Nik had never gone away with a guy before. Hell, he’d barely ever been away anywhere with anyone. The last time he remembered going anywhere was a class trip to the Jersey Shore in fifth grade. He’d somehow scraped together enough money carrying people’s groceries to pay for him and Rae to go. He’d gotten sunburned on that trip.
Las Vegas was different than he’d imagined, less glitzy and more just like Phoenix. Tiernan had pointed out the Strip as they flew in, but they hadn’t passed it in the car.
“Are we going to your parents’ house?” he asked, peering out the window at the houses they passed; identical to those they’d left behind in Phoenix, all beige adobe houses with rock lawns and an odd cactus or two.
Tiernan shook his head as they took a turn down an identical street. “I don’t think I could survive a whole weekend under their roof.”
Nik smiled. “Your parents sound worse than my brothers.”
Tiernan shot him a smile and pushed his hair back. “They’re really not that bad, some times. It’s just gonna be crazy and they’re probably pissed that I didn’t come for the rehearsal dinner yesterday.”
The way Tiernan talked about it, coming home was a chore, the wedding was a chore. Nik understood that. He had a voicemail on his phone from Andre that he hadn’t been able to bring himself to listen to. No doubt it would be a tirade on his irresponsibility. He didn’t need to hear that when he was supposed to be focusing on this trip, on the fact that he was here with Tiernan, alone, for a whole weekend. It was a big deal.
“I’m gonna meet your parents,” Nik said slowly as the thought dawned on him. He’d never met parents before. As a kid, most parents had pulled their kids away from him with warnings of unkempt children from the wrong side of town. Half of New York was the ‘wrong side’ so he didn’t really see how it mattered.
“Yeah.” Tiernan glanced at him, as though it wasn’t surprising at all.
“I,” he said, frowning as his heart rate beat faster, nervous now. “I’ve never met parents.”
“They’ll be too busy fussing over Ella to even notice,” Tiernan assured him. “Are you worried they won’t like you? Who wouldn’t like you? You’re adorable.”
Nik took offense to the adorable comment. He’d tried very hard not to look adorable throughout his life. Maybe if he got a tattoo on his face. It was just the fact that he was short that made people say that. Short and skinny and mussed all the time.
“Don’t tell anyone else I’m adorable.”
Tiernan laughed. “You’re totally hardcore,” he said instead. “You wear black in Arizona and take pictures of woodpeckers. Both kinds.”
“I’ve never taken a picture of your dick,” Nik said, but he felt better, more relaxed as Tiernan joked. He’d never felt this relaxed with anyone that wasn’t Rae. Usually it took months before he was comfortable with friends or teachers or bosses. Sometimes, he never was.
“Not even your own?”
Nik shook his head. “Never.” He didn’t have anyone to send them to, so what was the point? There was little skill in taking out your cock and taking a picture.
“Then I must teach you the subtle art of dick pics,” Tiernan said, completely serious, as they turned into a hotel parking lot. It wasn’t like the Strip hotels, glitzy and glamorous. It was just a normal boring chain hotel. Tiernan turned off the car and turned to Nik. “Great for sexting, which might be the only thing that keeps me sane during the Olympics.”
Nik shook his head but smiled to himself as Tiernan climbed out of the car. If Nik had his way, sexting wasn’t the only thing he’d see of Tiernan during the Olympics.
“We have a couple hours before the wedding,” Tiernan said as he grabbed bags out of the trunk. “Plenty of time for you to help me perfect lighting and composition.”
Tiernan pressed a quick kiss to his lips with a mischievous quirk to his eyebrow. Nik didn’t argue, grabbing his bag and following Tiernan, suppressing his smile as the lobby doors slid open automatically.
Nik wasn’t sure what he’d expected from a Vegas wedding. A chapel in a casino? The priest dressed as Elvis? It certainly wasn’t this.
A lush golf course spread out past the parking lot, with picture-perfect palm trees and gentle slopes down to sand pits and man-made lakes. The thick, heavy wooden doors to the Country Club were thrown wide open, a sign for the Pace-Avery wedding placed out front and wrapped with trailing white flowers.
