Gap Year - 63. Chapter 63

March 7, 2004

New York, NY

 

Will

JJ and I strolled across the tarmac to the waiting jet copter. The temperature was projected to reach 60 degrees, which was much warmer than I had expected. That was largely offset by the cloudy skies, which seemed determined to inject their gloominess into my mood. We got into the jet copter and I paused to look at it. It was like a limo for the sky. There were two large reclining seats facing forward, with a nice console in between them, and a matching set up in front of them facing the rear. The privacy divider, a glass partition that separated the pilots’ area from the passengers’ area, was already up. I sank into one of the chairs and ran my hand across what was some very nice leather.

The phone rang, interrupting my bonding experience with this luxury cocoon. JJ answered it since he was in charge: he’d rented this jet copter and set up our whole itinerary. “Let’s go,” he said crisply into the phone, then hung up.

“You travel in style,” I said.

“I do everything with style,” he said, making me chuckle.

“You do,” I agreed. I yawned, getting a dirty look from him. I found a small refrigerator in the console, dug out an apple juice, then pulled an Adderall out of my pocket. JJ stared at me curiously as I swallowed it.

“What did you just take?” he asked.

“Acid,” I said. “I’ll be tripping in about 20 minutes.”

“Very funny,” he said petulantly.

“It’s an Adderall. I took it so I’ll have more energy and I won’t yawn constantly and annoy you.”

“If you got enough sleep, you wouldn’t have to take controlled substances,” he said, moralizing to me.

“I didn’t get home until five this morning. I ended up having amazing sex with Patrick, then with him and his boyfriend, so that was worth my mere three hours of sleep,” I told him.

“Whatever,” he said, being bitchy.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?” I asked. “I mean, you seem really happy with Zanie, and I assumed you would be hella excited to fuck Carullo.”

“I’m not going to fuck Carullo,” he snapped.

“Cool, then I will,” I said. He looked at me as if he were trying to vaporize me with his eyes. “Are you and Zanie an exclusive couple?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled.

“Then why aren’t you going to sleep with Carullo?”

“I don’t know what our status is, but it seems wrong to sleep with Carullo,” he said.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Dude, you need to have the DTR talk with Zanie.”

“What the fuck is the DTR talk?” he demanded in full bitch mode.

“DTR stands for Determine The Relationship,” I said in a condescending way, as if he were a complete idiot for not knowing that. “That’s where you sit down and decide the boundaries of your relationship.”

“It’s still pretty new,” he said.

“Maybe, but from my perspective, it seems like you two are definitely a couple,” I said. “I guess that could just be your glow from having sex with her.”

His evil look got even more intense. I raised an eyebrow to challenge him to even try to lie to me and tell me that their relationship was platonic, which made him sigh. “I guess you’re right.” It was hilarious that just that statement seemed to almost cause him agony. He glared at me. “I said you were right. What more do you want?” he snapped.

“So how do you want things to be with Zanie?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“I mean, you could be an exclusive couple. It seems that’s much more common in the heterosexual world,” I said, remembering my talk with Patrick at the gallery. “That means you have to cut off having sex with other dudes.”

“And other women,” he said. I stared at him blankly, confused by his response. “What? You don’t think I can attract other women?”

“I think you can attract damn near anyone you want,” I said. “I guess I was thinking about this all wrong. I just figured that if you had Zanie to satisfy your heterosexual urges, you’d want a guy on the side to fuck you once in a while.”

He rolled his eyes at me in frustration for being so explicit, and using words like ‘urges’. “I can see that,” he finally admitted.

“And on the flip side, what if Zanie wants to have a hot chick to play around with?” I asked. I thought that would bother him, but surprisingly it didn’t. I wondered if that was because he was being fair-minded about it, or if it was because his feelings for Zanie weren’t very strong.

“I can see that too,” he said.

“That way you have arm candy for events, and you have other options for your carnal desires,” I said. Me saying ‘carnal desires’ just about sent him over the edge.

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

“So since you currently have no formal arrangement with Zanie, and the only problems are coming from your fucked up mind, that means you get to fuck Carullo,” I said as if I were a judge.

He actually laughed at that. “You make good points. How did you get that bruise on your face?”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Zach threw me across the room and I hit a shelf.”

