The Stars

By: David H
(© 2014 by the author)
Editor: Ken King

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 1:
 “Heaven”

They arrived in Dothan just after six o’clock in the evening.  It took them nearly an hour to get the rental car, but when they did, Noah and Katie spent a half hour arguing about the best way to get to Blakely from the airport, which was technically north of town, in Midland City.  As Noah was driving, he won out, driving them around Dothan, rather than through it, as his niece had suggested. 

When they got to Blakely, Luke and Caleb were surprised at just how small it was, and even more so that Noah had been able to adjust so easily to life in the city.  As they came into town, they learned that while Noah had lost his virginity in the parking lot of the Maxway, Katie had been deflowered in the parking lot of the Pizza Hut right across the street.  At the intersection of what had been Highway 62 but what became Columbia Road and Flowers Street, they saw the 35-bed Early County Memorial Hospital, where both Katie and Noah had been born. 

Just a short drive up, they came to a small shopping center that was almost directly at the corner of Columbia Road and Church Street.  Contained in it was the Harvey’s Market where Justin had worked since he was a teenager.  According to Katie’s snoops, Noah’s thirty-one-year-old nephew, who had been married and divorced twice, had recently been made the store manager.  Luke made a comment that he needed a couple of things from the store that he couldn’t really bring with him from Miami, and Caleb chimed in, asking him to fix him some cocktail weenies.  Katie said that she could use a beer, and Noah turned into the parking lot.

Given that it was a little late, the parking lot was empty.  A few of the bag boys were outside, gathering shopping carts from the bins as they pulled into one of the front spaces.  Climbing from the truck, the four of them joked as they walked inside.  As Caleb talked loudly about something, Noah pulled a cart from the rack.  As they walked around the produce and meat sections, Luke was surprised at how fresh the veggies and meats looked.

“Oh, Damn!” he said as he saw some beautiful Gulf shrimp in the seafood case.

“Most gay men say that about guys…”

“…but not our Lukie,” Caleb finished Noah’s thoughts as the three of them laughed.

Luke got the attention of one of the people working that section, asking him to bag it all up, explaining to the guys that he was going to serve it as an appetizer at the rehearsal dinner.  He also bought some steaks that the butcher had told him were from farm-grazed cattle grown in Early County.  He took several pounds, promising the guy that he would return for more the next morning, if he could get it.  The guy told him that he’d have to see, but that he didn’t see it as a problem.  He was saddened to learn that the Chicken wasn’t as fresh as the beef was, but he was happy, filling the cart halfway with freshly wrapped steaks. 

They walked around to the alcohol next, where he was surprised to find a selection of South American wines, which were Luke’s favorite, to both cook with and drink.  A good Argentinean or Chilean wine, to him, was better than all the wines of Europe combined. 

“The wine is not going to fuck you tonight,” Caleb chimed in.

As Noah and Katie each put cases of Bud Light into the cart, Caleb pulled one of the smaller bottles from the shelf.  “Look Noah!  It’s almost as big as you!” he joked, referring to Noah’s larger-than-average endowment.  As the three of them laughed, Noah blushed a little bit and shook his head.  Even though millions of guys had seen him in his birthday suit, he was still sensitive to jokes that his friends made about his the length and girth of his manhood. 

As they walked to the check-out, Justin was standing, barking orders at kids, some of whom probably just kissed his ass to keep from having to work at McDonalds or Food Lion, the only two places that were worse to work at than Harvey’s Market.  He looked up and in their direction after a second, noticing his sister, the raven-haired beauty that she was.  Then, standing next to her was a man that he’d been raised to despise.  With them were a dark-skinned, shaved head black guy and a guy that he assumed, because of the shade of his skin, that he was Mexican. 

As they walked up to one of the registers, the girl looked almost scared, not of them but in general.  Justin had put the fear of God in her, and she’d internalized it all.  It was right then that he did something that he never did: he walked over to the register and began to bag the groceries as she scanned and then slid them toward the back of her register. 

“Hi, Justin,” Katie said, making the first overtures.

“Katie… How are you?” he inquired.

“Good.  You?”

“I’m OK,” he answered, not looking in her direction.  Caleb, knowing who he was, made a face at him as he failed to pay attention.  The girl smiled, trying not to laugh.

“Sweetie.  How old are you?” Caleb asked, noting her smile.

“Nineteen,” she answered as he pulled out one of his cards.

“OK.  My name is Caleb Rosario, and I am a clothing designer from Miami.  Go to this website, look around at the clothes, and let me know what you think.  OK?”

“OK…” she smiled, putting the card in her pocket.  He smiled back, letting her know, as he put it in his own way, that she was going to be fine, regardless of her jackass boss.

As Noah stood there, his credit card out to pay, Katie walked down to the end of the lane and started putting plastic bags into the cart.  “Katie.  You shouldn’t be hanging around with them,” Justin whispered.

“Why?” she inquired, in her regular voice. 

He just shook his head. 

“You know, Justin.  You’re my brother, but you are the same stuck up asshole that you’ve always been.  Get a life, and a girlfriend that doesn’t have herpes!” she said as she put the last of their bags in the cart, and he walked off.

“Good one,” Noah smiled.

“Thank you,” she smiled back and did a curtsy as Caleb and Luke laughed.

Noah paid for their things as the girl smiled.  “Thank y’all very much; you’ve made my night!”

“Sweetie, if he ever starts to give you shit again,” Katie told him, “just remind him that he once thought RuPaul was an actual woman!”

“Yes ma’am,” she told her as she smiled.

“Did he really?” Luke asked.

“God, yes!” Katie told him.

“He also used to like George Michael and Elton John!” Noah added as they walked out of the store, laughing far harder than they should.

After putting everything in the truck, they climbed into the truck and headed back out to Columbia Road.  At Church Street, they turned right and went down just past the Blakely Cemetery, turning onto Chattahoochee Boulevard, which wasn’t as wide as a street of that kind should be.  They soon turned again onto Baptist Branch.  At the first house on the right, they turned into the drive, honking the horn.  Noah, as he’d always done, pulled to the side of the driveway, right behind “The Green Bean” which Tom had kept and kept up since he left. 

“We’re so going to the River tomorrow in that thing!” Noah said as they climbed out of the truck.  They all grabbed an armful of things and walked, following Noah, around to the back of the house, where they heard laughter coming from the back porch.

“I like what y’all’ve done with the place,” Noah said, noting that they’d added a roof to the back deck, as well as blinds to help block the wind and keep in the breeze created by the nice ceiling fan.

“It’s about damn time,” Caroline and Gwen said as they stood and walked over to greet them in their usual way, with big hugs. 

“What is all this?” Tom asked.