Tiernan’s hand on his back guided him inside, and Nik tried not to fidget in the suit jacket Tiernan had gotten him. He’d opted for black jeans and the one button down shirt he owned. Tiernan had loaned him a tie and tied it for him with expert fingers. Nik hadn’t exactly been expecting a wedding when he’d packed for the summer. Even back home, he only owned one suit jacket, which he used for art shows and job interviews.
Nik could feel his heart beating faster as they entered the Club, air conditioning smacking him in the face, for which he was glad. It was boiling outside. He didn’t know anyone they passed, though a lot of them seemed to know Tiernan and greeted him like old friends. He didn’t know why he was nervous. Anxious, Rae would have said. You have anxiety issues, Nik. Like Nik wasn’t fully aware.
“Why don’t you find a seat,” Tiernan said as they reached the lavishly decorated room where the wedding was to take place. “I gotta find my parents. Prove I came.” He said it jokingly, but he frowned at the end. “I’ll be right back.” He pressed a kiss to Nik’s cheek, then he was gone.
Fully alone now, Nik stood at the entrance to the room. There was no indication if he was supposed to pick a side, and he didn’t know who was whose guest. A girl in a violet dress handed him a program as he stepped inside.
“Who are you with?” she asked with a bright smile.
“Um, E-Ella?” he said nervously.
“To the left,” she said, directing him with her whole hand.
Nik stared at the rows of chairs. Normally, he would have picked a seat at the very back, but this wasn’t his event. Tiernan would probably be expected to be near the front. He didn’t know who anyone was and avoided making eye contact as he sat down.
Edging past strangers, Nik picked a seat in the middle, more towards the front than he would have liked. Sitting down, he crumpled the program between his fingers and kept his eye on the door for Tiernan. His tie was too tight and he tugged at it, taking a breath.
He felt like everyone was watching him, though no one was. Tapping his foot, he kept craning back to the door, but Tiernan didn’t appear. The rest of the room filled quickly, people talking excitedly, girls comparing dresses. The color scheme seemed to be violet and cream, as far as Nik could tell from the random girls he caught sight of, all in the same violet dress.
“Hey.”
A voice at his elbow made Nik jump, but he let out a relieved breath as he saw Tiernan.
“Hey.”
“Come on. There are seats at the front for us.”
Nik wanted to say no, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t his wedding. Instead, he followed Tiernan down the row and up to the front where an older couple was already seated, looking like they were going to church. Tiernan’s parents, Nik guessed from the man’s hair, similar in color except for the gray streaks, and the woman’s small nose and green eyes that matched Tiernan’s exactly.
The woman’s mouth pursed together when she saw Nik and she looked at her husband instead as Tiernan paused before them.
“Mom, Dad, this is Nik,” he introduced them.
“Hello,” his dad said curtly while his mother said nothing.
“Er, hi,” Nik said, but Tiernan nudged him along, down to the next seat. As they sat down, Nik glanced over, but Tiernan’s mother appeared to be whispering furiously into his dad’s ear. “Is something wrong?” he asked Tiernan.
Tiernan’s face, usually bright and sunny, seemed tight and lined for a moment, but he shook his head and smiled. “Absolutely nothing.”
Nik wasn’t sure he believed him. He felt a chill in the way Tiernan’s mom glanced his way, reminiscent of the way Andre looked at him as though he were a stain on the family. Tiernan slid an arm around his shoulders. His dad got up and went to the back as Nik watched.
“Is your sister nervous?” he asked instead of drawing more attention to the way Tiernan’s mom shot him a frown. He would have thought Tiernan’s parents didn’t mind that Tiernan was gay. Tiernan had never said otherwise.
The room towered over them, a domed ceiling with translucent glass panels to let in the light. Each row of chairs was tied with more purple flowers. The whole thing was so elaborate, so expensive that it made Nik’s chest hurt to think of how much of his tuition this wedding could have paid for. He tugged at his tie again, shrinking down in his seat. He couldn’t help feeling out of place.
“She’s being an even bigger bitch than usual, so I’d say she’s terrified.”
“Was she at least happy to see you?” Nik knew if he went home, at least Rae would be glad to see him. Andre would just put him to work after a long bout of yelling about how he should have been there sooner.
