The Freshmen - 41. Chapter 41

October 8, 2004

Palo Alto, CA

Will

“We’re going to get there in time for dinner,” I said as the Escalade limo exited the freeway. There was an accident on 101, so we’d taken I-280 instead. It was a beautiful freeway, but we were too stressed to enjoy it.

“I’ll just be glad to get there,” Travis said. The Escalade took Page Mill Road until it got to our drive, where the gates magically opened and we zoomed through them into the fortress that was Escorial. After Angel Kurtz tried to get to Travis, security had been enhanced even more. Once the gates had closed behind us, Travis let out a long sigh and I felt him start to relax.”

“Feels good to be safe,” I said as I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Yes it does,” he agreed. The Escalade stopped at the front entrance where the staff were there to lug our bags down to our room, allowing us to head directly into the dining room. The grandfather clock began to chime just as we walked in. “Excellent timing,” he whispered in my ear.

“Good thing,” I whispered back. I felt overwhelmed by the warm greetings we got from everyone, and I could tell Travis felt the same way. We sat down to eat, with Travis next to Grand and me sandwiched between Travis and my father. Aunt Claire and Luke were here, as were Grandmaman, Frank, Stef and Jake. It felt a little staid and boring and I realized that was because John, Ryan, and Marie were missing. “Where’s John?” I asked.

“He is in LA working with the band,” Aunt Claire said. “Ryan is with him.”

“Seems weird, like we’re eating with the older crowd,” I joked. I got nasty looks from everyone but Grand, my father, and Jake.

“We will try to be exciting anyway,” Stef grumbled.

“I’m sure you will,” I teased, getting chuckles from this group.

“Why the sudden trip out here?” Luke asked.

“Travis has acquired a stalker,” I said.

“A stalker?” Grandmaman asked, aghast.

“A stalker,” Jake confirmed. That launched a lengthy recounting of all the events that had happened to Travis that week, including the part about his apartment being ransacked. When that was over, Jake focused on Travis. “I’m working with our security team to put a plan together for your safety. We’ve also hired a private investigator to see if they can find out anything about this guy.”

“Where will you stay?” Claire asked Travis.

“We’re working that out now,” Jake answered for him.

“You should stay with Jeremy,” Claire suggested. “That would seem to be an easy place to guard.”

“No,” I said firmly, then grabbed Travis’s thigh to apologize for making this my decision.

“No?” Grandmaman challenged.

“No,” I confirmed.

“You are still going to carry a stupid grudge, even when Travis’s life is on the line?” Grandmaman asked caustically.

“It is not a stupid grudge,” my father said, his deep voice rumbling in the room.

“It is if Travis gets killed,” Claire said. “I went to see Jeremy when he got out of the hospital. He is doing so much better. He asked me to help him develop a roadmap to get back to a good place with all of us.”

“He’s said that before, and it’s always been a lie,” I said. “If Travis stays with Jeremy, I won’t get to see him unless he’s in Massachusetts.”

“This is idiocy,” Grandmaman said dismissively.

“No, it is not,” I said, my voice going to the edge of Grand’s volume limit. “After all that I did for Jeremy, after all of his shit that I put up with, he told me that he wasn’t my brother, and we weren’t even related. Maybe in your world that’s something that should roll right off your back, but in my world, it’s a deal killer.” I was breathing heavily, trying to control my anger.

“It is the logical approach,” Claire said.

I looked at her and Grandmaman and all but snarled. “I will explain this to you one more time, and then you’re not going to fucking bother me about it again. If I ever want to have a relationship with Jeremy, it is my decision, and you have no fucking input on it.” She recoiled at how pissed off I was.

“I don’t deserve to be addressed with that kind of language,” Claire said huffily.

“Well that’s just too damn bad,” I said. “You jumped into this thing, and once again you picked Jeremy’s side and not mine.”

“I did not pick sides,” she responded furiously.

