This is a work of fiction. Don't go around thinking the celebrity mentioned is gay or anything. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
I felt so alone as I looked into the frosty window of the most popular and sophisticated clothing store in our city. Of course, like everywhere else in the homophobic place, the mannequins featured straight couples. I sighed, my breath coming out in a cloud of white and fogging the window. Turning, I walked on, putting on my hood. It was a chilly day in December in Quinton. People passed me as I strolled slowly down the street. I didn't have anywhere to get and I was in no rush. My boss had let me off for one day so I could get presents (so I lied to him), so I had nothing to do. Family was definitely not an option.
The dazzling array of colorful Christmas lights made the snow covered city seem so pleasant, but my spirits were far from happy. Finally, I decided it was too damn cold so I stopped inside the coffeeshop on 6th Street, called Blackie's. It sounded like some cheap trucker stop in the middle some desert in Arizona, but it had great coffee. Plus, it was dark and had a quiet atmosphere - something I had grown to love.
As the bell above the door rang to alert someone I had come in, I looked over towards the waiter, Jack, and nodded at him. I was a regular costumer so he knew my order. Sitting myself down at my usual table for two by the window, I looked out and scanned the passerbys. Most of the people were women dragging kids, running around doing Christmas shopping, while others were business people carrying briefcases, walking briskly to their own destinations. Then of course, there were the lucky ones. To themselves, they were just frustrated people who couldn't find a present for their loved ones, but to me, they were the most fortunate. What greater gift could anyone receive than the love of someone else? The attention alone would be enough, but then there would be joys and pleasures shared in their own little world as life whizzed by. I sighed, a new habit, again and felt tears forming in the corner of my eyes again.
"Hey, here's your French Vanilla," Jack said, interrupting my thoughts. As he turned to leave, he said, "You OK? Are you crying?"
Smiling weakly, I said, "Always the quick one huh? Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."
"No problem," he said, smiling.
I grabbed two bags of sugar and dumped them in; I loved sugar and wanted it in almost everything. Picking up the cup, I glanced out the window again. A white stretch limo was driving by, it's dark tinted windows reflecting the people traversing by. I wondered to myself who could have been in it; after all, though Quinton was big, it wasn't exactly the most popular city in the USA. Suddenly, someone in the restaurant yelled and I immediately turned to see who it was.
One of the waiters kept mumbling, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry about that. I'll get a towel. Please wait. I'm so sorry."
"It's OK. Calm down. Could you please just get the towel?"
I checked out the guy who had spoken. Even inside, he was wearing dark mirror sunglasses. The casual clothes he had on had no labels and he was wearing a Nike hat that covered what appeared to be dark brown hair. The guy had a nice build, as the clothes fit him tightly. There was a familiar feeling to him that I just brushed off. I couldn't decide if I liked him or not. I needed to see his eyes. His companion was just sitting there laughing at him.
The disturbance over, I turned back to sipping my French Vanilla and looking out the window. The limo I had forgotten about was still here. It parked right outside as if waiting for someone.
I decided to go home, so I quickly chugged down my drink and paid the bill. As I left the coffeeshop, I saw the guy was still cleaning himself up.
I walked rapidly as it was starting to snow again and my apartment was a little distance away. Reaching the small one room place I liked to call home, I turned on the lights and heater. After grabbing a Coke from the barely full fridge, I made myself comfortable on my bed and clicked the TV on. Surfing through it, I found the only good thing on was MTV's Real World Hawaii, which I had seen one too many times already. So, turning the TV off, I hit my stereo's play button and pressed Repeat1 on the remote. My favorite Chinese song filled the room and I just lay there looking at the peeling ceiling, thinking of the man in the shop. The heat was making me drowsy and I slowly drifted to sleep, imagining what he would look like without sunglasses.
A few hours later, I woke up, smelling something burning. Scanning the room, I saw my door was burning. It took me a while, but when the situation registered in my brain, I screamed. Running to my phone, I dialed 911. I kept messing up though because I was so nervous, sometimes dialing 119 and other times dialing 199. Finally, after about the 5th try, I got through.
A woman's voice came through. "Hello, 911."
"Help! There's a building in my fire. I mean, fire in my building."
"Are you on 25th Street, building number 425?"
"Yes, please hurry!"
"We've already dispatched a truck, just don't panic."
I thought, 'Don't panic? My door is burning down and you're telling me don't panic?' I was going to scream again.
"OK," her voice came through again, "do you know the procedure to get out?"
"Ummm...not really. My door is sorta on fire."
"Oh, that doesn't help. OK then, do you have a fire escape outside your window?"
"No."
"Oh, that doesn't help either."
"No SHIT lady!" I was losing my mind.
"OK, you know, that doesn't help either. They only trained us to tell about the fire escape and door."
"They WHAT!?!?" I lost it. Hanging up, I checked out the fire again. It had started to burn my TV, which was next to the door, and was making loud crackling sounds. I could feel the blistering heat and the rancid smell of burning plastic filled the room.
