DEB
I ignored the call from the diner saying the idiot who sits in his office all day watching TV wanted the staff at a meeting this morning. As if he really had anything to say. I ended up an hour late for my shift, so he’d have to excuse me for not showing up for a meeting first thing this morning. I wanted to make sure Michael didn’t go run his mouth about what he’d done. He thought it was about time that Lindsay got knocked off her high horse. I didn’t like how he did it, but I couldn’t let Mel or Lindsay do anything to make Michael look bad. If we expected Brian to see his mistake by taking HIS side, then it meant Brian never hearing about what Michael did. It’s the one thing I know about Brian, he would never condone what Michael did, even though Michael wasn’t thinking when he did it.
Kiki looked frazzled when I walked in, she glared at me and told me that the new manager wanted to talk to me. For a second I wanted to yell at the owner for not telling me he put a new idiot in charge, but it’s not like I haven’t dealt with a new manager and their ideas before. All I needed to do was explain to him that he could sit around collecting a check while I handled the rest; the way I always have.
I walked by the schedule that I wrote a week ago and noticed my name marked through and a new name listed with the shifts that were the ones I scheduled myself. I tore it down and walked into his office and put it on his desk. The guy didn’t look up at me, but continued to read the files on all the employees. I sat waiting, not very patiently, for him to realise that I was there and expected him to acknowledge me, only to be ignored.
“If I’m training someone I’d like to be told before you schedule them with me.” I tell him.
“Deb Novotny?” He asks, closing the file he was reading and looking annoyed at me.
“The one and only.” I tell him.
“Good, I wanted to talk to you when you were scheduled to be here, but you weren’t here. My name is Ryan Bradshaw, and I’ll be overseeing the changes we’re making here. I’ll also be serving as the new manager until we find someone who will do better than catch up on TV watching while he’s supposed to be working. I wanted to ask you first, is there a reason you think being an hour late without a call to tell us when you plan grace us with your presence is acceptable? I also noticed you didn’t dress for work, why is that?” He asks, looking at my vest that I made.
“What I wear has never been a problem before. I think the customers like that I don’t conform to expectations.” I tell him, ignoring the first part, about me being late.
“I can deal with your failure to dress to code, I agree the uniforms aren’t flattering to any of the waitresses. What I can’t excuse, from looking through the past schedules, is that you seem to show up when you want. Which I find odd, since apparently you made the schedules. We need to go over the new guidelines and expectations that will now be followed in the diner.” He tells me, which only made me want to roll my eyes, as if he thought he really had any say in how I run things.
“Maybe I should talk to the owner, he obviously forgot to tell you that I’m the one who runs the staff. It’s the way it’s always been, since the managers don’t last when they think they need to assert their authority. He’ll tell you that I get leeway for doing the manager's job for them.” I tell him.
“The new owner doesn’t see it that way. He felt, after seeing what goes on here, that it was time to change the way the diner is run. I was informed about some of the less than equal conditions that the other managers allowed, to avoid conflict with you. I have no problem with telling you that I’m in charge of everything, and you, as a waitress, will only do the job your title gives you.” He tells me.
“What do you mean ‘new owner’?” I ask.
“The old owner sold the diner, wanting to retire. Which means everyone who works here will be treated equally, and also, we don’t feel that it was fair that you were doing a job that really belonged to the manager. I also want to clear the air about some other things that were said in the meeting. The one you didn’t attend. It was brought up to me after talking to the other employees that you bring your personal life into the diner, and in some cases turned customers away because you were angry at them for something that was personal to you. That being said, we need to talk about the guidelines that you will be expected to follow, and also why your name was crossed off the schedule thirty minutes ago. I allowed that you might have had other plans at the time I called the meeting, and was willing to explain to you personally what I went over with the other employees this morning. Only you didn’t show up when I had set aside time to talk to you, so I called in someone to cover your shift so we could talk when you finally showed up for work. I’ll let you know that I will be hiring new staff in order to better meet the needs of the business, because I don’t feel the way the schedule was written was fair to the other employees. In fact, it seems that the schedule was made so that it allowed you time to socialize, and was overstaffed when you were here. Yet on your days off, others were left with barely anyone to help during rushes. That’s why, from now on, the schedule will not be done by anyone but me.” He tells me.
