Be There, chapter 9
"Hey Stella." I say as I walk into Mike's living room.
"Hey Aunt Myla." She says as she turns off the TV.
"Where's your dad?"
"In the washroom." She says looking up at me intently, "You look sad."
"What? Oh umm okay." I say twitchily.
"Hey Myla." Mike says from behind me.
"Oh hey Mike." I say slightly startled. "Stella's right, you do look sad. Is lack of boyfriend taking its toll on you?"
"Har, har."
"Oh you know I'm just kidding." He says punching me playfully, "But seriously, this must be the longest you've gone without a boyfriend since you were like seventeen. And that's because you liked Tre."
"Eww! You liked Tre!" Stella says disgusted.
"Yes, but that was a very long time ago." I say gritting my teeth as Stella silently mocks me.
I walk to the guest room, late one evening. Anastasia came to pick up Stella earlier today. Mike still refuses to talk about the divorce. As I walk past Mike's room I hear a weird sound, could it be possible? I hear crying, Mike crying. Holy fuck, Mike is crying. I knock lightly on the door.
"Who is it?!" he demands in an almost pubescent voice.
"It's Myla."
"Oh jeez." I open the door regardless. He's sitting on his bed with swollen red eyes.
"Tell me what's going on." He rolls his eyes as I take a seat on the chair next to the bed.
"Stella is usually always here to keep me company; you know it kills me being away from her when I'm tour. That's why Anastasia comes with her touring. Now I get to see her on weekends only!" tears started running down his cheeks. "I can't stand this! She's my daughter!"
"I know."
"No you don't! You couldn't possibly understand!" he yells.
"Okay." I say nodding, "But what about Tre, Ramona is across the country, you're lucky Stella is only across town." Mike just grunts.
"Stella is my world, that's why I call her Hero! She's like oxygen to me!"
"Mike, think about it this way. Do you really want Stella growing up in a home where mommy and daddy are always fighting?" I say calmly, "Or growing up in two homes where mommy and daddy can talk like civilized human beings."
"Oh god Myla." He moans as he puts his head in his hands in agony. "Can we talk about something else? Please!"
"Alright, well England beat Spain in the soccer game today."
"No, not sports."
"Sorry."
"So is Jesse coming to town, I really want to meet this guy."
"Uhh yeah, I called him this afternoon; he should be here tomorrow evening."
"So umm are you two living together?"
"Sort of." I mumble, "He sleeps over most of the time, but we haven't officially moved in together. We've been taking our whole relationship slow."
"Good." Mike says nodding, "That's good, you're finally standing up on your own two feet."
"Yeah I guess so." I say smiling weakly.
"The time of Myla's boy toys has ended."
"Hey! Now you're taking it too far."
"Sorry." He lies.
Tre walks into the living room and stops when he sees me.
"Hi Tre! Did you know that Aunt Myla had a crush on you a long time ago?" Stella says happily.
"Uhh yeah, your dad told me a while back."
"Tre, you look like you saw a ghost." Mike says in amusement.
"I just have a lot on my mind." Tre says shrugging.
"Dad, can I have lunch now?"
"Yeah sure kiddo." Mike says as he turns to Tre and me, "Be right back, do you want anything."
"Nah, I'm good." I say casually.
"Same."
As soon as Mike and Stella are out of sight Tre turns to me.
"I think we should just hash this out." I say quietly.
"Okay, we'll hash things out." Tre says angrily, "When I said that I wanted you to myself the other morning, did that mean nothing to you? And just because we haven't publicly announced our relationship it doesn't mean it doesn't exist! Myla you really fucking hurt me!"
"Zack is my gay roommate." I say monotonously.
"G-gay?" Tre stutters, "What about the..."
"Yup, he has a perverted sense of humor." I say as I see Tre calming down, "It's an age old joke where he calls himself my boy toy and shit like that. We never slept together and we never will."
"Myla, I-I'm sorry I-"
"Next time I suggest you hear me out before you accuse me of cheat-"
"Accuse you of what?" Mike asks as he steps into the room with Stella.
"Well taking his Operation Ivy t-shirt when we were touring." I manage to stutter.
