A new adventure with some recurring and favorite themes. This project began during the pandemic as a collaboration with a friend so it comes from two different and overlapping points of view of its story line. I'm Grady and my cohort writes the part of Hollywood icon Ryan Phillippe as we finish prep school and are reunited dozen years later. While some of the places depicted are real, it goes without saying that this work is pure fiction and not meant to project, construe or support any assertion about the private lives of any of the characters portrayed within the story. Outside of the public figures, all of the characters in this story are fictional and resemblance to any one person whether dead or alive is purely coincidental. Lastly, please consider making a donation to Nifty to maintain this website. Feedback is always welcome.
Grady McBride I
I smiled when I heard the "I've missed you, I've really missed you" it rang genuine and heartfelt but somewhere in my mind there is an algorithm that any and all incoming information ranging from an emergency scene to a lacrosse game and everything in between must be processed and given some sort of risk-benefit analysis. And just like my brain can calculate the required pressure needed to flow thousands of gallons of water per minute in a few seconds, my brain was processing what Ryan, I mean Matthew was telling me.
Yes, we had some unfinished business but that was from over a decade ago and unless you live off-the-grid, you know that he is now divorced from his beautiful blonde Hollywood wife and has shared responsibility for their children. I looked at him out of the side of my eye and tried to suppress an audible sigh: Yes, he was just as handsome as I had remembered.
My eyes remained focused on the game, tracking the ball and where it should go versus where it actually went, shaking my head occasionally. Mayo actually held onto its lead as the last 59 seconds ticked off the clock. I spoke just loud enough for him to hear me and no one else, "we should go somewhere and talk, there are things I need to hear and things that need to be said."
It was the line I had rehearsed dozens if not hundreds of times with myself should we ever have a chance to meet face to face again. I turned just enough to look at the handsome face hidden behind the pulled down hat and sunglasses and there was a simple affirmative nod and a barely audibly "agreed."
"Do I need to sign some sort of non-disclosure agreement or anything first?" I asked, my sarcastic wit leaping out of my mouth before I could get it under control but I saw his lips move into a bit of a smile before I finished, "and for the record, I've never disclosed anything about our past other than we went to Mayo together."
"Thanks, I knew I could count on you for that over the years," Matthew replied following up with, "and no, you don't have to sign anything, at least not for now. Do you have any suggestions for a secluded quiet dinner spot?"
As the game came to its end with a Mayo victory on the board we cheered and I looked at the hunk of man next to me, an old friend in an old place but at a new time. "You haven't turned into one of those tofu-plant-based-capital-V vegan Hollywood types have you?"
His smile got bigger as he nodded no, it was the start of that big smile he always had for me when I saw him in the halls or on campus, "no but I do have to watch my slim girlish figure."
While the Mayo students, parents and alumni were exiting in one direction, I walked us in the opposite direction until we blended in with a knot of Gilman people heading to their cars in the parking lot. Eventually; we found my trusty Subaru and I popped open the rear hatch before I peeled off the long-sleeved-almost-one-size-too-small navy blue tee shirt with DCFD Lacrosse silk screened in white block letters on the back, the motion pulling the simple white tee shirt with it revealing my tanned defined pecs, ripped abs and pumped biceps.
Matt smiled and I swear he almost licked his lips as I reached far back into the cargo space for my gym bag and rummaged around until I found a solid Santorini blue Tommy somebody polo shirt to go with my Hawaiian print shorts. After putting the shirt on and adjusting myself, I reached back into the gym bag, found some hair product to dab on my fingertips and raked them through my hat-hair until it looked like an organized mess at best.
"Did you like the show?" I asked, almost smirking, "by the way, you look insanely great yourself; slim girlish figure and all," before I continued, "I don't like wearing anything fire department-ish when I am near alcohol; especially if I'm repping the home team."
Then Matthew scrunched up his eyebrow before asking, "Really, that's your biggest issue in life; wearing a DCFD shirt out in public? And yes, I liked the show very much."
I do the Grady head tilt, "well, small potatoes compared to having to go incognito anytime you want to venture out, that's got to be a living Hell. Is it really as bad as it seems on those tabloid shows?"
"Only when your entire private world is crashing around you and you want some privacy," Phillips replied, "I could have another movie coming out and be lucky to have E-Entertainment there."
I ditch my Nikes and fish a pair of Docksiders out of the gym bag and slide into them, watching Matt's eyes look at the red bag full of firefighting gear, the white helmet smoke-streaked a dull grey with its chin strap buckled through the grab handles of the duffel; a pair of worn Nikes as well as a lacrosse stick with well-worn tape on the shaft and a pair of gloves all loose on the deck in the cargo area. "I found a decent hole-in-the-wall sort of place last fall, won't be busy for a few hours if you want to grab a bite there, mostly craft beers and better bar food, sound good?"
"Sure," Matthew replied as we moved to the front of the curvy SUV.
I ease her into gear as Matt got situated in the passenger's seat before he exclaimed, "Damn Grady, look at you, living the dream. Everybody thought you were crazy to be a firefighter but I knew you were going to do it."
We motored towards Annapolis and I found the alley that leads to the back of Forward Brewing and parked in the small lot there, "give me some sort of secret signal and if we have to hit the Eject button, we'll come out this way, okay?"
