Revenge

Chapter 2

"So, do you think your friend will be able to host the show if I can pull this off?" Brian asked Lindsay.

"I think she will, but let me talk to her before I promise anything."

"Sure."

"Brian, I think this is actually an interesting idea, even without the revenge factor."

"Revenge? Moi?" Brian smirked.

"Yes, you, and I understand why you're doing it. Justin's had me worried lately."

Brian's face sobered and he shook his head. He hadn't realized that Justin's depression was obvious to other people as well as to him. "You like the idea of an internet art show?" Brian asked deciding he didn't want to discuss Justin's problems with anyone.

"It's new and innovative."

"Jesus, I never thought of it as actually being something worth doing. I just wanted to get at Rue."

"Well, I think Pamela will be willing to help because it will showcase some new young talent. If any of them are even close to being as good as Justin, she may make a few bucks on the whole enterprise," Lindsay explained.

"Then it will be a win/win situation for everybody."

"But, I do have one question. How are you going to get Justin to submit his artwork when he never goes online anymore? I thought you said he'd given up on the Art Nouveau site since they all blocked him and believed Rue's accusations."

"Justin isn't going to submit his work," Brian stated.

"You mean he won't be competing against Rue?"

"No, I mean Justin won't be submitting his own work. I will do that for him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Rue knows Justin as Freudian Slip. If Freudian Slip submitted a piece to this contest, I think it might scare Rue off. So instead, Pollock's Pole is going to submit Justin's latest piece of art."

"You're going to let them think you did Justin's work?" Lindsay asked horrified. That sounded almost as bad as Rue saying Justin had stolen his ideas.

"No, I am not going to fucking take credit for Justin's work. They don't know who I am, and if and when Justin is one of the finalists I'll reveal Pollock's Pole as being Justin Taylor."

"I see, I think," Lindsay said with a frown. "You really think you can pull this off?"

"With your help, and if your friend in Philly agrees to show the finalists' work at her gallery."

"I'll call Pamela this afternoon. I just hope this doesn't all backfire and make things worse for Justin. He's been through enough."

"Nothing bad's going to happen," Brian stated. "This is going to turn out the way I want it to. It's the least I can do. Oh, and make sure your friend knows that one stipulation about the contest. Otherwise, everything is on the up and up. She can choose the winner that she sees fit. It will be interesting to see what happens."

"Interesting hardly begins to describe it," Lindsay said shaking her head. She hoped Brian knew what he was doing. He usually did, so he better be right this time.

-----

"Thanks Carl," Brian said shaking the police officer's hand.

"All I'm promising is to try to get my friend in the Philly police force to attend. I'm not even sure he will," Carl said solemnly.

"You'll get him there. I have faith in you." Brian grinned his crooked grin.

Carl shook his head. He wanted to help Brian, and through him Justin, but he wasn't at all sure about this scheme that Brian had cooked up. "Steve will think I'm going soft inviting him to an art show."

"Tell Constable Steve that he may be able to get an internet thief if he attends."

"Of course, I'll tell him that, but we won't be able to do anything unless we have proof."

"I'm well aware of that. I hope to have proof for you that evening."

"Good luck," Carl replied shaking Brian's hand.

"I may need it, so thanks."

-----

Brian had one more stop to make and it was the one he wasn't looking forward to. He stopped outside Michael's apartment building and left the engine running. He wasn't sure he was ready to go in. He sat in silence running through in his head what he was going to say. Finally he sighed, shut off the engine and made his way inside.

Michael let him in with a warm greeting. Hunter and Ben were home. He could get it all over with at once. He cleared his throat and decided to dive in.

"I have a favor to ask you guys," Brian began.

Michael's eyebrows shot up, Ben looked surprised and Hunter grinned in expectation.

"You never ask for favors," Michael said for no apparent reason.

"Well, I'm asking now," Brian stated.

"What do you want, Brian?" Ben asked obviously curious.

"It has to do with Justin," Brian continued.

"Has he been feeling well lately?" Ben asked. "I've seen him in the diner a couple of times and he just doesn't seem to be himself."

