The Only Exception (Lonely No More)

Chapter 13

“Come on, Uncle Bas. We’re going to be late,” six-year-old Allie pleaded with Sebastian. Technically, he and Allie’s mother were cousins, not siblings, but Ana thought ‘uncle’ made more sense considering the age difference.

“Have a hot date with Prince Charming? You do know that he’s taken, right?” Sebastian asked, less than pleased to be forced to endure a day at the ‘happiest place on earth’.

“We have to get there early to see Tiana,” Allie said. She held out a piece of paper with a meticulously written schedule of when and where each princess would appear that day.

Sebastian sighed as he pulled on his shoes. He could hear Ana yelling at the ten-year-old twin boys to get a move on. At least he didn’t have to deal with the twin terrors, as he and Allie called them. Ana had already maneuvered him into following Allie around the park while she got autographs from all the princesses.

“You have your book and a pen?” Sebastian asked with a sigh of resignation.

Allie presented a small shoulder bag with a grin. “All ready. Mom says we can get a map when we get there.”

“Wonderful,” Sebastian said as he let himself be dragged down the hallway by the quarter size whirlwind dressed in a bright blue dress. “Who are you supposed to be, anyway?”

Allie huffed a bit at his lack of knowledge. “Merida. She’s the highland princess and can shoot a bow better than any of the boys.”

“Really. You going to take up bow hunting next?” Sebastian asked, slightly amused at the image of the tiny girl holding a bow that would be taller than she was.

“Not hunting,” Allie said, scrunching her nose. “But I bet I can beat them.” She nodded towards her brothers who were throwing something back and forth between them as their mother tried to gather what they’d need for the day.

Sebastian snatched the wadded up piece of paper from the air as they passed the boys who then yelled in protest. “I believe your mother told you to get in the car,” he said as he and Allie walked out the side door.

The twins groaned in unison as they trooped out the door.

“I don’t know how you do that,” Ana said with a sigh as she grabbed the last bag from the counter and followed them out.

“Never underestimate the power of healthy fear,” Sebastian replied. “Everyone has to sleep sometime.”

Ana rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to know.”

“The boys are in the back, Uncle Bas,” Allie informed Sebastian as soon as he reached the family mini-van.

Sebastian heaved a sigh as he climbed in and proceeded to toss the boys over the back of the middle seat to get them out of ‘his’ seat. At this point, it had become a game for the boys who loved rough-housing.

“One of these days, one of them is going to get hurt doing that,” Ana said, but didn’t bother to try to stop them.

Her husband, Freddie, just grinned. “They’re boys,” he said, as if that explained everything.

Allie took her place next to Sebastian who stretched his legs out from the back seat past the shorter middle seat.

The boys began making fun of their sister’s princess outfit, telling her that she was more likely to end up with a toad than a prince.

“I don’t need a prince to be a princess. You two will most likely end up growing old together because nobody else is ever going to put up with you,” Allie said with her chin raised.

Sebastian gave her a fist bump and Allie grinned happily at the unspoken praise.

“Bas, you’re going to stay with Allie today, right?” Ana asked once they were underway.

“Apparently we are on a mission to meet all the princesses today,” Sebastian said in answer.

“Boring,” one of the twins said, dragging the word out. Sebastian had never bothered to learn which was which. He just called them Thing-1 and Thing-2.

“Uncle Bas would rather meet the princes,” Thing-1 added with a sly smile.

“Which prince do you like best?” Allie asked innocently. She didn’t seem to see anything odd about Sebastian liking boys instead of girls.

“Hmm, can’t say I’m up on my Disney Princes,” Sebastian replied thoughtfully. “How about I get back to you on that?”

“Do you have a boyfriend, Uncle Bas?” Allie asked. “Can we meet him?”

Sebastian felt a pang as he realized that Blaine was probably still in LA. School didn’t start for a few weeks, so he probably hadn’t left for New York yet. “No boyfriend, short-stuff. Maybe I’ll find my prince at the park.”

Thing-1 made smooching sounds while Thing-2 gagged. “Kissing is gross. You’d get cooties.”

“Mommy and Daddy kiss all the time,” Allie pointed out.

“Yeah, but they’re grown-ups,” Thing-2 said.

“Give it a couple of years and you’ll change your tune,” Freddie said with a laugh.

The twins looked at each other and both started gagging.

