Enjoying Life Together

Discussions

Brian and Justin were putting away their food purchases after just getting back to the loft from a shopping trip to ShopnSave, Foodland, and Giant Eagle. Brian would have preferred just one stop shopping but Justin always went with his sale circulars and newspaper coupons, looking for bargains. "You know," Brian stated, "I have a pretty good income and you have a nice amount coming in from Rage, so don't you think we could save some time by going to just one store instead of three?"

"No," Justin answered, "I'm the one who does whatever cooking gets done around here and I know what I want to have to cook with."

"Anyhow," Justin went on, "If we hadn't gone to Giant Eagle, you wouldn't have been able to ogle that stock boy who was putting out the apples."

"What stock boy?" Brian asked. "Don't ask, you know very well what stock boy, the little twink that didn't look a day older than sixteen, with the red sweater and the tight dark blue jeans who was looking back at you," came Justin's retort.

"I can see that you didn't notice him at all," Brian snickered.

"It's just my artist's eye," Justin defended himself, "We're trained to notice detail."

"OK, tell me what the check-out girl was wearing?" Brian challenged.

"She was a young girl in a red uniform as I recall," Justin didn't recall. Brian laughed, "She was one of my high school classmate's mother. How come your 'artist's eye' didn't notice that?"

"We were at three stores. I must have got the check-out people mixed up," Justin defended himself.

"See what I mean," Brian crowed, "One store should have been enough."

"Don't change the subject," Justin persisted, "Don't you think you're too old to be looking at teenagers?"

"Yeah," Brian replied, "I did get mixed up with a teenager once and I couldn't get rid of him. I'll never do that again. I promise I'll never look at a teen-ager again," Brian responded.

Justin pushed his body up against Brian's. "You don't need to go overboard," he told him, "One teenager at a time though seems about right."

"Well, I'll have to admit," Brian responded, "One teenager might just be enough." He put his arms around Justin and pulled him closer.

"Enough of this silliness," Justin declared reluctantly, "You know I've got things to do."

"Then I better leave you to your work," Brian said, and started putting on his jacket.

"Where ya going?" Justin asked.

"I don't think we bought enough apples. I'm going back to get some more," Brian answered.

"Like hell you are," Justin responded.

The work that Justin had to do was in the kitchen. There were going to be guests at dinner that night in the loft; Melanie and Lindsey, Ted, and Emmett had been invited to sample Justin's culinary skill, which even Brian would admit, was good and getting better. Mike and Ben had also been invited but they had to be out of town. Having guests to dinner was a domesticity Brian wasn't used to, but he was rather looking forward to it and he was so proud of Justin for being able to carry it off. He was experiencing a whole new life because of that kid, he was thinking, the normal life he had always made fun of. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, it wasn't bad at all. Actually he liked it. He did not miss his old life. He didn't even think of it. What he had now was so much better than that, so much better than he deserved. He looked out to the kitchen area and watched the cause of this new-found happiness moving about with apparent efficiency.

"Anything I can do to help, Sunshine?" He called out.

"You are already doing it," came Justin's reply, "Staying out of my way."

"Will it be all right if I get in your way later?" Brian retorted.

"I think I'll die if you don't," Justin replied with a smile."

"Me, too." Brian thought.

And the dinner went perfectly. Everybody liked everything and Justin's first solo apple pie got very good grades. Justin assigned all the credit to Vic, who had given him his secret recipe. "Brian thought we didn't have enough apples," Justin taunted, "But he is not a very experienced cook."

"My God, Brian," Melanie remarked, "You'd be crazy not to tie this guy up for life. You two ought to get married."

Justin's face turned a bit red and he replied, "Brian doesn't believe in gay marriage. He says it's not legal and if people are really committed to each other, they don't need any ceremony to prove it. And he's right, of course. Not that we don't think your wedding was a great idea."

Emmett barged into the conversation promising to do all the arrangements for any nuptial plans Brian and Justin might ever have, and Brian stated that his kind offer would be enough to scuttle any such plans even if there were not a lot of other reasons. Ted allowed that he would consider getting married someday and Brian pointed out that it was an unlikely prospect. "Gay marriages aren't legal and neither are marriages for one person. You'd have to find somebody to marry you, wouldn't you? What are the chances of that?" he teased.

"Better than the chances of you settling down with one person and leading a normal life," Ted replied in jest, but actually, it made Brian think. Ted was sometimes right.

"Well, Melanie and I are glad we did it. We had a commitment for a long time, and everybody knew it, but somehow the wedding added something to that," Lindsey said.

"And such a lovely wedding it was," Emmett remembered. Then he turned to Brian and said, "If you weren't allergic to weddings, if you had been there, you wouldn't say nasty things about my arrangements. You know, Justin caught the bouquet." It was a night for friends to talk and the subject changed. They talked of many things and laughed a lot.

When the guests left about 10:00, Justin ran to Brian and jumped into his arms. "We did it," he cried, "We can entertain with the best of them."

Brian kissed him and pointed out, "You can entertain and I can sit and watch you do it, if that's what you mean."

"Oh no, Brian," Justin exclaimed, "I did the cooking but you were the host. You made the evening a success. I knew you could do it."

"I didn't," Brian mused, "But the longer you're around, the more things I learn I can do. I don't think I could do them though if you weren't around."

"You've no hope of that," Justin replied, "No hope at all."

Later on, when all the party remnants were cleaned up and the other anticipated activities were concluded, the two if them lay cuddled together, each of them thinking about the really good time they had experienced earlier in the evening. "Are you happy, Justin?" Brian asked.

"Are you crazy?" Justin answered, "I have everything I have ever wanted and even some things I didn't know enough to want. I love you, Brian, and you love me. What else is there?"

"Is it going to last forever, this happiness? You must know I feel it too," Brian wondered.

"It is as far as I'm concerned. I could never love anybody like I love you," Justin assured him, " For me, it's for always, and even if you change your mind, there could never be anybody else for me."

"I don't know how to love anybody else but you," Brian answered, "I never have, you know."

"But now that you know how, maybe it could happen," Justin explained.

"I don't think so," Brian said, holding Justin so tight that it might have hurt if it were anybody else but Brian.

"What brought all this on, Brian?" Justin asked.

"All that talk about marriage tonight, I guess. It made me think," was Brian's response.

"Brian, half the breeder marriages these days end in divorce, so it's hard to believe that a wedding ceremony could make any difference to us. If you're not comfortable with gay marriage, forget about it. I'm not asking for that. If you don't want it, I don't want it either. I want you to love me forever, and I hope you do. That's all I want. I want you to be happy and if you are, I'll be happy too. Now go to sleep," Justin told him.

"Well, it's something to think about, isn't it?" Brian said, "And you did mention it at Lindsey's wedding, didn't you? I thought that's what you wanted."

"That's when I was young and foolish," Justin stated, but Brian could feel that Justin's heart was beating a lot faster than usual, and that his breathing was getting more agitated than usual. He didn't know that Justin was getting light headed and he couldn't read his thoughts. So he didn't really know that Justin was thinking: "And I'm still young and foolish, and I'm crazy in love." It was another of those happiest nights of his life.

Return to Enjoying Life Together