"He's not himself," Brian said carefully. "The whole mess with Rue really upset him."

"I know the guy got Justin to pay for his motel and stuff but what's the big deal?" Michael asked crossing his arms on his chest. Everything was always about Justin. He wondered when the little twink would ever learn to look after himself.

"There's a little more to it than that," Brian said. Brian wished Michael could put aside his resentment of Justin. Resentment always seemed to be his first reaction when Justin was involved.

"Like what?" Michael demanded.

"I don't want to get into all the ins and outs. Suffice it to say that I'm planning something for little Rue and I need your help to carry it off."

"What do you want?" Michael asked warily.

"Rue's met all of us except Hunter, so I need him to come on to Rue and maybe get him to get Rue to show off a little."

"Show off how?" Michael continued his frown getting deeper.

"I want to see if Rue will use my lighter that he stole."

"He stole off you!"

"Yeah. Hunter, you would need to ask him for a light. Can you pretend that you smoke?"

"Sure. I have smoked," Hunter said liking that he would have a big part in this sting operation.

"I don't think Hunter should be involved in this," Michael said petulantly. "I thought you were asking all of us."

"I am. This will take place in Philadelphia. I need you to take Hunter there."

"Philadelphia? What the fuck are you doing, Brian?"

"If you'll agree to what I ask, I'll tell you the whole plan."

"All right," Michael said reluctantly, "let's hear it. Although, I don't think I'm going to like this.

Brian took a deep breath and started in on what he was planning.

-----

A few days later the plan was starting to come together.

Brian was on the internet with Whimsy. She had agreed to be the instigator for what Brian was cooking up. She had approached Mondrian's Myth who was the webmaster for the Art Nouveau site. At first Myth had been reluctant to allow his site to be used. He didn't know the people involved and he didn't want to look a fool if the whole thing fell through or turned out to be some kind of rip off. He wasn't sure his site was the right place to exhibit the artwork of the people who frequented the site. It was more of a chat site. Whimsy had used all her powers of persuasion and had enlisted Monet's Lily to plead the case as well.

Whimsy had her story all ready. It was what she and Brian had cooked up. She said that she had a friend who owned an art gallery in Philadelphia. This friend, Pamela, wanted to try something new - an internet art show. She would sponsor Myth's site to the tune of $200 if he would host one art entry from each of the members of his site. They could advertise this in any way that they saw fit, and she would spread the word from her end. It would be a way for unknown artists to get their work before the public.

Only existing members would be allowed to submit work. New members would have to wait until next time, if there was a next time. It would depend on the success of this venture.

People who logged onto the site could see the artwork and cast their vote for the work they liked best. The top five pieces would be brought to Philadelphia and exhibited in Pamela's gallery. She held the right of refusal if she thought a piece was too poor or too strange, even if the public voted for it. She would arrange for a panel of people from the art world to judge the finalists and the winner would receive $500, and possible sale of their work.

Despite Myth's initial reluctance, when he broached the possibility of the show on his site, all the members were very enthusiastic. At that point he decided to go ahead with the proposal. Myth decided that he would open a new site with a link from the existing chat site. All members were encouraged to participate and talk up the contest on LJ's and other chat sites.

Four members immediately submitted a piece to the site. Picasso's Pet was one of them. Whimsy and Lily already had their entries picked out, so within hours of the new site going online, there were four paintings submitted, including one from Myth. They were off to a good start.

Brian didn't know exactly how many members were on Art Nouveau. He also didn't know how many of them would submit pieces for the contest. He decided to wait a few days before putting up Justin's piece under the name Pollock's Pole. He wondered if Pet or anybody else would make the connection. Since nothing linked Pollock's Pole with Justin as far as anyone knew except for Whimsy and Lily, Brian doubted that they would be any the wiser.

Over the next week eleven more entries were submitted. Brian looked them over on the website. He had to admit that a few of the pieces were very good. However, nobody's measured up to Pollock's Pole, at least not in his opinion.

