Striking It Rich
 

The guys were already sitting on the floor of the loft - watching the flames in their fake fireplace. Justin had chosen this time and place to make a disclosure and issue an invitation.

“You what?” Brian was asking the kid with slightly elevated vocal volume.

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin recoiled. “I just asked you out to dinner at any place you choose - because I won 300 dollars on the state lottery. I won on a dollar scratch-off card and I thought I should share some of my good fortune with you …”

“And when did you develop this gambling addiction, Baby?” Brian asked. “I never knew you played the lottery – so you must have not wanted me to know – in which case you probably have a gambling addiction. Simple logic …”

“Or maybe just jumping to conclusions, Mr. Kinney,” Justin defended himself. “Maybe I just decided to try it this once. Maybe I was feeling lucky – and I was lucky too because I won big money. And why would I tell you at all about my winning if I was trying to conceal my big gambling addiction. So in the interests of full disclosure, I better tell you I had two scratch-off cards. I didn’t win on the other one. I never tell you when I don’t win.”

“Well I’d hate to contribute to your delinquency – and I guess that’s what I’d be doing then if I accepted an invitation to help you spend your winnings, Taylor,” Brian conjectured. “But I’m also a little shocked that my usually very thrifty little twink would want to blow 300 dollars on dinner for two…”

“Wait a minute, BK,” Justin halted him. “I never said I wanted to spend all my ill-gotten gains on any dinner. I said I wanted to share them with you. If I can get you to eat at McDonalds, I bet I can easily handle it for 15 bucks – but I’m willing to go higher – maybe even 50 dollars if you don’t give me such a hard time about it. You’re worth it – at least the McDonald’s part of it – and maybe even more than that too. You’re not always so unreasonably accusatory.”

“Yeah, I am worth it all right, Taylor,” Brian agreed with a smile. “Because I always take care of you. And I’m going to be here for you now – to help you get over your gambling problem.”

“And just how do you propose to do that, Brian?” Justin challenged him. “That might not be so easy.”

“Well, I guess the first thing,” Brian postulated thoughtfully, “would be to get your mind off gambling – to like – give you something else to do – maybe better than gambling.”

“Better than gambling? And what would that be?” Justin countered. “What could rival the thrill of scratching off three strawberries on my card and winning 300 dollars?”

“I don’t know,” Brian told him. “Let me think…”

But it seems that both of them had some prospective ideas about what might accomplish that purpose. The discussion paused while they tried out some of these ideas – which – for the most part – worked.

“OK, Baby,” Brian eventually renewed the conversation in a much more reasonable manner. “I can’t see you plunking down any cash for some lottery scratch-off card – or cards – not that you’re cheap or anything but…. What’s the real story?”

“Well remember when I went to Professor Martin’s retirement luncheon, Bri,” Justin recounted. “Well they charged us 25 dollars for that and they had some money left over when the bills were paid and the committee decided to buy some lottery cards – and they gave each of us two cards – and one of mine was a big winner.”

“But you don’t think the thrill of the win will ignite any gambling mania then?” Brian asked him. “That can happen…”

“I don’t think so, Brian,” Justin responded. “I’m pretty level headed. I think I’ll just take you to dinner with the winnings – and then invest the rest in the stock market and make my killing there. That’s probably easier than the lottery.”

“So if we eat at the Country Buffet you’ll have more money to invest with Warren Buffett?” Brian laughed at him. “On your way to the amassing of a tremendous fortune.”

“Exactly,” Justin confirmed, “but I don’t want you to worry if you’d like to go more high-scale, Brian. The best is none too good for you – and I don’t need a tremendous fortune at all – a large one will be quite adequate.”

“Well I’m glad to see you have moderate goals, JT,” Brian advised him. “Cause, you know, you can get addicted to the stock market too …”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin complained. “You sure do have addiction on the brain tonight. And you know what else? If I have to have any addiction, I think I’d rather be addicted to the lottery – so I think I’ll rescind my dinner invitation and spend the whole 300 dollars on more scratch-off cards and try for the thrill of scratching off three strawberries again - and winning another 300 dollars…”

“And someday you’ll get that same thrill when you scratch off the three lilacs and win 2 dollars,” Brian predicted. “That’s what addiction does …”

“Wait a minute, Kinney,” Justin smelled a rat. “How do you know you get 2 dollars for three lilacs? Seems to me you know more about the lottery than you should …”

“Well now that you’re a fellow addict,” Brian grinned, “I guess I can tell you. I buy a couple of those scratch-off cards every week. I guess I didn’t tell you because I figured you’d be nagging at me about being hooked on gambling. That’s how you are. I never won any 300 dollars though – but I do kinda break even – or close to it – but maybe someday I’ll hit really big …”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin began what might have turned into a major screed but Brian quickly made some defensive maneuvers which cut off the discussion for a second time that evening – completely breaking Justin’s train of thought in the process.

“Brian Kinney,” Justin began again when they resumed the discussion – but in a much softer tone than previously, “I guess maybe I am – like - addicted – but it’s you I’m addicted to – and that’s the only addiction I’ll ever have. And it’s an addiction I don’t want to get rid of either. I’ve always been lucky all my life so I could probably win big on the lottery – or the stock market if I worked at it - but I could never strike it rich again like I did that night outside Babylon …”

“Hmmm, Baby. That sounds like I’m even more popular with you than three strawberries,” Brian concluded. “That’s a real compliment.”

“You're better than ten strawberries, Bri,” Justin moved closer to Brian and dropped his head onto Brian’s shoulder. “You’re even better than three oranges, Sweetheart – and, in case you don’t know, three oranges wins 500 dollars …”

“What about blueberries, Baby?” Brian grinned at him. “Don’t three blueberries pay off with the big g-note, Honey?”

“Yeah they do, Mr. Kinney,” Justin told him, “I guess I wouldn’t mind hitting trip-blueberries - but you are all I really need. I don’t need anything else. You mean more to me than a whole damn fruit salad …”

“Now that is really romantic, Taylor,” Brian told him. “Really romantic. So are you still sure you want to take me out to dinner tonight to spend those winnings – or I guess – maybe some small part of them?”

“I never said anything about tonight, Brian,” Justin informed him. “The restaurants are open other days too. We could go tomorrow or on the weekend. I don’t think tonight would be good at all. You never seem to get exactly what I’m saying to you …”

But Brian thought he did get exactly what the kid was saying to him – so they did not go out to dinner that evening. Neither of them was all that addicted to McDonalds. And there were lots of ways to strike it rich.

 

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