"Dude, you should take better care of your stuff." Mike says less than amused as Stella takes her plate with a sandwich on it to the coffee table where she sits down.
"Yeah, yeah." Tre mumbles.
"Besides, why would Myla take your t-shirt? It's all old and ratty."
"Hey!" Tre protests.
"It's true." I add in crossing my arms. "Well I should get going."
"What?" Stella says upset. "But you said you'd take me to the beach."
"Tomorrow, first thing in the morning." I say as I crouch down to her level.
"Promise?"
"Promise." I say as I give her a hug. "Bye Mike, Tre."
"Bye." They say one after another.
As I drive the street I hear my cell phone ringing, I reach over and grab it, not bothering to look at the number.
"Hello."
"Myla." Tre's voice says sort of desperately.
"Yeah."
"Don't leave because of me."
"I'm not." I pause, "I have to work."
"Work?"
"Yeah, one of the major bands at the club canceled last minute so I have to deejay for the first hour or so of the evening."
"Which club?"
"What? Why do you want to know?"
"I'll come."
"No."
"Why not?" he whines.
"Because I'm a tad bit pissed."
"Oh."
"Fine, it's the Grif Club."
"Thanks." He says as he hangs up the phone.
"Mike, this is Jesse, Jesse this is my brother Mike." I say anxiously.
"Nice to meet you." Jesse says extending his hand to shake Mike's.
"Yeah." Mike says distractedly as he looks Jesse over. This one of those critical first impression moments.
"Sorry, I must look like hell, it's a long drive up here." Jesse says trying to break the oh so awkward silence.
"Uhh right," Mike says like he just came out of a trance, "The guest room is up the stairs third door to the right and the washroom is just across the hall, help yourself to whatever you need."
"Thanks." Jesse says glancing at me nervously before heading up the stairs.
"So, what do you think?" I ask as Mike and I head into the living room.
"He seems nice, not like anyone you've ever dated before."
"I thought that was a good thing?"
"It is, I'm just a little shocked. He's not a druggy, punky, anarchist or Satan worshiper of any kind." He says as he laughs slightly.
"Jeez, you really have issues." I mumble.
"Nope that would be you Miss Boyfriend Disaster." He says laughing even harder, "Smart choice this time around."
"Yeah." I say nodding, thinking slightly about my relationship with Jesse. "I should make sure he's alright." I head up the stairs and to the washroom where I hear running water.
"Hey." I say as I step into the washroom as he steps out of the shower.
"So does the infamous over-protective Mike approve?" he asks as he dries himself off with a towel.
"Yes he does, congratulations you're the first he approves of." I say clapping my hands in slight mockery.
"Really?" I nod. "So he isn't going to neuter me with a screw driver?"
"Hey, he only threatened to do that to one of my boyfriends and that was when I was sixteen." I protest, "Mind you the guy never called me again." Jesse shakes his head laughing.
"I have two little sisters and I've never threatened to neuter their boyfriends with screw drivers or any hardware tools for that matter." He say in slight mockery, "But I did punch a guy out for being a little too hands on with Chrissy."
"She must've been pissed." I say as he pulls on a fresh set of clothes.
"No, actually she thanked me because she tried to break up with him and then- well it's a long story let's put it that way."
"I'm glad he approves of you." I say as I wrap my arms around him, "That way I can have in one piece." He laughs.
"Myla you're too much sometimes."
"We're letting them in now!" The club manager yells to me after I've set up my deejay station the way I like it.
"Alright." I say as I turn on the speakers letting the music flow. The club slowly starts to fill with club hoppers and rockers alike. A combination audience due to the combination show tonight. My deejay balcony overlooks the entire club, I like it that way.
After about half an hour I see a familiar head of hair coming up the stairs.
"Hey Tre." I say as I adjust some of the settings on my mixing board.
"Can I take you to dinner?!" he calls over the music.
"Can't I'm working!"
"When you're done?"
"I gotta think about that." I say evilly as I change one of the records.
"Please, I'm really sorry about before."
"Okay." I say nodding, "In about half an hour the first band should start playing and I could leave."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tre practically squeals as he hugs me from behind.
"How'd you get up here in the first place?"