“Well, you did,” I said in a smarmy way. “Again.” That seemed to shut her up, but Grandmaman wasn’t done.

“How are you going to find a place for Travis to live that is as safe as Jeremy’s condominium?” Grandmaman asked Jake.

“We are working on it,” Jake said.

“You know, I flew all the way out here, and this is how you welcome me home?” I asked. I felt like I was about to explode, but a slight clatter of silverware made me pause.

“I am sorry you have been treated so badly on this visit,” Grand said to Travis and me. “This is your home and I will not allow anyone to make you feel unwelcome.”

“Thanks,” Travis mumbled for both of us.

“Will has been very clear about his relationship with Jeremy,” Grand said, eyeballing Claire and Grandmaman. “You are both poking at him, trying to wake up the bear. I hope you are embarrassed by your behavior tonight.” Both of them looked at him stunned, and not a little angry.

“I hope you are safe in New York,” Grandmaman said to Travis then, glaring at the rest of us, she put her napkin down and left the room, making sure that her exit was dramatic. Travis reached down and grabbed my ring, which was black.

“Looks like onyx,” he teased, and that helped calm me down. I focused on eating the food in front of me, determined to sate my hunger and get away from this situation.

“I spent a lot of time with Jeremy, explaining that it would require some time to repair his relationships,” Claire said, being a bit snitty. “He is truly sorry and is determined to heal the wounds he has created.” If she had said that in a tone that wasn’t snarky, I might have listened to her.

“How many of you have talked to Jeremy since he got out of the hospital?” I asked. I waited a minute for answers, but all I got were crickets. “Has he apologized to any of you for the way he treated us? Has he called Grandmaman?”

“He has not, but he is working on a plan,” Claire said.

“A plan,” I said, shaking my head in contempt.

“It is difficult for someone to forgive you when you haven’t even said you’re sorry yet,” my father chimed in.

“Over and over, he’s done this,” I said, directing my fury at Claire. “He says he was ill but now he’s better. He says he’s sorry, but he isn’t. Only this time, you and Grandmaman are trying to make me feel like the guilty party, when he hasn’t even taken the first step!”

“I have been trying to work with Jeremy to help him make his peace with all of you,” Claire said, almost through gritted teeth.

“Yet instead, you and Isidore have set his whole timeline back and derailed Jeremy’s efforts,” Stef said coldly. She gave all of us a very fierce look, then got up and left with Luke trailing after her. It was slightly funny that he gave us an apologetic look as he did that.

My father put his hand on my shoulder in a very caring way. “I didn’t jump in much because you seemed to have things under control,” he said, smirking a bit, and getting a slight smile in return. “But I want you to know that I understand how you feel.”

“Thanks,” I said, and got a little choked up. We finished eating and walked out to the patio to share Grand’s nightly joint. I decided to add a beer to the mix, and Travis followed my lead.

“It wouldn’t be too bad, staying with Kris and Jeremy,” Travis suggested to me casually. I turned to him and even in the dim night of the evening, my eyes must have looked like fiery orbs. I’d had Claire and Grandmaman slice and dice me, and now my partner, the most important guy in my life, was going to betray me and go stay with the guy who used to be my brother? He saw my expression and recoiled worse than Claire did.

Instead of going on a huge rant and ruining my whole evening, I just said three words to him: “Taylor and Zach.” I watched him get pissed off then mellow, then he smiled slightly.

“I was being a fucking hypocrite,” he said. “I’m sorry.” I just shook my head because I was still upset with him. I knew he got why I was mad, but my anger needed to subside a bit before I could reengage with him.

I sighed. “Look, you do what is best for you,” I said to Travis. “The most important thing to me is that you don’t get injured, or worse.”

“Thanks,” Travis said, although he was in full retreat after our confrontation.

“Regardless, I will not be around him,” I said firmly.

“I am hoping that everyone understands that now,” Grand said, smiling at me in a playful way. I tried to not smile back but I couldn’t quite manage it.

