Riverside... The Weddings

by Heather Mar-Gerrison

  Jules grinned, “Who wants to go first?”

  With our hair, makeup and dresses perfected, we were all set. All we had to do now, was get through the next few days.

  Dylan was busy tapping away on his tablet, muttering to himself about caterers and all sorts of other things that he was no doubt stressing over but for us, at least, all the stress had been taken care of. Obviously, we had our vows to get right, but to be honest, I knew exactly what I wanted to say to Toby.

  Chapter 5 – Toby

  Being part of the Fletcher family, my brother and I were used to working hard – but also playing hard. It was something we felt quite confident that we had a pretty good balance of. I sometimes thought that Emilio put a little too much pressure on himself and his brother – but we managed to rein him in on occasion, too.

  Trey and I took our beautiful ladies out on date night, one night every week and this week, it happened to fall on a Friday – something that always seemed to make it that little bit more special.

  Luca and Sam had been together for a while and they often joined us on nights out but they were working tonight and were heading off but they’d come to find us first.

  They came into the lounge together, looking all excited, where we were waiting for our girls to get ready.

  “Hi, guys.” Sam said, “Remember me saying you were going to love all of my best man gifts?”

  We looked at each other in alarm and then back at Sam, “Yeah?” Trey said.

  His grin got wider, “Well, I promised you a full week of fabulousness and tonight that week starts. I, well, we,” he smiled at Luca, who beamed back at him, “got you tickets for tonight’s night out – accompanied by your lovely ladies, of course.” He looked at us, his eyes shining.

  “Oh, uh, th-thanks.” I said, taking the tickets from him, “Where are we going?”

  Chapter 6 – Trey

  Where were we going? Jeez. Just check the tickets, man! My brother was sometimes far too PC for his own good.

  I scowled at the ticket Sam had put in my hand, “Dude,” I whined, “Toby and I love you and Luca just the way you are – but our idea of a night out isn’t to watch a load of half-dressed twinks, pole-dancing on a platform.”

  Sam chuckled. Luca smiled, “I told you he’d say that.” he said.

  Sam nodded, “I know,” he said fondly, “I just wanted to hear him say it before I put him straight.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “I’ve always been straight.” I reminded him.

  He chuckled again, “Read the ticket again, dude.”

  I squinted at it, “Diamonds and Lace? Ohhh…” I tried my best to straighten my face into something that looked pleased. Diamonds and Lace was the restaurant-come-nightclub that they both worked at these days, in fact Luca was Peyton McKenzie’s head chef at his new venture and by all accounts it was a very popular, up-market place.

  Neither Toby nor I had never been but I was sure it was still crammed to the rafters with gay men. Why on earth was he sending us there with our fiancés?

  Sam nodded, a satisfied look on his face, “You see – it’s not Studs and Steel. It’s not full of gay guys – it’s just a regular restaurant-come-nightclub with a decent mix of men and women of all ages, shapes and sizes – and there isn’t a pole dancing podium in sight.”

  We both smiled at him in relief, “Cool.” I started.

  His smile turned evil, “but tonight’s entertainment is a drag dance act – they’ve come all the way from the USA and they’re apparently out of this world.” At our look of apprehension, his smile widened, “you’ll all love it. I guarantee it!”

  I held my hand up for a high five, and Sam, still laughing at me, slapped it. “So, you’re happy to go?”

  We looked at each other and then back at Sam, “Sure.” We said in unison.

  Chapter 7 – Clarissa

  “Oh my God!” I breathed, “isn’t that that guy off that show.” I was still normal enough to get excited when I saw a celebrity.

  Robyn looked at me with a bit of a frown; she clearly couldn’t see who I was looking at, “What guy?” she asked, “What show?”

  “Oh, God...” I racked my brains, Trey reckoned that Tom had fancied the pants off him a couple of years back, “Honeysuckle something or other... You know – the one that was really badly miscast as the chief of police in that movie he was in but weirdly it worked. Nathan something… Uh, Nathan McGallagher?” That wasn’t right but it was something like that.

