The Freshmen - 18. Chapter 18

September 6, 2004

Carruthers & Schluter

Palo Alto, CA

Brad

“I’m going to go check in with Luke,” I told Grace. “After that, I’m heading home.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said pleasantly. Grace had been my assistant for years now, and there was a tight bond between us. There were very few people who weren’t family members whom I could trust completely, but Grace was one of them.

I walked over to Luke’s office. “Is he free?” I asked his secretary.

“You caught him at a good time,” Jasper said. Ironically enough, Stef and I both had female assistants, while Luke’s aide was a very organized black guy.

“Thanks,” I said, then knocked and entered Luke’s office.

“Hey there,” he said pleasantly. “I’m just finishing up. I have been commanded to show up for dinner at Escorial tonight.”

“That’s what I came in to talk to you about,” I said, closing the door behind me.

“I was looking forward to it, but your attitude makes me nervous,” Luke said, making me chuckle.

“Look, Will and Stef hatched this scheme and I wanted to give you a heads-up,” I said. Luke and I had worked together for years. I thought about my bond with Grace. My relationship with Luke was almost as strong.

“Those two were plotting?” he asked. “Now you’ve successfully scared the shit out of me.”

I laughed. “It’s nothing so horrible,” I said. “Claire and Jack are having problems.”

“I heard about that,” he said. “Last iteration of that story was that Jack had cheated on her, but they ended up with an open relationship.”

“That’s pretty much it, except that doesn’t work for Claire,” I said. He looked at me quizzically, so I explained all the drama with their trip to Athens and the aftermath.

“Are you trying to tell me you’re setting me up with your sister?” he asked, not a little stunned.

“It’s Stef and Will orchestrating this, not me,” I insisted.

“So you don’t think I’m good enough for your sister?” he challenged. I gave him an annoyed look.

“I don’t think it’s quite like that,” I said, referring back to his original accusation. “The thought is that maybe as you negotiate the end of your marriage, and Claire tries to grapple with this deal with Jack, you could help each other out.”

“Do I get to have sex with her?” he asked. I started to freak out, he saw my expression, and started to laugh.

“That’s up to you and Claire, but the concept was based on companionship, not fuck buddies,” I said.

“That’s not a no,” he said, and with that he made me laugh too.

“If you feel like you’re walking into a trap and you don’t want to go, I can make excuses for you,” I offered.

“Claire is an amazing woman,” Luke said. “She is chic, she is beautiful, she is cultured, and she is charming.”

“She is all of those things,” I said, then smiled. “I only supported this thing in the hopes that some of her qualities may rub off on your sorry ass.”

We both laughed at that. “I never thought I’d get an opportunity to go out with her. No way I’m passing that up.”

“I’m usually pretty annoyed when people try to mess with my personal life, so I just wanted to let you know the deal,” I said.

“I understand,” Luke said, then looked at me very sincerely. “I really appreciate you coming in and letting me know the plan. At the same time, I’m not surprised that you’d have my back.”

I went to shake his hand, but he pushed it aside and turned it into a nice hug. “I’ll see you at Escorial,” I said, then left and went home.

I parked my car in the garage at Escorial and went up to my room and found Jake in our adjacent office. “Welcome home!” he said, and gave me a nice hug, then a kiss that got passionate pretty quickly.

I broke away from his amazing lips and looked into his crazed eyes. “We have an hour before dinner.”

“Then let’s put it to good use,” he said. I made love to him, after which we ended up collapsed on our bed, smiling and panting.

“I have never bonded sexually with someone like I do with you,” I told him honestly.

“That’s a really nice thing to say, especially since I can’t even get an erection,” he said. He’d started that sentence out happily, but ended it on a morose note.

“I told you when we first got together, that doesn’t matter to me at all,” I said. “I was dead serious then, and I mean it even more now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know it doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.” I could totally understand why he would feel that way.

“Jack told me that they’ve made a lot of progress on treating spinal injuries,” I reminded him. “Why don’t you get it checked out?”

“Part of me wants to, because with my limp dick I feel like I’m not really a man,” he said, and a tear actually fell out of his eye.

“You are more of a man than anyone else I know,” I said, trying to reassure him. “Having a working dick doesn’t make you a man.”

