The Gay Man's Matchmaker

Chapter 19

I huffed and glared at the phone as I tried to get up the motivation to follow through on my promise to Joey. I should call the fucker, I told myself. If only just to tell him off for the way he threw our friendship away! Hey, I really didn’t get a chance to do it properly that night. I’m sorry, but I was too busy trying not to have a total mental breakdown as I was leaving! And I haven’t been back there more then the two trips it took me to clean out my things and move them to Lauren’s while she kept him out for most of the weekend after it happened.

He’d tried to call me a couple of times, but I’d changed my cell phone ring to the Death March for incoming calls from either of his numbers. Still, he had been my best friend for just about my entire life, and had gone to great lengths to protect me … from the same guys he’d ultimately sandbagged me with, of course. I seemed to be at war with myself over the issue, but I’m used to that shit.

I checked the clock again and noted that I still had an hour and a half to kill before I met Joey at some Mexican restaurant near his office. He said he wanted to introduce me to this new guy he was working with. Fucker just better be sure to keep his hands … and his eyes, for that matter … off my man! But I’ll deal with one complication at a time today. My blood pressure was high again. I could feel it. This is why I’d had to do an extra long yoga session that morning! Now why the fuck didn’t it take? I knew why. I didn’t get to meditate afterwards.

Damn it all! Adriana and her theatrics had demanded I come to the shoot an hour earlier than we’d scheduled. Though I have to say, the outcome of the day had been more than worth it! We were in the middle of a very heated disagreement over scheduling … again … when Gourmet’s new head of production stuck her head in the door – probably right after Adriana screeched that she would have her way on something around here and there was nothing I or my contract could do about it. I’m betting an earlier disagreement between the two of them had set Adriana’s prissy mood for the day.

Anyway, after a quick assessment of the situation and a look at the contract in question, Mary, the new boss who’d taken over for the old one Adriana screwed to get where she was, determined that, yes, I was right. I wasn’t required to do more than one shoot that day. Hey, I knew long before that I was meeting Joey later – and I hadn’t been able to spend as much time with him as I’d wanted this week because of a project he was working on. And that may be a matter I take up with this Chris dude later, I can tell you! Why would I have over scheduled myself?

Adriana tried to smooth things over like she usually did by claiming she’d scheduled me and I must have forgotten, but Mary wasn’t buying it. You see, Adriana had forgotten about a huge photo spread she was supposed to have taken care of two weeks beforehand. Well, that was all Mary needed to hear. She immediately called in Tina and Artie, told them they’d both been promoted and gave them Adriana’s files to straighten out. Then she called in security and directed them to escort Adriana out … and here’s the kicker! Wait for it! Wait for it! Out the back door! Can you believe that shit? Hey, she came in that way, she should leave the same way! I had to fight off hysterical laughter through the rest of the photo shoot. But I had someone to laugh with. Tina took over supervising and she’s just as big a fan of Adriana as I am. I can’t wait to tell Jenna tomorrow!

Anyway, I guess I couldn’t put this off forever, so I sighed dramatically and picked up the phone, dialing King Asshole’s work number. I so love to bother him at work! He has to be on his best behavior. Fucker!

“Tom McNeil,” he said distractedly as he answered the phone.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I replied icily. “I must have the wrong number.”

“Kee?!” Damn! He sounded hopeful! I had to do something about that.

“I was looking for the biggest asshole known to man. Know where I can find him?”

“Kee?” he whined. “I know I was wrong. Can you please let me apologize?”

I debated that in my mind for a minute or so, letting him stew on the other end of the line. But I had promised Joey so I knew I would let Tommy apologize in the end. However, that didn’t mean I had to make it easy on him.

“Well, you can try,” I muttered darkly.

“Thank you,” he sighed.

“That wasn’t a guarantee.”

I sat back against the small couch and waited for him to collect his thoughts. I believe I’ve mentioned he isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, right? One has to make allowances for oafs like him. Anyway, I picked up one of the carrot sticks I’d set out for my snack when I got home and began chomping away. If there’s one thing Tommy hates in this universe above all else, it’s someone chewing food in his ear. Ha! My day rocks when I can use a lifetime worth of history against my former best friend!

“Please stop,” he whined again.

“You’re a big baby,” I informed him as I swallowed. “Now start apologizing!”

“I am sorry!” he exclaimed. “I really believed Chris when he said Joe was just using you to collect on that old bet.”

“How exactly did you come to be in his company?” I hissed.

“Oh that.” I could almost hear the embarrassed blood flow into his pale white cheeks. “I, uh, I saw his name on that classmates dot com site and emailed him.”