Brian clicked on Pet's entry causing it to enlarge on the screen. He realized he was looking at a poor imitation of some of Justin's work. Pet had decided to submit one of the pieces he had created using Justin's ideas. Maybe he thought that his "original" use of computer generated images blended with traditional art techniques would gain him some points. Brian shook his head in disgust. Justin's work was so much better.

Then another idea struck him. He picked up the phone and dialed Pamela Gerard's number in Philadelphia. When she picked up, he proceeded to thank her again for her role in sponsoring and hosting the art contest at her gallery. He also told her that he had a new thought about the winners displaying their work in her establishment. If each finalist was asked to bring four additional pieces along with their internet entry, then they would have a larger display and maybe the young artists could sell some of their work. It would mean commissions for her and extra money for the artists most of whom were struggling students. Pamela liked that idea a lot, especially since she had already had calls about the date of the show at her gallery. It seemed there was genuine interest in these new artists.

Brian hung up the phone with a satisfied smirk on his face. He loved it when a plan came together, as the A-Team used to say, and still did on rerun television. He decided it was time to submit Justin's entry. He didn't want it to be the first or the last entry. First would seem too eager, like Pet, and last would seem like an afterthought or something just thrown together.

Brian hooked up the digital camera with the picture of Justin's artwork about his "net friend". He uploaded the picture to the site and then unhooked the camera. He had borrowed the camera from one of his former tricks, not feeling that he could afford to buy a camera for himself. He had sold a lot of his camera equipment when things had been so tight financially. Someday he would have it all back. He knew that day would come. He decided he better get back to work on his latest account. He was still waiting for his big break.

-----

A few days later Brian went into the Art Nouveau site to see what they were saying about the internet art display and contest. People seemed very enthusiastic and there was lots of chatter about the pieces of work that they liked best. Of course, Pet was there touting his own work, or his pale imitation of Justin's work if they all only knew the truth. And Brian was determined to make sure they all knew before this whole matter was over.

Myth had decided that he wouldn't put up the numbers as people voted for their favorite work of art. This was partly because of Pamela's stipulation about having the final say in what was to be shown in her gallery. But it was also an attempt to keep people from campaigning for themselves. If they didn't know the score maybe people would just vote for what they liked or thought most worthy.

Brian went in and voted for Pollock's Pole. It was sort of like voting for himself, which he didn't have a real problem with, but he also knew that he was really voting for Justin. He hoped other people would be voting the same way. Brian still thought Justin's work was the best.

The site now held sixteen submissions, and Myth had decided to leave it open for one more week. After that no new pieces could be added and the general public would be given an extra two weeks to log on, register and vote for their favorite. At the end of that time Pamela's gallery would make its final decision on who would be invited to Philadelphia for the show. Brian could hardly wait.

Brian was also trying to figure out how he could get four more pieces of Justin's artwork to Philadelphia without the artist missing them and knowing that something was going on. Brian didn't know for sure that Justin would be one of the finalists, but he knew Justin deserved to be. He wanted to be ready if the occasion arose.

As he was about to log off, Brian heard the loft door being pulled back. Justin walked in carrying his portfolio. He set it down by the door.

"Hey," Justin said.

"You're home early," Brian replied.

"I was trying to make a decision about something and it all … just seemed wrong. I had to get away from the IFA."

"What's wrong? What decision?"

"It … it doesn't matter."

"It fucking does. Why don't you let me help you?"

"You can't help. No one can."

"Let me be the judge of that," Brian insisted. "Talk to me."

"Did you ever think you'd be asking me to do that?" Justin asked with a tentative chuckle.

"Not really, but I'm pretty good at shutting you up," Brian said with a leer.

"Yeah," Justin said with a small smile.

"So tell me."

"I … I have to choose two pieces of my work for the student art show at PIFA. I don't think any of it is good enough."

"Of course, your work is good enough. Any of it is great. Do you have to enter the show?"

"I guess I could skip it, but they take participation into account in the grades. I need all the marks I can get."

"So, did you bring some possible pieces home with you?" Brian asked gesturing towards Justin's portfolio.