“It helps,” he said, smiling ruefully. “I guess the other part is that I’m conflicted.”

“About what?” I asked.

“I am so happy with my life, and I’m the happiest with us,” he said sincerely. “It pisses me off that I let my impotence bother me. Besides, if I get my dick fixed, what if that fucks us up?”

“Why would that hurt our relationship?” I asked. “I’m more than willing to bottom for you.” I’d been going along, just trying to reassure him, but when he mentioned that it might change us, he’d hit me at a core level, and now I was really upset.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“If you suddenly could get erections, you’d dump me and go chasing after every twink in town?” I asked, and not all that nicely.

“That is not what I’m saying,” he snapped. “I made a commitment to you and I will live up to it.”

“You think that I would then?” I challenged.

“Brad, it doesn’t have to be cheating that could cause problems,” he said, trying to calm me down. I sighed, recognizing that I’d let my insecurities fly way out of control.

“You are so important to me,” I said to him sincerely. “I don’t want to risk anything that could mess us up.”

“I understand,” he said, and gave me a loving kiss. “I have no idea if fixing my dick is even possible. I think I’m just being paranoid.”

“If there’s something they can do for you, and if you want to go through with it, we’ll talk about it and deal with it,” I said. “And if we have issues, we always have Casey.”

“You’re right,” he agreed. Casey was our psychological safety valve. “Let’s get ready for dinner.”

We went downstairs a bit early, just in time to greet Luke as he arrived. “Good to see you,” Luke said to Jake warmly. “You’re one of my favorite people.”

“I am?” Jake asked.

“I think you’re the only guy Brad’s been with who’s actually convinced him to work harder,” he joked, cracking all of us up.

“Welcome,” JP said, as he and Stef walked into the foyer. “I am so glad you could join us tonight.”

“I’m glad to be here, but I think I came under duress,” he said, smiling at Stef.

“There are multiple ways to be persuasive,” Stef said, getting a chuckle from us. We went into the dining room and found there were place cards set out for us. Luke was sitting in between Claire and me, with Stef, Will, Travis, Marie, Ryan, and John across from us. They all stood up to welcome Luke.

“I only came tonight because I got to sit next to you,” Luke said, flirting with Claire.

“That was very wise of you,” she said, making him chuckle and getting a smile from the rest of us. I watched as Marie and John suddenly got clarity that their mother was being set up, and then watched unsurprised as they got annoyed as a result. As befitted grandchildren of JP, they quickly hid their reactions and greeted Luke pleasantly.

“We won’t be able to stick around after dinner, so don’t get upset if we tear out of here,” Will told me.

“Why would I be upset about your leaving?” I asked in a jocular way, getting a laugh from everyone.

“Because if I’m not here, you’ll have to try to make up for it by being charming, and that’s a real challenge,” Will said acidly, which was even funnier.

“You make a very good point,” Luke said.

“Why are you in such a hurry to flee from this place?” JP asked.

“Travis has an audition tomorrow and he’s staying here to humor me, but I don’t want to stress his ass out,” Will said. Travis rolled his eyes.

“That was nice of you,” Stef said to Travis. “My understanding is that the plane is at the airport, fueled up and waiting for you.”

“Thanks Stef, but I’ll be fine,” Travis said, and gave Will a dirty look for making it seem like he was freaking out.

“What is this audition for?” JP asked.

“A horror movie,” Travis said. “It’s just a bit part, but it’s something.”

“After hanging around here, a horror movie should be pretty normal for you,” I said, smiling.

“I think the Buck Mansion is a more likely venue for that,” Travis grumbled, referencing his fucked-up family.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from dinner, but it turned out to be a really fun and lively affair. I was a little surprised that Luke and Claire largely drove that mood.

“So tell me about your band,” Luke said to John. Jake and I exchanged knowing looks, as that sent John off on a five-minute ramble about what they were working on.

“We’ve actually been practicing some 80s music,” John said to those of us who’d lived during that decade.

“The music during that era was quite good,” Claire said casually, refusing to be baited.

“We even practiced a song just for you,” John said to her. Ryan and Travis snickered.

“Probably ‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’ by Rick Springfield,” I joked.