“I work the rushes practically by myself, so on my days off I don’t see why they need the extra help.” I tell him, not liking that he saw through why I scheduled the way I did.
“I don’t agree with you. So like I said, you don’t need to worry about the schedule anymore, as it will be fair to everyone who works here. I’d like to go over the other guidelines, since I really need to get out there and train the new employee, and give Kiki some help. It’s quite simple really, all employees will show up at their assigned time or call at least an hour in advance if they can’t be here. Also, because of loss reasons, if a family member or friend of the family comes in, they are to be given to another employee, to ensure their isn’t any issue with billing, since there have been a few discrepancies between what the fry cook reported was being prepared and what was billed for the tables. I will agree that it’s time to update the uniform, but there will still be guidelines on the dress code. Anything offensive, isn’t in the dress code. An example is pretty much all the suggestive buttons you're wearing.” He tells me.
“The queens don’t have a problem with it. In fact, they like that I don’t have a problem with the fact that most of them are gay, but it seems you do.” I tell him, thinking me and the asshole in the kitchen were going to talk about him making it sound like I was cheating the diner because I let Michael and his friends go on a few items.
“No, I honestly don’t, considering that my daughter is out and proud and I have no problem marching at Pride with my wife and son, in support of my daughter having the same rights as anyone. In fact, my wife ran the PFLAG chapter in our town until we moved here. Which has nothing to do with your job, but I didn’t like the implication that I had an issue with the clientele that come to this establishment. Now, as to why you were taken off the schedule, I did that because I want to establish that tardiness and unauthorized breaks will not be tolerated. Which is also another complaint of the employees; that a few people have abused their positions by coming and going as they please. I feel that it’s unfair to all the employees to be expected to cover shifts when the person that is scheduled leaves without a valid reason. Which apparently you do, often. I took you off to give you time to workout your personal issues and to give you time to think over if you can live with my expectations.” He tells me.
“I work when anybody else needs time off, but they want to bitch about me!” I tell him.
“I asked them what issues they saw and what we could do to make this a better workplace. It seems they only wanted everyone to have to follow the same rules. I don’t see that as ‘bitching’, but as an explanation for the low morale of the workers. Which I intend to change by making sure the people I hire see a future in staying with the diner, which apparently they don’t. The new owner plans to open a few more restaurants and other establishments where the people who work here can advance, and possibly go to college in fields related to his businesses. In fact, there will be scholarships offered with internships to the people who want to grow with his businesses. Which you would have heard about if you had showed up this morning when I called for ALL the staff to be here for a meeting. It’s best that you go home now and call me in a week for your new schedule, but I will call you if anyone calls out, so that you don’t miss a full week’s pay, or you can use any vacation time you have. I plan to be fair to all employees, but will not hesitate to let go of someone if they flaunt the guidelines.” He tells me.
“I’d like to talk to the new owner, since it seems you have something against me.” I tell him.
“If I did than I would have let you go when you walked in. I’ll let the new owner know you want to schedule a meeting with him, but he plans to be out of town for a couple of weeks, so you’ll have to wait. In the meantime, my decisions stand.” He tells me, getting up and ushering me out of the office.
MICHAEL
I called the landlord to ask about getting my stuff from the comic shop, since I didn’t have anything else to do. The lawyer Ma had me pay for told me the restraining order wasn’t a joke, and if I wanted custody of Jenny that I had to stay clean. I figured I could reopen my comic shop, so I’d have something to do until Brian realized what a manipulative shit he tied himself to. Ma seemed to be worried that Lindsay would eventually tell them it was me who hit her, but I wasn’t, because I knew shit about Lindsay that would keep her mouth shut, just like she did when I told her to. She was planning to tell them that I hit her, but backed off when I told her that I’d tell Brian and Mel her little plan to keep Brian’s money flowing to her. If only I could find something on the blond whore, then he’d leave and never come back.
