Monday, March 18, 2024

Stay tuned


 

Cyrus was now on iHeartRadio with his podcast. He'd even been picked up with a local radio station even if it was Sunday at midnight. Cyrus worked plenty from home these days and in charge of daddy duty, hint the name of his radio show.

"I gotta tell you, when I met my wife it was lot like raising a child," Deano smiled who was at the microphone with the heavy earphones on. He looked at Cyrus who chuckled back.

"You're gonna get in trouble here, man," Cyrus joked as he spoke into the podcast equipment at his desk.

"I don't mean that in a mean way," Deano said. "It's just she needed my support. And well, she only knows how to make Ramen, so you know I had my work cut out for me."

"Is that so?" Cyrus smiled.

"Oh, we've both grown since then," Deano kept smiling as if he had faith in what he said. "I mean, the more I got to know her, I didn't fear raising kids. I mean, we have a daughter now. I knew I wanted one very much. I mean, I love all things, but you know, nothing better than being a Girl Dad."

"Well, you know, you haven't gotten to the teen years yet?" Cyrus put that out there as if it might be an obstacle for  Deano to worry about.

"Oh, it's all good." He chuckled. "I know her babysitter very well."

"Uh-huh."

"Well maybe not that well, she's young and lives with her boyfriend, but she had her troubles with her own parents. She got out on her own pretty early." Deano confessed.

"Would you let your daughter do something like that?" Cyrus wanted to know. There were no commercial breaks. He had Deano right on the spot. It was a live conversation. Nothing was scripted.

"Um, I'm on the fence about that one. I mean, if the situation was right, then yeah." 

Deano nodded. "There are some that just need to leave the nest as soon as possible. I mean we are raising a rather overprotected generation these days. Some might not get out of the house until they are well over thirty these days. Kids are staying home a lot longer, you know. So yeah, I believe there comes a time when you have to let them go. They need the skills to take care of themselves. They need to learn how to live on their own even if they are at home."

"You do have a point," Cyrus said. "But until then, there are those precious moments."

"With diaper disasters included."

Cyrus finished up the podcast. It was then Deano told him he was going to be a Daddy again.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

I'm coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine



 It was only a kiss. But Pan couldn't exactly recall when it happened or even why. Maybe it didn't even matter anymore.

Oh, it was quaint. Staying in. Just the two of them. 

"We should go the gym," Yeah, that's how it went. Pan nodded now. Of course, he wasn't one for the gym. Too many people. He'd said no, right away. 

"But it would be good for you," Wade laughed. Pan laughed. They sat on the couch and watched old episodes of MONK, trying to figure out who did it before Adrien did.

"Um," Pan shook his head. "Just too many germs."

"Now, you talk about germs," Wade smirked, shaking his head. Yeah, it was Pan who lost it this time. Didn't he remember how he'd become after Rox left? He'd lived in squolar. 

"We'll go jogging." That was the compromise. Wade could live with that. 

But now as Pan thought on it, maybe that was code for something else. It was all that running that led to something, or so it seemed. But he wouldn't call it Sleep.

It was a word he was used to. How to get it was hard.

"Well, you talk too much about it for one thing," Wade told him.

"You don't sleep any better than I do." 

Pan liked these discussions even if it kept them up all night. And then they entered another world. 

Pan felt like he woke up or maybe he finally went to sleep. But it was different now. They were so together. Yeah, he smiled on the inside about it. They could finish each other sentences in that giddy sort of way.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

You were way ahead of the trend, g-get it



 Valentine's Day felt like it might have been last year, but still Rox thought of it so fondly with Elvis. Yes, he had a bouquet of roses for her. She asked how much but he wouldn't tell.

It was after work. Late by most standards, but they made a night of it just as much. Well, of course, it was good. She could say great, but she didn't want to give him that much credit for the sex since it was all still so new to him.

"When was your first kiss?" He'd asked so naughty after a haughty intercourse. She thought he would have been asleep, but he wasn't.

Rox sighed heavily. She'd have to think about it. Perhaps.

"Oh, it was after a soccer game," she laughed. "I was only six, I guess. He was older. Like eight. We were under the bleachers." She still smiled about it as if she'd worried since birth that she might never be truly kissed. It was like making up for lost time. "What about it?"

