Chad exited Jesse’s room, feeling completely rested but not willing to start the day. Of course, since officially becoming a student at the university he knew that he had an obligation to himself, his friends and the school to go to his classes, as much as he didn’t want to.
Waking up was the bad news. The good news was that he smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen and his hunger was fast outweighing his desire to go lounge around in bed some more.
He was expecting Chuck to be in the kitchen cooking, as he thought the food smelled familiar. He was surprised, however to find that it was Sierra in front of the stove, frying away at something that smelled wonderful.
"Why Chuck, is there something you wanna tell me?" Chad asked. "Something about a sex change?"
Smiling to herself, Sierra decided to play along as Chad continued creeping up to her back.
"Uh, see, it’s not a sex change if I was born this way," she said in a masculine a voice as she could.
Chad wrapped his hands around Sierra’s hips, placing his chin on her shoulder.
"Is that for me?" he asked.
"Depends," Sierra replied, turning the stove off. "How much do you have?"
"One million, billion, zillion cash monies," Chad replied.
Sierra chuckled before turning around and placing her arms around Chad’s shoulders.
"How’d you sleep?" she asked.
"Apparently that thing about the milk is true," Chad replied. "It does help me sleep better."
Sierra looked down. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Chad’s not so legitimate husband after telling him to get lost just last night.
"Well, has anyone ever told you that a warm body beside you is so much better?" she asked, seductively.
"Grace and Zoey, just last night actually," Chad replied.
"Boo, you’re no fun," Sierra pouted.
"Okay, so let me make it up to you," he spoke, before leaning in and kissing Sierra gently.
Both Sierra and Chad were amazed at how well the other kissed. The kiss itself ended before either of them wanted and in an effort to ease the slight awkwardness, Sierra spoke.
"Here, sit down," she said. "I’ll bring everything to you."
"Yes ma’am," Chad smiled before gently slapping Sierra’s ass and walking over to the table.
He was happy to finally understand that he wasn’t gay. For some reason he woke up knowing he wasn’t gay. He wasn’t sure why but he had. And even though nothing was official between him and Sierra yet, he was hoping to make it that way soon.
"Is that Jesse’s robe?" Sierra asked, retrieving a plate from one of the cabinets.
"Yeah. I guess he likes to dress big because we’re not even the same size and this thing fits me perfectly," Chad replied. "Sucks that he’s in rehab though."
"Yeah well maybe it’ll loosen him up, get him to take out those sticks shoved up his ass," Sierra replied, placing a plate of pancakes and a bottle of syrup on the table.
"Hey, where’s Chuck anyway?" Chad asked.
"Why, not happy to see me?" Sierra asked. "Well, who am I kidding? I felt exactly how happy you were to see me."
Chad blushed, moving part of the bath robe over the front of his sweats.
"No, just he usually makes me breakfast."
"Yeah well I told him I wanted to do it for you today. It’s a special day for you. You finally know what your name is and have someone from your life here that’s going to help you get your memory back."
"Yeah...my husband," Chad spoke, feeling depressed at the thought. "I just don’t get it. How can I have a husband if I’m so attracted to you?"
"I don’t know Chad...er, Nate," Sierra replied. "Are you saying you don’t want to be attracted to me?"
"No I...do I just...it’s weird. It doesn’t feel right to me," he replied. "And call me Chad. I feel like that’s my name now."
Sierra finished bringing everything to the table and picked up the syrup bottle to pour over his pancakes but stopped when Chad spoke up.
"No thanks, I’m allergic," he said simply as if it were something he knew for sure before picking up a fork and starting into his omelet. "Mmm. This is really good. What?"
"You’re allergic to maple syrup?" Sierra asked.
"Huh?" Chad asked, before looking down at his pancakes. "What? I don’t know..."
"Have you had pancakes since-"
"No...I mean, I’ve made them for Jesse once but I never...." Chad strayed.
All of a sudden he felt like he was a million miles away, trapped in his thoughts. Things were feeling wrong or right to him, almost like he knew for sure. But if he didn’t even know for sure that his name was Nathaniel and that he was married to a man, how could he know whether or not he was allergic to maple syrup without ever having tasted it before.
Noticing how distant Chad looked, Sierra panicked a bit. She needed to expend all her efforts into getting Chad to focus on her. The closer they became, the more likely he’d be to propose to her. He could have his memory back after, but only after that happened.
"Don’t forgot there’s an omelet too," Sierra said as cheerily as possible.
Chad, snapping out of his thoughts looked down at his plate and then back over at Sierra, smiling.
"And I’m definitely not allergic to those," he said.
* * *
Trey was in a hurry. He had a lot to do today and didn’t want to be late for any of it. It was something that Shawn, just waking up, noticed.
"Wow, slow down Speed Racer," he said after yawning.
"Can’t," Trey replied. "A lot’s happening today and I don’t wanna be late."
"A lot being more than class?" Shawn asked.
"I can’t go to class," Trey replied. "I’m supposed to do cast photos for College Life and after that there’s a big meeting about the show. But I’m supposed to meet everybody for breakfast first."
"Oh," Shawn said, simply before getting out a bed and stretching.
He watched Trey brushing his teeth, thinking back to the last time he’s watched him doing the same thing. He’d been in hurry then too. Trey didn’t realize it about himself, but he was always in a hurry. Being on time was important to him and Shawn was the only one who really, truly knew that about him.
Realizing that he was thinking a little too hard about someone he was trying each day to get over, he decided to keep things light and as drama free as possible.
"How is that show by way? I saw the casting auditions on tv. Have you guys started filming yet?" Shawn asked.
"Not yet. The show doesn’t air until the fall but they want to start promoting it as early as possible which is why I can’t be late," Trey replied.
Trey turned off the sink and started looking around frantically for his shoes. Before their room burned down, Shawn had always been the messy one. The only messy one between them. But being as tired as he was yesterday, Trey hadn’t bothered with unpacking any instead opting to shove all his belongings to the floor. Now between the two of them he was the most messy, and what’s more so completely unorganized that he could barely find the things he needed over all the junk he didn’t.
"Where are my shoes? I need my shoes!" he spoke, panicking as he dug through his stuff.
"Like maybe, those shoes?" Shawn asked, pointing to the ones already on Trey’s feet.
Trey looked down.
"Yeah, right," he replied. "Thanks."
"No problem," Shawn replied before feeling the awkward tension in the room.
Shawn grabbed a yogurt from his mini fridge and a spoon and began eating it while Trey started brushing his hair.
"Listen, about...last night..."
"I don’t wanna talk about it, Shawn," Trey spoke, stopping what he was doing altogether.
"That’s cool," Shawn replied. "I was just gonna say that you don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff happening again like before. I’m pretty happy with Collin and I wanna make it work."
"Right," Trey replied. "Collin."
Shawn just stood, spoon in mouth staring at Trey brushing his hair much slower than before.
"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you," Shawn started. "I wanted to. I wanted to tell you first. It’s just every time I try to talk to you, you make excuses to get away from me. Plus you said-"
"Yeah, I know," Trey replied, simply.
Once again there was an awkward tension between them.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know that," Shawn replied, before sitting on his bed to finish his yogurt.
That hadn’t been something Trey wanted to hear from Shawn. In fact, that hadn’t been something he wanted to hear ever, especially now. Shawn was happy with Collin and trying to make things work. For some reason Trey didn’t want that. He wanted Shawn miserable with Collin and for things to not be working. He didn’t want Shawn happy with Collin and he didn’t want him with Collin.
He didn’t know who he wanted Shawn with but he knew that he didn’t want him with himself. He had Noah and he was happy. Or at least, he had been before Noah told him he loved him last night and all he could manage to say back was ‘thank you’.
