Julien and Julius

Julien changed a few of the lyrics of the song “Jolene” by Dolly Parton. But in this version, Jolene stole his man. He was inspired to write and sing this song after the incident.

He came back from the bathroom and saw “his man” talking to a woman in the Galaxi Bar.

The bar for everyone, no matter their sexuality or gender.

He went up to them and asked the woman, “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Jolene,” she replied.

His eyes widened and he said, “This is my man.”

“So?” she said.

“So, it means I’m dating him. Back off,” Julien says sternly.

“Okay,” Jolene said.

“Honey, it’s fine. She was just asking me where I got my shoes,” his boyfriend said.

“Yeah, a great pickup line, Jolene,” Julien said.

Jolene walked away and Julien and his boyfriend left the bar.

Later, at their apartment, they had a little talk.

“I thought you were gay,” Julien said.

“I thought you were gay,” Julius, his boyfriend said.

“I am, but are you?” Julien asked.

“No, I haven’t been for a while. I meant to tell you before we met, but it never came up,” Julius said.

“And how long ago did you know?” Julien asked.

“Uhhh, ten years ago,” Julius replied.

“You’ve known for ten years and you didn’t tell me. And we’ve been together for five years,” Julien said in shock and disgust.

“I thought I was gay for the longest time, but then in college, I dated a girl named Amanda. We clicked and I liked girls again. I could stare at them without getting disgusted or talking to them,” Julius explained.

“I dated a gay guy, not a bi guy. I don’t want you looking at both men and women,” Julien said angrily.

“I know, but I guess I was afraid to tell you for this reason. You’d get upset with and wouldn’t want to date me,” Julius admitted.

“If you were upfront about this, we could’ve talked about this sooner,” Julien said.

“But honey,” Julius said.

“Don’t ‘honey’ me. I need to think this over,” Julien stormed off and closed the bedroom door.

“Julie! Let’s talk about this!” Julius shouted to his boyfriend.

I guess I’m sleeping on the couch tonight. I hope this blows over tomorrow, Julius thought.

The next morning, Julien woke up and made some eggs. Julius heard his boyfriend in the kitchen and sat up.

“Oh you’re up, I made you some scrambled eggs,” Julien said as he pulled out the plates from the cabinets.

Julius walked to the kitchen and sat at the table. “Are you ready to talk?” he asked.

“Not yet, just eat your eggs,” Julien said as he set the plate of eggs in front of Julius.

Julius ate his eggs as his lover said. He finished them and asked, “Can we talk now?”

“Fine, I’ve been thinking and I think I can accept your bisexuality, as long as you only stare at me,” Julien proposed.

“No, it does hurt to look. If I can accept you looking at other guys, you can accept me looking at both sexes,” Julius rebutted.

“But I look at you, you’re my everything,” Julien admitted.

“I know — I have to get ready for work,” Julius remembered.

Later, Julius closed the front door and left without saying anything.

Julien pulled out his guitar and a pad of paper and wrote another song:

[Intro:]

I’ve loved you for years

Ever since we first met

I can’t forget

That first of January

[Verse 1:]

Can you even see

What you’re doing to me?

Every time I think about you

It gets my heart beating like a drum

It makes me feel so dumb

[Chorus:]

I’ll never stop loving you,

It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever had to do

[Verse 2:]

You’ll never love me as much as I do

And my love is greater than any woman

Can give you

[Chorus 2:]

I can’t stop loving you,

It’s simply impossible to do

[Verse 3:]

I can see how our relationship will turn out

It’ll end in a dramatic breakup

Or a romantic wedding

That I’m betting

[Chorus 1&2]

I can’t, won’t, and will never stop loving you,

It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever had to do

[Verse 1]

But won’t you come back to me?

You can’t even see

What you’re doing to me

I miss you,

The old you,

But he’ll never come back

After he sang out the lyrics, he put down his guitar, and a tear fell down his face.

Hours later, Julius came back from work. He walked into their apartment and turned on the lights. He found his boyfriend napping on the couch, a bowl of cereal on the table, and his guitar leaning on the arm of the couch.

“Julien, wake up,” He shook the sleeper’s leg, “Julien!” he shouted.

Julien is shaken out of sleep. “Huh, what’s happenin’? Julius, you’re back!”

“Yeah, I’m back. We need to talk. First about — -Did you take a shower today?” Julius asked.

“No, do I — -oh yeah I do,” Julien said as he sniffed his armpits.

Julien took a shower and came back in pajamas. Julius sat on the couch, waiting for him.

“We need to talk about you getting a job. It’s been a few months since you got fired from Omnicorp, you need a job,” Julius explained.

