This Is It

The guys had been sitting quietly in front of their fake fireplace. But there was a discussion coming up. They both knew that - and they both knew what it would be about.

“This is it, Brian,” Justin finally broke the silence. Romeo and Julian is closing in New York next week-end….”

“I know that, Taylor,” Brian grinned at him, “and me and Brandon are coming to New York with you and Jason and a cast of thousands to see the last two performances – so me and Brandon will get to see the guys in both roles – just like we said we would. I always said I wanted to wait till late in the run when the guys would be at their very best – and….”

“And so now - when you can’t wait any longer - you’re going,” Justin laughed. “You could have got the whole thing over a lot sooner if….”

“But this way we get to attend the closing party too, Babe,” Brian reminded him. “Food and stuff. You know how I like parties. Wine, women and song…..”

“I’ll be watching you for the wine and song, Kinney - so remember that,” Justin was still laughing. “The women? Not so much….”

“You might be surprised, JT,” Brian warned him. “I’m a bit unpredictable…..”

“Like I didn’t know that already,” Justin agreed. “But I guess it’s good that you’ll be there for the closing party, Bri – and even maybe interested in women. That lady with the purple hair keeps asking about you and I told her I thought you’d be coming to the final performances…..”

“So maybe I’m not so unpredictable at all?” Brian wondered. “If you figured that out …..”

“You don’t need to worry, Kinney.” Justin consoled him. “You are very unpredictable to most people. It’s just that I’m not most people….”

“I’ll have to remember that at Thanksgiving, Sweetheart,” Brian came back in kind. “That’s really something to be thankful for - like – there’s just one of you…. And another thing to be thankful for is that Romeo and Julian is finally closing. It only played a little over six months though so it must not have been all that good – as I have maintained since Day One. The Fantasticks lasted off-Broadway for about like – twenty years. Now there’s a great show.”

“Yeah it is, Brian,” Justin betrayed a look of discovery, “Malcolm and Hix have been looking for another play to redo in a gay version. The Fantasticks would be fantastic. We’d have to get the rights though….”

“Cut it out, JT,” Brian demanded. “I wish R and J would have played twenty years too. Then I’d have another nineteen and a half years before I had to go see it again….”

“Well, R and J could have played a lot longer, Mr. Kinney,” Justin pointed out. “It sold out every performance in the whole run…..”

“I’ll bet if they played it an extra week, Sweetheart - with no big-name actors,” Brian challenged him. “The theater would be empty. That audience didn’t come to see the show. They came to see Robert – or Ricky - or Shawn….”

“So how come the Chicago and L. A. productions are doing so well, Kinney?” Justin asked him. “The actors there are not big names….”

“I guess people just go to see anything in those cities, JT,” Brian posited. “We watched their live performance DVDs – and even you said they weren’t quite as good as the New York one….”

“They weren’t, Brian,” Justin admitted, “But they’re still building audiences there. And there’s about ten more cities that are interested in mounting a production too. Malcolm won’t have to be very involved at all in any of those stagings. He has some other ideas to work on and he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life on Romeo and Julian…..”

“My sentiments exactly, Sunshine,” Brian grinned. “Seems to me like we’ve been spending a lot of time lately on Romeo and Julian too – and maybe it’s time for us to move on to better things….”

“Oh cut it out, Brian,” Justin demanded. “All we’ve done is go to see it a few times – but that was because of the actors and not the play….”

“You said that, Baby,” Brian laughed. “I’m glad I didn’t make that point – not that I maybe haven’t said something like that a couple of times….”

“You know what, Kinney?” Justin continued, “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a movie coming up too. There’s this one pretty neat indy producer in New York who wants to work on it. Maybe Robert or Shawn or Ricky could even play Romeo….”

“Bad idea, Baby,” Brian smiled at him. “The other two guys who don’t get cast will be so jealous of the lucky one winning an acting Oscar. It might be the end of our own version of the three musketeers….”

“Hey, Bri,” Justin enthused. “I think you’ve got it. The Three Musketeers would be great in a gay version. Probably even better than The Fantasticks. I can’t wait to tell Hix. It’s in the public domain too - so we won’t have to work around the rights – and there are three roles, Bri – so nobody will have to get jealous….”

“There are actually four roles – counting D’Artagnan, my dear Justin,” Brian laughed at him, “And there is also a definite trend in literary criticism these days to figure that those guys were already gay in Dumas’ original book – so a new gay version might be redundant. You can check that out with Ben if you need to .,,,,”

“Gee whiz, Bri,” Justin laughed back, “I keep forgetting that you had that one course in literature back in your college days….”

“Well if you remembered my many good points as well as you remember my very few weak points,” Brian told him, “You would…. Hey - by the way, Kiddo, Malcolm was negotiating with Berkshire Theater Festival about Romeo and Julian. What’s new there?”

“Well their tempermental actor fell for the plan, Kinney,” Justin informed him. “And they’re gonna do it next summer. It’s him that actually put us in touch with the indy film producer. The Berkshire guy sees himself as the star of the film version though. In fact, he was conjecturing about playing both Romeo and Julian in the movie ….”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian’s literary sense saw a problem with that. “If the same guy is both Romeo and Julian, is the story still a gay story? What I mean is…..”

”I get it, Bri,” Justin interrupted. “I see your point. That problem might detract from the impact of Romeo and Julian as written - so maybe Malcolm should veto the idea …..”

“And is Malcolm gonna direct the Berkshire production, Sweetheart?” Brian continued the interrogation.

“Well, I think he wanted to, Bri,” Justin said. “I could see problems and I tried to talk him out of it. I eventually succeeded – so he’s not gonna direct. They have a nice young director on staff there and Malcolm’s gonna help him a little – but Malcolm is not gonna direct. I almost couldn’t convince him that he shouldn’t direct it though. I had to get Mikey to help me argue with him …..”

“You got Mikey to help you?” Brian was taken somewhat aback, “You got Mikey - when you have a dramatic expert living right here – in this very loft….”

“Yep,” Justin confessed. “Mikey was easy to convince that I was right - and that I needed help convincing Malcolm. You would have been a major pain if I would have asked you….”

“Maybe so,” Brian admitted. “But you were absolutely right, Kiddo. Malcolm would have been crazy to get into that mine-field….And you know what? If you don’t mind my complaining just a little - ihis R and J stuff is getting boring. Did you notice that we’ve been talking about it all evening and like – we haven’t stopped at all – to think about stuff – like we usually do…..”

“You’re right, Brian,” Justin agreed - sliding closer to Brian in the process. “And that’s not good at all – but maybe it’s not too late yet. Maybe there’s still time …..”

“Yeah,” Brian told him as he squeezed his twink just a little more firmly. “I don’t think it’s too late at all. If something’s worth doing, you gotta like - schedule a time for it…..”

“So like – maybe now is the time,” Justin pondered aloud.

“Yep,” Brian told him. “This is it….”

And that exchange should have triggered a pause in the conversation – better late than never – but it didn’t – and – technically – there was no pause at all – because the discussion never resumed.

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