Ch.9 Jesus Freaks Out in the Street, Handing Tickets Out for God.
Tony
I smiled softly staring at my reflection in the mirror of the bathroom, my silky medium length brown hair was flipped out at the ends in a throwback to vintage times, and my simple pin-up style eye makeup was beautiful and defining. I turned as my friend Griffin my drag queen, androgynous, amazing fairy-godmother and close friend smiled from over my shoulder, " you look like a Princess honey" he said. I smiled as we paced the living room my eyes fluttered and the butterflies filled my stomach. He smiled "you know from what you've seen of my drag wardrobe that I have all sorts of lovely surprises in the way of clothes darling, so I'm going to loan you something special from my collection." he turned and placed a large purple rectangular box into my arms I opened it slowly and carefully pulling back the silk wrappings to reveal a beautiful light blonde colored mink stole I gasped delightedly as he wrapped it around my shoulders the pale lavender velvet lining laying on top of my red silk button down shirt tied with a thick red ribbon sash around my midsection in a beautiful bow. I threw my arms around Griffin and he embraced me back reaching down to fix the lightly shimmery belt around my tight black jeans. I snuggled into him. My fairy godmother, he always knew how to get this cinderella ready for a ball.
The car finally pulled up and I picked the red faux alligator skin clutch up off the couch it's a little bit heavier than usual, and the contents shift as I walk. I turned and smiled as I hugged Griffin goodbye and thanked him for everything. I stepped out of the house and out to the car waiting, mink stole wrapped around my shoulders. Just as I approached the driver's window was rolled down,
"James wanted me to tell you he's sorry he can't pick you up himself because he's finishing some last minute arrangements but we'll be meeting him at the Restaurant" Mrs. Knight said, She smiled warmly " Mrs. Knight, Kendall's mom, you've met him right?" she made him sound normal like he was captain of the football team or something instead of a constantly doped up moron. But I smiled quietly as I opened the back door and sat down. " you look stunning" She Said before I could answer her questions. I thanked her and introduced myself. We exchanged names and she told me some slightly potentially embarassing stories about James and the four's crazy pranks and wildly funny adventures. We pulled up to a beautiful little cafe downtown not too far from public square or terminal tower. Mrs. Knight smiled and hugged me as I stepped out "if you break his heart, I'll have to kill you" she said. " thanks for the ride be safe going home" I said stepping into the warmth of the small restaurant, it was elegantly decorated in almost a vintage style sort of like I'd just stepped back in time a bit, the carpets were rich burgundy and the chairs were finely upholstered with leather, the woods were a deep cherry and the walls hung with black and white photographs. I looked at the host who wears wearing an elegant black button down with a black silk tie. He looked down at his list, upon seeing me and greeted me warmly. "I'm supposed to be meeting a friend here?" I said nervously, the host nodded "your friend's name?" he asked professionally " Um...James... Diamond...James Diamond" I said. The host smiled half warmly and motioned for me to follow, he reached behind one of the ornately carved bookshelves and swung it forward on it's hinges, to reveal a small iron spiral staircase I stepped up and he followed me in closing it behind us.
I stepped aside to let him through and he led me up to the top which was probably only the second floor. As I ascended the staircase I got a glimpse of the most beautiful room, the colors, woods, and furnishings were similar to the ones downstairs except the most ornate marble fireplace was set in one wall and standing near the fireplace radiant and handsome was James dressed in a tight black Armani sweater with a v-neck matching the neckline of a plain white tee shirt underneath, his grey jeans hugged the muscles of his legs and rear. His shiny light brown hair glinted in the firelight. His eyes caught mine the gold bits in his sparkle.
There was a dining table laid out near the wall opposite the fireplace with a silver ice bucket next to it, the white cloth was laid out neatly with a small red candle in the center, there was a silver charger plate set down and several courses worth of silverware. The wineglasses were polished to a diamondlike flawless shine and there were two along with the water glass. James smiled as he pulled my chair out for me and let me sit down before sitting himself opposite me. The host smiled as he stepped back down the stairs. James stared into my eyes " there's another passageway from the kitchen to the stairway, so no one will know we're up here." he said planting a small kiss on my hand I smiled as the first waiter came up with several bottles of champagne. I smiled thrilled but shook my head " no no, um we can't drink" I stammered, James looked at me " listen I'm paying for dinner, money is no object and I'm friends with the owners we're not getting drunk relax, it's champagne and wine with dinner" he won me over easily, and I looked the bottles over, "which one will you be having?" the waiter asked looking over at James " the Moet et Chandon White Star is just beautiful"the waiter suggested and I nodded in agreement as I turned it over in my hands " this one" I said indicating the White Star. The waiter smiled and elegantly popped the bottle open pouring a generous measure into each of the two beautiful fluted glasses laid out in front of us. James smiled and raised his glass giving barely a whisper to let the waiter know that this would be all I turned with a smile and a 'thank you' and the waiter filed out. He raised his glass
"to individuality" he said with a smile as we clinked the flutes melodically with a small light ringing. A waitress this time smiled and brought out the first course, just appetizers we each got a large plate split into three sections. A few seared bacon wrapped scallops in one third, in the next several small mozzerella balls drizzled in pesto sauce, and in the final third a dollop of caviar atop a ribbon of smoked salmon lightly curled into a rose upon a pita cracker. The food went down silkily with the champagne making for a worthy chaser tasting slightly sweet yet dry at the same time. "James?" I looked at him "are you sure we're not moving too fast?" I asked shaking a little as I placed the champagne glass down with a light clink as it brushed against the edge of the charger plate.