“Luke has a problem.  Every time we got into a grocery store, he’s got to buy shit.”

“Fucker!  You’re the same way with clothing shops.  At least my obsession doesn’t take up so much space!” Luke smiled as Caleb swatted at him.

“At least y’all brought beer!” John laughed as a guy sitting with them, whom none of them knew, chuckled. 

“Guys!” Tom said.  “This is the guy that replaced me this year: Chris Grissom.”

“Hey!” Chris said as he stood, shaking Luke’s hand, then Caleb’s before getting to Noah.  It was weird how their eyes seemed to meet, how they almost didn’t want to stop looking at each other, staring a bit too long into the other’s soul.

“So I got to get this stuff in the fridge.  I’m so excited that I found fresh beef and Gulf shrimp as awesome as these,” Luke said as they all made their way inside the house.

At midnight, John and Gwen left, walking just down the street to their house.  Chris’s back yard connected with Caroline’s, so he didn’t have far to go when he left a few minutes later.  As he left, Caroline walked outside with him.

“Caroline.  I’m not going to lie to you; I have watched your brother… many times…” Chris said.  “But he is so much hotter in person.”

Caroline smiled.  “Then tomorrow, I’ll come up with something for you to do for the wedding that will give you a chance to get to know each other.”

“Oh, no,” Chris smiled.  “He’s WAY out of my league.”

“He’s so not,” Caroline told him as she gave him a hug and as he left for the night.  “Trust me!”

“For real!” he said as he smiled, saying a final goodbye before turning to walk toward the house that he’d rented for the year that he was working in Blakely.

“OK…” she said, smiling as she started cooking something in her head that would end up being as tasty as something would be on one of Luke’s plates.

Turning to walk inside a second later, she found Tom with everyone in the kitchen as Luke, finding inspiration with the shrimp and steak, was cooking up something at midnight for them to sample.

“So who else noticed the stiffy that Noah was sporting while Chris was here?” Caroline asked as everyone busted out with laughter.

“CAROLINE!” Noah blushed.

“I mean.  When you’ve got what you’ve got,” she joked, “it’s kind of hard not to!  It’s what made you a star, sweetie.”

“This isn’t happening!” he laughed in embarrassment, running his fingers through his hair.

“Seriously.  He thinks you’re hot, and…um… it’s obvious that you think the same thing about him,” Caroline told her brother.  “But that’s all I’m saying,” she threw up her arms as she sat with Katie and Caleb at the table. 

She changed the topic of conversation after planting that seed in his mind.  Chris was, in Noah’s opinion, very, very attractive.  He was average height, with an average build.  He had black hair that was clipped short and amazing brown eyes.  His smile was the most amazing thing about him, though.  There was something nice about him, something sweet; he was the kind of guy that, if Noah were looking to settle down, he would look toward. 

As he went to bed that night, his mind seemed to be occupied with thoughts of that man that he’d met earlier that evening.  At his house, Chris’s mind was occupied by thoughts of him.  Chris had found, in his years, that guys like Noah, with the body, the confidence, the personality, were stuck up.  They were concerned only with themselves, how they looked, who they hung out with.  Noah, though, was different.  It was obvious that he was related to his sister, for they shared the same, oddly sarcastic sense of humor.  He was well spoken, unlike a lot of guys that he knew.  Noah knew how to enunciate; he knew how to pronounce vowels and consonants that people from Blakely often left off.  He was sweet, speaking to him the same way Caroline had the first time they met, as if they’d known each other for ages.  He only hoped that Noah never noticed that he was, himself, excited for half the evening that he’d spent with them.

Noah was awoken early the next morning by the sounds of Luke banging around in the kitchen.  Caleb was working on the dress in one of the four bedrooms of the house that he’d occupied the night before.  After pulling himself from the bed and putting on a pair of gym shorts, he checked on Caleb, who was in the zone.  He walked down the hallway, stopping to pee, before going through the living room to the kitchen.  Luke, like him, was dressed in gym shorts, but he’d also put on a white, sleeveless shirt.  Gwen and Caroline were drinking tea, since coffee wasn’t permitted, in any way, in her house, just as it wasn’t at Noah’s.  Every time he’d move his arms, they’d make some comment about how he should it again, and he’d just smile, obliging them.

“So, Noah,” Caroline smiled.  “I need you to go take care of some things today, if you don’t mind.”

“OK…” Noah looked at her, quizzically, as he fixed himself a cup of tea.  “And how much time will these activities also involve Chris?”  Caroline just shrugged her shoulders, smiling as Gwen giggled.  “Y’all are too much!” he shook his head.  “That dude is way better of a guy than I am.”

“Puh-lease…” Luke chimed in.  “He’s as hot as you; he’s as smart as you.”

“He’s as nice as you…” Gwen added.

“And y’all look so cute standing next to each other,” Caroline added.

A little while later, Chris came walking across the yard and into Caroline’s house.  Noah was still standing there in just his gym shorts.  He wanted to look, to stare, because the man was fine, but he didn’t, forcing himself to focus on Caroline and the things that she needed done that day to get ready for the weekend.  After about a half hour, Noah left the kitchen to get dressed.  Caroline looked at him and smiled.

“It IS ok to take a breath,” she joked with Chris as Gwen and Luke smiled.

When Noah returned to the kitchen, he was dressed in a nice pair of shorts and a light blue polo that popped against his tan skin.  He thought he looked like crap, but Caleb had assured him that he hadn’t.  Chris thought that he was so fucking sexy that he had to consciously tell himself that this man, this god among men, was off limits to him.  Noah had it all, but Chris had nothing to offer, to bring to the proverbial table. 

“OK.  So here’s the list,” Caroline gave Noah a folded sheet of paper and some cash that he then put into his pocket.  “Y’all might have to go to Dothan for a couple of things, just to warn you,” she smiled.  Noah took the paper from his pocket and opened it up.

“Caroline… Seriously?!” he said as he handed Chris the note.  Chris chuckled as he shook his head.

“Yes.  Tom needs screws to fix part of the deck.  We need the leis for a party that Gwen and John are hosting for us tonight,” Caroline explained.

“I wanted the cocktail wienies to fix something with,” Luke chimed in.

“And the condoms are for me,” Caleb walked in, having heard the explanation of things as he walked across the living room for more tea.  “They’re in case I meet some hot redneck man that wants to try brown-boy for the first time,” he explained with a smile.

“Y’all are too much!” Noah said, looking at Chris.  “Man.  I want to apologize for my sister’s warped sense of humor.”

“It’s OK.  I’m used to it,” Chris smiled at Caroline as she winked at him.

“Y’all go,” Caroline stood, whisking them away.