“So what do I do?” Travis asked, mostly directing that question at Jake.

“You’re going to Santa Cruz tomorrow morning?” Jake asked.

“We are,” I said.

“If you don’t mind, maybe I’ll go with you,” Dad said cautiously.

“I would love that,” Travis said, then looked at Jake. “It would be awesome if you could come too.”

“Let me see how my morning goes,” Jake said. After that, Travis turned his full attention towards me, even pivoting his chair so it was facing me directly.

“You have been absolutely amazing today,” Travis said to me sincerely. “You came down to New York to spend the weekend with me, found out I was being stalked, were with me when we found my apartment had been destroyed, then put your hand on my shoulder and told me we’d work it out. You called Jake, set up the flight and ride that got us here, and then had to fight a battle at dinner.”

I was irritated enough to assume that he was sucking up to me, but I could read in his eyes that he was being completely sincere. “I love you,” I said. “I’ll do anything for you except be nice to Jeremy.” I heard chuckles as the other guys out here found my comment humorous. I chuckled too, but I was dead serious.

“I love you too, and I’m fine with that,” Travis said.

“I spoke to Claire and she explained the plan she’d worked out with Jeremy,” Grand said cautiously, knowing this was a very touchy subject.

“She did?” Dad asked.

“She said Jeremy was going to make sure he was stabilized, then he would most likely approach me and Stefan first,” he responded.

“Makes sense,” Jake noted, but I got Jeremy’s strategy, and it was bullshit.

“After he has done that, he can make his peace with you,” Grand said to my father. “He said that you would probably follow Stefan’s lead to discern whether Jeremy was sincere or not.” That put my father deep in thought.

“What about Will?” Jake asked.

“Claire said that Will would be last, because that relationship is the most damaged,” Grand said, then focused on me. “She assumed that you would be like your father and watch carefully how first Stefan then your father handled Jeremy.”

I shook my head, totally annoyed by this process. “Why does this bother you?” Travis asked.

“It is just so typical of Jeremy,” I said. “He is going to start with Grand and Stef, because they’ll feel obligated to forgive him because they are the leaders of our family.”

“And what is wrong with that?” Grand asked.

“Because then he’ll use the two of you to bully my father into going along with it,” I said. “Then when it comes to me, Jeremy will try to force me out of our family by freezing me out.”

My father looked at me and nodded. That was why he’d been in deep thought: he’d already figured this out. “And he’s going to use the rest of us to bully you,” he said.

“Yes,” I said, then glared at Grand. “So your big lovely plan to welcome that snake back into our fold will end up driving me away, and you will be responsible for it.”

“It was not my plan,” Grand said in annoyance.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m going to bed.” I got up and walked back toward my room, and for the first time in a long time, I felt uncomfortable in my own home. I was about to dive into a pity party when I heard Travis’s steps as he hurried to catch up with me.

We didn’t say anything until we got back to our room and had shut and locked the door. “Remember how I pissed you off on the ship, when I got mad at you because I thought you were feasting on the bones of Buck Industries?”

“Yes,” I said. I was just starting to get over being mad at him, then he’d brought that up, and pissed me off with it all over again.

“Back then I jumped in and said something without thinking about it. I just blurted it out.” He reached out and held my hands. “I did the same thing tonight. I am truly sorry.”

“It just bugs me that you put up this massive wall with Zach and Taylor, then act like I’m being an ass when I evict Jeremy from my life,” I said.

“I know,” he said, then dropped down on one knee. “Please forgive me.” He was so adorable there was no way I could refuse him.

“Stand up, you idiot,” I said, smiling at him. “You had a rough day, you fucked up, and I should have cut you some slack.”

“So we’re good?” he asked me, and raised an eyebrow.

“We’re not good until we seal our peace by worshiping the Ancient Relic of the Massive Cock,” I said, making both of us laugh.

“I can do that,” he said, then he made love to me.

