CARTER'S DUTY: WILLIAM CARTER
III
Chapter 02 - By Christopher Patrick Lydon
Will was hot.
He wasn't hot in the kind of way that made screaming girls beat
down his door and faint when he looked at them. No, unfortunately for him
he was hot because the air-conditioning in his stylish split-levelled town
house had decided that afternoon it would meet oblivion. Typically it would
decide that Saturday was the perfect day to commit mechanical suicide, and
despite the landlord's claims to the contrary, the device refused to be resurrected
no matter how many times Will invoked God's name in reference to it.
Not that Will was unattractive, quite the contrary he was tall,
dark and handsome, with careless hair and a pair of those deep hazel `Irish
eyes' that drew people to trust him on instinct. But he was not hot. He had
been told repeatedly that he looked distinguished in that classic Englishman
manner that brimmed with raw charisma, but without it he was simply... normal.
Now Tom Cruise was hot, but Will was more a James Dean, dark and brooding
He rested on the rail that separated the kitchen from the lounge,
and sweated profusely in a thin cotton shirt as he tried to drink the cold
coffee from a mug he held in his loose hand. Below him the eclectic mix of
people seated on his couches to watch movies on his television sweated as
well. He didn't object, he had invited each of them to what had become a ritual
every Saturday night since he had moved back to Ottawa the year before, a
mixture of his old high school friends and their current love interests; it
was a way for each of them to stay close when their lives conspired so hard
to pull them apart.
He loved each of them after a fashion, knowing how much they
loved him. Too many years together, too many laughs. He flushed a small smile
as he thought about some of the memories they'd shared together. But that
was also the nature of friendship, to love each other no matter what.
They were all friends, if such a strange group of individuals
from such a wide set of varied backgrounds could be friends. And Will smiled
at them fondly as he enjoyed watching them for a while. He couldn't help but
wonder what had kept them all so close over the years. But that was friendship
for you, it took the most unlikely people threw them together and sat back
to watch what happened.
His eyes drifted to the first couple. Lisa and Jeff were curled
up on one of the couches together and shared a large bowl of pistachio nuts.
He had often tried to work out what the attraction was between the two of
them; she was a beautiful, intelligent woman with a keen eye and a sharp tongue.
Jeff was an average guy who was a bright guy but no match for her intelligent
wit. He had a tendency to allow himself to be pushed around by her. She was
a public relations lawyer, an ultra-feminist, a vegetarian and an on-again-off-again
lesbian (she really couldn't decide). He was a construction worker with a
taste for sexual experimentation and a flare for art.
Will wasn't sure exactly what they saw in each other, but they
were undoubtedly in love. You just had to look at how she looked at him to
see that, and there was no question that Jeff adored her in return.
He had watched Jeff stand in the blistering cold for three hours
just to walk her home. And he had watched Lisa devour an entire tub of rocky
road ice cream and wail that she would never see him again when they had broken
up. Will had weathered all the storms of their relationship, an unwilling
passenger on their love boat. He grinned wondering if they would give him
a captain's hat and call him Skipper. Come to think of it Jeff did look like
a beefed up Gilligan...
Will turned as Andrew tapped his arm and gestured with the coffee
pot to offer a refill on the stone-cold liquid in Will's mug. Andrew eyes
sparkled as he realized that Will had been studying the party guests. He was
bright: anyone who studied law at the University of Ottawa would have to be,
and he knew Will too well.
"Having fun?" Andrew asked, glancing down at the guests
and back at the man he loved.
"Yes," Will replied as he let him refill his mug with
a smile of gratitude, "Thanks."
"Oh, come on, that was terrible!" Rafik bellowed standing
from his couch and pointing to the screen, "I could do better..."
"Sit down and be quiet, I'm trying to watch the movie,"
Farah admonished as she pulled him back down beside her.
The two men up in the kitchen both glanced at the couple seated
across from Jeff and Lisa. Rafik and Farah detested one another. Years of
berating, aggravating and annoying one another had bred a relationship that
festered on mutual hatred. They had to be in their third year of marriage
by that point, and Will truly believed that the only blissful time between
them was their time apart. In some strange way they persisted with the marriage.
It probably had more to do with her need to control everything around her,
and his bull stubbornness. Love had long ago vanished from their relationship
and they resisted all attempts to reconcile them to each other.