“Do you think kissing is gross, Uncle Bas?” Allie asked softly so that the twins, who were arguing about what ride to go on first, couldn’t hear her and make fun.

“Not if it’s the right person,” Sebastian said.

“I’ll let you get the princes’ autographs in my book, if you want,” Allie offered. “Maybe one of them will be your new boyfriend.”

“You should get Goofy’s autograph,” Thing-1 said with a smug grin. “You’d be perfect together.”

“Goofy is a dog,” Allie scoffed, not seeing the humor.

“Actually, I’ve always preferred Chip and Dale,” Sebastian said. “I like the way they dance.”

“Bas!” Ana scolded as she tried to hide a smile. None of the kids got the reference.

“If you like to dance, there are some clubs you should try,” Freddie offered. “There are a couple of guys at work that are always talking about clubbing.”

“Can you teach me to dance, Uncle Bas?” Allie asked hopefully. “Daddy only knows ‘stand and sway’.”

Freddie shrugged sheepishly. “Arthur Murray, I’m not.”

“I think I can remember how the fox trot goes,” Sebastian said easily. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time before school starts.”

The twins groaned at the mention of school, while Allie bounced with excitement. She’d get to go to ‘real’ school this year with her brothers.

Before long, they were pulling into the Disneyland parking lot. Sebastian endured another lecture on taking care of his young charge from Ana while the boys dragged them all towards the entrance. As soon as he had procured a map of the park and oriented himself, Allie was ready with her first ‘appointment’ of the day.

By lunch time, Allie had half-a-dozen autographs from various princesses (though not Merida yet) plus a dozen miscellaneous characters that they’d run across. Allie graciously agreed to stop for lunch, though Sebastian suspected that her batteries needed recharging more than his did. By the time they’d finally found Merida, Allie was running on empty and Sebastian started carrying her around on his shoulders between princess sightings. She loved being able to see over the heads of the crowd that she was normally lost in and spent her time directing him from her new ‘pilot’s seat’.

“Uncle Bas, it’s Jasmine,” Allie squealed in delight as she pointed off to their right. “The Magic Carpet is with her, too.”

Sebastian wondered how it was possible for a normally no-nonsense six-year-old to believe that a walking rug could possibly be an actual Magic Carpet. He also wondered how difficult it was to walk in that costume as he let Allie down to get her autograph.

The princess gushed over Allie’s dress as she accepted the autograph book and signed as Jasmine. At first, he didn’t notice the prince that had been previously hidden by the walking rug, but after Jasmine finished, Allie skipped over to Aladdin to get his signature as well. Sebastian stopped breathing as Aladdin knelt with a grin to sign Allie’s book. It wasn’t until Allie skipped back over to Sebastian that the prince looked up and his gaze met Sebastian’s.

“Uncle Bas? Are you okay?” Allie asked in concern.

Sebastian tore his gaze away from the prince’s and forced himself to focus on Allie. “I’m fine. Just got distracted for a moment.”

He waited until Allie had put her book back in her bag before putting her back on his shoulders. He automatically searched for Aladdin again and found him sneaking glances his way as he signed another child’s book. Sebastian had no idea what to do. Sebastian wanted to talk to the curly-haired man, but he was working and didn’t need the distraction.

Sebastian finally nodded to the prince in acknowledgement and turned to follow Allie’s directions for their next princess. He shouldn’t have been surprised at the accidental meeting. After all, Blaine routinely took jobs singing at amusement parks. It was only natural that he’d find a job at Disneyland.

 

~ * ~
 

“What crawled up your ass and died?” Cooper asked in irritation as Blaine slammed another cabinet door closed.

“Nothing,” Blaine snapped and then realized that if his normally oblivious brother realized something was wrong, he must really be on edge. “I just ran into someone I didn’t expect at the park.”

Cooper perked up, scenting an interesting story. “Someone from Ohio?”

“Like I’d know anyone else,” Blaine muttered, more to himself than his brother. Until two months ago, he hadn’t set foot outside of Ohio except for the occasional vacation.

“Male or female?” Cooper asked.

“Can we not talk about this?” Blaine begged, knowing that it was useless.

“Come on, squirt. Tell big brother all the gory details,” Cooper encouraged.

“Don’t call me that,” Blaine said automatically.

“Is it a guy? It is, isn’t it?” Cooper said. He rubbed his lower lip as if trying to solve a puzzle, not that he actually did puzzles. “An old flame? It wasn’t that Kurt guy, was it?”