“Nope,” John said. He looked at Ryan meaningfully, then they started singing “Killer Queen”, with Travis doing the backup vocals:

She keeps her Moët et Chandon
In her pretty cabinet
"Let them eat cake, " she says
Just like Marie Antoinette
A built-in remedy
For Khrushchev and Kennedy
At anytime an invitation
You can't decline

Caviar and cigarettes
Well versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?

To avoid complications
She never kept the same address
In conversation
She spoke just like a baroness
Met a man from China
Went down to Geisha Minah
Then again incidentally
If you're that way inclined

Perfume came naturally from Paris (naturally)
For cars she couldn't care less
Fastidious and precise

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Drop of a hat she's as willing as
Playful as a pussy cat
Then momentarily out of action
Temporarily out of gas
To absolutely drive you wild, wild
She's out to get you

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, gelatine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Recommended at the price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?
You wanna try

 

When they were done, we all clapped loudly. “Thank you for the beautiful song,” Claire said to the guys.

“Even when we were in high school and you were a teenager, that song was perfect for you,” I told Claire lovingly.

“It is a song about a high-priced call girl,” Marie pointed out, making all of us laugh even as I cringed in embarrassment.

“Well maybe that’s what Queen intended, but the song always manifested the picture of a very cultured woman in my mind,” I said, gamely trying to dig myself out of the hole my smart-ass niece had tossed me in.

“That is the vision I get as well,” Luke said. “And there is no woman more cultured than you.”

“Thank you,” Claire said in a mildly flirtatious way.

“I would like to point out for the record that Marie Antoinette did not say ‘Let them eat cake’,” JP said, being punctilious about French history.

“I am so glad we are now disabused of that assumption,” Stef said dismissively, which was hilarious.

“I cannot wait to see you guys play,” Luke said. “Will you let me know when you get together and jam?”

“Absolutely,” John said, thrilled that Luke appreciated their talent.

“Do you play an instrument?” Stef asked Luke.

“I played the drums and was in a few bands when I was in college,” Luke said. “Nothing serious. Mostly just for parties.”

“Maybe you can be our backup in case Bongo gets sick,” John said, referencing their drummer.

“Been a bit too long for me to pick that up again, I think,” Luke said.

Dinner ended, and as soon as it was over, Will and Travis all but ran out of the room and into the waiting limo. JP, Stef, Luke, Claire, Jake, and I ended up out on the patio for JP’s nightly joint.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Luke asked Claire.

“Nothing important,” she said.

“I was thinking of spending the day up in the City,” he said. “Would you like to join me?” I mentally noted that this was the reason I’d probably have more work to do, as Luke took time off to deal with his psyche. He’d done that for me plenty of times before, so it was a chore I took on willingly.

She smiled at him. “That would be lovely.”

“Don’t forget that if you need a break, the condo is there,” I reminded her.

“Thanks,” she said. She got up and Luke said goodbye to us, then he walked her inside.

“That went very well,” Stef said, admiring his and Will’s handiwork.

“It was indeed a pleasant dinner,” JP said stuffily, making us laugh.

“I think this will be good for both of them,” I said, probably in a more hopeful way than I really felt.

September 9, 2004

New York, NY

JJ

The Maybach wound itself through Manhattan, and with every mile my anxiety rose. I could see absolutely no upside to bringing Kris to California to meet my family, and thoughts of the downside were terrifying. We’d barely been able to survive the nightmare Will had caused when he visited. I’d had to grovel to him and then I’d had to set up this whole trek to the West Coast just to placate him and make things good between Will and me, and more importantly between Kris and me. Now Kris and I would be stuck with all of them, including my father, at Escorial. They’d most likely scare the crap out of Kris and he’d end up fleeing the country. He’d probably emigrate to Germany, where when they spoke it sounded like they were barking and growling.

We drove up to the building where Kris worked and paused for only a second before he emerged and hopped into the car. “Hey there!” he said pleasantly, and gave me one of his magical kisses. The car was moving before we ended our oral greeting.

“You were on time as usual,” I said, smiling. “That’s one of my favorite things about you.”

“But not the favorite?” he asked coyly, making me blush as I thought about how much fun he was in bed.

“Definitely not the favorite,” I said.