He didn’t know what it meant for his relationship with Noah but he knew that he didn’t really have the time he needed to devote to fixing that issue when there was so much else to today.
"Oh hey, you are gonna be back before the wing meeting tonight right?" Shawn asked, talking with the spoon in his mouth.
"There’s a wing meeting? For what?" Trey asked.
"I don’t know. Probably wanna go over the new safety rules and shit," Shawn replied.
"Well," Trey started, grabbing his keys. "As long as someone talks to us about the dangers of playing hide in seek in a fire, I’m good."
Shawn stared at Trey, a little pissed with him as Trey exited the room.
* * *
"We’ll, that was an experience I probably won’t ever forget," Seth said as he David and Jesse exited the teen youth shelter they’d spent the night in.
After realizing that they were in fact still being chased after all, the three of them spent two hours evading the surprisingly crafty security team sent after them. Jesse had chalked it up to the wellness center not wanting any bad press to get out about them and wanted them back so they could be kept quiet. In hindsight Jesse realized that they probably could’ve gotten time shaved off their stay in exchange for the silence of escaping but figured it was more than too late now.
David had somehow wandered off during the chase and when Seth and Jesse eventually found him fast asleep in one of the beds in the youth shelter. Not wanting to leave or wake him up, Seth and Jesse agreed to vastly lower their standards and spend the night in the youth center.
However, that was last night and today was a new day and as Jesse realized, it was time to get on with his life.
"Yes I believe I should get a physical before returning to school just in case I’ve somehow managed to contract AID’s from those blood stained cots we slept on," he said, rubbing the back of his freshly cramped neck.
"They were normal beds, not cots and they weren’t bloodstained," David clarified. "We shouldn’t be talking bad about a place that let us sleep in a warm bed for free. Especially right outside the front door."
Jesse turned around and looked the building over before returning his attention to the bustling city street before him.
"Yes well remind me to send them a donation once we’ve found the nearest ATM," Jesse replied. "I’m in desperate need of sunglasses and new clothing."
Seth agreed and all three boys began to walk to down the sunshine lit sidewalk full of life.
"So, you two never really explained why you hate each other so much," David said.
Seth and Jesse exchanged glances.
"I think it’s more our dad’s hate each other enough for the both of us," Seth replied. "Jesse just knows I’m better than him, that’s all. Mostly."
"I beg your pardon? You are by no stretch of the imagination ‘better than me’ in any way, shape or form," Jesse spoke. "Besides, you know you’ve always been a self absorbed little tosser with absolutely no interest in anything that doesn’t get you right randy or piss drunk."
"And you would know any of that how, exactly?" Seth asked. "I mean it’s not like I’m gonna go off and ask for a 40 ounce when I’m only five. Not that that wouldn’t have been so awesome of me."
"I’ve been informed of your exploits before," Jesse replied. "Of course seeing you in person again was a rather out of body experience, not being used to seeing you clothed and shaven."
"So the rents let me have a good time every now and then. Call me a fun person," Seth replied. "I can’t say no to a good beach party when it calls my name."
"Nor apparently a razor up until yesterday," Jesse replied.
"Guys!" David cut in, reminding Jesse and Seth of his presence. "I’m hungry. You think maybe we could stop to get something to eat?"
Both Jesse and Seth flashed each other glances to show how annoyed they were with each other before Jesse realized that he was actually quite hungry himself.
"Yeah, my trainer has my body on a schedule," Seth spoke. "If I don’t eat at the same time everyday, I’ll start to look like...well, you."
"So like someone with an excellent physique in other words?" Jesse spoke.
"Look, there’s an ATM! We can get some money to pay for breakfast," Seth said rushing to the ATM that was a few feet away from them.
David and Jesse caught up and waited beside Seth as he took out his ATM card.
"Do you mind?" he asked.
Jesse rolled his eyes before he and David walked over to the curb of the sidewalk and sat down.
"This is so cool huh?" David asked. "I’d never been to the city before this."
"Really? Why not?" Jesse asked, finding himself genuinely interested.
"I don’t know. I always kept to myself mostly back home. I don’t really have any friends so there was never really any reason for me to go anywhere but school and home."
Jesse hadn’t found it all that hard to believe that David was a friendless person. He was quite eccentric. But in the three weeks he’d known the guy he’d actually grown quite fond of him. He was one of the few people that didn’t try to talk down to or about him. He was himself and didn’t seem to be bothered at all by it. The last person he felt that way around was Grace but she was back at school and David was all he had. He was almost like the brother he actually wished he had. And he’d always wanted to have a younger brother.
"Okay, so no go," Seth said. "It kept telling me my account is suspended."
"Parent’s cut you from the family fortune did they?" Jesse smirked standing up. "Here, let someone with his own money try."
Seth waited as Jesse tried his hand at the ATM. After a few unsuccessful attempts he quickly realized that his account had been suspended as well, both trust and personal.
"Well, it told me this ATM was out of money. What kind of ATM runs out of money?" Jesse asked.
"Not this one. It’s right outside the bank. It’s not going to run out of money," Seth replied. "You’re lying aren’t you?"
"So my accounts have been suspended. Big deal, it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure it’s all just a big misunderstanding and all we have to do is call our banks and get it all sorted out," Jesse spoke.
"So, what are we gonna do in the meantime?" David asked, looking between Seth and Jesse.
Neither of them knew. This was new for both of them in many ways. The only thing they knew they had for sure was each other. Whether or not that was a positive thing for either of them had yet to be determined.
* * *
Trey was feeling awkward and nervous and wasn’t sure what exactly to do with himself.
His day already hadn’t started off on the right foot for him. Between the tension between him and Shawn and tension between him and Noah at breakfast, who hadn’t even spoken to him by the way, Trey was feeling less and less like the person he’d grown to be and more and more like the person he’d allowed himself to be before starting college. He thought that person was gone. He didn’t like that person. He’d been doing his best to get rid of that person but he seemed to be coming back little by little each day and the added stress of the show probably wasn’t helping things.
"I’m sorry, but who exactly are we waiting for again?" one of Trey’s fellow cast members, Dustin asked.
Trey had met the other two people that were going to be on the show when he arrived at the restaurant they were meeting at to discuss the show.
Dustin was one of those guys like Brad Pitt that despite their age didn’t actually look it. Dustin was somewhere between 24 and 28 but hadn’t really been specific. He’d long since graduated college and had moved to LA to try his hand at acting. When the casting was held at USC, he showed up and was picked.
Other than that, Trey didn’t know a lot about him and wasn’t really sure he wanted to.
Besides Dustin there was Kalinda, or Kal as she liked to be called. In a lot of ways she reminded him of Grace. She was black, feisty and didn’t take shit from anyone. But then he learned that she was pretty much a whore, having been discovered by one of the producers on the street late one night pimping herself out for money. He’d been told the producers were going to give her a backstory about her being a single mother with a baby and stripping job on the side to pay for school, even though that wasn’t true at all. It hadn’t surprised Trey. She was one of only two minorities on the show. One of them had to be the ghetto stereotype.
And of course he’d already met Holt, the 23 year old all American red blooded, all testosterone everyman’s-hero. That was his backstory. In reality Trey had never met someone so obviously gay who didn’t admit to it.
Gina was probably the only one besides Trey who was actually in college. She was 19, genuinely sweet and completely lovable. That was what she appeared to be. But there was something about her that he couldn’t exactly put his finger on. The only thing he knew was that it had to do with her overbearing manager that went everywhere she did. The same manager she seemed to be blindly in love with when he was over twice her age. She did whatever he told him to the point where it was disturbing. Otherwise she seemed like a perfectly normal girl.
