LINDSAY

I was pissed when I walked out of the diner. Brian has no right bring that up. I can’t even vent to Mel about this. She would tell me Brian was right. Brian is just pissed because I told him the truth about Justin. I’ll go talk to Sydney. He’ll make Brian see I should be in charge of the gallery.

“Sydney. I came by to say hi and see how things are going in the art business.” I tell him.

“They’re going well. I’m actually retiring soon.” Sydney tells me.

“I just heard. I can’t believe you would sell it to Brian, he knows next to nothing about art. I mean, when I was here, I was able to sell to practically everyone who came through the door.” I wanted to remind Sydney.

“I remember your first sale. The old guy never bought anything until you talked to him.” Sydney tells me.

“I was surprised when you didn’t call and tell me the position was open,” I tell him.

“I put the ad online. Brian suggested it. He wanted to hire from a larger pool of applicants.” Sydney tells me.

“You could have called me. I would be more than willing to take over. I already know how the business is run.” I hope he tells me he would have hired me.

“Brian wanted someone who knew art on a much broader scale. He also told me that even with Kinnetik doing the accounting, the person needed to have knowledge of the financial side of the business. Truthfully, he has no plans of being involved in the gallery. It’s an investment for him.” Sydney tells me.

“I could have learned that from you Sydney. In fact, I’m willing to submit my resume to be considered for the position.” I tell him. I’ll have to write a resume.

“I’m sorry Linds, but we already offered the job to two others and they called back and accepted the positions. If something becomes open you could contact Brian.” Sydney offers.

I told him thanks and walked out. I was sure Sydney would have jumped at a chance to hire me. Well, Brian is making a mistake hiring someone else. When he finally has to call me, I am going to tell him I'll only do it if Justin moves his studio to the gallery. That way I can approve of Justin’s work before he shows it.

MICHAEL

I told Mel that I didn’t appreciate that she didn’t tell Brian I was waiting in the house last night. She told me it wasn’t her job to inform Brian that I was there. Mel is really starting to get on my nerves. I got home to Ben asking where I was. I told him I went to see JR. Justin probably told Brian to come right home. It’s like everyone is trying to keep us from having time together.

I decided to go see Ma. Everyone else has been visiting with Ted’s new kid. I walked into Ma’s house and see Mark sitting with her.

“Why is Calvin’s kid here?” I asked her.

“Emmett and Calvin wanted a night out.” She tells me.

“I’m surprised Brian didn’t dump the girls on you too,” I tell her.

“I think Jen has them.” Ma was watching a show and said it absently.

I told her I had to get home and left. Brian is finally going out. I run home and change clothes. Ben was teaching night courses and wouldn’t be home for a while. I figured I could go to Woody’s and then Brian and I could hang out at Babylon. It was only nine thirty, I figured they would still be at Woody's for another hour. I  walked up to see Brian and Emmett heading down the road to Babylon.

“Emmett, Brian wait up,” I yell to them.

Brian kept walking and I almost had to sprint to catch up to them.

“Brian, didn’t you hear me calling you?” I ask him.

“All of the people in the Pitts probably heard you, Mikey,” Brian tells me.

“I can’t believe you didn’t call me. I had to find out from Ma that everyone made plans to go out tonight.” I want him to know I wasn’t thrilled with him.

“We didn’t plan to go out, but Ted and Blake needed time to get to know Austin,” Justin tells me.

“Well that explains about Brian being here, but you should have stayed home with your kids. I mean, you're always keeping Brian at home.” I tell him.

Justin ignores me and kisses Brian, practically making out in the street. They are whispering something to each other but I can’t hear them. Justin sprints off with Emmett. Hopefully, he will stay gone so I can have best friend time. We reach Babylon, and I’m excited to be here with Brian.

BRIAN

Justin is in a playful mood tonight. He whispered to me to come find him when I lost the Mikey show. Justin took off with Emmett and I get stuck with the whine brigade.

“At least Justin realized you need to spend time with me,” Mikey shouts over the music.

“Yeah Mikey, that’s exactly what Justin was thinking,” I tell him sarcastically.

I walked up to the catwalk and started looking for Justin. He was dancing in the middle of the crowd with Emmett. I was trying to figure out how to get him to the office.

“Brian, did you hear me?” Mikey asks.   

“Nope, was it important?” I ask him.

“I was saying that we need to start planning a couple nights a week to spend time together. You and I could hang out at the loft and watch movies, without everyone constantly interrupting.” Mikey tells me.

