Living in Hope- AU series part 5/10
Aug. 24th, 2014 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
guavejuice
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urugwaj thank you SO much!!Author:
guavejuicePairing:Brian/Justin
Gus' POV
Beta:Kim
predec2 Can't thank you enough!!!This is NOT a WIP.
Click here for previous chapters.
Disclaimer:I own nothing but this story.
Comments are love.
Part 5
-At home, early afternoon-
"So you changed your mind about this evening?" Mom asks me with a smile as I enter the kitchen.
"I guess you can say I did. Who told you, by the way?" I ask.
"Justin did," she answers. I should have known he would, but I'm not even angry with him. In fact, I wish I could have half the courage he possessed when he was my age. I know he would freak out and laugh uncontrollably if he knew what I was thinking, but it is true. I mean, people think teenagers today are so bold and determined, and that everything is a lot easier for us today than it was 18 years ago, but it's not always the case. I feel much less confident about going out to roam the streets of Liberty Avenue late at night. I can't even begin to think what it must have been like for Justin that night. Still, he was damn lucky to bump into my dad. I mean… who would take a seventeen-year-old kid to a hospital filled with a group of complete strangers to meet his newborn son? Not everyone. But my dad did it. And yet some people thought he was a heartless jerk. It just goes to show that the most important thing is not what you see on the outside, but what you get when you take a closer look.
"Have you been listening to me at all, Gus?" Mom raises her voice. I shrug my shoulders and mumble a quiet apology. Mom smiles back at me and says she didn't mean to yell at me, and that she's glad I'll be joining them, because this evening is obviously going to be quite an emotional one.
I honestly don't want to pick a fight with her, so I decide to go upstairs to review some more stuff for my final exams. As I turn to leave the kitchen, my phone beeps. It's Justin sending me a message, asking me if he and Dad should pick me up on their way to the fundraiser.
"Do you mind if Dad and Justin pick me up later tonight?" I ask Mom.
"I guess that would be all right. You can go with them. I'll be driving with Mel and JR," Mom answers. I don't know if she’s offended by my question, but I think deep down she knows I still resent those times in the past where as a toddler I had to witness them fighting over everything, and how they reacted towards my dad, Ben and even poor Debbie. JR, too, had wound up being stuck in the middle when what they really needed to do was to get a grip on themselves. I don't even know if my mom knows how I feel about it. I don't think she realizes that even though I was just barely five years old back then, it did affect me and now, as an 18-year-old, I still bear the burden of those childhood memories. She can't ignore the fact that I had more pleasant memories as a child when I spent weekends and holidays with Dad and Justin at the country house, so I guess she can understand why I would rather spend more time with them now.
"Are you sure?" I ask her in a more conciliatory tone. "They might want to drag me out to do some clubbing later on," I tease her.
"They wouldn't dare," she answers me in a stern voice, but then she giggles suddenly. "Your dad is getting too old for that anyway," she says.
"Didn't he own that club… the place that was bombed, Babylon?" I ask her, noticing how the cheerful expression on her face quickly changes again.
"Yes, he did. He actually re-opened the place a few weeks after Justin moved to NYC…" She stops in mid-sentence, clearly reluctant to talk about it.
"Oh wow, that's cool. I never knew about that. Was Justin there for the reopening? Dad must have been thrilled," I comment.
“He wasn't there for the reopening, but I don't know why that was. Maybe he was just trying to adjust to his life in NYC and all that, and couldn't afford to go back to the Pitts just for that… I don't know. In fact, Mel and I were just trying to get by with you and your sister in Toronto at the time, so we didn't have time or money to attend, either…" She sounds as if she regrets it now.
"I wish I was there that night. It must have been great," I say quietly.
"Well… I guess it was, but it wasn't all just glitter and fun, Gus. It wasn't easy. In fact there's quite a lot you don't know about what happened back then," she answers as she lets out a deep breath. "But Brian sold the club about six months later, anyway, so it doesn't matter," she continues after a short pause.
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"I told you, it doesn't matter, Gus. But hey, it's Ben's night, we need to be there for him," she replies, but I resolve not to let the issue drop; I’m way too curious now.
TBC…
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