Farah was a care worker, and as such should have presented an
image of a warm person who cared and was able to listen with boundless patience
to the world's problems. Will had learned quickly that Farah possessed none
of those traits. The only thing, in Will's mind, Farah cared about was herself
and she went to great lengths to prove that fact. But she could fake compassion
well. According to Lisa, Farah faked a lot of things, not that Will particularly
wanted to know. There was a bet on how long it would be until Rafik woke up
and threw her out on her pristine ass. But Will had lost that bet two weeks
after the wedding.
Not that Rafik was stupid; more that he truly believed Farah
to be the right woman for him. She was a corporate wife who looked good on
his arm at business functions. She complemented him well. Many of his co-workers
wondered how a man with so few social graces and so little tact could convince
a girl like Farah to marry him. Will knew all too well: Rafik's inheritance,
once his parents passed away, would be enough to make anyone ignore his failings.
That and Rafik had another fatal flaw, he was too nice to Farah, and she kept
him tightly wrapped around her little finger.
Will supposed everyone settled in one fashion or another. Rafik,
for Farah, was just one example. Not that Will had a right to criticize; he
didn't exactly have a stunning track record for relationships. He'd been in
one for years, somehow managing to stay together despite all the pitfalls
that normally came with modern love. Partly due to the fact that Andrew was
just as stubborn as Will was.
He was lucky for that, his friends had all gone through relationships
were nothing short of monumental disasters, his friend Jared's last one had
been on par with the kind of natural disaster that levelled cities. He was
sure that somewhere someone had erected a memorial dedicated solely to man's
fallen pride. Maybe one day he would get a chance to lay a wreath there and
say a silent prayer; for the moment he was just glad he had never had to go
through it. But that wasn't his doing; he'd somehow lucked into the kind of
relationship that endured, the kind that grew stronger with time.
Andrew returned the smile as he leaned in close to whisper in
Will's ear, "Why aren't you watching the movie?" he asked, as his
lips brushed Will's earlobe.
"It was on TBS recently," Will replied as he wrapped
his arms around Andrew and drew him closer, "and I didn't want to disturb
the others."
Andrew had been a natural addition to Will's life. Sure there
were unexpected complications with being all but married to a guy for the
better part of five years. Will wasn't exactly sure how he felt about that.
Part of him wished that he knew exactly where they were going, and another
part of him enjoyed the thrill of not knowing. He supposed that was the way
it was with love. They had been dating for the better part of five years and
there was no question in his mind that he loved Andrew, but what did that
mean? They lived together, loved together, best friends and so much more,
but were they ever going to move beyond that? Suddenly he felt a moment of
insecurity and doubt, would they ever admit this was more than just a casual
relationship? After all the history they had shared he should know, but that
was part of the problem.
Will wanted more.
Andrew was tall, built for hockey in that typical Canadian way,
and to Will he was definitely handsome in an Old Navy commercial kind of way.
It made Andrew appear young, wholesome and clean cut, the kind of boy you
took home to your mother if it wasn't for the fact that he was a boy and Will's
step-mother still existed in a world of denial. His sandy-blond hair parted
in the middle almost carelessly only served to add to the image of a typical
wholesome youth. But it was Andrew's sharp blue eyes that gave Will a way
to see past the stereotype to the intelligent and determined man beyond. Those
powerful eyes that shone every time they looked at him.
Andrew lifted the coffee pot and grinned, "Are you gonna
let me go put this back or what?" he asked but he seemed in no hurry
to escape Will's embrace.
Will nodded as he bit his lip and reluctantly let Andrew go,
following him into the main part of the kitchen as he took a draught from
the mug. He immediately regretted it as he winced at the bitter watery taste.
Andrew was in the top five honour students at his university, but somehow
the art of how to make a decent pot of coffee eluded him completely. No matter
how many times he had been shown, Andrew's coffee retained an abysmal taste.
Will quickly found the sugar pot and added heaped teaspoons to the liquid
to hide the flavour, hoping that Andrew wouldn't notice and be offended.
Will still remembered the first time he had been subjected to
a pot of Andrew's coffee. They had been at Lisa's cottage in the Gatineau's
earlier that year. It had been a great weekend, the eight of them and Brody,
who was notably absent from the night's get-together, a chance to relax and
forget the world for a while.