Matthew nodded, "yeah, thanks for thinking of that but hopefully we won't need to."
I lead us in the back door, past the storage room, kitchen and the rest rooms, "there's the head if you need it" as I take us into the back part of the darkish bar, settling on a booth away from foot traffic between the back of the house and the main bar.
One of the regular servers, Rene, recognizes me and expects her Grady hug before I sit, introducing my guest as Matt, my high school friend. I can tell Rene is giving him the once over just as Matt bravely put the Ray-Bans up on the brim of his hat before she suggests, "do you know how much you look like Ryan Phillippe?"
The smile, the nod, "yeah, I get it all the time. I'm actually his stunt double," Matthew answers, watching the waitress's eyes grow large like saucers before adding a genuine, "just kidding."
"Please bring us a couple pints of the house IPAs and the roasted red pepper hummus to start" as Matthew looked over the menu and Rene writes none of this down.
I looked at Matthew for any sign of disapproval though I think he may have muttered something about chicken wings barely under his breath. "Sure, I will put that in for you," René replies, "I'll be back with your beers in a minute."
"Thank you, Rene," I say with a smile before it evaporates into my serious face and I look into those big blue eyes, "like I said, I need to hear things and I need to say things. Answer what you want but let's start with why you got married."
His eyebrows scrunched up again just as Rene returns with our pints and taking note of the seriousness of my facial expression she quickly stepped away after putting the beers down. I listen to the litany of everything from Reese's 21st birthday party where they met through their whirlwind courtship, her first pregnancy, marriage, then the birth of Deacon and now the shared custody depending on who is working on what project where.
Matthew concludes, "she knows, she's okay with it, we just wish we had both been a bit more adult about it instead of running around like the cute 21 year old Hollywood couple we were. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"Part of, and so long as it's the truth," I reply as Rene hovers near the table again to drop off the plate of red hummus with grilled pita pieces and vegetables and a plate of wings as I turn to her, "my usual, no avocado."
Matthew asks both of us, "what's the usual?"
Rene points to an entry on the menu, "The Callihan Cobb salad, with seared beef tenderloin, Grady likes it without avocado and extra blue cheese dressing."
"I'm in, with the avocado and the dressing on the side please?" Matthew replies.
"Of course," Rene replies without taking any notes as she trots off to the kitchen.
"What else do you want to know?" Matthew asked me, "what do you want to tell me?"
"Are you seeing anybody?" I asked.
"No, there's too much on my plate with trying to move behind the camera plus my existing commitments, keeping up my end of taking care of the kids," Matthew explained, "how about you?"
"Married to the job and when I am not doing that, I work for an engineering firm doing some consulting for them so it's not like I am sitting around doing nothing for 72 hours until my next 24 hour shift starts." I share, "my only real relationship was in college, a teammate, we kind of had a bromance thing going until he got back together with his high school girlfriend after graduation and thought it would be okay to ask me to be best man after all the fucking we did for two years. So understand if I am a little gun shy when I know somebody I care about has had their dick in a pussy."
I sip my beer as it all registers in his head, "I'm sorry Grady, I get it, and I don't blame you one bit for being cautious but I want you to know, I want you to believe me that I came back to Maryland, I came back to Mayo today, hoping to find you, hoping to talk to you, just like this."
I smile, letting my defenses relax a bit, "Thank you, I'm sorry if I sounded a little too defensive. Any reason you didn't come back sooner? Try to find me sooner?"
Matthew sipped from the beer and made a face that registered the potency of the brew before continuing, "a lot goes on behind the scenes, the prepping, researching a role, it's not just learning the lines and acting them out. And to be honest, I kind of kept an eye on you, mostly through your social postings. I wasn't sure if you were in a relationship, you never seemed out on-line but it was clear where your heart was and I just decided to try now, now or never I said to myself."
Rene returns with the largest salads ever plated and leaves a large pepper grinder on the table before asking, "another round?"
"You know my rule Rene, two and I'm through," I share looking at Matt, "another bro?"
"Two and I will be through, too," Matthew replies.
"Two more pints, everything else okay?" Rene asks before heading to the bar for refills.
"We're good, no rush on the second round," I tell her with my easy smile.
"You're such a tease," Matthew exclaims, "does she think she is going to get some Grady someday?"
"No, she knows I like dick. René is a tough cookie, single mom with three kids, husband walked out on her because the adulting was getting too tough. I just come here when I am nearby, usually with friends or coworkers for lunch or whatever and we make sure she gets a decent tip."
"Always the do-gooder," Matthew says with a big smile, "I do remember that about you from Mayo."
Rene returns with two more pints, "Check when you get a chance, please?" I ask.
"Anything for you Grady," she replies.
"Going back to Delaware tonight? What's your plan?" I asked.
A shrug of the shoulders, "I'm east to clear my head until some dates start to firm up, no real set schedule."
"I like that, I had a shift trade to be off today, we could head into the city if you want, " I half ask and half suggest.
"Cool, let's go to the city" Matthew says after Rene returns with my credit card and receipt. After calculating the tip I sign and we bolt out the back door where we entered.