| It is around midnight and K.C. and Brian are playing pool and listening to music from the eighty�s on the juke box. There are over a dozen empty beer bottles lying about. Brian is drinking from a bottle of whiskey. �After I found her dead in her apartment, I got scared, real scared. I talked to a sport�s agent, and he got me into the draft. It wasn�t like I had a real chance to graduate from college and become anything other than a football player.� �Jesus, Brian, they�re despicable. You�re right not to want to get tangled up with them ever again.� �Maybe I was wrong not to tell anyone back then. I still keep playing it over in my mind. Could I have done anything differently? I�d thought I would loose everything. Football was my only ticket anywhere.� �I was totally scared shirtless myself once. And I�ll trust you with a secret of mine, when I was in high school... I got a girl pregnant.� �Damn.� �I�m a junior, she�d a sophomore and her parents wanted to have me arrested for statutory rape. But I was just seventeen, even if the girl was sixteen, and since she kept telling the sheriff she loved me, they weren�t able to press charges.� �What happened to her and the baby?� �They sent her to California to live with an aunt, and she never came to Groverton.� �Never? Did she have the baby?� �Yeah, but I found out she put up for adoption. Only I never found out if it was a boy or a girl.� �And you never tried to see her... the girl that had your baby?� �Oh, I made it all the way to Omaha, Nebraska,, hitchhiking in a fucking snowstorm, no less. Then I ended up in a motel room with some red headed waitress having the best sex I had up �til that point. She taught me things I had not even imagined.� K.C. grabs the bottle of whiskey from Brian and takes a long swallow. K.C. continues, �Right up until that door shut on that motel room, I really thought I was heading to California to do the right thing. Then I got very confused about what the right thing was. I mean, I could be ruining her life and mine completely by... by forcing my good intentions on her.� �Exactly. How does a person know what is truly the right thing to do?� �Anyway, I got a ride back here with a truck driver in a hug old rig. And I�ve never been out of the state since.� �Never?� �Never.� �And you never tried to get a hold of the girl?� �I guess, I figured if I stayed here in Groverton, she could find me if she wanted to, but she never did.� �You stayed here waiting for her... wow, and then your brother Stephen and my sister...� �Yeah, but neither one of them ran away anywhere, did they. Claire told Stephen she wanted the baby, and Stephen told Claire he thought he should stay with Emily. Of course, they were a lot older then we were, and I think that helped. So.. you got any kids?� �Hell no. I�m gay remember.� �Yeah, I remember.� K.C. rolls his eyes. �Are you see anyone? Do you have a boyfriend?� Brian study him. �Why are you asking?� �Hell no.� �That�s want you and me got in common. Either one of us are committing types.� �I�d drink to that.� K.C. swallows another mouth full of whiskey, and then K.C. hands the whiskey bottle back to Brian. �Whatever happened with those two guys, those two black guys, ones who came back for you to untie you, and then helped you and the girl get to the hospital?� �Trenton and... Gerome were seniors, and being black in those days, they were more frighted then I was. I guess. They helped get Cynthia and me to the emergency doors, but they begged me to never mention their names.� �Damn, well, I�ll never say nothing, I swear.� �Fuck! That asshole is still coaching and I... what the fuck am I, K.C. A has been jock with only a few thousand left in the bank and all this.� Brian waves his arms around to indicate the tavern. �Hell, it�s more than what I got. I don�t even own a car... I still live in the same shitty little apartment that I rented when I moved out of my folk�s place.� �So, what is it that you do for a living? I mean you and stephen work for the same place right?� �We both work for the city doing maintenance.� K.C. begins to laugh and Brian begins to laugh also, not even knowing why. �You pick up garbage?� �No, no. Well, almost. We keep all the grass mowed at the cemeteries and the parks and run the salt truck and the snow plow. Put up and down the Christmas decorations.� Both men look at each other and start laughing again. �Any opening?� �Shit, Brian, if you�re going to open this place up again... I thinking of asking you for a job?� �You would work for me?� �Damn straight I would. You�re good people, Brian Kinney, even if you don�t know it yourself.� Brian takes another healthy swig of whiskey as Justin bursts through the tavern�s front door. Justin drunk, and his face is bruised. He is follow by his friend Daphne who has also been drinking. �... you are such a slut!� yells Daphne. K.C. starts to twirl the pool cue that he is holding like a baton as he sizes up the oncoming situation. �Well, hello, Justin. Does Debbie know what your up to? Hello, Daphne.