“We haven’t set a date yet, but we want it to be soon. And small,” Nigel said, pausing when Ethan swung by our table with a coffee pot and an order pad. I got my waffles, Nigel ordered the Lumberjack special, which was basically a heart attack on a plate. Two eggs. Sausages. Bacon. Hash browns. Whole wheat toast. Trevor ordered scrambled eggs. No bacon. No toast. Just eggs.
“Well, let me know if you two need anything.” I hated myself for making the offer because Nigel looked at me all hopeful and shit and that’s when I knew I’d just fucking stepped in something.
“Well, I do need a best man.” Nigel looked at me with those puppy dog eyes of his, the ones that had bewitched our parents and gotten him out of a million different messes with teachers and other authority figures in his life. I wondered if they still worked on people now that he was the size of a doorframe and not a skinny, underfed waif.
My hands jerked so hard I nearly toppled my coffee over. “A best man? What about your college buddies? What about Simon? He’s been your best friend for years.”
At the crestfallen look on Nigel’s face, I found myself not turning it down. “Of course, I’ll do it. I just wondered how I got the ask, to be honest.”
“Would you believe me if I said because you’re my brother?” Nigel tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“What happened?”
“Simon said I was rushing into things with Trevor, and that I should maybe put on the brakes for a bit. We got into a fight about it. I—we aren’t exactly speaking at the moment.”
Reaching across the table, I put my hand on Nigel’s arm and gave it a squeeze. “Of course I’ll be your best man. But if at any time you make up with Simon and you’d rather have him up there, I’m cool with that too.”
Nigel shook his head. “We won’t be making up, but that’s nice of you.” He took a deep breath and stood. “I’m going to hit the head. I’ll be back in a second.”
The minute Nigel was out of sight, Trevor leaned across the table.
“You can’t tell him we were together,” he hissed.
“I gathered that from how you pretended to not know me. Is there some sort of reason I should keep lying to my brother?” I raised an eyebrow and held Trevor’s gaze.
“He’s already upset about the whole Simon thing. It got really ugly, okay. I didn’t know you were his brother until I walked in.”
“The name Rex isn’t exactly common, Trevor.”
He stared at me with a flat expression. “And did he use my name at all? Or was I his boyfriend? His main squeeze. His sugar plum. Or any of the other twelve nicknames he has for me? He mentioned you were a vet and I just assumed like a war vet, not a dog vet.” He wiped a hand down his face, clearly exasperated.
Come to think of it, Nigel hadn’t used Trevor’s first name. He said he wanted to introduce me to his fiancé, and I asked since when did he have one of those. He laughed at me and said the whole thing was new, but he’d met the one. He’d landed his Prince Charming.
Trevor let out a sigh. “I swear I didn’t know you were his brother. To be fair, the family resemblance doesn’t exactly exist. Though, now that I see you both at the same time, you look more like the pictures I’ve seen of your mother.”
“Nigel has always favored Dad.” I took a sip of my coffee and silently wished it was big enough to drown myself in. “I won’t say anything.”
“Good. I’m glad. I worried that you might not be over me. I hope this won’t be awkward for you. You know, being in the wedding and all.”
“It won’t be awkward in the least. My boyfriend loves any excuse to dress up.”
“Boyfriend?” Nigel said as he slid back into place.
Oh fuck.
Fuckity fuck fuck.What did I just do?
I was as single as a mismatched sock. The most exciting my love life got these days was when I used my non-dominant hand to jerk off. You know, for variety or whatever.
“Yeah, my boyfriend.” In for a penny or whatever.
“You never mentioned a boyfriend,” Nigel said, to which my reply was to pin him with a stare and a carefully arched eyebrow.
“I guess it runs in the family,” he said when he caught onto the fact that he’d done the same thing.
Only his boyfriend actually existed. Mine was purely fictional.
“Of course you have to bring him to the wedding.”