“Did you finally figure out our schedule?” he asked.

“I wasn’t the one who was dicking around with it,” I grumbled. “We should land in San Jose around 8:00 pm. It will probably take us half an hour or so to get to Palo Alto. You’ll get to meet everyone, then we’ll crash early.”

“We can stay up,” he said.

“By the time that’s done, it will be after midnight, our time, so we should be tired,” I said. “But we can stay awake if we’re having a fun time.” Like that would ever happen. I pasted on my fake smile to make it seem like that was a possibility.

“I almost forgot about the time change,” he said.

“It will really suck when we come home on Monday,” I said. Flying east was always the worst.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get more time off,” he said.

“Do not even worry about it,” I said. “A long weekend is probably more than enough time to spend with my family.” If we had to stay there any longer, they’d probably have to re-admit me to the psych ward.

“So what are we doing on Friday?” he asked.

“On Friday we’re hanging out in Palo Alto,” I said. “That way you can see Escorial, plus Stef wants you to go see their offices.”

“I’m excited to see their operation,” he said. “They run one of the most successful venture capital operations in the world. Checking that out is totally legit.”

“You get to endure a family dinner on Friday night, then on Saturday we can go up to the City and check things out,” I said. “Will and Travis may go with us, and we’ll probably meet Jake and my father up there for dinner.”

“That sounds like fun,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to see San Francisco.”

“You’ll like it,” I said sincerely, because it was a really cool place. “We’re coming back to Escorial on Sunday. Jake wants to meet with you about your German lawyers, then you have to endure another family dinner.”

“I’ll bet the dinners are just fine,” Kris said.

“Sometimes they are; sometimes they aren’t,” I said skeptically. “We leave on Monday morning, which gets us back to New York in time to recover from our excursion.”

“Thanks for putting together such an awesome schedule,” he said, and kissed me.

“It was mostly Tom who coordinated it,” I said.

“Do you know why they want to meet with me about my lawyers in Germany?” he asked.

“Jake just said he’s been working on the case, and that he wanted to share what he’s found with you,” I said. “Didn’t sound like it was a big deal.”

“Cool,” he said. We got to the airport and drove up to Stef’s plane. We got out while the flight crew took care of our luggage. “We’re flying on this?”

“Stef said he wanted to make sure you enjoyed your trip, so he sent his plane out to get us,” I said.

We climbed up the stairs and his mouth fell open in awe at how amazing Stef’s plane was. “What kind of plane is this?”

“It’s an Airbus 319, modified for private use,” Peter the flight attendant said. He gave us a brief tour, showing us the flying room, the boardroom, the guest seating area, and the three bedrooms, then when the plane started taxiing, we went back up to the flying room and buckled ourselves in.

“This is incredible,” Kris said as the plane lifted off. “I never thought I’d even get to see a plane like this, much less fly in one.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I said, smiling at him. “When we come back on Monday, it will be a lot more crowded.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Will and Marie are flying out to Boston to move into the dorms. They start at Harvard a week from Monday,” I explained. “I’m not sure who all will be going with them, but I’m guessing that they’ll have a few of my relatives along to make sure they’re all set up.”

“Harvard’s a tough school,” Kris noted.

I shrugged. “Both Will and Marie are incredibly smart.” He nodded. “We’ll probably have to deal with a whole bunch of emotional bullshit, especially from Will.”

“Why do you say that?” Kris asked.

“Because he’ll have to leave Travis behind, and he doesn’t handle things like that well. He almost lost his mind when his former boyfriend went away to college last year,” I said in a dismissive way, because sometimes Will just seemed so drama about things.

“This is going to be really hard on him,” Kris said, shaking his head sadly.

“He’ll toss out some major emotional shit, but he’ll deal with it,” I said, like it was no big deal.

“Dude, don’t be a dick,” Kris admonished.

“I’m not being a dick,” I said, even though I probably was. “I’ll be nice to him.”

“When you treat your brother like shit, it makes you look bad,” he said firmly, staring at me intensely.

“I don’t treat my brothers like shit,” I said. He looked at me, all but challenging me with his expression, while I just got frustrated because he was probably right. I decided to get out of this awful discussion by appealing to his hormones. “Ever had sex on a plane?”