“I’ve been looking and it’s not like we’ve fallen on hard times,” Julien said.

“I know, but you need to look harder. Work with Vocational Rehab, they’ll help you find a job,” Julius said.

“I tried that, but they said it could take a few months to get back to me,” Julien replied.

“Another thing, I’ve been thinking about it all day at work, and I think — -” Julius said before Julien turned on the TV.

Julius snatched the remote from Julien and turned off the TV.

“What? I thought we were done talking,” Julien said.

“We are, I’m going to bed,” Julius said.

“Julie, let’s talk about this,” Julien said.

“No,” Julius said before he closed their bedroom door.

Julien watched TV for a few more hours and then slipped into bed, quietly.

They wake up the next morning, Julius goes to work, and Julien stayed in bed until eleven. He searched for jobs for a couple of hours, then fell asleep in front of the TV watching reruns of “Everybody Hates Raymond”.

Later, Julius came home a little early. He opened the door slowly, so he wouldn’t wake his boyfriend. He closed the door and locked it quickly. It didn’t wake him up. Julius tiptoed to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. He dropped a plate and it shattered into pieces.

“Ah, what happened? Julius, are you home?” Julien asked.

“Yes, I just broke a plate,” Julius shouted.

“Then clean it up,” Julien shouted back.

“I am,” Julius said as he swept it up. He threw away the shattered remains and walked into the living room. He sat on the couch.

“What are we watching?” Julius asked.

“Everybody Hates Raymond. Why are you home so early?” Julien asked back.

“I skipped my lunch and finished my work early, so we could spend some time together,” Julius replied.

“Since when as of late, do you want to spend time with me?” Julien asked.

“I lied, we need to talk,” Julius responded.

“I knew it. About what?” Julien asked.

“About how you act. You’re always watching TV or napping. I’ve never seen you clean or look for a job since you lost your job,” Julius stated.

“I have been looking for jobs when you’re at work,” Julien replied.

“Really? Let me see the jobs you’ve applied to,” Julius said as he pulled out the laptop charged on the floor. He searched Julien’s recent applied jobs on his Succeed page. He found a few dozen applied jobs listed, but he didn’t find any jobs posted for today.

“Look, you didn’t apply to any jobs today,” Julius said as he pointed to the screen.

“I applied to jobs on the companies’ website,” Julien said.

“Liar, you can’t keep lying to me. I can see right through your facade,” Julius pointed out.

“What facade? This is me, I might be a little depressed, but I’m fine,” Julien said as he waved his hand over his lean body.

“A little depressed? What do you have to be depressed about? You have a loving boyfriend, a roof to live under, and plenty of food,” Julius said explicitly.

“I have no job and a boyfriend who hates me. I’ve been looking for months and still can’t find a job. And I have a boyfriend who criticizes everything I do,” Julien said.

“You will find a job and I don’t hate you. I love you and all your faults. And I criticize you so you can become a better person and get out of this funk. Why don’t we go on a date on Friday and I get out of work?” Julius asked.

“Fine, but I’m gonna complain the whole time,” Julien said jokingly.

The next morning, Julien took a shower and put on a pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt. He walked down the stairs of his apartment building and walked outside. He stopped by the flower shop and picked up some blue roses. He rushed to Julius’ office building. He opened the door and asked the receptionist, “Is Julius on lunch? I have something for him.”

“No, Mr. Codoor is not available at the moment, but I can leave him a message,” the female receptionist said.

“Okay, just give these to him and tell him, ‘I’m sorry for being so lazy. I hope giving you these will make up for everything,’ ” Julien said.

“I’ll tell him,” the receptionist said as she took the bouquet.

Julien left the office building and the receptionist called Mr. Codoor.

“Mr. Codoor, someone left flowers for you at reception,” she said.

“Thank you, Sasha, did they say anything?” Julius Codoor asked.

“They said, ‘Sorry for being lazy and I hope giving you these will make up for everything,’ “ Sasha read off the sticky note she wrote it on.

“Thanks again Sasha, I’ll grab them after work,” Julien said.

In Julius’ office, he thought about this kind gesture. Julien left me flowers? Maybe it wasn’t him. He never does nice things for me. Maybe he’s already changing for the better. But he thinks flowers will make up for everything. I don’t think so.

Later that night, Julius came home from a long day of work with a briefcase in one hand and the bouquet in the other. Petals fell onto the floor as he found a vase for them.

“Julius! You got the flowers I left for you!” Julien said excitedly.

Julius just looked at Julien with happiness, then disgust.

“What’s wrong?”Julien asked.

“It was a nice gesture, but what did you mean when you said, ‘I hope these will make up for everything’ ”? Julius asked.

