Ten Tremont - Chapter 14
In which Adrian arrives home at just the right moment.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and if what Marc and I witnessed happening over Brian’s place the other night is any indication, there is no arguing with the statement. It appears, for the moment at least, that Brian and Justin are back together, although not co-habitating. The draw of Justin’s ass must have eventually won over the loss of Kinney’s personal possessions. God knows it would have for me…and yet, the drama continues on both sides of the alley.
I need to backtrack a little to get to that point, however. I have never been happier to see a member of my family leave than when Jeff made his recent departure. Thankfully, I didn’t have to stick around long enough to actually watch him leave. That goodbye shit has never been for me. I usually insist on leaving for solo trips by myself or at most simply being dropped off at the airport. I hate that awkward time inside the terminal. The parking, the small talk while checking in, maybe having a drink with my driver before I go through security; it’s just not for me. I prefer to say my goodbye in the comfort of my home and then let the other person go about their day while I go about mine.
So, that last morning when I woke Jeff up, that’s just what I did. Since I am well acquainted with both the taxi service’s number and how long it takes for a taxi to appear, I was able to time it so that he barely had time to shave and shower before he headed off to his brunch and then the airport. Rather than dredge up anything from the day before, I simply told him I was off on my run (gotta keep this gay ass in shape) and guessed he would probably be gone by the time I got back. “Yeah, kid, thanks for the couch,” were his parting words and with a cheerful, “Anytime,” I lied and left.
The events of the weekend still weighed heavily on my mind. I have as good…if not better…a relationship with Marc as any of my siblings have with their partners. Yet ours is not given the same recognition or respect. If gay marriage were legal, I’m fairly certain we would be planning a wedding by now, but even at that, I’m not sure my family would recognize it as the real deal. I dealt with their indifference by putting miles between us and it works fairly well for me. That morning, I needed some distance from Jeff, and fast.
Timing my run so I was certain to miss any further contact with him, I made an extended loop down Tremont over to 17th then up Payson to Liberty. Neither Marc nor I spent much time in the gay ghetto anymore, not that I ever did. When I moved to Pittsburgh, he took me down to the bars a couple of times, but we were so into each other we didn’t feel the need for the party scene. By now, our lives have practically become homogenized.
That day, however, I was in need of some queer bonding from the outside world, and what better place to find it than at the Liberty Diner? I hadn’t visited the place before but the large rainbow flag that adorned its entrance was a welcome sight after the time I had spent with Jeff. I was ready for a break. A wild looking red-head in a tee-shirt informing me that she loved her pussy, under the picture of a large tabby cat, made me feel right at home.
“Mornin,’ honey,” she gestured with the coffee pot in her hand, “I haven’t seen you around here before. What’ll it be?”
“Ah, just some of that coffee.” I told her. “Thanks.”
She poured and looked at me like she knew me, or at least plenty of other guys just like me.
“Been in town long?” She asked.
“Yeah, awhile. Just not this side of it.”
She nodded. I imagine she thought I was new to this gay life.
“Well, now that you found us, stop by any time.”
With a smile, she held the coffee pot up and tipped her head to one side before she turned to the next customer.
“Hey, Paul,” I heard her say, “nice shirt. Get that over by Emmett?””
“Yeah,” came his response. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping to find him in here. I got a movie of his I’ve been meaning to get back to him.” Paul pulled a porn tape out of his bag and waved it in front of the waitress.
“Oh, that’s a good one! Vic had that over at the house a month or two ago.”
I assumed, with that remark that she and Vic (Vickie?) must be lesbians, but that they watch and critique man-on-man porn? Guess it takes all kinds. I drank my coffee in silence as the conversation to my left continued.
“Leave it with me,” she said, “he’s on a road trip with the gang. “Justin took off for New York, and they went to find him.”
Justin…my ears definitely perked up at that. Our Justin? I wondered.
“Shit,” Paul remarked with a slight laugh. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Living with Brian is far from paradise.”
Yup, that would be our boy.
