Brandis Redemption 17:
I'm ready for my Close Up...

By: Scoop

Warning: This is a fictional story, describing erotic relations between consenting adult men. If this makes you uncomfortable, or if it is illegal for you to read something like this, then go find something else to do.

The following story is entirely a work of fiction, and is not intended to imply anything about any real people. All of the characters in the story are fictional, and must not be confused with any real people. The characters in this story may have the same names as some real people, but the characters are in no way supposed to actually represent any real people.


A word from Scoop: This one is going to be from Jared's point of view. You know, somethin' a l'il different.

Scoop
AIM: The Skoop
ICQ: 27497085


Great, thought Jared. This is just fucking great!

That was last week. You all remember that little party we had, right? Well it actually made it into the social pages around the city. Guess we know how to throw a party.

After Geoff left though, the party kinda went down hill for me. Jon kept asking about that business card he saw me holding, and I kept doing everything I could not to talk to him about it. I would pretend that someone had called me over or caught my attention, or bring up something totally unrelated to the topic. Worked for a while, but I couldn't keep it from him forever. Especially not after the next day...


I got up early to go grocery shopping. With Jon's just finishing up a bit of promo work for the new movie keeping him out of town, and that party we threw, we were pretty low on food. Plus, there were bills to pay and I had to submit my first article to the magazine.

I dressed in a pair of old black jeans and a dull gray T-shirt with a backwards baseball hat and shades, and made my way towards the bus stop. I decided not to take the Durango because it had personalized license plates ('Jonsboi'). Believe it or not - hell, I'm not sure I do yet - but I can't go anywhere without getting stopped by people asking questions, or telling me how I should be proud for coming out and standing up for who I was, or even asking for autographs. And most of them are teens. And on top of that, teen girls! Yeah, I know! Nothing quite as uncomfortable as a 15 or 16 year old girl telling you she thinks you're really hot when she knows that you're gay.

I even got a fan letter the day of the party from a 16 year old boy in Beverly Hills who said that he wanted to be just like me and he wondered if I would come over to his house and be his first kiss. The kid included his picture and everything ( he was really cute; but 16!). It was really sweet, but obviously I couldn't say yes to him (Again, he was only 16!! Besides, I'm happily in love with Jon). I simply wrote him a reply telling him that his first kiss should be shared with someone that meant a lot to him, not just someone he'd seen in a magazine or on TV. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings.

Anyway, back on the topic...

I waited for a few minutes for the bus to arrive. There were only five other people at the bus stop and neither of them recognized me. But, just to be on the safe side, I stood in back, staying a few feet behind them. When I got on the bus I made sure I took a seat right up front (makes it a lot easier to get off, and when you go for the back, everyone on the bus has to see you go back there: someone will know who you are.)

Five stops later and I was at the office building off YAG Magazine (or as I've come to call it, YAG Mag). I went up to the fifth floor and into the reception area. The receptionist just smiled at me as I walked past her desk to Ryan's office. The door was open, so I just went on in.

"Hi Ryan."

"Oh hi Jared. Great party last night."

"Thanks." I sat at the chair in front of the desk. Ryan was sitting in his chair on the other side of the desk with his feet resting on top of it.

"What are you doing here so early?"

"Just dropping off my first column for proofing."

"Excellent. I was hoping you would bring it in today. We'll organize the layout of the magazine around your column. It's really been drawing attention from our readers. We've received a lot of mail about it."

"Cool. Glad to know someone's actually looking forward to it. I just hope it lives up to expectations."

"Oh I think it will. Jon not with you this morning?"

"No, he's still home cuddled into my pillow." We both laughed at the thought.

"Hangover?"

"Nope, he didn't have a drink at all last night."

"Excellent."

"Yeah, I'm proud of him."

Hey, I'm not going to get into all these details. If I do, this part of the story will take forever, and I've got a lot of stuff to do, as I'm sure do you.

So, as they say, to make a long story short, I talked with Ryan, left, paid some bills, bought a load of food and went home. There, that about sums it up. Now, on to the part that matters.


I pushed the door open and shuffled inside the house. My hands were full, holding onto as many plastic shopping bags as I could manage, and I was pushing two more in through the entrance with my foot.

"Need a hand?"

I looked up from the bags I was pushing with my foot to see Jon standing beside the phone stand that was behind the sofa. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt and a pair of black boxers. His hair was all messed up and he still had that half asleep look to him. Damn, he was so sexy!

"Sure."

He walked over and took the shopping bags out of my left hand and went off towards the kitchen. I closed the door and picked up the two bags on the floor before following him.

"Been up long," I asked as I entered the kitchen?

"About 10 minutes or so."

"It's another beautiful day out there. You should go out and enjoy it."

"I will later." He took the bags out of my hands and placed the with the others on the table. Then he did something strange.

Jon placed his hands on his hips and looked at out the window for a few seconds. I took no notice at first and began taking things out of the bags and putting it all where it belonged (yes, I have a system. Admit it, you do too!). After a few seconds though I noticed that Jon wasn't actually there.

"Um, babe?"

"What movie are you working on?"

I was shocked. It took me a few seconds to absorb what he had said. A few seconds during which I know my mouth was wide open, as were my eyes.

"Wh-what?"

"What movie are you working on? The one that you don't want me to know about?"

"Don't want you to know about? Jon, what are on about?"

"I guess I know who's business card that was last night. It must have been someone from Paramount, since that was the studio that called here this morning."

"Called?"

"Yeah, that's what woke me up. I heard the phone ring and since the cordless was right beside the bed I decided to answer. It was some guy by the name of Geoff calling from Paramount for NBC or something like that. Wanted to know if you were around. I told him you were out and asked if there was a message. He just asked me to tell you that the producer would like your answer on the movie role by the end of the day because the schedule has been moved ahead."

