opened to the small bar. After a moment, a kid walked in. The kid was familiar. It took a moment for him to place the blond twink.

Fuck. He’s on my jury.

Brian stayed in the corner, hidden by the darkness. He couldn’t risk the kid seeing him. For one, it would look bad that he was out getting blitzed on the first night of deliberations. For another, if anyway knew they were in the same place at the same time it could cause a mistrial.

The place wasn’t too crowded, in fact it was almost empty, and Brian had already got what he came for. The bouncer was exactly his type, and had a mouth to die for. After to bouncer went back to work, Brian sat in the corner drinking. Once the kid came in, he decided to make sure no one noticed him. It had been a long time that Brian had just people watched without trying to figure out their motives.

Brian smiled to himself when he the bouncer took a shot at the twink. Even from where he was sitting he could see the bouncer get shot down. He saw a look cross the man’s face, someone didn’t like to be rejected. The man then ordered the twink a drink, Brian saw the kid take a sip then go to the restroom. For some strange reason, he decided to watch the bouncer, who was laughing with the bartender.

Something caught his attention, the bouncer’s hand hovered over the twink’s drink for a moment. Then he brought it back as the kid came back. Brian knew without a doubt, that fucker put something in that drink, and he had a good guess what. A dilemma then appeared to him. He could break all kinds of rules and get the kid away from the scumbag, or he could be a fucking coward and let the pieces lie where they fall.

Never one to be that much of a good citizen, he stayed put. If the guy tried to take the kid somewhere he would interfere, that was for sure. But he couldn’t risk his trial, not yet anyway. The GHB wouldn’t harm him, just what would come next if Brian wasn’t there. Brian would make sure nothing happened to him but he couldn’t risk showing his face to the kid unless he had to.

Things didn’t go as planned though, the kid slumped over and just as Brian was about to intercede, cops raided the place.

FUCK!

Because of his position in the corner, near the emergency exit, he just left. He knew that with the cops there the kid would be safe. But if his name and the kids name appeared anywhere together, he’d have a whole new trial. He just wanted it over and done with. The last view he had of the kid was a cop calling for paramedics as the kid slid down to the ground.

Justin’s head was buzzing, no, that wasn’t his head. Something around him was buzzing. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a curtained partition.

“Oh, lovely, you’re awake,” a female voice said.

He saw it was a woman in her sixties, taking his vitals.

“Am I in the hospital?”

“The ER, yes. The police will be in to talk to you shortly.”

“What happened?”

“The police will be in soon.”

A few minutes later two women in uniforms walked in. They were nice but he just wanted to go home.

“What happened?”

“Well, I would say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time but you were just in the wrong place. You’re very lucky that we were raiding that bar.”

“Why?”

“Why were we raiding or why were you lucky?”

“Both.”

“We were raiding because it’s a known drug front. You’re lucky because it looked like someone was planning on doing something to you that you would be against.”

“Why do you say that?”

The older of the two women looked at him sadly. “Because you passed out as soon as we walked in. We took the drink you had, we won’t have the forensics on it for a while but we’re sure you were drugged.”

Justin felt bile in his throat, the man who had ordered him the drink. He had thought he was nice, maybe a little forward. But he had no idea that someone could do that, that was only on television shows.

“I need to go home.”

“The doc said something about releasing you once you came to. We’ll give you a ride home. We should cite you for drinking underage but I’m sure this is a lesson you’ll learn from.”

He nodded his head. It was clear to him that he should have stayed home. He was about to tell them he needed to get to his grandmother’s car but didn’t think he should be driving anyway yet. He’d call Daphne in a few hours.

It was lucky that it wasn’t time to go to the courthouse yet. He wondered what would happened if he didn’t show. Probably a mistrial since the alternates were dismissed, and he would be arrested for something.

Since nothing happened to him, the police gave him the option to press charges. He asked what would happened to the guy, turned out not much. So instead of putting himself through anything, he just let it drop. The guy and bartender along with the owner were in big trouble from what he heard anyway.

It was just after four in the morning when he got back to his grandparents. He thought everyone would be asleep but was surprised to find his grandfather sitting at the kitchen table. Justin had just gone in to get a drink, his mouth felt gross.

“You’re home mighty late, or should I say early,” his grandfather said.

“Hey, gramps. I thought you would be asleep.”

“Who could sleep with your father calling all hours of the night.”

That shocked Justin, he thought his dad would be ecstatic to get rid of them. “What did he want?”

“To tell your mother that she wasn’t getting a damn penny from him. Classy.”

“Sorry, gramps.”

“Not your fault. Promise me, when you have a family, you’ll treat them well.”

“I promise,” he said. “I’ve got to go take a shower and catch a few hours of sleep.”

A strange look came over his grandfather’s face. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

“Do what?”

“Treat yourself like this. I’ve known many gay men and women in my long life. I knew two women who had been together for sixty-two years before dear Opal passed. Their whole life until near the end people thought they were lonely old spinsters who stayed together for company. They weren’t lonely, they had each other. They also took in Opal’s three grandnephews and raised them. The boys knew about their relationship, it never did matter.

“I’ve also met men, gay and straight that said sex was all that matters. I’ll tell you this, it doesn’t matter if the man is the biggest…manwhore there is, everyone man or woman wants to be loved. Some don’t handle it well, but some you just have to break through their walls. Don’t you go around building up walls. You look for love, it’s alright to live a little, you are young. But just don’t treat yourself like you aren’t worth everything you’ve always wanted.”

“Gramps,” Justin whined.

“No, you told me when you were four that you were going to marry a prince. I expect nothing less.”

“Just because you want some control of a nation.”

“I wouldn’t have an aversion to it.”

“I will not help you with world domination.”

“Fine. Fine. But you know I’m right. You deserve the world.”

“I’m young, gramps. I have so much I want to do in life before I settle down.”

His grandfather laughed loudly. “That’s what I said until I met your grandmother. Love knows not of time.”

Justin rolled his eyes and went upstairs. His grandfather was an odd duck.