Troublemaker - 8. Chapter Eight

Barrett

My talk with Todd last night lingered in my mind from when I got home that night to when I began my shift Saturday morning. I was glad that I clarified the misunderstanding with Todd; however, that led to needing to question Anthony about why he said those things to his brother. That Todd disgusted me and that I would resort to physical violence if he even looked at me in a flirtatious manner. I didn’t even know he had a crush on me, though those shy looks he would give whenever I visited his place to hang out with Anthony were probably more than just timidness.

Unfortunately, I was completely busy with the influx of clients needing rides to the hospital and then doing the paperwork afterwards. The back and forth between stabilizing a client and the paperwork that proceeded it didn’t offer me any time to sit down with Anthony to talk. And whatever time we had for ourselves was wasted as I chickened out, not sure how to even bring up the subject and how he would react.

Thankfully, my shift ended in the afternoon and as I prepared to leave, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Looking at the screen, I smiled upon seeing Andrea’s name and answered the call.

“Hey, Andrea!” I greeted.

“Barrett! It’s great to hear your voice. I’m just calling to make sure that you’re still coming to visit.”

“Oh, yeah. I remembered.”

Anthony approached me and said, “Is that Andrea?”

I nodded and put the call on speaker.

“My shift just ended. Also, Anthony is with me.”

“Good afternoon, Andrea. I hope you’re doing well,” Anthony said.

“Hi, Anthony! Good to hear from you too. And I’m doing wonderfully, thanks for asking.” Lacy barked in the background, causing Andrea to shush her. “So, you’ll be here by five.”

“Yup. Just have to make a quick trip to the grocery store and buy a couple ingredients for those burgers.”

“Burgers?” Anthony asked, his brows perked.

I ignored him and said, “Just have the grill ready when I arrive.”

“Will do. See you soon!” Andrea said before ending the call.

Because of my work schedule, I didn’t always have a chance to visit my foster mother, especially after she moved to a small bungalow similar to my own on the outskirts of the city. However, I owed it to her to visit and spend time with her as much as I could since she took me in when I was at my lowest. She was the closest person I had to a mother figure, and she helped me become a better person despite my history of misbehavior that caused me to be kicked out of several foster homes before I met her.

Anthony eyed me with a frown as I put my phone away.

“What?”

“You were seriously going to grill and eat burgers without me?” Anthony said with crossed arms.

“Ah, you wouldn’t like the ones I’m making,” I warned.

“Why not? It’s burgers. You can’t screw that up. I’ll even help you form the patties. Please, Barrett. I haven’t eaten lunch since we were so busy.”

I was about to inform my carnivorous friend that these were vegetarian burgers made with black beans instead of beef.

But then a thought formed, and I said, “All right, fine. You can come. But you better not drink all of Andrea’s lemonade tea like last time.”

“I promise!” Anthony said and offered me a fake salute.

I thought this was my best chance today to talk with Anthony about Todd and what he possibly said to his brother to cause all this confusion. I also wanted to get him to finally try some of the food I cooked that wasn’t greasy or artery clogging.

“You boys heading out?” Jenny asked as she approached us.

“Yup,” I said. “What about you?”

Jenny loosened her hair bun. “Nah, I’m staying behind to make some adjustments to the engine.”

“You did some fine driving today, Jen. You should be proud,” Anthony said and patted her shoulder.

“Proud? For what? I’m just doing my job. Is that supposed to be a dig at me being an Asian woman driver?”

“No! Of course not! Why would you think that?”

“So, you telling the new EMT about me being double the trouble while behind the wheel wasn’t actually about me?”

“I was just joking!”

“Well, it wasn’t funny, especially when it’s at someone else’s expense.”

“I meant nothing by it. Right, Barrett?”

“Sorry, man. You don’t joke about someone based on stereotypes,” I said, earning me a glare from my friend.

“Thank you, Barrett! Nice to know that not all my coworkers are insensitive assholes,” Jenny said as she began walking away. “And stop leaving your fast food waste in the cubby of the ambulance for me to clean up. I’m not your maid!”

Jenny stomped back into the building, and Anthony swore.

“Ready to leave?” I asked.

“It was just a joke,” Anthony insisted.

“Come on, man. Just admit you were wrong and let’s go.”

Anthony sighed and followed me out of the garage.

Jenny had a shaky relationship with Anthony ever since she began working with us as an EMT about a year ago. Jenny was damn good at her job, graduating at the top of her class from what Mr. Miller had said to us. I knew we could fully depend on her after her ability to flawlessly maneuver through a traffic jam as Anthony and I stabilized a client with a near severed arm. He would’ve certainly died if not for Jenny and her instantaneous thinking. She and I got along well. Unfortunately, Anthony’s humor and lack of sensitivity on certain subjects was a bad combination. I could only hope those two eventually saw eye to eye as we had to work as a team, especially concerning a client’s life.

The trip to Marty’s was quick. I quickly found and got a few cans of black beans from a tower that had a nice person named Carolyn offering tasty samples of black bean dip. I also grabbed the recipe from her along with a bag of hamburger buns. Anthony bought a couple bags of chips before we checked out. I hoped to bump into Todd again, but I didn’t see him restocking or placing price stickers. Then again, I didn’t want him thinking I came there just to see him. I wasn’t a creep.

