Let It Snow If It Wants To

The fire was ablaze in the fake fireplace, radiating heat towards the guys who were sitting on the floor of the loft watching the flames. Brian had his arm around Justin and everything else seemed to fit the usual pattern too. But this was definitely not the case. Things were not as usual. What was radically different was that it was nine o’clock in the morning.

There was a ten-inch snowfall already on the ground outside - with several more in the offing. The guys had just finished off a robust breakfast and were sipping on cocoa as they stared vacantly at the crackling fire.

“I don’t think so,” Brian opened the discussion in an unlikely way.

“You don’t ‘think so’ what?” Justin seemed puzzled.

“I don’t think I want to go out with you to build any snow people today,” Brian elaborated, “Or rather, I don’t think I want to give you a chance for a treacherous snowball attack while I’m diligently trying to erect a snowman to your stringent specifications.”

“Whatever you say, Bri,” Justin acquiesced a little too easily. “It is the biggest snowfall of the year though and everything in town is closed or cancelled or whatever. But if you choose not to take advantage of….”

“I didn’t say one word about not taking advantage of the snowfall, Baby,” Brian retorted with a smile. “I just said that maybe I didn’t want to go outside and mess around with any old snowman – or maybe become the victim of – you know what. I thought we could stay in here and mess around….”

“OK with me, Kinney,” Justin grinned at him. “You’re the decision maker around here. But we always have those inside activities available - and with the La Nina going on this year, this one could be the only big snowfall of the season. When there’s a La Nina, the heavy snow always hits Chicago and Toronto and those places but we don’t get much at all….”

“Remind me to strangle that science teacher at St. James that you’re always quoting, Mr. Expert on Everything,” Brian laughed. “The next time we see him in Giant Eagle, he goes.”

“Just like you to put the blame on the innocent, Brian,” Justin pointed out with a laugh. “Just like you’re always doing with me. Innocence is no excuse with you. I didn’t learn about La Nina from Professor Wells. I learned about La Nina from the TV weathercasters. So there.”

“Like you think the weathercasters are ever right, Sweetheart?” Brian pointed out in return. “The most any of them predicted from this storm was six inches of snow and we’re way past that already. You should be like me and learn from personal experience. That’s how I learn stuff. And you don’t believe those weather-people either, Kiddo. You still went out yesterday and got all the stuff for that huge breakfast so you must have known they were wrong.”

“Just being safe, Brian, Honey,” Justin replied. “It always pays to be safe.”

“Which is exactly what I was thinking when I said I didn’t want to go out in the snow to do the snowman, Honey,” Brian told him. “Just playing it safe. Learned that from personal experience.”

“So I guess it wouldn’t be safe to go sledding in the park either then?” Justin wondered. “Even though the sledding would be great today with all this snow.”

“I don’t see how it would be all that safe for me, Baby,” Brian nodded agreement. “You’d want me to pull you over to the park on the sled and then with all that snow on the ground, you’d….”

“So the only safe time for you to go sledding is when there’s no snow on the ground, eh?” Justin drew a logical conclusion. “Now I understand that old saying: ‘When the sledding gets tough, then Brian Kinney goes sledding.’”

Either inexplicably or maybe explicably, for whatever reason, at this point the discussion petered out for a considerable period. The guys seemed to enjoy the prolonged pause – but as usual, the discussion did eventually resume.

“Are you planning to invite Brandon and Jason over?” Brian asked a surprised Justin in resuming the conversation.

“What are you talking about, Brian?” Justin semi-stammered. “Why would I ask them over? Remember it’s snowy out there and it’s still snowing out there too. Seems like a dumb question to me – unless I’m missing something. Am I missing something?”

“I don’t think you’re missing anything at all, Baby,” Brian told him. “And neither am I. Experience you know. I learn from experience. You’re planning to somehow con me into going outside and do the snowman thing and the sledding thing too. I was just wondering if you were also planning to invite Brandon and Jason over. You guys had such a good time after Christmas and I remember you saying you’d like to do it again. So I just thought….”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin protested archly. “I can’t believe you’d accuse me of a plot like that. My feelings should be hurt. I have feelings, you know.”

“Sorry, Baby,” Brian apologized flippantly. “I sometimes just forget how very delicate your feelings can be. What can I do to make it up to you? Maybe we should go out and make the snowman after all. That might take your mind off your hurt feelings. Bet it would….”

“Well maybe that would be OK, Bri,” Justin considered the offer. “But only if you want to. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to trick you into going outside if you don’t want to.”

“You know I would never think that, Sweetheart,” Brian assured him. “I know better than that from personal experience. That wouldn’t be you at all.”

“Well, OK then, Brian,” Justin consented with feigned reluctance. “That might be a lot of fun - and we’ll still have time for some indoor activities this evening.”

“But will we have the strength?” Brian laughed at him.

“I will,” Justin exuded confidence, “And I’ll try to convince you that you do too. I think I can do it – and I think I actually learned how to do that from experience.”

“Well you could try, all right,” Brian conceded. “You’re pretty good at some stuff like that. So, I repeat, do you want to invite Jason and Brandon over? They just might feel they’ve been ignored when you end up telling them about how much fun we’re going to be having. They have pretty delicate feelings too, Baby.”

“Gee whiz, Bri,” Justin replied. “They live a couple of miles from here. How would they ever even get here if we did invite them?’

“I have the distinct feeling, Sweetheart,” Brian told him, “That if they’re asked, they’ll get here. I have more confidence in them than you have. Learned that from experience too.”

“OK, Bri - if you really want to,” Justin seemed to pick up some enthusiasm. “Yeah. Let’s do it. I’ll call them as soon as I go to the storage room and get the sled.”

“You won’t need to do that, Baby,” Brian told him. “It’s right outside the door in the hall. I got it while you were rustling up that breakfast.”

“You mean you always intended to go out – you did, didn’t you, Kinney?” Justin smiled at him. “But you wanted to torture me first. I should have known – from experience. You’re always doing stuff like that. Giving me a hard time and then doing what I want. But I still love you, Brian – even if you are the way you are. After I call Jason I’m going to….”

”They’re due here at noon, Baby,” Brian smiled back at him. “And, you know, I somehow got the feeling that it was all arranged way before I called them. I wonder how that happened…. But anyhow, I was pretty busy too while you were doing all that breakfast preparation by yourself and not allowing me to get in your way in the kitchen …..”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin grabbed him around the neck. “I really love you…. And since those guys aren’t due over here for more than two hours yet, what do you think we should do while we wait? Any ideas?”

“Yeah….” Brian began – but he didn’t get to finish – and he didn’t have to. Justin demonstrated clearly that he knew a lot of stuff from personal experience too – and that he had some ideas of his own – which might have been even better, though not much different, than Brian’s.

 

Return to Fireside Chats