The Gay Man's Matchmaker
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Romance › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
26
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3,442
Reviews:
18
Recommended:
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Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Romance › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
26
Views:
3,442
Reviews:
18
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Lauren was waiting for us outside the bridal shop when we arrived. Victoria still looked reluctant to intrude but I dragged her all the way over anyway. Of course, I’d already warned Lauren about Vic’s reservations, so she was prepared. She immediately grabbed Vic and pulled her into the dressing room to help her with the dress. I waited outside, like the good little wedding planner I was … okay, I eavesdropped, but hey! That’s me! You know what you’re getting into when you meet me. I don’t try to hide my mischievous streak!
“Are you sure I should be here?” I heard Vic ask. “I mean, we just met and all.”
“Are you kidding?” Lauren squeaked. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for Kee to bring an actual woman into the fold?”
“Huh?”
Yeah, huh? What’s she talking about? I know she complained here and there, but how is that MY fault? I’m not exactly the nicest person in the world. Why would anyone wait for me to bring a new friend home? Besides, I don’t radiate sunshine and light, you know!
“Look,” I heard Lauren sigh. And that meant truth time in Lauren-speak. “I have some female friends back home, but not many here.”
And I can vouch for that. Lauren works in one of those high-pressured, dog-eat-dog offices and the women there don’t socialize with each other. They live to plot against each other, though. I’ve told Lauren time and again that she can put her business degree to better use in a less stressful environment, and she said she will … after the wedding. She already had a job offer waiting for her, but she wanted to take her vacation time for her honeymoon first.
“Why’s that?” Vic asked her. “You seem sweet.”
“Thanks! I like to think so. But some of the native New York women seem to frown on ‘sweet’, if you know what I mean.”
“Eh,” Vic retorted. “They defrost eventually if you’re persistent.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Lauren replied diplomatically. “What do you think?”
“It looks gorgeous on you!” Vic gasped.
I decided that was my cue to horn in. “Hey, when can I see it?”
“No boys allowed!” Lauren laughed.
“I’m no boy!” I cried as I muscled my way in. “I’m a gay man!”
“I thought you frowned on stereotypes,” Vic teased with a smirk. She’s quick on the uptake! She was helping Lauren bustle the dress.
“Only when straight people make them.” I eyed her for a minute then. “And that means you, lady!”
“I’m bi,” she smirked again. “So, nyah!”
“You’re what?” Well knock me over with feather! She’s bi?!
“You heard her,” Lauren snorted, not in the least bit fazed. She was fluffing her skirt and peering at herself critically in the mirror.
“You are not!” I said to Vic.
“I am so!”
“I thought only Chris was,” I said as I scratched my head. Though, I guess it’s not so farfetched that she is, if she dated a bi guy. I don’t mind bisexuals. They just confuse the bejesus out of me. And we all know how I get when that happens!
“Chris is, too, but we both lean more towards same sex relationships.” She turned back to finish the bustle she’d been working on when I walked in. “That’s why we both had to leave Seattle.”
Hmm. More pieces to the puzzle. But since she and Lauren just met, I figured this might not be the appropriate time to pry into that whole story. I was determined to get the goods one of these days though. Don’t you worry!
“Well, it’s your families’ loss,” Lauren declared with a finality only she can manage to muster up for someone she’s barely met, and another someone she hasn’t met yet. “And my gain. Ooh! I needed another bridesmaid.”
Huh?! When was she going to let me in on that particular fact? “What?” I squawked my displeasure. “Why?” “Claudette’s husband was transferred to Hong Kong,” Lauren said with a wave of her small hand. “They leave in three weeks.”
“Why are you so calm?” I demanded as I prepared to propel myself into the stratosphere. This could not be helping my blood pressure. “This screws up the whole seating chart!”
“It does not!” she had the audacity to insist. Does she not remember the three and a half hours it took to get her side arranged alone?
“It does so! Claudette’s husband was supposed to be sitting at your great aunt May’s table to keep the peace!”
Lauren’s face fell as the news finally sunk in. “Oh no! That’s right! We have her sitting next to my cousin Helen!”
Yes, that’s right, we do! The very same cousin Helen that told great aunt May it was her fault that Helen’s daughter couldn’t dance, because she told the girl she was too fat for her leotards. Oh, the headaches we were braced for. But there really was nowhere else to put the two groups of relatives but the second bridal table. Lauren’s immediate family took up table 1 and if either were moved to a third table it would be considered an insult to either of them.
“Um, if I can make a suggestion?” she said softly.
We bothturned to her beseechingly. “First off, if you need another bridesmaid, I’d be happy to stand in, though are you sure you don’t have anyone else you know better?”
“No, I’m sure!” Lauren jumped in immediately. “And you look like you’re almost exactly the same size Claudette is so the dress shouldn’t need too much altering.”
“Okay,” Victoria reluctantly agreed. “And if you don’t mind having Chris come, he’s very well-versed in mediating family squabbles.”
“He is?” we both asked together hopefully.
