BRIAN
It felt good to know that our future was heading where it was supposed to go. Justin decided that we needed to do only the things that mattered to us. Both of us agreed that Stockwell was going down. We still had a year to get that accomplished. One of the things that I wanted was to turn Marvin Deekins into a stronger candidate, and to do that I need him to not back away from a fight, he was going to fail if he didn’t get dirty.
With Hunter no longer an issue, Michael and Ben either worked or they didn’t. We did what we could, but it’s not our problem. Deb and Carl did start dating but Michael wasn’t happy and wanted to make sure we all knew about it. Ben and Deb were having problems because she didn’t want Michael around that.
Mel was officially living with Leda and convinced Michael to help them out. She wasn’t happy that she couldn’t choose someone else, but I told Mel that Jenny was her twin without the Lesbo package. She liked that her daughter would follow her into law. I told her to not push the issue because Jenny was stubborn like Deb and Michael when she felt like she was being told what to do. Marilyn told Mel to wait until it was time in two years. Mel was fine with that because Gus was a toddler and she didn’t want to have two babies at the same time. She then apologized to me and told me that she just wanted to be a good mom, it wasn’t about her thinking I would neglect my son.
Justin was going to hold off on the comic, because Michael was always trying to get involved. Emmett told Justin to give Michael the number of other students in art school who could draw for Michael so that Michael could do it on his own. Justin put up a flyer with the comic shop’s address and a note to apply with Michael. Michael chose a kid who told him he just wanted the experience and only twenty percent of the profits. Justin laughed and told me that they never earned a lot with Rage, so the kid was going to wish he asked for more, for having to listen to Michael.
Justin made me start seeing a doctor, so that we could catch the cancer earlier. He was able to find out that there was no changing that they would remove the ball but that I wouldn’t have to go through the total hell of chemo.
Justin wasn’t going to be dealing with the Hollywood nightmare, so he wanted to take an active role at Kinnetik. I wanted him to start working on his art, but told him what he did with it was his decision. Justin wanted to at least start entering contests and get his name out there, because Lindsay was not going to be here to fuck up his life, and help promote him.
The other thing I wanted to talk to him about was Babylon. Did I want the headache of running the club? He asked me how much was about staying forever young and how much was about the business. I decided to wait till it was for sale and see if I still gave a shit about owning it. I wanted to know who put a bomb in my club, so I was leaning toward buying it to see if we could finally catch the asshole who blew it up and killed people.
So we entered the next stage of our life with a set of plans.
JUSTIN
I was thinking about Emmett and George. I mean Emmett really loved him but with no Jerk at Work there wasn’t going to be a George and Emmett. Do we get them to meet or let it pass? Brian said to let it pass because the shit Emmett had to deal with after wasn’t worth it. I was still debating the whole thing when Michael was talking about the benefit to raise money for Angels over Pittsburg not selling enough tickets.
I grabbed the paper to see if Devina was in it. Yep, guess Michael is going to meet Daddy. Brian told me it wasn’t our problem.
“I always wondered if Deb being able to keep the lie was Michael’s idea or Deb’s.” I ask him.
“They both knew the truth but Michael left it alone. Deb took it as a free pass to avoid dealing with it.” He tells me.
We were walking through the park to get home, when I heard the violin playing. Brian shrugged and we continued past the gazebo, Ian was playing in front of. It was a chapter that we weren’t going to relive. Just like anything you keep at a distance, the music eventually faded away.
BRIAN
This was the birthday I wanted to make special, because this was the one that changed us. I figured Ted helped the first time, he could help me again.
“So, Justin’s birthday is coming two weeks.” I tell Ted.
“And?” He asks me.
“I want to do something for him.” I tell him.
“Isn’t that Ben’s birthday too? I think Michael was talking about throwing a party.” Ted tells me.
“It’s going to be a bust because Ben doesn’t want a party. He acts like a shit in front of Deb who already didn’t approve of him.” I tell Ted.
“So better to skip that. Why are you asking me?“ Ted asks me.
“You did great on your last suggestion, I figured it was good Karma to ask you again.” I tell him.
“You know, I give you ideas and you get to reap the benefits. Rather fucked up to my way of thinking.” Ted tells me.
“When Blake finally cleans his ass up, I’ll help you out.” I tell him.
“Anything you haven’t done?” He asks me.
“No, I kind of did all the things we screwed up.” I tell him.
“What about doing something you didn’t screw up?” He ask me.
“There was one thing but I don’t know if it’s for sale.” I tell Ted.
“Brian, I really think you should leave Babylon alone. It sounds like a giant pain in the ass.” He tells me.
“I wasn’t talking about the club.” I tell him.
“Well, are you gonna tell me?” He asks me.
“Britin.” I tell him.
“The house you two were supposed to live in.” He tells me.
“I closed it up and never let anybody near it again. In the end, I let the house fall apart.” I tell him.
“How long was it for sale before you bought it?” He ask me.
“I didn’t check, it was what Justin told me he wanted. It checked the boxes I wanted, so I bought it.” I tell him.
“Look and see if it’s for sale. If not look for something that checks the right boxes.” He tells me.
I left Ted and decided to asked Mom to see if the house was on the market.
“I was thinking it would be nice to spend Justin’s birthday there.” I tell her.
“The owner’s of the house were living in another state because of a job transfer. They actually never returned and finally sold the house, if I remember right. I know they had rented it out for the first few years, but decided to sell when they were sure they no longer wanted to come back. ” She tells me.
“See if they are renting it yet. If no one lives there, I’ll rent it until we can own it.” I tell her.
“Let me get back to you, be glad I’m still here right now.” She tells me.
I waited for her to call back and wondered what it would feel like to go into that house, now that the man I wanted to share it with would be able to be with me.
“I looked to see if they listed the house at all. It’s being listed as a rental, but it’s being handled by another company.” She tells me.
I get the number and call, the guy at the office tells me that we would need to come down and fill out paperwork to see if I qualified to rent the house. I told Ted to come with me, because he could fill the crap out. The leasing agent told me that it would be the next week, before we could officially move in.
JUSTIN
Brian told me that he wanted to take a ride. I decided to humor him, because he’s been excited all day. I woke up to breakfast in bed and an invitation to celebrate my birthday out of town. It sounded like a great idea. Michael was about to have a shitty Ben on his hands. Getting away would saves us from the aftermath.
Brian and I were on the road for about twenty minutes when I was about to joke about going to West Virginia. Only I knew where we were headed.
“Are we just going to see it?” I ask him.
“I rented the house.” He tells me.
“For how long?” I ask him.
“For as long as you want to live there.” He tells me.
We pulled into the drive and I looked at the house in spring. Brian was looking at it like he was seeing something else.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him.
“I don’t want to burn it to the ground.” He tells me.
“What do you want to do with it.” I pull him into my arms.
“I want to live in it with the man I plan to marry in 2015.” He tells me.