October 9, 2004

Escorial

Palo Alto, CA

Brad

I walked into the kitchen to find JP and Stef eating breakfast. I strolled over to the big kitchen island where the staff had put out a buffet of sorts and helped myself to food. “Good morning,” I said to them as I sat down.

“Good morning,” Stef answered, followed by JP. “When are you leaving for Santa Cruz?”

“Jake is making some phone calls, Will and Travis are getting ready, so I’m guessing we’ll be out of here within the hour,” I said, then started eating.

“I am disturbed that Will seems to think that we are going to sell him down the river as we try to help Jeremy,” JP said loftily.

“It’s funny to hear you say that, because I didn’t feel that way at all,” I said in a snarky way. “I was proud of him for seeing where this was going and identifying the dilemma he would face.”

“I do not think that is how this will end,” JP said, letting his annoyance at me show clearly.

“No?” I challenged. “Aren’t you already doing that?”

“I am not,” he said emphatically. I ignored him and focused on my food.

“Is there an alternate approach to the plan Claire has outlined?” Stef asked. I was trying to figure out how he felt about all of this. On the one hand, he was a loyal and supportive partner to JP, while on the other, he was astute enough to grasp the issue.

“Perhaps,” I said. They both looked at me, waiting for me to go on. “I think that this piecemeal approach is wrong. I think that Jeremy needs to prove himself worthy of rejoining our family. When we can all accept him back, that is when we should do it.”

“Should not all that he has been through mentally garner sympathy and understanding in this case?” JP challenged. “It may be a bit overwhelming for him to deal with all of us at once.”

“He has not reached out to any of us except Claire,” I said. “He has made no effort at all, and I don’t think he will.”

“He has not been out of the hospital for very long,” Stef said, but it was more of an observation than JP’s partisan comments had been.

“It has almost been a month,” I said.

“Why do you think he will not reach out to anyone?” JP asked.

“Because he has his life set up with Kris there, and he’ll do what he normally does and focus on that one person to make himself feel good,” I said. “The rest of us will be largely irrelevant.”

“I am not so sure,” JP said, even though he knew I was right.

“In the meantime, having everyone else jump into this battle has only made the situation worse, as we witnessed last night,” I said.

“This much is true,” Stef agreed sadly.

“There is only one way to get Jeremy to pull his head out of his ass, and if he doesn’t make some effort by next Friday, then that’s the plan we’ll have to follow,” I said firmly, taking charge of this situation.

“And what would that be?” JP asked. Before I could answer him, Travis and Will came in, both of them in strange moods. They were excited to surf but annoyed with their battle here and uptight about the stalking situation. They said nothing and got food, much as I had. Jake came in right after them.

“I’m ready to go as soon as we’re done eating, but I may have to come back early tomorrow,” Jake said.

“Then why don’t you ride over with Travis and I’ll drive over with Will,” I suggested. “You can drive my car back tomorrow and the three of us can ride back together.”

“That works,” Will said, and got a nod from Travis. “We should leave now so we can grab some food on the way.”

“I’m ready when you are,” I said. He stuffed a few more bites of food into his mouth, swallowed, then stood up. “See you in Santa Cruz,” I said, and walked out to the garage with Will.

“We taking your car?” Will asked.

“Yes,” I said, and we tossed our stuff in the Porsche. “I figured you’d be sleepier this morning.”

“It’s 8:00,” he said, rolling his eyes. “That’s 11:00 Boston time.”

“Oh,” I said, as I drove the Porsche down the drive.

“I got up early and took Psyche for a ride then got ready,” he said.

“I’ll bet she was happy to see you,” I said.

“She was,” he said, smiling.

“I am sorry that you got hit with all that bullshit at dinner,” I said.

“Whenever I have a problem with Jeremy, I know that Grandmaman is going to be in his corner. That’s a given,” he said. “What really bugs me is that Claire went along with it.”

“I can see why that would irritate you,” I said, more to let him know that I was listening.

