Chapter Fourteen

"Matt, you have to talk to him," sighed Anna, taking a seat across from Matt at the kitchen table.

"I think he's with his new boyfriend," Matt snorted.

Phil smirked and got a Pepsi from the fridge. He offered one to Matt, who shook his head. "You know, there's nobody else who finds this situation spicier than me. It's almost like a really good gay soap opera. But the point is, Eve's on her way over here, and if you don't settle things with Jeff, this whole thing will blow up in your face, and you could lose everything."

Matt sulked. "I just can't get my head around everything right now," he sighed, just as Adam staggered into the kitchen and blindly opened the freezer door.

"Ice pack, I need an ice pack."

Matt glanced up. "Adam, are you okay?"

"I got clubbed with a suitcase. I swear, you and your brother are gonna put me in traction."

"Where's Jeff?" Phil asked, cracking open his Pepsi and taking a long, cold sip.

"I don't know," Adam sighed, as Anna helped him put some ice in a plastic bag. "He's been in his room for two hours, crying and packing. I tried to tell him the truth-"

Matt leaped out of his chair. "WHAT?"

"Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted, but don't freak. I think I just confused Jeff more."

"Might as well get this over with," sighed Matt, trudging out of the kitchen.

Anna helped Adam into a chair. "Here, sit down. You and Phil and I can share tales of heartache, and you can tell Phil all about how you managed to get Jeff to play for the other side."

~~~SCWAT~~~

Matt opened the door, just in time to duck out of the way of a flying shoe. Jeff glanced up in surprise at his brother and then looked down towards his packed suitcase. "Sorry. Didn't mean to throw that at you."

"I'm sure it just Freudian slipped out of your hands."

Jeff grabbed a few more of his things. "Whatever you wanna say, make it quick. As soon as I'm packed, I'm out of here."

Matt slammed the bedroom door shut. "Oh, no you don't! You don't get to be all pissed off here! Okay, there's a few things I need to explain, but you don't have a Get Out Of Jail Free card! Your behavior has been way out of line and..." Matt's voice trailed off as he noticed the bottle lying on top of the pile of Jeff's clothes in his suitcase. "Okay, Jeff. The CK One is mine."

"No it's not!" Jeff spat, indignantly. "It's mine, and I'm taking it home."

"No it's not, and at forty dollars a bottle, It's staying here."

Jeff grabbed the bottle and put it behind his back as Matt lunged for it. "It's mine!"

"Give it back, Jeff!"

The brothers struggled all over the bedroom over the bottle of cologne. "No!" Jeff shouted.

"Give it back!"

"NO!" Suddenly, Jeff's arm lashed out, and he inadvertently forearm-shivered his brother into the closet door. Matt hit his head on the doorway so hard, he saw stars.

Jeff set the bottle down and approached his brother cautiously. "Matty! Oh, dammit! I'm so sorry!"

Matt rubbed the sore spot on his head. "You trying to kill me?"

"No. I'm really really sorry!"

"It's okay, Jeff. I'll be fine."

Jeff flopped onto the bed. "Why is it so hard for us to get along?" asked, his voice wavering.

Matt gave his brother a box of Kleenex. "I don't know. Maybe it's because you keep stealing things from me."

Jeff nodded and looked down at the floor.

Matt sat down next to his brother. "You said you were coming to New York because you wanted to see me. Why?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," answered Jeff.

"It matters to me. Come on, Jeff. Talk to me."

Jeff looked up. "At the wedding, you really blew me away. It was almost like you were holding up a mirror in front of my face."

It suddenly dawned on Matt that his brother hadn't been trying to steal Adam. "So everything with Adam, it wasn't stealing him away because you could? You weren't playing around, were you?"

"No, Matty. After all this came out, Dad said to me that he always knew that one of us would be gay. He thought for the longest time that I'd be the gay one, and after the wedding, he said he got us confused. That's not true. He was right about me all along."

"So that means you're..."

"Yeah. I'm gay."

"How long have you known?"

"Remember Shawn Michaels from Camp Wounded Eagle? We used to practice kissing behind the boathouse. The summer he said he didn't want to practice anymore, I cried so hard, that the camp nurse thought I had pinkeye and sent me to the infirmary so I wouldn't spread it."

"Wow."

Jeff cracked a tentative smile. "Matty, even though I'm really confused and all in knots about everything that's happened, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Adam." He paused. "Why'd you tell me that he was you're boyfriend?"

"Because you thought I made up being gay to ruin your wedding."

"Well, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Gay."

"No, Jeff. I'm not."

"Then why did you say you were when you weren't?"

"Because Phil...dammit. It's stupid and it's complicated. I'm straight, and Adam's not my boyfriend. I have a girlfriend who's named Eve."

"Why didn't you introduce us to her?"

"Because I didn't think you and Dad would accept her if I introduced her to you."

"Why?" Jeff cocked his head. "Is there something wrong with her?"

Matt sighed and raked through his hair with his fingers. "Her mom's black and her dad's Hispanic."

Jeff's jaw dropped in shock. Glaring at Matt, he jumped off the bed and stomped across the floor to the window.

"Hey!" exclaimed Matt. "Come on, Jeff. Dad would have freaked out, and you know it!"

Jeff turned to face his brother. "Well, he seemed to handle the you-being-gay-at-my-wedding thing really well! Matty, you are a piece of work. You move to New York and think everyone you left behind is a bunch of uneducated backwoods rednecks! If you'd ever expressed the most remote interest in what was going on in our lives, you would know that Dad's best friend is a black man!

"Jimmy?"

"Yeah, Jimmy! Why do you think he helped us out with the wedding arrangements?"

"Because that's his job, Jeff. He works for Dad, that doesn't mean they're friends-"

Jeff snorted. "What would you know? You haven't been around. Jimmy doesn't work for Dad anymore. He has a wildly successful landscaping business. I think you just assumed all that because you're prejudiced."

You could have knocked Matt over with a feather. "What?"

"I'm just calling it as I see it, Matty."

"Jeff, that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard in my life!"

"Is it? I'm not the one who's ashamed of who I'm dating."

"I'm not ashamed of who I'm dating!" He noticed something else in the open suitcase and pulled it out. "Oh, by the way Jeff. This is my baseball cap."

Jeff smiled sheepishly and blushed.

Matt threw the baseball cap at his brother. "Put it back, Jeff."