So there it was his, co-stars. Everyone actors. Everyone not actually in college. And everyone but-
"Brooke! Knock, knock. Guess who? Your goddam fucking LATE self!" director of the series, Tim Sharpe spoke.
Tim was the exact opposite of Freddy. He was impolite, pushy and not at all personable. And the person he’d be spending a good deal of time with for the next two months. He was almost enough to push Trey away from the project entirely. If it weren’t for the opportunity the show presented him to be the one true thing on all of MTV and the fact that his friends were supporting him 100%, he’d have been gone already.
That and one other major reason he didn’t want to bring up for fear it would come true.
Brooke was the last piece of the College Life puzzle and was the first person Trey had ever used the term ‘complete bitch’ to describe. If Tim was a loud, pushy nerd, Brooke was a sharp tongued, cold and calculating female counterpart to his male persuasion. As he’d come to find out, she’d been on several reality shows as stated. The thing she conveniently neglected to tell people was how none of those shows ever made it to air because they were so terrible.
A part of Trey wished her curse would rub off on this show.
"Ugh, so sorry Timmy dear," Brooke spoke, walking to their table complete with oversized sunglasses and purse. "The girls and I went out to celebrate my success, had a few too many cosmos. You know how it goes. How’s the service here? I’ve got the worst headache and need something STRONG."
"Look, Brooke. I know all about you and those failed pieces of shit you threw up all over," Tim started. "I’m not gonna let you run this show into the ground just so you and your girlfriends can stay out all night having shitface benders."
"Oh please, you know as well as I do the only one that needs this show to happen is you," Brooke spoke. "Washed up has-been so isn’t what people look for in a director."
Tim, obviously annoyed barked at the waitress that came to take his order, which scared her off, before turning his attention back to Brooke.
"Take off the fucking sunglasses, will you? You’re in Dallas for Christ’s sake not Orange County," Tim spoke leaning back in his seat.
No one quite knew what to say after that. When Trey looked around he realized that it was apparently just him that was even paying attention to the sparing as everyone was either texting away on their cell phones or admiring themselves in a mirror or spook.
"Uh, can I ask what this meeting is about?" Trey asked, hoping to not be snapped at by Tim when he did.
Tim looked over at Trey, Trey not really sure whether or not he was giving him the evil eye before Tim spoke up.
"Yeah, I’ll tell you what this meeting is about," he started. "It’s about you people not fucking this show up because you don’t know your characters."
"Characters? Isn’t this a reality show?" Trey asked, knowing it was a pointless question to ask even as the words were leaving his mouth.
"Look kid I realize you’re the amateur of the group but try to pay attention will ya?" Tim replied. "This is a business and in the business world everything is planned out entirely before it happens. You don’t wanna watch a bunch of boring twenty-somethings-"
"Or thirty somethings in Dustin’s case," Brooke mumbled, while texting on her phone.
"Hey fuck you bitch," Dustin spoke which was returned by a middle finger Brooke held up to him without even looking up.
"The point is, you all need to know your back-stories and the part you’re going to be playing in this thing before those cameras start rolling," Tim replied before leaning down and taking a bunch of notebooks out of bag. "Pass these around. There’s one for each of you. Look those over and do what it takes to make yourself the person it says you are."
Everyone started passing around the notebooks, each one having their names stamped on the front and each one being a different color. Trey’s was blue he noticed as he opened it and looked it over.
Apparently from what he could tell he was more or less supposed to be himself, just as Freddy had promised. He didn’t have a problem with anything he’d read and was happy that he wasn’t being made out to be the gay hero. Maybe it had been saved for Holt.
"Oh my gosh guys, how completely fetch is it that I’m gonna get to be football player with a girlfriend!" Holt cheered before looking around at everyone. "Not that I don’t have one already that is. Where’s my beer? I wonder where there’s a nice cold beer?"
"Please try to contain all that masculine joy for us," Brooke spoke sarcastically. "And I have a problem with this. It says I’m supposed to play a bitch. I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m SO NOT a bitch."
"Gee, Brooke, I guess we’re gonna have to stretch our imaginations and find something challenging for you to play," Tim spoke. "Wouldn’t want you playing a part you obviously aren’t. You know, like a REAL actress."
"Did I say this wasn’t me? Of course it’s not me," Brooke spoke. "What’s my motivation?"
"It’s all in those notebooks, which by the way you can’t lose. You need to have those memorized by tonight. We’re going to be shooting your back home specials tomorrow," Tim replied.
"I’m sorry, our what?" Trey asked.
"Yes, I don’t think I’m entirely comfortable with Gina here going back to such a volatile environment," Gina’s agent Wayne spoke.
"My parent’s filed a restraining order against Wayne for some reason. They think he kidnapped me or something. I keep telling them I love him," Gina replied.
"Okay Gina, no more share time," Wayne spoke, nervously.
"What’s your number? We’re SO gonna have to talk," Brooke spoke, excited over the possible gossip to be shared.
"Back home specials? Like, with our parents and...cameras?" Trey asked, nervously.
"Yes with your parents and cameras," Tim replied, mockingly. "Jesus kid, you aren’t retarded are you? We’ll find out if you are."
Trey hadn’t wanted to come right out and admit it but he knew the reason why he was even remotely comfortable with doing the show was because he knew not one single person in his entire family or neighborhood even probably watched MTV. Most of them didn’t even have the cable MTV aired on. So he knew he could do something like this and more than likely not ever have his mother find out.
But filming at home was something that had completely blindsided him. He wasn’t expecting it and knew there was probably not going to be a way to get out of it.
"Christ I need a drink," Tim spoke before whistling at the nearest waitress and waving his hand in the air. "Excuse me, who does a guy need to fuck to get a little service around here?"
* * *
"Oh, hey," Chad spoke upon entering Jesse’s apartment and noticing Chuck, who was busy dusting.
"Hey," Chuck replied. "Have fun shopping?"
Sierra had decided to treat Chad to a morning and partial afternoon of shopping. He’d had a lot of fun spending so much time with Sierra and had wanted to do things like hold her hand or kiss her again the entire time but had been too nervous to initiate it.
He’d never felt the way he felt about Sierra in his entire life, something he’d realized early on. It was also something that worried him. How could he know that he felt that way about Sierra when he couldn’t remember if there had ever been anyone in his life to compare her to? But for some reason he just knew and didn’t know why he knew.
But he didn’t want to worry Sierra at all and certainly didn’t want to freak her out by professing his love for her and had decided to just go about enjoying the rest of his day.
"Where’s Sierra?" Chuck asked.
"She’s taking her car back to her place to drop off some stuff and then coming right back," Chad replied, placing his bags down.
"You didn’t wanna drive her back yourself?" Chuck asked.
"I don’t have a license. I’ve never really been good with driving cars, only collecting them," Chad replied offhandedly before sitting down on the couch.
He’d only just picked up the remote before realizing what he just said. It happened again. He’d remembered something he knew for a fact to be true about himself without remembering it exactly for himself. It had been happening a lot lately but mostly once a day or every few days since the accident. Ever since he’d learned what his real name was, where he was from and that he had a husband it had been happening to him much more frequently as in at least once every hour.
For example, when he’d been out shopping he remembered exactly what he liked and didn’t like style and brand-wise. When they went to a movie he remembered that star of it had been his favorite actor since he was a kid. And when they went to go eat, he knew exactly what to order as if he’d ordered it several times before, knowing how to ask for it to be cooked, what not be included and how he wanted it served. All things he hadn’t even known or realized he’d known until they happened.
"You collect cars?" Chuck asked. "Is that something you remember or..."
"I don’t know," Chad replied. "Maybe."
