In His Kiss

Chapter 6

On the phone with Daphne


“Justin, you are going to love Emmett!”

“I know. You’ve only told me this what, five hundred times?”

“I know. I can’t wait for you to get here. I am warning you. We are going dancing every night.”

“I can’t believe you go to Babylon. Don’t you want a boyfriend? Or are you going to be a fag hag for the rest of your life?”

“Shut up. I am having more fun than I’ve ever had in my life. It’s like hanging with my girlfriends, except my girlfriends are gorgeous guys.”

“But, aren’t they a little older than us?”

“Big whoop. Blake is twenty-six! Emmett is only turning thirty. Besides, except for a couple of them, they are totally immature! You’ll fit right in!”

“Well, gee, thanks. What is it like to hang out with one of your professors though?”

“Ben is great. Is one of the mature ones. He is really smart, and analytical, and hot.”

“Hot?”

“Yes, but he’s with Michael, so I guess you can look but not touch.”

“I don’t want to touch anybody in his forties!”

“Well, isn’t Brian in his forties?”

“Oh my God. If he heard you, he’d probably kill himself. No, I think he is thirty, thirty-one.“

“That’s awfully young for being a full partner, no?”

“He’s brilliant.”

“Crush much?”

“He has brilliant tastes.”

“In what? In teenage boys? In designer clothes?”

“I’m not a teenage boy!”

“No, but I bet he thought you were the first time he saw you shake your ass at that club, and that didn’t stop him!”

“Never mind that. He has great taste in art.”

“Yeah?”

“He bought one of my paintings. I had to go to his office the other night, and on the back wall is one of my big paintings.”

“The green one or the red one?”

“The green one. Anyway, he goes on about this artist in LA he discovered while googling my name to find out who had designed Essengy’s new image, and about how his work is, and I quote, ‘exquisite’, and this whole time I think he is pulling my leg, but it turns out he had no idea I had gone to school in LA, and that it was mine.”

“Wow!”

“I know!”

“You told him though, right?”

“Yes, I told him. Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him. Shit. I shouldn’t have!”

“Why not?”

“Well, I’m sure he enjoyed it more before he knew it was mine.”

“It’s still there though, right?”

“Yes. Everyone in the Art Department has gone up to see it because Sam, my boss, said that ‘Kinney’s new painting showed that The Asshole has great taste’. It’s still there.”

“So maybe he likes it better now that he knows it’s yours…”

“Daphne, cut it out. He either doesn’t give a shit that it’s mine, or it reminds him daily that I turned him down and annoys the hell out of him. Ugh... I am so ready to get away from here. I need a break from Brian Kinney.”

“I tell you what. Let’s make a pact. While you’re here, having fun with all my new friends, we will not even mention his name. I think you’re right. You need a break.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea. Not a word about him. Complete Kinney blackout.”

“Perfect.”

Justin was really looking forward to going to Pittsburgh, which was astonishing, considering that when he had left, he had thought he would never go back. But he couldn’t wait to see Daphne, and her new group of friends certainly sounded interesting.
 

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