BUTT OUT, Guest post Hanrahan
I walk past Markham, kiss Teri on the cheek and put a sack of take-out Thai food on the table. "If I knew you were coming, I'd have bought an extra Pad Thai."
Teri can't stand to have things out of place. A sack of food is unsightly to him. He carries it into the kitchen. He also can't stand to eat out of cartons. I know when I see the food again, it will be arranged with his usual meticulous artistry on his bone white china, served with those ivory chopsticks with silver tips. He even has the little ebony thing you rest the chopsticks on when not in use. Amazing the amount of crap he manages to store out of sight in this spare looking place.
"I...I can't stay for dinner," Markham always looks like he's twirling on a tack when he's around me. He seems to think I'm a ticking time bomb aimed at his balls.
"Got a cat to feed?" I sprawl on the couch, grinning at him. I wouldn't mind feeding his "cat" myself. Kinney Lite. Kinney the Younger. Cute thing.
"No, I..." he glances nervously at the kitchen. It's obvious I interrupted something. What was he saying when I came in? Why was he talking about me? Why did Teri freeze a little when I kissed him? I've never understood this whatever it is between them. I know it's not sexual, even though they're both queer. It's friendship, yeah, but more, almost like comrades who went to war together and only they understand what that means. One thing I do know, Markham means Teri no harm. Just the opposite, so that makes him home safe in my book. Of course, he could hurt him without meaning to. Say the wrong thing to the wrong person. But his intentions towards the Princess are honorable. It's just that sometimes I wish he would butt the fuck out. He's always around. I get tired of his prissy self.
"I'll just tell Teri goodbye," he walks past me, eyeing me nervously as if I might suddenly spring up and tighten a garotte around his scrawny neck. I don't follow him. I let him have his moment with Teri. They walk out together and Teri escorts him to the door.
"So I'll see you tomorrow?" Markham's voice is like a kid's, he's so anxious for confirmation.
"Barring unforeseen intervention," Teri hates to commit, I notice with a smile.
"Goodbye, Bob," Markham glances over at me with the air of a man trained to be polite at all cost. Sometimes I look at him and picture him humping Brian. Or Brian humping him. I'll bet they were killer when they were bad little boys together. Yum. Does he still picture Brian while humping Kinney Lite? Bet he does. I would.
"Bye, Phillip. Give him a pat on the ass for me."
"What? Who?" He's perplexed.
"Kinney Lite, your kitten."
I chuckle as he cuts me a blue-eyed glare and leaves the apartment. Teri latches the door and his expression is more guarded.
"Must you be crude at all times, Robert?"
"I yam what I yam, Princess."
"And yet you take such delight in it."
"The food's getting cold."
He brings it to the table, arranged exactly as I said. Candles have to be lit, linen napkins are produced, the music is turned to something Asian in theme. He pours the wine. Only now can we start. He picks at it, nibbling a grain of rice, a sliver of fish. Just that much seems to fatigue him. Everything fatigues him. "I know where he is," I finally announce. He puts down the chopsticks and stares at me with laser-like intensity.
"Go on."
"I mean that freak Domino."
"I know who you mean."
"I found him."
"How?"
"Doesn't matter how."
"I don't believe you."
Teri doesn't like it if I do something he hasn't been able to do. "Okay, fine. Fuck it." I shovel some more spicy fare into my gullet. Love this shit. He reaches across the table with a chopstick and taps my hand.
"Don't be a churl, Robert. Tell me."
"You think I'm going to tell you where to find him?"
"Of course you will."
"You're right, I will. But only so you know where to claim the body. Not before."
He leans back, and I can see that he understands. He knows what I intend to do. It's a mercy killing, really. The guy is coming apart. I don't give a shit about that, except for the fact that when he disintegrates, he may try to take Teri with him. "The only action you will take where Kim is concerned is to tell me where he is. Do you understand me, Robert?"
"Fuck you, Princess. No way," I answer with a smile.
He gets up, goes in the bedroom, closes the door. I know him. This isn't over. I finish my food and go out to sit on the steps and have a smoke. He won't let me smoke in his apartment. Teri is a manipulator extreme. He manipulates me like a puppet on a string, I know that. Because I adore him on top of everything else. But he won't get this out of me. Tomorrow, I'll be gone. Tomorrow, I'll be on my way to finish this once and for all. The door to the apartment opens. He stands there in his red kimono. His war robes. "Get in here," he says.
I smile and stamp out my smoke. I stretch and give him a long stare. He doesn't blink. Here we go.