By the time breakfast was over, Gus had seemingly calmed down a bit, his run helping to work off a lot of frustration. Melanie had returned from her own morning run and had clearly been brought up to speed by Lindsay, while Brian had supplied Justin with the morning's happenings in between shared blowjobs in the shower. Jennifer seemed happily none the wiser, instead continuing to rave about the maple syrup Lindsay had served with the pancakes.

"You know, they say it's best in Canada, but you never really know if it's true. I'm sure now, though, it's true," she was telling Justin as the others helped with clearing the table.

Gus didn't say anything further about his resistance to Lindsay's dining choice for later in the day, but he also kept noticeable distance from her for the majority of the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, preferring to stick around Brian and Justin, or, at one point, offering to take Jennifer to Shoppers to pick up a few odds and ends she'd forgotten to pack. It had given him an escape his mothers couldn't easily dispute, and he'd managed to score some candy in the process -- "A grandmother's duty," Jennifer had called it, winking at him.

By the time they piled into two cars to head to the restaurant -- maintaining the same driving arrangement as the prior afternoon, with Brian, Justin, Jennifer and Gus in the Porsche, and Melanie and Lindsay in the Subaru, Gus had begrudgingly agreed to be cooperative, despite his clear reservations about the whole situation.

“Maybe she won’t be working?” Justin offered hopefully as they got out of the car. He walked to Gus and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Gus shrugged. “Maybe, but I mean, I would imagine they have all hands on deck for holiday crowds.”

"Want me to pretend to be your new girlfriend?" Jennifer teased, wrapping her arm around Gus' waist as they walked toward the restaurant.

"Gigi, no offense, but I am way too young for you," Gus laughed, though he put his arm across her shoulders in return.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Brian mumbled into Justin's ear, earning himself a well-deserved elbow to the side.

Gus looked back and gave them a curious look, but didn’t make any further inquiries, still caught up in his own internal panic. Fortunately, he was too young to remember Jennifer’s foray into the world of dating men twenty years her junior. Brian, however, would never let Justin forget.

Since Lindsay had made a reservation, they didn’t have long to wait until they were seated, and when their server came over for the first time, Gus let out a sigh of relief -- it was an older woman named Marlene, who actually reminded them all a little bit of Debbie, minus the wild red wig and cock-affirmative t-shirts.

They placed their drink and meal orders, Justin intentionally choosing something on the lighter side in preparation for his planned dessert massacre.

“I’ve heard legendary tales about your peppermint bark cheesecake-swirl brownie sundae,” he told Marlene, passing her his menu.

“Just you wait, sweetheart,” she told him with a wink and a snap of her gum.

However, it turned out that Gus was the one who should’ve been on pins and needles for what was to come -- as the person who delivered their drinks was not, in fact, Marlene, but rather a petite blonde who, based on Gus’ reaction, could be none other than the notorious Kasey.

“Fuck,” Gus muttered under his breath as she paused in front of their table, still not yet realizing he was one of her customers. Fortunately, his curse was quiet enough that only his dad heard, and immediately the pieces fell into place for Brian.

“Oh, um, hey, Mrs… um… Ms. Peterson,” Kasey stumbled on her words, realizing that Gus’ mom was in front of her. Slowly she glanced around the table and realized that Melanie was there too, as well as someone who was clearly Gus’ dad, and, presumably, Justin, about whom she’d heard plenty from Gus as well. There was an older woman she didn’t recognize, but guessed she had to be part of the family too.

“Kasey, hello,” Lindsay greeted her pleasantly, smiling as she slid one of the waters Kasey had placed on the table over to Gus. “How nice to see you.”

Gus looked down at the table and closed his eyes, though whether he was praying for patience or for the floor to swallow him alive, Brian wasn’t sure.

“Have you met Gus’ dad?” Melanie continued, offering the clearly nervous girl a smile of her own.

“Brian Kinney,” Brian introduced himself smoothly, reaching out to shake Kasey’s hand. “I’ve heard… a lot about you.”

“Um,” Kasey replied dumbly, her cheeks flushing, “Nice to meet you.”

“Justin,” Justin offered, his tone polite and very business-like. Kasey shook his hand as well. “And this is my mom, Jennifer -- Gus’ grandmother.”

“Jennifer Taylor,” Jennifer introduced herself, impeccable manners on display. However, Gus had filled her in on the Kasey saga during their earlier shopping trip, so despite the smile on Jennifer’s lips, it didn’t reach her eyes.

Gus didn’t say anything.

“So, um,” Kasey continued, finishing her drink distribution. “I’m supposed to be helping Marlene, but I can… um…”

“It’s absolutely fine, Kasey,” Lindsay assured her, nodding encouragingly. “We’re happy to have you. Also, could I get some extra lemon, please?”

Kasey nodded back weakly, murmuring, “My pleasure,” then quickly turned and walked away.

“Jesus Christ, Mom,” Gus snapped once she was out of earshot.

Lindsay raised an eyebrow and glared at her son. “Excuse me?”

