"Well, hello, stud." Daphne said with a smile looking up at him. She was sitting at the table looking through a textbook and sipping her morning java. "You guys didn't get to sleep until like six in the morning, did you?"
"How'd you know?"
"Neither did I. The walls in this place are thin, you know? Whoever you had in there was moaning like a bitch in heat." She chuckled as she stood to pour her roommate some coffee. Instead of waiting for her to finish pouring his, Brian grabbed her cup and took a big gulp.
Daphne chuckled and brought the pot to the table. "Normally I'd freak if you did that, but you worked yourself hard last night," she laughed again, "and you probably need it more that I do."
"You're such a good little roommate, Daph." Brian smiled as she sat back down across from him.
"So, who was last night's victim?" She asked with a grin. This was how it always happened. Over coffee, she and Brian would sit down and he would regale her with stories about what he and his trick from the night before had done.
"Justin Taylor." Brian said with a small smile. When he saw Daphne's shocked reaction, he laughed a little. "Me and Mikey ran into him at Woody's."
"Did Mikey have a fit when you left with Justin?" Daphne asked. She wasn't too fond of Brian's so-called best friend. She thought he was a little too obsessed with his friend to be genuine. Michael tended to be jealous and whiney and Daphne had no respect for that.
"He was a little preoccupied." Brian chuckled, remembering Anthony and Mikey grinding against each other and barely looking up when he and Justin left.
"Preoccupied with what?"
"Anthony. Justin was there with him and Anthony seduced Mikey so that he was too busy being dazzled to notice me and Justin." Brian took another big gulp of coffee, trying to motivate himself to get dressed and get ready for work. Saturday mornings he worked at a men's clothing store.
"So, how'd you get sweet little Justin into bed?" Daphne asked. She looked confused when Brian all out laughed.
"Actually, it was more like he got me into bed. We bet on pool. If he won, I drove him home. If I won, I drove him back here. I think he knew I would win, he sucked." Brian grinned. "I considered throwing the game just to find out if he would try to find another way to get me to bring him here."
"But wanting him won out?" Daphne asked with a smile. She saw something different in Brian when he talked about Justin. He wasn't just some nameless trick like all of the other guys he brought home.
"Apparently." Brian shrugged.
"You really like him, don't you?"
"What are you talking about?" Brian played dumb. "Just because I brought him home doesn't mean that I like him. I bring home guys all the time."
"But it doesn't matter to you either way whether they end up coming home with you or whether you move on to some other trick. And you never call them by name the next day." Daphne always liked to challenge Brian. He had all sorts of rules about relationships that not many twenty-two year olds were cynical enough to have.
"So what if I like him. Doesn't change anything." Brian shrugged. He hated that Daphne knew him as well as she did.
"I know you too well to buy this shit you're feeding me. I know you like the kid and you just don't want to tell me because it'll ruin your precious image. But I don't want you to get hurt so I feel inclined to remind you that Justin just broke up with his boyfriend and there's a really good chance that you're just a trick to him." Daphne decided that it was better to remind him about where Justin was instead of letting him get himself in too deep.
"No need to worry about me." He grinned. "It's not like I'm going to turn into some monogamous asshole who likes to pretend that he's in love to make it okay to have sex. Sure, maybe I do like Justin but you don't have to worry about me falling in love with the kid." Brian said the word love with such distaste that it made his roommate wince.
"I can't believe you don't believe in love." Daphne shook her head. They'd had the exact same conversation quite a few times. "I mean, how can you be so jaded at your age?"
"Just lucky, I guess." Brian grinned and stood. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go wake sleeping beauty and send him on his merry way so I can go to work."
"He's still here?" Daphne was shocked. Brian wasn't exactly known to let tricks sleep over. He usually finished with them and sent them on their merry way as soon as they were done.
"I wore the poor boy out." Brian winked and slipped into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Justin was still fast asleep. Crawling back into bed, Brian considered what Daphne had reminded him of. It was true that Justin was still getting over the asshole who lied and cheating on him. It made him feel pretty worthless to think that he could be just a trick in Justin's eyes.
