The Gus Diaries

Part 67

New Year's Discovery
 

I still couldn’t believe that I ended up spending New Year’s Eve at the Liberty Diner with Jeff... and Jeremy. It all seems too insane to comprehend.

After finding Jeremy beaten up and moaning behind the dumpster, Jeff and I dragged him into the diner and sent him to the men’s room to get cleaned up. I’d almost wished it was a total stranger. It’s hard to feel compassion towards someone who tried to blackmail me into going out with him.

Jeff and I washed our hands in the kitchen sink and then went to sit at the counter to wait for Jeremy.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Jeff looked around the restaurant to make sure everything inside was still in order. The only ones in the diner besides us were the cook, dishwasher and bus boy, but we had a feeling that after midnight the place would start waking up.

“I have no clue. Why would he be in that alley at this time of night?”

“He doesn’t seem drugged out. Do you think he’s selling?”

“Nah, if he was, I think we would have noticed a change in his clothes. He wears stuff that fits and looks okay, but it’s all cheap. Remember, he’s a scholarship transfer from Allegheny.”

“That’s right.” Jeff and I sat silently. Then he looked at me with an expression that I couldn’t quite read. “Oh shit!”

“Oh shit, what?” Now he was scaring me.

“Oh shit, you don’t think he was hus…”

“No fucking way. Mr. Superior Columnist, Mr. Big Fucking Deal -- he wouldn’t be... could he?” The thought that someone I knew could possibly fall so low as to want or need to hustle made no sense to me.

Jeremy wasn’t living on the streets. Sure, he didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods, but he lived with his mother. It couldn’t be. There had to be some other explanation.

“Hey, Jeff, maybe he got into one of the bars, someone picked him up and he was stupid enough to go off with the wrong guy.”

“That could be. I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.”

We didn’t have to wait long. I kept watching the clock. It was 11:40 PM. I had hoped to share a private moment with Jeff in the staff room at midnight, but once again Jeremy invaded our privacy. Talk about really fucking up our night. If he hadn’t been beaten up so badly, I’d think he did it on purpose.

About a minute later, Jeremy emerged from the men’s room. He was cleaned up, but he had lots of obvious cuts and bruises all over his face and hands. The cook had been watching closely as well, and immediately arrived on the scene with the first aid kit. He swabbed any cuts and scrapes that had been bleeding, then looked over Jeremy carefully to satisfy himself that there was no reason to call a doctor or send him to an emergency room.

“Okay, kid, you’ll heal but you’ll be sore for awhile. Go have a seat and I’ll get a bowl of stew for you.”

“I don’t need any charity.” Jeremy seemed tough, but he looked more embarrassed than anything else.

“Hey, punk, it’s not charity. If no one eats the goddamn stew tonight, it’ll go in the trash. One less serving will make it easier to carry to the dumpster.” The cook disappeared in the back, and Jeff went to the window to receive Jeremy’s food.

Jeremy sat at the last booth with his back to the entrance so no one could see him. After Jeff brought him the stew, he nodded his head and the two of us went over to sit opposite him. As long as we were facing the door, we could see anyone come in, not that we wouldn’t notice with the bell always announcing anyone’s entrance.

Jeff and I sat quietly letting Jeremy get a few bites in. Finally he looked up, “So what do you two lovebirds want?”

Jeff opened his mouth first. “Well, to start, I’d like to know what the fuck you were doing in that alley behind the diner, and who you were with that would beat the crap out of you and leave you lying on the ground?”

“You’re very nosy. Let’s just say I was mugged.”

“You know something, Jeremy, I’d believe that if I didn’t feel that your wallet was still in your pocket when we dragged you off the ground.”

“Copping a feel? I wouldn’t confess in front of the little woman.” Jeremy was definitely not in a mood for quickly revealing the facts, and his attitude was pissing off Jeff. I could tell that he was rapidly losing his temper.

Just then the bell over the entrance sounded, and a couple of street kids came in and sat at the first booth. “Gotta get to work, but this discussion isn’t over.” He stood up and went to wait on the kids.

“Okay, Jeremy, what the hell is going on?”

“I see you have some interest in me, Gus,” he smirked.

“Only in finding out who the fuck would want to kill you.”

“That’s very gracious of you, your highness, Mr. Holier Than Thou Kinney.”

“Cut the shit and stop avoiding the question.”

“I don’t owe you anything except a thank you for getting me off the ground, so thank you. Now, can I eat this shit in peace?”

“No. If you know anything about me, you know I can’t leave a story unsolved. That’s how I became news editor of the paper in my sophomore year. And stop putting us off, because if we don’t start getting any answers I’ll call my grandfather to come talk to you.”

“Your grandfather. What’s he gonna do, wag a finger at me?” Jeremy huffed.

“No, he’s chief detective of the Pittsburgh P.D.”

“Shit! Are you related to half this fucking city?”

I laughed and thought a second. “Yeah, I probably am in one way or another so open your damn mouth and start talking.”

“I needed a little extra cash.”

“So you thought to beg for money in the most dangerous part of town?”

“I wasn’t begging.” Jeremy lowered his head and kept eating, not looking up once.

“You’re dealing drugs,” I whispered. “That’s fucking insane.”

“I’m not dealing drugs. I don’t have the contacts for that -- although it would probably be better than...” he trailed off and continued to eat slowly.