James reached is hand over the table to grab mine as it released the champagne glass, " Tony, you are very important to me, you've helped me with everything so far, and without you I wouldn't be able to have been honest with myself about my sexuality or had the courage to come out, we've bonded in the short two months we've known eachother and there's going to be something else I need to discuss with you later" he said. I nodded " I agree, but it's just so surreal that you'd pick me when you could have anybody you ever wanted" I whispered. James smiled looking at me after the appetizer dishes were cleared and two glasses of ice water with a twist of lemon brought out. " so you haven't really explained your complicated family situation, do you think now would be an okay time?" he asked. I gave an uncomfortable giggle. " well my mother left my biological father when I was still a baby, and she married my step-dad when I was about seven, and they had a few kids" I said skimming over the details. He wasn't convinced " so why don't you live with your mom?" he asked holding my hand in his now. " James, there's so much you don't know about me, so many things I've had to keep hidden that I'm afraid to tell you" my voice broke towards the end of the sentence. The door opened once more and two bowls of soup and two plated house salads were brought in and I turned to thank the waitress and she exits quietly.
"James" I breathed out " I was the victim of a violent hate crime, where I used to live, so I chose to come up here to start over" tears streamed down my face as I picked at the salad silently. He reached over and placed his other hand on top of mine and his rubbing my hand softly with his own. " don't cry" he said quietly " do you want to tell me about it?" he asked after a silent minute. I shook my head but then began to tell the story.
" two guys, from school, beat me pretty badly on the way home from school one rainy evening, they followed me until I was alone and vulnerable then beat me with a metal baseball bat, I spent the spring in the hospital, the police wouldn't help me because the boys told them that I had tried to 'come onto them' I was discriminated, by a town too homophobic to see the wrongdoing that had been done" I'm shaking as I elaborate the details amongst the flashbacks. James' listens adding little things like " that's so wrong" or " how could you do that to someone" he shakes his head as I tell my story and we eat slowly until we've finished the course talking it over, I wipe my tears away with my free hand.
We're about halfway into the main course, a filet mignon medallion on a bed of risotto with a shrimp border when Kendall gets brought up during the conversation. James took my hand again " what if, you knew something traumatic happened to someone you loved, but kept silent about it because you were too afraid that if you ever spoke about it, it would make it more real?" I looked into his eyes, " I'm not sure what I would do, I mean I know I would have to tell someone eventually, that if I kept it bottled up inside I'd explode" I said. He nodded and looked down. "Tony" he said after a few minutes silence " I know why Kendall acts the way he does" he breathed out sharply.
" I was there when it happened at least one of those times" his voice shook, " it happened to me too, me and Kendall have been friends since we were about four".
" this is the reason we're here and not in L.A." He's crying now almost full on sobbing.
" Kendall's father, had a lot of problems, he was an alcoholic, and he beat Kendall's mom, but for years he was their only sense of security, his mom had no money, no place to run to for a while, she'd been living in and out of battered women's shelters when she met Kendall's father, she had Kendall about a year later and they were married." he took another breath and I take the opportunity to take a sip of my chardonnay. " when kendall was about seven his father started well...touching him" I reached a hand over to wipe the tears running down his cheek gently with my fingertips. " I was there one night, we were like eight. Mrs. Knight had gone out with some of her friends, Me and Kendall were sleeping over his house, and his dad was sober probably for the first time in like three months and he was really great with us, we watched a movie, ate popcorn, played together and when it got to be about eleven at night he put me and Kendall to bed in Kendall's room." I went over behind him and put my arms around his shoulders, the mink slipped elegantly off me and onto the chair as I moved.