I see one of the managers walking to the bar and go to talk to him. Mikey is following me. Jackson was checking with each bar to see if they were stocked. I walked behind the bar and shut the door to leave Mikey on the other side. I told Jackson to leave the office door open and make sure no one follows me up the stairs. Now, time to find Justin.

JUSTIN

When Michael caught up to us, I wished with every gay gene in my body that he was just a hallucination. He was whining in his full glory that we didn’t call him. I decided he was not going to ruin my night. I told Brian to lose Mikey and come find me.

Emmett and I got to the middle of the floor and started dancing. I figured Brian could lose Michael in about fifteen minutes. I watch Brian talking to Jackson. Then Jackson disappears up the stairs to the office. Brian was behind the bar, talking to one of the bartenders. Michael was standing with his arms crossed, staring at Brian.

Emmett and I walked over to the bar. I jumped up on the bar and gave Brian a kiss hello.

“Jesus, Justin, you needed to stop showing everyone that you think Brian is your property.” Michael whines.

“Honey, nobody has to be shown,” Emmett tells Michael.

“If he wants to hang on to Brian, he needs to let him have some freedom.”,Michael tells them,

“Well, you know what I said about opinions Michael.” I was hoping he would try to use my words against me.

“Yeah, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and mine stinks.” Michael didn’t disappoint me.

“Wiser words you never spoken, Mikey.” Brian tells him.

I could tell Michael didn’t get it, but you know, that is what I expected from three brain cell boy. Brian tells me to go to his office. I walk off and leave Michael to his bitching.

EMMETT

Michael can’t be that dense. I mean Brian has been walking away from him all night. Justin sticks to letting Michael insult himself. Calvin wanted to know why we put up with Michael.

“Deb. She is the only reason we put up with him.” I tell Calvin.

“She doesn’t even put up with his shit.” Calvin points out.

“I think it’s just years of habit. Michael was a gay comic book geek. Brian protects people. Michael needed a hero and Brian needed somewhere to go to get away from his father. Brian got in the habit of taking care of Michael. I think Ted did it at first because he was in love with Michael. Ted was the first of us to stop catering to Michael. Brian moved away over time, hoping Michael would depend on Ben for emotional support. I wanted more than to listen to Michael and the never ending ‘Brian should be there for me’ rerun.” I tell Calvin.

I figure I need to take one for the team. Brian should skip plan A and just get the hell out of here. I tell Calvin that when I get Michael out on the floor to tell Brian to get Justin and go.

“Mikey come dance with me.” I tell Michael.

I lead Micheal off and Brian mouthed “Thanks". I asked Michael about the his comics, it was a guaranteed distraction. I see Brian dragging Justin out the front door. Michael is talking about Batman or Wonder butt, like I care. I smiled at him and pretended it mattered to me.

BRIAN

I go and get Justin and tell him if we leave now we can avoid Justin’s fan club. Justin, the smart boy that he is, runs out of the office. We go straight to the car and park in the back of the loft building. We were in the building and in the loft in a matter of minutes.

We were working on round two when the buzzer started going off. Justin said we should just not answer and I decided to turn on the radio. We kept going, the buzzer kept going off. We finished round two, and I hear Michael’s whining voice over the answering machine.

“Brian, you need to answer the door, it’s me. I thought I could spend the night and we could have a guy’s night. Will you pick up the phone. I know you're there. I walked out back and saw where you parked your car. You need to either pick up the phone or answer your door. I’d like to be in before tomorrow morning...” The answering machine cuts him off.

My cell starts ringing to join in with the buzzer. Michael calls the loft phone again. Then I hear Justin talking.

“Carl, can you send an officer over to get Michael to go home. He won’t let off the buzzer and is calling every phone in the place complaining. Thanks Carl.” Justin hangs up.

“Brian, why aren’t you answering me? Tell Justin he can wait, we haven’t seen each other in forever.” Michael’s whining gets cut off by a police officer. Michael didn’t hang up so we hear them.

“Sir, it’s late and the tenants in the building would like for you to leave.” The officer tells him.

“I was only trying to talk to my best friend. He lives here, and if Justin Taylor reported me, it was probably his idea of a joke.” Michael tells him.

“No sir, it was actually three tenants that I got calls from.” He tells Michael.

Justin and I didn’t realize Michael got that loud. Justin starts to giggle. He climbs on top of me and we forget about Michael’s conversation.