Justin stared at his painting hanging on the wall. He was wondering to himself if it had become too derivative of his earlier works. Justin was reaching a block in his art. He felt that he was painting the same thing over and over again.
"Justin! What are you doing here?" a young blond woman stated from across the gallery.
"Tina. I thought I would come and see how the show was doing. It's been a while since I took the time to come and see my work in a gallery."
Tina walked over to Justin and stood next to him looking at the painting. "Well. This one is…"
"Typical Justin Taylor. I know. I need something fresh." Justin put his head in his hand when his phone started to ring from his pocket. He fished it out of his jeans and was surprised to see his sister's picture pop up.
Turning away from Tina, Justin answered, "Molly? Why are you calling? I never…"
Justin felt his heart sank as Molly explained what was happening back home. "What?" "Okay, I'll get on the earliest flight back to Pittsburgh."
Tina looked worried at Justin and put her hand on his shoulder. "Is everything okay?"
"No. My mom is sick. Really sick. I need to go home." Justin turned out of the gallery and walked home.
Brian has been working hard on a couple of accounts at Kinnetik Inc. in order to spend more time with his son. Gus and J.R. have been in town for the last two weeks spending time with their fathers. They will be leaving back for Toronto in two days on Saturday, and Brian was spending a little time at the office while Michael and Ben watched the kids and took them to a movie.
Brian hasn't gone out for the past two weeks because the kids have been wearing him out during the day. He doesn't understand how Mel and Lindz do it. He could never do this as a full time job. He loved Gus, but he's getting to a highly influential age, and Brian didn't want Gus to turn out like him.
Justin arrived at the airport to get on the early evening flight to Pittsburgh. When he got to the terminal to wait, it was the time he had to think about the fact he was going home. Justin hadn't been home in over 7 years. His mother and sister always came out to visit him. They loved New York and Justin thinks his mom knew that if he came home he would never want to leave, so she never gave him a reason to.
Justin hadn't seen or really talked to anyone in years. He was worried about what everyone would think. He talked to Michael more than anyone because of the comic book, but other than that, he didn't really reach out. They lost touch, when both parties didn't make an effort.
Brian was the biggest worry that Justin had in going home. Brian decided that the best way to handle their relationship was that if Justin was home, then they would be together, but while Justin was in New York they would live separate lives. Brian wanted Justin to experience the world outside of him. He was young and ready to conquer the world.
Justin sat with his bag in the chair next to him. He grabbed his phone and started to text Michael about coming home when the flight attendants started boarding. It was at that moment Justin decided to take one step at a time. First, he would see his mother. Then, he would deal with whatever shit came his way.
Michael and Ben sat on the couch across from the TV while Gus sat in the chair playing on his iPad and J.R. was watching Frozen from probably the 200th time.
Michael looked over at Ben and said, "I'm going to miss this."
"What a family back in this house or Gus trying to beat you in comic book knowledge?"
"I know everything, and there's this thing called the internet that's really helpful. You might want to try it out." Gus smirked at Michael and Michael couldn't help my think that Gus was becoming more and more like Brian everyday.
Just then Brian walked through the front door without knocking. Gus looked up at his dad and had to smile at the food in Brian's hand. "I thought I'd bring some real food into this house."
"Thank God! I'm so tired of eating tofu. No offense Ben."
"None taken." Ben put up his hands and then went into the kitchen to get plates.
Michael kissed Brian and J.R. went to hug him as well. Brian looked at the dark haired girl and asked, "J.R.? What did you and Gus do today?"
"We went to the mall, and then dad asked us what we wanted to do. We decided that hanging at home was better than trying to find something to do in the city. We like it when it's just us."
Brian smiled and walked over to Gus. He kissed him on top of his head. "Gross. I'll be excited when I'm too tall for you to do that."
Brian matched his sass and said, "You will never be too tall. I will just have to take you down." They playfully wrestled.
Ben came up, "Not in the house. You two need to eat first."
Brian realized in that moment how normal this all felt. He never wanted this to change.