The drive to Andrea’s took about twenty minutes, which dragged as Anthony sang along to pop songs on the radio. His shrill voice compared to his brother was like night and day, like yin and yang, like the voice of an angel and the screech of a banshee.

Thankfully, the singing stopped when we arrived at Andrea’s home in a quiet, woody neighborhood.

I just parked the car when the front door opened and a large, golden figure sprinted out to greet us.

“Lacy! Get back here!” Andrea shouted as the golden retriever jumped me with wet licks as soon as I opened the car door.

I patted the doggos head and scratched her chin at the same time, causing the furry beast to kick her back leg in appreciation. This sweet canine was a rescue dog whose owner abandoned in the middle of a park due to her behavior issues. However, I read about her story online and convinced Andrea to foster the poor dog as a way to cope with a death in the family. Training her took a while, but just like me, Lacy was now well behaved and living her best life all because of Andrea.

Andrea waved her hand from the front porch, and I held Lacy's front paws and did a small dance to get out my car.

I then approached Andrea who spread her arms wide open as I accepted her embrace.

“Oh! It’s so good to see you again, honey,” Andrea said.

“Great to see you too. I’m sorry I didn’t visit you last Saturday.”

“No worries at all! I know you’re a busy man.” Andrea patted my back.

“Hey, Andrea!”

I turned my head to see Anthony hauling the bag of grocery items as Lacy jumped around him, probably thinking the items were for her.

“Anthony! What a surprise!”

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind me coming,” Anthony said, lifting the bag from Lacy’s reach.

“Of course not! Always happy to have both of you here. Now get inside. I’ve been looking forward to those vegetarian burgers since you told me about them this morning, Barrett. I’ll go in the backyard and start setting up the table, “ Andrea said before walking off.

“Vegetarian?” Anthony uttered. “Is that what the black beans are for?”

“Yeah…” I admitted. “They’ll taste great, man. Just trust me, okay?”

“Whatever. I’ll guess I’ll start chopping the onions for some onion rings if that’s okay,” Anthony said as he dragged his feet to the kitchen.

I just rolled my eyes and followed him with Lacy right behind me.

Andrea already laid out the rest of the ingredients to make the burger patties on the kitchen island. I began opening and draining the liquid of the black beans, while I instructed Anthony to dice the onions and garlic, or in his terms, cut them into very tiny bits.

As I mashed the black beans with a potato masher, I glanced at Anthony who rubbed his eyes from the onions he was poorly dicing.

“What’s got you so teary eyed, buddy?” I joked.

“Shut up. It’s these damn onions. Why can’t I be the one mashing those beans,” Anthony complained.

Chuckling, I said, “Maybe I should since I asked you to dice the onions, not julienne them.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“You would if you ever cooked a meal in your life.”

“Hey, I already got enough shit from Jenny. I don’t need you dogpiling on me too. Especially after you tricked me into eating the trash you call food.” Anthony chuckled.

Smacking the potato masher down, I blurted, “Hey, if you don’t want to eat it, then get the fuck out here!”

“Woah, man, chill! I was just joking,” Anthony said with hands raised in surrender.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and said, “Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now.”

“It’s cool… Do you mind telling me what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. It’s…complicated.”

“Really, Barrett?” Anthony placed his knife down and crossed his arms. “We’ve known each other for how long? Since high school? We always talked to each other about anything and everything that happened in our lives or made us upset. What’s changed?”

“Nothing’s changed,” I said defensively.

“Cool. So, what’s up?”

I sighed and bowed my head. “There’s a reason why I brought you here. I wanted to talk to you back at work before we became swamped… It’s about Todd.”

Anthony raised a brow. “What about him? Did he get drunk again?”

“No, nothing like that. I bumped into him again yesterday evening at Bottoms Up. Planned to meet Sabrina and her friend there just to hang out. He was there with his friends when I arrived and decided to chat with him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, and he said something that made me confused.”

I chose to omit the fact that we had the conversation at Todd’s place after his friend tried to fight me that then resulted in an asthma attack.

I cleared my throat and continued, “He believed I was disgusted by him having a crush on me back when we were just teenagers, and said that I would hurt him if he ever approached me… He also said that you told him that.”

Anthony didn’t say anything, just stared at the onions that were making him teary eyed only a minute ago.

“So? What’s up with that? Please tell me you didn’t actually say that to him.” My hands began to sweat.

Anthony just grunted.

“Was that no or…”

Swearing, he then said, “All right, you caught me. I did say those things to Todd.”

I took a step back. “Why would you do that?”

“I had my reasons.”

“Like?”

“Like? Like when that one dude in our English class came out. You muttered the f-word when he passed you in the hallway.”

I just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Or what about when you snickered at him for wearing a shirt with the pride flag on it, and saying to me that he should, quote on quote, ‘keep it to himself.’”