I’d been waiting for over an hour while my old landlord said he would check with the person who bought the building. When the phone rang, it was a lawyer, explaining that I lost any rights to my property since I was sent a notice four months ago to have it removed, and hadn’t paid the rent on the shop since Ben died. I forgot, because Ben took care of it without bothering me about it. The lawyer didn’t even seem to care when I told him that I would sue them, since the stuff was worth more that the rent I didn’t pay. Instead he told me to read the notice I was sent and the agreement that the previous landlord had, which stated that he could seize anything left on the premises if the owner didn’t remove it at the time of the eviction, then hung up after telling me to have a nice day. I called my lawyer, who told me I needed to call someone who wasn’t in family law.
I wanted to call Ted and tell him to get Brian to deal with this for me, but apparently the shit made it so that I couldn’t contact Brian in any way. All I could see was that he knew he’d lose Brian because Brian wanted to be with me. With nothing else to do, I surfed to see if I could find things to replace the stuff they took from me. I was glad that I now controlled my money, since I found five of the most expensive things for sale while I was searching.
Ma showed up at my house, and scowled at me looking at comic memorabilia. I shut it off so she couldn’t see that I was bidding, not just looking. I made sure to up the price a little higher than the items would go for, before stopping.
“Why are you here?” I ask, still pissed at her because she told me Brian wasn’t going to be with me.
“My new boss told me I have the week off because I was late. I went by two other places, because no one is going to dictate to me how I do my job; only to find out that all of them are owned by someone who is apparently buying up half the businesses on Liberty Avenue.” She tells me.
“My comic shop was bought too.” I tell her, wondering who would want a shithole like the diner.
“It will give us time to work on getting Jenny anyway.” She tells me, going in the kitchen.
I only wanted Jenny because she would be able to find out what was going on with Brian for me. The asshole might have made it impossible for me to see Brian, but Hunter and Gus would do anything for Jenny. I knew I’d made a mistake when I said that shit about Gus, but at the time I was pissed that no one would acknowledge my place in Brian’s life. Jenny would make Gus see that I wasn’t the bad guy, or Gus wouldn’t be allowed to see Jenny. Hunter already made his decision when he didn’t support me, and I returned the favor by not supporting him. Ma wanted to threaten to cut Hunter off if he didn’t start showing support, but I didn’t need that headache, since Hunter would have told her the truth; that he was selling his ass to the shit, to go to school.
“I talked to Jenny, so I don’t think it will be a problem.” I tell her.
“What did you tell Jenny?” She asks.
“That we love her and want to give her everything you gave me.” I tell her.
JUSTIN
Brian agreed we needed to get away, even if it wasn’t going to be a vacation. Ryan already called and told me Deb wasn’t very happy with the new rules, and he took her off the schedule for being an hour late without calling. I got a call about Michael wanting his things and let my lawyer do the talking for me. Brian had an appointment with Alex alone, he told me he needed to figure out why he did the things he did to me where Michael was concerned. It was something he didn’t want us to address until he felt like he could give me a better answer for why he did it. Other than the reason he told himself; that Michael needed him in a way I didn’t. I agree, that I would never need Brian in any way that Michael would. I looked into Michael’s house, but he owned it, so I left it alone. He wasn’t going to profit from the sale, at least not with me providing him money.
Gus didn’t have a problem with staying with my mom after my mom apologized, not only to Brian, but to Gus, for anything that she might have said. One thing about my Mom was that she didn’t have a problem with admitting that she screwed up by saying anything. She told me she apologized to Gus because she realized her words weren’t any better for Gus to hear. She offered to take Cameron, but Brian told her Cameron’s clinginess would only get worse if Brian disappeared on him again. It was something I didn’t think much of at first, but it got to the point where Brian couldn’t move without Cameron following him. Brian called Dr Turner, because he was worried about it, and she told him it was natural that Cameron clung, because Brian had disappeared and Cameron didn’t understand why.