Blaine closed his eyes and sighed. “No, it wasn’t Kurt.”

Cooper gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. “You were finally starting to dress normally. I’d hate to see a setback.”

Blaine chose not to respond. Cooper actually wasn’t a bad roommate. The only problem they had was when, like now, Cooper decided to play the big brother card.

“So, you’ve only had, like, two boyfriends. What was the other guy’s name?” He started rattling off ‘S’ names, none of which were even close.

“Sebastian,” Blaine finally interrupted. “His name is Sebastian.”

“Right, that one. So, what was Sebastian doing at Disneyland?” Cooper asked, making one of those leaps in logic that had Blaine wondering if his brother was actually related to Brittany. “He wasn’t with another guy, was he?”

“No, he was with a little girl. His niece, or something, I guess,” Blaine said. There wasn’t much use in denying who it was. Cooper wasn’t going to give up until he knew everything. “It was just… awkward.”

“So, what’s he doing in LA?” Cooper asked.

“I guess that he’s visiting family,” Blaine said. “Nothing to do with me.”

“Well, what did he say?” Cooper prompted when Blaine didn’t continue.

“We didn’t talk,” Blaine replied. “I was working, so…”

“Wait, he hasn’t called, texted, nothing? No wonder you’re pissed,” Cooper said.

“It’s not like that,” Blaine said in exasperation. “We broke up. What is there to say now?”

“I don’t know, ‘I miss you’, ‘I was an ass for leaving’, ‘What time do you get off so we can –“

“I get the idea,” Blaine interrupted. “We broke up for a reason and nothing has changed.”

‘You broke up because you were going to be a thousand miles apart,” Cooper said. “You’re in the same city now.”

“But for how long?” Blaine asked. “School starts in a few weeks and we’ll be right back where we started.”

“You could stay here,” Cooper reminded him. “You love it here. New York is overrated anyway.”

Blaine had to admit that Cooper was right about one thing, he did love it in LA. He loved the weather, the people, the beach. He loved his job at the coffee shop playing and singing three nights a week. He loved karaoke night with other cast members from Disneyland. He even loved playing Aladdin for hundreds of kids a day.

“It would be irresponsible to give up a scholarship to NYADA on the off chance that I might get into a school here next year,” Blaine said. He could almost hear his father’s voice as he spoke.

“There are more schools in LA than just CalArts,” Cooper said. “Or you could let me introduce you to a few people. We could become the famous Anderson brothers, stars of the big screen.”

“Of course, you’d get top billing,” Blaine said with a hint of a smile. They’d had this conversation several times before.

“Of course,” Cooper said, unabashed. “I am the oldest.”

“I’ll remind you of that when I’m getting cast as the dashing hero and you’re playing someone’s father,” Blaine said.

“Bah, it’ll never happen,” Cooper said, shaking his head. “Now, about this Sebastian guy. You gonna call him?”

Blaine should have realized that Cooper would get back to that. “It was hard enough breaking up the first time. I don’t think either of us wants to go through that again.”

“What happened to my brother, the incurable romantic?” Cooper asked. “You like this guy, you should fight to keep him.”

“Forgive me if I hesitate to take advice from a guy who has had at least three girlfriends since I moved in,” Blaine said.

“That’s just because I haven’t found ‘the one’ yet,” Cooper said. “When I do, you can bet I’m not going to let a little thing like distance keep us apart.”

Blaine decided not to point out the obvious contradiction in that statement. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

Cooper sighed in defeat. He apparently had learned that ‘I’ll think about it’ translated into ‘Get off my back before I throw something at you’. “Fine, but quit slamming the cabinet doors. The neighbors are going to think we’re having a lover's quarrel.”

“The neighbors know that we’re brothers,” Blaine said with a sigh. He glanced at the clock and realized that it was getting late. “I’m going to take a shower. The cast is meeting for karaoke tonight.”

“Maybe I’ll come by and we can sing a duet. The audience would love it,” Cooper called after him.

“Sure, as long as it’s not Duran Duran,” Blaine replied as he walked to the bathroom.

Cooper waited until he heard the shower start running before hunting around for Blaine’s cell phone. As he expected, Sebastian’s number was still listed. He copied the number into his own phone and then sent a quick text, ‘He’ll be at the Silver Fox Tavern tonight – Cooper Anderson’.

