When The Right Door Opens (9 page)

“All that's missing now, are a bed and your
stuff, maybe a desk.” Sebastian grinned with his hands on his hips.
He was tired, but happy to see the gleam in Agnes's eyes. It had
been a long but productive day and the four of them worked well as
a team.

Agnes's excitement was muffled at once, after
hearing Sebastian's words. She had her clothes and a few books, her
things for school and pictures with her best friends, but she had
no bed and no desk, no furniture and no money to buy them either.
Tears started to flow down her face and she made a hasty exit to
hide away in the other bathroom. Her sobs could be heard down the
hall and the twin brothers looked at Jamie for an explanation.

“I'll go and take care of her.” Jamie said
sadly.

“What did I miss here? I thought she wants
this room?” Sebastian asked completely surprised and overwhelmed.
He didn't understand the situation.

“She does, but we don't have furniture and no
savings to buy any right now.” Suddenly it dawned on Sebastian why
Agnes had reacted that way.

“Oh. Would it be okay, if I talk to her?
Apologize?” Sebastian asked almost shyly.

“I don't know if she will talk to you. She
doesn't know you.” Jamie answered sincerely.

“Just... please?” Sebastian asked again, the
guilt of what he had said and the guilt of hurting Agnes could be
clearly seen in his face.

“You can try, sure.” Jamie nodded and moved
from the door. Sebastian brushed past him and there was that warm
feeling inside of him again. Despite the situation, Jamie smiled,
looking at his feet.

****

Sebastian limped down the hall and knocked at the
closed bathroom door. The sobs of the girl inside where still
audible and Sebastian scolded himself for being so
inconsiderate.

“Agnes? Are you decent? Can I come in?”
Sebastian asked through the wooden door.

“It's your house.” was Agnes's snappy
answer.

“Okay, I'm coming in.”

Sebastian closed the door and saw Agnes, with
red rimmed eyes sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her
chest.

“What are you staring at? Do you want to
humiliate me some more?” she snapped, glaring at Sebastian.

“Hey!” Sebastian raised his hands in a
surrendering motion. “I didn't do it on purpose and if you had
stayed in the room, you would have heard, that I want to buy those
things. With my money. For you.” Sebastian sat down awkwardly,
stretching his leg and he let out a deep sigh when he finally
settled and leaned back against the bathtub.

“Why?” Agnes asked suspiciously.

“Because – honestly, I have no idea.”
Sebastian deflated a bit, but then he added “maybe, because it's
the right thing to do?”

“Buying me stuff to get into my dad's pants?”
Agnes was gaining speed. She felt hurt and she wanted to hurt
Sebastian back, but he didn't react the way she wanted him to. He
stayed calm and unfazed, while she wanted to agitate him.

“I'll pretend, that I didn't hear that
comment...”

“Do you want me to repeat it?”

“I don't think your dad would approve.”
Sebastian countered dryly.

“Bite me.” The look she shot Sebastian made
him self-aware and uncomfortable.

“Okay. Let's get this out of your system. Why
don't you like me?”

“I never said that.” Agnes retorted
childishly.

“Well, if this is the way you show people you
like them, I don't want to be your enemy.” Sebastian said with a
warm smile in his voice. Silence fell around them and all that
could be heard was Agnes's sniffle.

“I don't get it. Why are you so nice to me?
I'm insulting you in your own home.” Agnes inquired after a while.
She couldn't sit in silence with this man when she had too many
thoughts in her mind and too many questions on her tongue to
ask.

“Because I know that this is hard for you. I
understand more than you think. If I were in your place, I would be
afraid and suspicious too.”

“I'm not afraid.”

“Of course you aren't. But I would be. I
would be scared to death that once I would dare to feel safe and
comfortable, something bad would happen, something that is out of
my control and everything would start anew. Well, maybe you are
stronger than I am. I am only a gay crippled dancer after
all...”

“You're a dancer?”

“I used to be.” This answer got Agnes's
attention and she smiled sadly, as if she was remembering
something, before she said wistfully: “We had no money for dance
classes.”

“It's never too late...” Sebastian got up
from his uncomfortable seating position.