Elvis only smiled as if he'd waited for this moment all along. He drew her in and naturally touched all the soft spots to awaken them for the second course. 

"Who did you kiss?" She wanted to know. They were engaging in the past even if the future was looking so promising.

"I can't really say," he shrugged with a smirk.

"Why can't you?"

"Cause." He looked at her a little blankly. His fingers touched her breasts and pried lower.

"Cause why?"

"It's not quite that exciting," he told her.

"Well, I told someone he was a fag," She was even lipped. "I liked the word. So I used it. That dude I kissed at the soccer game."

"Isn't that cigarettes?" Elvis had his head propped up under his jaw looking down at her. She touched his face then. Damn him, he always looked lush in her eyeshadow.

She only smiled. And he kissed her as if he might be her first kiss.

"Maybe you went on to kiss a boy," she persisted.

"I didn't." He looked at her ever so endearing.

"Who was it?" She wanted to know.

"My mother."  But he kept looking at her as if he could move on if she'd let him.

"Your mother?" Oh, it almost broke the train of ecstasy that was on its way.

"She was just, a little out of it." He didn't make it sound dreadful. "She..she gave me a kiss......with tongue."

Oh, she felt so sad for him now. But not then because there were other matters to tend to. And she let him. The endless tears prevailed in her sleep. How could they make it right? Both were damaged even if Elvis didn't know it.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift



 "What do you suppose I do?" Justin fretted.

"Go to school," Ari shrugged. He bought Justin a coffee at the coffee cart in the hallway at the hospital entrance. "You have no idea how to get ahead, do you?"

"Well-"

Yeah, that was always as far as it would get with Justin.

"Maybe you could ask around. See if you could be a model, of some kind." Ari was just throwing it out there. He knew Eric down at the gym was making a bit of a career out of it.

"But he's gay," Justin screeched as if that would be so painful.

"I don't think the modeling is gay," Ari squinted. "You should check it out." Ari sipped his steaming coffee while Justin sighed. "Besides it would be good for you to meet your fears. And Eric is a really a great guy." Of course, Justin fumed as if that would be a no-go.

"Ask Vada. Doesn't she have connections with the art department?" 

Justin raked his fingers through his thick head of hair. He let his hand rest at the base of his neck as he pondered this.  "I couldn't. I just couldn't." He said he was too tired to take on a second job. Especially, being a model in an art class.

"It's like that, you know." Ari agreed. "But give it a try. At least tolerate it, if for a while."

Really, Ari wasn't so sure what he'd seen in this old chum. Maybe it was the need to connect during the pandemic. They'd had such a randy friendship then, online. He was so much different in reality. It was sad and well, he wished he hadn't thought of him as some long-lost relative. He bet his parents were glad to get rid of him. He didn't seem to know how to get by. How could that be?

Justin hugged himself as he sipped his coffee. He was a sad sod now. Ari couldn't help but think of Jade's predicament. She was all by her lonesome at the yoga and dance studio. He hoped she bounced back quickly. No way could he ask her about the wedding being so down these days. Yes, he guessed he'd just have to wait.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Now I've heard there was a secret chord

 


"It's been ages, you know," Justin's half-brother said over the phone. "How's it going, mate?"

Just what Justin needed a reminder of his past.  Yes, they grew up more or less near each other. But he'd lived with Dad and Mum while Jared stayed with Gram.

He wouldn't dare ask him what he might want. True, Jared was the friendly sort.

"Oh,  you know, it's going." Justin felt he walked his legs off these days with the job at the hospital, wheeling folks around from one test to another at the hospital.

"You gotta a bird, do you?"

Justin winced. Mum, must have told him. Really, Justin hated the thought that Vada was in a cage of some kind. Perhaps she wasn't a cut above as he'd imagined. She didn't really have her Daddy's money. It was all beginning to be impossible. But she was good in bed, or maybe it was just him because she did like his touch. 

"It's a relationship, you know." Justin did his best to breathe easy about it. It was last year when they hooked up and she hadn't left him. Something about her sorority house just wasn't what it used to be. And they'd done well on toast and tea after a night together. It was like they couldn't get enough of each other. But there was that job at the hospital that hardly paid the rent. Justin just wasn't good at saving money. Evidently. And neither was Vada. Even if they were slumming lately.

"Is it?" Jared sounded delighted to know. Naturally, he rattled on about his long-term commitment to Jenny. It had been going for the last seven years or so.

