CHAPTER 54: QPM*, NOTICES & THEM!

*queening princess moments

KINNETIC – MONDAY AFTERNOON

BRIAN’S OFFICE

BRIAN

I’m staring at the empty space that Justin had just occupied.  The door is wide open and I think he dented the wall where he flung the door open so hard in his haste to leave.  I feel the cold sweat break over my body and slowly walk over and close the door.

I don’t understand what happened, I think back.  I was annoyed with the art department then Justin came in and he was upset about something.  The next thing I know we were both screaming at each other and he stormed out saying that he won’t do this fucking shit anymore.

I kept trying to ring him but he wouldn’t pick up. It didn’t even roll to voicemail so I could leave a message.  I call Slick but she said he’s not there. He was but he’s gone now.

When I get home the house is in darkness.  I keep trying his phone again and again, still nothing.  I try Daph and she said she’s been trying to get hold of him all day.  The tightness in my chest is unbearable.

For something to do I start looking through music and then I find the perfect song.  Quickly, I call the florist and order as many flowers as I can to be delivered in an hour and then I wait.  An hour stretches to two and by seven, I know he’s not coming back.

Wearily, I head to my study, figuring I might as well do some work but I can’t focus and I realise it’s because I had left the song playing in the hallway.  Wiping away tears I head to turn it off and find Justin sitting in the middle of all the flowers, crying his eyes out.

“Justin!”  I gasp.

He runs to me and plasters himself to my body.  “I will always Stay with You Baby.  As apology songs go that’s pretty much perfect, now I have one for you.”  He snivels and clears his throat.  “How about Endlessly by Brook Benton?  You seem to have a bit of a thing for him.”

“Per-perfect.”  I squeeze him tightly and now I can breathe.  “What happened earlier?”

“We queened out.  We both wanted the opposite of what the other was giving.  You wanted a solution and I wanted you to listen.”

“Let’s not do that again, please?  Fuck, it was horrible!  And as mad as we get with each other at least let the other person leave a voicemail message.  Not answering your phone, not cool.”

He ducks his head down before sighing and looking up.  “About that?”  He bits his lip.  “I can’t find it.  This is why I was so late. I’ve been trying to find it since this afternoon.”

“Oh, okay.  Where have you looked?”

“Everywhere I went, the diner, Emmy’s, Slick’s but I can’t find it.  I’m sorry Brian, for the phone and earlier.”

“Me too for earlier.  Right where did you have it last?”

“I know I had it when I went to…shit, it must be at the Bloom Gallery.  I remember now I was talking to the gallery in New York and they were saying they wanted another two paintings and I got upset and…”

“Two paintings? What for?”

“They thought the abstracts looked incomplete they want a lighter one at the beginning and a darker one at the end to make it a series of five.”

“Are you kidding me?  They know how long that is going to take right?  What did Sidney say?”

He looks embarrassed.  “I don’t know I kind of freaked, stormed out and came to see you.”

I chuckle at my princess and grab my phone. “Sidney it’s Brian, a couple of things.  Right, great can you keep it for him, he’ll be there tomorrow.  And as for the…oh great he will be relieved yeah I’ll tell him, goodnight Sidney.”

He looks expectantly at me.  “You need to collect your phone tomorrow and the gallery is sticking to the original three paintings.”

“So what are we going to do with all of these flowers?”  He asks looking round.

“Um, we keep those three, no four.  So they’re for in the lounge, kitchen, studio and the bedroom.  I can take one to Kinnetic for Cynthia, who kept me together and the rest we can give to Emmy Lou, Slick, Debs, your mom…”

“… Grim and Twinkle, Daph, Mel and even the GLC!”  He giggles.

“Shush.”  I look down at him.  “We’re okay right?”

“Of course.  But you do realise when the show is over that the queening out is going to get worse in the lead up to the wedding?”

“Oh great.  I best put a standing order in.”  I have another relieved breath and kiss him softly, then I call the boys.  “Let’s take them for a walk and then you can show me how endlessly you love me.”

MICHAEL’S APARTMENT – TUESDAY LATE AFTERNOON

MICHAEL

I’m supposed to be looking at apartments, but I can’t be bothered right now.

Lindsay has been out since this morning. She’s still paranoid that we’re pariahs on the Avenue, which is bullshit but we’re still banned from the diner for now.  Mother will calm down eventually. I’m her son, after all.

I settle down to watch back to back episodes of the Spiderman cartoon series from the 1990s.  Couldn’t believe it when I saw it on Amazon at that price; it had to be mine.  I’d barely got started when Lindsay came in and slapped the Pittsburgh Out onto my chest.