“I wanted to be a ballerina when I was young,
but now I know that I need to do something that helps me earn
money. I need to stop dreaming. Grow up...” Agnes sounded way too
hardened for a young girl and Sebastian held his hand out to her.
He had decided to show her his safe haven.

“Come with me. Please?”

****

“What is this?” Agnes asked in awe. She had followed
Sebastian up a flight of stairs and when the stairs ended, she
found herself in a huge open area. Light flooded the room and the
floor was softer, like it was made out of training mattresses.
Mirrors were on one side of the room, a stereo and an overstuffed
chair, but no furniture.

“This is my safe haven. My own dancing
studio.” Sebastian stated proudly, waving his hand around the
room.

“But these bars and the mirrors.” Agnes
pointed at them, when she finally understood what this was.

“Ballet. Yes.” Sebastian nodded and waited
for a reaction.

“Really?” her eyes lit up.

“I could teach you, but I won't be able to
show you much right now. Bad knee and stuff.”

“Nah, I'm good.” she said a little too
quickly and Sebastian had to tease her about it.

“Are you scared?”

“Of course I'm not. I am simply too old.” she
sounded like an affronted old lady and Sebastian snickered, he put
on some music and waited.

“That's no music for ballet.” Agnes said
right away.

“You can dance to any music you wish to dance
to. This is contemporary classic. You can move and dance to it.
Like this.” Sebastian started to move and dance. He used the entire
space, careful not to put full pressure on his leg. Agnes watched
in amazement as the man started to drown in his passion. With
closed eyes, he moved around and bent and turned. Agnes was in awe
and moved out of the way while she watched what Sebastian was
sharing with her.

Agnes was joined by Kai and Jamie. Jamie
couldn't tear his eyes from Sebastian. Kai wanted to interrupt his
twin brother, knowing full well that he should not dance, but Agnes
shook her head vigorously and Kai stayed silent. If only
reluctantly. He moved closer to Agnes and then he saw what she was
seeing all along. Jamie, who was staring at Sebastian. The look in
his eyes didn't leave anything to the imagination.

Sebastian opened his eyes and saw Jamie
standing there. He smiled shyly and then stopped dancing. Panting
and sweating, he moved to his sound system and turned off the
music. He was completely oblivious to Kai and Agnes being in the
room. He had only eyes for Jamie. They stood a few feet apart from
each other and looked into each other’s' eyes and right into each
other’s souls. Jamie took a step towards Sebastian. Sebastian took
a step towards Jamie. Agnes started grinning and held her hand up
to her mouth to keep from squealing. Kai rolled his eyes. Sebastian
took another step. Jamie took another step. Agnes started bouncing
on her feet and Kai – Kai cleared his throat loudly and gave a
heartfelt laugh when he saw how shocked Sebastian and Jamie were
when their surroundings came back into focus.

“I bet, that at the end of the week, these
two have kissed at least once.” Agnes told Kai excitedly.

“I interrupted them this morning. You did the
same just now.” she sounded proud and Jamie glared at her
disapprovingly.

“I – I need to go lie down. I have a
headache.” Jamie wanted to vanish, he felt his cheeks red from the
embarrassed heat and also from the undeniable lust he had felt for
Sebastian just them. He would have kissed him, devoured him, and
maybe even taken him, if Kai hadn't interrupted them.

“Do you need something? Painkiller?”
Sebastian asked concerned.

“Kiss?” Kai teased and Agnes broke into
laughter.

“I'm fine. Thanks.” Jamie answered curtly and
left.

“You two are impossible.” Sebastian scolded
his brother and Agnes.

“You go and rest that leg, I'll take this
young lady on a shopping spree. Uncle Beb is going to pay.” Kai
said smugly.

“Beb?”

“I couldn't say Seb or Sebastian when I was
little.” Kai shrugged and Agnes nodded knowingly.

“I'll just go and tell my dad and take my
stuff.”

“Behave yourselves. I don't want to come home
with Aggy and surprise you and him while you're... you know.” Kai
teased his brother and laughed.

“Aggy? Since when are you two best
friends?”

“We bonded while moving boxes. You were too
invested watching Jamie bend and haul your stuff around to notice.
He sure is muscly and well endowed.” Kai teased further.