He chuckled. “I haven’t done that.”

“Yet,” I said. I stood up, took his hand, and led him back to Stef’s bedroom, where he fucked my anxieties out of me, or at least he made them disappear until we were there. We took a shower in Stef’s beautiful bathroom, got ourselves ready to make our California debut, then went back to sit in the flying room until we landed.

They’d sent a limousine to pick us up in San Jose, and fortunately there wasn’t much traffic, so we were able to zip right up Highway 101. “Your car is nicer than theirs,” Kris teased, making me chuckle.

“It is,” I agreed. “Stef has a big Cadillac Escalade limo that he usually uses. He does it to bother Grand, because he’s short.”

“They didn’t send that one to get us,” Kris said, then chuckled. “I wonder why.”

“Fuck you,” I said playfully, since he was teasing me for being short. That was probably the first time someone had pointed out how vertically impaired I was and it hadn’t pissed me off.

The intercom buzzed and I hit the speaker button. “Mr. Schluter, your brothers and Mr. Travis will be arriving in Palo Alto shortly. Is it alright if we pick them up on the way?”

It was incredibly annoying that after a long, arduous trip across the entire country I’d end up like some taxi service. “Can’t they send another car for them?” I asked acidly.

“We’d be happy to go pick them up,” Kris intervened, and glared at me. I was shocked by how angry he was.

“That’s fine,” I said, caving to the obvious.

“I may need a ride to the airport tomorrow morning,” he said to the driver. I stared at him, amazed.

“Just let us know,” the driver said pleasantly. “We’ll be happy to do that.”

I ended the intercom call and felt myself starting to get enraged. “You’re leaving tomorrow?” I asked him, throwing out as much fury as possible with that question.

“You obviously don’t want us to be together,” he said calmly. It was absolutely maddening that none of the people in my life let my anger bother them at all. I had to forcefully restrain myself from kicking the floor of the limo. “I’d just be in the way.”

“You have a meeting with Jake about your legal issues on Sunday,” I said.

“I can talk to him about that tonight or tomorrow morning,” he said, then sat back, staring forward in his glacial way, just like he’d done when he’d been mad at me when we’d gone to the diner.

“So any time you’re pissed off at me, you’re going to threaten to end us, and then pout?” I demanded.

“This is a little more than me just being mad at you,” he said, anger flashing in his eyes. “You treated Will and Travis like shit in New York, and I told you why that bothered me. You apologized and told me you understood. So I flew out here to California to meet with your family and make sure we’re all cool, and the first thing you do is act like a total douche to Will and Travis again.” He was yelling by the time he was done.

“Just so you know,” I said in a smarmy way, “yelling is not allowed in my family.”

“Lucky for you,” he said, then ignored me. When the car pulled off the freeway to go to Palo Alto Airport, I opted to try and heal the huge rift that had opened between us.

“I’ll try to do better,” I said, a promise so empty it was obvious to even me.

“You said that the last time this happened,” he spat at me. “You didn’t mean it then, and you don’t mean it now.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’m an asshole.”

“You are,” he said, not yielding an inch.

I sighed, then picked my words carefully. “I’m sorry. This is really stressful for me. I need you to cut me some slack.”

“That’s hard to do when you keep doing the same thing over and over again,” he said bitterly.

“Will you please help me with this?” I asked, almost pleaded. Humiliating myself like this in front of him was agonizing, although less so than if I’d done it with anyone else. “I really need you.”

He grimaced at me, then nodded. “I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks,” I said, and gave him a nice kiss. The car drove up to my father’s plane and stopped just as the door opened. Kris got out to welcome them, while I followed along reluctantly.

“Hey!” Travis said, and gave Kris a friendly hug.

Will followed suit, but it seemed like they held their embrace a little longer just to piss me off. “Good to see you!”

“Good to see you too,” Kris said.

“This is Darius,” Will said, and they shook hands.

“Good to see you, JJ,” Travis said, and gave me a friendly hug.

“I’m glad you made it up here,” I responded, being as pleasant as I could. I waited for Will and Darius to give me their normal, effusive greetings, but they just looked at me until it got uncomfortable, then we got in the car and drove to Escorial. It never dawned on me that maybe I should have taken the initiative with them.