by Wiley, John
“Why?”
“I wanted to see how this interview went first. I have a good feeling about it, and if I get it, I don’t want to cause him unnecessary stress.”
“I think it is necessary,” his mom says. “He should be there for you. He’s all you have out there.”
“Yeah. I’ll tell him tomorrow regardless if I get the job or not.”
“OK, good,” his mom says, pleased.
“I was just getting ready to eat though…”
“Oh, well go on and eat then before it gets cold. What are you having?”
“Macaroni.”
“Well, you enjoy that. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon,” she says. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
“I’ll put some money in your account on Monday, OK?” his dad says.
“That’s fine. Thank you. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Rhys puts the phone beside him on the couch, rubs his eyes, and lets out a deep sigh. He picks up his bowl and pushes play on the TV, and takes a big bite of (now cold) macaroni and cheese.
***
At 10:00 Joey looks at the beer can pyramid he’s built in the past hour. He picks up his phone to check the address and realizes that it’s the next complex over – just a quick walk through the cornfield. He takes a can for the road and heads out the backdoor.
“I hope there aren’t any freaky children in there,” he says aloud, his toes touching the perimeter of the corn field. He thinks back to the night that he moved into the town house with Rhys, Erick, and their third roommate, Vlad. It was three years ago and the complex wasn’t even completely finished being built yet when it was time to move in. Rumor had it that the complex was built on an Indian burial ground; a rumor it was later revealed that Rhys started just to mess with Joey and his fear of scary movies and dead Indians.
Their first night here, Rhys convinced them they should watch Children of the Corn, since none of them had seen it before. He had argued that it was a fitting welcome to their new home since they lived amongst the corn and, while not children, they were still quite young. Large amounts of rum and several Children of the Corn movies made for a terrifying night for Joey (turns out liquor makes him anxious).
After Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice, Joey needed to get some fresh air so he went outside for a cigarette. He nearly had a heart attack when he opened the back door and found a girl standing there. Rhys later described Joey’s reaction as similar to Lex Murphy freaking out in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex was attacking the car. This then set Rhys on a tangent about how stupid the kids were to shine a flashlight at the T-Rex to scare him off.
Joey’s scream had caused the girl on the porch to scream and fall down in fright. Erick, Rhys, and Vlad joined Joey at the backdoor to see what the fuss was about and found a girl on the ground. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that she was a freshman called Cheryl, and was looking for her friend Tiffany’s house, which was across the parking lot. Joey offered to walk her across the way, and by the end of the short journey he’d asked her out, she said yes, and they’ve been happily dating ever since.
Generally happy, anyway; Cheryl can be really moody, he thinks as he enters the corn field. Why she’d take all of these summer classes is beyond him. Three steps into the corn field and Joey can feel his anxiety level rising. He opens the beer and takes a drink as a sort of Scooby Snack. Five minutes later he comes out the other side and realizes he has to pee. He can see Liam’s apartment just across the road, but there is a very real chance of his bladder exploding and killing him on the spot, so he turns around and starts peeing into the corn field. As fate would have it, that’s when the police decide to drive down the road – but being a quick thinking college graduate he zips up, bends down to act like he dropped something, and then turns to cross the road. Once the police have turned the corner he finishes up, zips up again, and runs across the road to Liam’s.
“Hey,” Liam says when he answers the door.
“Hi,” says Joey.
Liam steps aside to let Joey enter. “There’s beer in the kitchen if you want some. Most of us are out back cooking.”
“Well, maybe just one,” Joey says, picking up a can of beer. “I just power-houred before I came over.”
“Oh yeah,” Liam laughs, taking a drink from his red cup.
“Yeah.” He hiccups. “Dammit!” he says, covering his mouth. “I hate when I get the drunk hiccups.”
Liam laughs at him. “So someone claiming to be your brother is out back.”
“Oh yeah, I invited my brother, is that OK? Did I tell you I invited him?”
“Yeah,” Liam says with a smirk.
