Snapshot

Justin knocked on the door. He was glad Lydian was able to see him before Travis showed up. He didn’t want Travis or Emmett to see the bruises on his body. Though they had begun to fade, most were still visible. Justin had explained to both Brett and Lydian by phone that he wanted to already be in make-up by the time Travis arrived.

The door opens and Brett invites him inside the hotel room. Lydian smiles, “Good morning, Justin!”

Justin forces a smile, trying not to show his exhaustion, “Hi,” putting down his CD walkman on the table, he scans the room. Shit, why did I agree to this? I’m so fuckin’ tired… Lydian points to a chair, “Here, have a seat… let’s see what we can do about those bruises.”

Biting his lip, Justin slowly makes his way to the chair, “Um.. thanks again for agreeing to do this early…”

She smiles, “No problem. Take off your shirt.”

He hesitates again. Noticing his nervousness, she laughs to ease his tension, “Don’t worry, Justin. You’d be surprised on the stuff I have to hide on models sometimes. Brett calls me the make-up miracle worker.”

Justin smiles softly, knowing she was only trying to make him feel better. But inside, he felt only worse. Maybe I should set up another appointment with Jake?

The phone rings, startling Justin. Brett yawns as he goes into the other room to pick up the phone. Still smiling, Lydian begins to open her make-up case, “Okay, let’s get started.”

Nodding, Justin lets out a sigh as he pulls off his shirt.

----------- ----- ----- ----

“Brian!”

Brian jerked alert at his desk, “What the fuck?!”

Cynthia hands him a folder, “Rough night?”

Frowning, Brian takes the folder, “What the fuck is this?”

“Alec Carpenter faxed it over to you.”

“Who?” asks Brian as he begins to rub his temple. I need to get laid again...

“Alec Carpenter… from Harris & Lynn advertising.”

Brian slowly nodded. His hang over was killing him. “What about him?”

She taps on the folder, “He faxed this to you.”

Brian tosses it onto his desk, “And what the fuck is it?”

She sighs, picking it back up and opening it, “It’s information on the ad campaign he’s working on with Harris & Lynn.”

Brian closes his eyes, “And I care because…?”

Putting the folder back on his desk, she explains, “Alec has some great connections in the fashion industry. His sister-in-law works with one of Calvin Klein’s associates…”

He shrugs, “And I fucked a Versace model, who gives a fuck?”

Cynthia sighs, “Nevermind, Brian. Let me get you some coffee.”

Brian squints, God this office is too bright.. Glancing back at the folder, Brian absently tosses it into the trash by his desk.

---- ---- ---- -----------------------

“Where’s Emmett?” Justin asks. He was already in make-up and feeling less self-conscious in his loose-fitting CK jeans that exposed the waistband of his CK underwear. Though his upper body was bare, Lydian did an amazing job covering up the bruises with a foundation base and powder.

Travis smiles, looking upward as Lydian applied a thin coat of powder under his eyes, “He has an appointment with a publicist to go over his upcoming spring collection.”

Justin grins, impressed, “That’s so awesome. I can’t wait to see his line.”

Travis nods, “Its quite extraordinary.”

Chuckling, Justin can only imagine.

Chase, Brett’s assistant, tests the lighting overhead. “So, Justin, I hear this is your first time?”

Justin nods, looking up to find Chase standing on a small ladder. Chase smiles. He looked to Justin to be in his mid to late twenties. His green eyes were nearly hypnotic. Justin returns the smile, “Yeah…” He recognized the look that Chase was giving him. Oh my God, he interested in me… Feeling his cheeks turning red, Justin quickly looks away. Travis pretends not to notice, but can’t hide his own smile as he winks at Chase.

---- ------------ ------ -------------------- ----

“Why do you have to call me at work?”

“Brian, what in the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mikey asks, hurt and a bit defensive.

“Exactly what I said, Mikey. What do you want?”

“Look, my mom wants to know if you’re coming to Thanksgiving dinner at her place or not.”

“Not.”

The whining begins, “But why not?? Come on…. what else are you going to do?”

Groaning, Brian glances at his watch, when will it be time for lunch? I need some GHB or something to keep myself going… “Mikey, I have better things to do than sit here and eat a fuckin’ turkey.”

“It’ll be fun! Come on…”

“Jesus Christ!”

“My mom makes the best turkey… you know that!”

Rolling his eyes, Brian wishes for someone to interrupt his phone call, “Look, I’ll see what I can do, all right? … I gotta go… I have a client waiting. Bye, Mikey.” Quickly hanging up, he sighs loudly. The last thing he needed was to see Mikey with Ben, Deb with the detective, Emmett with that model, Ted with Blake, and Linds with Mel. Couples. The thought made him want to puke. Who the fuck needs that?