"One of the bouncers likes Green Day." He says as he flips through the album selection, "I got access to the deejay in exchange for an autograph."
"That's abuse of power." I say as I fiddle with the mixing board.
"So?" I roll my eyes.
"You're really distracting you know, and these people aren't drunk enough yet to notice if I'm playing crap."
"I really don't care, you're the deejay say it's a new style, abuse your power."
"There's been enough power abuse here for one night, so just keep your hands to yourself for the time being."
"Okay." Tre pouts as he sits on the stool in the corner of the deejay balcony.
"Myla, Myla."
"What Tre?"
"Your phone's ringing."
"Oh right." I say as I pick it up to see the manager text messaged me.
the first band is ready
I pick up the microphone and turn out wile gradually reducing the volume of the techno music. "Hello people! The time you've been waiting for has arrived! I introduce to you Crypto!" I yell into the Mike causing the crowd to cheer as the band on stage begins to play. I turn off the Mike and put away the deejaying stuff I used.
"I'm all yours." I say turning to Tre.
"Great." He says leading me out of the club.
He takes me to a small restaurant not too far away from Grif Club.
"So you're not mad at me anymore?" he asks as we take our seat at the table.
"I never said that, I'm still insulted that you don't trust me after knowing me for like sixteen years." I say slightly angrily, "But I don't want to talk about that."
"Alright." Tre says looking guilty.
The rest of dinner is pretty much upbeat as contrary to the start of it. The evening ended too soon and I found Tre and myself in the hallway of my apartment building.
"Aren't you going to let me in?" Tre asks as I unlock the door.
"Sorry but no." I say as I put my arms around his neck, "I have to get up early to take my lovely niece to the beach."
"It's okay, I'll let you sleep afterwards."
"Nope sorry, Zack is here I don't want him to catch us together." I say in mockery of Tre's accusations.
"You're never going to forget this are you?"
"No, but after a week or two I'll stop bringing it up." Tre rolls his eyes and lowers his head to kiss my lips. His tongue seeks entrance into my mouth. I pull away and he looks shocked.
"That's not going to work." I say as I close the door.
"It was worth a try!" he calls out loudly, I can't help but giggle.
"Hey Aunt Myla." She says as she turns off the TV.
"Where's your dad?"
"In the washroom." She says looking up at me intently, "You look sad."
"What? Oh umm okay." I say twitchily.
"Hey Myla." Mike says from behind me.
"Oh hey Mike." I say slightly startled. "Stella's right, you do look sad. Is lack of boyfriend taking its toll on you?"
"Har, har."
"Oh you know I'm just kidding." He says punching me playfully, "But seriously, this must be the longest you've gone without a boyfriend since you were like seventeen. And that's because you liked Tre."
"Eww! You liked Tre!" Stella says disgusted.
"Yes, but that was a very long time ago." I say gritting my teeth as Stella silently mocks me.
I walk to the guest room, late one evening. Anastasia came to pick up Stella earlier today. Mike still refuses to talk about the divorce. As I walk past Mike's room I hear a weird sound, could it be possible? I hear crying, Mike crying. Holy fuck, Mike is crying. I knock lightly on the door.
"Who is it?!" he demands in an almost pubescent voice.
"It's Myla."
"Oh jeez." I open the door regardless. He's sitting on his bed with swollen red eyes.
"Tell me what's going on." He rolls his eyes as I take a seat on the chair next to the bed.
"Stella is usually always here to keep me company; you know it kills me being away from her when I'm tour. That's why Anastasia comes with her touring. Now I get to see her on weekends only!" tears started running down his cheeks. "I can't stand this! She's my daughter!"
"I know."
"No you don't! You couldn't possibly understand!" he yells.
"Okay." I say nodding, "But what about Tre, Ramona is across the country, you're lucky Stella is only across town." Mike just grunts.
"Stella is my world, that's why I call her Hero! She's like oxygen to me!"
"Mike, think about it this way. Do you really want Stella growing up in a home where mommy and daddy are always fighting?" I say calmly, "Or growing up in two homes where mommy and daddy can talk like civilized human beings."
"Oh god Myla." He moans as he puts his head in his hands in agony. "Can we talk about something else? Please!"