“Bye!” Noah said, simultaneously.  They walked out of the kitchen and then out the back door.

“Tonight,” Caroline and Gwen agreed as they looked at each other.

“I say tomorrow,” Luke added as he walked over and sat at the table with them.

“Fuck all that,” Caleb loudly proclaimed.  “With the way they was looking at each other, I wouldn’t be surprised if they got home after having stopped along the way to do it in the truck.”  They all laughed as Noah and Chris climbed into the SUV that still had a bunch of their things in the back.

“So what do you say we go to Dothan first, get the stuff from over there, and then head back to Blakely to get the stuff here?” Noah suggested as he backed out of the drive.

“That sounds like a plan,” Chris nervously responded as Noah took a back road that he’d not used in ages to bypass Blakely’s small-town traffic.  In a very short time, they were crossing the state line and growing closer and closer to the morning’s destination. 

Between them, there was some small talk.  Noah made Chris laugh once or twice; Chris made Noah smile.  Both of them, for one reason or another, were skating around the fact that there was an attraction between them, even if it was just physical at that point.  They made it to Dothan, to a home improvement store to pick up a few things that were on the list.  Afterwards, they went to a party supply store and got the leis that Caroline and Gwen had requested.  While they were there, they picked up a few other little supplies that would be a little inside joke for them, including two plastic Viking helmets with long blond braids from either side.

Continuing to laugh about things as they paid and then walked outside, Noah finally went just beyond the surface of that about which they were both thinking, not realizing, of course, that he was doing it.  “So I think that I should wear the helmet, but no shirt.”

“Ooh…” Chris smiled.  “Please don’t… not when I’m drinking at least.”

“Why not?  It would be hilarious,” Noah said as they put the things in the back of the car.

“How honest can I be with you?” Chris said after they walked around to their respective sides of the SUV. 

“Total honesty would be appreciated,” Noah turned and cheesily grinned at him.

“OK.  You don’t need to go shirtless if I start drinking, because I might say something that would offend either you or Caroline, or your friends.”

“Unless you call me a shit-fucking faggot and then proceed to beat me with a broom stick, then I’m not offended.  I’m a Pisces,” Noah smiled.  “So tell me what might or might not happen.”

“I would flirt…”

“With who?”

“You… Luke… Caleb,” he added the other names to the list, to try to deflect what was going on in his mind.

“First… Luke would be flattered.  Second… Caleb would flirt back.  Third… Hell, I’d be flattered, and I’d flirt back!” Noah told him.

“Yeah… Whatever…” Chris said as they made it back onto the circle, headed toward Blakely.

“Whatever nothing… you’re hot as hell.”

“See.  Now I know you’re lying,” Chris joked.

“I swear I’m not!” Noah laughed.  “I don’t lie about stuff like that.  Ask Caleb and Luke.”  Noah appeared for a second like he was going to get serious.  “I don’t mean to sound… cocky or stuck on myself… but I know that I’m good looking, but I also know that when most guys come up to me, it’s Jesse Edwards that they want for the night, not Noah Barnes, if that makes any sense…”

“Oh!  It does.  Since I’m being honest, I am a paying member…” Chris told him.

“I’ll take care of that when we get back to Caroline’s,” Noah told him as they pulled off the circle and began their return to Blakely.

They got back to Caroline’s a little while later, knowing that they would all wonder what was in a black bag that Noah was obviously carrying to their room.  Chris joked with them all, saying that they found the only ‘Clone-a-dick’ kit that would accommodate Noah’s ample endowment.

They retired for the afternoon as they all had to finish getting ready for the evening’s festivities.  At seven, all the guests, as well as the guests of honor, were arriving at John and Gwen’s place for the party.  It went well, especially when Chris and Noah arrived a few minutes later than everyone else, wearing their helmets.  Noah had obliged Chris by wearing a shirt, but it had snap buttons and was a little tight.  Jokingly, he’d told Chris as they left to walk together, that it was in case he changed his mind.  He thanked Noah for the compromise, assuring him that he would let him know if it were necessary.

Late in the night, though, they both went to bed a little more frustrated than the night before.  Chris could only imagine, from what he’d seen in his past and in his present, what being with him would be like.  Noah, on the other hand, had no idea about Chris, and the thought of that, alone, was a very, very sexy one for him.

As everyone was running around getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, they didn’t have much time to just sit and chat.  Unlike the morning before, though, Noah was the first one up.  Pulling on a pair of running shorts and lacing around his feet a good pair of shoes, he walked out of Caroline’s house.  His mp3 player was strapped to his huge arm, and the ball cap that he always wore when he got the chance to run outside, was on his head, positioned so that it would keep the early morning sun out of his eyes.  After stretching, he turned to start running toward downtown. 

He got, a moment later, to the front of Chris’ house, only to find that he’d had the same thought. 

“You’re up early,” Noah said as Chris warmed up.

“As are you,” Chris noted.  “Nice shorts.”

“You wanna just skip the run and take them off of me?” Noah winked.

“Hell no,” Chris joked.  “I’m not sure that even the greatest porn star turned model that I know could keep up.”

“Is that a challenge or something?” Noah smiled.

“If you’re lucky,” Chris said as they turned down Chattahoochee Boulevard and went toward downtown.

By the time that they got to the Square, Chris was sweating, but Noah was just getting into the groove of things.  “You OK?” Noah turned to ask.

“Can we walk for a little while?” Chris asked.

“Sure,” Noah slowed.

“I’m sorry…” Chris started.  “I’ve just started running, and I’m not all that used to it.”

“OH!  Man, why didn’t you tell me,” I wouldn’t have brought you out this far.”

“No worries,” Chris smiled.  “Besides, it’s nice knowing that I could at least keep up with you for a little ways.”

“I’m impressed.  Have you ever had a chance to run on the beach?”

“Not yet.  Maybe in a few weeks, when I get some money saved, I can go to PCB for a few days,” Chris said.

“Or you could come to Miami,” Noah suggested.  “I mean, I know this guy that’s got an extra bedroom.  And you could stay as long as you wanted.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, and if I can swing it, I’ll get you to call him,” Chris said as they walked up to the gas station to get bottles of water. 

As they walked inside, the woman working the register looked at them funny.  Two half-naked guys stopping for anything was a little taboo in that town, even in the 21^st century.  Rather than running the two miles back to Caroline’s house, though, they slowly walked, joking with each other.

When they got back to Chris’ house, the two of them parted ways after walking around to the back of his house.

“So I’ll see you this evening?” Noah asked.

“Yep.  The dinner’s at seven, right?”

“Yeah,” Noah smiled.

“OK.  See you then.”