He sat thinking to himself. Oliver had to be the reason things were coming on so fast. He was the one that had got the ball rolling and would probably be the one to get him where he needed to be.
"Has Oliver stopped by at all?" Chad asked.
"I don’t think so. Course, I haven’t been here all day," Chuck replied. "Doesn’t he have the apartment number?"
It was true. Chad had given it to him before he left yesterday. He was hoping Oliver would stop by or at the very least have called. He was after all his husband. He was supposed to care.
"Did you get his number?" Chuck asked. "Maybe you can call him."
"No," Chad replied. "I didn’t think to ask."
He felt sad but conflicted. He wanted to see Oliver but seeing Oliver would just be admitting that he was gay and married to a man when he didn’t at all feel gay. But Oliver also was the person that knew more about the person he really was than anyone he currently knew.
He didn’t know what to do.
He became lost in his thoughts once again which felt like only a few moments to him but before he realized it, the door to the apartment opened and someone was coming in.
"Oliver!" Chad spoke, rising to his feet.
He was only partially disappointed to see that it was Sierra.
"Oh, sorry," Sierra spoke. "Just me. I guess Oliver decided he doesn’t like his husband not knowing who he is after all."
Chad sighed.
"It’s just, he sounded so interested in wanting to help me get my memory back," Chad said. "I thought maybe..."
Sierra looked over at Chuck briefly before walking over to Chad and put her arms around his shoulders as she guided them both down to the couch.
"Even if it turns out that Oliver won’t be here for you, which judging from the lack of non phone calls or house visits, he won’t, I will be," she said, sympathetically. "Just like I have been and just like I always will be."
Chuck walked closer to the two of them, pretending to still be dusting as he watched Sierra. He continued dusting before noticing the corner of a magazine that was sticking out of her purse. He couldn’t read the full title but he noticed the end was ‘Rings’ and that there seemed to be a few of them on what little of the cover he could see.
Sierra rested her head on Chad’s shoulder before turning her head to the side, catching Chuck staring at her from the corner of her eye.
She sat up and looked back at him before turning her attention back to Chad.
"You know, maybe you should get some rest. Take your mind off of all your stress," she spoke.
"You think so?" Chad asked.
"Absolutely," Sierra replied before looking over at Chuck. "You don’t mind leaving do you, Chuck?"
Chuck stared at Sierra staring at him before shrugging and placing down his duster.
"Of course not," he replied.
"Here, Chad why don’t you go get in Jesse’s bed and I’ll be in there in a minute to get you settled," she said.
"Okay," Chad spoke, suddenly feeling tired after all as he headed into Jesse’s room.
When they were alone, Sierra crossed her arms and looked over at Chuck.
"What are you up to?" Chuck asked.
"Just leave it alone little boy," Sierra replied. "I’ve got something going on that’s way too complicated for your simple little mind to grasp. Now just leave so Chad can get the rest he so clearly needs."
"Yeah," Chuck replied, still suspicious of Sierra. "So Chad can rest. Lemme just go get my stuff."
"Yeah you do that," Sierra spoke watching Chuck as he headed into Jesse’s room to gather his things.
"Hey Chuck, sorry about going all weird on you earlier," Chad spoke, looking at himself in the mirror.
"It’s fine but...I just think you should be careful around Sierra," Chuck replied. "I saw something about wedding rings in her purse."
"She’s getting married? To who?" Chad asked, quickly turning around.
"You, probably. Or at least that’s what she’s probably hoping for," Chuck replied. "Just try not to have sex with her anytime soon. That’s how they like to trap you when there’s a baby in tow."
Chad wasn’t sure how to respond to that and simply chose not to as Chuck exited the room.
"Let’s go," Chuck spoke to Sierra.
"What? No I need to go-"
"Already taken care off. The guys pretty tired. You can come back in a couple hours or something," Chuck replied.
"But-"
Sierra didn’t really get a chance to respond and barely had time to grab her purse, her ring catalog falling out unnoticed as she was dragged over to and out of the front door by Chuck.
Chad meanwhile stared at himself in the mirror. The prospect to marrying Sierra when he was already married to another man confused him to no end. He felt like he was trapped in place and his life wasn’t in his control. Sighing to himself her turned around, heading for the bed but hadn’t planned on tripping himself up in the decorative carpet on the floor, which caused him to fall forward into the large oak dresser in front of him, knocking him out cold.
* * *
"Way to go guys," Seth spoke as the three of them exited Jesse’s bank. "You we’re supposed to have your shit all planned out."
He was speaking of the fact that while both Jesse and Seth had remembered to grab their credit cards, they’d all failed to remember to grab their I.D’s or cell phones or any of the escape money David had stashed, rendering them completely helpless. They’d gone to Seth’s bank in an effort to try to get their money problems cleared up but without any photo identification they couldn’t prove that he was actually who he said he was. The same thing had gone for Jesse which meant that no one still had any money or any way to call anyone.
"We can just borrow someone’s cell phone and call one of your parent’s. Right?" David asked.
Seth and Jesse exchanged glances. That wasn’t something either of them wanted to do, having to explain how it was they happened to be stranded on the city streets without a phone or money in the first place.
"My numbers are all in my phone," Seth said, using the first excuse he could think of. "I don’t have anything memorized."
"Yes, who memorizes phone numbers in this day and age?" Jesse added, using the excuse as his own. "But hey, why not try your own parents? Perhaps they-"
"No my dad’s in Asia for the month and mom...well, she’s probably too medicated to answer the phone," David replied. "Besides, I think I like this little adventure we’re on. It’s like were wandering travelers making our way through life."
"Yes, broke and hungry. What kind of way of life is that for a man?" Jesse spoke with distaste.
"Sounds like a homeless way of life to me," Seth replied, also not thrilled with the idea.
"We’re not homeless, guys. Besides, at least we aren’t alone," David spoke. "Do either of you have like some special talent we can use to get money?"
"What, you mean panhandle on the streets like someone with no money?" Jesse asked, disgusted.
"Newsflash loser, WE don’t have any money," Seth spoke.
"Well, I’m certainly not about to stand around begging people for any," Jesse spoke. "It’s tacky and unpleasant."
"I guess my dad was always right," David spoke aloud as they continued walking.
"About what?" Jesse asked.
"He used to tell me not give money to bums because they were probably just rich people pretending to be poor because they were bored or didn’t want to spend their money," David replied.
"I can certainly assure you that your father was NOT right. I would never pretend to be poor. Who does that?" Jesse said.
"Well he was kinda right," Seth said. "I mean we are two rich guys out on the streets in need of money."
"Well," Jesse started. "I guess now all we need to do is find the nearest bum we can to ask them what kind of potato sacks they make all their clothing out of."
"Jesse..."
"What? I am not going to stand around here begging for money. I’m Jesse Yorkshire. Name alone should work more than enough wonder for us," Jesse spoke, beginning to walk towards a restaurant. Seth and David quickly caught up.
"Uh, Jesse this is O’Chax’s," Seth said as the three of them approached the maitre d’.
"Yes I’m well aware of that," Jesse replied before turning his attention to the maitre d’ "Hello. Table for three. I’m Jesse Yorkshire, son of billionaire publishing tycoon Thomas Yorkshire. I believe you’ve heard of me."
Seth and David exchanged glances as the maître d’ looked Jesse over.
"Excuse me, you’re holding up customers."
"Did you not just hear me? I said I was-"
"Look, we get you people in here at least twice a day pretending to be some rich person your clothes and special brand of body odor tell us you so clearly aren’t," the maître d’. "Now, I suggest you calmly leave and not come back before I get the police involved."
"Well," Jesse spoke, sounding offended. "I’m certainly never going to do business with this establishment ever."
