CHAPTER 52: BRANDON DOES WHAT?!

DEBS

I shudder as the shriek goes right through me.  But I am resolute in the face of his fury.  “I gave my permission for Justin to marry Brian.”

“But what the fuck for?!”  He’s not getting any quieter.

“Because it’s customary for the parent to be asked.”  Ems replies.  “Now you are causing a disturbance, either be quiet or leave.”

Michael sits down more in shock than anything else.  Surprisingly enough Lindsay doesn’t seem to have registered that Brian and Justin are engaged.

“Then we should call Joan.”  Michael suddenly states. Both Ems and I stare blankly at him.

“What for?”  I ask warily, having a horrible feeling where this is going.

“She’s his parent, not you! So she should be asked and…”

“Stop that shit right now!”  I bark. “She’s been no more mother to him than you have been a best friend.  I gave my permission; they are getting married; suck it the fuck up!”

“How could he do this to me?!”  Lindsay hisses, before standing up.  “I’ll see you at home. I need to speak to him.”

She storms out and hails a cab.

“Who exactly is she talking about?”  Ems asks.

I shrug.  “So are you going to order or not?”

“Yes, cheeseburger and fries.  And a coffee.”

I tap my notepad.  “I bet you had to say please and thank you in prison.  Imagine you’re still there.”  I rebuke him.

“Please and thank you.”  He adds grudgingly.  “And you have no idea how I handled myself in prison.”  He crows.

ASTORIA HOTEL, NEW YORK

SIGNATURE SUITE

JUSTIN

“Brian, can you please take the blindfold off!”  I’m bouncing on my toes; I don’t even know where we are.

He takes my hands.  “Not yet, come with me.”  He pulls me forward and although I trust him implicitly I hate waiting for surprises!

I hear the rustle of, I think, curtains being pulled back, and then I feel the warmth of his chest at my back.

“Keep your eyes closed.”  I lift my head up so he can see my eyes are closed when he takes the blindfold off.

“You can look now.”  He whispers softly in my ear and I lower my head and look at…the evening lights of New York and they look so beautiful and we are very high up.

“Where are we?”  I murmur.

“Waldorf Astoria, in one of the…”

I don’t let him finish that sentence as I smash my mouth against his and kiss him passionately.

“A good idea then?”  He gasps as he adjusts my position so my legs wrapped round his waist.

“Definitely.  Can we see the rest of the suite?”

He carries me, despite my objections, back into the hallway and shows me each room.  He makes me close my eyes when we go to through the bedroom to the mini lounge and I’m allowed to open them in the bathroom before he puts me down and leads me into the bedroom.

“Brian.”  I choke out.  “This is just so nice.”

He shuffles his feet and finally looks at me.  “I know you’re nervous about tomorrow so I thought this would help.”

“For nervous read terrified.”  I admit and he pulls me onto the bed and we get into our talking position.

“If they didn’t think you were good enough they wouldn’t have invited you to join the show, right?  It reflects badly on them if they showcase crap, which you are not.”

“Okay.  But what do I do about the portrait of Slick’s mom?  What if they want it?”

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

I sink back into his chest and sigh happily.  “So a bath or shower?”  I bat my eyes at him.

“Definitely the bath!”  He decides.  “Up and get to setting!  I’ll call room service.”

MICHAEL’S APARTMENT – SATURDAY MORNING

LINDSAY

When I finally made it to Bloom Gallery, Sidney wasn’t there.  I waited for about 40 minutes in reception before finally giving up and after grabbing some foodstuff headed home.  Mercifully, wherever Michael was, it wasn’t here and I had a pleasant evening drawing and having some wine.

I went to bed before he came back but judging by the cursing he’s back and awake!  Pulling on my robe, I head to the lounge.

“You’re finally up.  Come on help me.”  Michael orders.

“What with?  And good morning to you too.”

“Marriage of course.”  He looks at me as if I’m being dense.

