Chapter 163:  Nobody Here Misses You

“What are you doing here, Brian!  And, hardly are you a quadriplegic anymore, I see.  Oh my God, please tell you did not come here to disrupt Justin’s wedding!  Well, you’re too damn fucking late, and some gall you have anyway!”

“I didn’t come here to disrupt anyone’s damn wedding, Melanie!  I came to see my son.”

“Your son!  Are you kidding me!  You don’t get to refer to Gus as your son anymore.”

“Oh, and who the fuck made up that rule… YOU!  Go to Hell, Melanie.”

“No you are the one who needs to go to HELL, Brian!  Fortunately, for Gus, he’s not here right now; and if he was I wouldn’t let you see him; and it’s about time, Brian, someone tells you that you don’t have a son or a husband anymore.  You abandoned them both (some time ago)… recall!  So you don’t get to see Justin or Gus ever again (if I can help it), and you’re getting the hell out of here right this moment!  I dare you show up here and today of all days.  You scum!”   

“Screw you, Mel, and whether you like it or not I am Gus’s father, and will always be; but you’re not really his mother.  So, you can’t do anything to keep us a part.”

“I might not have to, because your son, like your ex-husband, probably doesn’t want to see you anyway.  You’ve really fallen out of flavor around here, you faggot!”

“Fuck you, cunt!”

“No fuck you, asshole!”

“No, fuck you!  I got a bone to pick with you anyway, and you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Melanie.  Why the fuck wouldn’t you let me talk to my son, or anyone else, for the last couple of weeks?”

“Excuse me?  I don’t have to explain shit to the likes of you, Brian.  Seems to me that you’re the one who has a lot of explaining to do, and you can start with explaining why you abandoned your husband and son in the first place.  Next, you can tell me what possessed you to show your face here today of all days.”

“Fuck you.  Who do you think you are?  I don’t have to explain myself to you, you stupid dike.”

“Oh really!  Seems to me you have a helluva lot of explaining to do, Brian, but we don’t necessarily have to discuss it inside this house and inside this room.  So, come out of here before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.  You walked inside your ex-husband’s house uninvited.  So, if I wanted to be really nasty I could have you brought up on charges for breaking and entering, as well as stalking.”

“Really?  I entered but I didn’t break shit.  The fucking door was unlock… and a wedding was going on out back.”

“Yes, a couple of weddings were being performed, and neither which you were invited to! So, why the fuck did you show up here today?  I know why… because you wanted to ruin this day for everyone else.  So what happened, Brian?  Did you arrive too late to rain on everyone else's parade!”

Brian just batted his eyes, sighed heavily, and remained tight-lipped for a moment.

“Come on!  Follow me out of here,” Melanie commanded once more.

Brian nodded in frustration just that moment, but then followed Melanie out of the room, and then down the back and they exited the house into the backyard, and the moment they were outdoors Melanie blasted him again.

“Brian, I dare you show up here uninvited, and on Justin’s wedding day too…”

“I didn’t know he was getting married today, Melanie!  How could I have known!  You fucking wouldn’t let me talk to anyone! And, I showed up here today mostly to see my son; and my bad timing is entirely your fault actually.  Had you not blocked me from talking to everyone, I'm sure someone would have told me about the wedding, and I would have timed my visit more appropriately.”

“How come you are not a cripple anymore?”  Melanie brushed off Brian’s earlier comments, and asked, “Did you get the surgery, and when was that?  Justin told us he saw you in New York approximately six months ago, and you were still quadriplegic.”

“Not that it’s any of your damn business, but the doctors gave me a drug that eventually stopped my brain hemorrhage, and shortly after the bleeding stopped, use of my extremities just automatically returned to me.”