Tiernan shrugged. “In her way.”
Nik opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but the music started then and he was forced to turn and watch the bridesmaids come up the aisle, a groomsman with each. He wondered why Tiernan wasn’t a groomsman. He’d never asked.
The wedding march started and everyone rose, turning to the back. Nik had never been to a wedding before, had never seen a bride come out of the back, accompanied by Tiernan’s father. The only thing Nik found himself thinking as he watched Ella step down the aisle was that despite how much this wedding probably cost, it really was beautiful.
Sunlight streamed into the reception hall through tall glass doors that stretched the entire span of the wall. They weren’t open, due to the fact that it was well over a hundred degrees outside, but with all the light, Nik felt like they might as well be outside. It was one of the most beautiful rooms he’d ever seen.
The tables were covered in cream tablecloths with purple flowers in clear vases on each, name places set delicately in each spot. Tiernan was momentarily corralled by yet more old friends to talk about the Olympics and his career. Nik lingered awkwardly by the wall, hoping no one would try to talk to him.
“Yeah, I leave in a week,” Tiernan was saying, glancing at his water glass. Nik bet he wished it was alcohol right now, and he smiled to himself at the thought. “It’s crazy. There’s still so much to do.”
A flurry of white caught Nik’s eye and before he could blink, Tiernan’s sister stood before him. She looked beautiful, her short blond hair pinned back with a purple flower under her veil. Her pure white dress flowed to the floor, backless and sparkling on the bodice. Nik didn’t know anything about wedding dresses, but he thought hers was nice. She looked so much like Tiernan, Nik wasn’t sure they weren’t twins too.
Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, though, when she faced him.
“You must be Nik,” she said, voice gracious and smooth, like maybe she’d practiced it. She grabbed two glasses of champagne off a tray as it passed and handed one to him.
“Thanks,” he said, taking the glass. “It was a beautiful wedding.” Nik wasn’t sure there was anything else to say about a wedding.
Ella smiled again, but still, it wasn’t quite genuine. “So you’re my brother’s date?”
Nik nodded, clutching the champagne glass and trying not to look around for Tiernan. He couldn’t help feeling uneasy at the way she cornered him. “Yeah.”
It wasn’t that Nik wasn’t used to the looks, the whispers about how he was different. Gay. Andre had done his best to point it out his whole life. In Chicago, no one cared at school. It was an art school. Half of the student body was gay or bi or trans. Maybe he’d been lulled into a false sense of security being away from home so long, around people who couldn’t care less about who he fucked, but that didn’t seem to be the case as Ella’s eyes rested on him.
“How long have you known him?”
“About a month.” Nik shifted his weight under her gaze, not accusatory, but not welcoming either. Tiernan had said she was high-strung, but Nik had figured he was exaggerating.
Ella clinked her own glass with her brand new wedding ring. “Did Tiernan introduce you to our parents yet?”
Oh God, Nik hoped she wasn’t about to do it again, so he took a quick gulp of the champagne, shocked at the sweetness he hadn’t been expecting. “Y-yeah,” he said quickly, praying she wouldn’t try. “Sort of. Wedding, they were busy, you know.”
He needed to stop talking, but her intimidating stare made his mouth keep moving until he clamped it shut.
For a long moment, Ella said nothing, eyes flicking over him as though trying to see what Tiernan saw in him. She didn’t appear to find it as she snapped her gaze up and put on another brief smile.
“Great,” she said, short and staccato. “Well, enjoy.”
She swept away before Nik could wrap his head around what had just happened. How could someone so blond be so terrifying? Nik drained his glass as Tiernan came up beside him, lacing their fingers together. Nik thought he caught sight of Tiernan’s mother frowning at them before hurrying in the opposite direction.
“Everything okay?” he asked, glancing around the room.
“Fine,” Nik said, gazing after Ella. She was laughing with some other guests now, her smile genuinely happy this time.
“Remember the plan,” Tiernan murmured in his ear as he steered him away from the wall. “A few minutes here. One abbreviated speech, then back to the hotel for a night of relaxation.”
Nik nodded, but as they turned away, he thought he caught Ella’s eyes on them, a twist to her lips that echoed the one her mother had had earlier. Nik didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all.