Long Distance Please

The fireplace was lit. Brian was sitting in front of it, staring vacantly toward the flames and holding his cell phone in his right hand. Then it rang. It was the call he was expecting….

“This is all your fault, Kinney,” the familiar voice at the other end declared. “All your fault.”

“Yep, it is,” Brian conceded with a grin not noticed at the other end. “I maneuvered that crew to Spain – all by myself. It wasn’t easy but I did it….”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin interrupted, perhaps with a grin of his own that Brian could not see – and maybe not. “That’s not what I mean and you know it. You made me come to New York and you promised to fly up here this afternoon, and we were going to that musical and we were gonna fly back together and ….”

“And I went out to the airport this afternoon,” Brian reminded him. “Planning to do just what I had promised. And the flight was delayed – and then it was cancelled – because our flight crew was still in Barcelona - and then ….”

“And then you didn’t arrange to get on the next flight either,” Justin grouched. “That’s what happened …..”

“The next flight was full up, Baby,” Brian recited, “And I would still have been too late for the dinner reservations and maybe not even in time for the show. It didn’t seem worth all the trouble….” Brian misspoke.

“Not worth all the trouble,” Justin replied with a slight but noticeably increased volume. “I wasn’t worth a little extra trouble. Nice to know that…. Not worth the trouble indeed.”

“Geez, JT,” Brian told him. “You know, it’s hard for me to believe you aren’t right here – except maybe that I don’t have my arm around you….”

“And if you had your arm around me,” Justin presumed, “I guess you figure you could talk me out of being mad. Brian Kinney, the great romancer can do anything …..”

“Well, I’m gonna try that very thing tomorrow evening,” Brian pointed out, “And we’ll see if it works. So maybe you could quit being quite so mad for a while now and tell me what went on today ….”

“Well I told you last night that the big reception went really well,” Justin complied. “I wish you could have been up here for that but I know about the schedule conflict – and I’m not upset about that but ….”

“So what about today, Baby?” Brian prompted him. “Jim thought a lot of people would stop by the gallery today – to meet you – because of the reception - and …..”

“Well maybe Jim was right, Brian,” Justin admitted. “There were several people who took the hint last night that I would be there till 3:00 today – and they stopped by today. Jim said it was better even than he expected ….I picked up a couple of commissions….”

“So you going to New York was the right thing to do?” Brian prodded. “So I was right to suggest that you go? Are you admitting that, Sweetheart?”

“What I am admitting, Brian Kinney,” Justin responded. “Is that you absolutely forced me to come up here – and then you promised you’d fly up here this afternoon and then you didn’t…..”

“I get the idea, Baby,” Brian laughed – and that was heard at the other end. “From now on, when I force you to do stuff, I won’t promise to do anything like come up the next day – and then you’ll still do what I force you to do – but you won’t be mad when …..”

“Forget it, Kinney,” Justin laughed back – at least as noticeably as Brian had. “You know damn well that if you didn’t promise to come up here today, I wouldn’t be in New York at all.”

“So I forced you to go to New York, Honey,” Brian summarized. “Let me get this straight – but even though I forced you to go – you wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t promised to …..”

“Brian,” Justin interposed. “I don’t know why but for some reason or other you always like to prolong any argument that we might occasionally have – no matter how minor it might be.”

“Yeah, I guess I do at that,” Brian laughingly agreed, “And any argument seems to become ‘prolonged’ just at the very moment when it begins to look like you might lose it ….. Strange coincidence I guess. OK, so tell me what else happened today. I told you to find somebody up there and use the dinner reservations and the tickets ….”

“Like you think I was going to go to dinner – or the theater – with somebody else?” Justin complained. “When I was supposed to go with you? Like you’d probably do, I guess …..”