Walking inside, Chris walked through his kitchen and up a long flight of stairs to the second level of the small house.  He walked into his master bath, quickly stripped his body of its clothes and turned on the shower.  Before Noah even had time enough to walk into Caroline’s back door, he was standing beneath the flow of water, carnally enjoying himself with gusto.  A few minutes later, it ended, but he wasn’t relieved.  In just a day and half, it was almost as if Noah had ignited a fire within him.

As Noah got back to the place where he was staying, most everyone was up.  They weren’t surprised he was out of bed, but they were surprised that he’d worn shorts as tight as he had.  Runs usually didn’t ‘excite’ him as he was, but they all giggled as he said 'Morning' as he quickly walked through the living room, on his way to the bedroom just long enough to grab some clothes and go into the bathroom for a shower.

The day went along well, with the guys going into town that morning to get fitted for the tuxes they’d be wearing the next day, tuxes that they should have ordered the day before but were too busy to do so.  The guy working at H&H Menswear on the Square, though, didn’t mind.  As a self-professed ‘dirty old queen’, he didn’t mind the fact that three gorgeous men were in the store, flirting with him the whole time.

By the time they got back to Caroline’s, their tuxes in plastic bags on hangers, Tom’s family had arrived.  Gerald and Glen, along with Glen’s wife, Gail, had brought Ms. Ruby down from Birmingham.  It had been a while since she’d last seen Noah, and so she took a few minutes of his time just doting on him and telling him that if he were straight and she were three decades younger, they might have a chance.

Realizing that the minutes before dinner were quickly slipping away from him, Luke changed into his ‘cooking attire’ and headed downtown, with Caleb, to a small place on the Square called JanJan’s Café.  In the middle of lunch rush, the owner, a lady that he’d met at some conference named Janet, put him to work as her sous chef.  Since she was closing her restaurant for him that evening, it was only fair.  Caleb wasn’t given a free ride either, as Luke and Janet had him doing things to prepare for their small, seventy-five plate, three course meal. 

At two, Janet closed the restaurant, putting a sign out that apologized for any convenience to her regular patrons.  At four, all the prep work was done, and Luke, wanting everything to be perfect, had Janet’s sous chefs, who, for the evening, like Janet, were working for him, go through their tasks and stations for the evening.  He again prepped them on just how important both prep and presentation were for him, that night above any other.  As he told those people why he was doing it for them, a tear almost came to his eye.  With a smile, he apologized for it, with Caleb smiling at him.

At six, the kitchen staff really got started making things come together.  Janet, knowing that she understood things, told him to go back to Caroline’s, shower, and get changed into his presentation attire.  Luke was known among some circles of culinarians for what he wore when he presented.  He called ahead, and knowing that most everyone was at the rehearsal already, to find that he and Caleb would have both bathrooms at their place to get ready.  It didn’t take either of them very long, and by 6:30, they were flying back into the restaurant.  Janet joked when he walked into the kitchen, asking him to show some leg!

By 6:45, guests began arriving.  Caleb, with his natural effervescence, began talking to people whom he didn’t know from Adam.  When asked who he was, he smiled and, with pride, told them that he was the designer who had built Caroline’s wedding dress. 

At seven, with the rehearsal over, the parties left the church, arriving a few minutes later at JanJan’s Café.  Over the course of Noah’s life, that building right on the corner of the Square and one of the streets that shot away from it, had been a myriad of things.  He never expected, though, that someone would buy it and turn what had, at one point, been a very small department store, into a nice eatery.  It had dark purple walls, almost eggplant color, and all the tiles on both the floor and ceiling were black.  The tables, themselves stained to look almost ebony, were covered in white cloths.  The tall-backed chairs were still pushed in as people mingled around the place, sipping glasses of tea from heavy goblets.  Mounted to the ceiling was a projector, aimed at a screen that was lowered on the far side of the dining room from the entrance.

Noah only knew about half the people there, but they all knew who he was.  Caroline never stopped doting on her brother.  People that both she and Tom worked with or had known their entire lives, were coming up to him and congratulating him on the success that he’d earned.  One burly, redneck looking guy with an accent thicker than cold honey, even joked with him about how Caroline would tell anyone that she could find how proud she was that he was following his heart, doing things that made him happy.  It made him smile to know that the bond that the two of them had forged so long ago was just as strong then as it had been the day he was born. 

About fifteen minutes into their evening, Janet came out from the kitchen and announced that dinner would be served shortly.  With that, Caleb and Noah both made their way back to the kitchen, requesting a bottle of tequila from the bartender, dressed as the waiters were, in black pants and crisp white shirts.

Walking inside, Luke was inspecting each of the sixty plates that had been prepared for the first course.  With a towel, he was wiping the rims of the white plates.  In his mind, everything, especially that night, had to be perfect.

“LUKIE!” Caleb called as Luke turned and smiled.  The night that he’d opened his restaurant, they’d had him do a shot with him just before service.  As he never catered anything outside his restaurant, making that night a first for him, they smiled as he took the bottle that Noah had already opened, and quickly turned it up.

“Thank you!” he smiled as Noah and Caleb took turns doing the same.  “How does it look?  Think they’ll like it?” Luke asked the guys, both of whom knew Luke’s taste and the answers that he sought.

“Please.  They’re perfect as always,” Noah said as Caleb agreed.

“OK.  They can go out then,” Luke smiled.  “I gave Janet the DVD of your thing,” he told Noah, since there was no one around that was to know of the surprise that he’d prepared for his sister and future-brother-in-law.

“Cool.  Thank you,” Noah smiled.

“Now get outta the kitchen, cause I got work to do!” Luke shooed them away, using both of his muscular black arms to push them in the direction of the two-way double door.

As they walked out, people had already started taking their seats.  Caroline, as she always seemed to end up being, was moving from table to table, making sure that everyone was having a good time so far and promising them that the meal would be the best they’d ever had.  Noah and Caleb smiled as they took their seats next to Chris at a small table just off the main one, where Tom and Caroline were sitting alone, beside each other and against one of the side walls so that they could look out over the crowd.

A moment later, Luke came out of the kitchen and stood for a second at the side of Tom and Caroline’s table.  The crowd hushed and Caroline jolted across the room to take her seat next to Tom.  With a smile to them, Luke, dressed in a kilt, buckle shoes, and knee socks, because that was his thing, turned back to the group and started to speak.  He had a deep voice that resonated, like those of the men that he called more brothers than mere friends. 