"Alright, well England beat Spain in the soccer game today."
"No, not sports."
"Sorry."
"So is Jesse coming to town, I really want to meet this guy."
"Uhh yeah, I called him this afternoon; he should be here tomorrow evening."
"So umm are you two living together?"
"Sort of." I mumble, "He sleeps over most of the time, but we haven't officially moved in together. We've been taking our whole relationship slow."
"Good." Mike says nodding, "That's good, you're finally standing up on your own two feet."
"Yeah I guess so." I say smiling weakly.
"The time of Myla's boy toys has ended."
"Hey! Now you're taking it too far."
"Sorry." He lies.
Tre walks into the living room and stops when he sees me.
"Hi Tre! Did you know that Aunt Myla had a crush on you a long time ago?" Stella says happily.
"Uhh yeah, your dad told me a while back."
"Tre, you look like you saw a ghost." Mike says in amusement.
"I just have a lot on my mind." Tre says shrugging.
"Dad, can I have lunch now?"
"Yeah sure kiddo." Mike says as he turns to Tre and me, "Be right back, do you want anything."
"Nah, I'm good." I say casually.
"Same."
As soon as Mike and Stella are out of sight Tre turns to me.
"I think we should just hash this out." I say quietly.
"Okay, we'll hash things out." Tre says angrily, "When I said that I wanted you to myself the other morning, did that mean nothing to you? And just because we haven't publicly announced our relationship it doesn't mean it doesn't exist! Myla you really fucking hurt me!"
"Zack is my gay roommate." I say monotonously.
"G-gay?" Tre stutters, "What about the..."
"Yup, he has a perverted sense of humor." I say as I see Tre calming down, "It's an age old joke where he calls himself my boy toy and shit like that. We never slept together and we never will."
"Myla, I-I'm sorry I-"
"Next time I suggest you hear me out before you accuse me of cheat-"
"Accuse you of what?" Mike asks as he steps into the room with Stella.
"Well taking his Operation Ivy t-shirt when we were touring." I manage to stutter.
"Dude, you should take better care of your stuff." Mike says less than amused as Stella takes her plate with a sandwich on it to the coffee table where she sits down.
"Yeah, yeah." Tre mumbles.
"Besides, why would Myla take your t-shirt? It's all old and ratty."
"Hey!" Tre protests.
"It's true." I add in crossing my arms. "Well I should get going."
"What?" Stella says upset. "But you said you'd take me to the beach."
"Tomorrow, first thing in the morning." I say as I crouch down to her level.
"Promise?"
"Promise." I say as I give her a hug. "Bye Mike, Tre."
"Bye." They say one after another.
As I drive the street I hear my cell phone ringing, I reach over and grab it, not bothering to look at the number.
"Hello."
"Myla." Tre's voice says sort of desperately.
"Yeah."
"Don't leave because of me."
"I'm not." I pause, "I have to work."
"Work?"
"Yeah, one of the major bands at the club canceled last minute so I have to deejay for the first hour or so of the evening."
"Which club?"
"What? Why do you want to know?"
"I'll come."
"No."
"Why not?" he whines.
"Because I'm a tad bit pissed."
"Oh."
"Fine, it's the Grif Club."
"Thanks." He says as he hangs up the phone.
"Mike, this is Jesse, Jesse this is my brother Mike." I say anxiously.
"Nice to meet you." Jesse says extending his hand to shake Mike's.
"Yeah." Mike says distractedly as he looks Jesse over. This one of those critical first impression moments.
"Sorry, I must look like hell, it's a long drive up here." Jesse says trying to break the oh so awkward silence.
"Uhh right," Mike says like he just came out of a trance, "The guest room is up the stairs third door to the right and the washroom is just across the hall, help yourself to whatever you need."
"Thanks." Jesse says glancing at me nervously before heading up the stairs.
"So, what do you think?" I ask as Mike and I head into the living room.
"He seems nice, not like anyone you've ever dated before."
"I thought that was a good thing?"
"It is, I'm just a little shocked. He's not a druggy, punky, anarchist or Satan worshiper of any kind." He says as he laughs slightly.
"Jeez, you really have issues." I mumble.