“Did he throw you on purpose or were you just messing around?” he asked. That was really infuriating.

“He threw me across the room. I first hit the shelf, then smashed my side into the edge of a dresser. When I looked at him, he had no remorse, he just seemed happy that he hurt me,” I said. He looked at me, all but questioning my statement, so I lifted up my shirt to show him the huge bruise on my side.

“That looks painful,” he said sympathetically. “I hope this doesn’t mess up your outfit for tonight.”

“I told you that the guy I’ve been with for the past two and a half years physically abused me, and your only concern is that I won’t look pretty tonight?” I asked, full of righteous outrage.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

“It’s okay,” I said, calming down. Ironically that brief outburst seemed to settle him down and pull him out of his uber-bitchy mood.

“How are you doing with all of this?” he asked.

“Zach crossed a line, so we’re over,” I said.

“You’re done with him for good?” he asked.

“I’m done with him for good,” I answered, repeating his sentence.

“Who was supposed to be here with you, then?” he asked.

“Do you remember Travis Buck?” I asked.

He smiled. “He was one of the few friends of yours that I liked, even though he was pretty goofy.”

I laughed at that. “He’s smoking hot now.” I pulled out my phone and pulled up one of the pictures we’d taken.

“He could model,” JJ said, which was a huge compliment to Travis. “Why didn’t he come with you?”

“He was going to, but he canceled at the last minute,” I said. I spent the rest of our flight telling JJ about all the drama I’d been through in LA.

“That’s pretty tough,” he said, and put his hand on my shoulder.

“It is,” I said, only remembering all of that shit made me sad, and at that moment I desperately needed human contact. I leaned over and pulled him into a big hug, and smiled as I felt him hugging me back. “Sorry,” I said.

“S’OK,” he said. We felt the jet copter land, then the pilot cautioned us to stay inside until the rotors stopped. JJ explained our return schedule, that we’d be leaving here around 2pm. When the blades had stopped moving, we got out and jumped into the limo that was waiting for us.

“You brought a suitcase here and we’re only going to be here for four hours?” I asked.

“It’s not a suitcase, it’s a travel bag,” he argued.

“Diva,” I quipped, giving him shit.

“Like I said, I do things with style,” he said to me, sounding like a complete snob. I ignored him after that and saw that my message light on my phone was blinking. I opened it up and saw that I had a message from Jake. I listened to his message, telling me that he had some news for me and to give him a call.

I checked my call log and saw that Travis had called me. I rechecked my messages but realized Travis didn’t leave me one. Still, he’d called me, and that made me smile. Then I frowned, wondering if he figured out a new way to rip me up. I looked at the call log again and blinked. It said that we’d talked for 57 minutes. I didn’t talk to him at all, much less for an hour. I looked at the time of the call and shit a brick. “Fuck!” I said loudly.

“How about if we pretend this is Escorial where there is no shouting,” JJ said severely.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

He sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Patrick was fucking me last night, and right when we were about to cum, my phone rang,” I explained. “Only I must not have hit ‘end’, I must have hit the “call button” and answered it. My call log shows it was Travis.”

“So he heard you blowing your load?” he asked, and started laughing.

“It’s not fucking funny,” I snapped, and that seemed to stabilize his weird sense of humor. “He didn’t only hear that; he heard my conversation with Patrick afterwards. I remember a lot of it was about Travis, but I don’t remember what I said. Fuck!”

“Were you telling him Travis was a total dick?” JJ asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ve been pretty shredded by this, so I probably told Patrick how sad I was.”

“Maybe this will turn out to be a good test,” he suggested. I stared at him like he was an idiot, and I got a patronizing glance in return. “If he is really into you, he’ll be really hurt. If he doesn’t like you, he won’t give a shit.”

“We’ll see,” I said dubiously. The limo pulled up to the back of a seedy apartment building and I saw there were three people outside, each with a suitcase. Carullo was standing there, looking so amazingly hot I felt my dick getting hard. Next to him was a goofy looking dude and the chick who must be his wife, because she was fucking huge in a pregnant kind of way. It looked like the baby was going to blow out of her stomach like that monster in Alien. “Next time you give Carullo a present, make it luggage.”

“We’ll see,” he said, giving me the same bitchy response that I gave him.

