I accepted a beer from Leo,then held the cold bottle to my temple. We were sitting at a picnic table with Izzy and River, off from the edge of the party while the DJ got started under the pavilion. The moon was out and full, casting a silver light over the forest and cabins.
I took a slow sip. It was my one drink before I had to drive later, and I was going to enjoy it.
“I can’t believe no one told me I had to give a rehearsal dinner speech.”
“Duh,” Leo said as he sat, then popped the top off his beer. “Even I knew that.”
“I hate speaking without having a chance to prepare,” I grumbled and gestured to Leo with the bottle. “I should have had you do it, like at the office.”
“He can’t give his own best man speech, Kai,” River mumbled. “Even at this wedding, that’s too much.”
“You did great,” Izzy encouraged.
“Yeah,” River agreed, perking back up. He tilted his head to the side, and his long hair fell across his shoulders. “Sweet and concise. We’d expect nothing less from you.”
I glanced over at Izzy, who had a contented smile on his face. It felt good to have him to sit next to and return to over the busy day. I was put on the spot so much by the wedding, and even though I knew how to smile and play nice from work, the hosting was exhausting.
But when I caught a minute with Izzy, I sank into the comfort of his company and actually relaxed.
Even just glancing down at him during the speech made things a little easier.
Maybe it was that stereotypical thing where weddings were supposed to make people feel romantic, or at least a little horny. But my feelings toward Izzy had solidified, and I knew that I wanted more from him than just friendship.
I wanted to take him in my arms and feel his heat against my body. I could barely remember the last time I had felt that way about someone in real life.
And I was pretty confident that Izzy wanted something more, too. I just had to figure out how to get him to open up. He disappeared when other people were around, and I still wasn’t sure how to pull him back.
Cass’s band started tuning up near the pavilion. A good number of the guests had already taken off for the glamping area, and I knew that Cass was only going to play a couple poppy dance songs before he ran off to bed with his fiancé, Leo’s brother Shawn.
“Want to watch from up front with me?” I asked Izzy.
“Sure,” he answered. He popped the last bite of pie in his mouth. “Let’s go.”
We found a spot on the edge of the crowd as Cass dedicated a Prince song to Shawn and cheered along as the other grooms came out and danced in the front. I was as happy as anyone there, but for just a second, I had a glimmer of sadness, too.
It felt like the same sadness that made me stumble over my words at the start of my speech. My brother and my best friend were starting new chapters in their lives together, and even though I wasn’t losing them, my heart still ached.
I wasn’t lonely, I’d decided, but I did feel a little alone.
The parents went out on the dance floor, and my moms spun around with a few members of the wedding party. I turned to Izzy and saw he was swaying his hips from side to side.
Something about the movement grabbed me. I was enchanted by the way his slim hips bounced with the curve of his cute butt, and my cock thickened in response.
“Do you need to go dance?” he asked gently.
I realized I was staring at his hips and tore my eyes up to meet his gaze. “Oh, yeah,” I answered. My hips were swaying, too, suddenly matching his rhythm. “Join me?”
Izzy nodded, and the eager flare in his eyes pleased me. The song switched, and Cass’s band launched into David Bowie’s “Starman” while Cass sang the lead from behind the drums. Izzy and I found a space in the middle, all of my friends and family around us, and we eased into the dance. Izzy kept his arms close to his body, and he looked a little tense as he glanced at the other dancers.
Still, something about his movement was so right. Many things about him were familiar from when we were kids, but the way he danced recalled something different that I couldn’t quite figure out.
Whatever it was, I slipped into the fun of it. Swaying my hips, I matched his rhythm, and he started to loosen up.
I reached out and laid my hand on his bicep, then drew my fingers down his arm, and he relaxed the rest of the way. We started moving together, and I could have sworn I was instinctively predicting his moves, stepping just like he stepped.
This was good. Not just having someone to dance with, but more than that.
It was Izzy. It was the smile on his lips and the fact that I could trust him so easily. Knowing each other from such a young age felt like having this special insight into his life, but after disappearing for so many years, I was learning a whole new person, too.
