April 2002, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida

"We all know what your name is, so you better lay your money dooooown," Brian sang along as he pulled his black Ferrari 360 convertible onto his driveway. Cutting the engine, he jumped out of the car, sat the alarm with the key fob, and entered his five bedroom home.

"Adrian, no," Brian said to the fawn-colored boxer attempting to jump up and greet him. He patted the dog on the head when she sat in front of him, then made his way up the staircase, the dog following close behind.

Brian could hear some noise coming from his son's room, along with the boy talking either to someone or himself. He knocked on the door and was granted permission to enter. Walking into Gus's room, Brian observed the ten year old sitting on his bed, a video game controller in his hand, playing some kind of shooting game on his Xbox.

"What'cha playing there, Sonny Boy?" Brian asked as he sat next Gus. He reached over and ruffled the kid's brown hair.

"Halo," Gus answered without taking his eyes off the TV. "Boo-yah!" the boy yelled as something on the screen blew up in a large fireball.

"How was school?"

"Fine," the kid answered.

Brian watched as Gus continued to shoot the character on the screen. "Did you learn anything interesting today?"

"Nope... yeah, die, Loser, die!" the child yelled at the TV.

Brian stood up and walked back to the doorway. "Okay, it was nice seeing you, Son." He closed the door behind him and used the back stairway to go into the kitchen, where something delicious was emanating, Adrian at his heels.

"Hola, Lupe," Brian greeted his housekeeper, who was slicing salad vegetables on the large island.

"Buenas noches, Seńor Kinney. Dinner will be ready soon," the fifty-something year old brunette replied in her Cuban accent. "How was your day?"

"Oh, just another typical day at the office. How was yours?"

"Ay, Fernando cheated on Maria with Annabelle," referring to one of the Spanish soap operas she watched. "Ese hijo de puta!"

Brian laughed as he picked up the mail sitting on the counter. "You always said you didn't trust that son of a bitch."

As Brian shuffled through the mail, his wife Lindsay walked through the patio door. "Oh, hello Darling," the tall, thin blonde said dryly as she walked over and kissed Brian's cheek, her olive and gin-scented breath nearly knocking him over. "Lupe, another martini," she commanded, sitting her empty glass on the counter before turning around to return to the pool area.

After the door closed, Lupe sighed and put down her knife to make Lindsay's drink. "Dios no lo quiera que decir por favor." she muttered under her breath. Brian snorted, knowing that it translated to "God forbid she say please."

"Keep chopping, I'll make it for her," Brian said. He mixed his wife's drink, adding less gin and more vermouth than he knew she preferred, and opened the patio door to take it out to her.

Brian walked across the large patio and over to the in-ground pool, where Lindsay was lying on a lounge chair under a large umbrella. His wife, wearing a pair of white-rimmed Fendi sunglasses, a pink bikini, and strappy white sandals, was thumbing through a celebrity gossip magazine.

Seeing Brian walking towards her with her martini, Lindsay sat the magazine down on the ground next to her and reached out for her drink, her large engagement ring and wedding band sparkling in the sunlight. "The school principal called today," she said after taking a sip. God forbid she say thank you, either, Brian thought to himself as Lindsay continued talking. "Gus didn't turn in his math assignment this morning. When Mrs. Adams asked him why he didn't, he told her, ‘Because I have better things to do rather than dumbass multiplication tables.'"

Brian chuckled and shook his head. The fourth grader seemed to always be mouthing off to someone.

"It's not funny!" Lindsay snapped as she pulled off her sunglasses to glare at her husband. "That makes his third office referral. Now, we have to go to the school on Monday for a conference."

"What time?" Brian asked as he pulled at the collar of his blue polo shirt. Although it was nearly six in the evening, the temperature was hovering around eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.

"Ten," Lindsay answered and took a large gulp of her martini.

"Monday at ten is no good; I have a meeting at ten-thirty."

"And I have a yoga session at nine, followed by a massage and a body wrap after. Then, I'm meeting my mother for lunch," Lindsay complained as she tipped back her glass to finish the cocktail. She pulled the olive garnish off the metal pick with her teeth and handed the glass back to Brian. "A little drier, next time, Dear," she added as she chewed, correctly guessing that he made it.

Brian rolled his eyes as he took the glass from her. "Yeah, that's much more important than my work meeting and Gus's school conference."

Lindsay scoffed. "Fine, I guess I'll be going to the school alone, then... Anyway, do you want to come see The Sweetest Thing with me tonight?"

"Uh... as fun as that sounds, I'm meeting some friends after dinner." Even if I wasn't, I'd eat this Martini glass before I'd go see a Cameron Diaz movie, Brian thought to himself.

Lindsay picked up her magazine and began walking back to the house, stumbling slightly. "What friends?"

"Just some friends," Brian answered firmly. "I'm sure you have some friends of your own who would like to go to that chick-flick with you."

"Hmm... I guess I'll call my friend Melanie, from the gym, to see if she's like to go," Lindsay said as Brian opened the patio door, letting her in first.

Brian curled his lip behind her back. He had previously met the Jewish lawyer, who Lindsay assured him was certainly not a lesbian, a couple of times and didn't much care for her. "Oh, I'm sure she'd love to go."

********************

Same time, South Beach

"How about this one, Sweetie?" Emmett asked his roommate, holding a shiny silver top in front of his bare chest.

"It looks nice," Justin said as he turned back to the bathroom mirror to put the finishing touches on his blonde hair.

