|
Chapter 7 "You okay?" I asked Julian when he had
calmed. "I guess ya," he answered wiping his nose with the palm of
his hand. He looked at his hand then looked at me and giggled. "That was
kinda gross huh?" "Nah it's just cute when you do it Julian.. now
let's dry those tears and get ready to go suit shopping," I said much to
Julian's excitement. We got ourselves dressed into casual clothes and headed
out to the truck after locking the door. The neighbor was outside again
today. Julian took one look and started giggling as I started up the
engine again and popped the engine into reverse. I backed her out of the
driveway and threw her into gear gunning the engine while Julian waved goodbye
to his neighbor who's name I still didn't know. We drove up to the
mall where I knew we would find a nice boutique where one could rent and buy
tuxedos and suits. We walked into the store and as usual, were swamped with two
employees asking if they could be of any service. When I had come here the first
time a week ago I'd said I didn't need anything, but today I figured "what
the hell" and opted for the royal service. "We need suits," I
said. "Matching," Julian added. "Any name in
particular?" Maxwell - the manager - asked. "Name's not
important," I said. "Just the same colour, style, and tailored to
fit." "Very well, we have your measurements Mr. Matheson, what about
the young sir?" Maxwell said looking at Julian with a smile. "We'll
get you set up right quick young sir. When do you need the suits by?" He
asked as he stooped to take Julian's measurements. "In two hours," I
said plainly. I knew he'd react, but I also knew Maxwell from back in Ohio, and
I knew he could fill the request. "Two hours?" he asked. "Two
hours.." I returned. "I suppose we can set that up," he said
chuckling. Maxwell was in his late forties and had been my tailor since I was
around Julian's age. I had grown up in a wealthy household and Maxwell was well
aware that I was living quite comfortably still. He handed one of his
subordinates a list of numbers and walked away to find us something. He came
back with two white three-piece Palm Beach suits. "The little one will just
take a minor alteration to shorten the leg, but will work out fine. His vest
will be a bit snug but you'll probably want it to fit that way anyway. Your suit
needs to be hemmed as well, but to take the back in would take at least a day,
but you can have it as is and bring it back for the alterations later if you
like." He handed Julian his suit and showed the boy to a dressing room.
Julian stepped out a moment later looking stunning. The boy smiled his dazzling
whites at me shyly, and I fell in love with him all over again. "Okay
what do you think Julian?" I asked after swallowing my spit to prevent a
drooling incident. "I like it, do you?" He asked me sheepishly. "Looks
great to me," I said turning to Maxwell whose own mouth was partially open. All
the heads in the store were turned towards the boy who giggled and went back
into the room to change. "So his suit is to your liking then, and what of
yours?" "I'll take it," I answered. "He wants them to
match so I guess that's just the way it is." Maxwell chuckled. "Very
well. We'll have the hems done in around forty five minutes. Does that sound
okay?" "Sounds great," I answered as Julian came out of the
dressing room. He looked shyly around the store at the people who had been
staring at him. "Ready for a haircut Julian?" "Yup!" He
peeped happily turning from shy to excited in the blink of an eye. We headed
to the hair salon in the mall and walked in. An attractive woman in her twenties
smiled as we came in. "Do you have an appointment?" she asked. "Not
exactly," I said smiling back. "Any way you could fit us in?" She
went back to the front desk and checked the appointment book. "Yeah I think
we can handle that," she said smiling a little too much. I looked down to
Julian who was trying to contain his laughter at the ridiculously large smile on
the girl's face. She went to one of the other girls in the salon and they talked
for a moment giving Julian the chance to pull me down to whisper into my ear.
"I think she wants your nuts Mike," Julian giggled. I burst out
laughing at the blatancy of the statement and we were still giggling to
ourselves as we were taken into the back where our hair was washed and
conditioned. The two hairdressers sat us in chairs next to one another and we
could see in the mirrors how close each of us were to laughing. "How would
you like your hair cut hun?" the one hairdresser asked. "Julian,"
Julian corrected her. She smiled and he continued after she'd repeated his name.
