Almost But Not Quite

Chapter 16

Justin awoke Monday morning with a feeling of dread. He knew he had to find some kind of work or he would be royally screwed. As bad as the motel was, living on the street would be even worse. If he didn’t start bringing in some money soon, that’s exactly where he was going to end up.

With a heavy heart Justin forced himself out of the lumpy bed. He headed to the bathroom, dreading the second thing he would have to do that day, and that was to call Brian Kinney and apologize.

 

*****
 

Brian was studying the Liberty Air boards. He and Harry had made a few changes to them, but they still weren’t right. They just weren’t good enough. Brian had spent the weekend waiting for inspiration to strike, but nothing had come. He was almost out of time.

“Mr. Kinney,” the receptionist’s voice came over the intercom.

“What the fuck is it? I asked not to be disturbed.” Brian was in no mood to be disobeyed. He glanced at his planner and noted that he had no meetings scheduled until after lunch.

“Um … there’s someone here to see you.”

“I don’t want to see anyone.”

“But…”

“You heard me!” Brian was about to turn off the intercom when he heard another voice.

“I shouldn’t have interrupted. Can I leave a message for him?”

Brian recognized the voice. It was Justin fucking Taylor. Brian got up from his chair and went to the office door. He saw Justin leaning on the reception counter writing a note.

“Why don’t you tell me in person?” Brian said with a smirk as he leaned against the jamb of his office doorway. He knew he was the perfect picture of nonchalance. At least that’s what he wanted Justin to think.

“I … I didn’t think you wanted to be interrupted,” Justin stammered. He had almost been relieved at being turned away. Then he could leave a note and be done with it. Now he would have to face Brian.

“Come in,” Brian ordered and disappeared into his office.

With a sigh Justin followed him. “I came by to apologize for not showing up for our dinner,” Justin said quickly, deciding that it was best to get this over with in a hurry.

“Nice of you to let me know,” Brian said sarcastically. He wasn’t in any mood to be forgiving. As if he ever was.

“I … I really intended to be there, but … something happened.”

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Something happened? Sounds a lot like the line I use all the time ‘Something came up.’”

Justin smiled and then giggled.

‘Shit! Why did he have to do that?’ Brian wondered. His coldness toward the blond melted away with that sound. There was an awkward silence.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Brian asked finally. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, especially if it was anything like what came up for him and caused him to be late or miss appointments. Knowing all that, Brian still wanted to hear why he had been stood up.

“I … I wasn’t going to say anything about what happened. I just wanted to apologize,” Justin said weakly. What had happened with his father was the last thing he wanted to talk about. It was all still too raw.

“I see,” Brian said enigmatically. “Would it have anything to do with you no longer working at Taylor Electronics?”

Justin flinched at Brian’s words. Brian could see that he had taken the blond by surprise. “How … how did you know?” Justin asked.

“I could tell you that I have spies everywhere,” Brian smirked, and then frowned as he realized how that sounded. “I saw your father on Saturday,” he said quickly.

“Oh, why? Do you usually work Saturdays?”

“Depends. I took the ads over to his office for final approval.”

“I thought they were approved,” Justin said with a questioning look.

“He made some last minute changes.”

Justin shook his head. “Out with the purple print, in with the black.” Brian nodded. “I guess he couldn’t wait to get rid of every trace of me.”

“Why would he want to do that?”

“I told him Friday that I’m gay, and he went ballistic.”

Brian opened his mouth to say, ‘I told you so.’ But he bit back the words. Justin didn’t need to hear that at the moment, and he always hated the ‘I told you so’s,’ whoever might be saying them. “You took the plunge?” Brian asked, hoping that sounded a little more compassionate than what he had been about to say.

“Yeah, I did it and now all I feel is … bitter,” Justin said, practically spitting out the word.

“It’s never fun being rejected by a parent.”

“I guess somewhere deep inside, I knew that’s what he would do, but I couldn’t stop myself from hoping…”

“Yeah, that hope’ll get ya every time.”

“On the way home in the car on Friday when I told my father I was gay…” Justin began. He wasn’t sure why he was telling Brian this, but he wanted to let it out. It was like a sore festering inside of him, and he needed to talk about it, even if just for a minute. “He pulled into the driveway, ordered me out of the car and told me he no longer had a son,” Justin continued, surprised that he could get all that out without breaking down. Somehow he felt stronger being able to express those events and not fall apart in the process. “I didn’t even get a chance to collect any of my things from the house. I just left in a taxi. I think I was in some sort of daze. In the middle of all that, I forgot about our date.”

