KINNETIC - AN HOUR LATER
CYNTHIA’S OFFICE
CYNTHIA
“Thanks for the heads up Kiki. I appreciate it.” I hang up and hit my head repeatedly on the desk. “Why the fuck can’t they just leave him alone?!”
“Uh Cynthia, you okay?” Shelley asks as she comes in with the afternoon messages.
“No, but it’s nothing you need to worry about.” I smile at her and then frown when she remains where she is. “Anything else?”
“I know I shouldn’t most probably ask, but can I have a cup and saucer? For the hot chocolate and the coffee.” She rushes out and blushes.
“The coffee, yes. I will ask the Genius to send me the link to…”
“What did she say?” Kate stage whispers badly.
“She said come in and tell me how many sets I need to order!” I laugh as all the girls come in.
“This is Justin’s fault.” Kate grumbles and I school my features to neutral. “I was desperate for a cup of coffee and he gave me his as he was going to a pitch and then insisted and I mean insisted that I gave it back.”
“And does he share the Blue Mountain coffee?” Shelley folds her arms in annoyance. “I know he has a stash in there. I’ve seen them! I almost lost a nail because he shut the drawer so fast!”
“Ah he’s the thief, is he?” Brian growls. “I was looking for that last box for days!” I wince as he stalks to his office and hear the crackle of the intercom. “Mr Slim to my office, immediately!”
“Oh fuck!” Shelly groans. “I didn’t mean to get…”
Her sentence is cut off as Justin comes running in with all of the pitches he’s working on.
“I…”
“Mr Slim! You are here to see me not to chat with Cynthia and the ladies, who should really be going back to their desks...now.” Brian drawls from the door and in seconds, it is just the three of us. “This is where you enter.” He walks backwards, beckoning him in.
BRIAN’S OFFICE
JUSTIN
I scramble to pick up the pads and pencils that I dropped the moment I got into the room.
“Butterfingers.” He looks at me while he leans against his desk.
“Which did you want to see first?” I ask as I finally get my pads in order.
“Your stash of Blue Mountain pods.” He says softly and I freeze. “You have been working all hours that I demand. Ask Cynthia to order you a box but in the meantime, help yourself. I have my own stash in the cupboard.”
“Par-pardon?”
He taps the cupboard under his machine with his foot. “They’re in there and…”
“YOU WILL FUCKING LET ME PAST! I AM HIS MOTHER!”
I watch all colour drain from his face and he closes his eyes. “Fuck.” He almost whimpers.
Before we can move the door is banged open and a furious looking redhead is standing framed in the doorway with an equally angry, yet smug-looking dark haired man behind her. “Who do you think you are, you fucking asshole?! How dare you treat us like this?! You do not…”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU UGLY ASS DRAG QUEEN! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS BUILDING BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS FROM HERE TO HELL!”
“That’s her, Ma! That’s the woman that Tasered me!” The dark haired man has pushed his way inside the office and is now pointing behind his Ma.
“Oh is it indeed?! Hey you, asshole, sit down and wait. In the meantime, I am going to deal with this uppity little…”
“Final warning!”
“Oh yeah? What are you going to...gnnnnnnnhhhhhhhh!”
She suddenly starts to twitch and tremble before she falls flat on her face and the uppity little steps into the office.
“Priming!”
I don’t know what priming means, but know I need to get away from the screeching dark haired man. So I move one way, but am suddenly pushed forwards and then pulled just as quickly to the side and I hear another buzz. Then Mr Kinney slumps to the floor.
“Fuck! Sir! Sir! You get out of the way!” She growls and I watch dazed as she pulls something out of his arm and turns him on his side. “Cyn! An ambulance now!”
“On it!” Cynthia yells and I hear her shouting into the phone. The angry smug man is just sitting there.
The next half an hour passes in a blur. Mr Kinney has come around and the redhead and the dark haired man have been taken away.
“I am not fucking going to the hospital! And who the hell ripped my shirt open...you’d better find all the fucking buttons, this is Armani!”
“Mr Kinney, I am so sorry. I was primed and I couldn’t stop it!” Uppity Little is explaining.