I wanted to laugh when the bid for five of the things on put up for sale were stalled at a bid so high it was ridiculous. Brian did say that Michael would pay through the nose for pieces of crap that no one cares about. At this rate, Michael should be broke in a couple of months, since I also bought up most of the Captain Astro one-of-a-kind memorabilia from the author of the comic. Which I planned to put up after the things Michael once owned sold.
BRIAN
“How are things going?” Was Alex’s first question.
“We’re doing better, but I know it bothers Justin that I don’t really have an answer as to why I acted the way I did about Michael.” I tell him.
“Go back to the times it happened and try to remember why you felt the way you did. I can tell you why I think you did it, but it would only be assumptions on my part, based on what I saw. Only you can tell me what made you defend Michael instead of Justin.”
“I know the night Justin and Michael met, it was more that I could tell he wasn’t comfortable around my friends. It felt like he was looking down on my life and treating everyone as if they weren't good enough to be around him.” I tell him.
“What did Justin do that night that led you to believe that?” He asks.
“He didn’t join in on the conversations. But they were talking about things that didn’t include him. I think part of why I felt that way was because I'd seen him working his shows, and he talked to everyone, regardless of whether they were boring him to tears. Yet he barely paid attention to my friends.” I tell him.
“What were they discussing?” He asks.
“The usual shit we always do. Michael was talking about some guy that he saw, who was trying to find out about me after I brushed him off. Emmett and Ted were joking that I was running out of guys to trick with. It wasn’t something Justin didn’t know was going on, but at the time I didn’t think it would bother him, since we were still in an open relationship.” I tell him.
“I’m sure it would still bother him, but there was also what Michael said to him later that was likely why Justin didn’t do anything to make friends with him or the others. He likely saw that they all rallied around Michael, so why bother to join in when he didn’t feel welcome by what was being said around him.” He tells me.
“It also didn’t help that Michael spent the rest of the night letting me know that Justin told him that he owned me and that he’d make sure I got rid of people who he didn’t like.” I tell him.
“Which you believed, because Michael spent a lot of time telling you that tricks were saying the same thing. Michael was only telling you what he did to people who tried to get close to you, saying it was Justin. My question is why you believed him? Was it because Justin did things to make you believe he would do something like that?” He asks.
“Michael was a constant in my life, to where I didn’t know what Justin would do. I believed Michael because I wasn’t ready to trust Justin.” I tell him.
“What about later, when it became obvious Michael and Justin had problems with each other?” He asks.
“I wanted to believe Michael wasn’t capable of saying the things that upset Justin. I didn’t understand why Justin didn’t say anything to me, but then it was because I defended Michael over him.” I tell him.
“Would you have listened if Justin had told you the things Michael was saying? It might have been hard for him, since Michael said it in front of you and you didn’t say anything even hearing it.” He tells me.
“I want to say yes, but I spent my life defending Michael and I learned to ignore the side of him that I didn’t want to believe existed. If Justin said anything, I excused it because that was what I did all my life when it came to Michael.” I tell him.
“Was there ever a time when you defended Justin instead of Michael?” He asks.
“Only when Michael called me to complain that Justin kicked him out of the house. I’d already told Michael not to show up at the house when I wasn’t there, unless Justin invited him.” I tell him.
“Why, when Michael or Deb showed up when they wanted, regardless of invitation?” He asks.
“Deb told me that unless she invited Justin over to her house, she would prefer I not bring him. It pissed me off that she never told the other guys the same thing. Then Michael told me that unless Justin learned to respect him, than Justin wasn’t welcome at anything that involved the family. At that point, I let both Deb and Michael know the same went for them if Justin was alone at the house. Deb and Michael tried to argue that they were always welcome to my loft and my house shouldn’t be any different, since they weren’t telling me I couldn’t come. It was the first time I let myself see the double standard they seemed to have when it involved Justin. But I didn’t tell them or Justin that was how I saw it. I just told Michael that Justin had every right to tell him to leave.” I tell him.
“Did you tell Justin?” He asks.
“No, I just didn’t mention it.” I tell him.
“Why not?” He asks.
“Michael told me that all he did was come over to help and Justin slammed the door in his face. I agreed that Justin had the right, but I wanted to stop feeling like they were putting me in the middle.” I tell him.