 

~ * ~
 

Sebastian shook his head in exasperation as he received yet another text from Blaine’s brother giving him a rundown on Blaine’s daily schedule. Tonight, Blaine was working at some place called Beans and Things. He had to admit that his ex was keeping busy. He wondered if Blaine had any idea that his brother was texting him and decided the answer was ‘no’. Maybe if he answered, Cooper would stop harassing him.

‘If he wants to see me, he has my number.’ – Sebastian.

‘Well, obviously, or I wouldn’t have been able to steal it from his phone.’ – Cooper

‘I hate slamming doors. Please go see him.’ – Cooper

‘BTW, are you just visiting LA or living here now?’ - Cooper

Sebastian rolled his eyes. He was starting to think that Blaine had overstated his brother’s mental acuity. That should have been the first thing he asked.

“Who’s Cooper?” Ana asked as she leaned over the back of the sofa next to where Sebastian was sitting. “Is he hot?”

“No idea. Never met the guy,” Sebastian replied. He slid the phone into his pocket. “Didn’t your mother teach you that it’s rude to read people’s texts?”

“My mother doesn’t even know how to answer a cell phone, let alone text someone.”

“Not the point,” Sebastian said. Ana came around the sofa and collapsed next to him with a tired sigh. “Kids all tucked in for the night?”

“Allie’s asleep. Freddie is reading the boys some pirate story,” Ana said. “We’ll probably be treated to a re-enactment of Mutiny on the Bounty tomorrow.”

“That Build a Bear workshop with Allie is looking better than ever,” Sebastian replied.

“She has you wrapped around her little finger,” Ana said with a laugh as Sebastian scowled. “So, who is Cooper? He seems awfully nosy for someone you’ve never met.”

“Not unlike a certain person sitting in close proximity to me at this very moment,” Sebastian said.

Ana shoulder bumped him, unrepentant. “Come on, give. A year ago, I’d have been yelling at you about breaking curfew and spending all your time out picking up random guys. Now, you spend most of your time with a six year old and, as cute as she is, that just doesn’t jibe with the guy I’d grown to dread seeing.”

“Nice to know what you really think of me,” Sebastian said, though he took no offense. He had been a bit of a wild child the last time his mother had pawned him off on Ana.

“You know I love you,” Ana said. “You can’t blame me for being curious about what changed. All your mother said was that she was tired of you moping around her house and maybe a change of scenery would help. Can’t say that it has though.”

“I don’t mope,” Sebastian said. “Tried clubbing when I was in Paris. Not my fault the guys are all frogs.”

“Very funny,” Ana said, rolling her eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me anything. Don’t think I’m letting this go, though.”

“God forbid,” Sebastian replied.

 

~ * ~
 

Allie wandered into the kitchen with her Princess Merida doll while Ana was cleaning up. “Is Uncle Bas back yet? He said we could go to Build a Bear today.”

“Did he?” Ana asked. He’d said something about it last night, but she hadn’t really been paying too much attention. As long as she knew Ana was with Bas, she didn’t worry about where they went. “He’s still out on his run. I expect he’ll be home soon.”

“Okay. Can Merida and I have a cookie while we wait?” Allie asked. She climbed onto a stool at the kitchen counter without waiting for an answer.

Ana poured two glasses of milk and pulled out their favorite cookies, the ones she hid from the boys who had no appreciation for gourmet sweets. “You know, Uncle Bas is going to move into the dorms soon. You won’t get to see him every day, then.” She had tried to talk Sebastian into staying with them, but it was probably for the best that he get the full college experience by staying in the dorms. It wasn’t like he’d be that far away.

“He’d never get any homework done with Thing-1 and Thing-2 in the house,” Allie said, unconcerned. “He said we could go to the zoo when it gets cooler. Even the animals don’t like being outside during the day right now.”

Ana had to hold back her smile at how Allie was picking up Sebastian’s mannerisms. She hoped they could skip the wild years though. “That sounds like a good plan.” Ana hesitated to pump her daughter for information, but she couldn’t help but wonder if Sebastian ever talked to her, even if it was just in vague terms. “Sweetie, does Uncle Bas ever talk about his friends from high school? I wonder if he might be missing them now that they’re all graduated.”

“He talks to Niff on the phone sometimes,” Allie said around a bite of cookie. “That’s a strange name, isn’t it? I wonder if it’s a guy or a girl?”

“I have no idea,” Ana admitted. She’d never heard the name before either. “Do any of them live nearby?” Maybe that Cooper guy was an old friend that Sebastian was trying to avoid.