“I need to go talk to him,” Joey slurs.
“OK,” Liam says in a voice usually reserved for his young nephews.
Joey leaves Liam in the kitchen and goes outside where he finds approximately ten people on a surprisingly large patio. In the corner he sees Jeremy talking to an Asian guy he recognizes as Max from the university baseball team, or Jackie Chan (alcohol tends to make him a little racist).
“Jeremy?” Joey taps his brother on his shoulder.
“Oh, hey. Did you just get here?”
“Yeah.” He looks from Jeremy to Max, and back to Jeremy. “Can we talk for a minute?”
“Uh, sure. What’s up?”
Joey looks at Jeremy, raises his eyebrows, and tilts his head to Max.
“I’ll just go get some more drinks,” Max says. “Another beer?” he says to Jeremy.
“Yeah, thanks.” After Max goes inside, Jeremy glares at his brother. “Seriously? Could you have been any more obvious that you wanted him to leave?”
“I think you’ll find I was incredibly subtle,” Joey says, quite proud of himself.
“If you were subtle, he wouldn’t have taken the hint and excused himself.”
“What?” Joey stares at Jeremy for about five awkward seconds. “Sorry. I think I’m drunk.”
“No shit.”
Joey sees a common grassy area several yards away and walks to it, motioning for Jeremy to follow. He does and sits next to his brother on the rusted swing set.
“So what’s going on?” Jeremy asks. He can’t see his brothers face in the dark, but the silence is unnerving.
“I don’t know how to bring this up…” Silence.
Jeremy shrugs. “Well, I don’t know what to respond to if you don’t bring something up.”
Joey sighs. “OK. So, um…are you…uh…gay?”
“What?” Jeremy chuckles. “Why would you think that? Just because I broke up with Allison?”
“Because Rhys said that the two of you kissed before.”
“A kiss hardly makes you gay,” he says, blushing. “I mean you kissed your hamster when we were little, and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean you’re into bestiality.”
“That’s different. Besides, I don’t care if you’re gay. I’m just surprised.”
“Why? Because I like to play sports and don’t dress in designer clothes?”
“Basically. And you never said anything to me.”
Jeremy stands up and runs his hands through his hair. He paces a little before sitting back down on his swing. Joey can hear him taking deep breaths, something his brother has done since elementary school when his temper was getting out of control, or he was feeling overwhelmed by anything – his go-to calming technique. Finally, Jeremy clears his throat and looks at his brother. “I think I am,” he says quietly.
“Gay?”
“Yes!” Jeremy rolls his eyes.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Jeremy rubs his eyes and turns to face his brother. “I don’t know. I was afraid of how you would react? Even when people seem supportive, I’ve seen them act differently when it’s their family. And you have made some rude remarks in the past.”
“But not about you! You’re my brother, I’d never hate you.”
Jerem
y shrugs and looks away, his eyes unable to meet Joey’s.
“Even after you met Rhys and saw that my best friend was gay you didn’t feel comfortable telling me?”
Jeremy just shakes his head.
“I invited you to a barbeque at a gay guys house!”
A small laugh escapes from Jeremy.
“What?”
“So you’re saying that you invite me to a barbeque hosted by a gay guy and I should respond with, ‘why yes, I would love to come to that barbeque. By the way, I’m gay as well’! Wait, is that why you invited me?”
“No. I didn’t even know until a couple hours ago when Rhys let it slip that you guys kissed.”
“You were there. It was hardly a secret. If I’m being honest, I thought you knew, like it was an unspoken secret between us. That’s why I was so surprised when you acted shocked that Allison and I broke up.”
“Does she know?”
Jeremy nods his head. “I need to learn how to clear my internet history next time I try to keep a secret from someone.”
Joey chuckles and then rocks back and forth in the swing for a while. “Did something happen to make you this way?”
“Are you serious? After all these years of living with Rhys you still think something can just make you gay?”
