It was morning. Trey knew this because there was light outside. It was morning and he had trouble sleeping the previous night, much like any other night with him and Shawn on the outs.
Only this time his troubles weren’t with Shawn so much as they were with himself.
He had assumed that he had made great strides towards becoming the complete opposite of the person that he had spent his entire life being. In high school, he had no friends. Here he not only had quite a few but they were all his best friends.
In high school he had always known he was gay but had never had a boyfriend or anything in the romance area. Here he had not only had a boyfriend but had two guys fighting over him just for the title.
He used to hate dealing with people. Now it was no big deal at all. He used to hate speaking his mind and now he did it all the time whether people cared for what he had to say or not. And that was probably the reason why he had failed so miserably in getting Garret and Mitchell to reconcile the previous weekend.
He’d had all these thoughts and ideas in his mind about the perfect outcome to their particular situation. He didn’t think in terms of perfect, however. In each one he allowed for the possibility of failure and all the possible negative outcomes. But he also planned for what to do to make those negative outcomes become happy ones.
No matter the trouble, happiness was supposed to be the outcome. Thinking about it now, he realized how stupid it was that he assumed that two people he didn’t even know could end up happy as the result of his tinkering. After all, he could barely manage his own affairs.
In high school he’d never been picked on and left for dead in a fountain by his friend’s boyfriend. He’d never had to deal with the heartache that went along with trying to decide between two guys that were head over heels in love with him. And in high school he’d never been dumped, called broken and unfixable, and left to pick up the pieces on his own.
For all the good that was in his life now there certainly was a lot of bad to go right along with it. And somehow he’d managed to miscalculate and underestimate that about life. Being book smart could only get a person so far apparently.
So back to wherever they came from Mitchell and Garret went just as worse off than before meeting him probably in the final stages of forgetting about a lifelong friendship and ultimately each other. All because what he thought was helping was only making things worse.
You apparently can’t force someone to want to talk with you no matter how badly you wanted to talk with them. He should have known this with his situation with Noah, who truth be told, he was actually starting to forget about more and more with each passing day.
His love for Noah still very much existed but how could he love someone that clearly didn’t love him back? You don’t run off to another country with another guy when you love someone, even if that other guy is straight and the running off is beneficial to your future.
Still, when he got right down to it, Trey had failed Garret and Mitchell and his failure made him a failure. How was he supposed to get past that?
"Don’t you have class today?" Shawn asked.
Trey blinked a couple times and looked around. It was still light outside. The only difference was now Shawn was awake and getting ready for class while Trey apparently had been absentmindedly letting the minutes fly right by him as he sat and wondered about everything.
He looked over at his alarm clock. If he wanted to make it to class on time he’d have to skip taking a shower. He’d be lucky to squeeze in the ironing of his clothes and the washing of his face.
He stood up, Shawn whizzing past him with a small sized bright blue Aeropostale shirt hanging around his neck.
Just because they hadn’t killed each other during the IFC weekend didn’t mean that things had healed between them. They had their own things they needed to work out. There were still things left unsaid between them.
"Okay, don’t talk to me. I don’t give a shit Trey," Shawn replied. "I was gonna say something earlier but watching you scramble is a lot more fun I think."
Those words coming out of Shawn’s mouth didn’t surprise Trey. They’d both exchanged worse greetings.
Deciding that he would not in fact be speaking to Shawn, Trey moved over to the sink and picked up his toothbrush and the toothpaste, squeezing some onto his brush before Shawn spoke up again.
"So, are we just not gonna talk about it then?" he asked.
Trey stared at Shawn from the mirror over the sink, flashing him a look that conveyed what he would have said had he wanted to speak to him.
"I mean, I’m not crazy right. We did see Jesse’s brother in the cafeteria Saturday? Talking to us and everything right?"
Trey’s response was to turn on the faucet and let the water run at full stream while he brushed his teeth.
The truth was he’d almost forgotten all about that. Although that wouldn’t entirely be his fault. He remembered the brief encounter they’d shared with Jesse’s brother Nicholas, who’d pretty much greeted them and jetted off no sooner, taking with him whatever explanation he had for being not only around but around when Jesse was not.
His presence had intrigued him at the time but considering the fact that he had other more important things to work on then as well as the fact that no one else had even mentioned having seen Nick, he let it slip to the back of his mind.
He figured Nick was just passing through, probably stopping by to check on Jesse because he assumed he’d be out of rehab by now. Actually, everyone had thought Jesse would be out by now. It’d been a little over two months. Trey thought most treatment programs were either 30 or 60 days but he didn’t really know for sure.
"It’s weird right? We’re the only ones that saw him and he hasn’t been around since," Shawn replied. "You think he came here for..."
Trey let Shawn’s words become lost to his ears as he spit into the sink, poured mouthwash into a cap and began loudly gargling to drown him out.
Shawn wasn’t an idiot and knew what Trey was doing. If Trey didn’t want to talk about Nick than he wasn’t going to talk about it. He figured if they weren’t going to talk about anything else at the very least they could talk about the odd event that apparently only the two of them were witness to.
Apparently not.
Apparently they had a long way to go towards reaching maturity.
* * *
"My family?" Jesse gawked. "Have you gone insane? Absolutely not and I’m highly insulted you would even suggest such a fantastically shit idea."
Dr. Walker sat back in her seat.
She and Jesse were in her office. She had called Jesse in to talk with him about finally trying to get to the root of his issues. She had been expecting him to open up more after his friend’s David and Seth had both left over the weekend but apparently that had only made things worse as he was lashing out at any and everyone he could since.
She needed desperately to get to the bottom of the matter, as she really couldn’t keep Jesse around much longer. And the last thing she wanted to do was have him leave unchanged from before. She would feel a failure as a doctor if that happened.
"Jesse, I know that I don’t know your family anywhere as well as you do but you are all public figures," Dr. Walker started. "There is enough information out there about you and your family to fill an encyclopedia."
"Congratulations. Now you can start your own trash magazine and make lots of money," Jesse replied bitterly.
"I know that your only friends here are gone and that you feel...exposed without them," Dr. Walker replied. "I also know that you don’t seem to make real friends easily while someone as close to you as perhaps your brother seems to make them wherever he goes."
"Now you’re taking the piss," Jesse replied. "My brother hasn’t got any friends. None that would give two shits about him minus daddy’s money, rather. I find it all to be completely unnecessary because as has been so delicately proven to me just recently, friends are only your friends when they’re around you. Take yourself out of the picture and they forget about you...don’t come to visit you save for sending the one crayon short of a dozen from the lot."
Dr. Walker hadn’t wanted to risk ruining any potential breakthroughs by blatantly writing down her thoughts in front of Jesse. Rather she had prepared a recorder that was videotaping their conversation. A recorder that he didn’t know about.
"And you’re upset?" Dr. Walker.
"I’m upset about a lot of things, Dr. Walker," Jesse replied. "I’m upset that every girl I’ve ever dated lies to my face when they tell me money doesn’t matter. I’m upset that the only people I associate with might as well have come from the inside of a television. I’m upset that I can’t leave this place and I’m upset that I’m even having this conversation right now."
Jesse had stopped once he realized that he was standing and took a moment to regain himself before sitting back down.
"You cannot and will not call my family here," Jesse replied. "Whatever good you think you’ll be doing me I can assure you couldn’t be further from reality."
Dr. Walker let out a small sigh.
