Dumb Blond

Monday morning Brian was a little later than usual getting to the office. The end of his weekend had taken a bit of a toll. He had spent a lot of time in the backrooms, and got very little sleep. Many members of his staff were already at work when he walked in.

Brian nodded but said nothing. He was a little hung over, but nobody needed to know about his exploits of the previous night.

“I checked around about that post-it note and nobody seems to know anything about it,” Cynthia informed him.

“Me either.” Brian set his coffee down on the desk and dropped his briefcase to the floor beside the desk. “Is Ted in?”

Brian picked up his briefcase, laid it on the desk and snapped it open. He pulled out a couple of folders and laid them out on the desk before closing the briefcase and replacing it beside his desk.

He walked around the desk and sat down in his big chair. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about everything he needed to do that day.

“Draw up a new contract for Eyeconics,” Brian ordered. “They’ll be in tomorrow morning at ten to see the new campaign.”

Brian nodded, but said no more. Ted waited. It seemed like Brian wasn’t through with him just yet. Ted was about to turn and leave when Brian finally spoke.

Ted shrugged. He wasn’t sure what else to say. “I didn’t think it was anything … special,” he finally added after Brian continued to stare at him demanding an explanation.

“That would please them,” Ted said gently. He knew they had been hurt when Brian didn’t show up for the opening.

“They were thrilled,” Brian said sarcastically as he remembered his less than enthusiastic welcome.

“No, and I told them that. There was only one thing that made the evening worthwhile,” Brian added wanting to get Ted’s reaction.

“I was wondering if you might have found the same thing to be … worthwhile,” Brian said enigmatically. He stared into Ted’s eyes.

“The star act at the club,” Ted said. “He was definitely the best thing in the whole place.”

“I’m going to be out at meetings all afternoon, so you’ll have to check the Eyeconics ads and get them set up for the meeting tomorrow afternoon.”

“Leave the Fluke boards to the side. They’re great, and it won’t hurt that the Eyeconics people see them.” Brian rubbed his eyes as he finished speaking then he squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“Are you okay? You look a little rough,” Ted said gently. He hoped he wasn’t overstepping.

“Ted, I gave Vic and Emmett some advice about advertising their club. You might want to follow up with them if you have a chance.”

Ted had not turned back to face Brian. He knew instinctively that Brian would not like that. He smiled to himself, secretly pleased that Brian was trying to help their friends. “I’ll check it out,” Ted said before he continued on out of the office.

Brian watched his friend and CFO leave the office. He hoped Ted would convince Emmett and Vic to advertise in places more likely to attract the demographics they were looking for. He wanted the club to succeed. He wanted his friends to succeed.

Justin got off the bus and walked quickly towards the alley that led to his janitorial job. He liked working at this company. The offices were sleek and modern even though they were in an old building. Whoever had redesigned it had done a great job of keeping some of the old attributes while making it sexy and chic. He found all the graphics and advertising posters spread out through the company stimulating. He thought about his painting drying in his space at PIFA. It was really good. Deep inside himself he knew it was something special. He smiled as he saw Joe standing by his van waiting for him.

“Have you been waiting long?” Justin asked with a worried frown. He was making good money at Club Emvic, but he needed this job too. Having been late last Friday, he didn’t want to keep Joe waiting for him again.

“Naw, I’m just yankin’ your chain. Got here a couple of minutes ago,” Joe responded. “Let’s get to work.”

Justin smiled, broader than usual. Joe gave him a strange look before unlocking the front door of the business. He and Justin entered. Joe hauled his big polisher inside, and then locked the door behind them.

Justin went down the hall to get started on the men’s restroom. Joe watched the young man till he disappeared around a corner. There was something different about Justin tonight. Joe wasn’t sure what it was, but he decided he’d find out at break. He started up his floor polisher and got to work in the main foyer.

Justin was finishing the sinks in the men’s room. He was lost in thought as he did his rather mindless job. He was thinking about green eyes and strong muscles and a big dick. He giggled out loud. He had never felt so alive … not in as long as he could remember. Even though Brian hadn’t come to the club on Sunday, Justin was happy with the night they had spent together. He had almost reconciled himself to the fact that he would never see Brian again. Even if Brian came to the club, it would be to see his friends, not to see him. Justin knew Brian was out of his league, but that didn’t change the joy he had felt when they were together. That feeling made their night together worthwhile and would sustain him for the foreseeable future. It felt good to be happy, even though Brian had blown him off at the end.

Justin shook himself. He probably should be disappointed that his life was back to its normal, mundane state, but a night of ecstasy with Brian was not something to be sneezed at. He would never forget it.

“Huh,” Justin said aloud breaking out of his thoughts. “Coming,” he called to Joe.

