Act 3

Once again the MCI crew found themselves working together for the most part, but this time I had no intentions of supporting the group as a whole, but on and individual basis, and only 1 of them fell into that category, and that was Jeff. Jeff had helped hone my tech skills while at MCI; I learned a lot from him and owned him that much. So everyday at the same time, I got in my car and went to work and Brian in his, we rarely spoke. Even on the days I knew he didn’t have enough for gas to get to and from work, it was not my problem, I was looking at for me now, and if he fell in the process so be it, he brought it on himself. At first Dave and Jeff were curious, about why we both drove, but after awhile it was just the way it was, until one day. Brian apparently had gone out the night before, and got drunk, and over slept, he was known for doing this and had been reprimanded previously, he was now on his 2nd warning. As I drove off to lunch Brian was walking in with Jeff and Dave about how I had left him high and dry by not waking him up, this was the last straw with dealing with the obvious delusional one.

I got home that night about the usual time, but Brian didn’t show up for about an hour. As I walked in I could hear Sean on the phone, and could hear that he was telling someone I had just walked in. When I asked him who he just said no one, I then told Sean about what was happening as well as the fact that once again I spent my lunch talking with the landlords, who were in the process of drawing up eviction notices for the house as Brian was once again late on rent. Sean then asked how that could be as he had loaned Brian over $100 to help cover his rent. We once again decided it was time for the talk, this time however Sean didn’t quite seem as confident as before, I was soon to find out why. Brian finally came home a few hours later after going by Jeff and Dave’s house, and as usual he headed straight to his room, changed and then poked his head out to call Sean in for another secret society meeting. Instead however Sean told him to come outside, as we needed to all talk. Remembering that most the time I come off as very abrasive, or at least that what some people say, I spent a few minutes trying to politely and none aggressively tell Brian that his actions were intolerable. Just as I got going and had the whole speech written revised and rewritten again within my head, Sean decided to break the news that he and Fawna would be moving out at the end of the month. On that note Brian then chimed in he was planning on moving pout as well. This was obviously an impulse move on both parts, granted Sean had considered it and weighed out all the options, he had neglected the one minor detail at the time he made his statement. In order to leave the house we had to give the landlords 30 days written notice. Brian then chimed in with some lame witty remark about a bandwagon, my response of course refuting the fact that 30 days was based on the start and end of each month whenever they felt like it, thus any bandwagon riding was done between the 2 of them, and since I had already known about Sean’s consideration in moving back home, if obviously wasn’t on Sean’s part. I felt ill and needed air, and once again I found myself out driving somewhere, yet nowhere at the same time.

The next day I talked to Tom who said it was okay to move in with him, into Alexis’s room as all she used it for was for toy storage. I wasn’t going to tell anyone were I was moving, they didn’t need to know nor did they deserve to know, the only one I’d tell would be Heather. A week had passed and Sean and I had nearly packed everything that belonged to us and were for the most part ready to leave at any time. Brian on the other hand had not been seen in days, and nothing was touched. At the beginning of the last the 2nd to last week at the house we asked Brian if he was planning on packing his things, his prompt reply of don’t worry about, suggested he had some issues, I smiled. Work was going easily that week and I began to settle in at a job that required no real brain usages and had a near zero stress level, that was until my life outside of working decided to carry itself over to my work. During the week before I had notified the landlords of the events that had transpired, they in turned allowed us to terminate the lease within a few days short of a full 30-day notice, as Brian had still neglected to sign the lease terminating paper I had typed up. Finally I had to approach him at work, which he knew I did not do, and of course he decide to try and make a scene out it in front of everyone. I figured what the hell now is as good of time as any, and proceeded to let Brian know that the whole situation was due to his lack of maturity and responsibility alone and that it was no longer tolerated in any way shape or form. I gave him 3 days, which left another 3 days to until we had to vacate the house, to have he things completely out, or they would be thrown out all together. I could tell he wanted to continue this little debate, but that was easily stifled with my comment of ‘this conversation is over” and proceeded to walk back to my desk.