Justin nodded and went to the kitchen for a Mountain Dew. He sucked on the drink and leaned against the refrigerator door. Brian watched, his worry intensifying as Justin seemed so listless and lost.

Brian stood up and went over to the portfolio. As he picked it up, he heard Justin whisper, "Don't."

"Justin, you have never been afraid of me looking at your work. You know I give you truthful comments about it."

Justin nodded but fear was evident in his eyes. Brian unzipped the portfolio and began to flip through the stack of drawings and canvasses. He stopped several times to look more closely at some of the pieces. There were a few that he had never seen before, but many of them he already was familiar with and liked immensely.

"You could almost pick at random from this collection. Any one of them would be a good submission."

"You're just saying that," Justin said staring at Brian through wary eyes.

Brian sighed. "Do you have a theme or some criteria that you have to follow for choosing the ones to submit?"

Justin shook his head. "Supposed to be our best."

"Then I vote for this one and this one," Brian said selecting two that he particularly liked.

"Fuck!" Justin reacted.

"What?" Brian looked bewildered.

"I knew you didn't like my "net friend" piece. You didn't choose it."

"I like it just fine," Brian said biting his tongue to stop from telling Justin that it was already submitted somewhere else. "But you said before that it might be a bit too specialized. That not everybody would get it. I just thought these two had more general appeal."

"You think they do?" Justin asked hopefully.

"I do."

"But that one," Justin said pointing to one piece, "is in the style that Rue stole from me. I can't show that. People will think I'm copying him."

"No one at PIFA knows Rue or what he's done. It's just a great piece of work. I think you should use it."

"Maybe," Justin said seeming to brighten a bit.

"Let's leave these two out and we can look at them more critically later. But I like them the best."

"Okay," Justin agreed. "I'm hungry. Can we order in?"

"Your wish is my command," Brian stated. He was happy that Justin seemed a little more interested in choosing the art for the student show. He seemed a little more like his old self, in fact.

-----

Justin left his portfolio filled with his work at the loft. He took Brian's two selections to a little store nearby where they would let him frame them himself at a really reduced rate. He would submit those two for the student show at the end of the week.

While Justin was out at the framing store, Brian culled the five pieces of work to be taken to Philadelphia from Justin's portfolio. He hoped Justin wouldn't need to look in his portfolio for the next week or two. If he did Brian thought maybe he could come up with some story about having them framed to hang in the loft.

After that was completed and the pictures safely stowed in a closet, Brian went on the net. He logged onto Art Nouveau and followed the links to the member submissions. There were now nineteen and the entry process was closed. He took a good look at them all, and still judged Justin's to be the best. He wondered how many votes Justin's picture had garnered but there was no way to tell. They still had a week to go before the voting was closed.

The computer pinged at him and Whimsy asked for an IM session.

Whimsy: Hey, Brian! How's Justin doing?

Pole: He's at the framing shop getting some work ready for a student exhibition at his school.

Whimsy: Did he take the best ones?

Pole: Sort of. I steered him in a certain direction.

Whimsy: You need to get four of his best to take to Philadelphia.

Pole: Why? Do you know something I don't?

Whimsy: Not really, but I know Justin's work is really good. Plus, every time I'm online and the group discusses the possible winner, his name comes up.

Pole: That's good to hear. He could use a boost right now.

Whimsy: We'll all find out in a few days. Hope I'm chosen to go to Philadelphia too.

Pole: Would you be able to make the trip?

Whimsy: If I was chosen I'd be there in a flash, even if I had to run all the way.

Pole: From where?

Whimsy: California.

Pole: That's a long run!

Whimsy: My parents would probably help. They're really excited about seeing my stuff on the net. I'm sure they have voted for me and got all their friends to do the same.

Pole: Oh!

Whimsy: Well, I should go. I have a class in a few minutes. This was a great idea.

Pole: Thanks.

Brian logged off. He frowned as he thought about what Whimsy had said. Even if Justin's work was considered to be the best, he wouldn't win if enough people didn't vote for him so that he could get to Philadelphia. He needed to do something about that.