---- ----- ------- ------ ----- ---- -------

“Okay, now lie your head across his lap… Lydian, can you brush his hair back? Perfect, just like that. Now Travis, .. Yes! Exactly. Hold it.” Justin casually stares at the camera lens, his cheek resting on Travis’ lap as his body lay across the covered floor. Travis sat on the dark sheet, his back straight against the metal board behind him, with both his arms up, holding a bar that hung from the ceiling. Though both were topless, only Travis’ chest was shown with Justin’s bare back. Both men had their CK jeans unbuttoned so that the CK underwear could be seen for the camera. As the camera flashed a few times, Justin slowly blinked. This wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, however it was more tiring than he believed photo shoots were. How does Travis do it? Of course Travis also did runway.. which was something Justin was too short to even consider doing, even if he wanted to.. but he knew he didn’t want to do it anyways. Stick to drawing. But overall, it was fun. I wonder what Brian would say if he saw me now… Slowly, he felt a smile begin to play on his lips at the thought of it.

------- -------- ------ ------- ----- ---------- ----

Lunch break. About fuckin’ time. Brian needed a hit of something like he couldn’t believe. Wandering through the backrooms of the baths, he recognizes ‘a friend,’ and follows him into one of the rooms for a quick fuck and some E.

---- ------- ------- ------ ------ ------ ------

“I’m starving!” Justin announced to Travis after he exited the bathroom. Travis laughs, nodding, “I think I saw a pizza shop down the street…”

Chase joins the conversation, “Pizza? I’ve been craving pizza for the past four hours.”

Justin laughs, “Me too!”

“Let’s go then!” Chase offers.

Travis nods, “Let me call Emmett on his cell phone to see if he can meet us there.”

Justin smiles sheepishly as Chase continues to stare at him with a wide grin. Justin found Chase to be attractive, but at the same time he was incredibly nervous about going out with anyone. But it’s not like this is a date or anything… Brett calls Chase over to meet someone who had just stopped by to see the proofs. Travis gets off the phone, “Emmett can be there in about twenty minutes.”

Justin nods, “Great! How did the meeting go?”

Travis smiles, “He says it went great and he’d tell us all about it over a large pizza.”

Justin grins, suggesting, “Let’s make it an extra large, okay?”

He laughs and Chase, Brett, and the new guy join their conversation. Brett introduces them, “Alec, this is Travis and Justin.”

Alec smiles, shaking their hands, “Hello. I just saw one of the polariod test shots that Brett took. It looks good.”

Travis puts his arm around Justin, “Well what can we say, huh?”

Justin laughs, resting his head against Travis, “Good chemistry, I guess.” He didn’t know why he felt so giddy. Maybe it was because he had been lying under those hot lights for four hours and the fact that he was starving. Or it could have been that he was excited to be going out with his new friends, Travis and Chase, and his old friend, Emmett. Whatever it was, Justin couldn’t hide his smile.

Alec smiles back at them, “Well, I just stopped by to see the test shots and to see if I could bring some proofs to a meeting I have coming up.”

Brett nods, “I’ll see what I can do, here, let me give my new cell phone number…” Guiding Alec back to the foyer, Chase looks over at Justin and Travis, “Shall we go then?” Justin nods, “Absolutely.”

---------- -------- ----- ----- --------

The echoes of moaning faded in and out of Brian's ears as he leaned against the wall. Taking another hit, he closes his eyes, reaching down to touch the man's hair who was sucking his cock. Nothing mattered anymore. I could die and not even care, he thought to himself as the waves of pleasure took him over. A second man joins his trick and Brian can taste the stranger's mouth on his lips. His kiss was hard, impatient. Struggling to open his eyes, Brian scans the room. Hard bodies pressed together, fucking. The smell of fuck and condomns burned his nostrils. He needed another hit.

------ ------- ------ ------- ------ ----

Justin found Chase to be the most boring man he had ever met. However he couldn’t stop laughing at all the stupid jokes and comments that Chase was making. This is how a date is suppose to be like. He had realized that he had never, not even once, been on a real date. It was just him jumping from one relationship into another. First it was with Brian and then with Ethan. And now, even though Chase was absolutely dull in Justin’s opinion, Justin found himself going through all the ‘date moves’: laughing at the dumb jokes, watching him intently as he spoke (pretending to listen), leaning forward when Chase would say something that was supposed to be interesting… the entire scenario made Justin laugh even more. He was having a great time.

---- ------- ------ ----- ------- ------- ---

“Brian, you’re half an hour late.”

Brian ignores her and enters his office. She follows him in, “Gardner was looking for you. I told him you had to take your car for a tune up.”

He chuckles, “A tune up?” Yeah, I had something like that… not on the jeep though…

Frowning, she suggests, “If you’re starting to get sick again, I think you should take some time off now, before Alec joins the company.”

