Ya Can't Make Me - Or Can You

The guys settled on the loft floor pretty much as usual – but the evening’s discussion had already begun earlier and was already very much in progress – and that was unusual – as was the obvious disagreement.

“Ya can’t make me, Brian,” Justin was complaining. “Not if I don’t want to ….”

“Yeah I can,” Brian disagreed. “But I’d rather have you listen to reason so I won’t have to, Justin ….”

“Wait a minute, Brian,” Justin was taken aback. “You called me ‘Justin’ – and you only call me ‘Justin’ when you’re really mad at me ….”

“Geez, Justin,” Brian smiled at him. “It doesn’t usually take that long for you to get a message. You must be slipping ….”

“Well, maybe I’ll listen to your argument again – if you don’t call me ‘Justin,’” the kid conceded slightly.

“OK, Twink,” Brian made his own concession. “Dave is putting a lot of money into this Rage project – and he is bending over backward to do it in a way that pleases you ….”

“My point exactly …,” Justin interrupted. “Why is he …?”

“Shut up, Jus – Twink,” Brian interrupted back. “He’s got three or four guys already working on ideas for animating that series. That’s awesome. He wants you to have the final say about the animation and so he wants you to come up there for like – one damn day - to review what they’ve done. No point in their working on it if it isn’t OK with you. You should want to go ….”

“So like – there isn’t a dinner engagement attached, Brian Kinney?” Justin said. “Well there is - and just how would you explain that?”

“Maybe Dave thinks you’d be hungry, Taylor,” Brian offered. “And he’s pretty likely to be right – actually just about certain to be right - if I know you very well – and I think I can say that I do ….”

“Always trying to change the subject, BK,” Justin replied quickly. “So what does my being hungry have to do with going to dinner …?”

“I bet you could figure that out for yourself if you thought about it for a while, Kiddo,” Brian laughed. “You’re a pretty smart cookie. But the dinner is optional – though I think you should do that too. First of all, Rick and Shawn will also be there – and Dave said you could eat at his place – or he could pick a restaurant – or you could pick a restaurant. You know what, Baby? I think you’re just mad because Dave gave up on you as soon as he found out about me – and you just can’t believe it. Your vanity is offended because somebody could give up on you so easily ….”

“Well you don’t know how easy it was either, Kinney,” Justin pointed out – forced against his will to smile slightly.

“And I don’t need to either, Sweetheart,” Brian told him. “I know enough ….”

“Well I said I’d go if you’d go with me,” Justin held out.

“But you’re a big boy now, Justin Taylor – notice I put the Taylor onto the Justin - so I’m not saying I’m mad at you,” Brian countered. “But I’m not going. I could get away probably – but I’m still not going ….”

“Maybe Cynthia can talk some sense into you, Brian,” Justin conjectured.

“And maybe she already did too, Baby,” Brian grinned at him. “Cynthia helped me make my decision not to go. She agrees that you can handle it yourself – and it would be good for you ….”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin wailed. “What did I ever do to deserve this? Cynthia turns traitor - and my boy-friend hates me ….”

“I don’t know which boy-friend hates you, Taylor,” Brian consoled him with a hug. “But this boy-friend doesn’t hate you at all. Can’t speak for all the other boy-friends though ….”

And there was a pause in the argument at this point as Brian tried to prove his point – perhaps with some success too.

“So how come Mikey doesn’t have to go up to New York, Kinney?” Justin started a new tack in reviving the conversation.

“You know why, Honey,” Brian told him. “This is all about graphics – and you’re the graphics guy. When the story-boards start getting turned out, Mikey will get his turn ….”

“And will he be getting invited to dinner too, Kinney?” Justin smirked.

“Yes he will, Baby,” Brian seemed sure. “I’ll make it a point to mention that to Dave.”

“Bet Ben will go with Mikey too,” Justin continued to grouch. “He loves Mikey.”

“So maybe Mikey will need the reinforcement, JT,” Brian reasoned. “I actually think it might be better if Ben did go along – when the time comes, that is ….”

“But poor Justin gets no reinforcement at all,” Justin bemoaned. “OK, Kinney – you win. I’ll go up there all alone – and I’ll go to dinner too – and I bet something happens too – it’ll be something innocent too – and you’ll get all upset ….”

“Geez, Taylor.” Brian laughed at that suggestion. “I really don’t know how I’d react if you got involved in something innocent. Absolutely no experience in that area – none at all ….”

“Cut it out Brian Kinney,” Justin demanded. “OK, I’ll go up and look at the graphics – and go to dinner too – as long as Rickshaw are going too – but definitely not at Dave’s penthouse. That’d be too much ….”

“Well that’s one more thing, Baby,” Brian hedged a little. “I got a call from Rick and Shawn today too. They wanted me to try to talk you into picking the penthouse for the dinner. Seems like nobody from the soap opera – and maybe nobody from the entire network – has ever been invited up to Dave’s palace in the sky. They really want to see it and they think this might be their only chance ….”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin pointed out. “You know I got invited there after I only knew Dave for a couple of hours – and now your sending me back into the jaws of ….”

“Save that impassioned speech for one of Malcolm’s big productions, Baby, “Brian laughed. “It’s really touching but I’m not worried ….”

“Now that’s vanity, Brian,” Justin chided him. “You think you’re so special that nobody – no matter how nice – or how rich - could ever get anybody you wanted away from you. And you have the guts to call me vain.”

“It’s not vanity if it’s true, Kiddo,” Brian bragged. “Wanna see what I mean?”

“Yeah, Kinney,” Justin accepted the dare. “If you wanna try it.”

So Brian did try - and thought he accounted himself pretty well too. Neither of them spoke for quite a while - but the silence didn’t last – like it usually didn’t last.

“You know what, Brian?” Justin resumed the conversation. “I think the only good solution would be for Dave to get like – a steady boy-friend – and then you won’t always be thinking he’s coming on to me ….”

“You know what, Sweetheart?” Brian replied. “I like – absolutely forbid you to try to match Dave up with anybody. It’s not your business – if he can make 12 billion dollars, he can find himself a boy-friend if he wants one - but I do think Shawn might be interested ….”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin informed him. “They’re both great guys – and they’d both be good catches – but they are really not for each other ….”

“And you know that – how, JT?” Brian asked. “Maybe they should figure that out for themselves ….”

”Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin explained. “They could get together on their own all right – but it would never work out long-term. Then I’d feel guilty for letting them do it ….”

“OK, Baby,” Brian smiled at him. “There would be the first case of you actually being innocent of something – so I’m like – ordering you to stay out of Dave’s love life ….”

“Ya can’t make me, BK,” Justin insisted as he slipped closer to the guy beside him. “Ya can’t ….”

“Dammit, Justin,” Brian retorted.

And thus the entire discussion could have begun anew – but the guys were by then sufficiently distracted – so it didn’t.
 

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