" and when he came back in a while after, he touched us, and made us do things to eachother for his own twisted sense of whatever, and then he threatened us, told us if we didn't keep quiet he'd kill both of us" James finished his story and nuzzled his head into my soft warm arms and I ran my fingers through his hair lovingly. "Kendall's mom and dad divorced just before he turned nine,and Kendall's dad was still allowed to see him every few months on the condition he attended A.A. meetings and kept sober. and it worked for about a year and then Kendall spoke up about the abuse to a school counselor, and he was arrested and now well he's out of jail now and we moved so he wouldn't try to get in contact with Kendall, the school has false address records and the studio isn't publicly announcing their new location, the media isn't allowed to photograph or report on us while we're here either, and we're not allowed to attend any parties where we might be by any of the people at school." I nodded remembering that in the past two months the school had been stricter on their electronics related rules.
" and you need, my help?" I asked, James nodded, I removed my arms from around his shoulders and went back to sit down, we finished dinner, and it was around ten at night that for dessert the wait staff brought a platter of luxurious pastries, chocolate cookies iced with chocolate darker than the night sky sprinkled with silver and gold leaf stars, and other confectionary delights. We paired the sweets with a pink champagne and when we had enjoyed it enough James stood up and placed some cash on the table. " no need for a bill I've already paid for the meal, do you want to go out for a walk?" He asked smiling as he helped me place the mink stole around my shoulders, he put his own leather jacket on and tied the scarf I had given him around his neck.
We exited into the night air discussing how we could possibly help Kendall, James had his arms around me as we walked under the crystal clear and starry sky. We ended up in the main square of the downtown area after a few minutes, religious people crowded the corner as we walked towards the fountain, carrying signs declaring the end of the world being near. They handed out pamphlets as we walked into their crowd. I smiled softly as I turned to hand back the papers shoved in my face, with a soft laughter.
" you people are insane, all of you the boulevard is not that bad" I said turning to shrug them off, James laughed loudly as we made it past them tossing the one he had been handed into a nearby trash can. " what can I do? to help him?" I asked as we continued walking.
James looked at me " come over, one of these days, when he's there, we'll have an intervention, wear no makeup and stick with me." he said as we continued to walk.
I noticed that there were three young dark skinned men a short distance behind us wearing black hoodies that seemed to be moving suspiciously quickly towards us. They spread out almost an arm length apart on each side and James was quick to push me in front of him. " stay calm, we'll be okay" he whispered into my ear.
"Hey FAGS!" the words echo across the cold darkened city
" aw, you two cocksuckers out for a date?"
We walk a little faster hoping we might be able to get away but James prepares to fight.
"hey Faggots, the party's just getting started!"
Suddenly the leader of the three is behind us, he took a swing at James catching him neatly in the side of the head, James is faster and he turned around aiming a nice kick to the man's chest.
i gasped in shock but I'm knocked to the ground before I can react further by one of the others while the leftover male seems to help his leader, James and the one who appears to be leading the whole thing were battling it out viciously. The one on top of me seemed to be interested in a little something else. His hands felt me up, lingering over my rear, I'm struggling to get him off of me, my clutch landed about six inches away from me in the snow, mink crunches against ice. I landed a punch in my attacker's nose and he let me up just enough for me to open the clutch next to me, and remove from it a small taser, sleek and black the size of a cell phone the blue spark dances on the tip as I shoved it into my attacker's stomach. He jumped away with a jolt and I lunged for him again shoving it deep into his leg. The man fell back his head hitting ice with a thud, out cold.
I lunged at the main guy beating on James and the tip of my taser lands in his neck and does immediate damage. I backhanded him to the ice as well and James had the remaining man in a chokehold, blood streaming down his own face. The final man broke free and ran off. I gather the mink and my clutch. James pulled me into his chest draping the mink around my shoulders though soaked by snow and ice it does not do much good.
I shivered, removing some tissues from the clutch as James sat with his back against a snowbank a block from the attack, trying to catch his breath. " it's going to be okay" I said, reaching up to dab the cut on his cheek and his split lip he protested wincing a bit as I cleaned the wound " I'm fine, don't worry about it, it's just a scratch" but I continue to dab, I picked up a clean chunk of ice, and gave it to him to hold it on the swollen part of his lip. I cleaned him up as best as possible. When we reached the car, James opened the door for me and then got in himself without a word.
We began to drive and I was shivering under the cold and wet mink stole, James placed the mink in the back seat and pulled his leather jacket off and placed it around my shoulder. We drove until we were at my house and as the car stopped, James looked at me. " I've had a good time tonight" I Said as I reached a hand out to touch his on the wheel. "I know you did" he said, I kissed him softly on the cheek as I opened the door. "don't worry about what happened " I said my warm hand brushed over his lightly as I turned to leave. "Hey, Tony" he said, reaching to put his hand on my shoulder lightly. " that was badass what you did back there" he said as he smiled at me I turned "no it wasn't badass, it was instincts" I said as I stepped out of the car, closing the door and walked to the gate and into the house.