“I…”
“You don’t remember? Well, I do. And I know that my brother had a crush on you based on those looks he always gave you when you spent time at my place. They were the same looks that guy gave me, before you told him you weren’t gay and to fuck off.” Anthony shook his head. “I saw how other people treated him, and I remember Todd crying to Mom after being bullied at school. I love you like a brother, Barrett. But Todd always comes first, and I didn’t want him to get hurt if you found out that he had feelings for you… So, I told him what I thought was the truth… I was protecting him along with our friendship. I didn’t want to even imagine what would happen if my best friend hurt my baby brother and that it was my fault it happened.”

Memories of my comments I made to Richard during sophomore year resurfaced, and I felt like complete shit. Anthony was more observant than I previously gave him credit for, and I was the insensitive asshole back then saying derogatory slurs at someone who was only being himself. What a twist. Despite their disagreements, Anthony loved his brother and would do anything to prevent him from getting hurt, even if that meant ending our friendship.

Leaning my hands on the island, I said, “Shit. It’s all coming back to me now.”

“I knew Mom’s cancer was terminal and that I was going to lose her. I promised her that I would protect Todd at all costs. I didn’t want to end our friendship, so I did what I thought was the next best solution. But in retrospect, I should’ve handled it differently. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be. Your family comes first. Always… And looking back, I can see why I acted that way.”

“Meaning?”

I swallowed a lump in my throat and blurted, “I’m bi, Anthony.”

Anthony’s brow almost rose to his hairline. “Really? You?”

I nodded. “I guess it was all that internalized homophobia that caused me to say those things. Not that it was an excuse, just that iit explains why I was hostile… You’re okay with me being bi, right?”

Anthony smiled and said, “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

I felt a hard tug in my heart, which only increased when Anthony approached and hugged me. Despite his flaws, and mine as well, we were best friends, and I would do anything for him as would he for me.

“Am I interrupting something?”

I released Anthony and turned to Andrea who eyed us with amusement. “Nope, just two best friends hugging is all.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. I heard some yelling earlier and thought you two were arguing.”

“Only about the burgers that Barrett didn’t mention were vegetarian,” Anthony quipped.

I chuckled. “You’re acting like I’m going to feed you grass.”

“Well, I don’t care what I’m being fed as long as it’s good,” Andrea said. “Now get those patties made before I starve to death.”

I chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

Andrea walked away to the backyard as I cracked some salt and pepper into the mashed bowl of black beans.

“It’s good that you and Todd are talking by the way,”Anthony said as he tried to peel the garlic cloves.

“He’s a cool guy to talk to.”

Anthony eyed me for a moment before saying, “You and Todd aren’t… Ah, never mind. Glad to know you two are getting along.”

Though Anthony didn’t finish his thought, I could guess what he wanted to ask. I tried to ignore the images of Todd and his shy smiles as I combined the onions and garlic with the black bean paste. I then took a dollop of the mixture with a small spoon and offered it to my friend. He hesitated for a moment before plunging it into his mouth. His face quickly morphed from disgust to surprise.

“Tasty?” I asked.

Anthony licked the spoon. “It’s okay.”

I snickered and quickly formed the mixture into decent-sized patties before carrying them on a tray to the backyard, while Anthony carried everything else like the lettuce and tomatoes.

Outside, Lacy ran in circles around the grassy space, enjoying the sunny, yet cool afternoon day. Anthony sat at the wooden picnic table, drinking Andrea’s lemonade tea, while I started grilling the patties.

“You doing alright, sweetie?” Andrea asked and patted my back.

“Yup. What about you?”

“I’m doing well. To be honest, some days are easier than others, but I get by.”

“I’m always a phone call away if you need to talk.”

“Thank you, Barrett. But no need to worry about me.” She smiled. “I called someone yesterday, someone who may know information about your mother.”

“Andrea, you don’t have to do that for me.”

“Oh, hush now. I have nothing else going on in my life other than caring for Lacy. It’s the least I can do.”

“So…what did they say?” I asked curiously.

“Nothing much, but they could know something. I’ll text you their number later.”

I hugged Andrea and thanked her again. Finding my mother was a mission that I thought I would have to do solo. However, Andrea was more than willing to assist me in my search, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her kindness.

An afternoon with Andrea and my best friend was exactly what I needed to unwind and relax. The burgers came out great, even Anthony had to admit that the vegetarian meal was delicious, which paired wonderfully with Andrea’s signature lemonade tea.

And there I was, back at Marty’s to purchase more cans of black beans to cook burgers back at home, so Anthony wouldn’t resort to ordering fast food again for tomorrow.

The place was quieter since it was the evening time as I made my way to a tower of black bean cans. I passed a disgruntled employee complaining to the manager about sticker graffiti being found in the feminine hygiene products, which only made me chuckle.

With a few cans of beans in my shopping basket, I ventured to the vegetables to buy some more yellow onions. As I turned a corner, I almost bumped into a person crossing the other end. I was about to apologize when I recognized the suited man as Channing.

He looked just as surprised as I was, and we just stood there for a moment as I glared at him.

Channing then offered a weak wave and said, “H-hey… Can we talk?”