Back Story

Brian was smiling as the guys settled themselves in front of their fake fireplace. Justin wondered if something special was up.

“Does the name ‘Wallace Grommet’ mean anything to you, Baby?” Brian asked to open the conversation.

“Wally Grommet,” Justin recalled. “Yeah, he was a friend of mine way back at St. James. He was a cool kid. I liked him – but I always suspected he was straight – and then he moved – to St. Louis I think – after the seventh or eighth grade…”

“Well he’s back in town, Sweetheart,” Brian informed him. “He just transferred back here as head of the Pittsburgh office over at National Life Assurance – you know Kinnetics has that account. I think he came from New York though. I had lunch with him today….”

“And how did I get involved in the conversation, Mr. Kinney?” Justin wanted to know. “Wasn’t it a business meeting? I bet there are a lot of guys you know in the business who don’t know me so I don’t know how I got….”

“That should be easy to see, Kiddo,” Brian grinned at him. “He told me he originally came from Pittsburgh and mentioned that he had gone to St. James for his first seven years of school. Since he looked about your age I asked him if he knew you – and he said he did….”

“And so why are you grinning, Brian Kinney?” Justin wanted to know. “There’s something else coming I know – but I don’t know what it is….”

“Well – like – he told me that the last thing he remembers about St. James was a Cinderella dance you all had at the end of seventh grade….” Brian told him.

“Shit,” Justin expletived. “You’re always sticking your nose into my past life. You like – have to know everything. A morbid curiosity if I ever saw one. There just aren’t any secrets….”

“And there shouldn’t be any secrets either, JT,” Brian was still grinning. “But didn’t you know that I already knew that you were Prince Charming – my own personal Prince Charming?”

“So maybe I did know that – and that’s OK too, I guess - but I didn’t think you knew I was Prince Charming at the damn seventh grade Cinderella dance, Bri,” Justin reasoned. “And somehow I figure it would still be better if you didn’t know it now either.”

“Well the cat’s out of the bag, Honey,” Brian told him. “And I can’t change that – now I’ll always know you were Prince Charming as early as grade seven - but I guess I could promise not to tell Mikey or Emmett – if that would make you feel better….”

“Not them - or anybody else either, BK,” Justin told him back – smiling ever so slightly. “Nobody. My natural modesty demands that the word not get out that I was recognized as Prince Charming as early as seventh grade – and I mean it too….”

The discussion paused here as Brian and his own personal Prince Charming meditated further about the PC revelation and its various ramifications. But eventually….

“You gonna tell me the whole story about the Cinderella dance, Sweetheart?” Brian wondered. “I’m interested. Wally didn’t go into detail. He just said…..”

“If I don’t tell you, I bet you’d pry it out of Wally – since you have to know everything. The seventh grade at St. James always has this big Cinderella dance in May,” Justin related. “It’s like their first big social event and it’s kind of a big deal. They put all the girls’ names in a big bowl and they pick one out and she’s Cinderella.”

“But it’s Prince Charming I’m interested in, Baby,” Brian laughed. “Cinderella is definitely secondary in this discussion. Did you get picked out of a big bowl too?”

“Nope,” Justin had to smile. “The girl who gets to be Cinderella also gets to pick a Prince Charming….”

“I bet Daphne was Cinderella then….” Brian interrupted – anticipating incorrectly. “That’d make you a shoo-in for Charming.”

“Wrong, Kinney,” Justin had to laugh. “Daphne was in Cinderella’s court but Cinderella was a girl named Marilyn Marsh. Everybody was surprised when she picked me – I was too – not that I wasn’t real popular or anything – but I think the kids thought she would pick Wally – and I think Wally thought so too – and like – maybe he was a little bit disappointed – I think he liked Marilyn – him being straight and all ….”

“Poor Wally. I bet he was crushed. So what ever happened to this Marilyn who spotted your charms so early in life?” Brian wondered. “I never heard you talk about any Marilyn – or Daphne either – and Daph tells me more about them days than you do.”

“Marilyn transferred to some boarding school after eighth grade, I think,” Justin remembered. “I don’t think we ever heard from her after that. You can ask Daph if you really need to know…..”

“Well I do wonder,” Brian conjectured, “and I’ll tell you why. I told Wally about us – I figured he’d probably find out anyhow – and he said we should get together with him and his wife sometime – and I think he mentioned that his wife’s name was Marilyn - and I think he also said that ‘they’ would be glad to see you again.”

“Geez, Bri” Justin laughed. “Maybe he got Marilyn after all – and he just wants to show me that he won out in the end….”

“So you think he won, eh?” Brian laughed.

“I don’t think he won at all, Brian Kinney,” Justin cuddled closer to the big guy. “I won back then – didn’t she pick me to be Prince Charming? - And I think I won now too – not that Marilyn wasn’t a nice person – and not that I care if Wally thinks he won….”

The discussion went into pause mode yet again at this point – as might have been expected - and it was quite a while before it resumed – but it did resume as Justin had a revelation of sorts.

“Hey, Brian,” he asked playfully. “You’re not mad about me being Prince Charming are you? It was like – in the seventh grade and all. I remember you weren’t all that happy when I was King of Babylon.”

“I was not mad at all about you being the King of Babylon, Sweetheart,” Brian informed him – still wearing the grin. “I might have been a little bit peeved that you entered that contest without consulting me – and to prove I wasn’t mad then and I’m not mad now, I guess I’ll insist that we attend the next time Babylon honors the former Kings – even though you always modestly refuse to go….”

“Cut it out, Kinney,” Justin demanded. “You know I didn’t want to be King of Babylon and I don’t want to go to any reunions. All I was trying to do then was to get your attention….”

“OK, Baby,” Brian squeezed the kid, “you did get my attention all right. But if St. James ever has any reunions of the former Prince Charmings, we are definitely going….”

“Whatever you say, Boss,” Justin acquiesced. “I don’t think there have ever been any Prince Charming reunions though.”

“So do you want to have dinner with Wally and Marilyn?” Brian asked. “I’ll leave that up to you. It’s your past we’ll be reliving….”

“Well if we do, Brian,” Justin decided, “we should probably ask Daphne to come too. It will be like old times….”

“Yeah, it will, Baby,” Brian agreed. “Just like old times. Because you’re still Prince Charming….”

And that exchange brought an abrupt end to the evening’s conversation – with the issue of whether to dine with Wally and Marilyn still undecided. The subject could be revisited another day.

But that’s how the guys always did stuff. First things first.
 

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