"So, if you were me, what would you do?" she asked.
"Sorry?"
"If you were me and you knew that you had to release a patient who had made absolutely no progress from the time of their entering treatment up until this point, how exactly would you proceed?"
Honestly, Jesse had no idea whatsoever. He didn’t really care. As far as he was concerned his reasons for being in rehab stemmed from something he was almost completely certain wasn’t even possible. He had pretty much ditched the want to take any aspirin after the first three days of his stay. Of course, now, that was two months ago and here he was, still just as stressed only for entirely different reasons.
"This really has become like a prison," Jesse replied. "I mean, it always has been but at least before I had the benefit of commiserating my sorrows in the unsuspecting subordinates some people would naturally would assume were my friends."
Dr. Walker opened her mouth to speak but Jesse continued.
"The truth of the matter is that you need neither your family nor friends because in the end, you’re all you have to rely on and I can’t possibly let myself down any further than I already have," Jesse replied.
He turned around and headed for the door but stopped and turned back a moment.
"No family," Jesse replied. "Lest you want to see firsthand why I am the way I am. And trust me, there is no fixing that."
* * *
"I don’t get it," Grace’s boyfriend Josh said. "We’re not going out to dinner. We’re not going to the movies. Were not even leaving campus. We’re going to the rec center. What takes so long to get ready for that?"
Josh, Trey and Dylan were all sitting in the Ark hall common area waiting for Zoey and Grace to finish getting ready. They were all going to the rec center to do a bit of working out and then to play a friendly basketball game against another one of the student organizations.
Shawn and Ben, who were also participating, were already there, since the two of them worked out there several times a week together. Trey wouldn’t have been surprised to find Collin there as well as much as he was hoping not to.
"Who knows what goes through the mind of the average female," Dylan replied. "Other than that uncanny shared knack for complaining about every little thing all the time."
"I know that game," Josh replied. "Grace likes to play that one with me all the time. She usually wins."
"Well, at least now we know your balls are in a jar on her shelf," Dylan replied. "Hurts doesn’t it?"
Josh looked over at Trey before looking back at Dylan.
"You’re the little smurf one right?" he asked. "They told me about you."
"Told you what?" Dylan asked, concerned.
Josh didn’t respond.
"Told you what?" Dylan repeated, this time sounding completely paranoid.
"So what about you?" Josh asked, turning his attention to Trey.
Trey did his best to tune out the commotion in the lobby as he focused on Josh.
"What about me?" he asked.
"I heard about you and that Noah guy. You dating anyone new yet?" Josh asked.
Even though technically it had only been about three weeks since Noah had gone off to play jetsetter with Chad, he understood the mindset behind the question. Josh was a guy. He may have been straight but Trey knew that all guys pretty much thought with their penises, even him sometimes. A fast turnaround wasn’t completely out of the question.
"I don’t know I...I guess I haven’t even really thought about getting back out there," Trey replied.
Now that he was thinking about it, however, he realized something. When he and Noah had officially gotten together Trey was only just beginning to discover himself and his sexuality. But he had experience now. A lot of it. So theoretically, finding another guy wouldn’t be such a problem for him. After all, if Shawn could so easily find himself someone, jackass that he happened to be, then he certainly could find someone too.
And that certainly would be sticking it to Shawn. Especially since regardless of whom he happened to find, he would still have the better catch guaranteed.
"I know a lot of people being quarterback of the football team and all," Josh said in a tone that was more statement of fact than bragging. "I could introduce you to some people."
"Could you? That’d be great," Trey replied suddenly feeling completely up to the challenge of re-entering the dating game.
Dylan moved from his position in the large sofa next to the chair that Josh was sitting in so that he was practically in Josh’s face.
"No seriously, what do they say about me?" Dylan asked, low but still paranoid.
"Oh look, there they are," Josh said standing up.
"Grace, curls? Really?" Trey asked. "We’re playing basketball not heading to the cotillion."
"I gotta look nice for my baby," Grace replied. "Besides we don’t know who were playing against yet. I don’t want nobody I know seeing me looking like a hot mess."
Trey had noticed Grace first but looking over at Zoey he had to do a double take. He was almost unsure that it was even the same girl. He was so used to seeing Zoey dress in a sophisticated "I don’t care’ type of dress and style. Today she not only was wearing her contacts, which showed off her blue eyes even more so than usual, but also looked like a horny Cowboys cheerleader, complete with Pink Panther team shirt cut and shredded in all the same places as Grace’s and shorts just as tight.
Clearly, she was aiming to impress.
"Zoey?" Trey said, doing a double take. "You look..."
"Like a winner," Amber said, joining the group. "I know. Don’t you love my work?"
Trey wasn’t really sure where she had come from but he wasn’t surprised to see her.
"Well, now we know there’s at least one thing she’s good at," Sierra said, joining them less than a second later. "Sucking random dicks for free aside, no offense Trey."
"None taken," Trey smiled.
"The only whore here is you whore!" Amber replied.
"Really?" Sierra asked, titling her head. "Isn’t that getting old by now?"
Dylan got in the middle of the group and looked around at everyone.
"What kinds of things do ya’ll be telling people about me?" he asked, sounding on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Boy don’t nobody care about you like that," Grace replied. "Let’s go now. I wanna get there early cuz I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that’s ever even touched a basketball let alone knows how to play."
"No I’ve played with all kinds of balls before," Amber replied. "I’m good."
Sierra chuckled, tossing her hair over her shoulders.
"I used to think you didn’t realize the kinds of things that come out of your mouth but now I think you enjoy making it easy for me," she replied.
"Whatever, ya’ll let’s GO!" Grace said, grabbing Josh’s arm and pulling him away.
Sierra, Zoey and Amber followed while Dylan joined Trey at his side.
"You know I’m not gay right?" he asked.
"What?" Trey asked, almost amused with the question.
"Just in case you were thinking about going for the most obvious hot guy you know," Dylan replied.
Dylan may have had continuous troubles with the female population constantly picking on him but he was the last person Trey would ever assume was gay. He knew better than that.
"So you’re really not good at basketball?" Dylan said as he and Trey exited the front doors of Ark Hall. "Black and all?"
* * *
Not that it would really bother him but Jesse was actually beginning to wonder whether or not he was the only person left alive on Earth.
While a drug rehabilitation center was the last place he was ever going to consider a home he had also come to expect certain things from the place. Like how at any random time there would be at least one shouted curse word from someone behind one of the closed doors. Or like how the female orderlies would do their best to hit on him despite knowing they all completely stood absolutely zero chance with him.
Not to mention 4 pm had come and there was no discussion session occurring in the cafeteria. Which had Jesse wondering, what kind of treatment center forgoes the group share circles?
He hadn’t really looked for anyone. Not very hard, anyway. That would require quite a bit of work from him and he wasn’t exactly looking to do any. He’d calculated that Dr. Walker had about a week left with him and after that she would have to do some explaining as to why it was that people who had come in much later than him were already gone.
If it weren’t for the fact that the whole process was supposed to be anonymous he would assume that she was milking him for the attention it would bring the center. Then again, he would consider that a vastly intelligent decision considering the quality of the place he was staying certainly could have been more Betty Ford and less step-above-crack-den, no matter how much of an exaggeration that was.
Besides, he was tired. He was always tired lately so he took a lot of naps. He never really considered himself to be a nap person before but he had also generally never been bored. There was always usually something to do. With his two cohorts in misery absent, however, everything became a lot less relevant and more annoying than before.