"You haven't gotten an itch yet, aye?" Justin gave him a hardy laugh. Jared worked at the docks. He'd been true to Gram since a wee boy. And he'd known Jenny forever. 

"No, afraid not." The chuckle in Jared's voice irritated Justin. "We're married now." They'd said their vows in the backyard before Gram got shipped off to the old folk's home. It seemed Jared had taken over the household now. "We're expecting a little one this May."

Justin cringed. He wanted to hate him, but somehow knew it would be wrong. Jared was family even if he insisted they were just mates.

Friday, March 8, 2024

When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody's help



 So much to think about. Jade drew a frown. Why was she so worried about Dale and Tristan?

It was probably much about nothing. She went on with the pan of bacon frying nicely. She'd promised Ari some bacon and eggs. Sometimes, he was just a child. He hated cooking breakfast and so did she.

She put the lid on it since she put a trickle of water on the bare bacon. It had not browned yet. There were the eggs to worry about. Seriously, she knew it all troubled her more than it should, but damn if Ari couldn't make some excuse that it was never as good as his sister's food.

She sighed. When would he stop doing that? Oh, he thought he was the chef and she never complained about the meals. Although, she liked her's a bit more spicy with cayenne and curry. But she let it go. When she ate food like that, it made her think of her parents. And she didn't have the time to be sad right now.

Just as the bacon reached its sizzling point her cell rang. She thought not to answer it, but it was work. 

"I have some bad news," Frankie started.

Jade couldn't imagine what it might be. Of course, the bacon stuck to the bottom of the skillet and all Jade could do was to turn it off and slide it on the cold back burner, being careful not to burn herself. She sighed.

"What happened?" Her forehead crinkled as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Dale quit."

"What?" She was the knowledge of the yoga and dance studio. She knew everything about the gym equipment too. She knew all the places to call if there was a problem.

"She got on at the news station."

"News station?"

"Yeah," Frankie hesitated. "You see, the thing is..." Jade was certain the phone went dead.

"What is it?"  She was a little frantic.

"Well, we were gonna have to let one of you go, anyway."

His words made her plop down at the kitchen table. Breakfast could wait. Her face tightened with emotion and a small frown persisted. 

"Jade? Are you listening?" Frankie said as if there was no room for her on the lifeboat, either.

"Yes." She found herself saying as she rigidly sat there in disbelief.

"WE only have you."

Her heart tugged as she might have a heart failure. She nodded.

"What's  up?" There was Ari in his robe and his fancy dragon boxers. Of course, he hadn't checked on the very dark brown bacon. Jade looked up at him as he lifted the pan. "Crispy." He smiled.

"Dale quit." She finally managed. Jade was now the nervous system of where she worked. The thought of it was exhausting.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

March Madness



 "Well, it happened so quickly," Woo said to his niece Sunny. "I just thought Hart would have told you."

Now that he looked back on it, he knew Hart was shell-shocked with the news when he heard of the lost funding for his job. It was complicated. It seemed it had to do with his country, wealth, university, taxes, and complicated stuff. The job was just not there for him at the language school anymore.

Of course, Liv was more concerned about Woo's job.

"Do you think it might be in danger?" She asked bringing him a Mexican beer from the fridge.

"I don't think so," Woo told her. "It was out of everyone's hands. Hart had to go back. He would have been deported, otherwise."

"Deported?" Sunny made a face as if she hated that word. She stomped away to her room.

"I know she's hurt," Woo said to Liv. "Maybe he just needs time and you know, it can be a long-distance something." He shrugged and took a sip of his beer. Thinking, it would give him less to worry about Sunny and her whereabouts then.

"This is just so bad," Liv crossed her arms.

"I know what you're thinking. You're not gonna get deported." He told her. She sighed.

"Well, that Chewy guy keeps hanging around," she mentioned he was eating their food.

"He didn't get into the beer did he?" Woo looked at her blankly.

Liv shook her head, no. "Just the sodas. He drank like four when he was here."

"Four!" Woo looked a bit outraged. This time he knocked on Sunny's bedroom door. He wouldn't dare go in, but he could still shout in Korean. "Chewy can't come over!"

It made Liv laugh. She got out the new six-pack of Mexican sodas from the pantry. "I've been stocking up." She told him.