THE SKY'S THE LIMIT

Brian had a surprise for Justin. He had waited until they were comfortably ensconced in front of their fake firelight to spring it. "You know what Baby?" he told the kid. "I have to be in San Francisco the Friday after next. I already have the Circuit One account but their rep wants me to meet the big wheels in the company and I think that's a good idea too. I'll be busy for just a couple of hours Friday morning. We can fly out Thursday and we don't have to come back till Sunday so we can have some time on our own out by the Bay. That is, if you'd be interested in going along."

Now Justin had a surprise for Brian. "Could we talk about it tomorrow, Bri?" he responded. "I'd like to wait till tomorrow to discuss this. It does sound like fun though."

"So you must have something else that you need to talk about tonight then?" Brian surmised. "OK, what is it that you want to tell me?"

"I don't have anything to talk to you about, Brian," Justin seemed confused. "What makes you think I have something I want to talk to you about?"

""Kiddo," Brian went on, "I just asked you to go to San Francisco with me and you decided you wanted to talk about it tomorrow. I know Justin Taylor and if Justin Taylor wants to wait till tomorrow to talk about going to San Francisco with me, Justin Taylor better have something to tell me, because there is something going on. Justin Taylor does not have to think about whether he wants to go to San Francisco with me. So I think you do have something to tell me and I think you're going to do it - right now."

"It's nothing, Bri," Justin protested.

"I'll let you know if I think it's nothing right after you tell me what the hell is going on," Brian insisted.

"You're going to laugh at me, Brian," Justin groused. "But it's my horoscope from the Post-Gazette. It said I shouldn't make any travel plans today. Something about Saturn being in the wrong place."

"Well thank goodness we're not going to Saturn," Brian did laugh at him. "If it were in the wrong place we might not be able to find it. We'll be able to locate San Francisco though because it's in the right place. But, Baby, we've been together quite a while now and how come this is the first time I ever heard about this horoscope business?"

"I guess I have to tell you the whole story," Justin gave in. "It started last week. Malcolm and me were having lunch with this girl from school. Her name is E. J. and she's crazy. I think you met her once when you were at the Institute spying on me. She's crazy but she sings real well. She's very into horoscopes and she never does anything without checking what it says for her that day. She's really crazy. Bri."

"But Malcolm and Justin are not crazy, right?" Brian presumed. "So they just ignored this crazy dame, right?"

"Yeah we did. We aren't crazy. But she insisted on reading us our horoscopes, Brian," Justin related. "Malcolm's said that it was his lucky day and that he should play to win."

"And you two sane guys laughed at that, I guess?" Brian wondered.

"Yeah, we did, Bri," Justin confirmed. "But then afterwards, just for the heck of it, I dared Malcolm to play the lottery on his lucky day, and he did, Brian, and he won."

"He won," Brian was surprised. "Why didn't I hear about this before? Wasn't the lottery up around 20 million last week?"

"Yeah," Justin grinned, "But Malcolm only won three dollars. He had three of the six numbers. But he did win. Maybe not 20 mil but he did win."

"Malcolm is a jackass," Brian decided. "If he would have had the good sense to play seven million on his lucky day, he would have won 21 million, more even than the jackpot probably."

"You're making fun of us, Brian," Justin complained. "That's why I didn't tell you about it in the first place. I knew you'd make fun of us."

"That's mean old Brian Kinney for you, Twink," Brian laughed at him. "When people act like fools, I treat them like fools."

"Well I don't see any point in tempting fate, Mr. Kinney," Justin held his ground. "You know full well I would want to go with you to San Francisco or anyplace else. It'll be great. But it won't kill you to wait till tomorrow for me to tell you that I want to go. Technically, I guess I can tell you how much I want to go with you anytime after midnight."

"Midnight/" Brian groused. "That's about four hours away. What are we gonna do between now and midnight."

"Maybe we could think of something," Justin suggested.

"We could try," Brian agreed and they fell into deep thought.

A while later, it was Brian who broke the romantic spell. "What do you mean, spying on you at the Institute?" he asked the kid.

"Well, believe me, this is not a complaint, Sweetheart, but you do stop by pretty often to see what I'm doing," Justin told him.

"To see the art works you're producing," Brian corrected him, "Not to spy on you. But it's true that on occasion I have discovered a few little things that you neglected to tell me, but that's not spying. Anyhow, if you told me everything that's going on over there, I wouldn't have to spy at all. And what do you call it, by the way, when you drop by the office, and I also know you're in constant contact with Cynthia. Isn't that spying too? I'll bet you already knew I was going to San Francisco."

"Cynthia does not spoil your surprises," Justin admonished him. "She just sometimes tells me about the great things you're doing that you're too modest to tell me."

"And maybe sometimes some of the crazy things I do, too, I guess?" Brian smiled.

"Could be," Justin rubbed his head against Brian's in hope of changing the subject.

It didn't work. "Like as if I was using horoscopes at the office to make decisions, you'd know?" Brian suggested.

"Probably," Justin replied, trying another maneuver to change the subject, which did work. A period of contented silence followed. But the discussion was still not over at that point.

Brian eventually resumed the conversation. "I know you pretty well, Honey," Brian said, "So I'm betting that when you checked your horoscope today, you checked mine too. What did mine say? Forget about claiming that you didn't check mine out. What did it say?"

"It said you were in for a confusing day," Justin told him. "Jupiter is in opposition to Venus."

"You know," Brian squeezed the kid closer to him. "It seems to me that Jupiter has been in opposition to Venus since the day I first met you."

"Do you mind?" Justin asked him.

"Nah," Brian answered.

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