“Baby,” Brian reasoned. “The tickets were already paid for and the dinner reservations were prepaid too. That restaurant is so popular right now that you have to eat whatever they cook that day – and you have to wonder about how nobody ever discovered that delicious asparagus ice cream before - and you have to pay in advance there too – so you can’t stand them up. You said you’d like to eat there sometime so I pulled all kinds of strings to get those reservations on such short notice because I figure the place will be out of business in six months. So this was our big chance - but it just didn’t work out. I might have just let the whole thing go in my disappointment – but I don’t believe that you …..”

“OK, Kinney,” Justin was smiling as Brian suspected but did not know. “So when I left the gallery I went over to the theater to see if I could exchange the tickets or maybe even get the money back.”

“Now that’s my Justin all right,” Brian grinned as Justin absolutely knew. “Right in character. Bet you talked them into refunds – just to get rid of you.”

“Cut it out, Kinney,” Justin told him. “I didn’t even get to the box office. Actually I sold several things today – like a record day for me so…. Well anyway, there was a matinee performance letting out and I saw these two young guys waiting by the stage door – really good looking, Bri – I was like even a little bit glad you weren’t there. And they were gay, Bri – and really in love with each other. I could tell. There’s lots of gay folks in the theater business – not like art and advertising. Well, I got to talk to them for a while. They’re recent graduates of the University of Cincinnati in theater and they’re here trying to get a break. Anyhow they’re having a hard time latching on to something and they don’t have much money right now - couldn’t afford to see the show – I guess they just wanted to see some working actors coming out of the theater … One was named Robert and I forget the other kid’s name – I think it started with an ‘R’ too though – but I gave them the theater tickets and those whatever you call them for the restaurant too ... I don’t think I ever saw two happier people …”

“What about us, Baby?” Brian teased. “You think Robert and what’s his name were happier than us.”

“Well they were together, Kinney,” Justin retorted. “Like we weren’t – and aren’t. So right then they were happier than me – and right now they’re happier than me - I don’t know about you.”

“Remember, Baby,” Brian cautioned the kid. “You were already losing this ‘prolonged’ argument a while ago – so maybe it would be smart to ….”

“Well anyhow, Bri,” Justin got the message. “I gave Robert our address and when those guys make it big in New York theater, we’re gonna be invited up ….”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian anticipated future problems. “I hope our flight crew isn’t in Barcelona that day….”

“Hey, Kinney,” Justin informed him. “Justin Taylor does not make the same mistake twice. We’ll leave enough time to drive up here if we have to. These guys are like our very own Broadway actors and when they’re big successes...”

“Or when they aren’t able to keep up their rent, Sweetheart?” Brian premised. “Maybe they’ll be our very own Broadway actors then too - since you gave them our address.”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin marveled. “You wouldn’t know a happy ending if it fell on you. You are the absolutely least romantic guy in the whole world….”

“Not romantic, eh? Oh yeah, well I’m taking you to dinner at the Hilton tomorrow night and then we’re seeing West Side Story at the Public Theater,” Brian informed him. “It’s not exactly what we missed tonight but it’s something – and pretty romantic too, I think.”

“Well, I tried to get on the red-eye tonight, Brian,” Justin informed him back. “So I could be back with you later this evening – but it was filled. They had to cancel a couple of flights today cause you got that crew to Spain somehow or other. So I guess I’m pretty romantic too.”

“OK, Baby,” Brian conceded. “I guess we’re both romantic. So I’ll be picking you up at the airport tomorrow morning – if your plane takes off, that is – so I think….”

“Do you really miss me, Bri?” Justin interrupted plaintively. “Like I miss you.”

“Yep, I do, Baby,” Brian told him. “But I think I’ll just kiss the phone now and hang up and wait for tomorrow.”

“Ooh, Brian - Yuk,” Justin faked a gag as he hung up. “Phone sex is like – so disgusting.” Then he kissed his phone and slipped it under his pillow.

And Brian just stared for a long while at the flickering flames – with a genuine smile on his face. He missed the kid a lot – more than he’d ever let him know – but tomorrow wasn’t really so far away. So Brian decided to let the fake fireplace burn all night.
 

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