Jambalaya

The first thing Brian noticed when he entered the loft was a messy kitchen in the middle of which Justin was industriously moving.

"What the hell is going on, Sunshine, or don't I want to know?" Brian wondered.

"It looks to me like I'm cooking," Justin answered, flashing the smile that always made Brian suspect something

"What are you cooking, or maybe cooking up?" Brian asked, "And why? And why all the mess?"

"I always seem to make a mess when I'm cooking jambalaya, Sweetheart," Justin kept smiling at Brian. "Surely you remember the last time I rustled up my jambalaya."

Brian had to smile back at him. "I remember well enough but I thought I apologized for that night later. I certainly suffered plenty because of it. You're not still mad about that, are you, and out for revenge?" he asked.

"Don't be silly, Brian, " Justin answered, "You said the jambalaya was 'pretty good' the last time."

"If I recall correctly, what I said was 'It's not bad.'" Brian countered.

"Same thing," Justin assured him.

"There's something I need to know that I don't necessarily want to know, isn't there?" Brian surmised, "I thought we decided on a light dinner and a quiet evening here - just the two of us."

"Well," Justin told him, "I hope we are going to have the quiet evening later, but I invited an old friend to dinner. I didn't have time to ask you but I didn't think you'd mind."

"Anybody I know," Brian wondered.

"Oh sure, you knew him before I did," Justin told him.

"Does he have a name?" Brian gritted his teeth.

"He probably does, but I don't know it," Justin came back.

"Do I?" Brian asked.

"Probably not," Justin stated, "But he was here the last time I cooked jambalaya, and you called him Hotlanta, but I don't think that was his name."

Brian sat down on a stool next to the kitchen. "All right, Twink. I want to know what's going on and I want to know right now," Brian demanded.

"It's all very simple," Justin began, sitting himself down on Brian's lap, "I met Mikey this afternoon at Woody's to talk about Rage and this guy came up to us. He recognized me and I recognized him. Turns out he's a traveling sales rep for some company and he has a business meeting at 8:30 tonight. He said he remembered us from the last time and wondered how things turned out with us. So I asked him to come to dinner. Promised him jambalaya. He said he remembered where it is, and he would be glad to come. I wasn't rude, Brian. I invited Mikey and Ben too but they had another event for tonight. I know the guy likes jambalaya, so that brings you up to date."

"So he remembered how to get here. That's interesting. Did he ask about me?" Brian quizzed Justin.

"He may have asked if you were still available," Justin allowed.

"And if he did ask, what would you have said?" Brian went on.

"I would have said that I didn't think so but he could come and see for himself," Justin responded, "He's due pretty soon, Honey, so go get ready. I have everything just about prepared to serve. The salad didn't fall on the floor this time."

"So it is revenge. You have to brag about your conquest," Brian muttered.

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin told him, smiling broadly, "My feelings can be easily hurt."

Brian just did as he was told. There were things he could have said but he didn't say them.

The guest arrived. His name turned out to be Bill Drew. He was a very pleasant fellow, and Brian and Justin both enjoyed his company. He told them he was happy to see that they had worked out those differences which he had noted on his previous visit. He congratulated Justin on the jambalaya as he left, but Brian noted that he added "and everything else too" as he shook Justin's hand. He promised to let them know next time he was coming through Pittsburgh, and they assured him he would always be welcome to stop by for jambalaya.

The kitchen must not have been as untidy as Brian thought because Justin got it back in order in a very short time. Brian lit the fireplace, sat down and waited for the kid. Shortly thereafter, Justin settled in next to him, and slipped his head onto Brian's shoulder. Their quiet evening began with a period of silence.

"You're not mad about my inviting Bill to eat with us, are you?" Justin asked, finally breaking the quiet.

"No," Brian answered, "He was a nice guy, but if you're planning to entertain all my former tricks at dinner…"

"Brian," Justin interrupted. "Don't go there. I asked this guy because he was nice to me last time, nicer than you were that night. I don't remember any others of your 'companions' who were all that nice to me. Of course, I only met a very small percentage of them."

"Well I just thought if that was your goal, it would be better if we rented out the Convention Center some night and had them all at once rather than just one at a time," Brian mused, "That way we could get some time to ourselves."

"I have to wonder," Justin mused back, "why you seem to get such a kick out of exasperating me, when I would never do anything like that to you."

"I guess I'm just mean," Brian admitted, smiling at his little twink.

"No you're not, Bri, you're not mean at all." Justin maintained, "I love you Brian. You know that. And I wouldn't fall in love with someone who was mean. I'm not crazy."

"No," Brian responded, "Whatever else you are, you're not crazy." Then he added: "Since this is our quiet evening together, can we change the subject? We always have a lot to talk about but if you don't want to talk, just sitting here will be OK with me."

So they sat some and they talked some. It was the kind of evening together that they both treasured and the excitement of dinner was forgotten.

Toward the end of the evening Brian was the one who returned to the subject when he said "Honey, if you can, just let me know a little earlier the next time we're having jumbalaya., OK?"

"Justin pulled himself up onto Brian's lap. "We're having jumbalaya tomorrow," he told him.

"Tomorrow?" Brian groaned.

"Don't worry, Sweetheart," Justin assured him, "No guests tomorrow, just the two of us. It's always better on the second day."

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