“I told you I didn’t want to come here because of her, but no one seemed to think it would be a big deal, and we probably wouldn’t even see her. Well guess what. Here she is! And it’s a Big. Deal.”

"Is it really that bad?" Melanie asked, genuinely sounding confused. "I mean, baby, you see her every day in school…"

Gus snorted. "Yeah, and usually I'm not surrounded by a table of people who know she's the only girl who's ever touched my--"

“Okay!” Brian cut him off quickly, holding up a hand. “I think we all get the picture.”

Lindsay, however, shook her head. “I’m afraid I still don’t understand what the big deal is, Gus. There’s no reason you and Kasey can’t attempt to be friends simply because you were… intimate… at one point in time and it didn’t work out.”

“Well maybe she shouldn’t have been even more intimate with someone else while she was dating me!” Gus gritted out, then shoved his chair back and stood up from the table, storming out of the dining room.

Everyone watched him leave except for Justin, who simply said, “I’ve got this,” and followed Gus out of the room.

They watched Gus and Justin both disappear out the restaurant’s main door before Lindsay turned to face Brian and said, “Do you care to explain what that was all about?”

Brian smirked. “Not particularly.” Upon seeing Lindsay’s frown, he quickly added, “But I guess I can try.”

“So, if I’m following what just happened,” Melanie chimed in, her eyes narrowed as she replayed her son’s words in her mind, “Gus is saying that Kasey cheated on him with someone else?”

Brian nodded. “That does sound like what he said.”

“He told me about this earlier,” Jennifer revealed, shaking her head. “What a horrible thing for her to do to him.”

“What happened? Why didn’t he tell us?” Lindsay wondered, looking disappointed.

Brian gave her a look. “Did you discuss your sex life with your parents?” He waited a beat, and when she didn’t respond, added, “I thought not.”

“He did discuss it with you,” she countered.

“Yeah, well part of that is no thanks to you and sending him down to us the time you caught him in a compromising position. You don’t get to pick and choose when you want the sex talks for yourself,” Brian told her matter-of-factly.

Melanie shrugged as if she agreed with him, which was equal parts surprising and gratifying. “Hold on, though,” she said, realizing something. “Gus said Kasey was more intimate with the other person. I presume that to mean that Gus never actually had sex with her?”

“Very good, Counselor,” Brian teased, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes but smiled back.

“Well, why not?” Lindsay asked quickly, not realizing what she’d said until a moment later. “I mean,” she stammered, “was Gus unwilling to have sex with her?”

“Are you saying you would’ve rather he had?” Melanie asked her wife, eyebrows raised.

“No!” Lindsay exclaimed, exasperated. “I’m relieved to know he didn’t, but I’m trying to understand what happened during the time between when I found them fooling around in his bedroom… to her having sex with someone not him that led to their break-up.”

Brian sighed, realizing that it was likely his responsibility to fill in the blanks at this point, but really, all he wanted was to know what was going on between Gus and Justin outside the restaurant. He figured they couldn’t last out there too long, since neither had taken jackets and the temperature was frigid, but he hoped that Justin would be able to work his parenting magic and help Gus cool down enough to return to the table.

“They had agreed they’d discuss it if either one of them felt ready. Evidently, Cassie only felt that applied to Gus, and took it upon herself to bump uglies with some other asshole.”

“Kasey,” Lindsay corrected as Melanie hid a smirk at Brian’s choice in phrasing.

“I don’t fucking care what her name is.”

Lindsay sighed. “I wish Gus had just been more forthright about this.”

“I understand your frustration, Lindsay,” Jennifer interjected gently. “It’s difficult when you have a teenage son who won’t be up front with you when you’re practically begging.” She cast Brian an amused look. “Trust me, I know.”

Brian gave her a sheepish smile in return. It was hard to reconcile the fact that Gus was now the same age Justin had been when they’d first met and gotten together.

“However, sometimes it’s just as important to listen to what they’re not saying,” Jennifer continued sagely. “I think Gus was hoping you’d hear his plea without him having to outline it explicitly, for the sake of his own dignity, but he felt like you simply saw it as him being difficult.”

Lindsay frowned again, but didn’t say anything.

“Babe,” Melanie chimed in, addressing her wife. “Gus is a good kid. He rarely gives us any kind of serious trouble. I wish we’d been able to sort this out earlier, but I think, at least moving forward, we owe it to him to show a level of compassion for what he’s gone through.”

Brian nodded, giving Lindsay a sobering look. “He was pretty messed up when he came to New York after the break up.”

“I thought he was just being a dramatic teenager,” Lindsay admitted quietly, to no one’s surprise. “I hadn’t realized his feelings for her were that serious.”

Brian sighed, feeling like, in one way, he was betraying a little bit of his son’s trust, but on the other hand, Lindsay was his best friend, and Gus’ mother, so she had the right to know what she was up against, especially if it better prepared her to deal with any future iterations of the Kasey situation. And, if he was being honest, in some ways it gave Brian a rush of confidence he hadn’t expected. It was a rare -- if not otherwise nonexistent -- circumstance that he had the parenting upper-hand over Lindsay and Melanie.

