Chapter 7 – Spring & Summer

Spring 2006

After Brian's birthday he was in New York every other week to get the new Kinnetik office set up. The official launch party was March 13, which, of course, Justin attended. Kinnetik NY started with Adam as manager, Cynthia, who was now relocated in NYC, three art department guys and two administrative/accounting people that Ted hired.

Since Justin had interned for Kinnetik, knew art, and had some knowledge of the ad business, Brian asked for his opinion on the portfolios of the people applying for jobs in the NY art department. They were both very impressed with a young man named George Pruitt. He had a bold sense of style and came up with innovative designs. Justin even sat in on George's interview and the two of them found that they had a lot in common. George was 25, nice looking, with curly black hair, light brown skin and an athletic build.

Justin had been sharing studio space with four other artists from his neighborhood. It was a cramped little space behind a shoe store. If two people were in there at a time there wasn't room to move around. Since Justin had developed his style around large canvasses, it made it even more difficult to maneuver. Brian had offered to rent him studio space or even have part of the Kinnetik NY offices to use, but Justin was determined to do this on his own. When Justin met George, also an aspiring artist, they commiserated about the expense of studio space. Justin told George about a space that Cynthia had found near Kinnetik, but he couldn't afford on his own. George and Justin checked out the space together and decided that they could share it and split the rent. It wasn't very large, but certainly larger than Justin's current space. With only one other person to share it with there was more than enough room. Justin would probably use it during the day when George was working at Kinnetik and then George would have it in the evenings. It was perfect.

George and Justin had spent a lot of time together getting the studio set up. Brian gave them a gift certificate from Kinnetik for a local art supply store that they could use to get an initial load of supplies. Initially, Justin objected, but Brian convinced him that since the gift was for him and George – and George might generate some Kinnetik art at the studio – it wasn't like Brian was paying Justin's way. Reluctantly, Justin agreed. They got a good amount of supplies with the gift certificate. He enjoyed George's company and sometimes they'd work in the studio at the same time.

Tuesday, noon, April 25, 2006

Justin dropped by Kinnetik to ask Brian to have lunch with him. Justin had just sold the second of four pieces at the new gallery at which he'd been displaying and he felt like celebrating.

"Hey, Brian."

"Hi. I wasn't expecting to see you." They gave each other a quick hug and a kiss. "What's the occasion?"

"I sold another piece at the gallery." Justin said triumphantly.

"That's great. I'm so proud of you."

"I thought I'd ask you out to lunch. I can buy this time."

"Oh, Justin, I'd love to, but I'm having a business lunch with a client." Brian was noticeably disappointed.

"That's OK. I understand. This was kind of last minute."

"I'll make it up to you later. We can eat out for dinner."

"You mean, like, a date? Why Mr. Kinney, I thought you'd never ask." Justin said with a grin.

Brian pulled Justin to him and they kissed again. "I'll make it up to you in other ways, too."

"When can you get back to your apartment, then?"

"Around 6 o'clock, OK?"

"Yeah, that'll work."

Just then George came in with some art boards that Brian had requested. "Hey, Justin!"

"Hi, George. Hey, I sold another piece at the gallery."

"Awesome!"

Brian was a little surprised when George and Justin hugged each other. Brian's 'gaydar' told him that there was a possibility that George was gay, not that it mattered. He had no interest in him sexually and didn't think that Justin did, either. Ever since 'Hotlanta', Brian and Justin had stayed true to their word about being faithful. They had both done HIV tests in mid-March, testing negative. It still gave Brian a little pang of jealousy, though, when George got to spend so much time with Justin. He remembered the feelings he experienced during the Justin and Ian (Ethan, whatever) romance. He even felt like this when Justin and Michael had started Rage and spent so many hours together.

Setting up the new office was tough on Brian and he'd been working a lot of hours. Justin was very understanding. He was happy that Brian was doing what he could so that he would be able to move to New York soon.

It didn't help Brian's jealous feelings any when he heard Justin ask George, "Hey, how about lunch?"

"Sure. If my boss says it's OK." The two younger men grinned at Brian.

Brian looked up from the art boards. "Yeah, these look fine. Go ahead."

Justin gave Brian a quick kiss. "Later."

"Later."

Brian could hear them talking when they were leaving, George's arm around Justin's shoulders.

"So, which piece did you sell?" George asked.

"The blue one with a man's back … I called it 'Indigo mood' … Remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I knew that one'd go."

Brian knew that when he was able to move to New York full time he'd do what he could to further commit to Justin. Brian needed to know that his love would always be around. He'd experienced life without him more than once and vowed not to let it happen again.

That night Justin met Brian at the apartment and they went to a nice restaurant for dinner. Justin bubbled on about selling the last piece and the details of the sale. Brian didn't talk much, but listened attentively.

Finally, Brian had to mention what was on his mind. "So, how was lunch with George?"

"Great. We grabbed sub sandwiches at that local deli."

"You two seem very close." Brian asked, picking at his food.

"Yeah. Well, yeah. Sharing the studio and having so much in common … Why?"

"No reason."

Justin started to make the realization. "You're not jealous, are you?" He was smiling.

Brian smirked. "Of course not."

"I didn't think you did jealousy."

"I don't."

Justin reached across the table, held Brian's hand and looked into his hazel eyes. "I love you. I'm not interested in George. And besides, he's not interested in me."

"Is he gay?"

"I think the proper term would be 'bi'. We flirted a little, I guess, but all in fun. No, he's got someone else he's chasing right now."

"Who's that?"

"Regina. It's funny … I'm always giving her crap about hanging around too much with gay guys and then complaining that she never meets an available guy. Well, no duh, if all of your friends are queer. But, with George, she's got a chance. He's really into her now. He dated a girl in college, so it's not his first hetero experience. I think it's great."

"We'll have to be sure to get them a nice wedding gift." Brian smiled. "Breeders." He shuddered. He felt much better now, knowing George's relationship with Justin.

Summer 2006

In early June, Justin got a new agent who had big ideas for his art. During June and July he sold two pieces that were at galleries, as well as two non-gallery pieces and a third for a guitar shop. He was doing so well that he quit his job as a waiter and concentrated most of his daytime hours on his painting.

At the end of June, Brian was in New York for a week, scouting for places to live. He knew that the 'starter' apartment wasn't going to be big enough for him once he was a New Yorker full time. Justin went with him a couple of times, but Brian did most of the looking by himself. He found a very comfortable condo that was pretty close to Kinnetik and Justin's studio. It had two bedrooms, two baths (one with a walk in shower), a laundry room and plenty of storage space. Brian had worked with Jennifer on the sale of the loft and Britin. The West Virginia estate was sold to the couple that had been leasing it. Jennifer had a potential buyer for the loft, also. It had been on the market ever since Brian's birthday when he said he'd be moving to New York. He figured if it sold before he was ready to move, he'd either crash at the Novotny-Bruckner home (yes, home) or at his New York apartment. The loft actually sold just as Brian was ready to move, so it all worked out. He closed on the NY condo at the end of July and arranged for his loft furniture to be moved.

Justin got a quick tour of the new condo before Brian moved in, but Brian didn't want him to have the complete tour until he'd gotten the furniture and was all set up. Brian also had ulterior reasons for not giving Justin the full tour on his first visit.