“What?”

“I’m trying to find out when they are getting married.”  He mutters.

“They’ve just got engaged Michael.”  I wave him away from the computer.  “The only thing you’d find is the engagement announcement, if that.  The wedding announcement wouldn’t be anywhere yet.  They would need a coordinator, a caterer and all that.”

“Why did you say ‘if that’?”  He asks.

“Oh come on.  This is Brian Kinney we are talking about!  In the highly unlikely event of this being true, there would be a big fucking announcement, don’t you think?  He would be declaring it from the rooftops that he’s off the market and the fact there is nothing anywhere says a lot more than Justin thinks.”

He smiles at me and lets out a breath.  “True, he would be yelling it from the rooftops!”  

“See?  You are getting worked up over nothing.  There’s no way on earth those two are getting married.”

SLICK’S APARTMENT – EARLY AFTERNOON

EMMY LOU

Sunshine has some serious talent!  Every time I see that portrait I feel so proud of him.

We’re currently having a council of war session to discuss two things.  The best women outfits and the New York show.

“So what do I do?  I don’t want to push the portrait onto him because that would make me seem prideful but if he doesn’t ask, I would be disappointed.”  She laments.

“How about you say…no that counts as pushing.”  Jen sighs.

We’re interrupted by her phone ringing; Debs hands it to her mouthing ‘Justin’ and she puts it on speaker.

“Hey Justin, how you doing?  How’s New York?”

“Fantastic.  Um, how are you?”

“Good.  But what’s with the um?  You sound nervous, what is it?”

“The meeting went really well with the gallery but they…they would like to include your mom’s portrait.  And I wondered how you would feel about that?”

“Not a problem.”

“I mean, I can understand if you don’t want to include it.  It’s a very personal piece.  But I would really like to have it in there as it’s one of my…wait what?”

“Not a problem.” There was silence on the other end of the line before Slick smiled.  “Happy dancing?”

“You betcha.”  Brian chuckled.  “Are you sure about this Slick?”

“Absolutely, I was hoping he would ask.”

“Really?!”  A happier sounding Justin is back.

“Yes really.  Now go enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Your wedding co-ordinator is still trying to persuade me into a dress…just so you know, it’s not going well.”

“How about you have the same colour at least?”  Jen tries.

“Daph what colour do you want to wear?”  Slick sighs

“Peach…and it has to be a dress.”

“Ah I see.  We’re going shopping and I think I know how to...”  Brian declares.

“Kinney, you put me in a peach suit and Justin goes on honeymoon with a eunuch.”

“Duly noted.”  He chuckles and then hangs up.

“Right.”  I tap on my iPad.  “Now that he’s announced, we need to put in a notice.  So apart from Pittsburgh Out, do you think we should go national?”

“From what you’ve said; he’s never hidden his sexuality.”  Jen takes a sip of wine before continuing.  “All of his clients know he’s gay so go national.”

BLOOM GALLERY – MONDAY AFTERNOON

LINDSAY

I have been trying to see Sidney since Friday and he finally returned my call and I’m waiting for him to finish off his call.  Considering, his appointment with me was 10 minutes ago, I find this rude.

“Sorry about that.  Had to discuss the New York Show.”  He smiles at me.  “So what can I do for you?”

I smile at him.  “It’s about that.  I wondered if you have really thought this through.”

His smile falters.  “In what way haven’t I done that Lindsay?”

“He’s a very new artist. Perhaps his first solo show in the shark infested waters of New York might be a little intimidating, given his…”

“It’s not a solo show.  He’s being showcased with two other artists.  I’m not some naïve gauche amateur straight off the walk Lindsay.  I have been doing this for over 30 years and I resent that implication.”