� �Well, hello, K.C., Brian. So, this is where you two disappeared to.� �Disappeared?� Brian questions Justin. �Yes, I was looking for you at the dance.� Justin is having trouble walking as he tries to make his way towards Brian who begins a retreat around the pool table. �Dance?� �The alumni dance.� �Yes, well... now wait, hold on here, Justin, what happened to your face?� �Kruger Larson showed up at the dance, and that's what happen.� Daphne explains. �What�s wrong, Brian, don�t I look pretty now? I just came for our dance, Brian.� �Who? I never promised you a dance. Did I promise him a dance, K.C.?� �I promised me a dance.� �K.C.!� Justin tries to walk past K.C., but he sticks out his pool cue just in time to block his path. �Seems to me, we�re not the only ones who have been doing a little drinking, Brian, only you girls aren�t legal, are you?� �Daphne�s twenty one as of last month. Her parents made her do third grade over.� �Did Kruger really give you that black eye?� �Why do you have to keep telling people that, Justin!� she yells. �Hell, yes, he hit him and shoved me onto the ground, ruined my tights, and they were new.� There is huge hole �Whose Kruger?� Brian asks. �Daphne dated him in high school. He�s a real piece of work.� explains K.C. �Who didn�t she date is what I�d like to know,� utter Justin. �Could I help it if I was popular?� �You were never popular. Easy, but never popular,� remarks Justin. �Yeah, well, at the least I not still a virgin like not.� �Shut up! You don�t know anything!� �Oh, yeah, name one guy you have slept with? Just one?� Justin opens his mouth but nothing comes out. �Ha. You can�t.� �Shut up!� �You been saving yourself yourself for Mr. Right. And now you think you do found him.� �Shut the fuck up Daphne!� �Mr. Right, Mr. Brian Kinney. But he too old for you. Way too old. And not interested.� �You bitch!� �What? Who are you calling old?� Brian sips. Justin grabs a beer bottle and throws it at Daphne missing her entirely. The bottle shatters on the wall. K.C. grabs Justin to keep him from doing any further damage. �Let me go, K.C.� �Not likely.� Justin is a real handful to hang onto. �Look, Justin, I think you�ve both had too much to drink,� K.C. says trying to hang on to Justin. �Oh, why does everybody have to play these stupid little games all the time? I liked Kruger, but didn�t see me chasing after him?� �Why would you want a guy that would shove you onto the ground and hurts Justin?� asks Brian. �I said I like him, but I didn�t love him. And that was in high school, not now. He�s an asshole. You all are assholes. Especially, you, Justin. I kept telling you, I did not want to come here. I want to go home. This is all you fault. No, it all yourself.� Daphne points at Brian. �I never said I wanted to sleep with him. I just wanted to dance with him,� Justin whines. �Yeah, right.� �Shit! Okay, then why don�t you go on home then, Daph?� asks K.C. �Can�t. I don�t have a ride! Justin drove us here, and I begged him to take me home. You know I can�t walk clear out to my folks at this time of night!� �Just take my car then!� cries Justin. He digs out the keys out from his pocket. �Like I can drive a stick shift!� K.C. grabs the keys. �Fine, I�ll take Justin�s car and drive you home.� �K.C., no!� �K.C., yes. I�ll come back. I�ll just take Daph home and come back.� �You let go of me, K.C.� �Justin, I�ve watched you grow up from a little baby, I know you. I�m going to call Debbie and have her come get you...� �No!� �...if you don�t promise me you�ll behave.� �I�ll behave, K.C., I�ll behave, please, don�t call Debbie!� �Alight then. Brian, don�t give Justin anything more to drink. He�s only eighteen.� �Got it.� �I'll come back, and then we�ll get you home, Justin, in one piece, okay? Just sit here on the stool and be good.� �Brian, you think you can handle Justin �til I get back?� �I think. Yeah, I can.� �Alright then, Daph...� �Finally!� Daphne storms out of the tavern, and K.C. takes one final look at Brian and Justin before he leaves them alone. Brian and Justin sit in silence as the juke box puts on another song. �Do the bathrooms here work?� �What?� �Do the bathrooms have running water?� �Yeah, they both do. I had everything hooked back up the other day.� �Don�t tell K.C., but I�m getting off this stool to go pee, okay?� �Sure, fine. When you got to go, you got to go.� A hour passes, and Brian and Justin are dancing to a song playing on the juke box. At first, there is a respectable distance between them, but as they look into each other�s eyes, the distance between them begins to melt away. Justin looks up into Brian�s eyes and leans in to kiss Brian. At first, Brian resists him, but his hands soon begin to play upon his body. They kiss one long enduring kiss, and then they both gasp for air. For a moment, they are completely swept away by physical passion. |
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