I pulled out a chair and sat down, resting my elbows on the table. "Oh."

"Oh indeed." Jon pulled out a chair and sat down beside me. "Jared, is there something you would like to tell me?"

I let out a short laugh. "Something I'd like to tell you? No. Something I need to tell you?" I sighed heavily. "Yeah."

"OK. I'm all ears."

I put my head down and looked at the floor. Where was I to begin? I mean, how can I tell the love of my life that the series that he spent three years of his life working on and had a major role in was being made into a movie, and the studio didn't want him to be in it but wanted his boyfriend instead? Sure, I could say it just like that, but, Jesus, that would be really cruel.

Thankfully, Jon kinda saved me.

"I'm assuming that because you haven't told me, you're afraid that what you have to say would hurt me. Correct?"

I nodded affirmative.

"I see. So it is a movie role then?"

I nodded affirmative.

"A role that you feel... what? That I should have?"

I nodded again, but followed it up with a simple "Yeah."

Jon sighed loudly. "Oh boy. By any chance would it be a role in the Seaquest movie?"

I looked up at him quickly, completely surprised. "How, how did you - ?"

"Rumors spread pretty easily in Hollywood Jared. The Seaquest feature has been in the early planning stages for a little while now. It was only a matter of time before they decided to do it."

"Oh." I let that little tidbit sink in before I spoke again. "So you're not upset?"

"Of course I'm not. It'll be great to have you working with me for an entire movie."

Uh oh. This isn't good. I don't think he understands at all.

"What role did they offer you? Tony? Tim?"

Fuck! He didn't understand at all. He thinks I'll be working with him. He still expects to hear from them about Lucas. How do I tell him this? Well... straight out telling him would probably be the best idea.

OK, here goes.

"Actually... they want me to play.. Uh, Lucas."

"Lucas?" Jon chuckled. "But I'm playi... oh."

Silence. I could almost predict what was going to happen here. Jon would let this sink in further and further and further until it made direct contact with his brain stem, and then he would give a response that nowhere near portrayed what he was actually feeling. As a matter of fact: 4, 3, 2, 1...

"Now I'm upset."

Bingo.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I can't believe they didn't get you back either."

Jon was being very silent. This - was bad. Right now he's brooding. Pretty soon, he's going to let go and -

"You didn't turn them down last night when the role was offered to you, did you?"

Again, bingo.

"No. I never got the chance. I could barely get a word in edge wise, and then he just took off."

"How hard is it to say no? Two little letters, one syllable, quick sound. Very powerful!"

"I know all about the word 'no' Jon, you don't have to treat me like a kid. They gave me till next Thursday to decide. I was just going to pick the proper time to sit down and talk to you about it before then and get back to them."

"Talk to me about it? Get back to them? What's there to get back to them about? You're not doing it right?"

"I dunno."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Just what I said, I don't know!"

"How could you even consider taking this role? That character is me. I played Lucas for three years. Three years! And now, out of nowhere they've just tossed me aside and hired someone else to play the role."

"Jon, I'm not just 'someone else'."

"Of course you're not, I know that. But I just can't believe they didn't even bother with me."

"I know baby, neither can I. That's why I wanted to talk to you about if first. Even - "

"Talk to me about it first! So you ARE planning on taking the role! This is ridiculous! I played Lucas for three years, and I'm overlooked for someone who has no experience - a beginner, a relative nobody- who turns out to be my boyfriend, and he's going to do it. That's a knife in the back if there ever was one."

I was pissed! I jumped out of the chair and kicked it backwards. It hit the oven door and smashed the first pane of glass. Like I gave a fuck.

"A knife in the back! You want a knife in the back? How's this for a knife in the back: your boyfriend is so involved with himself and his 'oh woe is me' crap that he doesn't even remember that his boyfriend has been trying for more than a year to get the opportunity that he has been offered. Not good enough? Then how about having your boyfriend calling you a nobody?"

Jon's shoulders slumped as he released what he had said. I didn't really care at this point, my eyes were burning with tears and I was shaking with anger and hurt.

"A fucking nobody? Is that how you see me Jon? A nobody, huh? What, you saying I'm not going to make it. That I should just go back to delivering fucking furniture again?"

"Jared, I - "

"For your information, I was going to turn it down! I just wanted to tell you so that you would know what they were doing. But fuck that! I'm taking that fucking role now! And I'm going to do a great fucking job with it too damn it! So you can sit here and wean and bitch about your bruised ego all you want. I'm packing my bags, and I'm gone!"

I turned around and headed out of the kitchen towards the stairs. Jon followed within a few seconds?

"Jared where are you going?"

"I don't know. A hotel. Rob's. Anywhere besides here." I disappeared up the stairs into the bedroom and started throwing clothes into a suitcase. Jon stayed at the bottom of the stairs. I think he was to afraid to come up.

A few minutes later I came back down, suitcase in hand. Jon was waiting for me.

"Jared, please don't go. I'm sorry for what I said, I didn't mean it."

"No, I'm gone, I'm outta here."

"But - "

"NO! I'm not staying with someone who thinks I'm a nobody."

Jon flinched at the sound of my words. I could see that what he said had hurt him; But it didn't hurt him as much as it did me. I grabbed my keys from the coffee table and headed out the door, slamming it behind me. Jon stood motionless in the middle of the room. A few seconds later, the sound of tires squealing signaled that I was pulling out of the driveway and away from the house.


I am Scoop, hear me type. Quick chapter that time, I know. But at least I got it out. Seems I take forever to write these things doesn't it? Anyway, until next time...

PEACE
and keep it real