Joe had brought chicken rice soup this evening. It was delicious like all Lydia’s cooking. They ate in silence for a few minutes.

“Your wife makes the best soup in the whole world,” Justin declared as he got the last bits from his mug.

Joe laughed. “You should come for dinner one night. Lydia would love to cook for you. She’d make something other than soup.”

“I could live on her soup all day every day,” Justin said as he picked up his mug and Joe’s and took them to the sink. He filled them with water to be washed up later. “What kind of sandwich have we got tonight?” Justin asked with a grin.

“Not today. When Lydia has chicken we get chicken in everything for a couple of days,” Joe stated taking a big bite out of his sandwich. He watched Justin attack his sandwich with gusto. “You’re in a good mood tonight,” Joe observed then waited for Justin’s reaction.

“I … I had a … date on Saturday night.” Justin knew that calling what he and Brian had done a date was not exactly true. But it had seemed like a date to him in many ways. Brian had been kind and considerate just like a good date should.

Justin stared at his boss. They had never discussed his sexuality. He liked to believe that he wasn’t too obvious about his inclinations. “How did you know?”

“Um, does it matter to you?” Justin asked carefully. He still needed this job.

“Why should it? If you do your work properly, and you do, your sexual orientation makes no difference,” Joe stated.

“Sounds like you’ve had some experience with intolerance,” Joe guessed.

“We had a great time till he got a phone call from some guy named Mikey. Then he took off in a big hurry. He never mentioned seeing me again, so I don’t think that’s likely to happen.” Justin admitted to Joe and also to himself.

“What kind of a name is Mikey?” Joe asked. “Sounds like a baby name.”

“Yeah,” Justin said with a laugh. “Mikey has perfect timing though, at least for him.”

They had just about finished their sandwiches. They continued eating in silence. When they were finished, Justin said he would clean up while Joe went back to what he was doing. Justin thought about Brian while he was washing up the mugs they had used. He concluded that it was probably best to forget about Brian, just keep him as a glorious memory and a striking piece of art.

Justin finished the restroom off the main office. He took a sniff of his favorite cologne before leaving the room with a last swipe to the counter. He loved the smell of that scent … almost as much as he loved the smell of … Brian. Now that he thought about it, Brian could have been wearing that scent. He had smelled great. But then, everything about Brian was great. And Justin’s senses had been on such overload that he would be hard pressed to define anything specific about Brian that night … other than how great he was. Maybe all rich men like the owner of this company wore that scent – Baldessarini. Justin didn’t think he would ever forget that wonderful smell, long after he had stopped working for Joe, and his memory of Brian had faded.

Walking out of the restroom, Justin looked at the boards that were lined up on one side of the big table. They were the ones he had seen on Friday night, but they seemed different. He walked over to them and a big smile creased his face.

He looked the boards over noting that the new slogan that he had written on a post-it note was now emblazoned across them all. Then he saw the post-it note stuck to the side of the middle board. He pulled it off and read:

Whoever wrote that slogan, you have a career in advertising. It was just what this ad campaign needed. Get in touch with me. I’ll make it worth your while.

Justin read the note again. He wondered what “make it worth your while” meant. He scrunched up the note and stuck it in his pocket. He wasn’t really interested in advertising as a career, even though he always thought he’d be pretty good at it. Maybe this firm would give him a job if he contacted this BK person. But he couldn’t really take a job right now. He wanted to finish his year at PIFA. Besides, one slogan didn’t make you an advertising genius. That would be just too easy, and Justin’s life was anything but easy.

Turning around to go dust the big desk in the office, Justin noticed the other boards that now stood across from him. They would be what someone entering the office would notice first. They were for a company called Eyeconics, and they were great looking boards. There wasn’t anything he would change about them, except maybe the blue should be purple, but that was a minor thing. He considered leaving another note but decided against it.

He started dusting the big desk and replacing every item right where it had previously been. Joe had stressed to him how important that was. Many executives liked their daily items to be located exactly where they always grabbed them. Any variation in that might cause them to complain.

When Justin was almost finished dusting the desk, he moved the post-it note dispenser, the last thing he would touch on the desk. He replaced it after he had wiped the area beneath it.

Thoughtfully he turned and looked at the Eyeconics boards. They would be better with purple than blue. He pulled a post-it from the dispenser and quickly wrote a note saying what he thought about the colors. He walked over to the boards and stuck the note to the edge of the middle board. He wondered if this BK would guess it was the same person making this suggestion.

Justin had a big grin on his face as he gathered up his cleaning equipment. He kind of liked this game. It was good for his brain and his confidence. He wondered if they would use this idea too.

He actually felt like whistling as he left the office and went to look for Joe.