“It’s okay, don’t worry. Where is everyone?”
“Drag Queen and Gimp are on their way to hospital and Mr Slim is over there. I think he’s in shock. Hey, can you look at him for me please?” She asks an EMT, who nods and comes to check me over.
Another twenty minutes pass and it is just Mr Kinney, Cynthia, Uppity Little, Ted and me in the office and we’re all quiet. “So am I fired?” Uppity Little asks.
“If you fire her, then I leave!” Cynthia growls.
“Nobody is, ouch...fuck is there still a piece in me? It feels like there’s a piece in me.”
“I told you to go to the hospital!” Cynthia snaps and runs her finger down his arm. “I think there is something there. Let me get my set.” She’s back in seconds with a beauty set and takes out a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers. “Now hold still.” She orders sternly and finds the spot again and then her hand shakes.
“Cyn?”
“Sorry. I’m fine, it’s just...I’ve never seen it at that level of...” She shakes her head and clears her throat. “Right, let’s get this out of you.”
“Let me do it.” I sit next to her and gently take them from her. “I owe him. He took it for me.”
“Aww shucks, Mr Slim, you doth make me blusheth!” He jokes.
“I will maketh you winceth if you don’t windeth necketh ineth!” I retort, locking eyes with him.
“Lipeth zipped!” He chuckles.
“Goodeth!”
OUTSIDE THE DINER - NEXT MORNING
BRIAN
Daph pulls up outside the diner and smirks in the mirror at me. “Shall I come in, Mr Kinney?”
“No, I think it might best if you remained in the car. One armed person is enough!”
“Spoilsport.” She grouses with a smile, but that falls from her face and she quickly locks the door. “Do you know that gentleman, Mr Kinney?”
I look through the window and am surprised to see Ben was reaching for the door handle. “I do. You can unlock the doors.” She holds my gaze for a few seconds before the doors are released. I reach across and open the door. “Ben, to what do I owe this...pleasure?”
“May I sit?”
“That would be the point of me opening the door.” I retort sourly. He gets in and then says nothing. “Well that was…”
“I was a cunt to you and I’m sorry. I know I have a lot of making up to do and I hope to prove to you that I mean what I say. I have had the truth pointed out to me. Not sure when I lost my way or my own voice, but I’m striving to get it back, and in abundance. You have no reason to believe or trust me yet, but I do mean it. I’m very sorry I let them take over my own thoughts and actions. I hope to never to fail to live up to your expectations again.”
“It takes a brave and honest man to call himself a cunt. What brought it on?” I ask.
“I went to see Carl. He pointed out a few brutal home truths.” He sighs. “Did you know? About the STD, I mean. Did you know?”
“What STD?” I frown.
“At Michael’s last White Party, he caught an STD on the first day and didn’t tell anyone.”
“But...but why would you take a risk like that?!”
“A risk like what?” Ben demands.
“Sleeping with Michael. His last party was 4 months before he met you.”
“Are you fucking me?! That son of a...how DARE he? He knew about my HIV; I was honest with him from the very beginning. He KNEW and still didn't say a fucking word! Instead, he had the audacity of making me feel guilty about not only having HIV, but about the constant risk of getting him infected as well. Wait until I get my hands on you, Michael! You...”
“Want to borrow my Taser?” Daph turns to face us and puts it through the partition.
“Taser? What?” He just barely stops himself from reaching for it. “Who did you Taser? And why?”
“The Gimp first. That was a few days back and but then when they came back to the office, I tried to do both of them. Him and his Ma, who I mistook for a drag queen. I got her but hit Mr Kinney instead of him when he pushed Justin in the way.”
“Drag queen?” Ben looks at me and rolls his lips in then clears his throat. “So this p...ahem...pu...ahhhheeemmmm...pushing thing.”
“She made this kind of ‘gun’ noise and then flopped like a baby seal seeking milk or a frog on a dissecting table. I’m not sure which describes her best. Do you know that frogs still have nerve endings that react when stimulated even after death? It’s true they do.”