“So, since Noah and I met, I have had the good fortune of getting to know Caroline and Tom, and I have grown to consider them family.  When we found out that they had decided to get married, I could think of no better gift to give them than using my skills as a chef and catering this dinner for them.  With the help of the proprietor of this establishment, a friend of mine who goes simply by Janet, we are able to bring you three courses that, I hope, they will enjoy.  The first course, which will be out in just a second, is a light Caesar salad with a parmesan crustini on top,” Luke said as the waiters began bringing out the trays and serving the guests.  Luke smiled again and returned to the kitchen to get the rest of the meal ready.

“If all his food is this good, I could so get fat!” Chris said as Noah and Caleb smiled.

“Actually, if you ate his food all the time, you’d probably lose weight,” Caleb explained.

“Yeah.  Luke does not believe in frying anything.  His ‘fried chicken’ is baked,” Noah explained.

“His ‘french fries’ are baked,” Caleb told him.  “All the good stuff, he makes healthy.”

“Right,” Noah smiled.

“Nice… So that’s how y’all can maintain bodies like you have,” Chris joked.

“That and he makes us meet him at the gym at six, six days a week!” Caleb joked.  “Eating good comes at a price, he always says.”  Caleb wasn’t as big as Noah or Luke, but he had a nice body molded by morning runs beneath a gracious covering of sun-kissed brown skin.

“So do y’all still live together?” Chris inquired, honestly.

“Nope,” Noah answered.

“Katie and I live in my condo,” Caleb explained, “but Noah and Luke have units in the same building.”

“Oh cool…” Chris said.  Within a moment, the conversation turned to something else as they continued on, enjoying their meal.

After their plates were removed and their glasses of tea refilled, Luke returned to the dining room, smiling at the guys as he returned to where he’d been earlier in the evening.  He introduced them to the main course of their meal that evening, a nice steak cooked medium.  On the rectangular plates, it was to the right.  On the left, was a single serving of mac and cheese, prepared with several different kinds of cheeses, all blended together and served with hand-made spaghetti-like pasta.  It wasn’t the traditional mac-n-cheese, but it was delightfully sinful, none the less.  Draped over it were the grilled asparagus pieces, in what Luke called ‘tee-pee style’. 

He returned to the kitchen to make sure that desert was perfect.  He gave everyone in the place enough time to eat their meal as he stood at the huge, industrial gas stove and prepared four sauces that would cover the individually prepared servings of New York-style cheese cake.  When they were ready, still hot, they were poured into one container for service into another.  The sauces in their final container, would be placed at the center of each of the tables.  The evening’s guests could enjoy their toppings as they wished.

The waiters started bringing in plates from the evening, Luke knew that it was time to start getting dessert ready.  As one group of the waiters started working on getting everything ready, another couple of people began to prepare the shots that would be served to end the meal.  Whereas most people would have toasted with champagne, Tom and Caroline, ever the ones to march to the beat of a different drummer, both preferred their fermented cactus juice to grapes.  Since there were no children at the evening’s festivities, they didn’t have to take into account that minors might get their hands on it.

Once the last of the plates were brought in, Luke leapt into action with dessert, having the waiters wait exactly two minutes before they began taking things out.  The first things were the sauces, which made Caroline smile.  There were four: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, vanilla, and caramel.  In a second, the cheesecakes were brought out and served.

“Guys.  Y’all can guess what this part is,” Luke said.  “So.  At the request of the Gentleman of Honor, I’m turning over the floor to him.  Noah…” Luke said as Noah stood and walked to the place beside the table.

“Everybody.  Before I start, let’s show our appreciation to the chef du cuisine, Luke McDaniel,” Noah said as they all clapped.  As a joke more than anything else, he stood and did a little curtsy.  Being as big and muscular as he was, everybody there found it hilariously funny.  He took Noah’s seat for a second, as Noah wasn’t planning on sitting through it.  Collecting his thoughts, Janet turned down the lights and started the projector. “So for weeks, Gwen, Gerald, Glen, and I have had this facebook conversation going in which it was decided that I would give the rehearsal toast to the couple.  Y’all… honestly… I’m not very good with words.  That’s why I do what I do… I don’t have to speak to crowds of people!” Noah joked.  “But I do have a creative bone or two in my body…” he got out as there were a couple of snickers from people and a hearty belly laugh from Tom, Gerald, and Glen.  “And so, I took some pictures of Caroline’s facebook, and put together a slide show for y’all.  It’s in two parts.  The first song says so gracefully what I wish I could say to Caroline and Tom right now.  The second part is a remade version of a song that is important to them.  So… I hope y’all enjoy it,” Noah said as Janet started the recording for him.

There was a black screen at first, and the music started to an ominous low rumbling, followed by a light chorus of bagpipes.  As if the music were floating on a peaceful morning fog, the orchestra started to play a song that Caroline recognized.  Noah moved to stand behind them.  As the vocals of Russell Watson’s version of “You Raise Me Up” came in, the pictures started as well.  The first few were from his early childhood, of him and Caroline in those first few years, when the fashion of the late 70s and early 80s made everyone laugh fondly.

The first chorus and second verse was when Tom was brought into the fold.  So many times, Caroline had called the two of them ‘her men’, and so, at every function, every gathering, every sweet moment between them, Caroline took a picture.  At his graduation party, Gwen took a picture of the three of them, Caroline and Tom standing on either side, where his parents should have been, beaming with pride.  In the final parts, pictures of their many, many voyages to Miami were there, including one that was the cover image for a facebook album called “My Guys”.  She had been crying since the first of it, but it was as she saw that picture that she realized the significance of the dessert sauces.  With that, she stood and moved over beside Noah, who was leaned on the wall behind them.  She wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulders.  He leaned his head over and rested it on hers through the rest of that part of the slideshow.

The second part started with text and dance music coming onto the screen.  “TO COUGAR AND DILF” the text read as there were a couple of laughs from all around the group.  A second later, pictures just of Tom and Caroline, from around the time they met to what was, for them, the present, were blasted across the screen DJ Sammy’s version of “Heaven” played.

Caroline looked at Gwen, who was smiling, and then at Tom, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.  While Noah didn’t know the exact meaning behind the song, he could remember one time, when the women had come to Miami because she and Tom were fighting, that it was that very song that had made her happy again, that had brought them back from the brink of oblivion so that they could enjoy that moment.  It was the original version of the song that, in the late 1980s, they’d turned up really loud so as not to alert the neighbors, through the thin walls, that they were doing it for the first time.  Everyone there, though, assumed that it was just a nice version of an amazing song. 

As it came to an end, waiters brought out shot glasses that the three of them had made and shipped to Janet weeks earlier.  Etched in glass was ‘Caroline and Tom – 13 June 2009’, and each could be taken away as a memento of the evening.  When everyone had one, they raised them up for the couple, shouting “Tom and Caroline!” as they took the shots down quickly.