“I meant, I hope the flowers make up for questioning your sexuality and being a bad boyfriend lately,” Julien replied.

“You’re not a bad boyfriend, you’re just lazy and unhelpful,” Julius stated.

“I know and I’m trying to get better. Let me make dinner,” Julien insisted.

“What do you know how to make, but macaroni and cheese?” Julius asked.

“Spaghetti,” Julien said.

“That’s easy, anyone can make that. You just have to boil water and cook the pasta,” Julius rebutted.

“I know, I’m not a chef or a cook, but I try. And that’s all that counts,” Julien refuted.

“It is, why don’t you make both, Julie,” Julius told, not asked Julien.

“Okay,” Julien said happily.

While Julien made dinner for two, Julius set the table. Once the food was done, Julien plated the macaroni and spaghetti. Julien added a red sauce and cheese onto his spaghetti and just cheese for his boyfriend’s plate. They sat down and ate, then watched TV together. They watched the Lakedale reboot.

That Friday, Julien met Julius at the restaurant for their date. Julien walked in and asked, “Party of two, under the last name Codoor?”

“Right this way, monsieur,” the host of the restaurant said in a French accent.

“Thank you or should I say merci,” Julien said.

“De rien and you’re, how you say, partner has already arrived,” the host said.

“Merci,” Julien repeated as sat down across from Julius.

“Hi, Julien. You know French?” Julius asked. He opened his menu.

“Oui, I took French in high school, so I remember a few words and phrases,” Julien replied.

“I never knew that about you. I’m glad I can still learn new things about you,” Julius said.

“Me too, now, what are you ordering?” Julien asked.

“I think I’ll have the onion linguine. What about you?” Julius queried.

“No meat?” Julien asked back.

“No, I became a vegetarian a few weeks ago,” Julius said as if it was a fact his boyfriend should already know.

“I didn’t know that,” Julien replied with ignorance.

“Well, maybe if you listened — wait, I didn’t tell you?” Julius asked, rethinking.

“No,” Julien replied.

The waiter came over and asked, “I’m Kent and I’ll be your server today. Have you two decided on drinks?”

“Yes, I’ll have a water,” Julius said.

“And I’ll have a diet cherry cola,” Julien said.

The waiter wrote down their drink orders and walked away.

The lights flicker as it began to pour outside and the wind picked up.

“Did the lights just flicker or did I blink?” Julien asked.

“I think you blinked because I didn’t see anything,” Julius replied.

The lights flickered again as lightning struck nearby. Julien and Julius looked at each other. They passed the other restaurant patrons and saw it pouring out.

“Maybe we should cancel our drinks and leave before it gets worse out there,” Julius suggested.

“We took separate cars,” Julien reminded his date.

“Oh, right. We should probably stay, it might clear up,” Julius’ tone changed from worried to optimistic.

“Okay,” Julien agreed.

The waiter came back a few minutes later with their drinks. “Do you guys need more time to choose?”

“No, I’ll have the onion linguine with white sauce,” Julius said.

“And for you?” their waiter asked.

“I’ll just have the chef salad with ranch dressing,” Julien said.

“Okay, I’ll have those out for you two soon,” the waiter said.

The lights flickered on and off a few more times while Julien and Julius waited for their food. And one more time, which caused the power to go all over the restaurant. Waiters and waitresses exited the kitchen with flashlights to talk to their patrons.

“Hi, it’s Kent, your server. The power went in the restaurant, but we’re waiting for the generator to turn on. You can stay, but it might be a few minutes for everything to turn back on.”

“We’ll wait,” Julius insisted.

“No, I don’t want to wait in the dark,” Julien demanded.

“Just put your phone’s flashlight on,” Julius said as he turned on his.

“Still, I really want to go, we can eat at home,” Julien complained.

“Fine, but I’m making dinner,” Julius replied.

They grabbed their jackets, set their napkins on the table, and left. They ran to their cars and drove home.

Julien drove in the pouring rain and lightning struck a nearby tree, which knocked it over. He tried to swerve out of the way, but the tree trunk still hit his car. It killed him on impact.

Julius drove down the road and saw the fallen tree up ahead. As he got closer, he saw a car under that resembled his boyfriend’s car. He called 9–1–1 and after he described to the dispatcher the situation, they said an ambulance would be at his location soon. The storm cleared and they brought over men with chainsaws. They removed the branches and tree trunk from the car. They found a man with brown hair and without a pulse. They tried to revive him, but no luck. They pronounced him dead. They checked his wallet and found his license, it read Julien Soloman. Julius cried once he heard the news from the paramedic. He may never recover from this.