There’s silence for about ten seconds before Ben and I are roaring with laughter and Daphne slides up the partition and presses the intercom. “I will give you some privacy gentlemen. I have heard good things about Fabulicious and am hungry.”
15 MINUTES LATER
I hand him my handkerchief and he wipes his eyes with it. “Keep it.” I tell him and run my fingers through my hair. “I shouldn’t have said that about the party having agreed we wouldn’t.”
“Like I said, I was a cunt to you. I was surprised you held back so long.”
“Speaking of holding back, what exactly has Michael told you about me and my life and what he’s been asking me for? No. One second thoughts, let me tell you about my life and what he’s been saying and not doing.”
AN HOUR LATER
BEN
“Don’t cry for me Argentina.” Brian tells me. “I’m out of there now. And now you know what I know. She’s been calling him for the last three months to pay his support and he’s not done so.”
“No he has, be...because I have been giving him the money for it. The only reason we were short this month was because he was short on the mortgage for the shop, after he had to help his Ma, I mean Debs, with her mortgage.”
“How short?” He asks. “And what mortgage?”
“About $400. What do you mean what mortgage?”
“Debs does not have a mortgage. I should know since I paid it off. And if he’s only short $400, why is he asking for $1100?”
“I don’t know. Wait, though! If Debs doesn’t need the money, then what the fuck is he spending the money on? Oh, I know what he’s spending it on... Toys! Those fucking, only benefiting him, toys! I have had enough and it’s about time we played them at their own game. Follow my lead.”
“I don’t follow, I lead.” He snorts.
“Please, for the second time, allow this great lay to bottom from the top?” I ask smiling.
“Okay.”
DINER
CARL
Delores, Kiki and I are not looking at each other. I know if I catch either of their eyes, I will laugh. The door opening brings in Brian and Debs immediately gets up. I clear my throat hard and she sits back down again. Michael just glares at me as Brian sits in the same booth as me then leans across to say something. I look at him in surprise, but then nod.
“Can you two come over and wait with us please?” Immediately, they rush over and sit down, both glowering and Debs sits on the other side of Brian, trapping him in. “We’re just waiting for one more person. Ah, here he is.”
They both look at the door as Ben comes in and sits next to Michael and I can feel Brian tense up.
“Ben…” Michael sniffs. “...you would not believe what’s happened while you’ve been away…”
“I’m sorry for everything, Babe. I know I should have told you, we both should have, but let’s just start afresh from this point on, yes?”
Michael flings himself into Ben’s arms sobbing and proceeds to tell him how much of a bad best friend to him Brian has been while Debs nods and glares.
“Well?” She demands. “What do you have to say for yourself? You had us thrown out of Kinnetic like garbage and...”
“We need to go to speak to Mel and Lindsay.” Ben cuts her off.
“Why?” Michael demands, tears all gone now!
“Well because we’re starting afresh, like you just agreed. I think it’s best that the support agreement is finally put in writing, don’t you?”
“Uh yeah, that’s a great idea. But I’ve got some important inventory to get through. So maybe not just yet, okay?”
“Whenever you’re ready, Babe. Whenever you’re ready.”
MEL AND LINDSAY HOUSE, TORONTO - TWO DAYS LATER
BATHROOM
LINDSAY
Still fucking nothing from Brian, only from Ted, demanding, fucking demanding either a receipt after payment or the name of the supplier so they can pay for it directly. But I am Gus’ mother for a reason and when I need to speak to Brian in person, speaking to him in person, I will!
I step out onto the landing and look through the window. Mel is still taking her frustrations about Michael out on the garden. Sighing in relief, I check the time. He will still be asleep after being the Stud-slut I sometimes love him to be. But right now, he needs to be Gus’s dad and provide for us...I, mean, him! I dial Brian’s number and smile as it goes to voicemail as I predicted. “Brian, it’s Lindz! It’s about Gus. He’s really sick and wants his daddy! It’s a fever, he’s running a fever, and I don’t know what’s wrong. But we’re on the way to the hospital now, can you get here as soon as you can please?!”