I racked my brain for what they taught us to do in elementary school, but couldn't think of anything. I decided thinking was no help and just to do what instinct told me to do. Of course, my instinct sucked since the first thing I did was grab my CD's. Even stupider, I got out the CD that was in the stereo too. Then, I was debating whether to go for my computer or not when I heard the siren of help. The firetruck had arrived.
I ran to the window to see what they were doing. The firemen ran around, quickly connecting the firehose to a hydrant and started to spray the building. 'Good thing it only has five floors,' I thought. Then I remembered something else, the building next to mine - it had a fire escape. Running to the window next to my bed, I checked out the distance between us. It was close. I opened the window and glanced down. A cold wind bit my face, and combined with the snow that was still coming down, I was frozen. The four-floor drop looked pretty bad except for the fact that there was a pile (or what I hoped was a pile) of snow beneath me. Praying the hardest I ever prayed, I jumped, CD's in one hand and the Discman I had grabbed in the other. I made it with a lot of space to spare. I cheered and scrambled down the stairs. Running to the front of the building, I joined the crowd that had formed. Noone paid attention to me as I looked around for an ambulance. I spotted it hiding behind the fire truck and ran towards it.
"Hiiii," I said, my teeth chattering, "Could IIII getetet a blanketetete pleasssse?"
The attendant I was asking said, "Oh my God. Sure. Were you one of the people in the building? You must be freezing with just a T-shirt and khakis." At that moment, it dawned on me that the world was full of stupid people and that unfortunately for the public, they were all public servants. "Hey, you wanna get in the truck too? It's got a heater."
Nodding, I jumped in, wrapping the blanket around me. Slowly, I warmed up again and I stopped chattering. It got stuffy inside the ambulance so I got out with the blanket still wrapped around me. Checking out my apartment building, I saw the snow had helped some and the fire was almost out. News vans from numerous stations had pulled up behind the crowd and the police had fenced off the area. A fireman walked towards me, introducing himself as Chief Bill Pullman.
"Hi, I was just wondering if you could answer a few questions, sir."
"Yeah, sure," I replied.
He asked about how it started and where, but I couldn't answer any of those. All I told him was that I had woken up with my door burning and how I got out. Thanking me, though I know it was an empty thanks, he walked away to talk to the other people. I got back in the ambulance again as I was going numb again. This time, I jumped into the front. There was no driver, so I didn't have to do any explaining. Suddenly, I heard some commotion in the back of the truck and then someone yelled, "Drive!"
I didn't know what to do. The key was still in the ignition, but I wasn't sure if I could drive this thing. When the person yelled again, I made a decision. I moved into the driver's seat and started going for the Middlesex County Hospital. It was the only other thing of name in Quinton. The place was huge with all the state of the art stuff inside. As I pulled away, I saw someone in a hospital uniform running after the truck in the side mirror.
Running all the red lights, I drove like a theif being chased. Then I thought that maybe I should radio in and tell the hospital we were coming. I gave a short message saying I needed to go to the emergency room. A few minutes later, we arrived and I looked for the emergency room entrance. As soon as I stopped, the back doors opened and I saw someone being pushed on a stretcher into the hospital. Getting out, I ran to follow.
As I entered, I realized someone else had followed as well. Looking behind me, I saw it was the guy from the restaurant! I looked at his eyes and even admist all the rush and worry, I saw they were a beautiful crystal blue. The tears surrounding them helped to enhance it and I fell in love with those eyes.
He ran to an attendant and started yelling, asking things like where the patient went and how was he. The attendant just told him to sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting room and calm down and that everything would be all right; then, she walked away.
He just stood there for a few moments, but then started to pace back and forth. I decided to try and help comfort the guy.
"Hey, my name's Kenny. You OK?"
"No does it look like I'm OK one of my closest friends has just been put in the hospital with too much smoke in his lungs I don't know if he'll live or even if he's OK I came to visit him and then something started burning and we were just talking and then the fire and..."
"OK, shh, shh, calm down. You're just babbling now."
I put my arms around him and put his head on my shoulder. Now he was sobbing out of control, the tears just coming. I led him to one of the ugly, plastic, yellow chairs and sat him down. I sat down next to him, still holding him. After a couple minutes, the sobbing slowed and you could hear him sniffing. I glanced around and told him I'd be right back. Running into the bathroom I had seen, I checked the stall for paper; it was empty. grabbed some paper towels and handed them to him.
"Sorry, it's the best I can do. I know they're rough, but the stall was empty, so...."
"Thanks." He hiccupped.
I smiled, "No prob."
I sat down next to him and slowly, he became quiet. We sat there silently. I scanned the people in the room. Almost all of them looked just like the guy next to me did, eyes red, face long. They were all ages, babies, small kids, old people, middle-aged. I tried to guess what each was here for, but I was soon bored of it so I watched the TV that was in the corner. Already, there was a news bulletin on it about the fire. I was engrossed, when suddenly, he talked.