  “Oh, Nathan McGregor.” She said knowledgeably, squinting in the direction of him. He stepped away from the bar and faced our way, “Yeah – looks like him.” She said disinterestedly.

  “Who’s the hottie?” I said nudging her arm, “I thought he was going out with that awful Patrick guy that was in the same show. Weren’t they known as something stupid like ‘Cowpat’ or something?”

  She grinned and nodded, “Patnat,” she corrected with a chuckle, “You don’t read the tabloids, do you?”

  I shrugged, wrinkling my nose, “Not really.” I acknowledged, “I never really get the time.” It was true; between running the pub and the restaurant, I found that any downtime I had, I wanted to spend with Trey.

  She nodded, “Yeah, me either – but Toby likes to read the papers over coffee in the morning – and ‘Patnat’ were over a few months ago. You can’t blame Nathan for breaking it off, either. I always knew Patrick was a sleaze; he was always sleeping with other guys behind Nathan’s back but just recently there’ve been allegations made about Patrick assaulting some young guy that was just starting out – it’s looking like it might go to court since a load of others have come out of the woodwork now to back up his claims. I’m glad Marc never allowed me to work for his studios. It looks like Nathan has moved on – and that guy looks kind of nice.”

  I smiled, “I never really liked that Patrick guy, either – he’s always had a sleazy, untrustworthy look about him. I’m glad Nathan’s got a new guy in his life. He looks like a keeper.”

  She snorted, “Why don’t you just go over there and tell them that?” she teased.

  Well, I might just do that... or not. He was on a date with a nice guy. They really didn’t need star-struck women fawning all over them…

  Just then the compere came on the stage to introduce the act, which was a bunch of fabulous drag queens from the US and all conversation was forgotten about as the show started.

  “Wow.” I breathed as they finished their routine. “That was amazing.”

  Trey nodded, his mouth hanging open, “Incredible.” He breathed, “Where the hell do they hide their junk?”

  Robyn laughed, “You don’t want to know.” She said, “I’ve met the blonde one before. Her name’s Delilah Devine and she’s gorgeous even without the wig. She’s a natural blonde and she’s adorable.”

  I grinned at her, “Why don’t you invite her to our table for a drink?”

  Robyn nodded, “I’ll do that.” she said, getting up, “Wait a moment.”

  She shot off in the direction of the stage and the next second, she was back, “She’ll come for a drink with us after she’s untucked herself.” She said knowledgeably.

  Trey looked mystified, “Untucked?” he said.

  I nodded, “Yeah, once she’s undressed, everything will naturally fall back into place.” I explained vaguely.

  Toby winced. I knew he knew what it meant but Trey was still completely bewildered. I’d let Toby explain it all to his brother later…

  Chapter 8 – Trey

  “I know it’s a bit gay...” Tom went red and shuffled his feet, “But with Sam saying that you didn’t want a traditional stag night…”

  Will put his hand on his husband’s shoulder and squeezed it. “It’s not gay, babe.” He murmured, “It’s just sentimental.”

  Tom gave him one of his looks, making Will chuckle, “Yeah, right.” He scoffed. He turned back to us, “With Mum and Dad gone and all the rest of us busy with babies, it occurred to me that yo
u had no one to pamper you, or to look after you when you got fall-down drunk on a couple of pints, so...”

  We stared at him as if he’d gone stark raving mad. Toby frowned, “Get to the point, man.” He whined making me chuckle.

  Tom grinned, “It’s a spa day.” He handed over the tickets, “Just go and have some time on your own. I know you two have always been inseparable and that’s totally cool. I just thought you could do with some down time together.”

  I took the tickets off him gleefully, “Oh, man! I’m gonna have facials and everything.”

  Tom chuckled, “Are you absolutely sure you’re straight, mate?” he asked.

  I nodded, “Absolutely positive.” I said with a massive grin, “I’m just in touch with my feminine side.”

  Toby grinned back at me, “But not as in touch with it as Delilah, huh?” he asked with a chuckle. “Your face when I told you what tucking was.” He snorted.