“You should meet his family,” Victoria sighed sadly, shaking her head for effect. “On second thought, you don’t deserve the migraine.”
I got the feeling she meant that very sincerely. It wasn’t just a lighthearted joke. I thought again of the quiet guy my boyfriend worked with. I get the feeling he wasn’t always so subdued in the past, but a lot can happen to a person to change them, I guess. I don’t know why the two of them interested me so much. They just did. I wanted to help them integrate into their new hometown and make friends. This, as you know, is very unlike me. But what can I say! Sometimes I can be a softie. I saw that incredulous look, asshole!
At least these two hit it off pretty well. I told you they would! We spent an hour at the dress shop while one seamstress fitted Lauren and another measured and recorded Victoria’s figure for Claudette’s dress. I let Lauren take me and Vic to a nearby bakery for a coffee afterwards.
When the check came, it was like Clash of the Titans when Lauren insisted she was paying. She won, of course. But it looked to me like someone besting Vic in that department was rare. This should shape up to be an interesting friendship!
---------------------------------------
When I got home Joey was waiting for me, bouncing up and down like a kid. It seemed like he couldn’t get the news out fast enough, so, like a good boyfriend, I swatted him lightly over the head to calm him down. He barely blinked before he tackled me onto the couch and tickled me before sitting up and announcing that the condo we saw the day before had approved our application to move in. Now all we had to do was line up the mortgage!
“You’re serious?” I asked with huge eyes.
“Yeah! Isn’t it great?”
“Yeah!”
“Why do you look like that?” he asked suspiciously.
“No, it really is great!” I laughed. “But the board president who met with us seemed kind of … homophobic to me.”
Joey broke down into peals of laughter and I had to wait a few minutes for it to subside before he could talk again.
“He’s … he’s …” he sputtered.
“Yeah?” I groused, slowly getting pissed off now. “He’s what?”
“He’s been a gay rights activist for years,” he finally choked out. “You didn’t notice all those articles he had framed on the walls.”
“No. I just saw the way he sneered at me.”
“He wasn’t sneering.”
“He curled his lip!”
“I think you were imagining things,” he laughed.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and glared at him, which he promptly kissed off my face. Damn him! But I let him cover my face and neck with kisses.
“When can we move in?” I asked.
“As soon as the bank arranges the closing,” he grinned sexily down at me. “Then we can finally live together!”
“Finally?” I snorted. “We haven’t even been dating for a full year.”
“I’ve been waiting forever to live the life I’ve wanted with you,” he said seriously. “And now that it’s so close to coming true, I can’t wait!”
“Neither can I!” I grinned as he leaned in to kiss me properly.
Lauren was waiting for us outside the bridal shop when we arrived. Victoria still looked reluctant to intrude but I dragged her all the way over anyway. Of course, I’d already warned Lauren about Vic’s reservations, so she was prepared. She immediately grabbed Vic and pulled her into the dressing room to help her with the dress. I waited outside, like the good little wedding planner I was … okay, I eavesdropped, but hey! That’s me! You know what you’re getting into when you meet me. I don’t try to hide my mischievous streak!
“Are you sure I should be here?” I heard Vic ask. “I mean, we just met and all.”
“Are you kidding?” Lauren squeaked. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for Kee to bring an actual woman into the fold?”
“Huh?”
Yeah, huh? What’s she talking about? I know she complained here and there, but how is that MY fault? I’m not exactly the nicest person in the world. Why would anyone wait for me to bring a new friend home? Besides, I don’t radiate sunshine and light, you know!
“Look,” I heard Lauren sigh. And that meant truth time in Lauren-speak. “I have some female friends back home, but not many here.”
And I can vouch for that. Lauren works in one of those high-pressured, dog-eat-dog offices and the women there don’t socialize with each other. They live to plot against each other, though. I’ve told Lauren time and again that she can put her business degree to better use in a less stressful environment, and she said she will … after the wedding. She already had a job offer waiting for her, but she wanted to take her vacation time for her honeymoon first.
“Why’s that?” Vic asked her. “You seem sweet.”
“Thanks! I like to think so. But some of the native New York women seem to frown on ‘sweet’, if you know what I mean.”
“Eh,” Vic retorted. “They defrost eventually if you’re persistent.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Lauren replied diplomatically. “What do you think?”
“It looks gorgeous on you!” Vic gasped.
I decided that was my cue to horn in. “Hey, when can I see it?”
“No boys allowed!” Lauren laughed.
“I’m no boy!” I cried as I muscled my way in. “I’m a gay man!”
“I thought you frowned on stereotypes,” Vic teased with a smirk. She’s quick on the uptake! She was helping Lauren bustle the dress.
“Only when straight people make them.” I eyed her for a minute then. “And that means you, lady!”
“I’m bi,” she smirked again. “So, nyah!”
“You’re what?” Well knock me over with feather! She’s bi?!
“You heard her,” Lauren snorted, not in the least bit fazed. She was fluffing her skirt and peering at herself critically in the mirror.
“You are not!” I said to Vic.
“I am so!”
