“Guys,” Dean said, shaking his head. “It's not Halloween. What on earth are you wearing?”
Jacob was dressed up like a clown, wearing the shirt with orange circles all over it, a rainbow wig, and a bright red nose. Dean wanted to cry with laughter every time he looked directly at him. He could hardly believe that Jacob would put on something that silly just for him.
Grayson was dressed as a train conductor from the 1800s, with a bright red neckerchief, a cap, and striped overalls. He looked as though he was ready to break into a tap-dancing number, which was so out of character for the reserved and highly professional Grayson that Dean felt no end of amusement whenever he looked at him.
Ryan was wearing a full plastic suit of armor, looking somewhat ridiculous but also slightly impressive at the same time. A metal broadsword, presumably an imitation of something from one of Ryan and Faith's favorite fantasy movies, was hanging at his belt.
Tom was decked out in full tourist gear, looking as though he had just stepped off a cruise ship on a trip to Hawaii. He was wearing a brightly colored shirt, neon green swim trunks, flip-flops, and three rainbow plastic leis around his neck. The finishing touch was a pair of giant hot pink sunglasses that he had somehow managed to keep perched on the top of his head.
The funniest one of all, however, was Cooper. Somehow he had gotten his hands on an adult-sized cow onesie, complete with a hood that had ears and a tail. Dean crowed with laughterwhen he looked at him a second time, feeling grateful that his respectable brother-in-law was willing to look so silly for the sake of cheering him up.
“We’re getting ready for your bachelor party,” Cooper said with a grin. “I don't understand why you look surprised. We're just trying out possible wardrobe options.”
“Did you have some kind of theme in mind?” Dean asked them, trying to figure out a correlation between the outfits. “Are we going to pretend to be a variety of individuals kidnapped by aliens?”
“Yes,” Ryan said, and he could do a deadpan expression better than any of them so the effect was hilarious. “You’re going to be the alien.”
Dean was practically chortling with amusement by that point, and the rest of the guys were cracking up as well.
“Actually, we're trying to see what costume theme that you like best.” Grayson tipped his cap to Dean. “I was thinking we could sneak onto a train and pretend to be clueless time travelers who didn't realize that it wasn't actually our train. We should be able to ride for free that way.”
“Sounds like a smart move,” Dean said with a laugh.
“Don't you like my costume the best?” Cooper asked. “I think we should all go on a day trip dressed like cows. Sounds like the perfect bachelor party to me.”
“Only if we go to a farm,” said Grayson with an impish grin. “We'd fit right in there.”
“Oh no,” Cooper said. “We definitely need to go to a town. Preferably a big town. Maybe even a city. We should get ice cream while we're there and complain that we didn’t get paid enough for our milk.”
Dean threw back his head laughing, so amused by the thought of all of them parading around a city in cow costumes that he started to actually cry with mirth.
“Tom and I have the same theme,” Jacob said serenely. “We’re going to have a battle between the tourists and the clowns, using pool noodles.”
“What?” Dean said.
“And my idea was that we should get hobby horses and dress up as knights and then gallop through as many fast food drive throughs as possible,” Ryan said, grinning.
“Yes,” Dean said. “I’d do that.”
They were all joking, but Dean felt excited about whatever they would actually end up doing for his bachelor party. It would probably end up being fun and ridiculous, and he felt grateful that he had such supportive—and funny and creative—men in his life.
“There’s a box of cookies from Hazel in the kitchen,” Dean said. “And there’s some beer in the refrigerator. You guys want to grab those? I’d get them for you, but –”
“We got you.” Jacob grinned. “I’d never pass up an opportunity to eat Hazel’s cookies.”
He and Ryan went into the kitchen and soon returned with the box of cookies and a six pack of craft beer. Soon they were all sitting around in a circle, chatting and laughing, and Dean felt a surge of happiness that his afternoon had turned out like this.
This is a whole lot better than sitting here alone and wishing I was doing something else,he thought.I don’t think there’s anything I’d rather be doing right now than this. It feels so good to know they care about me this much.
“How are you feeling, Dean?” Jacob asked after a while. “You look good.”
“Thanks.” Dean grimaced good-naturedly. “I do feel pretty good considering. And everything appeared to go well with the surgery, so I’m really thankful for that. I’m still a little worried about my recovery time, though. We really want a quick recovery so that we know for sure I’ll be ready for our wedding.”
“You can only take it one day at a time,” Tom said, and Dean had a moment of being surprised by how seriously he could take his older friend despite his outlandish outfit. “Stay optimistic and do everything they advise you to in order to recover. But the body and the mind are connected, truly. The more you have faith that it’ll all work out and stay positive, the better your chances are for recovering quickly.”
Dean nodded. He'd heard that before, and he knew that it was excellent advice—although he also knew that it was the kind of thing that was easier said than done. But he knew that being surrounded by caring, hopeful people would help him keep his mind in the right place.
“I appreciate you all coming by so much,” he told them, meaning it with all his heart. “I have been struggling with staying positive today. It's hard to just sit here and not really be able to do anything. I'm worried about my recovery time being too long, and I've had to stop myself from fretting about the wedding a couple of times now. I just really want to be completely well by then.”