“Niff does, but Bas says he doesn’t want an insulin shot so they can stay on their side of the city.” Allie said and then frowned. “Is insulin like cooties? I thought that was just make-believe.”

“Insulin is what you have to take if you have too much sugar,” Ana replied with a pointed look at the cookies. “Does Bas ever mention someone named Cooper?”

Allie nodded, her mouth full of cookie. She didn’t seem too worried about either cooties or insulin. “He’s Aladdin’s brother. Did you know that Aladdin had a brother? He sings on TV.” Allie started singing an off-key rendition of a credit score commercial.

“Does Cooper or Aladdin sing that?” Ana asked. She had to be careful. Even 6-year-olds can tell when you’re pumping them for information if you press too hard.

“Cooper, silly,” Allie said as if that should have been obvious. “Aladdin is a prince. We saw him at Disneyland.” Allie lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Did you know that Uncle Bas knew Aladdin when they were in high school? I think Uncle Bas like-likes him.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “What makes you thinks that Bas like-likes Aladdin?” Ana asked.

“He was arguing with Niff on the phone,” Allie said. Then she looked a little guilty. “I wasn’t trying to listen, but he was kind of loud, even with the door closed.”

“Are my ears burning?” Sebastian asked as he jogged into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water.

“Maybe they’re sunburned,” Allie suggested, not getting the reference.

“He means, ‘are we talking about him behind his back’,” Ana replied. “Of course, what else do I have to spend my day gossiping about?”

“I was telling momma about your friend Niff and how it’s such a funny name,” Allie said.

“We were trying to figure out if it was a guy or a girl,” Ana added, not elaborating on why they were discussing the subject.

“Niff is actually two guys, Nick and Jeff. They’re a matched set,” Sebastian said with a grimace. “Nick thinks he can do everything better than anyone else and Jeff is an incurable romantic.”

“Ah, the dreaded combined names,” Ana said.

“What is that?” Allie asked.

“It’s what people do when you’re dating someone,” Sebastian said. “They put the two people’s names together to make one name.”

“Did you and your boyfriend have a name?” Allie asked.

“They called us Seblaine,” Sebastian admitted. He narrowed his eyes at Ana when she started to chuckle. “No one dared call us that in front of me though. Blaine told me about it.”

“I thought your boyfriend was Aladdin,” Allie asked in confusion.

“He goes by Blaine when he’s not at Disneyland so that people don’t know who he is,” Bas replied smoothly.

Ana was rather impressed with how Bas let Allie have her illusions. She had trouble explaining Santa Claus.

“You saw him at Disneyland when we went?” Ana asked, hoping to catch Sebastian off guard. She should have known that was next to impossible.

“Pumping the innocent for information, are we?” Sebastian asked.

Ana wasn’t going to be put off. “We use the resources available to us. If someone would just talk to me, it wouldn’t be necessary.”

“Fine. I saw my ex at Disneyland. It was awkward as hell. What more do you want to know?” Sebastian said through gritted teeth.

“Was it a bad breakup?” Ana asked. She wasn’t going to back down now that she had Sebastian talking, however reluctantly it might be.

“No, we were going to schools on opposite sides of the country so we decided to end things before it could get ugly. He’d already been through that once and I agreed that the long distance thing wasn’t really workable.”

“You’re both in the same city now, though. Have you tried to call him?” Ana asked. She had to be missing something.

“He’s just here for the summer. He’ll be going to New York in a few weeks to start college. Anything else you want to know?” Sebastian was practically biting each word off as he spoke.

Ana could tell she was on thin ice, but she might as well go for broke. “Why is Cooper texting you?”

“Blaine’s airhead brother has been trying to get us back together. You’d probably like him. You’re both interfering busybodies.”

Ana had a feeling that he would have said something a lot less flattering if Allie hadn’t been raptly listening.

“Thank you. That explains a lot,” Ana said with a sweet smile.

“If the interrogation is over, I’ll take my shower now,” Sebastian snapped.

Ana waved him on.

“What’s an interrogation?” Allie asked softly as Sebastian disappeared.

“Asking questions,” Ana said distractedly. She wondered why Cooper was trying to get his brother and Sebastian back together if Blaine was going to be leaving in just a few weeks. One thing was clear though, this breakup had affected her cousin deeply. The question was, should she help Cooper get them back together or work at keeping them apart.

Return to The Only Exception (Lonely No More)