~~~SCWAT~~~

"Okay, ten minutes on, ten minutes off," said Phil, sitting across from Adam in the kitchen. "It's only been seven minutes."

Adam put the ice pack back on his head. "They've been in there for how long, an hour?"

"At least," answered Anna as she took sandwich fixings out of the fridge and began to make a sandwich. "Can I fix you something to eat?"

"No. What do you think it means, them being in the room for an hour?"

"Well, a short deliberation usually means a conviction, so the fact they've been in the bedroom for a while is a very good sign."

Adam goggled at the size of the sandwich Anna made. "You look like a good gust of wind would knock you over, and yet you eat like a horse. Where do you put it?"

"Hollow legs," Phil laughed.

Anna held out her finished sandwich. "Want a bite?"

"What the hell," said Adam, grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite. After chewing and swallowing, Adam smiled. "Hey, this is good. I didn't realize I was that hungry."

"Can I have it back?"

Adam shook his head.

"Adam, gimme back my sandwich."

"No."

Anna lunged towards her sandwich, as Phil looked on and laughed. "Phil, you're not helping! Adam, I will staple your spleen to a light post if you don't give me back my sandwich!"

He gave it back.

~~~SCWAT~~~

Jeff tripped over one of his suitcases and wound up sprawled across the floor. "Ow, dammit!"

"Jeff, calm down," Matt said, as Jeff sat up against the bedroom wall. "I don't wanna go another round with you."

"Maybe this is just normal behavior between brothers."

Matt chuckled as he joined his brother. "Jeff, there's nothing normal about you and me. But maybe there's more than a little truth in what you said."

Jeff sighed. "I was just trying to make you mad."

"Actually Jeff, you may be right. I just assumed that you'd both have a problem with everything. Maybe it's me. Deep down inside, maybe it's all me."

Matt and Jeff sat lost in thought for a moment. Then, Jeff gasped and widened his eyes in shock. "Oh, crap!"

"Oh crap, what?"

"After you caught Adam and me, I got so freaked out, I called Dad and Trish!"

Matt's heart began to race. "What did you tell them?"

"I told them to come up and get me."

Matt's eyes widened in horror and he sprinted out of the bedroom.

~~~SCWAT~~~

Phil met Matt at the front door to his apartment. "Where's the fire? What are you doing?"

"Getting a head start, Phil!"

"Matt, slow down. What's going on?"

"Jeff called home in a panic and now EVERYONE is on their way over! Dad, the Torreses, Eve, Trish—everyone!"

"I was flipping out!" exclaimed Jeff, following his brother out into the hall.

Anna put her empty sandwich plate in the sink. "The Legend's coming to New York City? Wow. It'll never be the same."

"Your wife's on her way over?" Adam questioned, as he joined Matt, Jeff and the others.

Matt sighed and threw the door open, revealing, Mom and Dad Torres, Eve, Trish and Gil. All of them were staring at Matt strangely.

After an excruciating silence, Phil turned to Anna. "We'll go put on a pot of vodka."

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Well, the truth is out, and the gang's all here! And to think, all of this would have been avoided if Matt had just been honest from Day One. But if he'd done that, we wouldn't have a story!

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