Eric was at it again, and he should have known better than to bring this up with my ally Greg sitting beside me. At Mocha Daze no less. Eric was the only one I knew who thought it was a good idea for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with the rest of my life but stay home and knit socks.
"I mean, there are at least four men I know right now, all gay, all successful and all interested in backing me in my own venture. They practically offered me money on the spot when I told 'em I was thinking of opening my own company -- one of 'em said he'd leave Royal Catering in a second if he could find somethin' better. So why on earth shouldn't I go into, or at least investigate, the idea of my own business?"
Eric shrugged and double-talked.
Greg backed me up.
But Eric got pissed and went to the counter to order another de-caf cap. It always meant Eric was pissed when he ordered de-caf because his adrenaline was high enough without caffeine.
Greg rolled his eyes and sipped an iced blended. I looked at Greg and without saying a word we agreed that Eric had better drop the idea of me not pursuing my own career... "that dog just don't hunt," as my gramma used to say.
"You're handsome, you're young, you're talented, Andrew. Make the most of it now before everything falls with gravity."
Greg and aging...ho hum. But he was right. I was thirty-five -- now was the time. Which led me to my next thought. While Eric was talking to Hugo, I took my chance:
"Greg, I want those pictures. I feel so weird that I ever did that -- and now with this lunatic stalker -- I really want them back. Please tell me you haven't had them developed yet."
Greg said he hadn't. And I believed him. I hoped he'd kept them in a safe place.
"Yeah, of course Drew. What, you think I'm gonna leave 'em lying around in the apartment? They're in a very safe place."
"Where", I asked. I needed to know. Because it was my intention to go straight there and get them and burn them in the nearest fire. Nude pictures of me, winding up God knows where...
"In my cookie jar", he joked. "Isn't that funny? My Mom always kept anything of any value in the cookie jar."
"Yeah, very funny -- Greg. Why don't you just put a note on the front door saying, "Check the OBVIOUS!""
Greg went on to inform me that he'd come up with this brilliant idea because he thought of it as reverse psychology -- it was SUCH an obvious place, no one would look there. Yeah, right.
Eric came back and of course we changed the subject -- but I knew the minute the coast was clear, I was gonna get that stupid film and destroy it. I was kind of surprised Greg was going along with it and in the back of my head, wondered if he had more than one roll...
Trust, Andrew. Trust. Like Martha Stewart always says, "It's a good thing."