Doing nothing was a lot better than thinking about his prison sentence, therefore he had decided to head back to his room.
Just before entering he had taken the earbuds from his iPod out of his ears and sighed, standing outside his door. He wondered whether or not he’d even be able to take a nap in such peace and quiet. Usually the random shouting was what put him to sleep.
He hoped that things would be back to normal when he awoke from his nap.
He realized that was probably the last hopeful thought he would have upon opening his door and seeing the last two people he expected or even wanted to see sitting a top his bed and pacing the room on the phone.
Dr. Walker was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, hands folded and legs crossed.
"My sweetheart!" Jesse’s mother exclaimed, rushing over and taking him into his arms. She held onto him for what to him seemed like longer than all the few times she had ever hugged him in his life combined before releasing him just enough for him to breath while looking him in the eyes.
"You should have called me," she spoke, actually sounding concerned.
"Mother....you’re here. In rehab," Jesse said, before looking over at Dr. Walker. "What a....you’re here! In rehab!"
"Yes, yes, of course I’m here Jesse," his mother replied. "I couldn’t very well let you suffer in silence on your own. Have you been mistreated?"
Jesse was feeling a bit of overload at the moment. His parents were here. Apparently Dr. Walker’s discussion regarding his family coming had actually been less rhetorical and closer to they were already in American and on their way.
Sneaky woman, Dr. Walker was. And honestly, he was impressed that she’d had the balls. He had always known that she wasn’t a weak woman but he liked to treat her like she was to make himself feel better about his stay.
There was no getting around this one.
Jesse looked over at his father who was arguing with someone on his cell before looking back at his mother.
"When Mary here-"
"Actually it’s Molly-"
"Called me," Jesse’s mother started. "I thought to myself that maybe your father was right. Maybe it was too soon for you to be away from him and so far away from the both of us on your own. It’s another country, the rules and associations are all rather more difficult-"
"Mother, I’m-"
"But that was only briefly as I realized agreeing with your father could signal the fall of mankind and that there had to be some logical explanation for your...what was it again? Two month stay in rehab?"
Jesse pulled away from his mother and turned his back to her, hoping to absorb the shock of seeing his parents here fast enough to gather his wits about him. It took him a few moments longer than he would have liked but he figured he was in a good enough place to deal with the situation accordingly.
"How much has Dr. Walker here told you about my...predicament, exactly?" he asked.
Jesse’s mother walked over to her son.
"I’m here to help you now, Jesse," she replied. "It doesn’t matter what drugs you were taking or what slags you were buying your drugs off of-"
"You think I was buying drugs from hookers on the street? Mother, I’d like to think I have a bit more respect for myself than that."
The last thing Jesse wanted was to be confused for someone without any sense of sensibilities.
"Okay," his mother said, having a seat on his bed. "Let’s stop to think about this rationally. Obviously no one else knows you’re here, otherwise the media would have been round ages ago and we’d have a lot more on our plates to deal with."
Jesse was happy that he could at least say he kept his affairs in enough order that his business wasn’t being broadcast to the entire world. Then again he knew better than anyone that the American population had yet to recognize the greatness of his celebrity.
"We can just take you back home with your father and I and-"
"Mother, what happened to hating father? And your business here in the states? And that 12 year old child you introduced the world to the last time I saw you?"
"Which one of those questions would you like me to answer first?"
Jesse sighed, annoyed, and looked back over at Dr. Walker.
"This is all your fault you know," he said pointing at her. "I told you NOT to call them."
"Oh Jesse, don’t be upset with her. I’m glad she called. I’ve been so caught up with my company and my own life that I completely neglected the very idea that I had not one but two sons that need their mother dearly."
"I wouldn’t go that far......by the way, where is Nicholas?" Jesse asked finally remembering himself that he had a brother out there somewhere making some poor unfortunate people very miserable.
* * *
"Uh, what the hell?" Grace asked, speaking the words everyone probably had on their minds upon arriving to the rec center basketball court.
Usually there was no shortage of people fooling around or having serious games but it was usually always very casual and definitely not anything to alert the media over.
Today was obviously different. From the large banners that read ‘Pink Panthers’ strung up around the corners of the 4 walls surrounding the court to the stands full of people chattering excitedly as if ready to watch Michael Jordan’s return to basketball, things looked much more professional than any of them were expecting it to be.
"I thought you said no one knew about this other than us and whoever we’re playing against?" Zoey said.
"That’s what I thought, girl," Grace replied.
Sierra extended her arms outward in front of her in a fake stretching motion before letting out a sigh turning to face everyone.
"I know a lot of people," she replied. "You’re welcome."
"You’re welcome? Girl this look like the Staples Center on a Tuesday night. Don’t you know I get stage fright?" Grace said, clearly beginning to panic a little.
Josh grabbed Grace’s shoulders and stared her in the eyes.
"Baby you’ll be fine. I’m here, remember? And even if I wasn’t you got your friends and everything," he said.
"That supposed to make me feel better? Like my ass sucking cuz of all these damn people watching me is supposed to comfort me cuz my friends get to watch it happen?" Grace said. "I need to find a vending machine. And they better have some damn pink Gatorade!"
Grace exited the gym hoping to calm her nerves as Josh went along with her.
"Like the flyers?" Sierra said. "I know a few art majors that owed me favors."
"Yay, free posters for your slutty free blowjobs. I feel so much better now," Amber said to which Zoey giggled before the two girls began chatting like best friends and walking away.
"Oh yeah, that’s so....I mean that’s really...blowjobs...yeah," Sierra said looking around at everyone. "I have no idea how to play basketball so I’m gonna go practice my blowing...THROWING! I’m gonna go practice my throwing. Excuse me."
Dylan scratched his head.
"This isn’t gonna go very well is it?" he asked no one in particular.
"Well, do you know how to play basketball, dude?" Ben asked.
"Girls are my hobby. Everything else bores me five seconds in. Although I have seen people play on t.v. like Shaq and stuff. You think practicing would be a good idea?" Dylan asked.
"Fuck, dude, we’re not losing," Ben replied. "Come on. At least I can show you how not to miss free throws."
"No, Ben wait....dammit," Shawn mumbled doing his best to draw out his purposely not looking over at Trey for as long as he could.
Fortunately for him Trey had decided to say something that would have him involuntarily looking up anyway.
"I’m dating," Trey seemed to announced.
Shawn looked over at him shocked but keeping the feeling from showing on his face.
"Not yet," Trey continued. "Josh is gonna help me with that."
Shawn struggled to find something to say but didn’t want to leave the conversation just hanging there. He didn’t know when or if Trey was going to ever talk to him again and he wasn’t going to make things worse by not responding.
"That’s good I guess. I mean...that’s really great," he said as evenly as he possibly could.
"So you can get out of your head that idea that I’m somehow in love with you," Trey replied. "Because I’m not."
Shawn stared at Trey for a moment.
"Right," he replied, not really sure how he felt in that moment.
"Hey babe," Collin’s voice could be heard a moment later.
It took Shawn a few seconds but he eventually peeled his eyes away from Trey, who hadn’t even been looking at him during his little announcement, and over to Collin, who gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Collin, what are you doing here? I thought you had to do something for the paper," Shawn said, actually slightly disappointed to see Collin in that moment.
