Justin was in bed that night thinking about the earlier conversation with his mother. After leaving Brian’s loft, he had called his mother to let her know that he was on his way down. She had insisted that he wait there and let her take care of the heavy elevator door. A few moments later, she was beckoning him into the elevator and searching his face for any information about the talk with Brian. “Just ask,” Justin said with a bit of sarcasm. He still wasn’t exactly thrilled with her and her meddling. “Fine,” she said, no regret in her voice at her obvious curiosity, “I will. What happened in there?” Justin motioned for her to follow him out of the elevator, left the building, and walked to the car parked out front. Obviously catching the hint that he wanted to talk in the car, his mother unlocked the car door with her key fob as she left the building. Justin got into the passenger side seat, put on his seat belt, and closed the door with his mother’s help. She walked around the car and got in behind the wheel; she, too, put her seat belt on. Then, she turned and waited for Justin to speak. “To be honest,” Justin said, “I’m not sure what happened. I was convinced that we were through. As much as I didn’t want it to be and as much as I love Brian, I just finally thought that there was no way for us to be together and not hurt one another. I stood my ground and told him that we just weren’t going to work, that we hurt each other too much. In fact, I think I even used the word toxic.” His mother’s eyebrows shot past her hairline at that. He nodded at her with a slight, self-deprecating smile and continued, “I was so convinced. I just knew that it wasn’t going to work for us no matter how much I wanted it to.” Justin paused here to gather his thoughts. “And then he started to speak. I’ve never seen Brian that way, Mom. Never. He was so emotional and verbose. I think part of it was more the emotion and the fact that he was actually sharing with me than what he was saying. I could feel his emotions just from the intensity of his voice. And then I listened to what he said. He was telling me that I was being unfair to him! Unfair! After all the crap he’s done recently, I’m the one being unfair? So, I felt myself getting angry, but then I took a moment to listen to what he was saying. And, I think there’s a lot of truth in what he said. You love someone for who they are, and that means accepting the good with the bad. I know how Brian is. I guess I just forgot. He’s done a lot of good things for me. Sure, there have been bad times, but who doesn’t have those, right? The fact of the matter is that I love him. Him. I have to take the good with the bad.” “Oh, honey, I think you’ve misinterpreted my actions.” Jennifer said. She put a hand to his cheek and gave it a loving pat. There were tears in her eyes. He looked at her quizzically, “What do you mean?” “I know you love Brian. And I know that, for the most part, Brian makes you happy. Sometimes, however, Brian does really awful things- to you and to himself. Don’t just cave back into his arms. Make this count for something, ok?” “What do you mean? You think I should leave Brian? After all this bullshit you’ve been feeding me,” Justin practically yelled, “Driving me here; telling me to talk to him. You’ve just been trying to get me to leave him? What is this a case of classic reverse psychology? What kind of games are you playing?” “Justin,” his mother calmly said, “I am not playing games. I’m a mother. And more than anything on this planet, I want my son to be happy, really happy. It’s so hard to sit back and watch Brian hurt you. But it’s also just as awful watching you hurt when you aren’t with him. I just want you to use this time in your life to get things settled for yourself and that includes settling things with Brian. I realized long ago that you love him. And I’ll even concede that he loves you. But figure out how to stop hurting each other. Now.” Jennifer’s voice had become as stern as steel. “I don’t think I can sit back and hear another story like the one when you were still on radiation treatments…” Justin looked at his mother in new eyes. She wasn’t trying to force him into anything, except happiness. And he also had a feeling that Brian better watch it- his mother was none too pleased with Mr. Kinney. He nodded and said, “Well, that’s how the conversation ended. We’re trying to find something that will work for us both. Nothing is decided, but he’s actually willing to try.” She smiled at him. “Good.” She then leaned over, kissed his cheek, started the car, and headed to Debbie’s house. Justin was still thinking about the rest of the conversation when there was a knock on his bedroom door. “Come in,” he said without thinking to ask who it was. The door slightly opened and a head came around the corner. “Can I talk to you a minute,” Michael asked, an earnest look on his face. Great, Justin thought, just what I need during all of this- Michael giving his enlightening ‘I’m his best friend’ opinions about Brian. “Sure,” he said against his better judgment. “I’m not here to talk about Brian.” Michael declared; his hands put up in a surrendering fashion. Justin had to stop himself from laughing out loud. “So, Debbie told you to stay out of our business, huh?” Justin correctly assumed. “In a much interesting manner than you just put it,” Michael responded with a grin. Justin nodded with a snort. Debbie could be quite interesting when she wanted to be. “So, then, what can I do for you?” Justin asked, again assuming correctly that this must be about Rage. Michael’s eyes seemed to light up. Justin thought he just might enjoy this conversation after all. “You will never in a million years guess who contacted me- well, us- today!” Michael was practically jumping up and down. He was bouncing up and