Chapter 11 #2
He was holding up his phone, as if he was recording us. “For crying out loud, Papa, you can’t just walk in like it was any other day. This is your wedding day, for fuck’s sake. You gotta do it proper or it’s bad luck.”
“Proper?” I asked, but then looked at Jasper, wearing his stunning purple suit, and looked to the doorway of our home. Our home. It dawned on me what he meant and I turned to face Jasper and held out my arms. “Shall we?”
Jasper looked at my arms and then met my gaze with a gleam in his eyes.
He answered by folding his arms around my neck, and I leaned down to hook an arm under his legs with my other wrapped around his waist for support.
The smile he wore was so wide and bright, it could have lit up a starless night.
“That’s what I’m talking about. I promised everyone I would send them the video.”
“Are you ready?” I asked Jasper.
“Yes. I think I am.”
I carried him across the threshold. An action that only took seconds, but felt like a big step.
Caught up in the moment, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips, as he inhaled sharply with surprise and tightened his hold on my neck.
His body felt so good in my arms. I almost didn’t want to set him down, but I couldn’t simply walk around, carrying him everywhere, that would be… weird, and quite inefficient.
Reluctantly, I lowered him back to standing, holding on to him to make sure he was stable on his feet.
His gaze met mine, and damn, he was so beautiful looking up at me like that.
This was it, though. This was where the fantasy ended.
Jasper was here, but he wasn’t mine. Not in that way, and that was okay. I think. Mostly.
“Here are your keys. Frankie cooked dinner and left instructions for you all to reheat it. Have a good night, you two,” Eduardo said with a teasing tone.
“Wait. You’re not staying?”
“Uh, that would be a negative. Consider family dinner canceled for today. Well, not canceled, but down-sized; party of two. Nicky and Noah are staying with Yahir tonight. Frankie’s got their own thing going on, and I have a shift later.
Feel free to lock the door, if you’d like, but no one is coming tonight. ”
Locking the door was a foreign concept, at least when I was at home. Even though they all had keys, I never locked it, leaving it available for any of them to come at any time. I always wanted them to have a safe place to land, no matter what kind of situation they found themselves in.
“Nicky has school tomorrow.”
Eduardo grinned. “Noah’s going to get her there. We’ve got it all handled. You don’t need to worry about us, Papa.”
I stepped toward him and gripped his shoulder. “I’ll always worry about you all.”
He bobbed his head. “I know, and that’s why we love you. Tonight is about you, though. It’s your wedding night, consider this your wedding present from us to you.”
Overcome with emotion, I pulled him into a tight embrace. “I love you, Eddie.”
“I love you, too, Papa. Now, go take care of your husband.” He pulled out of my arms and gave me a wink before waving to Jasper and leaving.
“It looks like it’s just us.”
“I wonder what they think we’re going to do,” Jasper said in an amused tone.
I shrugged, but felt my warming cheeks betray my effort for nonchalance. “I’m sure they have some ideas.”
Jasper let out a laugh as he flopped onto the couch and propped his feet up. He looked so comfortable I decided to join him. Almost immediately, Jasper scooted closer to me and leaned against my shoulder. He let out a soft sigh. “Today was a really good day.”
Resting my cheek against the top of his hair, my smile returned. “Yeah, it was.”
We sat in contented silence together, decompressing and processing everything that happened. And it was a lot. After a while, Jasper tilted his head up to look at me. “You know what I’d really like to do?”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
Jasper’s hand slid over the lapel of my suit, as he said in a sultry voice, “I think we should get out of these clothes and into something a little more… comfortable.”
My body tensed at the suggestion. No. It couldn’t be what it sounded like.
It was our wedding night but for our completely platonic wedding.
Completely platonic besides the world-tilting kisses we’d shared.
No. No. Fuck. What did I do? This wasn’t something we talked about.
Nobody was here, there was no show to put on.
I didn’t think I could separate whatever I was starting to feel for him and friendship if we crossed that line.
Jasper let out a loud laugh and got up from the couch, standing in front of me. He held his hands out. “Relax. I meant, like actual comfortable clothes. I need to unload the Jeep and bring all my stuff inside.”
I was such a fool, of course, that was what he meant. My panic started to subside with a hint of regret left behind. Regret I would have to simply tuck away, because I wasn’t going to ruin things with him. “Right. Good idea. It’s been a long time since I’ve worn a suit. It’s not my favorite.”