As pleasantly as they’d arrived, the whole crowd left a little while later.  Rather than a bachelor party or a bachelorette party, though, they opted for a small gathering at their house.  When they got there, Noah, Caleb, and Luke went into their rooms to quickly change and get cleaned up.  Chris ran to his house and put on a pair of jeans before returning.  It was a grand affair at the upper-middle-class, four bedroom, two bathroom house with a nice deck and a huge back yard with only a couple of trees.  The guys, getting drunk and having a great time, kept everyone in stitches.

******* 

The next morning, though, they were all in a state of hangover that wasn’t going to be easily cured by tea and a light morning meal.  Tom, in fact, had consumed so much that evening that, for the first time since college, he spent most of the morning in the bathroom.  At Noon, she gave Luke and Chris the orders to make sure that Tom got to the church on time, kissing their cheeks as she left, with Noah and Caleb, to the church to get ready.  Gwen arrived a moment later, and they, along with Ms. Ruby and Gail, were off.  At three, Tom and his brothers were arriving at the church for pictures. 

At 3:30, late and explaining that it was the prerogative of the bride, Caroline came into the room wearing the sexiest gown that Tom had ever seen her wear.  It was simple, but yet spectacular because of her.  Colorwise, it was cream-colored, with straps that got narrower behind her neck.  It covered her front, but the back was open.  At the waist, it flowed out, but not too far.  Stopping just at the floor, they hid the shoes that she was wearing: a pair of sneakers that had been stained to exactly match the gown.  Her jet black hair, which was normally cut to around her shoulder blades, had been done up by the lady that usually cut her hair, under the advice and consent of Caleb.  Whereas the night before had been Luke’s chance to shine, this was his, and like Luke wanted the meal to be perfect, everything about the way that she looked was as if he’d created an angel when the fabric and threading all came together.

“Knock on wood!” Noah joked as Tom just shook his head, smiling as he punched Noah’s shoulder.

The photographer, a former student of Tom’s, took a thousand pictures over most of the two hours that had been allotted for pictures.  At 5:15, Caroline and Tom shared a sweet moment together, pecking each other on the lips.  The next time they saw each other, it would be as they were exchanging the vows that they’d written to each other.  The next time they would kiss would be after the minister declared them husband and wife.

The show was to start at exactly six in the evening, so guests started arriving around 5:30.  Caleb and Luke, serving as ushers, stood at the two side entrances into the sanctuary.  Inside, the sanctuary was divided into four sections.  Between the two on the right and left side, the paths between them was more narrow than the one that ran down the middle.  The wedding parties were the only ones that would be using that middle aisle, and as a result, Caleb and Luke, along with all the groomsmen were escorting people down the aisles to their seats.

“Bride’s or Groom’s side?” Caleb asked an older couple as they walked up to the church’s main, outside door. 

“Bride’s,” the old lady seemed to smile as Caleb took her arm, leading her down the way as the old man followed them.  They were placed toward the middle of bride’s section, right along the left-hand aisle.  A few minutes later, a portly man followed behind Caleb as his wife was on his arm.  When he got back to the back, he looked at Luke, who understood what he was trying to say with his eyes.

At 5:55, the side doors of the sanctuary were closed and the bridal party made its way to the lobby.  Gwen joked with Tom for a second, sending him and the minister into the lobby and sending Noah upstairs to happily perform one of his many duties that day.

“So you should convince Chris to go on vacation and fly back to Miami with y’all for a few days,” Caroline told him as he quietly slipped into the room.

“You’re getting married in like ten minutes, and you’re thinking about me?” Noah made a face as she looked in the mirror.

“And him,” she turned around and smiled.  Noah walked over and fixed the small veil hanging from the cream colored hat that she was wearing that day.  “At least think about it.”

“Yes ma’am,” Noah smiled.

“So I got you a gift,” Caroline said, almost nervously, as she walked over and handed him a gift bag.

“Caroline!  Why are you nervous?  Y’all did it the first time you met,” Noah joked with her.

“And almost every day since then!” she smiled.  “And I have no idea.”  Having learned from her how to be a gracious sibling, though, he wrapped his huge arms around her.  “You know that we almost got married in Miami at Christmas, right?”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  I wasn’t sure if you’d come home for it.”

“Like Blakely could keep me away from this day,” Noah said as they pulled away from each other.  “A pink hat that says ‘Man of Honor’,” Noah smiled as he pulled the pink hat from the blue bag.  “Fuck what Mom and Dad used to say,” Noah said as he pulled the flat billed hat on his hat, backwards and to the side.  “Look OK?” he asked as she laughed aloud.

“If Mom and Dad were here…” she smiled.

“They are… and Jimmy and Bethany.  I saw them come in,” Noah told her.

“OK.  Let’s go!” she smiled as Noah opened the door as she grabbed her flowers.

The two of them walked out of the second-floor prep room and downstairs to the lobby, decorated for the day.  “So how is this gonna work?” Luke asked.

“Dance like Noah!” Caroline told him as they all laughed.

“I’ve got rhythm,” Noah blasted Caleb and Luke, who were laughing the hardest.

“When you’re naked and there’s a camera on your nuts,” Caleb added.

“Cue the music,” Katie said as she shook her head.

Taking an idea from a video that she’d seen on youtube, Caroline had decided that her bridal march was going to be Chris Brown’s “Forever”.  Only those at the rehearsal the night before were privy to that, though. 

As soon as the song began playing through the speakers, the doors swung open and Caleb, Luke, and Chris entered, all wearing sexy sunglasses and dancing as dorkily as possibly.  Halfway down the aisle, Caleb broke out the Hustle, while Luke started with the Sprinkler.  It took them until the first chorus to reach their seats in the section reserved for family.  The whole place applauded them as they took their seats next to Ruby.  Gerald and Glen were the next to enter, doing their thing before taking their places next to Tom.  Gail and Gwen were the next to come in, having been instructed to wear black dresses of their choosing, something that they could wear somewhere else if they chose.  As they took their spots to the minister’s right, the Best Man, John entered, walking down the aisle alone as Katie shut the doors so that Noah and Caroline could take their place.  Watching as John and Tom shook hands and hugged, Katie noticed that the bridge was coming. 

In that song, at the bridge, the music slowed from its pulsing beats for a second.  When it did, she opened the doors and stepped out of the way so that Caroline and her escort to the altar, Noah, entered, arm in arm, walking almost traditionally down the way.  Marie just shook her head and said something under her breath as the four of them remained seated while all those around them stood, cheering and applauding for her.  As they got about halfway down, Tom stepped from the altar to meet his bride when she arrived.  By that time, though, the final chorus was starting.  Noah and Caroline, never to be outdone, gave the best cheesy dance performance as they made it the rest of the way down.