“You also didn’t want to lose the people who you depended on all your life before you met Justin.” He tells me.
“It still bothers me that Justin knew that I would defend Michael. And it bothers me that I can’t say I wouldn’t have.” I tell him.
“I can tell you why I think you did it, but remember, it’s only my opinion.” He tells me.
“Go ahead.” I tell him.
“I think, in your head, you still are the kid who needed someone to show you that life wasn’t the one you knew at home. When Deb and Michael did, you didn’t want them to be anything but the people who saved you from your father. In Michael, you saw parts of you, in that he was bullied and harassed at school and lonely because he didn’t have any friends. He became the brother that your sister wasn’t to you. And you didn’t want to see anything that made Michael into anything but the innocent, naive kid you protected. When you met Justin, he was all the things Michael wasn’t. He didn’t need you to protect him, and you depended on Justin for that. So when Michael said things to Justin, you protected Michael because it was natural to you, and you’d done it all your life. It didn’t matter that Michael was wrong, because he made it so everyone saw him as not meaning to do what he was doing. You likely saw Justin striking back as him bulling the kid you spent your life saving from all the other bullies. It wouldn’t have been something you openly thought, only subconsciously thought.” He tells me.
“Justin confronted me once when we had dinner with Deb, after she told the story she made up about Michael’s father, after Michael said Gus should look up to real heros. I jumped on him for not letting it go, but at the time I didn’t know Justin knew Deb was lying. Which, if I had paid attention to what he was saying when we argued, I would have realized it.” I tell him.
“What did he say?” He asks.
“That I expected him to be honest, but it was okay for Deb to make up shit to give Michael a hero instead of telling him the truth about his father. I was pissed that he wouldn’t leave Deb’s lie alone. I didn’t even realize that he somehow knew it was a lie. It’s not like we ever talked about Deb and Michael, because it only led to arguments with each other. But at the time it was an open secret in the group. Something that Justin could have used on Michael, but didn’t. Which says a lot for him, because if Michael knew something about Justin, he would have used it. I found out recently why Justin was pissed; because Deb making up shit made it so he couldn’t tell me anything.” I tell him.
“Which is the reason you two fought before he left on a job.” He tells me.
“It wasn’t the only reason. Deb and Michael started in on how none of us really knew anything about Justin. At the time he hadn’t introduced me to anyone in his life other than Daphne and Nick. Daphne and I didn’t really get along, because Justin told her about his frustration with me. I told Justin everything about me, which wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and felt like he didn’t tell me anything because he didn’t see me as important to him.” I tell him.
“It would explain why you defended Michael, because you still weren’t sure where you stood with Justin. When you married him, did it lessen your need to defend Michael?”
“I still did, but not to the point of jumping Justin for saying anything, which he didn’t. It’s when the silence seemed to be our answer.” I tell him.
“It became the only answer, from what you both have said. Which caused problems later.” He tells me.
“The minute Ben died.” I tell him.
“And Michael clung to you, and expected you to drop everything for him, like you’d done before. Only before, it wouldn’t have hurt anyone, doing what Michael expected you to do. Why risk your marriage for him?” He asks.
“It’s not an excuse, but when Justin was hurt, I spent a lot of nights worried that I could have lost him, because if I did, it would have destroyed my reasons for living. I was seeing what it would have been like for me, and I wanted to be there so Michael could go on, and eventually be okay without Ben. I still had nightmares about Daphne calling me, not to come see Justin, but to tell me he was gone.” I tell him.
“I think you need to tell Justin what you just told me. It won’t make up for what you did, but it gives him a reason for your irrational behavior the last year. One of the things you repeated was that you can’t change the past, and you can’t. All you can do is show Justin that it won’t repeat itself. Brian, do yourself a favor, when you start chemo let him help you, it’s not something you’ve ever been good with, accepting help.” He tells me.
“I plan to, because it’s one time I know he needs that from me. Hopefully he’ll tell me why he’s buying half of Liberty Avenue too.” I tell him, getting up and leaving.