The three boys turned around before Jesse made a comment to the people next in line.
"They’re having a rat infestation no one knows about. Tell everyone you know," he said as he, David and Seth continued on.
"So that didn’t work," David said.
"Gee, you think?" Seth mocked.
"Do we really smell that badly?" Jesse asked, looking himself over.
They had spent a great deal of time running from security last night, slept in beds that anyone from anywhere could have done a number of things in, and hadn’t showered since the previous day. Not to mention their clothes were on the dirty side.
"Look, I don’t know how much more of this I can take," Seth started. "I’m dirty, smelly, poor and hungry. I feel like Gary Busey!"
"Oh come one guys, it’s not that bad," David replied.
"I was just compared to a common bum," Jesse commented. "I’d say that’s going beyond being ‘that bad’"
"Well would you rather be back in the Wellness center, taking those mystery pills and sharing your feelings with Dr. Walker the secret alien in disguise?" David asked.
Seth and Jesse exchanged glances. While they definitely weren’t huge fans of the way life out on the lamb was turning out for them so far, it was still more favorable compared to the ways of Dr. Walker and her rehab program.
"Now, back to this panhandling idea I had," David said.
* * *
"Sounds like you, enough," Grace spoke, reading over Trey’s character notebook for the show.
She was sitting in Josh’s lap in a recliner in newly renovated and state of the art common room at Ark Hall. Zoey was also with them as well.
"Let me see that," Josh asked, grabbing the notebook from Grace when she handed it to him.
"You should really see these people. Fake as they come and they want to do a back home special for them," Trey said. "I don’t know how I feel about it personally. I don’t want my mom somehow finding out I’m gay because of this show."
"Yeah, about that...you suck, you do know that right?" Zoey said.
"Huh?"
"Noah told me what happened between you two last night," she continued. "You have a guy that loves you tell you he loves you and you’re worried about being yourself in front of your mom?"
"I think my mom finding out I’m gay is a little bigger than-"
"You’re right, Trey," Zoey replied. "Only they’re both the same thing. If you can’t tell Noah you love him, it makes perfect sense you don’t want you mom to find out you’re gay. It’s like you want to stay in this perfect little world where you get to be gay where no one knows you but as soon as it matters, you’re back in Dramaville."
Trey wanted to be offended but knew that she knew him well enough to know that what she was saying was true, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He wanted to tell Noah that he loved him back but that would mean that he was completely and truly happy with himself and their relationship. And someone completely happy with their relationship wouldn’t be afraid to share that with anyone, especially the people responsible for bringing them into the world.
Noah didn’t exactly have the greatest relationship with his family but Trey knew that he would tell them about the two of them in heartbeat if he had to and knew that he’d wanted to before but hadn’t because of Trey.
He just felt more conflicted with himself than anything.
"Hey, you’re gonna be on tv?" Josh suddenly said, breaking up the silence among them.
"What?" Grace asked.
"Yeah, it says in here that the back home specials will be introspective into the lives of the cast and their friends. Is this gonna air before the show or something?" Josh replied.
"Lemme look at that thing," Grace spoke, taking the book from Josh’s hands without it being given to her.
She glanced over it for a moment before realizing that it did indeed include Trey’s friends.
"Boy, why you didn’t say all this earlier?" she spoke, looking over at Trey. "If I’m bout to be on tv I need to go get my hair did and find the right outfit...ooh, I got too much to do."
Grace stood up.
"Baby where you going?" Josh asked.
"Come on girl, we need to go get ready," Grace replied. "These people not about to have me on tv looking like a ghetto hot mess."
Zoey stood up, still looking over at Trey.
"Just try to remember what I said, Trey," Zoey spoke as she stood up before being pulled off by Grace.
"I just get her back and she’s always off doing stuff," Josh sighed.
"That’s Grace for you," Trey replied before thinking about something. "Hey, are there any gay guys on the football team?"
"No. Why?" Josh asked.
"No reason," Trey replied, knowing Josh and the other football players were in for a surprise once the show started filming.
He was hoping that he himself wouldn’t be in for any surprises of his own.
* * *
He wasn’t sure if it was a headache or a hangover but his head hurt like fuck!
Chad slowly pulled himself up, shaking his head to clear his vision before looking around. For a moment, he had no clue where he was. Then he remembered. He was in Jesse’s room. He was about to go to sleep before tripping on the carpet and hitting his head. Looking over at the clock he realized that had happened nearly 4 hours ago and he he’d been out cold since then.
He looked down at his clothes.
"What the hell am I wearing?" he said, before looking himself over in the mirror. "What the hell was I thinking with my hair?"
As he recalled, he’d never liked buzz cuts as they looked too military and he was far from military. As a matter of fact, he could probably buy himself a military if he wanted.
Once he realized that he gasped to himself before thinking of a bunch of things to himself.
"When we’re you born?" he asked himself in the mirror. "December 19th, 1984. Where were you born? David’s Star Hospital, Ontario, Canada. What’s your real name? Nathaniel Eliot Carter. Your parents died in a car accident when you were nine, which left you in charge of the family advertising company. You like fast cars, hot women and helping people and hate fake tits, cheap clothes and nosejobs. You’re allergic to maple syrup and cats and you’re worth exactly 189 million dollars, give or take."
He remembered! He finally remembered! Now everything was coming back to him. He’d just returned from his trip to talk to an up and coming Japanese development firm about doing business with his advertising company when he decided to check the website of his father’s school, something he’d been doing ever since he started and graduated from college.
That was when he’d read an article about an up an coming campus organization that had been harassed for doing so simple and amazing as trying to help the innocent victims of hurricane Katrina by building a home. That was when he’d dropped everything he was doing, without telling anyone where he was going and hopped on the first flight he could to meet the people in charge.
Along the way he’d gotten a bit lost and had to stop and ask for directions. That was when it started to rain harder than he’d ever seen it rain in his life. In his efforts to get out of the rain he’d completely been blind to the fact that he hadn’t looked both ways before crossing the street, something he so obviously should have done as the end result taught him.
That was when he blanked out and became Chad Sports, simple minded amnesiac with no clue as to who he was or where he was from up until today.
"I’m not married," he mumbled to himself, looking at the wedding ring on his finger. "I’m not even gay!"
He was however missing and had been for a month. The only reason none of the people he’d met since his amnesia had figured it out was because he was from a completely different country where news of barely important advertising giants made waves. The people from his firm and people that he knew probably thought he was just on another one of his month long sabbaticals in Africa or Cambodia and figured he’d have told them where he was going if he wanted them to know.
Or at least, that was what he was going to assume for the time being.
Now he just had to deal with taking in everything that had happened to him since his amnesia. He’d questioned everything about himself, including his sexuality all up until the point where he’d decided that he was attracted to Sierra.
That was the next thing. He was attracted to her no doubt but still a bit confused as to why Chuck would warn him to stay away from her. She had to be better for him than that psychotic lunatic Oliver who’d obviously done his research on him before claiming to be married to him.
As he continued to look himself over in the mirror he heard someone knocking on the door. He took one final look at himself before heading out of the room and into the living room in route to the door. He’d just passed the sofa when something caught his eye.
It was a magazine, or catalogue rather, of what appeared to be wedding rings. He stopped and picked up it up, glancing through it briefly before looking up as there was another set of knocks at the door.
Suddenly some things were starting to make a little more sense to him. There was another set of knocks, bringing him back into reality before he quickly tossed the catalogue into the couch and headed over to open the door.
"Hey," he greeted Sierra who smiled at him.
"All rested?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah, definitely," he replied letting her in. "I think the nap did me some good too. I mean, I realized that I don’t wanna go back to my husband."