The rapturous applause and cheering gave them a second to get up to the altar together, and it gave Noah a moment to take his place.  “I like the hat,” Gwen winked and smiled at him as the applause died down and people were invited to sit. 

The ceremony was beautiful, perhaps the most traditional thing that the two of them would do together.  At the end, after the rings were exchanged and the vows were said, their minister, a nice, older gentleman who really did have a love for God and His word, pronounced them to be Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Eugene Bailey.  Hand-in-hand, and with smiles on their faces, they walked out of the chapel, followed by both parties.  There was no recessional music, just the applause as they all left.  Before any of them left, though, they waited for the ushers to escort Ruby out of the chapel.  The officiant then, with a smile, invited them all to the church’s social hall, where the bride and groom were providing refreshments.  With a crowd as large as the one that had come to see them, they had plenty of time to go upstairs, change, and get back down to the social hall before the party really got under way.

They were upstairs, in fact, when Noah stepped outside for a little bit of fresh air.  While he’d been paying attention to the ceremony, his thoughts had also been lingering a bit.  Of course, Chris was in them.  Noah had watched him the whole time as he sitting with Luke and Caleb as the three of them had a text conversation between them.  There were also thoughts of his parents, who were sitting to his right somewhere in the crowd.

Vividly, he could see, smell, taste, and hear the last time he’d seen them.  He’d told his parents that he was going to Caroline’s which wasn’t a lie.  What he neglected to tell them, though, was that his boyfriend was coming to visit and take him outside the city limits to a little place that they’d found one afternoon the previous summer.  The sex they’d experienced was phenomenal, and when he got back to Caroline’s, he walked with a swagger unlike any they’d seen before.

He hung around there for a bit until around ten, when he left Caroline and Tom’s house, the neighbor across the street was watching and quickly phoned Oscar and Marie.  When Noah got home, he was greeted by a blow to the face that knocked him to the ground.  Oscar quickly pulled off his belt and began swinging it at him as he shouted words that only racists and homophobes say.  When his mother arrived with her broom handle, he knew, in that moment that he was going to die that afternoon.  Crying, he prayed for an angel; he prayed to God to deliver him from the pain and suffering that he’d endured, but, in his mind, it never came.  Finally, Oscar and Marie took a breather, and Noah realized that God had been listening to his prayers.  He had a very small window, but it was a window.  He jumped off the floor and ran outside.

His heart was racing; his mind was garbled; he couldn’t seem to find the key that would start the green bean.  Just as he did, though, Oscar came out of the house with a pistol, aiming it toward the heavens.  More scared than he’d ever been, Noah gunned it and drove down the highway, away from town.

That night, he ended up in Panama City Beach.  Most of the night was spent on the beach itself, listening as the waves crashed against the shore.  The next morning, though, he woke up in his truck to the sound of a policeman tapping on the window.  Noah climbed up, raised his hands to show him that he wasn’t armed, and stepped from the truck.  The guy sat with him for a while, listening to his story.

“Do you have a place to go, kid?” he asked, about to offer him an apartment above his garage.

“Yeah…” Noah answered, thinking of the one place where he’d be safe: Caroline’s.  “My sister…”

“OK.  And have you eaten anything?”

“Not since lunch yesterday,” Noah answered.

“Come on.  I’ll get you some breakfast,” the officer said as he put Noah into the front seat of his car and drove him to a little pancake house on the strip.  Noah ate a ton, and as he was leaving, the man handed him two things.  The first was a $100 bill that he carried for emergencies; the second was a piece of paper with his phone number written on it.  The Samaritan proved in that moment that not all old, white people were racists and would hold his sexuality against him.  He had Noah follow him to a gas station just outside of town, filling up his tank for him before Noah headed up Highway 231 to Dothan.  From there, he crossed over to Blakely, arriving at his sister’s house just moments before they returned. 

As he thought about that day, he remembered that, in his wallet, was still the number of the man who’d helped him out.  He was old, though, almost too old to be a police officer anymore.  Looking around him, in the hours and minutes just before dusk, he realized that Blakely had changed.  His feelings growing up were that his parents had eyes and ears everywhere.  Everything he said or did would be reported back to them.  He had no freedom before, no dignity, nothing except for Caroline and Tom.  In that moment, he was free.  He was strong, and he didn’t give two shits what his parents, his brother, his nephew said about him.

As Chris walked back into the sanctuary for something, he noticed Noah standing on the front steps, looking out but at nothing in particular.

“Penny,” he said as he walked out.

“Huh?” Noah asked.

“Penny for your thoughts…” Chris smiled.

“Oh!” Noah smiled.  “I’m just thinking about how much Blakely has changed,” he answered honestly.

“Yeah.  It’s not a bad little town,” Chris said as he put his hands in his pockets.  Looking around, he admired the beauty, the serenity of that moment.  “So to my right is a rather portly man, smoking a cigarette,” Chris whispered.  “He keeps looking at us,” Chris said as Noah glanced out of the corner of his eye, using a technique that he’d learned long, long before in checking out the men.

“That would be my brother,” Noah said as he endeavored to ignore the man who had started to slowly walk toward them.

“You haven’t learned much, have ya?” Jimmy said to Noah, attempting to exert over Noah a power that he’d once had, a negative energy that Noah had lived without for over a decade.

“What do you want, Jimmy?” Noah asked, comfortable that he had the ability to do serious damage to his face if necessary.

“You’re supposed to take your hat off in a church, even a Lutheran one,” Jimmy said.  “And what kind of gay shit is wearing a pink hat anyway?”  Noah just shook his head and looked away from him.  “Why don’t you tell your little friend to go inside so that we can talk, mano-a-mano?”

“Are you referring to me?” Chris asked as Jimmy ignored him.  “OK.  Number 1,” Chris moved into his frame of vision so that there was no mistaking to whom he was talking.  “I am not… NOT… his little friend.  I am his boyfriend, and if you have a problem with that, take your fat ass inside and get some cake.”  Chris pointed to the direction from which he’d come.  “Number 2… if you ever refer to me as you just did again, I will show your face my little friend.”

“I was talking to Noah,” Jimmy said, slowly and deliberately.

“About me…” Chris returned, not budging an inch.

“You heard him,” Noah turned to look at Jimmy and smiled.

“You used to be in your right mind once,” Jimmy said as he took a puff of the cigarette and blew it in Chris’ face.  Having weathered such insults from his own family his entire life, Chris wasn’t moving.  “You’ll get yours one day, Noah, when you die from those AIDS you got or something from butt-fucking all those coloreds down in Miama…”

“That’s it,” Noah said as he took off the hat and had started to take off the jacket.

