High School Reunion

Chapter 12

* * *

“Having fun?” Brian asked as he slid up against Justin. He let Justin’s swaying bottom brush against his groin.

“Behave yourself,” Justin laughed as he leaned back against Brian.

“You’re not helping me to do that,” Brian groaned. “That ass of yours will be the death of me.”

“But what a sweet way to go,” Justin grinned.

Brian laughed, and Justin relished the sound. The whole reunion thing had been a strain on Brian. He realized that now, but maybe Brian’s talk with Mary Beth had gone well. Justin hoped so. That would make Brian feel better. He did want Brian to enjoy himself.

“Buy a guy a drink?” Justin asked.

“Soda?” Brian laughed.

“Yummy.”

“Let’s go, stud.” Brian took Justin’s arm and guided him over to the makeshift bar they had set up in one corner.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked.

“I guess it’s too much to hope for a glass of Beam,” Brian snarked.

“No alcohol,” the guy replied sounding almost as disappointed as Brian was.

“Punch?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, we have a really good fruit punch if you’d like some.” The bartender eyed the two men suggestively.

“Okay,” Justin replied giving Brian a look.

“How appropriate – fruit,” Brian snickered. He stuck his tongue in his cheek as he asked for Perrier.

Justin sipped his fruit punch. “Try some, Brian. It’s really good.”

“I could still use a Beam,” Brian retorted taking a drink of his sparkling water.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice boomed from the microphone. “Everyone please take your seats.”

All eyes in the gym turned and looked towards the stage. Buck Hansen was standing there with the microphone in his hand.

“The reunion committee decided it might be … cute.” That got some laughter from the crowd. “To have the prom king and queen from our graduating class be acknowledged once again. Would Janet Thompson and Keith Archenko please join me up here?” Buck requested.

“Isn’t that the … woman from the sign-in table?” Justin asked, as he and Brian made their way back to their table to join Michael and Ben.

Brian chuckled. “That would be correct. None other than my old lab partner.”

They both watched a very buxom Janet in a skintight skirt swish her way to the front of the gym. A slightly balding man came from another part of the gym to join her.

“They don’t look so … good,” Michael observed.

“Neither one of them has aged particularly well,” Brian agreed.

“Were they really your king and queen?” Justin asked.

“Not my king and queen,” Brian declared. “But Janet did look a lot better back then.”

“I think Michael should have been the queen,” Justin said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Huh?” Ben asked with a frown.

“Didn’t Michael ever tell you about the PRIDE Parade, and the lovely ensemble he wore to it?” Justin grinned.

Michael gave Justin a dirty look before turning to Ben. “I was still…”

“In the closet,” Brian supplied.

“People from my work were there and I…”

“Was scared shitless that they’d find out you were gay,” Brian continued.

“And Emmett had this dress that was supposed to be worn by Godiva, but Godiva died the day before the parade.”

“Who was Godiva?” Ben asked.

“She was a drag queen who helped Emmett when he first came to Pittsburgh,” Justin explained. He remembered back to that day he had gone to the hospice to assist Emmett in packing up Godiva’s meager belongings. They had found the dress that Godiva was going to wear to the parade. And Justin had run into Chris Hobbs. Justin gave an involuntary shudder.

“So Emmett had Godiva’s dress,” Michael continued.

“And he talked Mikey into wearing it to the parade, so that his mommy wouldn’t be disappointed once again when her widdle Mikey didn’t march with her PFLAG group,” Brian told them.

“Emmett helped me get dressed and did my makeup,” Michael said blushing.

“You made one bitchin’ broad,” Brian said tongue in cheek.

“Michael looked really good,” Justin said sincerely. “He marched with Debbie, and Deb was really thrilled.”

“I wish I could have seen that,” Ben laughed.

“I even kissed that fucking Andrew,” Michael said with an exaggerated shudder.

“Who’s Andrew?” Ben asked.

“He was this asshole that I worked with. For a while he was my boss. I shocked the shit out of him when I kissed him,” Michael laughed. “He didn’t know if I was a girl or a guy.”

“Good for you, Mikey,” Brian said. “Maybe you brought out his feminine side.”

“Or maybe not,” Michael chuckled. “I hope to never see Andrew again.”

“Is he still at the Big Q?” Justin asked.

“I think so, but I never shop there anymore.”