"Really?" Sierra asked intrigued.
"Yeah. I mean why should I have to go spend time with a guy that I can’t even remember when I have you, here, now. I DO remember you."
Sierra, taken a back for a moment but only briefly, offered a smile. She had been expecting to do a good deal of convincing Chad to forget about his fake husband but apparently four hours and a nice nap latter and he was ready to move on.
"I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you talking like that, Chad," Sierra spoke as Chad moved closer to her. "I mean, when Oliver came back, I thought-"
"That all your plans and hopes and dreams were going right out the window?" Chad asked, more to the statement than he let on.
Sierra didn’t respond, not entirely sure what Chad was getting out.
"It was how I felt when he showed up. Here I was happy with the new me and happy with a girl that I loved only to have this guy come back into my life telling me that I already had that with him."
"Love?"
"Well yeah, Sierra. I love you. And I think we should get married."
Sierra wanted to do back flips when she heard that but decided to play it as calmly as possible.
"Really, Chad? You wanna marry me?"
"Absolutely. And start a family. Right away. I think we should have seven...no eight, kids."
Chad started away from Sierra.
"What?"
"And I’m gonna have to get a job. Maybe McDonald’s down the street is hiring. Of course, I need more than that if were gonna have so many kids."
"Well..uh...maybe I could get a job," Sierra spoke, trying to stay on her toes.
"No, are you kidding me? You’re gonna be my wife. And nine kids is gonna be a lot to handle."
"I thought you said eight?"
"Did I? Well I meant ten. Oh and we’re probably gonna have to drop out of school. I’ll be working too much to support the family and you’ll be playing homemaker....ha, home. Like we’ll be able to afford one."
"What are you talking about, you’re worth millions!" Sierra blurted out.
Chad looked over at her ‘oops’ look as she looked down, moving towards her jacket.
"Well wouldn’t you know it, now I’m the one that needs a nap. I say all kinds of crazy things when I’m-"
"Right?" Chad finished for her.
Sierra looked over at him.
"I saw the wedding ring catalogue," Chad said. "What did you think you had to trap me into marrying you to keep me around or are you just a gold-igging whore?"
"Whore is a little...harsh, wouldn’t you agree?"
"Sierra! I trusted you! You were the closest thing I had to a real best friend and real girlfriend and you lied to my face. If you knew who I really was, why wouldn’t you just tell me?"
Sierra didn’t know how to respond. Clearly she’d been caught and denying her plans wasn’t going to do her any good whatsoever.
"Well, I don’t know what to say," she said, not wanting to admit anything.
Chad stared at her until she became so uncomfortable she had to look down.
"At least Oliver seemed to think I’d be better off gay than with you," he said. "I think maybe you should go take that nap now."
Sierra just pursed her lips, realizing there really was nothing she could say. Her entire plan hinged upon marrying Chad before he figured out who he was. Now that he had, she just looked a stupid fool and a bitch for even trying.
It didn’t matter if she’d actually come to care about him. Being used was something she felt Chad would probably never get over.
* * *
Trey had a lot on his mind and a busy day tomorrow and didn’t really want to deal with anyone and their bullshit. He was actually hoping that Shawn wouldn’t be in their room when he got there and sighed, annoyed when he saw that he was.
Trey tossed his keys over to his half of the dresser they shared that separated the beds before walking over to the sink and turning on the light above it.
Shawn could tell that Trey was annoyed and didn’t want to do anything to add to it but he also didn’t want the obvious awkward tension between the two of them to build up like it had last semester. The last time they let it build up they either fought constantly or ended up sleeping together once. He didn’t want either of those things happening again.
So he decided to stay neutral.
"What? WHAT, Shawn?" Trey asked, turning around when Shawn cleared his throat. He’d thought he heard him say something else under his breath as well.
Shawn shrugged, a bit confused.
"I didn’t...I didn’t, uh..."
Trey turned back around, looking himself over in the mirror. The problems he had stressing him out were beginning to show. He was snapping at Shawn. His boyfriend wasn’t speaking to him. His friends were all star struck. And he was trapped into doing something he didn’t want to do.
All he wanted from his college experience was to come out of his shell and have everything he never let himself have in high school. He’d gotten what he’d wished for and unfortunately much more than that.
Shawn decided to try again to eliminate the tension.
"You didn’t miss much at the floor meeting," he started. "It was mandatory, like I thought. I put your name on the sign in sheet. Who knows what they do when you don’t show up."
Trey looked at Shawn from the mirror before opening the medicine cabinet and taking out his toothbrush.
"Thanks," he replied.
"No problem," Shawn replied. "You know people are really talking about this show. They think it’s gonna be like the next Real World or something and this school will become even more popular than Harvard."
Somehow Trey doubted that very much and quite honestly didn’t want to talk about it. He almost felt like his life was not longer in his control and he was just going along with the motions. Being reminded of that was not something he really wanted.
"I guess when this thing starts they’re gonna be...filming you and me together a lot, right?"
A panicked Trey turned around quickly to face Shawn.
"What?" he asked.
"Just...we’re roommates. They gotta show you back here sometimes too, right?"
Realizing that had been what Shawn meant, he relaxed and headed over to his bed, getting ready to call it a night.
"You know I get that you don’t wanna talk to me because you don’t want a repeat of the past," Shawn started. "But we’re both completely different people now than we were even two months ago. And we both have people in our lives that we really care about and would really care if we hurt them by....just...we’re both different people now. Things should be different."
As Trey put his head on his pillow and stared at the wall, he let Shawn’s words sink into his mind even as the worry and stress of everything else clouding it swirled around.
* * *
"Thank you ladies and gentlemen, thank you," David spoke, taking a bow. "Thank you for watching. And if you act now, you too can have your very own piece of greatness. A picture with Seth himself to commemorate this momentous occasion!"
Jesse stepped over to David, leaning over to say something only they’d be able to hear.
"What’s going on here?" Jesse asked.
The three of them had spent the majority of the day experiencing what street life was like. There were so many things each of them had yet to discover about the streets and themselves that none of them really knew about. At some point during their city excursion they somehow agreed to split up, David and Seth meeting up an hour ago and both coming up with a plan to earn some money.
Jesse had just now caught up with them both of them once he noticed the crowd of people gathered around what seemed to be the epicenter of the city.
"Seth is getting us dinner money," David replied. "They love him. People think he looks like that guy...you know, the one from that show about the rich kids from-
"Yes," Jesse spoke, staring over at Seth knowing exactly what David was talking about one he thought about it. "I can definitely see the resemblance."
Beginning to feel angry, Jesse walked through the crowd and over to Seth to watch him taking pictures with people. There was a cardboard box in front of him overflowing with money and a line with people fifty or more deep waiting to get their picture taken with him.
"Hey! Jesse!" Seth cheered after his latest picture was taken. "Finally you show up, man. Little D and me were starting to think maybe some guy with ass-less chaps and a tattoo of a baby snake on his right arm had kidnapped you and turned you into his little bitch."
"How fortunate for us all that isn’t the case," Jesse replied.
"Yeah, right? And now you’re just in time to see me slumming it with our nation’s finest people. The great unwashed."
Jesse looked around at the organized chaos before pulling Seth harshly aside.
"When were you going to tell us that you had camera’s following your every move this entire time?" he asked, upset.
"Jesse, what-"
"A reality show? It’s not just a coincidence you look like the washed-up burn out surfer from that-"
"Jesse, Jesse....let’s not keep the fans waiting-"
"What fans? You aren’t a real celebrity!"
There must have been something in those words that Jesse near screamed aloud because what the people lined up to have their picture taken with Seth couldn’t see before, they certainly were stopping to get a better look at now.