down on his toes like a little kid waiting at the candy store to pay for his lollipop. Justin had to chuckle at Michael’s antics, “I have no idea, Michael. Santa Claus?” “Better!” Michael exclaimed. “Come on, just give me one guess. Just one!” “Ok, Ok! Let’s see. Someone that’s got you this excited? Captain Astro’s publisher,” Justin proposed. “No,” Michael said, “No, but that would have been cool, too! No, Brett Keller!” Justin was truly taken back. Brett Keller had called Michael. He said it again in his mind and then out loud, “Brett Keller?” Justin repeated back rather dumbly. “The Brett Keller? The Brett Keller that’s a big Hollywood director? That Brett Keller?” Michael nodded his head enthusiastically up and down. His eyes were twinkling with excitement. Wow, Justin thought, no wonder he’s excited! “It gets better,” Michael continued with his news, “He wants to make Rage into a movie! Can you believe it? Can you fucking believe it? Rage being made into a movie!” “Oh my God!” Justin vociferated. He stood up and walked over to Michael. “Are you telling me that Brett Keller wants to make Rage into a movie?” Michael nodded heartily again and smiled widely, his nose crinkling from the depth of his smile. He put his hands on Justin’s shoulders and pulled him into a light hug. “Rage the Movie!” he excitedly repeated. Justin found he couldn’t stop grinning as pulled back from Michael’s embrace. “So, are they ready to move forward?” “Yeah, that’s why he called. He said that he’d been pitching it to some Hollywood bigwigs and they were ready to sign off on the deal provided that Brett brings us on board!” Justin couldn’t believe it. They wanted to make a movie about their comic book and they were ready to go. He then thought about the last part of Michael’s statement. “What does onboard mean? They want the rights, what?” Unfortunately, Justin noticed that Michael’s eyes were a bit dimmer than before. Justin mentally prepared himself; he probably wasn’t going to like this part of everything. “Brett wants me to help with the screen play and you to help with the set design.” Justin could see where this was going. “So, how often would we need to be out there?” “Well, he feels that I could work mostly from home, sending most things via e-mail…” Michael said, tapering off at the end. “And me?” Justin asked, now knowing for sure that he wasn’t going to like this. “I know you are recovering from cancer. And I know things aren’t so great with Brian, right now.” Michael interjected. “What’s the deal, Michael?” Justin was in no mood to have things sugarcoated. “They want you there for just under a year. Brett also mentioned that you could help the art director.” “A year?” Justin reiterated in disbelief. “They want me to go out there for a year? To give up my life here? You have got to be kidding me!” “It’s a great opportunity,” Michael offered, “For both of us.” “Yeah,” Justin remarked, “But you don’t have to move there for a year! Michael, my family is here. My friends are here! My doctors are here!” “Brian is here?” Michael sagaciously offered. “That adds a whole extra level of bullshit,” Justin assured him. “We’re supposed to meet in two nights to discuss things. How can I do that if I’m leaving for a year? Shit!” Justin put his hand to his head to try to deflect the headache he could already feel forming. It didn’t help. He turned from Michael and stared out the room’s window into the cloudless night sky. “Maybe it’s for the best,” Michael quietly offered. “Maybe you and Brian really need a break.” Justin rolled his eyes. Yes, he thought angrily, you would think that, Michael. You’ve been thinking that for about four years now. So, it’d be just what you want, wouldn’t it? He could hear Michael getting restless when he didn’t respond with in a couple of minutes. “Well, umm,” Michael began cautiously, “It’s something to think about anyway. I best be getting home. Ben is making an edamame casserole that’s supposed to be incredible. I’ll, umm, give you a call tomorrow, ok?” With a pat to Justin’s back, he heard Michael leave the room, the door closing softly behind him. Justin belatedly nodded his head in agreement and leaned his head against the cool window pane. Maybe the cool would help the raging headache that was building. He was still standing there twenty minutes later when there was another knock to his door. Pulling himself from his deep, conflicted thoughts, he walked over to the door and opened it. There stood Brian with his hands behind his back. He was wiggling his eyebrows and there was a long stem rose being held between his teeth. Brian ceremoniously retrieved the rose from between his teeth and handed it to Justin with a bow. “For you, Mr. Taylor. May I come in?” Justin’s mind was in overload. Fuck! Why was it that every time he and Brian had a chance to move forward and get things right, something had to bitch slap them out of nowhere? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! “Justin?” Brian asked, pulling Justin from this thoughts, “Are you ok?” Justin looked into Brian’s face and could see the concern. “Justin?” he asked again. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Justin said, “I just got some news from Michael.” “From Mikey? What great exciting news did Mikey bring you?” Justin took a deep breath. “Let’s not talk about that now. What’s brought you here?” Brian looked at him like he was crazy. “You,” he said with a sly smile and an obvious leer. ‘I thought you didn’t chase after anyone.” Justin said, taunting him. “Well,” Brian started and then paused. He looked very out of his element, almost unsure of himself. Justin understood when Brian softly continued, “I was wrong. Some people are worth it.” Justin smiled his ‘sunshine’ smile and put everything else to the back of his mind. He wanted to enjoy this moment.