“I’m kind of surprised you haven’t already done it,” I said, the sarcasm all but drifting off my tongue. “I mean, you only lived with him for how long? I figured you would have planned a trip or something with him.”

He was saved from having to respond to that when the driver opened the door. He opened it on my side, so I got out and headed straight for Carullo. He gave me a monster hug. “I didn’t know you were coming! This is so awesome.” He pulled away and smirked at me, because he’d felt my dick poking him when we hugged. Then he almost brushed me aside to get to JJ, which was cute and hilarious. He lifted JJ up and spun him around, and I actually had to laugh at JJ’s expression, which was part excitement and part annoyance.

“I’m Tabitha and this Toby,” the chick said. She was kind of cute, in an unrefined kind of way.

“Will,” I said, and shook their hands. “Are you going to explode?” I joked, pointing at her stomach.

“I’d take that instead of carrying this baby around,” she said, shaking her head.

Carullo and JJ were done with their hugs, so we started walking back to the limo, with the three of them hauling their bags. JJ and Carullo both had visible tents in their pants from their erections, so I started chuckling and raised an eyebrow. I insisted that Tabitha sit facing forward, so when things flushed out it ended up with Tabitha, me, and JJ facing forward, while Toby and Carullo were across from us. As soon as the limo started rolling, Tabitha leaned forward to speak to JJ. “Jay, I can’t even express my gratitude to you for helping to change our lives. I mean, most of this you’re doing for Carullo, but it’s really made our future so much brighter.”

JJ leaned forward to respond, which left me in the middle of this conversation. “John has done so much for our family; it was an easy decision to try to do something nice for him.” I thought about how Carullo had fucked both me and my father and chuckled, getting an annoyed look from JJ.

“You’ve already done a lot of nice stuff for me,” Carullo objected. “New car, new appliances, the most kick-ass television around.”

“And if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have a job,” Toby said. “Hell, I’d be an unemployed father with a pissed off wife.”

“No shit,” Tabitha said.

“You got Toby a job?” I asked JJ.

“I got him an interview with the builder,” JJ said modestly, even though he wasn’t modest.

“Good job,” I said to him, making him smile.

“This is the neighborhood!” Carullo exclaimed as we turned into a subdivision. It was really nice, kind of like Bristol’s equivalent to Los Altos in the Bay Area. The limo drove up and we got out and just stared at this stunning house. The homes in this neighborhood were all custom built, but they still had a sort of sameness to them. This house stood out because it was so completely different.

“Holy shit!” I said. “JJ, this is beautiful. What style is this?” The other three looked at me oddly, probably confused about what I was referring to.

“A modern take on Italian Renaissance,” JJ said.

“You got this for the hottest Italian guy around?” I asked.

“I did,” he confirmed, then we both chuckled as Carullo blushed. I studied this house that JJ had built, and it really was impressive. The main structure was very symmetrical, with a tall two-story square block in front of us with two wings, both considerably set back, pushing out on either side. The right side must have contained the garages, since the driveway led back there. I realized that the driveway wasn’t asphalt or concrete, but some sort of stone or brick. Despite that, the house would have been bland if not for the added features that made it look kind of Italian. There were recessed windows with oversize shutters; those on the second floor led out to small balconies. The front door was curved at the top, and that curve was mirrored in the small porch that surrounded it. The theme continued on the second floor, where the central window wasn’t square like the others, but curved to match the door and arch below. The roof was relatively flat, with cool lights in small structures made to look like Italian lanterns. There was one over each of the two windows on either side, but for the space just above the curved window was what looked like a stone pedestal clock. I looked at my watch and was surprised that the time was accurate. I took out my camera and started taking pictures, including some with the others in them.

We went inside and it was even more amazing than the outside. The second floor had been omitted from this part, leaving a two-story entry, brightly lit by skylights. There was a long curving staircase that made a graceful entry into the foyer. “There’s furniture here,” Tabitha noted. I had been so impressed by the house I hadn’t noticed the décor.”

“Are they coming to get it?” Toby asked.

“It’s part of the overall design of the house,” JJ said. “It stays.” They were smart enough not to argue with him. Everything had been perfectly laid out. We toured the master bedroom, with its gorgeous bathroom and huge bed, then walked out.