“Noah.  His ass ain’t worth a record,” Chris told him.

“Like hell it’s not,” Noah said as Chris stuck out his arm in an attempt to stop him.

Jimmy, realizing that he no longer had the upper hand when it came to Noah, stepped back.  Chris turned and blocked Noah.  “Look at me,” Chris told him.  Noah complied, looking into his light brown eyes as they popped next to his medium-brown skin.  “He’s not worth it,” Chris told him as Noah continued to gaze into that man’s soul. 

Jimmy made it around the corner as Noah started fuming.  As Noah put the jacket back on, Chris picked up the hat.  After a moment to cool down, Noah looked at Chris.

“After this is over, we’re going to get a hotel in Dothan and go clubbing.  Make sure you have enough clothes for that and for the flight back to Miami tomorrow,” Noah told him.

“I done told you,” Chris smiled.  “I’ll have to wait until after I get paid, and if I can afford it, I will grab a coach seat and come.”

“Number 1… You’re doing it.  Number 2… My man don’t fly coach!” Noah said, seriously, as Chris smiled.  A second later, the two of them entered through the main door of the church and walked around to the social hall, where Caroline and Tom had just arrived to yet another round of congratulatory applause.

As he put on his face, Noah couldn’t help but feel them staring at him.  As he turned around, he couldn’t see them, but he knew that they were still there, stuffing their faces with food that Caroline and Tom had bought for the people that had actually been invited to the party.  As Caroline found him for a couple of pictures, Chris, who shied away from all cameras, searched the room for Luke and Caleb.  They needed to know what had transpired outside, minus the detail about Chris calling himself Noah’s man.  Over the course of only a few minutes, Caroline figured it out, asking him if he could or would deny that something had been said.  He couldn’t lie, and he couldn’t deny that Jimmy had been an ass.

So with that, Caroline did what she always had done, went into ‘Noah’ mode.  Noah begged her not to ruin her day, but she just looked at him.  It was that look that told him, inaudibly, to stay out of her way, that she was bound and determined.  She walked first to Tom, whose blood pressure rose as she told him the story.  He grabbed John and “the Kids” a second later.

“No,” she said.  “I’ll take care of it.  Come on Noah”

“OK…” he complied as he followed her to the DJ station and then to the dancefloor.  As the song, Christina’s “Beautiful” began to play, she wrapped her arms around his waist.  At the first chorus, Noah reached his forehead down and placed it against hers. 

If there was a single person in the room that doubted the bond that the two of them had, they didn’t after that moment.  Caroline and Noah’s relationship had been forged from years of dealing with Oscar and Marie, as well as Jimmy.  In their adulthood, though, which both of them realized earlier than they should have because of their parents, they were the first people with whom the other would share secrets.  They could talk about nothing for hours on end, enjoying the sound of the other’s voice, but when it came time for the deeper conversations, they were equally as passionate about the other: just as brothers and sisters should be with each other.

Tom smiled at them, looking back at the rest of the Barnes family as they seemed, to finally understand, that they held no sway over either of them.  Their religion, all the hate that they’d broadcast on them, all the years of gladly pushing them away were finally beginning to weigh on them.  Chris, who adored Caroline and Tom for so many reasons himself, found himself falling for Noah right then.  He’d been a ‘fan’ of Noah’s for a long time; he’d fantasized about what it would be like to meet him, to experience him.  Finding out that he lived almost next door to his sister and had subbed for his brother-in-law for a year was amazing enough, but to see him, in that moment, far exceeded what he’d imagined experiencing him physically would be like.  Katie, from their moment, found a strength that she was still struggling with, just from looking at them.

It was her who, in that moment, walked over to the table.  “Dad… Mom… MeeMaw… Big Daddy… I think it’s time y’all left,” she told them as the song was coming to an end, with applause.  She got into a staring match with her father, but her aunt, who had been the first and only positive female influence in her life for a long time, had obviously rubbed off on her.  With that, Jimmy and Bethany stood.

“Come on, Mom and Dad,” he said as he helped his aging mother stand from the plastic folding chair in which she’d been sitting.  With as much attention as the crowd had on Caroline and Noah, only a handful of people noticed their departure.  Caroline and Noah were among them, though, feeling a weight lifted by the other.

They continued the party.  A little while later, Caroline and Tom were dancing their first dance as a married couple, to “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing.  Just afterwards, the limo that they would be taking to Albany to catch the first leg of their flight to their honeymoon destination, Buenos Aires, arrived.  As Caleb, Chris, and Katie, attached cans to the back of the limo, the driver grinned.  Luke wrote, in white shoe polish on the back window “FINALLY HITCHED!”, and Noah took a few minutes to blow up unlubricated condoms to attach to the antenna on the front of the car.

After a round of hugs, Caroline and Tom finally walked outside and saw the car.  In yet another non-traditional moment of that day, all the single ladies and unattached gay guys were invited to try for the bouquet.  A second later, Tom flung the garter belt to the single guys and gays.  Chris caught the bouquet; Noah got the garter belt.

After they left, the guys and Katie returned to Caroline and Tom’s house to pack their things.  Chris joked with them, helping them carry things out to the truck.  Gwen and John stopped a few minutes later to cry for a second and hug them all.  Gwen, along with Caroline, told Noah to take Chris to Miami with them and show him a good time.  He smiled, telling her that if he couldn’t do it alone, that Caleb and Luke would be there to help, as would Katie.  She smiled, hugging him again, and then, with John, scooting off to enjoy what was left of the day.

Returning inside the house, Noah looked at Chris.  “So are you ready?”

“Noah!”

“Ready for what?!” Caleb asked.

Noah smiled as Chris did.  “Seriously, pack a week’s worth of clothes.”

“Are you coming back to Miami with us?” Luke asked Chris as Noah winked at him.

Chris just smiled.  “If Noah gets his way…” he said as Noah gave him the puppy dog eyes that he’d learned to effectively use from Caroline, especially when she wanted something from Tom.

“Working?” Noah asked.

“You gotta come help me pack!” Chris gave in as Noah smiled.  The two of them left only to return an hour later with Noah carrying Chris’ bag.

They opted not to go out that evening, instead deciding to stay at Caroline’s house and have a good time just as they could.  The next morning, Noah woke up on the sofa, having given his bed, as a gentleman should, to the guest: Chris.  As they’d scheduled for their flight to leave in the afternoon, they had plenty of time to get the house cleaned up before departing.  The one lingering question on Chris’ mind, though, was how he was going to get home from the airport in either Dothan or Albany when he got home.  Noah assured him that Caroline wouldn’t mind coming to pick him up, as she’d want details anyway.

To be continued...

Posted: 07/04/14