"What and miss a chance to watch everyone’s faces when they see you shirtless and realize what they don’t have and I do?" Collin asked. "Besides, I changed assignments. It’s my superior multitasking ability that won them over. That and something about Hot Pockets."
Shawn smiled before looking over at Trey who actually now was looking at not only him but Collin as well.
"Hey Trey," Collin said sounding about as thrilled to see Trey as anyone would expect him to be. "I’m gonna go find a seat. Good luck babe."
"Yeah," Shawn replied.
"What in the hell....am I seeing who I think I’m seeing?" Grace asked upon re arriving with Josh.
Trey and Shawn turned around and stared over to where Grace was looking before looking over at each other.
"Isn’t that..."
"What, Grace, no," Trey replied. "They just look alike. You know, on second thought, no one really knows how to play basketball so uh...let’s forfeit."
"Boy is you crazy?" Grace asked.
"Okay, what am I missing?" Josh asked.
Trey just wanted to avoid being seen by the last person he ever wanted to see in his life ever again. Or at least, the second to last person.
As Trey did his best to casually use Shawn to hide him from sight, Grace handed Josh her Gatorade bottle and began marching across the court en route for the far side.
It was also about that time that Zoey and Amber reappeared, both wondering what was going on.
"What are we playing against the army or something?" Amber asked, noticing the outfits that the opposing team, that had just entered, were wearing.
"Uh, Trey isn’t that-"
"No!" Trey exclaimed, cutting Zoey off and moving from behind Shawn to behind the group consisting of Josh, Amber and Zoey to better hid himself.
"Seriously, what’s going on?" Josh asked.
"I give up," Ben said rejoining the group along with Dylan. "My fucking eight year old cousin can make a basket in five minutes."
"Really? Well then your cousin must be related to Fucktard the Giant because you fucking suck as a teacher and those goals are like six billion feet tall!" Dylan replied.
"Aww, I promise if you don’t want me to step on you during the game I won’t," Sierra said making her presence known. "Just remember to scream up at us first."
Sierra looked over at Trey and was about to ask him what his problem was before she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye.
"No....way!" she said before rushing across the other side of the court.
"Is anyone gonna tell me what’s going on?" Josh asked.
Everyone’s attention at that moment seemed to be focused on Trey. Out of consideration for him and his feelings they were avoiding directly answering Josh for the time being even though they knew it wouldn’t be long before he found out anyway.
And once they all heard Grace’s loud voice coming from clear across the court did they realize that it would be a lot less time than they thought.
"Boy, what is yo ass doing here?" Grace shouted. "What the hell kind of audacity you got to show up back here after what you did to Trey!"
"Aw, yes, how lovely to see you as well Grace...it is Grace isn’t it? I’ve had a lot of mojitos since the last time we saw each other and peoples names are usually the first to go up there," Nick replied.
"You think Trey wants you here? Or any of us?"
"Trey is here? My dear good old mate, where is he?"
Nick pushed past Grace and spotted Trey trying to exit the gym before heading over in his direction continuing the show that everyone seemed to be highly interested in watching unfold.
Trey, once he realized that people actually knew he was trying to leave, decided to try to fake everyone out by changing path midway. However this only caused him to find himself trying to waft through the endless amount of people standing around waiting for the game and he realized that his exits were actually blocked. By the time he turned around the unavoidable was staring him in the face.
He was going to say something, he wasn’t really sure what but that didn’t matter because as soon as he turned around did Nick pull him into a tight embrace that he couldn’t escape from.
"Believe me when I tell you this Trey: I’m so terribly sorry for getting you arrested and....all that other stuff that happened when I left. Is all forgiven now?"
"What? Boy get off of him," Grace said, pulling Trey back just so he could resume breathing again. "He almost failed his first semester of college because of you. No all aint forgiven and you need to take yo ass somewhere before one of these little chicken headed hoes you slept with realizes you back and wants some child support money."
"Grace, really?" Zoey said.
"Happens. Maury Povich tells me so," Grace replied. "Besides ya’ll, that ain’t the point."
"Yes yes, I believe we have a friendly little basketball tourney to undergo," Nick replied. "Best of luck to you all, we have some real sharks on our side."
"Wait a minute, what the hell are you talking about?" Grace asked.
"Well, since I’m going to be sticking around for the time being I thought it would only be right if I encapsulated myself into whatever facets of university living that my wonderfully brilliant younger sibling would enjoy," Nick replied. "This is a sport people enjoy here right? If it’s not the sport you people here call soccer, it doesn’t exist in the U.K."
"Jesse’s back?" Amber asked, looking around.
"Sadly no," Nick replied. "I intercepted a letter from the university stating that his attendance levels were low and that he was in danger of failing his courses. He’s always been the brighter bulb between the two of us so I’m sure wherever he’s run off to it must be important for him to abandon his studies and the company of you lovely people."
"Him being dead in a ditch somewhere never cross your mind at all?" Zoey asked, semi seriously.
"If my brother had died, the world would know about it, believe me," Nick replied. "I’m sure the children in Africa he’s helping free or the slaves in Asia he’s helping feed are....wait, do I have those backwards?"
"I can’t believe this," Amber said. "Jesse gets forced into rehab and his family doesn’t even know about it?"
"Rehab, you say?" Nick said, rubbing his chin. "Well, that would certainly be a first. Perhaps he should have told at least me. I know all the best facilities to visit and which ones house the most celebrities at any one time. Did I tell you that’s how I got Kate Moss to agree to-"
"Okay," Grace said before looking over at Trey. "We don’t have to do this. We can go right now. I don’t think anyone would blame you."
Maybe a few weeks ago Trey would have agreed to just leave. He had already tried to do it himself. But the last thing he wanted to do was publicly admit to his friends and everyone else any weakness. That part of his life was over.
If he could handle his boyfriend breaking up with him and leaving at the worst possible time in his life, he could certainly stand up to Jesse’s idiotic older brother.
"You know what?" he started. "Let’s do this."
"You sure?" Grace asked.
"Yeah," Trey replied before taking the basketball in Nick’s hands away and putting it between his arm on the side of his hip. "And we’re gonna win too."
* * *
While it had been a complete unexpected and unwanted shock to find his parents waiting for him in his room not more than an hour and a half ago, the very idea of the torture of having not one both of his parents around to confront him was actually slowly beginning to wane.
Not because anything about his situation had changed. In fact, some would say his situation got even worse once Dr. Walker had managed to get his father off of his mobile long enough to sit the three of them down to talk.
However that was at the back of Jesse’s mind at the moment because at the moment he was loving every minute of not only watching his parents squirm but having them inadvertently show Dr. Walker how wrong she was in going behind his back to bring them here.
He knew his parents better than anyone else and now Dr. Walker was going to do some of her own ‘getting to know’.
"This is ridiculous. Yorkshire’s don’t do rehab," Jesse’s father mumbled.
Dr. Walker was sitting across from the three of them in a large armchair with a notepad and pen in hand while Jesse sat in the middle of his parents on a couch just large enough to fit the three of them. Even though space was tight, he loved every minute of it. Not having to say a thing was probably painting quite the picture for Dr. Walker, he figured.
"Oh come off it Thomas. We have accounts set aside for that very thing," his mother replied. "I believe there is a treatment center in Bristol named after Nicholas."
"And whose fault do you think driving our children to a life of scandal and debauchery is, woman? You certainly aren’t going to find my name in any one of the gossip rags you frequent," his father replied.