“You guys go ahead; we have some things to talk about,” Carullo said as he put his arm around JJ.

“Want me to stay so you can christen your bed with the best piece of ass in Bristol?” I joked.

“I am going to christen my bed with the best piece of ass anywhere,” he said, and slowly shut the door in our faces. I started laughing, which seemed to surprise Toby and Tabitha. I guess they thought I’d be offended.

I walked upstairs with them to their room, and it was done in a really tasteful way. It was clear that JJ put furniture in here that was designed to make Toby and Tabitha more comfortable. It was chic but homey at the same time. We walked into their bathroom and admired the beautiful tile and fixtures. “I never thought I’d be able to even tour a house like this, much less live in it,” Tabitha said.

“I’m glad you like it,” I said, smiling. They started to walk out but I heard noises, that unmistakable sound of people fucking. “Hey, can I use your bathroom?” I asked urgently.

They looked at me strangely. “Sure,” Tabitha said, and hurried Toby out of the room. I locked the door after them then followed the source of the noise and finally found a vent in the floor and looked through it. This vent looked straight through to the vent in Carullo’s ceiling. I chuckled as I realized that the view through both of those vents was right over Carullo’s bed. I saw Carullo pound JJ, and probably should have closed the vent and let them have their privacy, but it was way too hot. Carullo was this huge, hulking dude and JJ was a twink, so the two of them together was like watching a porno. It was so hot I took my cock out and beat off. I came before them, then laughed. Carullo and JJ looked up at the vent, so I backed away and closed the vent in Toby and Tabitha’s room. I washed the cum off my hands, made sure I didn’t leave any evidence, then walked out to look for Toby and Tabitha. I finally found them in the baby’s room.

“Thanks for that,” I said to them, then looked around at the room. “This is really cute.”

“I don’t know how Jay figured out how to do a nursery, but he did one hell of a job,” Tabitha said.

“I’m guessing he got help on that part,” I said, chuckling. I walked around with them for a bit, then headed downstairs. I conveniently arrived in front of Carullo’s bedroom just as he and JJ came walking out.

“What are you doing here?” JJ snapped, acting like I was stalking them.

“You have a major design flaw,” I said.

“And what is this major design flaw?” he asked. I pushed past them and walked over to Carullo’s bed, which was completely unmade.

“Smells like sex in here,” I said, and had to laugh at JJ’s annoyed expression.

“I’m going to see the rest of the house,” he said, being a total bitch.

I pointed to the vent above Carullo’s bed. “If you are in Toby and Tabitha’s bathroom and you look through their floor vent, you get a perfect view of this bed.”

“How do you know that?” JJ asked, outraged. “Did you watch us?”

“Of course I watched,” I said. JJ looked so pissed he was about to explode, while Carullo smiled and winked at me. “I was in there with Toby and Tabitha when I heard loud sex noises. I told them I had to use their bathroom and ushered them out. So you should be thanking me that all three of us weren’t watching you.”

“Thanks Will,” Carullo said.

“I’ll get it fixed,” JJ said, then stormed out of the room.

I gave Carullo a sultry look. “You are still one of the best lovers out there,” I said, boosting his ego.

“I’m sure you still are too,” he said, “but there’s no way I would hurt Jay by sleeping with you.”

“So you getting any action up here in Bristol?” I probed.

“I have a couple of dudes that I hook up with once in a while, but nothing serious,” he said.

“You should come to New York to visit and meet JJ’s girlfriend,” I said, stirring up trouble.

“Girlfriend?” he asked, and was both surprised and jealous.

“Her name is Zanie. We met her in England. She had to flee the country, or at least her father, so she came over here and JJ offered to let her stay with him,” I explained.

“Maybe I’ll do that,” he grumbled.

“You seem upset,” I said, playing him along.

“I’m not upset,” he said, being almost as bitchy as JJ.

“They’re both bisexual,” I said. “So this kind of works for them.” He didn’t say anything. “It might also work for you. Just saying.”

He thought about what I said, then nodded. I decided to grab one of the guest rooms, but no one seemed to care. It was like they were happy to be rid of me. I pulled out my phone and looked at the log showing that Travis must have listened to my orgasm with Patrick along with my conversation. I knew that he had some feelings for me, so it must have bothered him to hear me having sex with someone else and enjoying it so much. I was irritated with myself for forgetting what I talked to Patrick about.

