Page 87 of Of Pranks and Passion

“Jefferson Memorial. Since I’m not family, I wasn’t allowed to ride with him, but I’m behind them. We’re maybe two minutes out.”

“I’m on my way.”

I ignored a few red lights to get to the hospital quickly, and Jayden looked a little pale by the time we arrived, but I needed to get to Gary. I left parking the car up to my brother and raced into the emergency room, looking around wildly for any sign of Gary.

“Can I help you?” a craggy charge nurse frowned at me from a desk nearby.

“I’m looking for Gary Nelson.”

“Are you family?” she said dubiously, studying me like I was some kind of criminal. I hated people like that and usually I’d say something, but I didn't have the patience right now.

“He’s my fiancé.”

She pursed her lips, but eventually nodded and waved her hand towards the curtained off beds behind her. “Bay three.”

Jogging around the desk, I went to the curtain with the big three painted onto the floor below it. When I poked my head past it, I let out a breath of relief. He was sitting in the middle of it, his legs crossed, and he didn’t look any worse for wear to me.

“Gary.”

He wrinkled his nose, embarrassed. “In my defense, I told them I was fine. I didn’t need to be here.”

The relief was dizzying. I marched straight over to his bed and pulled him into my arms. He buried his face against me with a sigh.

“What happened?”

“Remember that time I was asked to present in our History of Ethics course?”

“Yeah. You– Oh.” He almost passed out, he was so nervous. He ended up hyperventilating, and I had to take him out of the room. The professor only passed him because he said Gary pushed through until he couldn’t, and he admired his gumption.

“You don’t have to do anything that scares you. You know that, right?”

“So we can cancel the big wedding and elope instead? I’d be okay if it was just you and me.”

That made me smile, and I shifted so I was sitting next to him in the bed with him tucked up against my side. “If I thought we’d be able to do it and still humiliate your family into fucking off, I’d say yes. But this isn’t the same as last time. You won’t be up there alone. And I’ll hurt anyone who even looks at you wrong.”

He snickered, the sound muffled with his face pressed against me. After a few minutes of quiet, he sighed and straightened. “I thought it was standard, and I wouldn’t have to do anything but repeat the words said to me. Actually writing something heartfelt and saying it in front of literally hundreds of people, most of which I don’t know but are extremely rich and important to your family, sounds…terrifying.”

“Who said anything about heartfelt?”

If that was part of it, I would refuse outright. I told the wedding planner to leave the romantic shit to a minimum. It was a party. The ceremony part would be short and to the point. Then Gary and I would drink and eat cake and have fun. His family would be gone by that point anyway.

“Ben said it’s expected that we write our own vows.” He twisted his fingers and bit his lip in a nervous habit. “This is way bigger than I expected, Easton. I’m not sure I can do it.”

Pressing my lips together, I considered what to say to him. After more than half a year together, I knew Gary pretty well. Iknew how to handle it when his emotions got out of whack. But this was bigger than testing anxiety or talking to his roommate about moving in with me permanently. Gary hated being the center of attention. He could handle it when it was just me and sometimes with our friends, but he preferred to stay on the sidelines. I was asking a lot from him with this whole scheme.

“Does it help if I tell you I don’t give a shit about anyone’s opinion at the party?”

The flat look he gave me said no, it really didn’t. I snorted.

“Okay, look at it this way. Anything you say in your vows will be vastly better than mine. You know I don’t do that romantic stuff. I was probably going to make Jayden write them for me, because I have no idea where to start. You could say you only like me for my dick, and I’d still have worse vows than you. That’d actually be hilarious, so if that’s what you planned–”

He slapped his hands over my mouth to stop me, his shoulders shaking as he fought back laughter. “I’m not going to say that!”

I smiled behind his palms but didn’t make him move his hands. He looked less pale now, which was an improvement. Making him laugh was the best way to distract him most of the time. He did the same thing with me.

When he dropped his hands and sighed, I tipped my head to get him to look at me. “How about this? Let’s keep the show out of it. You write down whatever the hell you want, and if anyone has a problem with it, I’ll kick their ass. Deal?”

He twisted his mouth in a vain attempt to hide his smile and nodded once. “Deal.”

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