“I don’t think it was entirely about his feelings for Cas-- Kasey,” he began carefully, hoping Gus wouldn’t hate him too much for what he was about to share.

Lindsay’s eyes narrowed in confusion, but she remained uncharacteristically quiet, allowing him the room to speak.

“Gus is--” Brian started to say, pausing to consider his words.

“It’s difficult for teenage boys to express what’s on their minds, especially when it comes from a place of insecurity,” Jennifer supplied, temporarily saving Brian from having to overshare anything Gus had confided. And whereas Brian could only share from his Gus experiences, Jennifer had the benefit of falling back on things she had gone through with Justin at the same age, creating a slight buffer to protect her grandson’s privacy. Despite the months that had passed since the break up, Gus had still gotten a little emotional recounting what had happened when he’d shared it with her earlier in the day, so she knew that, while he was coping and moving on from the situation, the damage ran deep.

“You’re saying that he felt that there was something wrong with him, and that’s why she cheated?” Melanie realized, her face clearly indicating the sorrow she felt for her son.

“I guess we tend to assume the worst about ourselves when the people we believe are supposed to care about us behave differently,” Brian said in a rare moment of unmasked honesty.

Lindsay recognized his statement for what it was and raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise, but wisely didn’t comment on it, instead saying, “I just wish we’d realized more about what happened and could have supported him better.”

“Hey,” Brian said. “I don’t think I did a half-bad job.”

Lindsay opened her mouth to respond but Jennifer beat her to it. “If anyone can speak on behalf of the favorable success rate associated with sending their teenage son to Brian in times of turmoil, believe it or not, I think I would be first in line.”

“Aww, Mom,” Brian gushed, his voice infused with fake saccharine, “I’m touched.” Despite his attempt at diffusion, however, it was clear how much Jennifer’s compliment meant to him, and the fact that she used it to vouch for him with regard to his own son made it even more poignant.

“So,” Melanie said, bringing them all back to business, since it was likely that Justin and Gus would return shortly. “I think it’s safe to say that Lindsay and I now have a clearer picture as to the circumstances that led to Gus’ relationship with Kasey ending.” She paused and turned to her wife. “And I think we have some apologizing to do.”

Lindsay sighed. “I certainly do. I feel awful for assuming Gus was simply being difficult about coming here.”

“You know--” Jennifer began, but cut herself off as she noticed Gus and Justin re-entering the dining room. Instead, she gave Gus a warm smile as he resumed his seat next to her.

Brian studied Gus carefully, trying to gauge what had happened with Justin, but neither of the two younger men gave much away, aside from the fact that Gus was noticeably calmer, and Justin was giving him an encouraging look that he was fastidiously ignoring.

Fortunately, Lindsay spoke first. “Honey, I’m sorry for not being more sensitive when you were asking not to come here. But I wish you’d told us what had happened with Kasey. You know Ima and I would have supported you.”

“Gus,” Melanie continued, “we’re just glad you had people to talk to -- that your dad and Justin were there for you. But I think what Mom is saying is that if we’d known there was such a strong reason to not be welcoming toward Kasey, we’d have been more considerate of why you were so resistant.”

Gus finally gave Justin a glance and Justin nodded encouragingly, as if urging him to speak up. He sighed and said, “But, like… why couldn’t either of you have trusted me enough without me having to ‘prove’ it to you? I said I didn’t want to see her. Why did I have to explain what happened to me? And then to have you find out about it here, in the middle of a restaurant -- while she’s probably, like, creepy-watching around some corner…” He looked down at the table and shook his head. “It just fucking sucks.”

Before Lindsay or Melanie could respond, Kasey herself came back to the table, a small dish of lemons in her hand. In hindsight, it seemed like it had taken an inordinately long time to acquire a few slices of fruit -- it certainly wasn’t as if she’d had to go to a grove out back to pick a fresh lemon herself -- but that just added validation to Gus’ theory that perhaps she’d been watching the table, and had noticed him leaving -- or possibly even heard her name.

No one gave her much more than a cursory glance as she set the lemons on the table, and Lindsay offered a polite, but fairly curt, “Thank you,” once she finished and gave Gus a wary look before nervously informing them that Marlene would be back with their meals shortly and walked back toward the kitchen.

“Kill me now,” Gus muttered, earning a comforting pat on the arm from Jennifer.

Brian offered his son a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry, Sonny Boy. I have a good feeling we’ve seen the last of her for today.”

Sure enough, when Marlene came back to the table a few minutes later, she informed them that Kasey would be going on break, so she’d assist them fully for the rest of their meal. The relief on Gus’ face was palpable as his fish and chips were placed in front of him, and they managed to enjoy the rest of their meal in relative peace.

Once Justin had been satisfied with his peppermint bark cheesecake monstrosity -- that actually required four of them to adequately consume, while Brian sipped on a latte and Jennifer had a glass of chardonnay -- they headed back to the cars and over to the Christmas Market.