When Justin started to rouse, Brian decided that he was going to play it cool with the young man and not put himself out there to get shit on. "Good morning, Sunshine." He said with a grin when Justin turned over and looked at him.
"I forgot where I was for a second." Justin said, offering him a sleepy smile. "And then I felt an ache in my ass and I remembered how awesome last night was."
"Worth the ache?" Brian asked, raising an eyebrow amusedly.
"Hell yes." Justin sat up and looked around for his underwear, holding the comforter against his stomach. When he located them, he slid them on under the covers before standing up to look for the rest of his clothes.
"I gotta start getting ready for work. Can you find your way out?" Brian asked, trying his hardest to sound disinterested.
"Yeah, I think I can handle it." Justin said, a little disappointed that Brian was basically kicking him out. He thought about what Lindsay told him about Brian, how he kicked tricks out of his bed and then forgot they exsisted.
"Later." Brian said over his shoulder as he grabbed a towel and headed out of the room. Justin finished dressing hurriedly, feeling more than a little annoyed. He said a quick hello to Daphne before he slipped out of the apartment and called a cab from his cell phone.
***
"Can you believe she didn't want to sleep with me!" Lindsay raged as she and Justin made their way to the Liberty Diner for lunch. "She said it was too soon."
"She's being respectful?" Justin shrugged. He was too preoccupied with feeling like he got dumped by yet another guy to really listen to Lindsay's lesbo sex problems. "I can't believe you're angry because she doesn't want to just fuck you."
"Justin Taylor! I wouldn't sleep with someone who I thought only wanted to fuck me! I know she isn't like that. She was with her ex girlfriend, Leda, for like 3 years. I just don't think she finds me attractive." Lindsay was pouting.
"I slept with Brian Kinney last night and then he basically kicked me out of his bed without so much as an ‘It was great, we should do this again sometime.'" Justin raged, sick of hearing about Lindsay's women problems all the time.
"Oh, Justin! Are you okay?" Lindsay went into mothering mode. "I told you that he was no good! I wish you would have listened to me!"
"Well, apparently you were right." Justin groaned. He and Lindsay then stepped into the diner and found a booth near the door. "I don't want to talk about it though. Can we talk about something neutral like school?"
"Sure." Lindsay said as she slipped her coat off and sat down. "I have to tell you about my film professor. He's young, but he's such a geek." Lindsay giggled. Justin laughed as well as the redheaded waitress walked up.
"How can I help you two?" She said with a big smile, taking out a fuzzy pen and a notepad from her apron.
"I'll have a tossed salad and a bowl of soup, please." Lindsay said sweetly.
"Alright, darlin'. And what about you, Sunshine?" She asked, looking at Justin. He paused for a minute as she called him the nickname that Brian had given him.
"Uhhh... I'll have a cheeseburger and french fries." Justin said offering her a smile. He was a little shaken by her calling him "Sunshine", but he tried to hide it.
***
"I think I'm in love." Michael gushed as they were walking towards the diner after Brian finished his shift at the store.
"With who?" Brian asked absentmindedly. He had been thinking about his night with Justin all day. He wasn't sure why, he had convinced himself that Justin was just like any other trick and that he would forget him completely by the next day.
"Anthony..." Michael replied as though he were in his own little world. Hearing this, Brian tried to put all thoughts of Justin away and instead focused on the fact that Michael was setting himself up for a big fall. He felt like he and Anthony were one and the same. Even though Anthony was still a freshman, he had already earned himself quite a reputation with the gay community on campus as being a player.
"Michael, I don't know if that's such a good idea." Brian warned. "Anthony isn't the type of guy who does the relationship thing."
"Oh, what do you know!" Michael snapped, annoyed at Brian for interrupting him while he was in fantasyland. "You were too busy with Justin to even notice me and Anthony. I think he really likes me."
Brian decided that it would be a better idea to back off than to push. At least he could say that he warned his friend. "If you say so." He decided to change the subject. "Is your mother working today?"
Michael nodded. "Mom works every Saturday. It's their busiest day."