“Check out the announcements.”  She simpers, rolling her eyes.

I flick to the relevant page and see that Grim and Twinkle have gotten engaged.  “So the bear and the chicken are getting married, why should I care?”

“Try the one, two announcements under it.”

I gasp as I read that Brian Aiden Kinney is proud to announce his engagement to Justin Cole Taylor, wedding details to follow.

“Oh this is bullshit!”  I snark, throwing the paper onto the table.

“That’s what I thought, until I read this in the New York Times arts section of all places:  Pittsburgh Native, Justin Taylor, will be in a 3 artists showcase at the Mitheson Gallery on the 20th of April.  Taylor, who is the fiancé of Kinnetic CEO and owner Brian Kinney, was discovered by Sidney Bloom and there are high hopes for the talents of this young man…”

I grab the paper from her so I can read it myself.  “No! This is not going to fucking happen!”

“There’s nothing we can do about the show, believe me I’ve tried.  But Sidney is adamant that he has some talent.  It will be so embarrassing and soul destroying when he’s crucified in the press and…”

“Not the show!  The wedding.  We need to put a stop to this farce once and for all!”  She nods in agreement.  “By the way, where were you this morning?”

She sits down with a thump and a sigh.  “Went to see my parents.  They’re so disappointed in me for going to jail despite me telling them it wasn’t my fault.  But now I have to go out again as Mel wants to see me about something or other.  Did she call you too?”

“No.”  My eyes are continually drawn to the article and I feel nauseous.  “He can’t be embarrassed and have his soul destroyed if he’s not in the show, can he?” She looks warily at me.  “Well we know when and where the show is. We could call nearer the time it’s to be held and cancel on his behalf of course.  And then call Sidney pretending to be the Gallery cancelling just Justin’s participation in the show.  Oh I know! We could use his relationship to Craig Taylor and say that it would draw bad publicity to them…”

She grins and then nods.  “Let’s plan this out properly when I come back.  We don’t want to leave any room for error.”

I nod and start to feel my stomach settle.  “And then we work on wedding.  Chances are, knowing Brian, he’s going high-end.  We’ll just call all the caterers until we find the right one.”

“Perfect!”  She kisses me on the cheek.  “I won’t be long.  Want me to grab take-out on the way back?”

“Yeah.  Something with chicken.”  I laugh at my own joke.

MEL & JENNY’S HOUSE – EARLY EVENING

MEL

I can’t wait to see her face when I tell her all her plans were for naught.  Especially since they’ve not made an effort to contact the kids.  Gus and Jenny are with Debs for the evening and will go to school from there.

As I pour myself a glass a wine, the door knocks and I head to let her in.

“Lindsay.”

“Mel.”  She goes to kiss my cheek but I turn away.  

“Would you like a glass of wine?”

“Uh, um.  Yes please.”

“Let’s go to the kitchen so we can talk.”  I don’t even look to see if she’s following.

KITCHEN

“How have you been?”  I ask her.  “How was prison?”

The grip on her glass tightens.  “I was in a correctional facility through no fault of my own, and it was tolerable.”

There is another knock at the door.  “Excuse me.”

She looks surprised when I come back in with Ted.  “Ted?  What are you doing here?”

“Anything to do with the support of Gus and Jenny, I have to be here for.”

She bridles and again grips her glass.  “Well since you’ve had me stripped of my parental rights, I don’t see what conversation needs to be had.”

“You need to sign over the support account to Mel.”   She glowers at Ted.  “Obviously, we couldn’t close the account without your signature.  So if you just sign here and here.”

She takes the proffered pen and scans the document.  And we wait.

“Before I do this, I just need to do something.”  She smiles sweetly.

“Of course, take your time.”  Ted smiles sweetly back.

She takes out her phone and fiddles for about 5 minutes before her frown deepens and she starts to bite her lip.

“I-I I’m sorry but there’s an emergency with m-my parents, I need to go and see them. Can we do this tomorrow?”  She stands up, her hands trembling as she drains her glass.

“Of course. I do hope that everything is okay.”  Ted stands up to help her into her coat.

“It won’t make a jot of difference when we do it though.”  I pour myself another glass.  “The secondary account will still be closed.”

“Sec…”  She freezes and then her face twists.  “You fucking bitch!”  She hisses at me.

“Oh now-now Lindsay, I would rein in that viperous tongue of yours.  Unless of course, you want to go back to jail for fraud?”

She goes pale at that.  “F-fraud?”

“Yes.  But now that little unpleasantness has been resolved.   There is just one more thing for me to tell you and for you to pass onto Michael...”  She’s seething but I draw it out.  “Gus and Jenny never want to see you two again.”