Troublemaker - 11. Chapter Eleven

Todd

I grunted upon hearing someone knocking on the front door. I was busy, really busy actually, sketching art that was going to be exhibited at a local art gallery in a few weeks. I was still stunned that a very famous art curator, Nicholas Kester, would venture to a small art show in the gayest part of town to search for a promising artist to create art for his exhibition, and that I was fortunate to have been selected.

Yes, the art show wouldn’t happen in more than a month, but I didn’t want to wait too long and submit only subpar work as a result. So, all of my free time for the past week was devoted to sketching and planning out my next art piece. And the only requirement Kester made was that my artwork have the same interaction my last piece had, being the stickers that when peeled off revealed an entirely new image.

I possessed a bit of art block on Tuesday morning, and I wanted to remove it before I went to work at Marty’s. Then, of course, I heard knocking on the door. I hoped whoever was at the front door was just delivering a package for Dillon, and that the person would leave it there. However, the knocking continued, and I huffed before placing my drawing tablet on the coffee table and dragged my feet to the front door.

I eyed the peephole and was surprised to see Barrett on the other side. I wondered what brought him to my apartment as I unlocked and opened the front door to greet him.

“Hey, Barrett!” I said.

“Hey, Todd. Sorry I came unannounced.”

“No worries… So, what brings you here?” I asked, eyeing a plastic bag hanging from Barrett’s hand.

“Funny thing. The place where your brother and I work received an order of bandages today. Unfortunately, they’re for children since they have cartoon designs. Your dad didn’t think they looked professional and was about to throw them out, but I decided to take them instead.” Barrett chuckled. “I remembered your fascination with bandages with designs on them and thought I should give them to you.”

Barrett pulled out a box and handed it to me, and I said, “Woah! Thanks, Barrett. These are actually based on my favorite cartoon show I’m watching currently.”

“Really? That’s cool! Here’s the rest then,” Barrett handed me the bag that contained a dozen more boxes of bandages. “I hope you find some use out of them.”

“I really appreciate it!” I was about to say goodbye, but instead I said, “Hey…do you want to come in? I’m…currently working on my next art piece and would like a second opinion-–If you have time, of course!”

“Oh… Yeah, I have the time.”

“Great,” I said, stepping aside and letting Barrett enter my apartment.

I guided Barrett to the small living room where I was working on my sketches. Sitting down, I patted the space on the couch next to me, and Barrett sidled close to me. Taking my tablet from the coffee table, I showed the screen to Barrett whose eyes widened in what looked like amazement.

“Wow! These look great.”

“Thanks! These are just doodles and sketches so far since I’m still planning out the final piece,” I explained as I zoomed out the screen to all of my drawings.

“They’re still amazingly drawn! Uh, may I?”

I nodded and handed Barrett my tablet. He carefully held the device with both hands and looked at the screen with fascination. He even tilted the tablet to look at it from different angles with the screen rotation thankfully turned off.

“I love all the bright colors that you’re using. Is it going to LGBT-themed like your last piece?”

“Yup, though the art gallery will be focused generally on diversity, including LGBTQ+ people.”

“That’s awesome that an art show is promoting that message. Too often do I see people hating others simply for being different.”

“I know what you mean. I sometimes take a break from watching the news since it’s overflowing with stories about people being hateful and bigoted. But maybe this art exhibition can curb that.”

“I’m sure it will be based on what I’m seeing so far… Are these drawings of your mom?” Barrett asked, pointing at the cluster of portraits of the same person.

“Yeah, that’s her. I want to incorporate her into the piece, make her the subject actually. But I kind of hit a roadblock with how to do that and still have it themed around pride and be interactive as well.”

“Hmm.”

Barrett looked thoughtfully at the small portraits of my mother that I drew from just my memory. He then used his fingers and zoomed in on one particular drawing of her with her crocheted shawl.

“This is a great drawing of her, and that shawl she’s wearing, that can be a pride flag perhaps. I sense she was very supportive of you coming out.”

“She definitely was, and I really like that idea. I actually saw her as a superhero when I was a kid, being a nurse and healing people.”

“Oh, maybe you turn that shawl into a cape, and make it a rainbow cape too.”

“Now that’s an idea I can work with, though, I was thinking that I should be less overt with the rainbows since it might come off as cliche.”

“I can see that. I can also see the cape being stickers that peel off and reveal something else, maybe the rainbow or just the shawl underneath?”

I thought it over for a moment and really liked it.

I smiled. “Now you’re talking… I think that roadblock, aka my art block, just vanished. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Barrett chuckled and then handed me back my tablet. “I look forward to seeing the final piece at the art show.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be one of the first people to see it before it gets displayed in public, being my muse and all,” I joked.

