The Plan

"Oh, my baby!" Mrs. Coleman exclaims when she answers the door and sees her oldest son on the other side. She drags him through the door and holds him in a tight embrace. Beau finds an immense amount of comfort in the gesture and squeezes her back just as tight. This breakup really must've softened him up because he has always considered himself to be above showing affection like this to his family.

She is the one that initiates their separation, stepping back, but still holding him within arms reach. "We're so happy to have you back," his mom tearfully expresses to him with a watery smile on her face. Beau wipes away a stray tear that was in the process of making its way down her cheek.

"Thanks, mom," he says with a tired smile.

There are only two bedrooms in the apartment—one for his mom and one for Finn. This leaves Beau with the air mattress in the family room. His mom has hung two bed sheets from the ceiling to give him the illusion of privacy behind the thin 'walls'.

He gets into a routine with his mom and brother over the next week. Adjusting to his new lifestyle, Beau assures his mom that he'll apply to the library a couple blocks away from their apartment building soon. For now, he finds himself going back and forth between his slightly deflated air mattress and the lumpy couch in the family room.

His mom and Finn give non-discreet looks to each other which he knows are meant to be ones of concern for him, but effectively annoy him more than anything else. He is aware that wasting away in his makeshift room and watching TV all day is definitely unproductive to him and his family. Beau is also cognizant of the fact that he's showing major signs of depression with his lack of activity and general absence of enthusiasm for life.

Some dumb reality TV show is on one evening. The objective of the show is for the main woman to find love with a man who has the exact opposite personality and interests of her. "Fucking stupid," Beau mutters to himself as he watches her eliminate one of his favorite contestants.

"Okay, this is officially too depressing to sit back and watch," Finn's voice chirps from the entrance of the bedsheet walls separating him from his family.

Beau ignores him, staring steadfastly ahead at the TV instead. Finn finds the light switch for the overhead lights and flicks them on.

"What the fuck, dude!" The older brother growls in objection at the illumination of his 'bedroom'. He throws an arm over his eyes to block the light before lifting it sightly to squint at the younger man.

Standing with his arms crossed and brows furrowed, Finn says, "This is past the point of pathetic. Get up—we're going out."

Finn continues to stare at him where he's lounging on the uncomfortable couch. Stubborn as ever, Beau lets out a grunt and turns the volume up on the TV.

Rolling his eyes, Finn places his hands on his hips and lets out a sigh. "If you go to the bar with me, then I'll pay for your drinks," he bargains.

"Fine. Get out of here, I need to put my pants on," Beau commands, waving his brother away.

"Jesus Christ," Finn mumbles as he bats the sheets out of the way to exit the premises.

-

Finn is sitting with his back against the wooden booth backing of the dive bar down the street staring across the table at his brother. A shot glass slams down on the table between them as Beau chases his second shot of whiskey with a pint of beer. Pushing the basket of complimentary popcorn provided by the bar towards the disgruntled man, Finn finally takes a conservative sip of his own beer.

"You gonna tell me what's going on with you?" He finally asks Beau.

Grabbing a handful of popcorn and dropping half of it into his mouth, the drunk man answers with his mouth still full. "Nothing's going on with me," he says with bits of popcorn spewing out of his mouth.

The younger brother looks up at the ceiling, trying to find his patience before responding to the obvious lie he was just told. He thinks it's safe to assume that he guessed correctly about Beau and Everett dating previously. With the behavior he's been observing from his brother, he has come to the conclusion that he was dumped by the man who still resides in Sinting. While he is annoyed by how Beau has been acting, a part of him also feels guilty as he reminisces on how he encouraged Everett to kick him out in the first place. He honestly didn't think that his brother would take it as hard as he has been.

"I'm not gonna judge you, dude. Maybe I can help, or something." Finn desperately wants his brother to just tell him himself what's happening. It can't be healthy to hold all of this in.

Beau glares at him and his grip on his beer tightens to the point that his knuckles turn white with exertion. "Drink your beer and shut the fuck up," he grumbles lowly.

Fed up with them not addressing the elephant in the room, Finn decides to bring it up himself. "No. I want to know what this shitty attitude is all about." He musters up his own look of annoyance to throw back at him. "Is this about Fowler kicking you out of his house?"

Sobriety falls over Beau's face briefly at the question. He recovers quickly as his mouth turns into a deep grimace and his eyes fall to the beer in his hands.

"I already told you and mom—I chose to come back to Columbus," he mumbles irritated.

Finn takes a moment to think about what to say next. He wants to keep pushing the fact that he was kicked out without stepping over the line. His brother is not above beating him up in a public setting like this.

Exhaling a shaky breath, Finn argues, "I don't believe that. You've been extra bitchy since coming back home, so I'm assuming you got the boot from Everett." He feels anxious as he hears the words leave his mouth. His brother is an airhead, but even he probably caught onto the implication in his tone revealing his true knowledge of the situation.

"Well, go on," Beau raises his voice slightly in anger as he leans forward with his elbows on the table. "Clearly you know everything. Tell me what's going on in my life."

Hesitating for a moment, Finn ultimately decides it's best that he just gets this over with. "The night before we visited dad, I woke Everett up and made him go for a walk with me in the park," he begins to explain. Beau's demeanor drops at this and his hand loosens on his beer as he listens with a blank look on his face.

"I told him about how you were acting weird at Bernie's and afterwards at the bar," Finn admits. He's wringing his hands under the table as he gauges his brother's reaction.

