Small Town
Part 8
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“Hey Daph.”
“Hey, where were you last night? I called and your mom said you were out, but she didn’t know where.” Daphne asked as they walked along the cement path up to their school.
“I was out with Brian,” Justin said, not even trying to conceal the instant smile that spread across his face from the thought of the amazing man.
“Brian?”
“Yeah, you know, the guy I told you about,” Justin said, slightly irritated that his best friend didn’t even remember the only guy that he had been talking about for the past few months. He stopped and looked at Daphne, who just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. Taking a dramatic breath, “You know Brian. The one I told you…” Justin stopped and looked around. He had to be careful that no one was listening. That’s all he needed, someone else to hear him going on about a guy. Seeing that the coast was clear, he continued in a quiet voice, “…that I had a crush on.”
The dark-haired girls eyes flitted downwards, obviously searching her brain for the memory and then as if picking it out of a bin of thoughts, she smiled, remembering at last. “Right, Brian. The guy who works at Kinney’s.”
“Yeah, him,” Justin said, his smile brightening again.
“What were you doing with HIM?” Daphne asked, her eyes going wide.
Looking around again and noticing that it seemed to be getting crowded, Justin said quietly, “I’ll tell you later. But trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.” Then he wiggled his eyebrows and started to laugh at the shocked expression on his best friends face.
“Arrrrghhhh, this is going to be a LONG morning,” the girl groaned as she wrapped her arm around Justin’s and they headed into school.
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“So, any problems?” Jack asked when Brian returned to the store. He noticed the new boxes of goods that his son had with him and noticed the lack of the big boxes of the corn flakes.
“Nope, no problems,” Brian stated as he unloaded the truck and brought the new stuff into the stockroom.
“Good. Now go out to the front. I’ve got some work to do in my office, so don’t bother me unless it’s urgent,” the older man said, turning his back on his son, walking into his dingy little office and shutting the door behind him.
“Yeah, don’t worry. I won’t,” Brian said, his eyes burning into his father’s back as he watched him retreat. He didn’t understand why the man was so horrible to him. What had he ever done, except to be born, to make the man hate him so much?
When Brian got to Granger’s and explained that he had screwed up and taken something that they didn’t need, he was relieved to find that Harry, the guy who ran the warehouse, was very understanding. He had a feeling that Harry was gay and had a crush on him, but he was far from interested in the short, slightly balding, thirty-ish man. Not that he was so bad looking, but he was way too old for Brian. Thirty was like ancient to the nineteen year old. He couldn’t even imagine being that old.
But the thing that made Brian’s blood boil, was when Harry pulled out his copy of the order that he had taken from Jack himself, requesting the boxes of cereal. “Are you sure?” Brian asked, and Harry handed him the paper to see for himself. “Why that fucking piece of shit,” Brian mumbled, handing the slip back.
“Everything okay?” Harry asked. He couldn’t help but notice Brian’s obvious anger.
“Yeah, yeah. I guess some things never change,” Brian said, sounding more defeated than he would have liked to. He couldn’t believe that Jack had made it all seem like HIS fault instead of just admitting that he had been the one that screwed up. Brian shook his head in dismay. He was so tired of all of his father’s controlling, conniving, deceitful shit. The man was never going to change. Never going to give him a break.
“Well, don’t worry about it, Brian,” Harry said, placing his hand a little too eagerly on Brian’s back, slightly lower than necessary.
Brian turned to look at the older man with a hard stare, letting him know that the touch was not welcome.
“Hey, can’t blame a guy for trying,” Harry said with a little laugh and a shrug of his shoulders as he drew back his hand.
“Sure you can. But I won’t hold it against you,” Brian answered with a smirk, then loaded the new order onto his truck and drove off, without so much as a backwards glance at the man who regretfully watched him go.
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“Okay, so spill,” Daphne told her friend as they settled on the grass in a secluded spot at the back of the school field. She was bouncing around, barely able to contain her curiosity. She’d had to suffer through the entire morning, waiting desperately for lunch to come so that Justin could tell her about Brian.
Smiling at his friend’s eagerness, he decided to torture her a little bit more. Casually he took a large bite out of his sandwich and slowly chewed.
“JUSTIN,” she shouted, punching his arm lightly.
“Ow,” the blond said, grabbing his sore arm. “Meanie,” he pouted.
“Ohhh, you’re such a wimp. I didn’t hurt you. But, if you don’t start to spill right now, I will.”
“Okay, okay, relax,” Justin said with a laugh. He couldn’t believe how riled up Daphne was. He took a quick look around and noted that thankfully they were alone. He scooted a little closer to his friend, getting right in her face and said, “I did it.”
Confused, Daphne pulled back slightly and said, “Did what?”
“Arrrrghhhh,” Justin moaned dramatically and reached out to pull his friend close again, “Did IT.” His eyes bore into hers, trying to make her understand.
Again, she shrugged her shoulders and searched his face for some sort of clue as to what the hell he was talking about. Then as if a light had suddenly gone off in her head, she sat straight up and said, “YOU DID IT?”
“Shhhhhhhh, Daphne, keep it down.” Justin looked around quickly, making sure that no one was watching them. A few other students had made their way out to the field, but none of them seemed to have noticed the girls little outburst.
Moving in close again, Daphne whispered, “You did it?”
“Yep,” the young man said with a proud smile.
“Holy shit, you and Brian. You did it with Brian?” she asked with a huge smile.
“Yep.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Why is it so hard to believe? Do you think he’s too good for me?” Justin said a little taken back by his friend’s disbelief. Maybe she thought that he wasn’t worthy of the older guy? The thoughts made all his own doubts and insecurities about Brian rise to the surface.
“No, no, Justin, of course not. No one’s too good for you. You know that. You’re the best thing that could have happened to Brian. The best thing that could happen to anyone. He’s lucky to have you.” Daphne was being completely honest. She adored Justin, unfortunately too much for her own good. She knew he was gay. She thought that she probably knew before he even did. But it didn’t stop her from having these little fantasies about them. That maybe one day they would be together. She tried to push the feelings away, because she knew that there was no way that it would ever happen, but it was hard. Hard to deny your feelings for someone that you’ve loved for as long as you can remember.
Taking a deep breath, Daphne looked into her friends saddened blue eyes then reached out and took his hand. “Justin,” she sighed, mentally watching all of her dreams about the two of them fly off into the wind. “Tell me about Brian.” Seeing her friend’s smile return at the mention of the other guy’s name, she said with mock anger, “NOW.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Justin with a genuine smile. He knew that Daphne didn’t think he wasn’t worthy of Brian. He was just being a drama queen, something he knew he tended to do on occasion.
“Hmph,” she said and pushed him back slightly.
Laughing, the blond began reciting his tale and didn’t stop until he had recounted the entire story of his and Brian’s so-called history, from the night they got together at the Spring Festival until that very moment. He even included his brief encounter with his mother in the kitchen after he came home from his evening with Brian. Daphne sat and listened. She was speechless and didn’t say a word through the entire story, just occasionally nodded and gasped and grunted in places where the drama called for it.
“Holy shit. Holy fucking shit,” Daphne said as her friend sat back, finally done and waiting for her response.
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“No, I’m just getting started.”