Regardless, the right thing to do was to call him back. I pulled up his number and speed dialed him. It rang about five times before it went to voicemail. “Hey, I saw you called last night. Get back to me when you can.” I sighed, lay back on the bed and fell sound asleep.

I was awakened by someone shaking me. “We’re leaving in twenty minutes,” JJ snapped. I contrasted that to the way that Darius had woken me up, showing a lot more consideration than JJ.

I got up and went into the bathroom, spent some time working on my hair and my breath, then went out to the foyer to wait for them. JJ walked in almost precisely twenty minutes after he’d woken me up, followed by Carullo, Toby and Tabitha. Toby and Tabitha told me how nice it was to meet me, then gushed over JJ, repeatedly telling him how he’d changed their lives and how they’d never be able to thank him enough. JJ was gracious enough, but I could tell that beneath his veneer he found their gratitude tedious. They left, leaving me, Carullo, and JJ waiting to leave.

“You remember how when we were living in New York, and you were all pissed off at me for still wanting to fuck around with other dudes?” Carullo asked JJ.

“I remember,” JJ almost snarled. I snaughed, that gesture that men in our family used so often, and got the evil eye from JJ.

“If we weren’t living in two different places, I could make that commitment to you now,” Carullo said. That was so poignant even I started to tear up.

“Tell the driver we’re running about fifteen minutes late,” he told me, then dragged Carullo back to his bedroom. I walked out of their McMansion, laughing my ass off.

“We’re fifteen minutes behind schedule,” I told the driver as I hopped into the limo. He just shrugged. It was actually closer to twenty minutes when JJ opened the door himself and hopped in. “You’re late,” I said.

“It was worth it,” he said.

“That was a pretty sweet thing he said to you,” I told JJ.

“It was,” he agreed crisply, trying to shut me down.

“You think you might do that? Move up to Bristol?” I asked.

“No,” he said firmly. “My life is in New York City.”

“You remind me of Zach, a dude who is willing to trade everything for his career,” I said. “It’s kind of like you’re skating again.”

“It is not!” he insisted, sounding like he was 10 years old again.

“So if you had to choose, who would you be with: Zanie or Carullo?” I asked.

“Would you just stay the fuck out of my business?” he demanded. And with that, he’d finally pissed me off.

“Look asshole,” I said, almost yelling at him and knocking him back on his heels a bit. “I’ve been super nice since I got here, and I’ve done everything you wanted me to do. You have no fucking right to treat me this way.”

“I don’t see why you have the right to butt into my relationships,” he said, acting almost as mad as me.

“Fine,” I said. “Then tonight, I’m going to MOMA in jeans and a hoodie, wearing a baseball cap backwards.”

“If you go like that, you can’t go,” he said in a smarmy way. “I won’t give you a ticket, and they’re impossible to get.”

I laughed at him and was just calming down as the limo pulled up to the jet copter. That interrupted our conversation as we transferred from one vehicle to the other, and sat there as the prop began to whirl. “Just so you know, I don’t need your fucking ticket to get into the deal at MOMA.”

“Right,” he said skeptically.

“I’ll just talk to Bellona and tell her you’re being a complete asshole and won’t give me my ticket,” I said in the smarmiest way I could. “I’ll bet she can get one for me, especially if Darius asks her nicely.” That blew his blackmail attempt out the window, since the last thing he wanted was for Bellona to see him being such a bitch.

He sighed, but I just ignored him and stared out the window, watching the scenery pass by. “I need you to go with me tonight, and I need you to wear the clothes I picked out for you.” I said nothing, pretending that he hadn’t said a thing. “Carullo,” he finally said, answering my question. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, all but challenging him for doing just what I’d accused him of: throwing away love for a bunch of fashion shows.

“Why is it so important that I go and that I wear the clothes you got me?” I demanded.

“Bellona challenged me to see if I could make you look hotter than she can make Darius look,” he said.

“I’ll think about it,” I said dismissively.

“You can’t make me look like I just gave up!” he said, now totally freaked out.

“I said I’d think about it,” I said again, then looked away from him. I didn’t talk to him for the rest of the jet copter ride.