She continued, “I told him he better not return without Sunshine, or he’s gonna have hell to pay.”
Aww, Sunshine. I wondered what the connection was there.
Paul chuckled as I finished my coffee and mentally added another piece to the puzzle. The cat woman at the diner knows Brian and Justin and apparently pretty well if she’s ordering Kinney around. At the moment she was handling the place by herself and was off joking with patrons at one of the tables. Rather than wait to check out, I slipped a five dollar bill under my empty cup. A generous tip? Maybe, but I was paying for more than the coffee.
I thought about them as I ran home. What Marc had witnessed now made sense. Brian did blame Justin for the break in, and the kid took off. By the time I got home, the feelings I had regarding my family were replaced with a more urgent concern. How the fuck do you find somebody in New York?
I shared my discovery with Marc, and the two of us pondered that dilemma until our own lives once again took over. We were relieved to see that Justin turned up again a few evenings later and that their love life is none the worse for the time spent apart. Mine and Marc’s either, for that matter.
Everything was going along just fine on their side of the fence until last night. Apparently Brian just can’t live without drama. Since Justin seems to be back in the picture in a relatively normal way, Brian’s decided to shake things up another way. This time it was Big Q guy’s turn. What's his name? Michael?
I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t drive much. Yesterday that major inconvenience played right into our hands. I had a dinner meeting with a client, and Marc was at work when I had to leave. Since I could write it off as a business expense, I shunned public transportation in favor of a cab and returned via the same mode of transportation.
As we turned down Tremont, a woman came running out of Brian’s front door, followed closely by a man. I wouldn’t have thought too much about it since there are other tenants in the building if they hadn’t decided to have their little spat right in the middle of the street.
“Idiots,” the cab driver muttered and was just about to lean on the horn when I stopped him. I noticed it was that happy girl from the Big Q, but she didn’t look any too pleased. And it was Brian’s dark haired friend, hot on her heels.
“Just pull over here.” I told my driver as I cracked my window and fished for my wallet.
He did and we ended up idling directly behind this couple who paid no mind to us. I was able to make out a bit of the conversation. The woman was pissed…asking Big Q guy if he and his friends, ‘the boys,’ laughed at her because she was so stupid. Michael looked horrified; told her no, but then she laid into him again and left. I paid the cabbie and made a quick exit. I brushed past Michael on the sidewalk, but he was too preoccupied to notice. I figured, with any luck, Marc would be home by now and able to fill me in on what the fuck was happening. It seemed like for once, Brian or Justin weren’t the cause of all the neighborhood commotion.
Entering our apartment confirmed that fact...well, at least partially. I should have known Brian wasn't completely without fault. It was pitch black in our place, and before I could flip a switch, I heard Marc say, "Adrian, don't touch the light. There's a party going on over there and if you do, someone is sure to see us." I tiptoed over to him and halfway there found myself wondering why again, the same way we question our whispering to each other when Brian and Justin are having sex.
After bumping my shin on the coffee table and my head on one of our hanging light fixtures, I found Marc, glasses pressed tightly to his eyes. He turned and handed them to me while announcing that there were so many God-damned people over there that it was hard to make out what had just happened.
According to Marc, folks began arriving before he got home from work. As he drove up, he saw a constant stream of unfamiliar faces heading into 6 Tremont. Looking through the binoculars, he was able to pick out the baby's mother, her partner and Justin in the crowd before everything went dark. Marc guessed, correctly, that this was going to be a surprise party. Soon after that, the tall queeny guy and his nerdy looking friend (whom I happen to think is kinda cute) arrived with Big Q guy.
What we were witnessing at that moment was the reverse. The people we recognized were quickly dispersing in a sort of reverse receiving line. They all appeared pissed at Brian as they picked up their things and gave him their two cents’ worth before leaving.
It was then I got a good look at the crazy lady from the diner. “Hey!" I exclaimed, “that’s her, the lesbian who waited on me at the diner!”
Marc zeroed in and said, “She doesn’t look like a lesbian to me. She just looks like somebody’s mom.”