"Hey, this guy isn’t from t.v. And by the looks of it he probably isn’t even from the good part of town!" one man in the crowd spoke up.
"Wha...people, people. Who’re you gonna believe? Me? Or the guy that looks like he’s been digging through trashcans since last week!"
"Yeah and you were probably in em with him!" a woman from the crowd spoke, before taking the ten dollar bill she’d placed in the box earlier back. "Let’s go."
One by one everyone that had donated money retrieved it and went about their night.
"Not even if I told you all the aliens are coming?" David pandered.
"David, I don’t think even that’s good enough," Jesse sighed as the three boys stood once again with nothing.
"Now what?" David asked.
"Ask him. It’s his fault we don’t have any money," Seth replied.
"Had you gotten me involved with your little scam it would’ve become legitimate, considering I actually AM a real celebrity, meaning we’d have then had a right to sue them for taking their money back for services rendered," Jesse replied.
"In other words we’re still broke," David replied. "And dirty, smelly, and hungry."
No one said anything but they all realized it.
"Man, life out on the streets sober sucks," Seth replied. "Where’s a good bottle of booze and bitch with fake tits when you need them?"
"Getting on nicely with people that can afford them," Jesse replied. "And I agree, playing common bum for an entire day is certainly not what I thought I’d be doing with my time spent away from that glorified jail. At least there I was clean!"
"And fed," David added a moment later and after another moment, Seth chimed in.
"And there I actually was a celebrity," he said.
David and Jesse looked over at him.
"Well I was," he replied.
"Yes well as much as it bothers me to admit this, I think we should call this little excursion the experiment it so obviously became and seek out at least semi greener pastures," Jesse spoke.
"You wanna go milk cows dude?" Seth asked.
"I think it’s time we made our triumphant return to the Oceanbay Rehab Center!" Jesse announced.
David and Seth exchanged glances.
"Seashore Wellness Group," David replied.
"Let’s be frank. Both are just covers for ‘jail’ if we’re going to go that route," Jesse spoke as all three agreed that heading back to the very place they’d escaped from was better than life out on the streets.
* * *
"And this is where our daughter spent 18 years of her life. We let her draw on the walls to express her individuality," Zoey’s mother spoke, standing arm and arm with Zoey’s father. "She’s a really talented artist. She’s studying art at her college too. She gets it from me. Back in my day I used to be quite the talented artist myself."
Zoey looked over to where the camera was zooming in.
"Hey why are you zooming in? What are you looking at?" she asked.
"Zoey always had a very active imagination. When she was five she asked me what a vagina was. She’s very bright, you know."
"Mom! Just stop!" Zoey sighed, embarrassed beyond belief.
Trey and Grace exchanged glances from behind the camera, each knowing what the other was thinking but deciding not to say anything.
"Okay that’s a wrap," Tim said, sounding happy to declare such a thing. "Jesus, of all the people to get stuck having to follow around all day. Thank god you’re it."
Trey watched as Tim and the camera and sound crew moved from Zoey’s room and out into the living room.
"Girl, how come your boyfriend ain’t here like my fine ass man?" Grace asked, wrapping her arms around Josh who hugged her back.
"Ugh, he’s being a selfish jerk. His art class is having a field trip to some elementary school to teach little blind kids to paint," Zoey sighed, sounding bitter. "They’re blind! What do they need to paint?"
"Okay, calm down girl," Grace spoke.
"Zoey, you never told us you had a boyfriend," Zoey’s mom spoke.
Zory turned around to face her parents.
"What are you talking about? Of course I did," she replied.
"No, I think I would remember you telling me something like that. If I had known I could have stopped browsing those sites that list signs to tell if your child is gay," her mom spoke.
"Mom!"
"What? You never brought any guys home and you never talk about them. You can’t blame me for assuming-"
"Okay, we’re done here. Trey, you’re next right? Let’s go before I have a heart attack right here, right now."
Zoey grabbed Grace and Trey and led them out of the room, still within earshot of hearing her mom call out after them.
"Well at least tell somebody his name!"
Zoey pretended not to hear her as she entered the living room.
"Okay get all this packed up, we’re done here. I can’t wait to see your mom again Trey. It’s hot. Is anyone else hot?" Zoey asked all in one breath.
Tim looked over at her, amused.
"Who are you buying from and when can I meet him?" he spoke.
Grace completely amused with the situation took her eyes away from Zoey briefly looking over at Trey and noticing how utterly worried he looked.
"You okay, boy?" she asked.
Truthfully Trey was not okay. He had a lot on his mind and today was the day that cemented it all together. His two biggest problems were going to be solved for him once he did the show back at home, which he wasn’t looking forward to in the least.
"You miss Noah huh?" Grace asked.
The fact that he missed Noah had been completely overshadowed by his more serious issues but thinking about him in that moment reminded him that he did in fact miss his boyfriend and he wondered what he was up to at that exact moment.
* * *
"A day late, but I’m no stranger to the infamous Noah Davis brooding spells," Chad spoke as he let Noah enter Jesse’s apartment.
"Sorry I was kinda...working through some stuff," Noah replied.
What he didn’t want to tell his friend was that he’d spent the night drinking away his troubles concerning Trey. He spent so much of the previous semester just trying to get to a good place and was only having to do the same now in different situations. It was like Trey didn’t want to let himself be happy with him. There had to be something around to cause problems.
Chad and Noah headed into the living room.
"I ordered Chinese," Chad said, plopping down on the sofa behind him as Noah did the same next to him. "Hungry?"
"Not really," Noah replied before realizing something. "Wait. You hate Chinese."
"Yeah that’s the thing," Chad started. "Chad hates Chinese but Nate doesn’t."
Noah trying to read Chad’s face.
"So you talked to Oliver some more," he said.
"Turns out, that guy was a fake. Don’t ask me what he was up to but if I had to guess I’d say it has something to do with the 189 million dollars I’m worth, if I’m remembering the exchange rate correctly."
Now Noah was just confused.
"What?"
Chad smiled and reached for one of the boxes of Chinese food.
"Sure you’re not hungry? This really feels like something I should be talking about over food. And with everyone else but they’re out and about right now."
"Did you get your memory back?" Noah asked.
Chad shook his head, shoving a mouthful of orange chicken into his mouth.
"Wha...when? How?"
"Yesterday. A fall," Chad replied, after swallowing. "It’s weird. I started remembering stuff and then after the fall I remembered everything. Like on tv when people hit their head, get amnesia, and then hit it again and get it back. I guess that part’s real."
Noah was happy for Chad but a little worried as well.
"What are you gonna do now that..."
"For starters I’m gonna do what I came here for," Chad replied. "Grace is doing a good thing with her club and with that house. I want to give her all the support and funding she needs."
"You were coming down here to help the Pink Panthers? From where?"
"Canada," Chad replied. "Oh and the part about my name being Nathaniel was actually true too, although I think Chad is a nice new nickname I’m gonna tell people to start calling me when I eventually go home."
"Eventually? You’re gonna stay here?"
"Well," Chad started. "I feel like I’ve been here long enough. You guys were all so great to me. It makes me wanna go out into the world and do that for other people."
Noah chuckled.
"Man, I can’t believe this. I know two rich guys. One’s an asshole and the other one is an ex-amnesiac."
"Yeah, weird huh."
Noah’s smile faded as his mind let him start to think about negative things. Like the fact that Chad leaving meant that he was losing a good friend and that Sierra was losing a boyfriend.
"What about Sierra?" Noah asked.
"Something tells me she’ll be completely fine without me," Chad replied not really wanting to elaborate. "Enough about boring me. How about you tell me why you didn’t return either of my calls or text messages yesterday."