Brian laughs, “It’s not like he’s going to be a fuckin’ partner in the firm or anything.”

She arches her eyebrow, “Obviously, you didn’t read the fax.”

He stops laughing, “What fax?”

Sighing, she goes to his trashcan and pulls out the folder, “This one. It says how he has done campaigns for Calvin Klein because of his connections-- ”

“Who the fuck cares? I have more connections than that.”

She nods, “Yes, but you also have been coming in to work late, leaving early, and hiding hangovers.”

He scoffs, “So what? I do my job, and I do it good. I haven’t lost a client yet, and I’m not fuckin’ planning to. If Alec thinks he can take my place then he has another thing coming.”

Cynthia tries again, “I’m not saying---”

“Can I have some coffee?”

Frowning, Cynthia gives up and leaves to get him a cup of coffee.

------ ------ ------------------ ----- ------------------

Returning to his bedroom, Justin found himself still smiling. Not only did he have a great time, but he was also going to get paid for the shoot. Wow, 500 bucks an hour, I can’t believe it… that’s $2,000 right there! He wondered if maybe he should give print modeling another chance. I mean, hey it’s exhausting… but look at the money I can make! Falling backwards onto the bed, he starts to laugh. Chase found him attractive! He loved it. It felt good to be the center of attention. His mind flashed back to Brian. Of course Brian gave him his full attention… when they were fucking… Brian was able to make Justin feel like he was the only person in the world that Brian could see… that was, until it was over, and Brian was ready to go to sleep or go pick up some trick. asshole. He felt the tears burn in his eyes. Well I’m not going to go through my life waiting for him to grow up. I know what I want… and I’m going to continue my life… because this is my life. MINE. I don’t need him. Sitting up, he decides to go take a shower. He hadn’t been able to remove all the make-up that Lydian had plastered over his bruises, and now it was beginning to bother him. Taking in a change of clothing, Justin goes into the bathroom, reminding himself that he didn’t need anyone but himself… whatever that meant.

------- ----- --------- -------- ----- ----- -----------

Brian landed another client. He smirked at Cynthia, who only rolls her eyes at him. Brian didn’t care. He was still on top. He was still the best. Returning to his office, he sits down at his desk. The room was quiet. Taking out his wallet, he empties it. A picture of Gus falls out. Picking it up, he smiles softly. He only had two pictures in his wallet: both tucked in the flap where his credit cards were filed. “hey, sonny-boy,” he whispers. Lindsay was already talking about throwing him a birthday party for when he turns three. Shit, let the kid enjoy being two for awhile. She was always the type to plan things way in advance. He knew Lindsay wanted to give Gus an extravagant third birthday party. She had become competitive after attending some nursery school socials with Gus. In fact, Lindsay had actually once called him during a meeting to vent about one child having a pony at their party. So now she wanted everything Shaking his head, he wondered why Mel didn’t tell her to cool it. But at the same time it made him happy to know that Lindsay was willing to do whatever it took to make Gus happy. Even if Gus himself could care less that Britnay and Rianne’s moms’ had ponies at their parties, and Cliff had some idiot dress up as Barney for his. Gus is smarter than that. He couldn’t give a fuck about all that shit. Looking at the check he had put in the bill folder, he sighs and starts to write on it before Lindsay stopped by with her list of things she needed him to get. Like hell. I’ll just give her the money and she can buy all that shit her self. Putting the photo back, he stops when he feels the second one slide between his fingers. Why haven’t I thrown that away? Ignoring it, he closes his wallet. Brian wasn’t the type to admit he carried photos in his wallet. In fact, neither one of them were put there by his own choosing. Lindsay had given him a photo of Gus and stated, “It’s for your wallet.” Brian knew better than to argue with that statement. The second one suddenly had appeared a few weeks later. It was a picture that Michael had taken of the two of them. Michael had stopped by the loft, still excited over the pictures that Brian had taken of him with the digital camera for that web site. Justin was sitting on the couch with Brian, listening to Michael go on and on over how fantastic the pictures looked. Then, taking the camera from Brian’s desk, he imitated how Brian ‘the photographer’ had acted. Justin was laughing so hard while Brian could only roll his eyes… and that was the picture that Michael had ended up taking with the camera. And that was the picture that Justin had later managed to sneak into Brian’s wallet after he found out that Lindsay had given him a photo of Gus to carry. Brian never mentioned finding the picture to Justin. Why the fuck should I have? He figured that Justin either assumed that he had thrown it away, or never found it. In truth, Brian did see it, and never bothered to remove it. To be honest, he thought the gesture was kind of sweet… of course he would rather be shot than ever admit that out loud. Let the brat think what he wants. Leaning back against his chair, he wonders, Where is that little fucker?