When I got home there was no Brian, and I started moving things over to Tom’s, and Sean moved the last of his things to his parents and began prepping the house to be cleaned. As Brian was still nowhere to be found, we split the house into sections and decided that if Brian didn’t do his part beyond cleaning his own room that he would not get any of the his deposit back. As the deadline got closer Brian was still nowhere to be found other than at work, in which case I refused to bring the matter up let alone talk to him there. On the last day of his deadline, Brian didn’t show up for work, so I went home on my lunch and he wasn’t there either, and of course nothing of his had been touched. I had already moved 99% of my belongings out of the house the other 1% was either being thrown away or given away to my neighbor Vegas. I was a little unsure about the legal ramifications regarding tossing Brian’s things out, so I called the landlords to find out from them as they were in the reality business for a living. Odel advised me that if I did throw out his things legally he could sue me, but she understood completely on why I’d want to. The carpets in the house were trashed and I would have to go over them at least twice with a steam cleaner to get them back to their original shade. Odel also advised me that if it appeared as though Brian would not be out in time to let her know and she would take care of it. Unfortunately this also meant taking everyone to court even though Brian was the one who caused this entire issue.

Stuck now between a rock and a hard place, the only recourse was to find away to get Brian’s shit out by that night, as I already had the steam cleaner reserved for the next day and was quickly running out of time, to allow the carpet to be cleaned and dry before the final walkthrough. The only recourse I could come up with was to get Brian’s parents involved, so I talked it over with Sean, though he was already out he was still involved and responsible for the house as well, we concluded Brian’s parents had to be brought in as there was nowhere to put any of his things. So at 9:30 that night we drove over and woke them up. Panicked that something bad had happened to brains, his mother quickly went and awoke his stepfather Stu. Now Stu was always the kind of straight up no bull shit kind of guy I like to deal with he got straight to the point of things, and didn’t waste time fiddle fatting around with politeness or emotional antics like Brian’s mother was currently doing. As he came out he gave me the look of, “What did he fuck up now!” and with out even asking I filled him in on the situation. After a few minutes we knocked out a plan of action, if Brian didn’t have anything moved by 7pm the next day, my lunch hour, I would call Stu and let him know, thus allowing me and Sean time that night to move everything out of the house and into his parents. I couldn’t believe what was happening, I was babysitting this lil bastard, who always walked and tried to talk like he was all about being the adult of everything, like hell he was.

The next I got up and went to work, Brian was there amazingly. Sooner than I could realize it, lunch rolled around. Sean had also made plans to go by the house and check on Brian’s status, and had already called to let me know nothing had changed. So I hopped in the Neon and sped away to the house. Sure enough I could tell just by the sound of the door opening there was still no change. I promptly called Stu and let him know we’d be coming over after work as I drove back to work, but when I arrived Brian was gone. It turns out he had apparently either made an excuse or made prior arrangement to leave early, either way when I got home that night most of his crap was gone, and I started to steam the house. Brian had relieved Sean of kitchen duty saying he would clean it up to compensate for his lack of prior duties, I seriously doubted anything would get done. Nonetheless, we still had 2 days to clean and if all else failed I’d have to just go behind him and do it the right way, and he’d lose his deposit. I finished the entire house except for Brian’s rooms, as that was his responsibility, especially since he had hurled at least 3 times on the carpet within the 6 months we lived there and if he didn’t clean it up and deducted from the deposit it would obviously come out of his end, or so I thought. The next day Odel came by to check on the status of things and do some yard work, so I asked her about it to make sure, and unfortunately found out if anything was deducted it would come out of the overall deposit not just Brian’s. I let Sean know this, who was now become quite pissed about the situation and came up with the idea for me to simply wait until the last minute and steam the room thus sealing the verdict that Brian would not get a deposit back. Overall it was a full proof plan to put Brian in his place, and gain some extra money in the process.

Incidentally I worked a different schedule than Brian and had an extra day to clean, as we all had decided to have the house completely cleared out 1 day before the final walkthrough to allow the carpet to dry. Brian boosted about how he had procured and industrial cleaner to clean the carpets, in which anyone had yet to see. That night I was faced with whether to stay at the crib one last night o just stay at Tom’s, and as I turned to check my nearly empty room one last time, I heard Brian come in the front door, as most could guess, I wasn’t staying. I packed up the last few things I had and grab my futon mattress and bounced over to Tom’s at about 3:30 AM, after driving and unpacking It was about 4:45am and I could barley see light over the horizon. I knew I had to work the next day and was tired from a day full of moving and cleaning, but at the same time I only had 3 things left at the house and I’d be done. I figured I’d just pick them up on the way to work the next day when I check on Brian’s status. At 5:25am I stepped out of the shower, went and had a cigarette, admired my freshly washed shiny car and went to bed. As I drifted off to sleep I thought about what I’d get my mom for her birthday, as it was the following day as well, I never did think of anything.

Act 4