"The same one’s your company owns? I should hope not, lest I want to end up bathroom fodder for your lonely left hand. At least I have someone keeping me comfortable come night!"
"Oh yes, any more 25 year old children you’d like to adopt while you’re cradle robbing?"
Jesse’s eyes were and head were moving back and forward between his mother and his father as he sat arms crossed with a smirk on his face. IF only he had a video camera, he thought.
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Yorkshire-"
"No, no, we won’t be making that mistake again," Jesse’s mother spoke. "Ms. is fine. The bastard over there goes by just that, rat pissed bastard!"
"Do you want me to buy your company from under you and give it to some orphan in Africa? Because I’ll do it!"
"Mr. Yorkshire, Ms. Yorkshire, please, can we focus on your son?" Dr. Walker tried getting in edgewise.
Jesse, whose attention had been burned deeply onto his parents bickering looked up when he heard this to protest.
"Actually, I think I quite enjoy this clashing of the titans," he said. "If things continue at this pace they’ll have destroyed each other by midnight and I’ll get everything."
"Jesse, that’s a terrible thing to-"
"Ha! You think I feel at all comfortable with leaving you or that twiddle headed sibling of yours a piece of my company?" Jesse’s father started.
Jesse hadn’t even taken in to consideration that his father might actually for once listen to him. It was a pity for him this had to be the thing he actually paid attention to.
"Well, I just assumed...surely you must-"
"I mustn’t do anything of the sort," his father said. "Apart from frolicking with unsuspecting coeds, what exactly is it that you do that gives you the idea that you’re at all capable of running a billion dollar corporation?"
Jesse was a bit overwhelmed once again. He had long ago found out a way to deal with his father because he knew that 99% of the time, his father just ignored him and let him do whatever he wanted.
Jesse really had no defense mechanisms built for the 1% crapshoot that was his father giving him the time of day.
"Father-"
"You think success like mine just happens because your father is around to give it to you?" his father continued. "You have to be ruthless. You have to have ambition, desire, passion. You can’t take a bunch of chemist-bought aspirin and end up in rehab."
"Yes, let’s discuss that matter actually, shall we?" Dr. Walker said.
"Father, I’m not here because I’m some doped up drug addicted tosser. I took a bit of aspirin, a bit too much. But I was over that from the moment I set foot into this place bidding my time-"
"By what, paintings of apples and hikes in the forest?" his father interrupted. "While these people were babysitting you the past two months, I made about 25 million Euro in the same amount of time. How do you expect to make money when all you do is spend, or more appropriately considering our location, waste it?"
Jesse was usually pretty quick on his feet but that was mostly because the people he usually came across were all variations of other people that he already knew how to deal with and respond to. His father was as elusive a creature to him as an attractive woman was to high a school band geek.
He wasn’t sure how to react accordingly.
"Look, Ms. Walker, you’re obviously a very busy woman running this facility. How about we not waste anymore of anyone’s time and just get to releasing my son so that we can all go about our various lives?"
"Actually, I’m the final say so on your son, despite your obvious ploys against the matter, Mr. Yorkshire," Dr. Walker replied. "And I say, he leaves when he’s ready."
"No need to be testy," Jesse’s mother replied. "Some of us have four o’ clock facials booked."
It was becoming increasingly apparent to Dr. Walker exactly why Jesse was the way that he was. Despite his tough outside nature he clearly was still a boy in desperate need of his parents affection and approval and the way they behaved showed her that they clearly weren’t in any position to give it to him.
This was going to take serious work on her part.
"Tell me Mr. Yorkshire, how pressing are your business affairs at the moment?" Dr. Walker asked.
"Well, I have quite a few things I need to attend to-"
"Cancel those plans. Because if you don’t want the unnecessary attention that the famous Yorkshire family being together in rehab will bring, you’re going to all be here until I’m ready for you to leave."
No one said anything for a few moments, each person in the room clearly realizing who had all the power in this situation.
"Does it matter that my oldest son is actually helping teach children how to read in Nova Scotia?" Jesse’s mother asked, the only one in the room actually believing the words that had come out of her mouth.
* * *
"Suck on that!" Nick shouted after scoring yet another goal and running back over to his team.
Grace ran back ready to check the ball to Trey.
"What is you doing boy?" she said through gritted teeth.
"Just give me the ball Grace," Trey replied, agitated.
The pressure was most definitely on. Despite Nick’s claims of having sharks on his team and the very obvious sub par abilities of the majority of the Pink Panther’s team, the scores were actually very close with the Pink Panthers down by only about 4 points. The crowd seemed to be loving watching the gays versus the straights. It was like some kind of epic battle to them, it seemed.
And there seemed to be only one thing that could prevent the Pink Panthers from achieving victory.
Trey began dribbling back towards the opposite side of the court as slowly as he could get away with. This being the fourth quarter, there wasn’t a whole lot of time for him to make the baskets they needed to catch up and win but apart from the pressure of the game he had a lot on his mind.
Noah seemed to be entering his thoughts more than he wanted him to. Seeing Nick here only made Trey think not of Jesse but of earlier times back when Noah’s untrusting nature warned him against being too friendly with Nick and about how he and Shawn had fought to get Jesse to bail him out.
It was bringing up a lot of old memories that he had pretty much pushed to the back of his mind and they were memories that he didn’t exactly want to be thinking about right about now.
But unfortunately he was thinking about them and it was affecting his game.
What had affected him even more was the last minute decision to add Shawn’s boyfriend to the roster when another player decided they had something better to do.
The last thing Trey wanted was to give Collin anything, let alone a reason to outshine him. So he avoided passing Collin the ball.
Since Shawn was Collin’s boyfriend, Trey didn’t want to give up the ball to Shawn either for fear he’d in turn do what he had been doing since he met Collin and defer to his almighty wisdom and strength and somehow have everyone thinking that Collin was their hero.
He didn’t want that and he wasn’t going to give it to him.
Thus, he was keeping the ball to himself.
"Trey, I’m open!" Shawn shouted, hands in the air.
When Trey glanced over at Shawn he realized that it was true, he was open. It was almost like it had become some sort of game for Nick and his team of what Trey assumed were a bunch of frat guys. It was like they all knew that Trey wasn’t going to pass the ball to Shawn or Collin so they made no effort to even guard either of them.
Trey knew that he had only a few seconds before everyone came rushing in his direction, and deciding he was close enough, he took a shot, hoping that it would connect.
It didn’t.
"Time out!" Grace shouted so loud everyone in the room could hear her.
Trey, panting and sweaty jogged over the group huddled around Grace.
"Trey, what the hell are you doing?" Grace asked. "Shawn’s open. Shawn is always open. Pass him the damn ball!"
"I keep getting sweat in my eyes," Trey lied. "I can’t see all that."
"Bull fucking shit man," Ben spoke up. "I know most of those guys on that team. They’re really not as good as that scoreboard up there makes it seem like they are. We should be like fifty points ahead right now."
"I just wanna win," Amber said. "I don’t like Jesse’s brother. I want him to lose."
"No one cares what you want blondie," Sierra said, moving in front of Amber to grab Trey’s shoulders to shake. "Listen up man! Pass the ball or fucking stay out of the kitchen. This is my house! My house!"
"Snap out of it!" Amber shouted, slapping Sierra.
"Bitch, you just slapped me!" Sierra said grabbing her cheek. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Oh, I thought you were like spazzing out," Amber replied. "My bad."