"Thanks. Sorry about yelling and staining your shirt and being an ass."
I turned to face him. "Huh? Oh, it's OK. Nothing big. I understand you were feeling bad. Hey, when I called 911, I yelled at the lady too."
"When'd uou call 911?"
"I was gonna report the fire, but thankfully, someone already did."
"Oh, that's good. How'd you know about it?"
"My door was burning."
"Oh...Oh...ohhhh. You were INSIDE the building?"
"Yeah, fourth floor, up the stairs, on the right."
"Oh, god, that must've sucked. How'd you get out?"
"There was a fire escape next to my building and I jumped to it."
"That's pretty smart. Doesn't your own building have one?"
"Other side of the building. I think the builders expected us to share the escape. And it wasn't really smart. It took me a while to remember it. Meanwhile, I had been grabbing my CD and Discman. How smart is that? Oh damn, that reminds me, I left those somewhere."
He laughed and said, "Inside your apartment?"
"No...I remember taking them when I jumped. After that, I climbed down, and then...went into the ambulance." I jumped up. "I got it! I left them in the back of the ambulance."
"Oh yeah! I remember seeing a CD holder. Plus, one of the attendants had said something about stepping on something and then cursing and muttering why and how it got there."
"Stepped on something? Oh crap, be right back."
I ran out of the building towards the ambulance. The back doors were still open and I climbed in, searching for my stuff. I found everything, including the now broken Discman. Dejectedly, I slowly walked back in.
"Ooh, sorry," he said when he saw what I held.
I looked around for a garbage can and threw the thing out. I sat back down, putting my head back with, my eyes closed, against the wall and sighing a big sigh.
"It's not your fault. Why you sorry?"
"Well, I just feel bad. It's one of those polite things to say."
"OK, thanks."
At that moment, someone came and called for a Nick.
"That's me. You wanna come along?" the guy next to me asked.
I opened my eyes and saw him looking down at me. "Oh, so that's your name? Well, I don't really know your friend..."
"Yeah, but you know me."
I thought for a moment then said yes. We followed the intern down a white corridor and then he stopped in front of door number 35A. Nick opened the door and we went in. Sitting propped up by pillows was the other guy that had been in Blackie's. His eyes had been closed but they flitted open immediately when he heard the door open.
"Hey," he coughed, "Nick."
"Shhh, don't talk. This is Kenny. He was out in the waiting room with me. I was crying on his shoulder."
The guy on the bed smiled a small smile and then closed his eyes again.
"You want a drink, Mike?"
Mike didn't say anything, but nodded. Nick walked to the nightstand next to the bed and poured some water into the glass next to the pitcher of water. He then held the glass up to Mike's mouth and Mike drank it quickly. I got a sense of a close bond between the two by Nick's gentleness and how it seemed like he put feeling into just giving a drink. I was just standing there and then I wondered why he was in the hospital. Other than a dry throat, I couldn't detect anything wrong with him.
"Hey, how come they brought you here? You look fine to me," I said.
Nick answered for him. "He took in a lot of smoke. We were trying to get down through the stairs, but then he fainted. He had been walking in front. I carried him down the rest of the way."
"Oh yeah, you said before. Wow, what a brave guy. You belong on TV."
"Yeah," he said, chuckling nervously.
The intern came back, telling us to say our goodbyes since Mike needed his rest. Nick said he'd be back to visit him the next day and we left. Stepping outside, I was reminded again of how cold it was. I ran ahead and got the blanket from the ambulance, then went back to where he was.
"So, where are you off to?" he asked me.
"Well, I'm guessing they won't let me back into my apartment, so I'll probably have to get a place in The Heavens."
"Huh? Your going up to heaven? Oh wait, the hotel?"
Laughing, I said, "Yeah. God that's gonna take a bite out of my bank account."
"Well, lucky for you, I've gotta stay there too. I was staying with Mike, but doesn't look like that'll be happening anytime soon. We can get a room together. I'll pay the bill."
"No, I can't do that. I can do the sharing, but I'll pay half."
"No, it's OK. I can afford it. Plus, you helped me so I gotta help you."
"OK. I gave you a chance to back out, but since you're offering again, let's go. Now, how do we get there."
"Hold on, I'll call my limo."
As Nick walked in, I thought to myself, 'Limo?' I couldn't give it anymore thought as he immediately came back out and said, "It'll be right here."
True to his word, a white stretch limo, the same one I had seen in front of Blackie's, pulled up. Opening the door for me, Nick said, "Please."
I got in and scanned my surroundings. A bar, phone, tinted middle window, TV, stereo, all faced me. It looked just like in the movies and damn, was I excited. Nick spoke through an intercom to the chauffeur, telling him where to take us and then we were on our way.