Page 105 of The Bachelor Party
He laughed. “I uh… might be otherwise engaged, dude.”
“Huh?”
Miles rolled his eyes. “C’mon, man. Don’t make me say it.”
“Say what?”
“You might need to find another best man, or best woman, is all I’m saying. Or, I mean, I could bethebest man. There doesn’t have to be two, right?”
“Oh… OH!” I laughed so hard I cried. That was perfect. And honestly, amazing.
Miles’s laugh was less enthusiastic. “Please don’t say anything, bro, he’ll kill me.”
“I won’t. My lips are sealed.” I zipped my lips, still laughing.
He shook his head. “I told him this could happen, but he wanted to wait until after Lena had her moment.”
“You know this just means you’re gonna help me make it a surprise double proposal, right?”
Miles smiled wide. “You fucking got it, bro. He’ll kill me, but the look on his face will be worth it.”
I didn’t have time to go over the details. Lena, Spence, Ryder, and his parents were welcoming mine to the party.
It was still weird seeing my parents at a Beckett family event. After I came out to them, they realized how little they knew their son. My mom cried, not that she wasn't supportive, but she had said, “They say mothers always know. I had no idea!” And since then, they’d made much more effort to have an active role in my life. Which meant going there for dinner, or having them over once or twice a month.
After hosting both sets of parents for dinner one night, Mrs. Beckett started inviting them to everything I was invited to,and since I was Ryder’s boyfriend, that meant everything. They get together a lot, so I’d seen them more in the last two years than I had since leaving for college.
“We’ll talk about the best man thing later. You might have to do double duty. So get ready,” I said to Miles before getting up to greet my parents, too. Once I did, the eight of us chatted, my arm around Ryder’s waist, and his on my shoulders.
I never, in a million years, could have imagined that. The Becketts and my parents hanging out while I embraced Ryder, of all people. It was surreal in the best way. It always was. Even more so when we were all laughing and eating under the same tent.
Things were just so easy with Ryder and his family. Or, well, my family too, one day soon. And then one day after that, Ryder and I would start our own. If I thought having a boyfriend, that boy being my best friend’s older brother, and that his family and mine would be eating and joking together was impossible, the idea of having my own one day was even more so.
But it wasn’t and hadn't been for a while. I’d never known the peace that I had in the last two years. Or myself. Sharing the parts of me I never looked at, and everything else, with another person was liberating in a way that I didn’t have words for. Happiness is fleeting. The rainbow of joy and love only sticks around for so long. What I had with Ryder, what he gave me, and what I gave him was a lasting peace, security, and a deep sense of belonging.
“You good?” Ryder said, low enough for only me to hear, placing his hand on mine.
“Yeah. Better than good. Perfect,” I said, flipping my hand over to lace our fingers.
He smiled at me. It still made my heart beat a little faster, and butterflies burst in my gut. A smile curled across his face,but his eyes lightened. I never imagined I’d be the one he looked at like that…
“Love you, babe.”
“Love you, too, Ry,” I said, meaning nothing more in my life.
The End.