It had been the first morning and Will had desperately craved
a mug of coffee as he sat out on the porch wrapped in a blanket and taking
in some of the fresh wilderness air he detested so much. Brody had joined
him at some point during that morning and the two were idly discussing life.
It had been Andrew who had kindly offered to make them coffee and vanished
off to the kitchenette.
Unfortunately for Will, Andrew had spent much of his life at
Tim Horten's a few doors down, and so in the morning he had been unable to
find the coffee filters and, like most Canadian men, had improvised. The result
had been a mug of coffee that tasted like toilet paper.
Will had didn't have the heart to complain and had grinned and
bore it, keeping Andrew distracted while Brody had slipped unnoticed into
the kitchen, dumped the pot, and remade it using the proper filters he found
in a storage cupboard. A smooth operation that had resulted in Will stomaching
only one mug of the noxious brew. But Andrew had tried, and Will wasn't about
to tell the great handyman that he had failed utterly so had complimented
him on that mug, and summarily doomed himself to Andrew's coffee thereafter.
A sacrifice in the name of love.
"Hey," Andrew said, as if something had just struck
him as important as he replaced the pot and turned back to Will, "you
know, Jeff was saying earlier that he and Lisa have set a date."
Will tried his best to act surprised, but as usual he failed.
Jeff and Lisa had been engaged for nearly five years and each time Jeff had
settled on a date, Lisa had found a way to postpone it. It wasn't that she
didn't want to marry Jeff; she simply found reasons not to go through with
it. It was a familiar pattern and Will wasn't surprised that they had set
another date. Jeff was an eternal optimist; he whole-heartedly believed she
would go through with it eventually.
"When?" Will asked as he reached into the fridge to
find the flavoured coffee cream he had invested in when it had become apparent
Andrew was moving in. Will tried to be nonchalant, even though Andrew had
gone to the same high school as Will and Lisa had, back when she was dating
Brody; he had been a year senior to them and had never really hung out with
Lisa that often, definitely not long enough to learn her relationship pattern.
So the news of a wedding seemed like big news to him.
"Week Wednesday."
Will choked on a mouthful of coffee; he spat the liquid clear
across the countertop.
Andrew looked at him in concern as he took the mug from Will's
hand before it could be dropped onto the floor. He set it aside as he tried
to straighten Will up.
"You ok?" he asked as he rubbed Will's back to help
him breathe.
Will coughed again as he tried to stand upright and take a ragged
breath. "Next week?" he managed to choke out.
Andrew nodded as he gave Will a look that said he wasn't sure
why Will was so shocked, but he had long ago come to accept Will's peculiarities.
Even though Will was only a couple of years younger than he was there were
still some things he couldn't relate to. Will was a strange individual, one
of those men that were eternally sarcastic, no matter what he said he typically
had his customary mischievous grin on his face causing you to wonder if what
he said or thought was serious or more him trying to be clever. To Andrew
it was endearing, though it annoyed other people.
He gave Will a deadpan expression that said he was serious,
"Yeah, they have nearly everything arranged."
"What's going on?" Little Peter asked as he wandered
into the kitchen digging in the fridge for the Kool Aid as he looked in amusement
at Will choking to death on his coffee. The young sixteen year old was the
youngest person there that night, more of the resident mascot and little brother
than anything else. He was sporting a gaudy Hawaiian shirt and a goofy grin
on his face as he sipped his drink, his big blue eyes sparkling as he waited.
"I just told Will about the wedding," Andrew explained.
"Oh that," Peter said with a knowing grin, "They
promised I got to be the ring bearer."
"Not in that shirt," Andrew warned nodding to the
cheap polyester shirt with its bright pattern, "But anyway," he
turned back to Will, "They wanted to wait till later to tell you."
Will stared at Andrew for a moment, as he tried to digest what
he had just been told, before he strode over to the rail and looked down accusingly
at the couple who stared back at him innocently. They acted as if they didn't
know why he stared at them with such a startled look on his face. As usual
Will was the last to learn about the important things, and typically he had
to find out through someone else.
Not that he was upset about that; he was too shocked to realize
the slight.
"Wednesday?" He demanded in a strangled tone. He was
incredulous; they couldn't seriously have planned to get married with so little
notice.