Joey shrugs. “No, I guess not. But as long as I’ve known him, he was gay. You’ve been straight my whole life. This is just a surprise.” He stands up and pulls his brother up off the swing and hugs him tight. “You know it doesn’t matter to me. I love you, dude.”
Jeremy cracks up a little. “Thanks, dude,” he says, mocking his brother. He steps away from his brother. “Now I need to call Rhys and yell at him for outing me.”
“Good idea. Just don’t be too mean about it, he did just get fired today.” They walk back to the barbeque in silence for a while until Joey speaks again. “So is Jackie Chan your boyfriend?”
Jeremy sighs. “I can tell how drunk you are by how racist you are.”
“I’m not racist! I’m a lovable rogue.”
“Is that right?” Jeremy says, smirking. “No, Max isn’t my boyfriend. We’re just talking.”
“Ah, Rhys taught me that’s gay for dating.” Once they get back to the patio Joey grabs Jeremy’s arm to stop him.
“What?”
“Do mom and dad know?”
“No.”
“Are you going to tell them?”
Jeremy shrugs. “Maybe when Max and I get married and I adopt his Asian babies.”
“I knew you liked him!” Joey can’t help but squeal.
“Is that right?” Max says, standing behind Jeremy with a beer and a red cup of alcohol.
“Aw, shit,” Jeremy says, turning bright red. “I was totally joking. I mean, if you wanted to marry me I might be up to it one day, but we’d have to discuss that and…well I don’t even know if I want kids, I was just joking with my brother – this is my brother Joey, by the way,” he says really fast.
“Relax,” Max says with a smile, handing Jeremy his beer.”Nice to meet you,” he says to Joey, shaking his hand.
“Yeah, you too – shit! I gotta pee!” He lets go of Max’s hand and runs to the door. “Sorry, I broke the seal on my way here!”
Jeremy and Max laugh as they sit back down on the bench.
***
“Dammit!” Rhys yells, standing on the edge of the roof.
“Don’t jump,” giggles Chloe.
“Jump!” deadpans Cindy.
Chloe slaps Cindy on the arm. “Rude.”
“So you guys never get tired of these jumping off the roof jokes, huh?” Rhys says, walking toward their apartment from the stairs.
Chloe shrugs. “I’m just teasing you.”
“I’m not,” says Cindy, walking past him to the stairs. She has Newman with her on a leash.
“So what’s wrong?” Chloe asks.
“I have an interview, but I didn’t realize it was so far away and I didn’t think to ask Erick if I could have the truck tonight.”
“It is kind of dicky of him that he always gets the truck,” Cindy says from below.
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Maybe we can take you,” she says. “Where’s it at?”
Rhys hands her the paper with the address.
“Ooh, this place is nice.” She runs down the stairs to Cindy and Newman. “Want to go to Putóg tonight?”
“Can you get in there without a reservation?” Cindy asks as Rhys comes down the stairs.
“We can try,” Chloe says with a shrug. “And then we can drive our dear friend Rhys to his interview.”
“I’d rather have McDonalds.”
Chloe stares at Cindy.
“Fine,” Cindy says, giving in. “But I’m only doing this because you got fired this morning.”
“You got fired?” Chloe says with too much surprise in her voice.
“Yeah,” Rhys smiles. “But clearly Cindy already told you that.”
“I also told her that you accused Jared of raping you.”
Chloe glares at her and Rhys looks at her with a hurt expression.
“Shit. Sorry,” Cindy says. “Really, I am. Sometimes I try to be funny by making rude remarks; most of the time it backfires. Come on Newman,” she pulls on the leash to take Newman back to the apartment.
“That’s what Cindy wants to do,” Chloe says once Cindy is upstairs. “She wants to be a comedienne.”
“She needs to work on her jokes,” Rhys says with hurt on his face.
“I said sorry,” she says as she walks back down the stairs. “And why did you tell him I want to be a comic?”
“Because you do,” Chloe says as she unlocks the car door and gets in the driver’s seat.