“I can see why you might have forgotten,” Brian admitted. His anger and hurt that he had been feeling about Justin slipped away completely. The guy had been through a lot. “And I wish you wouldn’t call it a date. It was dinner,” Brian said trying to lighten the mood a little. And he did hate the idea of dating. That wasn’t what they were doing. He was trying to fuck Justin, that’s all.

“Have you got an aversion to dates?” Justin asked.

“One hundred percent.”

“Then why did you ask me out at all?”

“Fuck if I know. I’ve been trying to figure that out ever since I did.”

Justin laughed. He felt better than he had since Friday night. “Thanks for cheering me up,” he said. “I guess I should be going so that you can get back to work.” He looked at the boards laying on Brian’s desk. They were pretty good, but…

“I do have a lot to do by tomorrow,” Brian said.

“What’s tomorrow?”

“I have to do a presentation for Liberty Air, and all I have are these fucking boards. They’re just not right,” Brian said with a sigh.

“I like the slogan,” Justin said as he looked at them. “Liberty Air can take you there!”

“Yeah, rhyme is always good,” Brian snarked.

Justin continued to study the boards. He remembered what they had discussed in the lectures on advertising he had taken in his art courses at Dartmouth. Maybe that was what was bothering him about these ads…

“Is something the matter?” Brian asked slightly annoyed by Justin studying his work, and apparently judging it.

“Oh, I was remembering something I heard in one of my art classes. The prof said that if something doesn’t work, then we should look at it from a different perspective.”

“Which means…?

“I was thinking that you have the jet flying over various destinations that Liberty Air flies to. Isn’t that the way most airline ads are?”

“Yes, and they’re that way for a reason. It gets the point across.” Brian was feeling more and more annoyed. What did Justin Taylor know about advertising? He had, what, a couple of art courses at fucking Dartmouth? How did that give him the right to criticize Brian’s work?

“But if you changed the point of view…”

“How?” Brian asked as he studied the boards trying to figure out what Justin was getting at. Maybe Justin was onto something. Brian would use whatever help he could get at this point.

“Is Liberty Air interested in the comfort of their jets?”

“Yes, the last series of ads was about their added leg room.”

“Then show someone inside the jet…”

“Looking out the window at their destination…”

“All the major cities that Liberty Air flies to…”

“Business destinations…”

“And fun vacation ones too seen through the window.”

“By george, I think we’ve got something here.”

“I’d definitely say we do,” Justin laughed. “Now I should get out of your way.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the … help.”

“No problem. I better go.”

“Okay, I do have a lot to do, but can I have your number? I wanted to call you when you didn’t show up Friday, but I didn’t have your phone number. Maybe we can reschedule for another time.”

“Maybe,” Justin replied uncertainly.

“Here’s my card. My cell number’s at the bottom.”

Justin pocketed Brian’s card and wrote his cell phone number on the pad of paper that Brian handed him. “I’m not sure how long this will be good for,” Justin said as he handed the pad back to Brian.

“Oh, why’s that?”

Justin knew he couldn’t tell Brian about his circumstances. “I … may be getting a different phone,” he said, instead of the truth that he might not be able to afford a call phone much longer.

Brian looked at Justin. Something didn’t seem quite right. “Maybe I’ll give you a call when I get these revised,” Brian said gesturing to the boards. “You have a good eye.”

Justin smiled. “Thanks. Talk to you … later.”

And then he was gone. Brian picked up the boards and headed for the art department. He had a lot of work to do.

 

*****
 

Justin walked out of the alley that led to Kinnetik. He wondered what the Kinnetik building had been before Brian took it over for his advertising company. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but the interior was really interesting. Brian had fixed it up in a very non-conventional manner. It might have been a warehouse or some sort of… Justin frowned. He couldn’t decide what the building might have been, but it was certainly unique.

He turned onto Liberty Avenue and walked along the street. He thought he could probably catch a bus at the corner. He had resolved things with Brian … sort of. He wasn’t really sure how they’d left things, except that maybe he could expect another call from Brian soon. He wondered about Brian’s comments about dating. Justin had thought their Friday dinner was a date, but apparently Brian didn’t view it that way. Justin couldn’t help but wonder if all he was to Brian was fresh meat, a convenient and intriguing fuck. As much as Justin wanted to have sex with Brian, he wasn’t prepared to be treated like one of Brian’s tricks. He wouldn’t be a piece of ass that Brian had in the back room of Babylon, never to be heard from again. If that was all Brian wanted then fuck him.