Emmett scoffed, "I'm not looking for nice... Nice won't get me laid."

Justin laughed and looked back at the tall, flamboyant brunette standing in the open doorway. "Okay... that shirt makes you look truly scrumptious, Em."

"That's more like it," Emmett said as he put the shirt on. "Did you want to eat at the diner, or were you in the mood for something else?"

"The diner's fine," Justin answered, switching places with Emmett so the other man could put on his makeup. Although Justin thought that his roommate was a good-looking fellow, Emmett never went out clubbing without some color and sparkle on his face.

"God, I hope there are some hot guys at the bar tonight," Emmett said as he patted on some foundation. "I swear there weren't any fuck-able guys there last Friday."

"Oh, really?" Justin asked, crossing his arms over his chest, which was nestled in a tight white t-shirt, which stopped just above the waistband of his pants. "Then how come you stumbled through the door at dawn last Saturday morning, singing "Love is in the Air" from The Birdcage?"

Emmett giggled as he started on his eyes. "Oh... you heard that?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay, so there was one fuck-able guy..."

Justin laughed. "And you just happened to find him, right?"

"If it makes you feel better, I'll give you first dibs on any fuck-able guys we see tonight, deal?" Emmett said as he drew on his eyeliner in the mirror, his baby blue eyes wide open.

"Oh, thank you very much," the blonde answered, rolling his own blue eyes.

********************

"Well, look who's here!" Debbie yelled as Justin and Emmett walked into the 11th Street Diner. "Come have a seat, boys," the colorfully dressed waitress said, showing them to the only open table in the joint. "Let me guess... a cherry coke for Emmy Lou and a root beer for Sunshine, right?"

Both boys answered in the affirmative and looked over their menus, which they knew by heart, while Debbie fetched their drinks.

"So, what sounds good?" Justin asked Emmett.

Emmett quickly turned his head as a muscular Latino man walked past their table. Following the man with his eyes, Emmett answered, "Um, I'll have that hot tamale with a side of whipped cream." He then fanned himself with his menu.

"Unfortunately, he's not on the menu, Baby," Debbie answered as she sat their drinks on the table. The three of them observed the Tamale joining another man at a booth and warmly kissing him hello.

Emmett pouted. "Poo... well then, I'll just have the Monte Cristo and fries."

"And I'll have the Cowboy Burger," Justin stated as they handed their menus back to Debbie.

Justin and Emmett were discussing the previous night's episode of Will and Grace when three men walked past their table. They recognized one of the men as Debbie's son, Michael. The second man, Michael's friend, Ted, gave Emmett a smile as he walked past. The third man, wearing blue jeans and a black wife-beater, which did an amazing job at showing off his toned biceps and torso, was unfamiliar to them. Emmett and Justin watched the stranger's tight ass as he walked to the booth.

"Daaaamn..." Emmett drawled. "Who is that luscious beefcake?"

Justin sat up straighter to watch Luscious Beefcake approach the booth behind the Tamale and his boyfriend, sitting down with his back to them. He looked on as Debbie walked over to give Michael a kiss and greet the others. "Dibs," Justin stated as Emmett scowled.

"Shit," Emmett whispered, remembering his earlier promise.

********************

"God, you should have seen these pants that Fat Marley was wearing today," Michael said as he made a disgusted face. "They had to have been at least two sizes too small. She probably had to grease herself up with Crisco just to get them past her thighs."

"Eww!" Ted exclaimed. "Now I'll have that mental picture in my head for the rest of the night, thanks."

"Well, whoever said that black was slimming obviously has never met her," Michael added.

Brian pretended to listen while his old friend entertained them with stories from his mediocre job as an assistant manager at department store. Apparently, he wasn't doing a very good job, because Michael turned to him and asked, "You okay, Brian?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm just marvelous," he replied in a sardonic tone.

"What, did the old ball and chain give you a hard time before you left the house?" Ted asked.

Michael laughed. "Please, Lindsay hasn't given Brian a hard time in years! Why do you think he hangs out in our neck of the woods?"

"Shut the fuck up," Brian said, deciding not to comment on that particular statement, as all three knew it was true. He looked down at the faint tan line on his left ring finger. "No, she was her usual dull, sloshed self. Replace wine with gin and I swear I married my mother."

"Oh, don't talk like that, they are both such lovely ladies," Debbie stated sarcastically as she brought Michael and Ted their dinners. "How's Gus?"

"Just fine. He cursed at his teacher today," Brian answered as he read the message on Debbie's pink t-shirt, which proclaimed Don't like gays? Don't sleep with them in white lettering.

"Like father, like son, huh?" Debbie said, laughing as she left to check on another table.

"Anyway," Ted said after swallowing a bite of his turkey sandwich, "did you see Emmett on the way in? He looked incredible, as usual."

Michael pivoted in his seat to look back at Emmett, who was walking towards the door with his shorter friend trailing behind him. "I guess he's alright," he said as he chewed his tuna melt.

"Alright?" Ted asked, looking past Brian's shoulder to watch the tall drink of water in the sparkly shirt and black leather pants leave. "He's fucking beautiful."

Brian turned around to look at who they were talking about, catching a glimpse of a blonde leaving. He couldn't help but notice the guy's cute bubble butt, covered in a pair of tight olive-green pants, as the door closed behind him. If that was Emmett, yeah, he's fucking hot... at least from the back, Brian thought to himself as he turned back and took a sip of his tea.