“Right,” I shot back. “Who the fuck would invite their mom to a party like that?”
“Well, I didn’t say she was Brian’s mother, but there’s obviously some connection there.”
Mark said, "Parent or not, Kinney certainly knows how to stage an event. It looked like he had a full bar going on over there with plenty of eye candy. Then some girl arrived. Next thing you know, Brian said something to her, Cameron clocked him and she and Big Q guy were outta there."
"I know," I exclaimed, "I saw them in the street! She's the one who checked us out at the store that night. I heard her tear him a new one. Something about being laughed at for having a crush on him."
"Sounds like Big Q guy just got outed."
"Mmm." I nodded in agreement.
With the regulars gone, the party took on a decidedly different tone. Lots of sex but none of it had the feel of a Brian and Justin scene. It was more the backroom variety. Quick, random, soul-less. It was like watching your run-of-the-mill porn flick, and it didn't do anything for either of us. I fear we have been spoiled.
One interesting facet was that Justin hadn't left with the others and that neither he nor Brian were taking part in any of the aforementioned activity. Fewer people, many of them horizontal, gave us a better view of what the guys we came to see were up to.
Brian had withdrawn into his room. Men came and went into it too fast to have seen any action, so we surmised it was just to use the bathroom. The shadow of Brian spread out across his bed hardly moved. He hadn't appeared drunk enough to have passed out, but who knows.
Justin continued as the ever-vigilant bar tender. Several men tried, but no one got closer to him than the makeshift bar would allow. The party continued this way for a couple more hours, and Marc and I lost interest until we heard a ruckus in the street. Some guy, looking ridiculous dressed as a superhero was drunkenly attempting to direct traffic while several of his buddies egged him on.
"You see Brian or Justin down there?" I asked Marc.
"Doesn't look like it." He walked over to the office and picked up his binoculars. "Nope, the place has emptied out though. Justin is loading the dishwasher and I can't tell where Brian is."
I had joined him by then and liftng my glasses to my eyes I caught sight of a shirtless Brian exiting the bedroom. "He must have been in the bathroom," Mark quipped. "Looks like every body else is gone though."
Brian came out and sat down on one of his bar stools. He said something to Justin to bring a slight smile to the kid’s lips and then sat silently for a few minutes just watching him work. "This better at least earn him a blow job," I remarked. Dishwasher loaded, Justin leaned across the bar, said something to Brian, smiled, and reached across to muss his hair. Brian grabbed Justin’s wrist and pulled him in for a kiss that started out playful but ended up brutal. When they broke apart, Justin said something and Brian replied. Then Brian hopped off his stool to come around the bar to embrace Justin.
"From your mouth to God's ear!" Marc exclaimed.
At this point Brian yanked Justin's pants down and lifted him onto the granite countertop. He was stroking the kid’s already rigid dick while obviously verbally teasing him. For his part, Justin was leaning back on one arm with the other around Brian's neck. He appeared to be trying to force the man to go down on him but without much luck. He tugged, Brian resisted. He arched up, Brian backed off. You had to feel for the kid.
Eventually Justin must have said the right words or made the appropriate promise because Brian lowered his head and gave it to him. Justin got his hands in Brian's hair and ran his thumbs along his jaw. He was so close by the time Brian's lips made their initial contact with the head of his dick that he didn't last long. Justin came with what appeared to be a guttural cry, and the blow job was topped off, appropriately, with a long, messy kiss.
"Christ, do those two do anything that's not hot?" Marc asked. We were sitting on his birthday couch and there was a visible bulge in both of our pants. Across the street, Justin had now taken the lead. He had hopped off the counter and pulled up his pants and was leading Brian back into the bedroom.
We were left to watch their silhouettes behind a half drawn shade and marvel at Justin’s flexibility. It was a pleasant image to take to bed. By this morning, when I got up, Justin was gone again.
I watched a pensive-looking Brian stretched out on his living room floor for a few minutes before I had to leave for my dentist’s appointment. When I returned the place was empty. Whatever will we do for entertainment if this guy moves?
