“Okay, so thereason I was there, at Studs, in the first place was for a bachelorette party. Do you remember that part?”
He took a sip of his beer before casually putting the bottle down on the table. “Sure, why not,” he said, clearly not remembering or caring. “That’s what the place is known for.”
“Well, the bride I was there for, the one who tipped you to dance with me, she’s—”
“Noah,” Chelsea called outfrom behind the table. “Mia told me you were out here.” I stood, trying my best to somehow block Chase from her view. “She said you have the mysterious boyfriend with you.”
Completely unaware of Chelsea and her loud mouth, Chase stood from behind me, moved to my side, and held out his hand for Chelsea. “That would be me,” he said. “Mysterious Boyfriend.”
I watched for a split second as recognitiondawned on her face. “Oh my God.” Her mouth fell open. “You’re from the—”
Now it was her turn to be cut off, as Alex, her husband, and Rob’s brother, stepped to her side, saying, “From the wedding. Weren’t you there with Rob?”
“Strip club!” Their words ran into one another.
Since avoiding the awkward exchange wasn’t going to happen, I chose to make the best of it. “Yes, and yes,” I said, makingeye contact with each of them separately. “This is Chase, my boyfriend.” Emphasizing the last word with a touch more warning in my voice, I hoped they would drop it.
But when Chelsea parroted me saying, “Boyfriend?” in a pitch higher than her normal voice, I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky. She looped her arm through mine and pulled me away from the other two, obviously needing the explanation thatwas very much overdue.
It wasn’t until we were out in the front yard that she let me say a word. “I meant to tell you,” I explained, albeit lamely.
“Meant to?” she scoffed, poking her finger into my chest. “I’m your best friend. You should have told me the second it started.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
She tapped the face of an invisible watch. “Clock’s ticking and I’m all ears.”
Only because I promised to fill her in on all the juicy details at another time, I was allowed to give her the abridged version. Hoping to avoid her putting him on the spot, I made sure to include what I needed to about his parents and his brother. “Anyway, after that first night, I didn’t expect to see him. But when he was at your wedding.”
“The wedding?” She actually gasped. “You brought himas a date to the wedding and didn’t introduce me then?”
“No,” I corrected her before she became frantic. “He didn’t go with me. He was there with Rob.” Her face contorted in all sorts of awkward angles as she tried to piece it all together. “I told you it was all confusing. Look, I promise I’ll explain it all another time, but I don’t want to leave him back there with Alex all alone.”
With thewave of her hand, she dismissed my concern. “Alex can’t stand Rob lately. Believe me, Chase is safe with him.” Whatever was going on in Rob’s life was the least of my worries. Actually, I had zero reaction to hearing his name. I was only worried about making Chase feel out of place. So, just as she had done to me just minutes ago, I looped my arm through hers and dragged her into the backyard.As we turned the corner, I saw Alex and Chase standing right where we’d left them, talking and laughing.
Another crisis averted. If this day was going to continue in this pattern, I would be exhausted by the time we got home.
“What are you two talking about?” I asked, hoping to keep my voice light and casual.
“How much of an asshole my brother is,” Alex said before taking a sip of his beer.
“Perfect. I’m an expert on that topic.” We all shared a laugh, and I was more than thankful for being blessed with great friends.
The rest of the afternoon passed in somewhat of a blur. We ate, drank, talked with friends. We sang “Happy Birthday” to Charlotte and watched, oohing and ahhing at her as she attacked her cake face first.
“Hey,” Wes said as he approached the table where Alex, Chase,and I were sitting. “Where’s Chels?”
“She’s inside helping Mia with the baby.”
“So how do you all know each other?” Chase asked, leaning back comfortably in the chair. “You seem pretty close.”
Wes looked over at me, a silent conversation taking place in the second-long glance. I nodded and placed my beer on the table. “My parents kicked me out when I came out to them. I was in college and livingin the dorms. It wasn’t a problem during the school year obviously, but over breaks and whatnot, I was shit outta luck. Wes had come back from break early during our sophomore year because of lacrosse and he found me sleeping in a car.”
“A car?” Chase’s voice was filled with pain asking the simple question.
“Yeah,” I admitted, trying to keep the pain out of mine. “It was one that was usuallyunlocked. So that’s where I stayed at night. I think someone had left it there because no one ever used it. Once I told Wes what had happened, he kind of adopted me. Took me home on breaks, even over the summers. His parents took me in as their own, and that was that.”
“That’s really….”