“Enough of this trip down fucking memory lane,” Brian stated. “They’re crowning Janet and Keith.”

All four of them watched as the old crowns from prom were once again placed on the heads of the two people who had worn them fifteen years earlier.

“They … don’t look anything like they did back then,” Michael observed, “not even with their crowns.”

“I guess you can’t go home again,” Brian said philosophically. “Or back to your glory days. You can only go forward.”

Justin squeezed Brian’s shoulder and Brian turned to look into his eyes. “We’ve gone forward,” Justin whispered.

Brian nodded but didn’t say anything. They all looked somewhat thoughtful as the crowning of the king and queen continued.

“Since we now have our king and queen from days gone by, we thought it might be fun to vote for a present day king and queen,” Buck Hansen explained. “In the basket on your table you will find some ballots and pencils. Please write down the name of someone you think would make the best present day king or queen. You can use whatever criteria you like for making your choice. You might want to jot down why you’re voting for this person. They could be the best looking or the best preserved.” Buck got some appreciative chuckles when he said that. “Or you could select someone who has become very successful. Just choose someone representative of our class, and I do mean class.”

Amid laughter and some catcalls of various names, Buck set the microphone back in the holder and walked over to the table where he had been sitting. He made a great show of taking the ballot from the basket and writing a name on it. One of his minions appeared with a ballot box. Buck stuffed his ballot into the box and then gestured for everyone else to do the same.

“I’m voting for Mikey for queen,” Justin giggled.

“Asshole,” Michael reacted. “Don’t you dare!”

“I’m voting for Michael for king,” Ben said, earning a kiss on the cheek from his husband.

“Who are you voting for?” Justin asked Brian.

“I don’t believe in popularity contests,” Brian said with a superior look on his face.

Justin snorted. “If you did, who would you vote for?” Justin persisted.

“Myself, of course,” Brian replied as he stood up. “Hafta pee.” He headed off out of the gym.

“Let’s put Brian’s name down,” Michael said.

“He’ll be pissed,” Justin replied.

“You don’t actually think he’s going to win, do you?” Ben asked.

“He might,” Justin said carefully. “He’s the best looking guy here.”

“I think Michael’s pretty damn cute,” Ben declared giving his husband a squeeze.

“You already voted,” Michael said with a smile.

“You should vote for the adorably cute Michael too,” Ben instructed his husband.

“I’m voting for Brian,” Michael said.

“Okay, me too,” Justin agreed as he wrote Brian’s name down on the ballot. “But he better not win. He’ll kill us.”

“No need to worry,” Michael laughed.

Just then the man with the ballot box came by and they all stuffed their ballots inside.

“Hey,” Michael said as the man moved away. “Brian’s not going to use his ballot, so I’ll write his name on this ballot as well.”

“Michael,” Ben protested.

“It’s just for fun.” Michael scribbled Brian’s name down on the remaining ballot and then ran after the person with the ballot box.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Ben said.

“He never does,” Justin laughed.

 

*****
 

Brian was zipping up in front of the urinal when he heard the restroom door open. He turned to see Buck Hansen standing there. Behind him were the two large men who had practically carried Joel Dalrymple out of the gym, after he made that scene. Brian was sure they had been on the football team with Buck back in the olden days.

“I want to talk to you, Kinney,” Buck stated. He wasn’t going to be put off this time.

“Do you need these goons to help you form the words?” Brian asked sarcastically.

The two men started forward at Brian’s derisive comment, but Buck stuck out his arms to stop them.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all evening, but you keep avoiding me,” Buck said.

“Maybe I don’t want to talk to you,” Brian replied as he ran some water over his hands. He hoped Buck wouldn’t notice the slight shaking that had suddenly appeared in them. Brian glanced at Buck’s henchmen. They did not look happy, and they were fucking huge. “What do you want, Buck?” Brian said wearily, hoping he wasn’t going to get his ass kicked. Where was fucking Ben when you needed him?

“Remember when Joel and I stuck your head in the toilet?” Buck asked. The two men with Buck grinned.

“How could I forget such a memorable occurrence?” Brian asked sarcastically as he ripped off a piece of paper towel and started to dry his hands.

“And do you remember what happened after that?”

“You mean what happened to your hand?”

“Yes, I mean what you did to my hand.”

“I remember,” Brian said slowly, tossing the used paper towel into the trash can.

“Good, then we can talk.”
 

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