"Look, we don’t have a lot of time left," Collin said. "If you want to win Trey you’re gonna have to pass at least one of us the ball. You do want to win right?"
Selfishly he wanted to screw the team over just to spite Shawn and Collin but that was more in theory. In reality he would never do a thing like that out of consideration for his other friends, the people that he actually did pass the ball to when he felt like it.
"Alright," Trey replied. "I’ll pass him the ball."
"If you get it," Ben mumbled.
"Time out over," Grace said rushing back onto the court along with everyone else.
Nick’s team had the ball now and Trey assumed the position of guarding his player across from Shawn who was doing the same. The two of them glanced briefly at each other before the game began again.
After some quick footwork by Grace who managed to pass the ball to Ben who took a three pointer and sank it in, they were only down by one point.
Once again Grace was ready to check the ball the Trey.
"Don’t mess this up boy," she said before passing him the ball.
Trey took a moment to survey everything around him. It seemed like everyone knew that the game hinged on his shoulders and his ability to pass the ball or not.
It was like time had stopped and everyone was waiting for him to spring into action.
He saw Shawn. His unassuming roommate. The guy who had once been in love with him. The guy who he realized he was treating like shit. He felt bad in that moment. He was ready to pass the ball.
Then he saw Collin and all of that went right out the window. He really couldn’t stand the guy. At all.
"We win!" Trey could hear Nick shouting a moment later.
Trey looked down at his hands. He hadn’t even realized that the ball was no longer in them or that he hadn’t even moved from where Grace had checked the ball to him. Somehow in the span of twenty seconds his team had lost and it was his fault.
"Dammit, Trey!" Shawn shouted.
People were already beginning to leave, their suspicions confirmed. A team full of gay people really couldn’t win against a team of alpha male frat guys after all, apparently.
"So, we lost right?" Dylan asked a moment later.
"Yeah," Ben said. "We lost. And I’m hungry now. Who’s up for dinner?"
"Boy what’s wrong with you?" Grace asked.
Trey had no idea. What was wrong with him, he wondered.
* * *
"So, none of you have anything to say? Anything at all?" Dr. Walker asked.
A question had been posed to the family that seemed to stump them all. It was a very simple question that most families would be able to answer to at least some capacity. Apparently the Yorkshires were a very special breed of family.
The question: when was the last time they had spent any time together? The answer? Silence.
"This is grating beyond pointless," Jesse’s father finally said after an extended silence. "Aren’t there any other drug fiends around here you can subject to your meaningless mind games?"
"Because in fact they aren’t pointless at all Mr. Yorkshire," Dr. Walker replied. "The fact that none of you can tell me the last time you all spent any meaningful time together tells me that there is something very fundamentally wrong with the core of your family. And if its epicenter is off, or worse still, nonexistent, how exactly do you expect your son to stay clean and sober when he leaves this place?"
"Oh he’ll be staying clean and sober, alright," Jesse’s father replied. "If he wants any more money from me he’ll stay clean."
"I don’t want your money anymore, old man," Jesse replied. "If I haven’t earned your respect by now then I don’t think we should even be cordial."
"Understand that behaving like a child is exactly the sort of fallible behavior that landed you here to begin with," Jesse’s father spoke.
Jesse turned to that he was facing his father on the couch.
"I’d like you to pay very close attention to the following," he said before sticking his tongue out at his father and crossing his arms like a three old that dropped his ice cream on the floor.
"Obviously this isn’t going to lead anywhere productive," Jesse’s mother spoke. "I suggest we iron out the details of our discussion in a place a little more...relaxing. Like the spa that I had booked an appointment for-"
"Ms. Yorkshire, the fact that you booked a spa vacation on the same day I asked you and Jesse’s father to be here to support him goes completely against my method of treatment," Dr. Walker stated. "The point is to help your son, let’s not lose focus of that."
"Well," Jesse’s mother started, offended. "You don’t have to be so rude about it. Of course I want to help my child. That is after all the reason I’m here."
"Well if we were to believe that we’d also have to believe every bit of you is as old as you are," Jesse’s father said. "And those high cheekbones look awfully circa last year."
"Maybe you just need the fulfillment of a woman that hasn’t just recently graduated from the Playmate academy of barrel scrapping, Thomas. It would serve you well."
"You shut it you dusting old bitch-"
"Tosser!"
"Okay!" Dr. Walker exclaimed interrupting the argument. "I see that this clearly is going to take much longer than I intended it to, which is unfortunate since I had hoped to release Jesse today."
"What?" Jesse asked, suddenly a lot more upset with his parents than he had been before.
"I’ve spent more time than I had with you already. I have other patients that need my help," Dr. Walker said, standing up. "I’ll have someone make up a room for the three of you."
"What? No, no I already have a room-"
"Well now you’ll have a new one," Dr. Walker said, leaving Jesse alone with his parents.
Jesse looked over at his parents who were both doing their best to remain silent.
Until his mother spoke up.
"Just think how much more relaxed we would have been to hear that information at a spa."
* * *
"I can’t believe we lost," Sierra said. "After all that trouble I went to setting everything up for you guys."
"Uh, excuse me bitch. What are you talking about?" Grace asked.
Trey hadn’t felt very guilty in the heat of the moment but now that the game was over and he had time to think about his actions during the game at dinner, he realized that he had no one to blame for their team losing but himself.
As much as he wanted to blame Shawn or Collin or whatever he had running through his mind during the game, the truth was it was his fault alone for letting all that stuff get to him.
"Whatever, let’s talk about what Jesse’s brother’s ass is doing here," Grace said.
"I knew Jesse was gonna fail," Sierra said. "Remember I said it?"
"Does anyone know if Nick is actually as smart as Jesse?" Zoey asked. "I mean, Jesse may be the worlds biggest jackass but he had a 4.0 last semester."
"Who cares? Why is Nick here?" Grace said. "Nobody wants to see his ass."
"Especially me," Amber replied.
"I know," Sierra chuckled. "Remember how you kept calling him for weeks after he just randomly up and left?"
Amber chuckled along for a couple of seconds.
"Yeah, remember this bitch!" she said holding up her middle finger to Sierra.
Trey looked over at Shawn and Collin. They weren’t even paying attention to the conversation. They were too busy feeding each other like a couple of grade school losers.
Now, he was back to hating them.
"There you are, the people whose faces I love to see most in the world," Nick surprised everyone.
Not surprisingly was the fact that he was surrounded by an entourage of people. It seemed like almost everyone was completely enamored with Nick from the moment they met him.
Except for the people who knew better.
"What do you want, Nick?" Grace asked.
"Please, can’t we be friendly?" Nick said, taking a seat next to Grace before picking over the dinner roll on her plate.
"Well, maybe if you hadn’t tried breaking into the registrars office and getting Trey thrown in jail then-"
"To be fair, I did end up in that ungodly hole in the wall you people call a prison as well," Nick cut in. "Besides, time heals all wounds?"
"No," Grace replied, taking her dinner roll back. "What do you want?"
"To celebrate with the only people here I consider to be my friends," Nick replied. "It’s what Jesse would want as well, don’t you think?"
"Why would we want to celebrate your kicking our teams ass today?" Sierra asked. "I can think of a million other things I’d rather be doing."
"Oh Sierra, a man’s body can only bend so many ways, whore," Amber chimed in.
"No, actually," Nick started, leaning into the table. "I had this party planned after I ran into Trey and Shawn over the weekend. A Secret Sexy party, if you will."