Noah sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms as he stared off into the distant nothing as if waiting for something to happen that would magically rescue him from having to have this conversation. He knew it was bound to happen he just hadn’t figured Chad would be the one he’d pour his soul out to.
But he figured he would start anyway.
"I told Trey I loved him and all he could give me back was some stupid excuse of a response. Typical Trey. I thought I was getting used to that about him because I figured he was getting over it but I’m starting to realize it’s not something he’s capable of getting over."
"Wow," Chad replied. "That’s....wow."
"Yeah...imagine me, a guy who up until last semester had never even dreamed about a guy let alone fallen in love with one," Noah replied. "I lay my heart out on the line and he runs away to go do his show and any and everything but talk to me, his boyfriend."
"So you really love him then?"
"Absolutely. More than anyone else in my life."
"Sounds to me like you know what you want and how you feel but maybe Trey’s not so sure."
"He’s never sure."
"You think he’s ever gonna be sure?"
Noah didn’t know how to answer the question. The feelings and thoughts of the infamous Trey Jackson would forever be a mystery to him and he was to the point where he almost didn’t even want to deal with it.
"How are you doing in school right now?"
Noah looked over at Chad.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Chad turned to face Noah, placing the carton of chicken on the table as he did so.
"I’m going to London to finish work on a company expansion that I started before all this. It’ll probably only be about a month or so and when I’m done I’m gonna travel all over and use the company to help people the best way that I can. Like you guys helped me."
"That’s great, Chad," Noah replied, genuinely happy for him.
"Yeah. Come with me."
Noah stared at Chad for a moment before chuckling.
"Okay, yeah because I can just drop everything and live the life of a multimillionaire-"
"I’m serious Noah. London has a fantastic music scene and I happen to know some people that I could talk to about a possible internship while you’re down there. It could be the best thing for you. A chance to learn more about your passion and the easiest way to help Trey realize exactly how much he loves you."
"By spending time away from him?"
"He can’t even tell you he loves you when he sees you every day. How do you think he’d feel if he couldn’t see you for a month?"
As random and completely farfetched as Chad’s plan seemed, Noah really felt like it was something to seriously consider. Chad had said it best. If Trey couldn’t appreciate him while he was here, maybe time away from him would give him that time he needed.
At least, he was hoping so.
* * *
"And this is where my baby spent all his time reading and getting smart so I could send him to college," Trey’s mom said into the running camera’s. "You know he’s never made below a B in his life?"
"Yeah yeah, tell me about the time you caught him sneaking his weed smoking friends out the backdoor while trying to spray some Febreeze around," Tim said behind camera.
"Excuse me, sir? I don’t think I heard you right-"
"Mama, it’s...I’ll handle it-"
"This man and all these people is a guest in this house-"
"Technically it’s a three story shanty in the inner city but oranges are still oranges. Continue," Tim said.
Trey could tell his mom looked like she wanted to knock someone out.
"Can we just stop for now? Please?" Trey spoke.
Tim looked like he’d only grown agitated by the request but knew well enough that Trey was supposed to be the star of the show and the star always got whatever they wanted.
"Fine. I’m gonna go take a fucking smoke break," Tim replied. "Do me a favor and come up with some interesting lies to feed the camera. People aren’t gonna love all this straight-A student shit."
Trey sighed and watched as Tim and the camera crew all left the room leaving Trey alone with his mother.
"That man is one of the rudest people I have ever met," his mom spoke. "He’s lucky I ain’t knocked his teeth out. Yet."
"Mama," Trey sighed.
"And you could’ve told me you was doing a tv show. Gave me some kind of warning this was happening," his mom said as the two of them sat down on top of Trey’s bed.
"They said it would feel too rehearsed if the parents knew ahead of time," Trey sighed, feeling like everything was out of his control and that somehow he’d let his mother down.
"Thank the lord I’ve got LaTario around to help keep this place looking clean."
"He’s still here?"
"Yes baby, he’s still here. How you think you still in college?"
Trey didn’t want to even think about his family’s financial situation, although whatever he was going to be paid for this show if he was going to be paid at all would probably help.
"My baby on tv. I’m so proud of you. We need more strong, smart black men on tv. All we get are criminals and thugs."
"It’s just about college mom. It’s not a big deal."
"Yeah....well, it’s a big deal to me. You’re my baby. I always wanted more for you and now you’re in college making all kind of friends and starring in a tv show. I’m seeing the things I wanted for you and more happen."
Hearing his mother say all that only made him feel worse. If she knew the kind of network MTV was and the stunts they were trying to pull with the show, she’d feel differently about him. He was just glad they had yet to try to paint him as some gay hero. He figured maybe it wasn’t believable enough. There weren’t too many gay characters on any shows on tv and out of that not too many there were even fewer black gay characters, if there were any at all. Anyone would find it hard to believe.
"Where’s Noah?"
That had thrown Trey for a surprise.
"What?" he asked.
"Your other friends are here. I figured your best friend would be here too."
"He’s.....I don’t know mom. He’s busy," Trey replied.
"Goddamn rain. Nowhere else does it decide to start raining suddenly but in the ghetto," Tim mumbled, obviously unhappy with his failed opportunity to smoke. "Tell you what, why don’t before we start again you call that little boyfriend of yours and get him to call you back. Make it look random. Give us SOME kind of spice."
Trey immediately felt horrified. He didn’t know what to do or say in that moment.
"Now I told you the first time I didn’t like your attitude. Now you really stepping over the line," Trey’s mom barked, standing.
"Lady, what’s your problem?" Tim asked.
"Disrespect me or my son one more time and I’ll throw every last one of you out. And don’t think I won’t."
Tim, not one to feel intimidated by anyone, had something of his own to say.
"I heard you. Now you hear me," he started. "Your son, signed a contract to be the star of this show. And if we don’t get what we were promised he would deliver, which is a depiction of a gay black youth in college, then our lawyers will be suing you both. And if that happens, I’m pretty sure you won’t even have a house to throw anyone out of."
Trey’s mother stared eye to eye with Tim before deciding she’d had enough.
"Okay, everyone out. I want every last one of you out of this house. And if you have a problem with it, I’ll just walk outside and grab the nearest officer I can find. Which won’t be too hard since someone’s getting arrested for something every hour around here."
Tim, not wanting to put up with Trey’s mother, decided he’d had enough.
"We’ll just hire some Diana Ross look alike to play the mom and get a different house," Tim spoke. "I don’t have time for this bullshit. I got a fucking headache is what I got now. Let’s go people."
"No, wait....mom-"
"And you can go with them."
Trey froze.
"What?"
"Are you gay son? And don’t you lie to me in my own home."
Trey swallowed, watching everyone clear out the room, feeling like the world was slipping under his feet and he was going to be sucked into a toilet any minute now. He didn’t know what to do or what to say or how to feel other than ashamed and afraid.
"Answer me boy!"
"Yes!...I’m....gay....."
For the longest time it looked like Trey’s mom wasn’t even breathing and then she moved, simply straightening up the part of the bed that she and Trey had sat on moments earlier.
"What are you still doing here in my house boy? You need to be gone. Right now."
"Mama-"
"This is a house of God, Trey. I can’t have you in here if you gonna be choosing such a....I can’t have you in here. So, you got to go. Right now."
Trey could not believe what his mother was saying to him. He had always feared the worst when it came to what her reaction was going to be to his coming out to her but he’d always assumed it be on much better terms and under his own. Now he had no boyfriend and apparently no mother and all because of this stupid show and all the stress it was putting on him. He was making stupid decisions. He could have lied to her. He should have lied to her. He could have told Noah he loved him. He should have told him that.
Now all he had were more problems, and out of all of them so far, this was the worst one yet.