Go to Chapter 15.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and if what Marc and I witnessed happening over Brian’s place the other night is any indication, there is no arguing with the statement. It appears, for the moment at least, that Brian and Justin are back together, although not co-habitating. The draw of Justin’s ass must have eventually won over the loss of Kinney’s personal possessions. God knows it would have for me…and yet, the drama continues on both sides of the alley.
I need to backtrack a little to get to that point, however. I have never been happier to see a member of my family leave than when Jeff made his recent departure. Thankfully, I didn’t have to stick around long enough to actually watch him leave. That goodbye shit has never been for me. I usually insist on leaving for solo trips by myself or at most simply being dropped off at the airport. I hate that awkward time inside the terminal. The parking, the small talk while checking in, maybe having a drink with my driver before I go through security; it’s just not for me. I prefer to say my goodbye in the comfort of my home and then let the other person go about their day while I go about mine.
So, that last morning when I woke Jeff up, that’s just what I did. Since I am well acquainted with both the taxi service’s number and how long it takes for a taxi to appear, I was able to time it so that he barely had time to shave and shower before he headed off to his brunch and then the airport. Rather than dredge up anything from the day before, I simply told him I was off on my run (gotta keep this gay ass in shape) and guessed he would probably be gone by the time I got back. “Yeah, kid, thanks for the couch,” were his parting words and with a cheerful, “Anytime,” I lied and left.
The events of the weekend still weighed heavily on my mind. I have as good…if not better…a relationship with Marc as any of my siblings have with their partners. Yet ours is not given the same recognition or respect. If gay marriage were legal, I’m fairly certain we would be planning a wedding by now, but even at that, I’m not sure my family would recognize it as the real deal. I dealt with their indifference by putting miles between us and it works fairly well for me. That morning, I needed some distance from Jeff, and fast.
Timing my run so I was certain to miss any further contact with him, I made an extended loop down Tremont over to 17th then up Payson to Liberty. Neither Marc nor I spent much time in the gay ghetto anymore, not that I ever did. When I moved to Pittsburgh, he took me down to the bars a couple of times, but we were so into each other we didn’t feel the need for the party scene. By now, our lives have practically become homogenized.
That day, however, I was in need of some queer bonding from the outside world, and what better place to find it than at the Liberty Diner? I hadn’t visited the place before but the large rainbow flag that adorned its entrance was a welcome sight after the time I had spent with Jeff. I was ready for a break. A wild looking red-head in a tee-shirt informing me that she loved her pussy, under the picture of a large tabby cat, made me feel right at home.
“Mornin,’ honey,” she gestured with the coffee pot in her hand, “I haven’t seen you around here before. What’ll it be?”
“Ah, just some of that coffee.” I told her. “Thanks.”
She poured and looked at me like she knew me, or at least plenty of other guys just like me.
“Been in town long?” She asked.
“Yeah, awhile. Just not this side of it.”
She nodded. I imagine she thought I was new to this gay life.
“Well, now that you found us, stop by any time.”
With a smile, she held the coffee pot up and tipped her head to one side before she turned to the next customer.
“Hey, Paul,” I heard her say, “nice shirt. Get that over by Emmett?””
“Yeah,” came his response. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping to find him in here. I got a movie of his I’ve been meaning to get back to him.” Paul pulled a porn tape out of his bag and waved it in front of the waitress.
“Oh, that’s a good one! Vic had that over at the house a month or two ago.”
I assumed, with that remark that she and Vic (Vickie?) must be lesbians, but that they watch and critique man-on-man porn? Guess it takes all kinds. I drank my coffee in silence as the conversation to my left continued.
“Leave it with me,” she said, “he’s on a road trip with the gang. “Justin took off for New York, and they went to find him.”
Justin…my ears definitely perked up at that. Our Justin? I wondered.
“Shit,” Paul remarked with a slight laugh. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Living with Brian is far from paradise.”
Yup, that would be our boy.
She continued, “I told him he better not return without Sunshine, or he’s gonna have hell to pay.”