Jeff, as usual remained stoic, "Yes, Wednesday."
Farah sighed in disgust as she snatched the remote control from
her husband and paused the DVD. She glared up at Will in annoyance for his
interruption. Will ignored her; it was his usual method for dealing with Rafik's
wife.
"And when exactly were you planning to let me know this?"
Will demanded as the shock began to wear off and he began to think again.
"Oh, Wednesday morning." Lisa replied with a matter-of-fact
tone, she enjoyed Will's spluttering indignance.
"I see," he replied sternly, before he broke out into
a broad grin, "I guess I should congratulate you both then."
Jared sat up and looked between them in confusion, "What's
up?"
Jared and Kerry. They were the last couple who graced Will's
home that night. And Will supposed they were the best example of people who
had chosen to settle. He was a financial planner with a background as a used
car salesman. Will loved Jared deeply in that best friend kind of way, Jared
was one of those guys doomed to be everyone's friend, especially the girls
he fell in love with...
"We're getting married a week Wednesday." Jeff replied
completely indifferent to all the attention cantered upon him. It took a lot
to get Jeff to react; a bomb could explode under his seat cushion and he would
still take his time to react to it.
"That's great!" Kerry shifted as she looked up from
the crook of Jared's arm where she was nestled, "It's about time!"
Kerry was a grade school teacher who always seemed to smell
like poster paints. Everyone had experienced that one art teacher in school
who looked like they had smoked too much pot and was just a little too far
out there to relate to reality, and that was Kerry. But she loved Jared. She
seemed oblivious to her own beauty; she possessed a natural beauty that shone
through the obvious fatigue of running around after eight-year- olds. But
she lacked confidence, which was one reason Will presumed she had become a
teacher. Will had tried teaching once, and he was a shining example of someone
who couldn't.
Will knew they loved each other; Jared had sex on tap and she
had someone to cling to through moments of insecurity. However, Jared always
bragged about the super models he dreamt about when he was alone with just
the guys. There was something in this about defeat, and it seemed as though
Jared had simply given up on his search for the right one and had settled
for anyone. That saddened Will tremendously, he cared about both of them but
they just didn't work as a couple. He wished sincerely they would figure it
out eventually and either fall in love or walk away, their current status
quo wasn't healthy for either of them.
The room broke out into excited conversations as the secret
was finally revealed. There was talk of preparations and what had to happen
before the wedding day arrived. It turned out that Jeff had everything nicely
arranged; all that remained were a few of the smaller details: the guest invitations
and a best man. And so movie night became an impromptu wedding shower.
Peter, Will and Andrew joined the others down in the living
room, Andrew wrapping his arms around Will as he drew him up against him as
he offered his advice to the soon-to-be newlyweds. And Will took a moment
to watch Andrew as he interacted with his friends. It seemed that they had
come to accept that Andrew was a part of Will's life technically they were
the old married couple, the longest running relationship in the room, the
one Lisa had confided she envied. But again it was a case of status quo...
and that made Will nervous.
Lisa had commented many times that she thought Andrew was good
for Will. Someone who could compete with Will and challenge him to think,
unlike so many of her ex's who had more in common with a vacuum cleaner than
a human being. No -- even Lisa had to admit, vacuum cleaners had a use; her
ex's were simply useless.
Not that Will had ever thought that way; he'd liked some of
them. It just proved he was no real judge of character. Then again he still
thought it a mistake when she had broken up with Brody after high school.
No one had seen that disaster coming, Lisa had been expecting white picket
fences and children, Brody just hadn't been that type of man. Which was probably
why she envied Will's relationship with Andrew. She'd liked Andrew back in
high school, not even she had seen their getting together coming. But she
had told Will that she approved of their relationship. Which was good, Will
wasn't about to trade Andrew in for anything.
"Someone will have to call Brody." Jared commented
as he reached out to grab a hand full of popcorn.
"Oh God, no." Farah complained, the remote still clutched
in her hand, her movie forgotten by everyone but her.
Everyone continued to ignore her.
"Where is he now?" Jeff asked.
"LA at last report," Will responded. "Something
to do with work."
"Brody doesn't work," Lisa commented dryly. "God
knows what he does but it certainly can't be called work."
There was a chuckle around the room.
Will and Jared exchanged excited glances; Brody was coming.