“Get out already.” Sebastian laughed without
denying anything his brother had said. He had a point after
all.

~~Chapter 6~~

Kai and Agnes were almost done with their shopping,
only one more major thing was missing on their list – a bed.

Outside, the sun started to set, making Kai
and Agnes laugh with the realization that they had spent the entire
afternoon and part of the early evening goofing around at the
furniture store. Kai and Agnes were exhausted and with the pretense
to test mattresses, laid on a comfortable looking bed. They had sat
on every chair, every couch and every other surface where they
could sit on, they had opened every drawer and every cupboard there
was and they had had much fun doing so. Agnes had had the time of
her life, she couldn't remember a day that had been more carefree
and fun than the day with Kai. He was great company and he felt
like family. Kai was a great uncle.

Kai couldn't keep his curiosity at bay any
longer. He had fun with Agnes, they laughed and teased each other
and he already felt like being her favorite uncle. Kai had never
known that hanging around with a teenage girl was so much fun.
Agnes had a great sense of humor, but Kai also sensed the
underlying sadness that was a constant companion. She was not like
most children or teenagers her age and it showed again and
again.

Always the protector of his brother, Kai
wanted to know more about Jamie and Agnes and he finally, when he
felt it was safe, decided to start a little quiz.

“How old are you?” he suddenly asked Agnes,
when it occurred to him, that he had no idea about ages. He had no
idea at all and seeing Jamie's young face opposed to his graying
temples made guessing even harder.

“Eighteen.” she said uncertainly.

“How old are you really?”

“Seventeen?” she asked and Kai shook his head
disapprovingly.

“Sixteen.”

“I don't believe you. Continue your little
count-down!” he smirked, thinking that it reminded him of the first
episode of the TV series Queer as Folk, which he had always watched
with Sebastian.

“Fifteen. Okay, fourteen. Honestly.
Fourteen.” Kai nodded, satisfied that she told the truth.

“Your dad must have been really young when
you were born.”

“He was sixteen. Lauren was almost
twenty.”

“I know what your dad does for a living.” Kai
suddenly said, after a moment of pause.

“I know it too.” Agnes sensed a trap. If she
said something wrong, things would get ugly and in a way, if she
spoke to someone who wasn't her father about it, it would become
reality too. She didn't want to be the daughter of the hustler. She
could live with being the daughter of a sales person, it was not as
negatively regarded by people, but her father was a male whore. She
knew it and she didn't like it and that was a fact that her father
knew all too well too.

“Must be a hard life.”

“What do you want from me?” she asked
defensively, she didn't like the direction their talk was
taking.

“Nothing. I just want to make conversation,
that's all.”

“And?”

“And maybe protect my brother.” Kai admitted,
before adding “Is your father even gay?” The term gay for pay came
to his mind.

“Yes. Yes, of course he is.” Agnes sighed and
was ready to get up.

“How do you even know, you're only
fourteen.”

“He told me. We talk about everything.”

“I just don't want Bebbi to get hurt.” Kai
almost whispered. “He had a hard time. With his knee and the
divorce and all.”

“And I don't want my dad to get hurt, but
they are grown-ups. It's not... we shouldn't meddle.” Agnes replied
decisively. She secretly admired Kai for doing this. Taking care of
his brother, being protective, but she wished that she weren't the
target of his quiz.

“You're really wise for your age.”

“I know, I've been told so, but thank you
anyway.”

“Kai? Kai Martin. Take your dirty shoes from
that mattress and get up. You are not at home.” an older lady
glared down at Kai, with her hands on her hips and Kai immediately
obliged, taking a sitting position, looking down at his feet. Agnes
almost felt sorry for the grown man, but she immediately liked the
fiery woman. It was fun to see Kai squirm like that.

“Yes Ma'am.”

“And who is this? She is surely too young to
be with you. Who are you, child?” The attention went to Agnes,
which she didn't find to be as funny anymore, and now the woman was
scrutinizing her, head to toe and back up again.

“I'm Agnes McCarrick.” she answer shyly,
getting up from the bed and waiting for Kai to react. She didn't
know what to do and he was the adult in charge.