Cindy gets in the passenger side and Rhys sits behind Chloe. “Hey,” he says, tapping Cindy’s shoulder. “I want to be an actor! Maybe we should team up and do a YouTube show or something!”
“And that’s why I didn’t want him to know,” she says to Chloe.
***
Twenty minutes later, Rhys walks in Putóg, followed closely behind by Chloe and Cindy. “Hi,” he says to the maitre d. “I’m here to meet with Sinead Griffin.”
He looks at the list in front of him. “I’m sorry, I don’t see that name on my list.”
“Try the name Babs Parker. That was her name on Luck of the Irish,” he says to the girls.
“I’m sure we don’t care,” Cindy says, taking in the restaurant. It’s a large open room with several tables full of people dressed in fancy clothes. The décor is surprisingly plain considering all of the hype surrounding it: beige walls, hardwood floor, round tables with just a candle in the middle for the centerpiece.
“I’m sorry; we don’t have that name either.”
Rhys pulls out the card she gave him with the date and time and hands it to the maitre d. “Nobody said anything to you about this?”
He looks at it, shakes his head, and pulls a face as he hands it back to Rhys. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you have any open tables?” Cindy asks from behind him.
The maitre d shakes his head. “We’re full tonight.”
Cindy sighs and turns on her heels to exit.
“Come on,” Chloe says sweetly to Rhys. She slips her arm through his and they exit to restaurant.
“It was kind of weird that she would have interviews at 8 PM on a Friday night,” Cindy says as they walk back to the car.
“Well, I didn’t know how long she’s been over here. I thought maybe she was jetlagged from flying over from Ireland. So in Irish time that would make it…” he counts on his fingers and bites his lip. “Four AM.”
“A completely logical time for interviews,” Cindy says, leaning on the car.
Rhys gets in the back seat and slumps down, defeated.
“So where should we eat?” Chloe asks.
“How about The Hanger?” Cindy suggests.
“Can you just take me home please?” Rhys asks.
“No, you need
to have some fun,” Chloe says, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
“I’m still recovering from all the fun I had last night,” he rolls his eyes. “Besides, I just got fired. I can’t afford to go out.”
“It’s on me,” Chloe says with a smile. “We’re celebrating tonight.”
“Why?” Rhys asks.
“I got a letter of interest from a publishing company for one of my short stories,” she beams at him.
“Congratulations,” he smiles.
She shrugs. “Nothing may come of it, but I’m still pumped. So come celebrate the little victories with us!”
Cindy turns in her seat and looks at him. She gives him the most genuine smile he’s ever seen from her. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Fine,” he rolls his eyes with a sigh and a smirk.
Chloe starts the car and grabs a CD from the visor. “This is going to be a fun night; we need some music to get us in the mood.” She puts the CD in the player and a couple seconds later “Fergalicious” blares from the speakers.
“Seriously?” Cindy laughs.
“Oh my God, I love this song,” Rhys says.
They all start singing along as Chloe pulls into traffic and drives to The Hanger.
***
“Thanks for inviting me out, guys,” Gene says to the table full of his coworkers from Olsen and Miller. They’re seated around a large round table in a corner booth at The Hanger. The walls are steel like the walls of an airplane hanger and decorated with aircraft memorabilia. The floor is polished concrete and the tables are covered in tablecloths made from parachutes. In the center of the dining room is a salad bar built into the side of a single propeller plane.
“Here you go guys,” the waitress walks up to the table and puts down two pitchers of beer and a pitcher of root beer, along with six glasses of water. “Are you ready to order?”
“Not yet,” Adele says, not looking up to the waitress. “We’ll call you when we’re ready.”
“Oh…OK.” The waitress walks away and checks on her other tables.
“You can come out with us anytime,” one of the guys from the office says to Gene. He pours himself a root beer and then slides the pitcher to Gene.
“But don’t you feel a little old being with all of us?” Adele cocks an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s just that you’re so much older than all of us.”