We were quiet for a moment, and Barrett then said, “Well, thanks for showing me your sketches… I should probably head out now.”

“Right. I don’t want to keep you here all day… Not that I would mind, of course.”

Did I just say that?

Judging by Barrett’s widened eyes, I did just that. I didn't know what compelled me to say that. I just hoped he would just laugh it away as a joke and not mention what I said to him last—

Barrett cleared his throat. “Hey. Remember what you said to me before I left the bar?”

Crap. He remembered.

“Sorry, Barrett. I was feeling so high from a famous art curator asking me to exhibit a piece of mine for a large, upcoming art show that I thought why not say something like ‘I want you to be my future husband’ to a guy I had a crush on since middle school and… I’m making this much worse, aren’t I?”

Barrett smirked and nodded his head.

I sighed heavily and slouched on the couch. “I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable.”

“What? No. That’s not why I mentioned that moment,” Barrett said, sitting back down.

“Oh… Then why did you bring it up?” I asked, confused.

“Well, it got me thinking…about stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Just stuff…involving maybe perhaps kind of… Shit, I’m not good at this.”

I sat up, concerned. “Barrett?”

“I was never the kind of person to say it upfront. Sabrina was actually the one who asked me out back in high school, and I thought why not and said something like ‘Sure! Why not?’ And… God, just do it already.” Barrett faced me and said, “Todd…do you want to go out with me?”

“H-H-Huh?”

I didn’t believe what I just heard. Barrett Jones, my first ever crush, asked me out?

ON A DATE?

Biting his bottom lip that made Barrett extra sexy, he opened his mouth.

Then knocking on the front door halted what he was about to clarify. I grunted at this major interruption that was then proceeded by someone calling out my name.

I sighed again, recognizing the muffled voice of my brother. I gave Barrett an apologetic look before standing up and approaching the front door. I had no idea why Anthony would be knocking at my door without calling first, but it couldn’t have been good.

Opening the front door by just a smidge, I saw Anthony’s face and said, “What are you doing here, Anthony?”

“Well, hi to you too,” Anthony said sardonically. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Don’t you have something called a phone?” I deadpanned.

“Very funny. Come on, Todd. It’ll be quick.” Anthony pressed his hand on the door.

“Not right now! I have someone over.”

“Oh, you mean, uh–”

“No! Not like that!”

“Then let me in already.”

Anthony's larger build effortlessly pushed the door open, and I stumbled back and grumbled in frustration.

“Barrett?” Anthony said, staring at Barrett who slowly rose from my couch.

“H-Hey, man,” Barrett greeted before looking anywhere but at my dear brother.

Anthony then eyed me with a raised brow, and I quickly said, “Barrett just came over because…he was wondering when a certain deodorant was going to be back in stock at Marty’s.”

Anthony frowned. “What?”

“It’s true,” Barrett spoke up. “Unfortunately, the brand that I’m using right now isn’t cutting it. The sweat to be specific. I-I also dropped by to see if Todd knew of any deals happening at Marty’s too.”

“You spend too much money at that place,” Anthony said and smirked. He then faced me and said, “Can we have that talk now?”

I had a feeling what this conversation was going to be about.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“It’s about Dad.”

“What about him?” I said, crossing my arms.

“That’s your response? You didn’t say, ‘Oh, God! Is he okay? What’s wrong?’”

“My bad. Let me rephrase, ‘Oh, God. Is he okay? What’s wrong?’ Better?”

“Not really.”

“Just tell what Dad’s latest problem with me is, so I can dismiss it and you can leave,” I said with certainty.

“God, Todd. He just wants to talk to you again. He told me you’ve been ignoring all of his texts, and he’s worried.”

“If he’s so worried about me, why didn’t come here himself?”

Anthony didn’t say anything.

“That’s what I thought. Instead he just made you come here like his own personal messenger boy because he’s too much of a chicken to do it himself.”

“Dad’s not a chicken. He just has a hard time expressing his emotions is all. You know how he is. He’d rather break both legs before admitting he’s sad that you’re not talking to him anymore.”

“Well, it sucks that Dad can’t even admit when he’s wrong.”

“About what?”

“You were there at the party, Anthony! He denied my sexuality again and tried to use Mom against me,” I almost shouted.

“I’m sorry that Dad said—“

“No! He should be the one apologizing, not you. God, Anthony! Why do you always suck up to him?”

“I don’t suck up to him. I’m just being a good son,” Anthony spat back.

I gritted my teeth.

“And Dad’s all we have left after Mom died. Why don’t you drop your shield for once and just have one talk with him?”

“Talking with him is like talking with a boulder.”

“So, what? You’d rather not talk to him for the rest of your life? Do you want him to just drop dead, Todd… Fucking answer me!”

