Chapter 99
“How was the party? And why Hooters?”
“It was great. No gay bars, or dance clubs for us. Just good old-fashioned conversation. Just bros talking about football, basketball.”
“What’s that?” asked Pad
“Funny,” laughed RJ. He slapped his hand on Pad’s shoulder then squeezed it. “I think we were hungry for the wings. Plus, it’s something different.”
Chaz nodded. “Bromos’ night out for sure. Of course it almost got into a shouting match when RJ confronted Liam about kissing you Pad.”
Pad looked up at the rearview mirror at Chaz who stared out the window as the car headed off. “That was over two weeks ago. That’s got no effect on what happens on July seven.”
RJ laughed. “Yeah, easy for you to say. What if you find out I was kissing guys all over town, what would you do?”
“I wouldn’t be happy,” said Pad. “The kiss didn’t do anything for Liam or me.”
“Obviously, he was all over his cop, when they were here,” bellowed Chaz.
“Did you hear from Ann, Chaz?” asked Pad.
“Yeah. Her plane landed in LAX and she’s got a two hour layover before she’s bound for Bangkok.”
RJ turned to the back seat. “Buddy. You should go be with Ann. I’ll have Liam fill in as best man. I’ve got time to make changes to the program.”
Chaz waved his idea off. “Ann said she’s nervous enough and me being there, pacing would drive her crazy. Plus she thinks that I might fall into old habits and hit all the bars at Patpong.” Chaz yawned, and placed his head against the window. “Wake me up when I’m at my house.”
“Thanks for picking me up, babe.”
Pad smiled and moved closer when he saw RJ came in for a kiss. The kiss was quick, symbolic. RJ didn’t talk for the next few minutes and Pad turned on the music as both RJ and Chaz fell asleep. The music provided a slight distraction. It took him fifteen minutes to get to where Charles Wolfson made his home with Ann. He left RJ in the car, took the keys and walked with Chaz to his door. When Chaz stepped in and disconnected the alarm, they fist-bumped again.
“Chaz, really if you want to go to Bangkok, then don’t worry about our wedding.”
“Come here. I’ll try not to squeeze you too hard this time. The fist bumps are cool but Chaz needs a hug.”
Pad and Chaz embraced. He could smell the beer that Chaz had spilled on his shirt and luckily this time Chaz didn’t squeeze the air out of him.
“Ann’s going to be surrounded by her family she hasn’t seen in a couple of years. It’ll keep her distracted. Your wedding to my best friend will keep me occupied. So I’m glad to be RJ’s best man. I want to be there for him. And Ann wants me to see her as the person she’s always believed she was so this is how she wants to do it. She doesn’t want me pacing at the hospital and harassing the doctors in Thailand so it’s all good, Pad.”
“Okay,” whispered Pad. Chaz squeezed his arms and Pad grunted then tried to recover his breathing from his lungs being crushed. He turned and walked back to the car, and when he got to the driver’s side. He waved goodnight to Chaz. Chaz waved back and turned off the front door lights.
“You didn’t want to say goodnight to Chaz?”
“I can say it from the car with my middle finger.”
“Nice. How drunk are you?”
“I’ll show you when I get home.”
“Great. You’re drunk. Probably had two pitchers of beer just by yourself trying to beat Chaz’s three pitchers of beer. You aren’t frat boys anymore.”
“Pretty soon, I’ll be a married ex-frat boy.”
Pad took the car keys and before he turned on the ignition, RJ grabbed his hand. “I can’t wait to get home. I’m horny as fuck.” RJ leaned his seat back and unbuckled his pants then undid his zipper. He opened the fly and turned to Pad.
Pad double-checked to make sure that Chaz’s porch light was out before he said anything. “Here?”
“Here.”
“Yeah, you’re acting like a frat boy alright.” Pad looked around the neighborhood. Other than frogs and crickets that he heard from the nearby Econolatchee Trail, the subdivision was surprisingly quiet. He doubted anyone would suspect anything would be happening in a Yaris on a driveway in this Florida neighborhood. Pad had to admit the risk of being caught turned him on. And he also had to admit he was horny himself with RJ’s aggression.