“Why?”

“You know why!” he sighed. “I needed to know if Joey was using you.”

“And you expected that asshole to give you clean, unbiased advice on that?” Come on! I knew he was thick, but was he always that much of a jackass? How did we stay friends so long? “Especially given his track record?”

“I know, I know. It was asinine.”

“You don’t say?” I growled. I was quietly doing some deep breathing exercises to keep my heart rate from soaring. Just talking about that night seemed to put me immediately on edge.

“Have you meditated today?”

“Huh?” That threw me.

“The tone of your voice leads me to ask if you meditated,” he explained. “When you forget to do your exercises, your blood pressure goes up much quicker than it should.”

“I never knew you noticed,” I huffed.

“You’re my best friend,” he said softly. “Closer to a brother. Of course I noticed.”

That hit home. Neither one of us actually had a brother growing up, so I guess we kind of filled in for the other.

“Brothers don’t usually set each other up,” I said tentatively. “Except maybe on soap operas.”

“Yeah, I know. Lauren already read me the riot act over it.”

“As well she should have!”

“I really thought she was going to call off the wedding.”

“She almost did.” It slipped out before I could stop it.

“Huh?” he dumbly asked. “You mean she was going to dump me at lunch that day?”

“I don’t know if she was going to completely dump you. But she did mention she had second thoughts.”

“But she asked to move in with me?”

“Who do you think convinced her to move in with you?” I rolled my eyes, even if he couldn’t see them.

“You?”

“Of course me!”

“Thanks, bud,” I could hear the sicken smile spread across his face. “I don’t know if I could have kept her otherwise.”

“No kidding!” I sighed. “You certainly couldn’t have hooked her on your own, could you? You definitely couldn’t have kept her without me!”

“So I still have my best man?”

“Who else would want the job?”

-----------------------------------------------

The Mexican place was hopping when I got there. Wonderful Latin American beats thrummed through the stereo system and the restaurant was packed to capacity. There was even a large crowd outside the door waiting for tables to open up. Joey had text me a message earlier letting me know that he and Chris were seated at an outside table sharing a pitcher of sangria. The night was clear and warm – but not too warm. Just the way I liked it. I even felt a bounce in my step as I approached the table.

“Hey, babe!” Joey grinned at me, standing to let me pass to the inside seat beside him.

I sat down with a grin and kissed him briefly on the lips. Fuck homophobes! New York is a diverse city, damn you! I glanced across the table at the blonde haired guy sitting there looking awkward – like he didn’t seem to know what to do. I cocked my head to the side and studied him for a minute. Joey had mentioned he was bi, so I didn’t think the awkwardness stemmed from there.

“I’m Chris,” he murmured, holding out his hand to me.

“Kee.” I shook his hand and held it, feeling its soft and slightly limp hold. This was no macho guy, like my boyfriend. And yet, he wasn’t feminine, like … I hate to say it, since he is my friend now, but … Genie. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“You too,” he said seriously.

I pulled back my hand and gave him an encouraging smile. What the fuck are you looking doubtful for? I can be encouraging when I want to be! Anyway, he seemed startled at first then gave me a small smile back. Whatever this dude had recently been through – and Joey did mention something about him living with an ex-girlfriend and getting over an ex-boyfriend, so I can only imagine how complicated it all is – I could see that he was in no way looking to get his hands on my partner … which was good for both of us. But he looked like he could use a chuckle. So I decided to make him laugh. After we ordered our dinners and I asked for a glass to have some sangria, I regaled them with Adriana’s last stand. As I got through the story I noticed Chris relax a little more and even start to laugh at the good parts.

“So, let’s hear about you,” I said to him once the story was done and our nachos had arrived. “What brings you to our fair city?”

“Lots of things,” he sighed.

“Old flame?”

“At first,” he said reluctantly. “But now? I’d just like to start living my own life.”

Ah ha! I didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but I could relate. I also could tell he was uncomfortable with the subject and it was casting a cloud over the mood of our table. So I raised my glass of sangria and reached over to clink it against his. “Well, then, here’s to a new life!” I said.

He looked surprised again then gave me a small smile. “To a new life.”

“And to new friends!” Joey added, clinking Chris’ glass then mine.

“To new friends,” I laughed, taking a sip.

Why not? I could use some more not-so-straight friends, couldn’t I? Of course I could! Wait till I tell Tommy how well things are going. He’ll probably take the credit, knowing him. I have to think up something good for his bachelor party to disabuse him of that notion. I smirked to myself as I thought about it while Joey and Chris started to scarf down the nachos contentedly.