“I mean, Eris did say you’re a himbo.”
Matt laughs.
“Though, ze saidI’ma himbo too, so take that with a grain of salt.”
Matt laughs harder, and I laugh with him. The simplicity of it all is a comforting buzz.
“So, you’re happy then?” Matt asks. “In Chicago? Being a big-time lawyer and being your gay self out loud and out proud?”
I snort. “I dunno, because I’m not any of that. Not yet, anyway.” I pause, and admit quietly, “I haven’t been the happiest, but I think I’m getting there.”
“I’m sure Eris has something to do with it,” Matt grins.
“Can I tell you a secret about Eris?” I ask. Matt nods, and I tell myself to stop talking. But this must be some strong-ass CBD, because I can’t stop. “We’re not actually together. I brought zim along so you’d think I was happy.”
Matt laughs, and I laugh too, because I’m confused why he thinks that me lying to him is so funny. “Bloke, dude, you’re so weird. You don’t need to be with someone to be happy.”
“I know. But also, I didn’t want to be the only single person at your wedding.” I stare out of the duck blind across the wetlands around us, counting up the mallards and red-winged blackbirds.
He giggles to himself before saying, with far too much gravity, “Well, even if you’re not official, you’re still cute together. The way Eris looks at you, the way you look at zim, there’s something there.”
“You think so?” I hope so.
Matt smirks. “Well, that, and the giant ass hickey on your neck that wasn’t there yesterday.” He prods my throat.
I smack his hand away. “I hope you’re right. Eris and I haven’t really gotten along before this. But I like zim, and I want to see what happens.”
“Good.”
I take another deep drag on the joint, now half gone. “Where did you get this?”
“Your parents.”
I laugh, and Matt laughs with me, though he has no idea why. I stub it out onto the bench and dig into his pocket for the tube my parents store their homegrown rolls in. “Dude, there isnoway this is CBD.” I grin. “You’re gonna be fucking baked for your wedding!”
Matt giggles. “Oh, god, Allie is gonna kill me.”
“She’s getting drunk with Eris as we speak. But good luck with your vows, man!” I check my phone to see what time it is— “Oh my god!” My background is a picture of my ass with Eris’s cum all over the snail. Ze took it this morning, at my request, so I could see what it looked like. “How the fuck did this become my lock screen?”
“Holy shit!” Matt shouts, then cracks up. “Not together, my ass!”
“I am going to kill that fucker! This wasnotmy background when we left the hotel!”
While Matt and I crawl out of the duck blind, I text Eris that I’m going to strangle zim. By the time we’ve dusted each other off, Eris has texted me back a selfie of zim and Allie flicking me off. I make that my background instead.
Matt crouches down in front of me. “Hop on, Bloke. Save your knee for the dancing.”
“I can walk. Eris put some CBD on my knee. Like actual CBD, not my parent’s homegrown shit.” Not that it reduced the pain much, but Eris and Matt don’t need to know that.
“From the sound of it, ze put a lot of things on you,” Matt teases. “C’mon, let me give you a ride, for old times’ sake.”
“I should have made a bingo board of things not to say to your ex before you get married,” I tease, but I hop on his back anyway. It’s Matt’s day, after all, and he likes to take care of people. If he wants to take care of me, even though I don’t need him to, I’ll let him. One last time.
Thirteen
The Wedding
AfterMattdropsmeoff back on the quad (fortunately only a few minutes late for the family photos), I find Eris waiting for me on the edges of the gathering crowd of guests. Zis face is hard to read, but ze doesn’t seem as open as I’ve come to expect in the past day.
