Meant To Be

Chapter 2

Michael woke up before Justin and couldn’t help but stare at the boy while he slept. As he thought back to the previous night, he couldn’t help but smile at the memories that washed over him. The boy was not only beautiful, but he seemed like a sweet kid, too. He hoped that Justin didn’t have to run off right away. Michael wanted to take him to the diner to meet his friends. He wondered what Brian would say about him taking up with someone so young. ‘Well, who cares what he thinks’ he thought to himself. With the morals Brian lived by, he had no room to talk. Noticing the boy begin to stir, Michael pushed away thoughts of Brian and leaned over to give Justin a soft kiss. “Good morning. How did you sleep?” he asked.

“Good morning. I slept great actually, how about you?” Justin asked.

“Great. So what are your plans for the morning? Do you have time to go grab something to eat? I want you to meet my friends. We always meet for breakfast at the Liberty Diner.” Michael asked, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt. He didn’t want to push to hard, but he really wanted to get to know Justin better.

“Um, yeah, that sounds good. I don’t have to have the car back to my friend until noon. Do you mind if I take a shower?” Justin felt a little awkward. This was the first time he woke up with a man and wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say or do.

“Sure, make yourself at home. Everything you need should be in the bathroom. I’ll go make some coffee.” Michael replied before climbing out of bed and heading to the kitchen.

An hour later, both men were showered and dressed, heading towards the diner. Conversation was kept light, both men unsure of what to say. When they reached the diner, Justin had a moment of panic. ‘What if his fiends didn’t like him? What if they didn’t approve of the age difference?’ he pushed away the thoughts, hating that fact that he was feeling so insecure.

When they entered the diner, Michael cringed at the site of his mother behind the counter. ‘Shit, I thought she had today off’ he thought to himself. His thoughts were interrupted when she spotted him and ran over to give him a kiss.

“Hi honey, surprised to see me? Kiki came down with the flu, so I agreed to fill in for her. You’re late, the boys are already here. Who’s the kid?” Debbie asked, noticing the boy standing next to her son.

“Mom, this is Justin. Justin, this is my mother.” Michael made the introductions.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Novotny.” Justin said with a smile that lit up the room. It was obvious by the attire she had on that she knew her son was gay and accepted it completely.

“Call me Debbie, Sunshine. Everybody else does. So, how do you two know each other?” she asked. It was obvious that Justin was quite a bit younger than her son, but Debbie couldn’t help but notice a closeness between the two.

“We met last night after Babylon. He was outside checking things out when we were leaving.” Michael answered, not the least bit worried about what his mother thought. She had known he was gay, even before he knew himself, and had made it her job to not only accept him and his lifestyle, but to rally the troops of PFLAG to fight for the rights of gay people everywhere.

“I see. You met late last night, and are here together this morning. So I guess it’s too late to say that he’s too young for you. No offence Sunshine, I just worry about my baby. Anyway, you better get over to the boys. I’ll be by to get your order in a few minutes.” She said, as she hurried over to the counter to pick up her next order.

“Wow, you’re really lucky. My mom would freak if she knew I was gay.” Justin whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear.

“Yeah, my uncle is gay, too. So she grew up being accepting of the lifestyle. She’s a little kooky, but once you get used to her you can’t help but love her.” Michael replied, leading Justin over to his friends. “Hey guys,“ Michael said to the men.

The two men looked up at Justin and suddenly he felt very small. He was worried about making a good impression on the men, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He recognized them from the night before and felt a little bit at ease, since they knew Michael had picked him up and brought him home.

“Justin, this is Ted Schmidt and Emmett Honeycutt. Ted, Em, this is Justin Taylor.” Michael made the introductions.

“Hey, Justin. Nice to meet you. Have a seat. I guess we don’t have to ask how things went last night, since you came here together. I’m so happy for you Michael.” Emmett exclaimed.

“Calm down, Em. We’ve only known each other for less then twelve hours, but we decided to get to know each other. I figured I might as well get the introductions out of the way now. Where’s Brian?” he asked.

“He got a call on his cell and went outside to get something out of his jeep. He should be back in a minute to finish ripping us a new one for leaving him last night.” Ted answered.

“Shit, is he really mad?” Michael asked, not liking it when his best friend was mad at him.

“Yeah, but he’ll get over it. Forget about him. We want details. So how did things go last night?” Emmett questioned.

“None of your business. Some things are private, ya know.” Michael was stopped from saying anything else when Brian walked in the door.

“Hey Mikey, why the hell did you leave last night? You were supposed to drive me home. Thanks to you I had to go to the hospital alone. Lindsey had the baby.” Brian told him, not realizing there was a new face at the table.

“Oh Brian, that’s great. What did she have? What did they name it? I am so happy for you!” Michael exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and throwing his arms around his friend.

“I have a son. They named him Gus. Now sit down and tell me what was so important that you had to leave me to go to the hospital alone.” Brian replied.

Michael remembered Justin sitting in the booth and turned to introduce him. “Brian, this is Justin Taylor. Justin, this is Brian Kinney.”

Brian took one look at the boy in the booth and felt like his world stopped turning. He was beautiful, with piercing blue eyes that a person could get lost in. Fearing the guys would notice the reaction he had to the blond in front of him, he slipped his mask back in place and greeted him with as much control as he could get. “Hey, how’s it going?” He muttered, hoping his voice didn’t betray his emotions.

Justin looked into the hazel eyes staring back at him and was at a loss for words. He had never seen a man more beautiful than the one standing in front of him. His heart started racing and his palms were sweating just from looking at him. This couldn’t be happening to him. Last night he met Michael, a really sweet guy, someone who he wanted to get to know better, and in less then twenty four hours, he meets a man who makes his chest ache and his knees go weak. And the kicker is that the man is Michael’s best friend. When he woke up this morning, he had hoped that things were looking up for him, now he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Realizing that everyone was looking at him, waiting for a response, he swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to keep his voice even as he spoke. “Hey,” was all he managed to get out.

Brian was once again lost in his thoughts. ‘Is this what everyone means about love at first sight? Okay, get a hold of yourself. You’re Brian Kinney, for fuck’s sake. You don’t believe in love.’ He looked up when he realized that Mikey was talking to him. “What?” Brian asked, kicking himself for reacting like a school boy.

“I said, I met Justin outside Babylon last night and we hooked up. What’s the matter with you?” Michael looked worried by his friend’s strange behavior.

“Uh, nothing. I forgot something back at the loft. I’ll see you guys at Woody’s tonight.” Brian replied, turning and walking out the door before anyone could stop him.

“I wonder what’s up with him.” Ted stated.

“Oh you know him, he probably forgot to put mousse in his hair or something like that. Forget him, let’s talk about you two.” Emmett said.

Justin was still thinking about the man who just walked out and knew he needed to get away. “Shit, I forgot that my friend needed her car earlier this morning. She needed to run an errand. I have to get going. I’m sorry, Michael.” Justin felt guilty for lying, but had no other choice. He needed to clear his head and think.

“Oh…okay. You want to meet me at Woody’s tonight? We’re all going to be there.” Michael asked.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll see you there.” Justin replied. He let Michael give him a quick kiss and ran out the door.

Michael looked towards the door that Justin had just run out of, trying to figure out what had caused the boy to leave so quickly. Maybe having him meet his friends was a little too much for him. Oh well, at least he would see him tonight at Woody’s. That thought made him happier then he had been in a long time.

End of part 2
6/17/03
 

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