Beau's expression turns to one of indignation and betrayal at this. "What did you say to him?" He asks darkly.

The quiet rage in his voice and piercing look in his eyes makes Finn genuinely worry for his own safety. He looks around to see if anyone is watching them, possibly sensing the tension emanating from the two brothers as they talk in their booth.

"Don't make a scene here," Finn warns him apprehensively. "Not in public."

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want. What did you say to him?" Beau repeats his question louder than before.

Finn's throat feels dry all of a sudden. He considers taking a sip of his beer, but thinks better of it considering Beau might actually smack it out of his hand if he did.

"I was worried, uh-" He coughs to clear his throat. "I was worried that you were taking advantage of Everett. You were staying at his house, but told the boys that you lived alone. Not to mention you agreed with them that Everett is a loser—so I told him about all of that."

He feels renewed confidence as guilt washes over Beau's face. Good.

Beau sits there in silence, clutching his beer and looking down at the table again.

After a moment, Finn asks, "What are you thinking?"

Taking a couple of seconds to get his emotions under control, Beau eventually responds. "I don't remember saying any of that." He isn't looking at Finn, but the regret and melancholy he's feeling is palpable.

"You were really drunk, so I can't say I'm surprised that you don't remember," he responds softly. Speaking any louder seems like it could scare off his older brother with how downtrodden and sensitive he appears to be right now.

"I don't think Everett is a loser," Beau states while averting his gaze back so they are making eye contact again.

"I don't think you think he's a loser either," Finn agrees.

Laughing self-deprecatingly, Beau asks, "Yeah? Why do you say that?"

They have made so much progress already, Finn makes the decision to go all in on this heart-to-heart. "Because you were dating. I doubt you actually thought that your own boyfriend was a loser."

Beau's eyes widen and he looks panicked.

"Uh-" Finn sees that his brother is frozen and doesn't know how to respond. He wants to try to calm him down so he awkwardly says, "It's totally fine, by the way. I'm not here to judge you or anything. I was just surprised when I found out."

Still looking alarmed by being called out so blatantly, Beau doesn't try to deny the claims. "What gave it away?" He questions reluctantly as his eyes flitter around the room, making sure that no one is listening in on their conversation.

"I guess I kind of just figured it out," Finn begins to describe how he came to this conclusion. "I was talking to Everett and I joked about you two being in a relationship. When I asked him if you guys actually were in one, he seemed really scared. I was just kidding around, but I assumed from his reaction that it was true."

"He was scared?" Beau echoes the words with a whisper.

Finn can't help but feel for his heartbroken brother sitting dejectedly across from him. "He told me not to say anything to you. To be fair, he never confirmed or denied your relationship...."

There is a faraway look in Beau's eyes as he stares past him.

Conversation halts, so Finn takes this opportunity to ask, "Did he break up with you because of that? Because of what I told him in the park?"

"He wasn't talking to me much when we got back to Sinting," Beau—at long last—starts to open up about him and Everett.

"I don't know. He told me that he wanted to tell his parents about his divorce. I asked him if he was going to tell them about us too, but that just set him off." His eyes are misty as he recounts their last conversation as a couple. "He was talking about Bernie's and how I was shitty to him there and shouldn't have gone out with you and the boys afterwards. I said some dumb shit and then the rest is a blur, but I know I fucked up big time."

Beau wipes at his eyes and then picks up his beer and chugs what's left of it. Finn hasn't seen his older brother cry in a long time and is surprised to be witnessing it now. It's then that he comes to the realization that Beau was actually serious about his relationship with Everett. He can't help but vocalize these thoughts to the broken man across from him.

Scoffing at this, Beau says, "Of course I was serious about our relationship. I'm in love with him."

If they weren't sitting in a booth right now, Finn is certain that he would've fallen out of his chair.

In love?

His brother has gone through so many women in his life. In high school alone, he must've had at least twenty-plus girlfriends. Not once has he ever uttered the 'L-word' around him or his family.

Mouth agape, Finn tries to put together a decent response to this admission. All he can feel is intense guilt at pushing Everett to end things with his brother.

"You need to apologize to him. If he hears how sorry you are then maybe...." He trails off, not knowing how to end that sentence.

"No shit," Beau mutters back. "I already did that, but it doesn't matter. Everett is really confused and hurt right now. He told me he just wants to focus on getting through his divorce."

Finn can't sit back and let this happen. His brother is an idiot who doesn't know how to behave in a serious relationship, but he made things so much worse for him. He needs to help get them back together.

After scrambling to put a plan together mentally, Finn leans forward and makes a proposition. "I think I have an idea on how you can regain Fowler's trust."

"Oh yeah?" Beau questions unconvinced by this assertion.

Nodding his head, Finn says, "Yeah. You just need to get Everett to visit Columbus for it to work."

"That'll never happen. There's no chance he comes here just because I ask him to." Beau shuts down the plan immediately.

Finn deflates a bit at this. "You guys aren't on speaking terms at all?"

"Well...." Beau looks uncertain on how to answer. "We text every once in a while. And I had dinner with him and his parents at his house the day before I moved back here."

The younger brother wants to bang his head against the table.

God, he's so clueless.

"You're still talking, then," Finn asserts while rolling his eyes. "Something tells me that if he hasn't blocked your number, then he won't be totally against coming to visit you. He's probably just hurt by the shit that you said."

Feeling an inkling of hope at Finn's words, Beau clears his throat and says, "Fine. I'll try your plan then."

He's willing to do anything at this point to get his boyfriend back.