“Well, the only other assholes that hang out back there are...”

“Yeah, I know,” he responded barely audibly.

I sat back in shock. Jeff had just delivered the meals to the kids at the front table and joined us again. He looked from Jeremy to me.

“He’s hustling,” I revealed quietly.

Jeff nodded but didn’t say anything for a minute. I always admire the way he thinks before he opens his mouth. I wonder if I’ll ever get to the point where I can do that, even under shocking circumstances.

Jeremy finally looked up. “Well, aren’t you going to say something?”

Jeff looked at his customers, saw they were still eating and didn’t need any soda refills, then turned to Jeremy. “Why?”

“That’s it -- why? All you want to know is why? You mean you’re not going to tell me I’m a derelict of society and shouldn’t come near you or your pretty boyfriend again?”

I almost opened my mouth, but Jeff put his hand on my leg, under the table, to stop me. Thinking back, I now understand that Jeremy was just lashing out to avoid giving us any explanation.

Jeff continued, “Yes, that’s all I want to know -- why?”

“Because my mother got laid off from her job five months ago and doesn’t want to ask for help, and my fucking father fell off the planet soon after I was born.”

This time I was ready to speak thoughtfully, “Does she know?”

He looked at me as if I’d grown another head. “No! Of course she doesn’t.”

“So where does she think you’re getting all this money?”

“I told her I got a job doing the graveyard shift at the Pittsburgh Gazette. She’s so fucking proud that she didn’t actually ask what I was doing for the paper. Probably thinks I’m starting on a loading dock or something.”

“Well, did you try to get a job like that?”

“What the fuck do you think? Of course I did, but the wages are shitty when you’re not over eighteen because I can’t get near any real machinery.”

Jeff got up to go take care of his customers, but I could tell he had half an ear tuned into our conversation.

“Don’t you think your mother would ask for help if she knew this was the only other option?”

“Maybe, but it would kill her. All my life, she took so much pride in knowing that she could take care of us on her own without help from her asshole ex or the government.”

“But I don’t think she’d care about her pride if she knew it was at your expense.”

“I just don’t know what the fuck else to do.” Then Jeremy lowered his head again and became much quieter. “She also told me that if we’re on state aid, they may want to put me in a foster home. I won’t do that. There’s no fucking way that I’ll let that happen.”

Now, I was beginning to see the twisted thoughts that led Jeremy to make this unbelievable choice. We sat quietly for another minute or two.

“Hunter.” I murmured out loud.

“What?”

“I’m going to call my cousin, well not by blood but close enough.”

“Your cousin? What the hell can he do for me?”

“I’m not sure. He’s a Guidance Counselor and he works with kids in trouble. Trust me he’ll know what to do, and he won’t open his mouth to anyone.”

“How do you know?”

I almost opened my mouth and spilled Hunter’s past, but then I followed Jeff’s pattern and thought first. “Because he’s that kind of guy. You’ll just have to take my word for it on this.”

It was 11:55 PM. I pulled out my cell and found Hunter’s number in my call list and pressed dial. Stepping away from the table, I made my way to the staff room and told Hunter the situation. He wasn’t thrilled to be called; he and Callie had decided to spend a quiet New Year’s Eve alone in their new apartment. He told me he’d give her a kiss at the stroke of midnight and be over about ten minutes later.

Returning to the table, Jeff brought Jeremy a cup of coffee, and I filled him in on the rest.

One of the kids at the front table yelled, “Turn on the TV, it’s almost time for the countdown.” The bus boy reached up and turned to the channel that revealed the festivities at Times Square in New York City.

I thought about my fathers celebrating in Dad’s office overlooking his kingdom of Babylon, and Grandma Deb with Grandpa Carl at the Policemen’s Dinner Dance. Then my thoughts turned to my moms. Mem would be with Jenny, Marie and her kids at Mem’s place, and Mom told me she was going on a third date with the guy who kept visiting her at the gallery.

And here I was at the Liberty Diner. Yet somehow it no longer seemed so bad. If Jeff and I hadn’t been here, who knows what would have happened to Jeremy. I still didn’t like him, but I didn’t want him dead -- and if he kept hustling, he’d be in for the worst. Hunter and I had talked a couple of times since he was back in Pittsburgh. The talks were cautionary, but they were from the heart -- one cousin to another.

When the countdown began, Jeff made sure he was by my side. He yelled to the bus boy to watch the front and we ran to the staff room but could still hear, “7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1 -- Happy New Year!”

Jeff took my face gently in his hands and drew me in for the most beautiful kiss I could imagine. It was filled with a deep love that was certainly reciprocated one hundred percent.

“I love you, Gus, and I’m glad I won’t have to leave you this year.”

I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder while softly nipping his neck. “I love you, too, Jeff. Thank you.”

He looked at me and smiled. “What do you have to thank me for?”

“For tonight. I’m glad you didn’t fight harder about getting the night off. I think we were meant to be here.”

Jeff touched his forehead to mine and whispered, “Maybe so.”

I knew Hunter would arrive soon, probably with Callie by his side. They would know how to help Jeremy and his mother. I was just glad that I was related to half of Pittsburgh and could call on someone. It’s hard to admit that I’m still a kid sometimes. But I remember Pop once telling me, “A man knows when to ask for help.”

With the New Year now here, I do feel more like a man than ever before.
 

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