Everyone’s attention now turned over to Trey and Shawn.
"You knew Jesse’s brother was in town and didn’t think to tell anybody?" Grace asked. "That why you as was all flustered when you saw him?"
"Shawn saw him too," Trey said. "Wanted to talk about him. I said no."
"Well that’s even worse," Grace said. "Shawn what was yo ass thinking keeping something like that to yourself?"
"I’m sorry, but are we making a much bigger deal out of my arrival than necessary or what?" Nick spoke up. "I can only apologize for what happened in the past so many times. It’s difficult for myself as well to think about what I did but I talk about it anyway because I want to make amends. And what better way to do that then to accept my invitation to tonight’s party at Jesse’s flat?"
No one said anything, all no doubt mulling over the invitation. It had been a while since any of them had been to a good party and there was no doubt in their mind that Nick would know how to throw a good one.
"It’s what Jesus would do?" Nick thought he would add.
"You’re really serious about this making amends thing aren’t you, boy?" Grace asked.
Nick got out of his seat and down on one knee, taking Grace’s hand into his own.
"Like a heartbeat," he said.
Grace, feeling a little turned on by Nick’s strong hands holding hers turned away sheepishly.
"Josh you wanna go?" she asked.
"Only if that fool down there lets go of your hand," he replied.
"Right," Nick said, standing. "Sorry mate. How silly of me to assume a woman as gorgeous as Grace would still be one left in the dating pool. You my friend are a very lucky guy."
Grace was won over, and by default so was Josh as well.
"I always did kinda think the British were kinda cool," Dylan said. "I’m in."
"You think everyone is cool, loser," Sierra commented. "But who am I to turn a hot British guy down for a party? I’m in too."
"Wish I could but I actually have to work," Collin said. "College doesn’t exactly pay for itself."
"Aww, babe, you always have to work now," Shawn said. "Call in."
"What part of the words ‘college doesn’t pay for itself’ didn’t you really get, Shawn?" Collin asked. "Look, depending on how long it lasts I might be able to make it towards the end but don’t not go because I can’t. Have fun with your friends. We can do something later."
"As long as you don’t have to work right?" Shawn asked, disappointed in Collin.
"Trey," Grace said, recapturing Trey’s attention. "We don’t have to go if you don’t want to."
It was true that what had once occurred between himself and Nick had been something of a sore subject for him but that had occurred nearly five months ago. Part of his becoming the better person that he hoped to be needed to include the ability to let go of the past and look forward to the future and if Nick was willing to make amends with him, who was he to stop him?
Besides, Collin wasn’t going to be there.
"No, a party sounds like exactly the kind of thing we need after losing earlier," Trey replied. "Let’s do it."
"Brilliant," Nick said, clapping his hands together. "The set up crew and caterers should be finished with everything in an hour or so come an hour after that like the cool lot you are and I’ll see you then!"
And just like that Nick was off. He was a whirlwind of charisma and charm that could manage to make even people he put in prison want to hang out with him.
Nick Yorkshire was good.
* * *
Nicholas Yorkshire was terrible. Evil. A rotten bastard. Those were the kinds of things Jesse found himself thinking about as he sat in his room with his parents.
He could completely understand why his brother wasn’t here to complete the family that they were supposed to be. He was a selfish, egotistical loser that cared only about the pleasures of women and hookers that even politicians wouldn’t have affairs with.
It wouldn’t surprise Jesse if his brother was buying third rounds for the patrons of a Japanese bar on the other side of the world while he was stuck here in rehab with his parents.
And that wasn’t exactly the greatest thing in the world. When they weren’t arguing with each other his father was busy either berating or completely ignoring him while his mother seemed to be one step away from becoming the living cartoon character she already behaved like.
It took this very situation happening for Jesse to actually want to take back all the bad things he’d ever said to any of the people he would only admit were his friends under extreme duress, Grace and the rest of them.
But they were there, Nicholas was off somewhere and he was trapped here. With them.
"Don’t individuals of celebrity caliber usually stay in five star resorts for their rehab stints?" Jesse’s father asked as he struggled to find anywhere comfortable to sit atop the bed that had been provided for him. "I can almost feel the blood stains on this cot of a bed grabbing at my bum."
"Yes, the older you get the more senile as well," Jesse’s mother spoke. "This place isn’t as bad as you say. Earlier I found a zen garden with some kind of imported snow. It was very relaxing for me."
"Yes why don’t you see the therapist about your self absorption issues, Victoria," Jesse’s father replied. "Eliminate two birds with one stone."
"Oh I’ll see the therapist alright. Let her know all about your delusions of granger."
Jesse, who was sitting with his knees all the way up to his chest on top of his own bed, sat watching his parents fight across the room. There was nothing new about it.
When they were first divorced and Jesse had to split his time between his father and his mother’s various homes, one of them would usually arrive to personally pick him up. Usually this would be the only time he saw either of them, as without the other around they were apparently much too busy to be bothered with the silly little thing they brought into the world called their son.
He had already been taught to be differently distinguished than everyone else but he had never had to rely on only himself. Usually there was always someone around for that. That had to be the breaking point; their divorce and now he had to relive the worst bits of it over again. All the petty bickering and name calling over nothing with him in the room as if they didn’t even care that he was a witness to it left him feeling very vulnerable and stressed out.
He wanted to be anywhere else in the world other than here and all he wanted to do was make them shut up, so, he figured it was time to start talking. The faster he got out of this place, the better.
"I was feeling stressed!" he blurted out, which immediately captured the attention of his parents. He had been otherwise silent since their earlier therapy session from hell and his sudden outburst probably was very shocking to them. "About a lot of stuff."
Jesse’s mother turned towards him, Jesse father looked away hoping they weren’t really about to discuss feelings with each other.
"Well go on Jesse," his mother spoke. "I’m your mother, you can tell me anything."
"Can I?" Jesse continued. "And when would there ever be a proper window of time for that? Before today the last time I saw you you had no idea that I was even IN America."
"Yes, because your father-"
"We’re not talking about father, I’m talking about you mother! You!" Jesse continued. "You’re supposed to be my mother. Where were your nurturing instincts when you decided it was a good idea to be divorced from my father? I needed you to tell me that even though everything was different, that everything that I had come to know as being my life was completely over; it was going to be okay. I needed that and I didn’t get that."
It seemed like Jesse had said something that struck a nerve because the look on his mothers face was downright ashamed.
"Of course why would you? We’ve never been that sort of family. The Yorkshire name is apparently built upon a legacy of cold and abrupt emptiness that one can only fill with work or money. Everything else is irrelevant. Everyone else is insignificant. The only one that matters is yourself."
"Jesse, I had no idea you felt this way," his mother spoke. "I....feel appalled and humiliated and like a failure. I don’t like feeling like I’ve failed you, but I have, haven’t I?"
In short order, the answer to that question was clearly yes. Jesse felt like despite the way he treated people and despite the way he behaved, he could have been a lot worse had he not taught himself not to be that way. He didn’t want to end up becoming his father. A man that didn’t care about anything but the principles of his business and what his family name was supposed to carry on as being.
His father was responsible for creating the barriers that Jesse had installed years ago.
"I don’t know what to say honestly," Jesse’s father said once the attention in the room had been shifted to him. "Quite honestly what are you expecting from me?"
"For Christ’s sake Thomas can’t you see that our son desperately craves our attention?" Jesse’s mother said.