Aww, Sunshine. I wondered what the connection was there.
Paul chuckled as I finished my coffee and mentally added another piece to the puzzle. The cat woman at the diner knows Brian and Justin and apparently pretty well if she’s ordering Kinney around. At the moment she was handling the place by herself and was off joking with patrons at one of the tables. Rather than wait to check out, I slipped a five dollar bill under my empty cup. A generous tip? Maybe, but I was paying for more than the coffee.
I thought about them as I ran home. What Marc had witnessed now made sense. Brian did blame Justin for the break in, and the kid took off. By the time I got home, the feelings I had regarding my family were replaced with a more urgent concern. How the fuck do you find somebody in New York?
I shared my discovery with Marc, and the two of us pondered that dilemma until our own lives once again took over. We were relieved to see that Justin turned up again a few evenings later and that their love life is none the worse for the time spent apart. Mine and Marc’s either, for that matter.
Everything was going along just fine on their side of the fence until last night. Apparently Brian just can’t live without drama. Since Justin seems to be back in the picture in a relatively normal way, Brian’s decided to shake things up another way. This time it was Big Q guy’s turn. What's his name? Michael?
I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t drive much. Yesterday that major inconvenience played right into our hands. I had a dinner meeting with a client, and Marc was at work when I had to leave. Since I could write it off as a business expense, I shunned public transportation in favor of a cab and returned via the same mode of transportation.
As we turned down Tremont, a woman came running out of Brian’s front door, followed closely by a man. I wouldn’t have thought too much about it since there are other tenants in the building if they hadn’t decided to have their little spat right in the middle of the street.
“Idiots,” the cab driver muttered and was just about to lean on the horn when I stopped him. I noticed it was that happy girl from the Big Q, but she didn’t look any too pleased. And it was Brian’s dark haired friend, hot on her heels.
“Just pull over here.” I told my driver as I cracked my window and fished for my wallet.
He did and we ended up idling directly behind this couple who paid no mind to us. I was able to make out a bit of the conversation. The woman was pissed…asking Big Q guy if he and his friends, ‘the boys,’ laughed at her because she was so stupid. Michael looked horrified; told her no, but then she laid into him again and left. I paid the cabbie and made a quick exit. I brushed past Michael on the sidewalk, but he was too preoccupied to notice. I figured, with any luck, Marc would be home by now and able to fill me in on what the fuck was happening. It seemed like for once, Brian or Justin weren’t the cause of all the neighborhood commotion.
Entering our apartment confirmed that fact...well, at least partially. I should have known Brian wasn't completely without fault. It was pitch black in our place, and before I could flip a switch, I heard Marc say, "Adrian, don't touch the light. There's a party going on over there and if you do, someone is sure to see us." I tiptoed over to him and halfway there found myself wondering why again, the same way we question our whispering to each other when Brian and Justin are having sex.
After bumping my shin on the coffee table and my head on one of our hanging light fixtures, I found Marc, glasses pressed tightly to his eyes. He turned and handed them to me while announcing that there were so many God-damned people over there that it was hard to make out what had just happened.
According to Marc, folks began arriving before he got home from work. As he drove up, he saw a constant stream of unfamiliar faces heading into 6 Tremont. Looking through the binoculars, he was able to pick out the baby's mother, her partner and Justin in the crowd before everything went dark. Marc guessed, correctly, that this was going to be a surprise party. Soon after that, the tall queeny guy and his nerdy looking friend (whom I happen to think is kinda cute) arrived with Big Q guy.
What we were witnessing at that moment was the reverse. The people we recognized were quickly dispersing in a sort of reverse receiving line. They all appeared pissed at Brian as they picked up their things and gave him their two cents’ worth before leaving.
It was then I got a good look at the crazy lady from the diner. “Hey!" I exclaimed, “that’s her, the lesbian who waited on me at the diner!”
Marc zeroed in and said, “She doesn’t look like a lesbian to me. She just looks like somebody’s mom.”
“Right,” I shot back. “Who the fuck would invite their mom to a party like that?”