Justin walked along Liberty thinking about what the future might hold for him. He knew that he still needed a job and a decent place to live. What the fuck was he going to do about that? He really had no idea of what he could do, or more precisely what he wanted to do.

His stomach rumbled as he crossed the street. He saw the sign for the Liberty Diner up ahead and decided that it might be a cheap place to get something to eat before going back to his dismal motel room.

As he approached the door he saw a sign in the window looking for help. He was a Dartmouth grad, but maybe he should apply for the job. Being a waiter wasn’t his dream for the future, but at least he would have some money coming in until he could figure out what that dream was.

He walked into the diner. He looked around at the same sex couples sitting in almost every booth. Was this homo heaven … or what? A guy got up from a table near the windows and walked past him. Justin knew he was being cruised. He couldn’t help the little smirk that crept across his face.

“Have a seat at the counter, honey,” a brash redhead told him as she hustled by with a tray laden with food.

Justin walked to the counter and took one of the two remaining unoccupied stools. He picked up a menu and glanced down the list of food.

“What’ll ya have?” the red haired woman asked him as she deposited a pile of dirty dishes in a plastic tub and pulled a pencil out from behind her ear.

Justin studied the “You say tomato, I say ‘Fuck you!’” T-shirt that she was wearing and the bobbing feathers on the end of her pencil.

“Look, I’m really busy, so if you want to order something, you better speak now ‘cause you may not get another chance,” the woman told him.

Justin read her name tag which said Debbie. “I’ll have a burger and a job.”

Debbie started to write his order and then realized what he had said. “You looking for a job?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you start right now?”

“Now?” Justin asked in surprise. “How do you know I’m any good?”

“I’m here all by myself. Everyone else has the flu. If you’re breathing, you’ve got the job.”

Justin laughed. “Are you serious?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely! There are aprons in the back … through there,” Debbie said pointing to the hallway that said restrooms. “If you can start right now, you’re hired.”

Justin looked around for a minute. He remembered clearing tables at the Plaza. This couldn’t be any harder than that. “Okay,” he said standing up and heading for the back room. He chuckled to himself when he thought about the back room he had been thinking about when he was walking away from Brian’s company. Not exactly the same thing.

The next two hours went by in a haze. Justin took orders, cleared tables, delivered food, made small talk with the customers, received five phone numbers stuffed into his jeans pocket and got his bottom pinched more times than he could count.

Finally when the diner was empty except for two tables, Debbie said to him, “Let’s take a break. You wanted a burger, right?”

“It’s so long ago, I don’t remember,” Justin said sliding wearily into the back booth.

Debbie placed an order at the window and then brought two cokes to the table. She sat across from him facing the door to the diner while his back was to it. “You did good, Sunshine,” she said with a sigh.

“Sunshine?”

“Yeah, that smile of yours really rakes in the tips.”

Justin grinned. “I thought it was my great ass, which has been pinched until I can hardly sit down.”

“The customers love you, especially the bubble butt.”

“Thanks, I think,” Justin chuckled. “I’m exhausted. How do you do it?”

“I’m used to it. You’ll find it gets easier as time goes on.”

“I … I’m not looking to do this permanently,” Justin started to explain. “I just need something to tide me over until I decide what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.”

“Don’t we all,” Debbie laughed as she got up to get their food. “Eat,” she said when she set the plates down on the table. “You earned it.”

“Thanks,” Justin said as he dug into his burger and fries. He had been hungry when he came into the restaurant and that was two hours ago. Debbie went to top up the coffees of the remaining customers in the diner.

When that was done, she sat down to eat her own food letting out a big sigh. “I’m really glad you came in when you did. I was just about snowed under. You really saved my bacon.” She took a bite of her sandwich.

“I was happy to help, and I really need a job.”

“You got one.”

“How many hours do you think I can work?”

“I can probably schedule you as much as you want. With people sick, there’s lots of spots to fill.”

“That sounds good. Now if I could only find a cheap place to live.”

“I have an empty room, if you’re interested,” Debbie offered.

Justin frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to have a room in someone’s house, but it couldn’t be worse than the horrible motel, and it might even be cheaper.

Before he left the diner that night, Justin had a job, a place to live and a pocketful of tips.

 

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