I took Jasper’s hands and let him pull me up. “I get it, me neither. But I gotta say, you wear one really well. I particularly love the tie, it’s adorable.”
“Thank you. It was a gift. I like your suit, though, it's very you. I’m surprised you were able to find something so perfect on such short notice.”
Jasper scoffed. “Oh, no, honey. I had this already. I was hoping to piss my parents off by wearing it to a formal event, but I have to say it took on a much greater purpose for today.”
The thought of him walking into a stuffy, fancy event, dressed to stand out against the crowd made me smile. I loved his spite-fueled fashion. “You used your power for good.”
Jasper laughed. “I’m keeping it, though. I may get another use out of it, you know, balance the scales. It can’t be all good.”
A laugh popped out of me, helping me shake off the tension from a moment ago. This… this I could do. Keep it light, keep it friendly.
“I’ll be right back. I just need to grab my overnight bag so I can change and then we can get to work. I hope you have plenty of room in your closet, because I did not pack light.”
“I think we’ll manage.” My closet always felt too big and I didn’t have that many clothes, so it had turned into a storage space.
Over the past few days, I worked on cleaning out the junk, or moving it to the spare room closet.
I knew clothes were important to Jasper and I wanted him to feel like this was his home and not like he was a guest.
When Jasper came back in with a large bag hooked on his shoulder, I had to chuckle at his “overnight bag.” It was probably bigger than any of the duffel bags I had tucked away.
Although I never traveled, so I didn’t have a reason to own luggage.
Leading him back to the bedroom, I showed him the closet and he let the bag fall to the ground as he stepped inside of it.
“Holy shit! It’s a walk-in closet!”
It wasn’t an entire room, but it had racks in a U-shape and there was enough space inside to stand comfortably between them without being squished. I pointed to the left side, where my clothes took up about two feet of space. “That’s all my stuff, so the rest of it is yours.”
Jasper turned around and leapt toward me. I caught him, wrapping my arms around his waist as he hugged my neck. “This is incredible! I was worried I’d have to keep a lot of my things in my apartment and go back and forth.”
I laughed, reveling in his joy, before setting his feet back down. “I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it. I’m already picturing what’s going to go where. I may need to get a shelf for shoes, but other than that, this is great. You’re sure you don’t need more space?”
I shook my head. “Nope. That’s everything I own that isn’t in a drawer.”
Jasper smirked. “Oh, you sweet farmboy. I’m going to take you shopping some time.”
“It’s really not necessary.”
Jasper waved his hand while walking around the closet, and looked over his shoulder. “It’s rarely necessary, but that doesn’t mean it’s not nice to get new things. Or old things. I’m not taking you to a department store, puke. We’ll hit up some thrift and vintage shops, get you something fun.”
“I have fun things.” I held out the tie I was still wearing. While it was in my hand, I decided I might as well take it off, since we were planning to get changed anyway.
“Here, allow me. And yes, you have fun things. I think, if anything, your wardrobe could use more bees.” Jasper came over and loosened the knot, sliding it off my neck, in a move that felt sweet and a little intimate.
Even if I still had his tie from last week in my pocket.
It was ridiculous, a silly attachment, but I liked having it with me.
When his fingers went to the button on my collar, they brushed against my throat, I held my breath, and tried to focus on what he’d been saying. “More bees, sure, yeah.”
I wasn’t sure how far he was going to take it, but he stopped at just the top-most button, letting me breathe once more. Relief filled me when Jasper winked at me and grabbed his bag, pulling shorts and a t-shirt out. Okay. Comfortable clothes, that would make it so much easier to think.
Soon, we were changed and brought all of his stuff in. Suitcases filled my room. Seeing his stuff in my room made my heart do weird things. Our room. I liked it, it made the space feel less empty.
Jasper put his hands on his hips and surveyed the room. “All right. Now that that’s done. What should we do?”
“Frankie left us food. We could eat and maybe watch a movie or something.”
Jasper beamed. “You know what? That sounds perfect. Happy wedding night, Gio.”
A smile pulled at my lips. It was still strange, but I appreciated the low-no pressure of a casual evening. “Happy wedding night.”
He leaned up and gave me a quick peck on my lips, before walking out of the bedroom.
It was probably the first friendly kiss we’d shared, because that was what it felt like, without any expectations of more.
An exchange between friends, not the ones that were wrapped up with emotion and want from earlier. I think I could get used to that.