"Nope that would be you Miss Boyfriend Disaster." He says laughing even harder, "Smart choice this time around."
"Yeah." I say nodding, thinking slightly about my relationship with Jesse. "I should make sure he's alright." I head up the stairs and to the washroom where I hear running water.
"Hey." I say as I step into the washroom as he steps out of the shower.
"So does the infamous over-protective Mike approve?" he asks as he dries himself off with a towel.
"Yes he does, congratulations you're the first he approves of." I say clapping my hands in slight mockery.
"Really?" I nod. "So he isn't going to neuter me with a screw driver?"
"Hey, he only threatened to do that to one of my boyfriends and that was when I was sixteen." I protest, "Mind you the guy never called me again." Jesse shakes his head laughing.
"I have two little sisters and I've never threatened to neuter their boyfriends with screw drivers or any hardware tools for that matter." He say in slight mockery, "But I did punch a guy out for being a little too hands on with Chrissy."
"She must've been pissed." I say as he pulls on a fresh set of clothes.
"No, actually she thanked me because she tried to break up with him and then- well it's a long story let's put it that way."
"I'm glad he approves of you." I say as I wrap my arms around him, "That way I can have in one piece." He laughs.
"Myla you're too much sometimes."
"We're letting them in now!" The club manager yells to me after I've set up my deejay station the way I like it.
"Alright." I say as I turn on the speakers letting the music flow. The club slowly starts to fill with club hoppers and rockers alike. A combination audience due to the combination show tonight. My deejay balcony overlooks the entire club, I like it that way.
After about half an hour I see a familiar head of hair coming up the stairs.
"Hey Tre." I say as I adjust some of the settings on my mixing board.
"Can I take you to dinner?!" he calls over the music.
"Can't I'm working!"
"When you're done?"
"I gotta think about that." I say evilly as I change one of the records.
"Please, I'm really sorry about before."
"Okay." I say nodding, "In about half an hour the first band should start playing and I could leave."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tre practically squeals as he hugs me from behind.
"How'd you get up here in the first place?"
"One of the bouncers likes Green Day." He says as he flips through the album selection, "I got access to the deejay in exchange for an autograph."
"That's abuse of power." I say as I fiddle with the mixing board.
"So?" I roll my eyes.
"You're really distracting you know, and these people aren't drunk enough yet to notice if I'm playing crap."
"I really don't care, you're the deejay say it's a new style, abuse your power."
"There's been enough power abuse here for one night, so just keep your hands to yourself for the time being."
"Okay." Tre pouts as he sits on the stool in the corner of the deejay balcony.
"Myla, Myla."
"What Tre?"
"Your phone's ringing."
"Oh right." I say as I pick it up to see the manager text messaged me.
the first band is ready
I pick up the microphone and turn out wile gradually reducing the volume of the techno music. "Hello people! The time you've been waiting for has arrived! I introduce to you Crypto!" I yell into the Mike causing the crowd to cheer as the band on stage begins to play. I turn off the Mike and put away the deejaying stuff I used.
"I'm all yours." I say turning to Tre.
"Great." He says leading me out of the club.
He takes me to a small restaurant not too far away from Grif Club.
"So you're not mad at me anymore?" he asks as we take our seat at the table.
"I never said that, I'm still insulted that you don't trust me after knowing me for like sixteen years." I say slightly angrily, "But I don't want to talk about that."
"Alright." Tre says looking guilty.
The rest of dinner is pretty much upbeat as contrary to the start of it. The evening ended too soon and I found Tre and myself in the hallway of my apartment building.
"Aren't you going to let me in?" Tre asks as I unlock the door.
"Sorry but no." I say as I put my arms around his neck, "I have to get up early to take my lovely niece to the beach."
"It's okay, I'll let you sleep afterwards."
"Nope sorry, Zack is here I don't want him to catch us together." I say in mockery of Tre's accusations.
"You're never going to forget this are you?"
"No, but after a week or two I'll stop bringing it up." Tre rolls his eyes and lowers his head to kiss my lips. His tongue seeks entrance into my mouth. I pull away and he looks shocked.
"That's not going to work." I say as I close the door.
"It was worth a try!" he calls out loudly, I can't help but giggle.