I winced at my brother’s words. Of course, I didn’t want Dad to be dead. I did love him, despite all the differences between us. But I just couldn’t move forward until he accepted the fact that I’m gay and that no woman was going to be the one to magically fix that aspect of who I am. And I wanted him to accept the life I was leading rather than treat me like a disappointment.

“Just go, Anthony,” I said weakly.

“No! You answer me right now!” Anthony shoved me on the shoulder. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Stop, Anthony.”

I looked at Barrett who stood beside us, a stern expression etched on his face.

“Barrett…” Anthony warned.

“No. This is Todd’s place, and if he wants you to leave, then you should,” Barrett asserted.

“Not until Todd gets on his phone and talks to our dad! He just needs to see his point of view.”

“And what about Todd’s?”

Anthony took a step back. “What?”

“How would you feel when someone demeans you and makes you feel like garbage just because of who you are? Come on, man. Didn’t we have this whole-ass conversation about this subject a while ago?”

“Y-Yeah, but that was about someone from high school. This is different.”

“You’re right, because this is about your own brother.” Barrett then stepped forward and stopped right in front of Anthony.” And if you can’t accept that Todd’s feelings are valid, then you need to go.”

“Come on, man. Don’t be like this. I’m just—“

“Go. Leave… Now.”

“For what? So, you two can talk about deodorant and how much your pits stink? This is a family matter and…”

Barrett didn’t budge, and I was afraid that they were going to brawl. But then Anthony slowly backed away and turned around.

“Screw this. Todd, if you want to act like a child and give Dad the silent treatment, then so be it. I’m done.”

Anthony opened the front door and gave me one final look before shaking his head and finally leaving.

I kneaded my forehead, feeling so done with everything involving my dad, and Barrett had to get caught in the middle of the drama.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Barrett looking back at me with sympathetic eyes.

“You okay?” Barrett asked, squeezing my shoulder.

“To be honest, no… But I will be.” I offered Barrett a weak smile. “Thanks for coming to my rescue… Again.”

“No problem at all. Anthony’s my best friend, but the way he talked to you and made light of your feelings… I couldn’t just ignore it anymore.”

“I still feel bad about you having to argue with Anthony though,” I admitted.

“Well. There is one way you can make it up to me.” Barrett smirked.

“How?” I asked cluelessly.

“A…date, perhaps?”

“Oh… Oh, right! You were just mentioning that.”

Chuckling, Barrett said, “It’s okay if you say no. Just wanted to shoot my shot is all.We don’t even have to call it a date, just two friends hanging out and getting to know each other.”

I grinned. “Well, let’s say you just won the entire game.”

Barrett cocked a brow. “It’s a yes, then?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Yes! Definitely… When are you free?”

“I’m working for the whole week, but I get off early on Thursday. I can pick you up. What about you?”

“I can request a schedule change, so I can work the morning shift on Thursday. My boss is very chill and will let me do that even at the last minute.”

“Awesome. I’ll pick you at five in the afternoon then.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise,” Barrett said and wagged his eyebrows.

I laughed. “Ah, I see. The suspense will kill me.”

“Let’s just say the place we’re going to will be perfect for someone close to death.”

My thoughts immediately went to a graveyard, but I just laughed and hoped that Barrett would take me somewhere a little more lively.

“Anyway, I should be going now,” Barrett announced.

“Right. See you on Thursday then.” I moved and opened the front door for him, and just as he stepped through the threshold, I grabbed his shoulder and said, “And Barrett?”

Turning around, he said, “Yup?”

“About Anthony…”

“Don’t worry about us. We’ll talk it out, mostly like on Thursday since that’s when we have the same shift.”

“Oh, okay. Hope you two make up… You won’t tell him that we’re going out, right? Or hanging out, whatever you want to call it. I mean, since he has been your friend since high school, and I’m his brother, and…”

Barrett chuckled. “I won’t if you won’t. He doesn’t have to know now, especially since I want to see how this goes, if that’s alright?”

I nodded and squeezed Barrett’s hard shoulder and let my hand slowly glide down his sinewy arm before letting go. Barrett smirked and eyed me with what looked like lust before waving me goodbye. I waved back and quickly shut the door, leaning against it and taking deep breaths.

Holy freaking cow! Barrett just asked me out on a date! Or are we just hanging out? Never mind! That doesn’t matter. What the hell am I going to wear? What the fuck am I going to even say to him when he picks me up?

I took even more deep breaths before leaning away from the door. I then formed the biggest smile I ever made as I ventured forward to my bedroom and began scouring my closet for my Thursday date outfit. The pain the drama between me, Anthony, and our dad caused suddenly went away.

Also, just like my art, it could never hurt to plan in advance.