As the pair of friends walked into the diner, Brian noticed Justin sitting in the booth by the door almost immediately. He wasn't sure what he should do. He didn't want to ignore him completely, but he didn't want to push anything. Unfortunately, he had no choice. As soon as Michael recognized Justin as being Anthony's friend, he invited himself to sit down at their table.
"Hi, Justin. I'm Michael. Do you remember me from last night?" Michael was like a puppy dog and Michael was dreading the day that Anthony broke his friend's heart.
"Yeah." Justin nodded, never taking his eyes off Brian. "Nice to see you again. This is my friend Lindsay."
Brian realized that he wasn't going to get Michael away from the booth, so he took a seat next to Lindsay, who shot him a dirty look. He was a little surprised and wondered exactly what Justin had told his normally cheerful little lesbian friend.
"Hi, Lindsay. I'm Michael. I'm a friend of Anthony's." Michael made it sound like he and Anthony had known each other forever. Lindsay raised an eyebrow.
"Nice to meet you." Lindsay said with a smile. She wasn't sure what to think of Michael, but decided that it was better to be polite.
"I'm Brian."
"I know who you are." Lindsay replied sharply.
Justin lowered his head and looked at the table. He couldn't believe that he was in such a ridiculous situation. He could feel Brian's eyes on him but decided that it would be better if he didn't look up. He was wondering whether Brian would have even said hello to him if Michael hadn't made himself at home in their booth.
"So, how's Anthony?" Michael asked. "Seems like I haven't seen him in forever."
"I don't know. I haven't talked to him since last night at Woody's." Brian lifted his head and looked at Michael. "He was still asleep when I left this morning."
"Oh. I was thinking of calling him and seeing what he was doing tonight. Seeing if he maybe wanted to get together." Michael gushed.
"We're going to Dyke night at Babylon. I'm making Anthony and Justin go with me." Lindsay explained with a big smile. She hadn't mentioned it to Justin yet, but by the look on her face he knew that she wanted to go because Melanie was going to be there.
"I've never been to Dyke night." Michael said with a smile. "Maybe we'll have to go, huh Brian?"
"Maybe. I don't know where I'll be later." Brian shrugged, trying to keep a cool exterior. In reality he was feeling anything but cool. He'd spent all morning convincing himself that his night with Justin meant nothing, but after seeing the blond again all that went down the drain.
"Hello, boys and girl." A tall, skinny waiter with a think southern accent said as he arrived with a tray containing Lindsay and Justin's food. "Who had the salad and soup?"
"That's me." Lindsay said sweetly, glad to have the tension at the table broken by the waiter. He placed her food in front of her and smiled at the other three guys.
"And who had the burger and fries?"
"Me." Justin replied quietly.
"Well, aren't you just as cute as a button." The waiter flirted as he put Justin's food in front of him. "I'm Emmett, and you are absolutely adorable."
Justin blushed and smiled in return. Brian felt his blood boil and got angry at himself for getting jealous. He also felt a little angry at the waiter for so openly flirting with Justin.
"I'm Justin."
"Well, sweetie pie, you should come here more often. We need more cutie's like you in here to brighten up my day." Emmett winked as he walked away with a flourish.
***
"What a jerk." Lindsay fumed as she and Justin walked down Liberty Avenue after leaving the diner. Throughout lunch, Brian had barely acknowledged her friend and she was madder than hell.
"Doesn't matter. I should have known better." Justin shrugged, shoulders slumped. He felt stupid for expecting that Brian maybe wanted more than just a fuck.
"No!" Lindsay exclaimed. "You don't do that to someone you fucked like 12 hours ago. If he didn't want to see you again he could have been at least decent anyway."
"Whatever."
"Well, don't you worry. We're going to find you a new guy at Babylon tonight. Even though it's Dyke Night, I'm sure there'll still be some hot guys there... You're like every gay boys fantasy, I'm sure there will be a lot of guys there who want you." Lindsay was always the optimistic one when it came to her friends happiness, Justin just wished she could be that optimistic about her own love life.
"Maybe I should just be alone for a while. Getting dumped twice in one week isn't exactly making me feel like dating right now." Justin tried to smile a little as Lindsay threw her arm around him and started trying to decide what she was going to wear that night.
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