"I want mine cut like The Rock," he said. "The wrestler
right?" She asked. "Yeah," Julian said. I knew he had some
comment ready but held it in. Julian was quite the smart-ass as it turned out. "How
about you sir?" My hairdresser asked. "He's Mike, and he wants it
done the same as me," Julian said smiling. I chuckled and nodded and the
hairdressers went to it. They eventually convince Julian that his blonde hair
wouldn't look quite right as "The Rock" so they shortened the sides
and back, then gelled his hair back. I of course had to have my hair cut like
"The Rock" if Julian couldn't. Somebody had to after all, as he had
put it. Now I must say, that even before the haircut, Julian was a work of art
that could only have been crafted by God's own hands, but with his "new
look" he was absolutely, astonishingly, amazingly, .... well.. gorgeous! We
walked back to the tailor's as it had been nearly an hour since we had left. We
arrived and were ushered in quickly to the change rooms where both mine, and
Julian's suits were waiting. I put my new threads on carefully to keep my hair
from being spoiled. Then almost at the exact same time, both Julian and I
stepped out of our change rooms, dressed to the nine, cap a pé!1
Julian looked positively stunning, and I guess I looked pretty smart myself as
the employees came for a look. I had called about a limousine while Julian had
finished up with his hair and had booked a black stretched limo to seat 9 and
told it to meet us at Julian's in two hours so Julian and I still had some time
to kill. What we did need were tickets to a show and after paying for our
new threads. We walked pretty casually through the mall as we gathered stares
from other people and I stopped to buy us each a pair of sunglasses to enhance
our "Bobsy Twins" look. It also left us to look at who we wanted
without them knowing we were looking directly at them. When we got to the ticket
center at the other end of the mall we went over what was going on that night.
Scanning the list of events I saw the CHA Invitational Dinner. It was a charity
dinner that was partially sponsored by my firm who were trying to increase their
public relations in the area as we were just opening up. The
"higher-ups" of the company (like myself) were all given invitations
to the dinner and could bring up to two people along for an additional $25 per
head. If you didn't have an invitation you could buy a seat at one of the tables
in the back of the room for $100. Julian saw me stop with my finger below the
dinner and looked up at me. "That's a pretty expensive dinner Mike.. it's
like a private party kinda thing." "I have an invitation in the
glove compartment of the truck." "You have an invitation to the CHA dinner?" Julian
asked in disbelief. "Yup, got it from work," I answered plainly. "That's
like an exclusive thing! My mom works at the hospital that founded the
CHA and even she doesn't get invited," he said astounded. "We
handle their investments account now.. I wasn't planning on going since people
don't usually go alone and my family's back in Ohio." "Awesome so we
can go to it?!" "Yeah we can go Julian," I said smiling at his
exuberance. "Well awesome! Mom's gonna be sooo surprised! She wanted to
go so bad but she couldn't really swing the $200 for us to go but people with
invitations get in cheaper right?" Julian asked excitedly. "That's
right.. it'll be great," I said suppressing the urge to mess the boy's hair
up. We started back towards the
exit closest to the truck and after crossing the parking lot, we arrived at the truck.
As I started the engine Julian looked at a passing car like he'd seen a ghost.
He turned white and quiet as he watched the car drive pass. "Julian?"
I asked eying him closely, wondering what was going on. "Julian are you
okay?" "Oh," he said snapping back to reality. "Yeah umm..
yeah I'm okay Mike. I just though I.. nothin, never mind," Julian said
awkwardly. "You sure everything's okay?" "I .. I thought that
was my dad in that car?" Julian said softly. "He's not supposed to be
here he moved away." My blood instantly began to boil at the thought of
Julian's father in such close proximity to me and still breathing. I looked at
this loving wonderful boy who had brought so much joy to my life over the past
few days. Just the sight of someone who he thought was his father was enough to
send him into shock for a moment. How could someone have treated such a
beautiful, wonderful boy so badly? Only some kind of over-macho
testosterone-crazed, poor excuse for a man, could do such a thing. Just the
thought of Julian's father made my skin crawl with disgust! I promised myself then and there that I'd
always be there to protect Julian from anything that could harm him so. Julian
was becoming everything to me. Julian my best friend. Julian the boy from the
beach. His name said it all; he was the boy whom I now loved above all else.
There was just something about Julian.
Well I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Yeah it was quicker getting this one
out than it was for the last chapter but I had less goin on. As always comments
are always welcomed at eric_case@hotmail.com and I'll
get back to ya just as quick as I can! Thanks for reading!
Cap a pe - From head to foot, top to bottom, etc.
back to place
©1999 The BookCASE - Questions/Coments to Eric Case
|