“No, Sidney, you misunderstand and I apologise for that.”  I hastily backtrack. This is not going as well as I hoped.  “I just think that someone else should be showcased who has been working at their craft for…”

“Longevity doesn’t equal talent.  And that’s what Justin has.  He has talent.  People can work on their craft for years and their work still looks like it’s at college stage, as you well know.  Justin has no formal training just pure raw talent.  Now excuse me, I have another meeting to attend to.”

He stands and strides to the door.  I smile tightly and nod my goodbyes, with my cheeks flaming.

I hate Justin fucking Taylor!

DINER

TWINKLE

Master is running late, but he’s sent me a text message to say that I shouldn’t worry but I must order for myself.  The back booth is empty and I so want to sit there but I daren’t.  There’s no Debs or Kiki and I don’t want to presume.  Just as I was going to sit in the booth next to it, Debs comes out the back.

“Twinkle, honey what are you sitting there for?  Come on shift your ass to where it belongs!”

I slide into the booth and do a little wiggle of happiness.  I pick up the menu, even though I know everything on it, and try to decide what I want to eat.

She’s about to take my order when Kiki hisses at her about a dress emergency, so she bustles back to help her.

A shadow falls across the table.  “What the hell are you sitting here for?”  Michael sneers.

“I’m waiting…”

“You need to move.  Only family is allowed here and we’re family.”

“Debs said I can sit here so I’m sitting here.”  I scowl at him.

“I was just in prison Twanker and I learned a few things.  One of them is payback.  I’ve not forgotten the milkshake incident.”

Lindsay laughs next to him.  “What did you learn Michael?”

“Well there’s this lovely thing called shanking…”

Before he could continue, Emmy pushes past them and sits down. “Oh Twinkle!  I have something for you.”  He hands me a big box.  “Now you are to just hold onto it not open it, understand?”

I nod my mouth suddenly dry.  “Sweetie are you okay?”  Emmy looks at me with concern.

“F-fine.”

“And what exactly is shanking Michael?”  Brandon’s leans up against the counter.

“This conversation is none of your concern, Brandy.”  He hisses and Brandon narrows his eyes at him.  “I was talking to Twanker here.  I’ve done hard time and fought guys bigger and much better than you and won and…”

“So you learned a lot in prison, did you?”  He asks.

“Yes I did.”  He spits at him and then looks at me.  “I can teach you a thing or two.”

“Shame you didn’t learn to keep your mouth shut.  And I believe it was you who were taught the error of your ways; how did that swirly taste Michael?”

“Swirly?”  Emmy echoes grinning.

“Yep, a liquid one, though I wouldn’t have stopped them if they wanted to give him the full treatment.”

“You don’t know any…”  Michael starts again.

“Really, I know nothing right?”  Brandon slides in next to me and takes my hand under the table. “I know that your mouth wrote checks that your non-existent flat ass couldn’t cash so badly that we had to put you in solitary for the last 3 weeks of your sentence for your own safety.”

“We?”  Emmy repeats as he climbs over the table to sit on my other side.  “Brandon?  What do you mean we?”

“I work as a prison guard.  And I know that Michael Charles Novotny spent most of his sentence either whimpering, crying or hiding in the library to avoid the slaps he was due from his cellmate, who sends his hate by the way.”

The door opening heralds the arrival of Master and he’s immediately by the booth.

“What’s going on here?”  He demands.

“Michael here was bigging himself up on Twinkle. I put a stop to that.”  Brandon slides out and Master slides in.

“You okay Twinkle?”  He wraps his arms round me and I nod.

“You might want to remind Michael how to pronounce Twinkle’s name though.  What did you call him again?”  He looks at Michael with cold eyes.

“Michael, what have you fucking done this time?”  Debs growls.

“Debs…”  Emmy tells her.

“Ems, I’ve got this.  You two out!”

“But I didn’t do anything!”  Lindsay objects.

“Exactly now get out.”  Debs takes them both by the elbow.

“Mother!”

“Someone get the door!”  She barks.  “And you can stay out this time!”  She snaps and slams the door in their faces.