"And you don’t believe that’s been given to him?" Jesse’s father asked incredulously. "Everything that I do I do in the hopes that one day I can feel proud enough to hand over the reigns of my patrimony to the children that I have brought into this world."
Jesse found that hard to believe, especially after today.
"You think I don’t know that Nicholas has failed to live up to the expectations that I had for him? You think that I don’t worry that one day I’ll mysteriously never hear from him again because he’s gotten himself in over his head and it’s led to deathly consequences? Or that I don’t wonder whether or not the son that has never let me down has made a mistake in choosing to just throw away the privilege of an Ivy league university that our name has provided for him by coming to America?"
For whatever reason, Jesse was fascinated by this insight. It was the most candid and unguarded he had ever seen his father and he wasn’t going to test him by demeaning the moment.
"My children are always on my mind. When Nicholas needs to be bailed out of a Mexican prison for the sixth time or when my other son spends $180,000 renovating some hole in the wall student living apartment, I don’t complain because I know that I have succeeded in being able to provide them the means to do so. Regardless of what my intentions for you and your brother are, Jesse, please understand that I don’t neglect you because I don’t care."
This was something that he never knew about his father. He always felt like he and Nicholas were burdens to his father. Like spending his money was something that bothered him. Like getting into trouble or doing whatever they wanted shamed him.
Even if it seemed like they didn’t to him now, the fact of the matter remained that for all his life, he had pretty much felt ignored by his father. Even he knew that providing for a family didn’t mean you needed to ignore them in the process.
"You know," Jesse’s mother started. "Maybe it would be best if we stay a little longer to completely iron out our issues. I can cancel my engagements. Thomas?"
Jesse looked over at his father, already knowing what the answer would be. If he knew his father he probably felt embarrassed for showing as much vulnerability as he had already.
"What the hell," his father said, taking both Jesse and his mother by surprise. "I haven’t had a proper vacation in 15 years. What kind of food does this place provide you, son?"
In that moment Jesse could do nothing else but smile. It may have been 15 years since his fathers last vacation but it had been his entire life that Jesse hadn’t heard his father refer to him as simply ‘son’
"I wonder if they give facials," Jesse’s mother spoke.
* * *
Trey stared in awe as two guys he recognized from his Spanish class were engaged in a hot lip lock. He had assumed they were straight and even more knew them to be in a fraternity.
"What-"
"Gay Chicken, my friend," Nick said upon noticing Trey arrive with everyone else. He walked over so that he could put an arm around Trey’s shoulder as everyone continued to watch the lip lock in session. "First one to break it off is obviously queer. And neither one of you could possibly be at all the least bit queer could you boys?"
Trey opened his mouth to speak but wasn’t sure what to say. He was actually a little turned on and wanted to stay and watch but found himself being led further into the apartment by Nick, who handed Trey a drink.
"Hawaiian mojito," Nick said, sipping his own glass, tropical mini umbrella for decoration and all "I’m not usually the sort for mojitos but I found myself having an extended stay there to take away some of the stress I felt for wronging you. It’s where I also took up kajukenbo and used it to channel all my negativity into a positive outlet. Also, I smile more."
"Uh...that’s great," Trey replied as his eyes trailed away from the pair of lingerie-wearing Playboy playmates that were dancing in cages near the kitchen.
"Think of this party as a chance to let loose and have all of your craziest and wildest fantasies come to fruition," Nick spoke. "It is after all a Secret Sexy party."
There was no doubt in Trey’s mind that the party was a secret. Between Jesse’s sound proof walls and the various acts of debauchery that were taking place all around him he had a solid feeling that this was stuff that no one would really remember come tomorrow.
"Let loose, enjoy," Nick said. "Don’t feel guilty about anything. Everyone’s your friend here!"
A moment later Nick was off to play the part of the charming host that he was, leaving everyone wondering exactly what to look at and what to do.
"This aint like no party I ever been to," Grace said looking around. "And I been to parties in the hood."
"It’s like I’m in heaven and the only people allowed in were the Hustler ho’s and the guys that fuck em," Dylan said obviously in awe of everything around him. "I don’t even know where to look."
"Try not directly forward," Sierra suggested. "Do that to a guy you’ll be eye level with cock in your face."
"Not tonight," Dylan said. "I’ll leave that to you."
And with that Dylan was off to try his luck with one of the many busty, very obviously not college girls.
"I need a drink," Grace said, grabbing Josh by the hand and leading him to the kitchen.
"Dude, I am TOTALLY getting laid tonight!" Ben said with glee before rushing off to try accomplishing that very feat.
"Come on Zoey let’s go to Jesse’s room," Amber said. "I wanna make sure he didn’t hide any aspirin behind the toilet in his bathroom to take when he gets back."
Which once again left Trey and Shawn alone. Despite everything that was going on around them all they could think to do was stare at each other.
"If you wanna get drunk and cheat on Collin I promise I’ll give you a good week before I tell him," Trey said.
"Yeah you’d do something like that, wouldn’t you Trey?" Shawn asked. "Because you just can’t grow the fuck up for five seconds."
"No actually I can but this is the way I get by," Trey replied. "That and ignoring you when it suits me."
"Go to hell," Shawn said.
"You first," Trey shot back.
Trey and Shawn turned from each other, crossing their arms. Now that they weren’t looking at each other they couldn’t even look at any of the strippers or the game of lesbian spin the bottle that was taking place not more than five feet away from them.
Their minds were completely elsewhere. Elsewhere until their thoughts were suddenly interrupted.
"You two up for truth or dare?" Nick asked, positioning himself between Shawn and Trey.
"What after the last game went so well?" Shawn asked.
"Actually I believe that was supposed to be two truths and a lie and we never got to finish that game sadly," Nick replied. "Hopefully were all a bit more grown up this time around."
"Yeah," Trey found the words just tumbling out of his mouth. "Let’s play."
"Play what?" Grace asked, returning with Josh.
"Truth or dare," Shawn replied, a little hesitant.
"Sounds like a good idea," Sierra spoke, holding Ben by the ear.
Ben rubbed his ear, frown on his face.
"I didn’t see any fucking penis on that bitch," he said.
"Trust me on this one, that was definitely a man you were about to finger bang," Sierra replied. "I’ll go get everyone else. I want this one to be as good as the last time we attempted this."
"I don’t think this is a good idea, Trey," Grace said.
Shawn scoffed.
"It was practically his idea," he said.
"You know what else is my idea?" Trey said before grabbing Shawn and pulling him into a strong kiss.
Shawn’s initial first reaction was to pull away. He was mad at Trey. And they weren’t together. And he had Collin. And Noah was gone. And he was his roommate and a whole bunch of other reasons why the kiss was supposed to be wrong filled his head.
But he realized something. Those were reasons why it was supposed to be wrong but it didn’t feel wrong. It felt so right he actually felt himself returning the kiss, getting lost in it.
"Great, first game is cut short this time we don’t even get to begin," Nick said. "You lot are definitely an interesting bunch of individuals."
Trey pulled away, slowly, not really wanting to but finally realizing that he and Shawn weren’t alone but rather surrounded by dozens of people, people that included his best friends.
And suddenly he wondered what he’d done.
"Okay I’m back," Sierra said, returning with Zoey, Dylan and Amber in tow. "What’d I miss?"
(Next day is up and talk of a party has come up that Nick is throwing. Jesse is finally released from rehab and the kiss seen round the world causes major ripples!)