“I thought only Chris was,” I said as I scratched my head. Though, I guess it’s not so farfetched that she is, if she dated a bi guy. I don’t mind bisexuals. They just confuse the bejesus out of me. And we all know how I get when that happens!
“Chris is, too, but we both lean more towards same sex relationships.” She turned back to finish the bustle she’d been working on when I walked in. “That’s why we both had to leave Seattle.”
Hmm. More pieces to the puzzle. But since she and Lauren just met, I figured this might not be the appropriate time to pry into that whole story. I was determined to get the goods one of these days though. Don’t you worry!
“Well, it’s your families’ loss,” Lauren declared with a finality only she can manage to muster up for someone she’s barely met, and another someone she hasn’t met yet. “And my gain. Ooh! I needed another bridesmaid.”
Huh?! When was she going to let me in on that particular fact? “What?” I squawked my displeasure. “Why?” “Claudette’s husband was transferred to Hong Kong,” Lauren said with a wave of her small hand. “They leave in three weeks.”
“Why are you so calm?” I demanded as I prepared to propel myself into the stratosphere. This could not be helping my blood pressure. “This screws up the whole seating chart!”
“It does not!” she had the audacity to insist. Does she not remember the three and a half hours it took to get her side arranged alone?
“It does so! Claudette’s husband was supposed to be sitting at your great aunt May’s table to keep the peace!”
Lauren’s face fell as the news finally sunk in. “Oh no! That’s right! We have her sitting next to my cousin Helen!”
Yes, that’s right, we do! The very same cousin Helen that told great aunt May it was her fault that Helen’s daughter couldn’t dance, because she told the girl she was too fat for her leotards. Oh, the headaches we were braced for. But there really was nowhere else to put the two groups of relatives but the second bridal table. Lauren’s immediate family took up table 1 and if either were moved to a third table it would be considered an insult to either of them.
“Um, if I can make a suggestion?” she said softly.
We bothturned to her beseechingly. “First off, if you need another bridesmaid, I’d be happy to stand in, though are you sure you don’t have anyone else you know better?”
“No, I’m sure!” Lauren jumped in immediately. “And you look like you’re almost exactly the same size Claudette is so the dress shouldn’t need too much altering.”
“Okay,” Victoria reluctantly agreed. “And if you don’t mind having Chris come, he’s very well-versed in mediating family squabbles.”
“He is?” we both asked together hopefully.
“You should meet his family,” Victoria sighed sadly, shaking her head for effect. “On second thought, you don’t deserve the migraine.”
I got the feeling she meant that very sincerely. It wasn’t just a lighthearted joke. I thought again of the quiet guy my boyfriend worked with. I get the feeling he wasn’t always so subdued in the past, but a lot can happen to a person to change them, I guess. I don’t know why the two of them interested me so much. They just did. I wanted to help them integrate into their new hometown and make friends. This, as you know, is very unlike me. But what can I say! Sometimes I can be a softie. I saw that incredulous look, asshole!
At least these two hit it off pretty well. I told you they would! We spent an hour at the dress shop while one seamstress fitted Lauren and another measured and recorded Victoria’s figure for Claudette’s dress. I let Lauren take me and Vic to a nearby bakery for a coffee afterwards.
When the check came, it was like Clash of the Titans when Lauren insisted she was paying. She won, of course. But it looked to me like someone besting Vic in that department was rare. This should shape up to be an interesting friendship!
---------------------------------------
When I got home Joey was waiting for me, bouncing up and down like a kid. It seemed like he couldn’t get the news out fast enough, so, like a good boyfriend, I swatted him lightly over the head to calm him down. He barely blinked before he tackled me onto the couch and tickled me before sitting up and announcing that the condo we saw the day before had approved our application to move in. Now all we had to do was line up the mortgage!
“You’re serious?” I asked with huge eyes.
“Yeah! Isn’t it great?”
“Yeah!”
“Why do you look like that?” he asked suspiciously.
“No, it really is great!” I laughed. “But the board president who met with us seemed kind of … homophobic to me.”
Joey broke down into peals of laughter and I had to wait a few minutes for it to subside before he could talk again.
“He’s … he’s …” he sputtered.
“Yeah?” I groused, slowly getting pissed off now. “He’s what?”
“He’s been a gay rights activist for years,” he finally choked out. “You didn’t notice all those articles he had framed on the walls.”
“No. I just saw the way he sneered at me.”
“He wasn’t sneering.”
“He curled his lip!”
“I think you were imagining things,” he laughed.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and glared at him, which he promptly kissed off my face. Damn him! But I let him cover my face and neck with kisses.
“When can we move in?” I asked.
“As soon as the bank arranges the closing,” he grinned sexily down at me. “Then we can finally live together!”
“Finally?” I snorted. “We haven’t even been dating for a full year.”
“I’ve been waiting forever to live the life I’ve wanted with you,” he said seriously. “And now that it’s so close to coming true, I can’t wait!”
“Neither can I!” I grinned as he leaned in to kiss me properly.