“Well, thank God for small miracles,” Melanie callously mocked, “And so now what?  Did you think just because you’re not a cripple anymore that you could just walk back into Justin and Gus’s life, and all the other people whom you just tossed to the waste side the moment living with them became inconvenient for you?  Well, Brian, you’re too damn late to get your old life back!  Justin moved on with a new husband, and formed an entirely new family, that includes Gus and J.C., and the kids are quite fond of Justin’s new husband, and their new daddy, should I say.   You Brian Kinney, got exactly what you wanted as well as deserved, that is you are totally out of the picture now.   No one around here really misses you, for the exception of Michael Novotny, maybe.”

“Michael?  He’s here?”  That bit of info totally stunned Brian for so many obvious reasons. 

“Yes, he is and maybe you should find him and rekindle the old flame you once had with him.  You are two people who actually deserved each other.  However, Justin’s too good for you, Brian… he always has been and always will be.  Leave Justin alone!  In fact, if there’s any decency left in you at all, you will gladly leave anyone you ever hurt alone…  and that would be just about EVERYONE, Brian.”

“I know my son misses me, Melanie, and I don’t care how anyone else feels.”

“Well, good, Brian; very good to hear that.  Because no one cares about how YOU feel either, and you deserve that because you are a no good cock-sucking faggot, and I’m not just saying that because you’re gay and like sucking dick, but instead because you’re a selfish bastard, and you don’t care about anyone but yourself.  And, if you actually did show up not knowing that Justin was jumping the broom today, then the shock of seeing Justin and your son replace you with someone else served you just right.”

Brian took a deep breath and swiftly looked away from Melanie that moment so she couldn’t see the scowl on his face and the tears in the corner of his eyes that he was fighting profusely to conceal.

“By the way, Brian, did you know that the man Justin married here today is a doctor?  Yeah!  That’s right, he married a healer – a man who saves lives.  That is just the opposite of you!  You’re a man who destroys lives.”

“Bye, Mel.”

“Yeah, that’s right – you go!  And, if I’ll have it my way no one will ever know that you showed up here tonight and that you have use of your extremities back.  Get out of here, Brian, and don’t you ever come back.  No one here either misses you or needs you.  You absolutely just don’t count anymore.  You would know that for sure if you really thought about something!  Have you really thought about this, Brian?”

"Thought about what?"

"If Lindsay and Gus really wanted to get in contact with you, do you actually believe there was anything I could have done to prevent it?  Yeah, something to REALLY think about (isn't it)!"

Brian (deeply crushed by Melanie’s harsh words) profusely shook his head at her, turned his back to the furious woman, and marched on out the backyard and walked to the front of the house.   He stood still on the sidewalk for a few minutes while feeling terribly tortured by everything Mel had said. 

It seemed that everything Melanie had said to Brian only reiterated every horrid thing he had been thinking all along (especially all the emotions he experienced as he watched the love of his life marry someone else, and his son didn't seem to miss him too much either).  And, all the time Brian had been wondering why hadn't Lindsay simply gotten his number from Justin?  Most of all he wondered why hadn't Gus been more insistent.  All that considered he also wondered how much of what Melanie had said to him was true, or could it be that everything she said was the absolute truth?

“Shit!  Fuck!”  Brian stressed to himself, as he got his cell phone out and made a call.  “Joe,” he spoke into his cell.  “It’s me, Mr. Kinney.  I’m just letting you know there’s been a change of plans.  I’ve decided I’m only staying in Paris for one night after all. So, get ready to fly me back to the States first thing in the a.m.  Bye, and get a good night sleep.  See you in the morning,” Brian said disconnecting. 

Brian then put his phone away and feeling emotionally drained he started to trot farther up the block to a more congested area in hopes of spotting and hailing a cab to take him to his hotel.  The same one he stayed at when Justin and he had honeymooned in Paris (the first time they were married), but before he made a single stride, someone distracted him.

“Brian!”  A familiar male’s voice called out to him from behind.

“Huh?”  Brian turned around and the shocking surprise of that particular man suddenly standing in his presence ignited such heaviness inside his heart that he had no idea which overwhelming emotions suddenly held him captive and seemed to completely absorb him.