“In the past, she’s pretty much done what Grandmaman does, and tossed me over the cliff when Jeremy’s been involved, but I thought we had gotten over that,” he said. “I mean, I really tried to be supportive during this whole thing with Craig and with Jack, and hell, I even led the charge to fix her up with Luke. I guess that doesn’t count for shit in her books.”

“I guess not,” I said. He looked at me, totally surprised. “What?” I challenged.

“Isn’t this where you jump in and tell me I’m wrong and come up with a bunch of excuses for them?” he asked me in a snippy way.

“Not this time,” I said calmly. He seemed totally confused by my words, which didn’t surprise me since before I would have done just what he’d said. “I was really proud of how you stood up for yourself, and even more impressed with how you figured things out and saw the pitfalls with Jeremy’s strategy.”

“Thanks,” he said cautiously.

“The thing that bothered me is that you thought I would leave you out there, alone,” I said. I looked sideways and saw that hit him pretty hard.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess when I played this all out in my mind, I wasn’t really thinking too deeply about how everyone would react individually, and I also thought it made sense that you would follow Stef’s lead on things.”

“I can think for myself,” I said, annoyed that he thought I was Stefan’s pawn. I should have known that my irritation would spark a similar reaction in him.

“You tend to do what Stef does in these situations,” he responded. “At least you have in the past.”

“Our decisions are made in a collaborative way,” I said, letting him see that he’d managed to anger me.

“If you say so,” he said. We said nothing until we reached Highway 17. I merged onto that freeway, then chuckled. “What?”

“I used to tease Robbie about how whenever we got to an interchange, if he was mad at me, he’d start talking again,” I said.

“Does Jake do that?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “He tends to let things that bother him fade away, while I have a tendency to hash them out.”

“Your way is probably healthier, but his is probably much calmer,” he said, making both of us laugh.

“This much is true,” I agreed.

“So how do you plan to handle this deal with Jeremy?” he asked.

“I told JP and Stef that I wasn’t going to do this piecemeal bullshit,” I said. “I think we need to address this as a cohesive unit, as a family.”

“That sounds logical, but the problem I have is that I’m not sure I’m on everyone else’s timetable,” he said. “Jeremy’s strategy makes sense, and it will probably work, because everyone else will decide that he’s changed, and that he’s all wonderful, and then they’ll all have this big kumbaya moment.”

“And you don’t think you’ll be able to forgive him as fast as the others?” I asked.

“I don’t know if I’ll even be able to forgive him at all,” he said. “And that’s why this really pisses me off. I’m not the one who created these problems; he did. So now if I don’t buy into his bullshit, I end up ostracized.”

“I can see that,” I said, even as I downshifted to take the first incline on Highway 17. “I think that in this situation, you may have to plan to be a bit tolerant.”

“I get it,” he said, flying off the handle. “I’m supposed to suck it up, just like I always have to do.”

“That is not what I am saying,” I said firmly. “Remember the dinner we were all supposed to have before you and Marie went to Boston?”

“Yeah,” he said cautiously.

“Jeremy was supposed to be segregated from you and he was supposed to be on his best behavior,” I said. “That’s what I see happening with this.”

He looked at me carefully. “You’re saying that if I’m calm and mellow about this, when he fucks up, he’ll be the one no one wants around?” It was both impressive and annoying that he seemed to be able to read the plans in my mind.

“Yes,” I responded. “If he has truly reformed himself, then eventually it won’t bother you that he’s there. If he hasn’t, it will be obvious to everyone.”

“I can see that,” he agreed. “How are you going to deal with him?”

“I’m going to give him a week to see if he starts to reach out to JP and Stef. If he doesn’t, I’ll have to show him that it’s important that he does,” I said obliquely.

“And how will you do that?” he asked.

“By making significant cuts to his cash flow,” I said.

“That might work,” he agreed.

“Will, no matter what happens, I am not going to leave you out there all alone,” I promised.

“Thanks, Dad,” he said, and put his hand on top of mine until I had to shift gears again.