“Well, I didn’t say she was Brian’s mother, but there’s obviously some connection there.”
Mark said, "Parent or not, Kinney certainly knows how to stage an event. It looked like he had a full bar going on over there with plenty of eye candy. Then some girl arrived. Next thing you know, Brian said something to her, Cameron clocked him and she and Big Q guy were outta there."
"I know," I exclaimed, "I saw them in the street! She's the one who checked us out at the store that night. I heard her tear him a new one. Something about being laughed at for having a crush on him."
"Sounds like Big Q guy just got outed."
"Mmm." I nodded in agreement.
With the regulars gone, the party took on a decidedly different tone. Lots of sex but none of it had the feel of a Brian and Justin scene. It was more the backroom variety. Quick, random, soul-less. It was like watching your run-of-the-mill porn flick, and it didn't do anything for either of us. I fear we have been spoiled.
One interesting facet was that Justin hadn't left with the others and that neither he nor Brian were taking part in any of the aforementioned activity. Fewer people, many of them horizontal, gave us a better view of what the guys we came to see were up to.
Brian had withdrawn into his room. Men came and went into it too fast to have seen any action, so we surmised it was just to use the bathroom. The shadow of Brian spread out across his bed hardly moved. He hadn't appeared drunk enough to have passed out, but who knows.
Justin continued as the ever-vigilant bar tender. Several men tried, but no one got closer to him than the makeshift bar would allow. The party continued this way for a couple more hours, and Marc and I lost interest until we heard a ruckus in the street. Some guy, looking ridiculous dressed as a superhero was drunkenly attempting to direct traffic while several of his buddies egged him on.
"You see Brian or Justin down there?" I asked Marc.
"Doesn't look like it." He walked over to the office and picked up his binoculars. "Nope, the place has emptied out though. Justin is loading the dishwasher and I can't tell where Brian is."
I had joined him by then and liftng my glasses to my eyes I caught sight of a shirtless Brian exiting the bedroom. "He must have been in the bathroom," Mark quipped. "Looks like every body else is gone though."
Brian came out and sat down on one of his bar stools. He said something to Justin to bring a slight smile to the kid’s lips and then sat silently for a few minutes just watching him work. "This better at least earn him a blow job," I remarked. Dishwasher loaded, Justin leaned across the bar, said something to Brian, smiled, and reached across to muss his hair. Brian grabbed Justin’s wrist and pulled him in for a kiss that started out playful but ended up brutal. When they broke apart, Justin said something and Brian replied. Then Brian hopped off his stool to come around the bar to embrace Justin.
"From your mouth to God's ear!" Marc exclaimed.
At this point Brian yanked Justin's pants down and lifted him onto the granite countertop. He was stroking the kid’s already rigid dick while obviously verbally teasing him. For his part, Justin was leaning back on one arm with the other around Brian's neck. He appeared to be trying to force the man to go down on him but without much luck. He tugged, Brian resisted. He arched up, Brian backed off. You had to feel for the kid.
Eventually Justin must have said the right words or made the appropriate promise because Brian lowered his head and gave it to him. Justin got his hands in Brian's hair and ran his thumbs along his jaw. He was so close by the time Brian's lips made their initial contact with the head of his dick that he didn't last long. Justin came with what appeared to be a guttural cry, and the blow job was topped off, appropriately, with a long, messy kiss.
"Christ, do those two do anything that's not hot?" Marc asked. We were sitting on his birthday couch and there was a visible bulge in both of our pants. Across the street, Justin had now taken the lead. He had hopped off the counter and pulled up his pants and was leading Brian back into the bedroom.
We were left to watch their silhouettes behind a half drawn shade and marvel at Justin’s flexibility. It was a pleasant image to take to bed. By this morning, when I got up, Justin was gone again.
I watched a pensive-looking Brian stretched out on his living room floor for a few minutes before I had to leave for my dentist’s appointment. When I returned the place was empty. Whatever will we do for entertainment if this guy moves?
Go to Chapter 15.