  “Fuck off.” I said with a frown, “How was I supposed to know they did that? I’ve never met a drag queen before.”

  Toby grinned at me, “You weren’t to know.” he said, “I only knew because Robyn told me.”

  I shook my head, “That’s dedication to your art.” I said admiringly, “And they all look so damned beautiful.”

  Toby nodded, “Yeah, Delilah was cool.” He said, “And the most beautiful.”

  Tom and Will had been interested to hear about Delilah – no surprises that they knew all about tucking – both of them had been to plenty of drag shows. It had to be a gay thing…

  “There’s nothing wrong with being in touch with your feminine side.” Toby said. Throwing an arm around Tom’s shoulder, he raised his eyebrows at him, “Are you two gonna come along?”

  Tom shook his head, “Nah,” he said, “This one is on us but we’ve got other stuff to do today. We’ll find something else nice to do. Just go and enjoy yourselves, okay?”

  Chapter 9 – Trey

  I made my way down the corridor to Toby’s room. I was still miffed that we weren’t sharing but I wasn’t going to make too much of a fuss. It really was time I grew out of wanting to spend all of my time with my brother but it was a hard habit to break when we’d always been together.

  I knocked on his door.

  His grinning face appeared almost immediately, “Ready?” I asked. He was dressed exactly the same as me, in a white, fluffy bathrobe. It was like looking in a mirror.

  He nodded, “Defo, bro’,” he said, “Let’s go.”

  We set off down towards the lifts. As the lift doors started to open, I looked up and was almost instantly rendered blind as a flash went off from inside the lift, “What the...?”

  Almost immediately, the person who’d just taken the photo was out of the lift and shoving an ancient-looking Dictaphone device under my nose, “Are you enjoying your pre-wedding treat?” the guy asked, his voice wavering nervously and sounding ever-so-slightly camp. I wondered briefly if he’d been sent by Sam and Luca until common sense took over and I realised we were being stalked by the paparazzi. Holy shit! We were being stalked!

  I frowned, “How did you get in here?” I growled.

  The guy’s eyes widened, “I...”

  “Call security,” I said to Toby who nodded and fished his mobile phone out of his robe pocket and pressed the call button for the security team. We were being very well looked after here and had been given all the numbers we might need. Neither of us ever imagined that we might actually need to call security, though. We really didn’t see ourselves as such hot celebrity property…

  “Oh, p-please don’t do that.” The young guy stuttered, looking utterly horrified that he might be in some sort of trouble, “This is my first celebrity assignment... I’m really sorry to pry.” He was obviously being totally genuine and my heart went out to him.

  Toby cut the call and turned towards him, “Who sent you?” he asked in a slightly more aggressive tone than usual, “You must know that we’ve got a contract with ‘Hello’ magazine and we’re not actually allowed to talk to anyone else about our wedding.”

  He nodded, visibly deflating before our eyes, “I know.’ He said, “I’m really sorry. I’ll just go – please don’t get me into trouble with the security team. I really don’t want to go to prison.”

  I chuckled, “I doubt you’ll go to prison, dude.” I said, “You’ll just be asked to leave the premises.”

  He nodded, “Probably.” He said, looking relieved. “And uh, thanks for being so reasonable.”

  I shrugged, “Meh, we’re pretty easy-going guys.”

  He nodded again, “Not everyone is.” He said, rolling his eyes in a slightly dramatic fashion. I was beginning to really like him. He reminded me strongly of Sam.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you, uh...?”

  “My name is Lewis,” He said, holding his hand out to shake mine, “Miller Lewis.”

  “Well, it was nice to meet you, Miller.” I said, “And who knows – we may meet again. Perhaps you could do an interview with us about the new series in the Autumn?”

  His eyes lit up, “Really?” he breathed, ‘You’re serious?”

  I shrugged, “Can’t see any reason why you couldn’t. What’s your mobile number? I’ll call you and arrange it.”

  Toby grinned and shook his head, “You’re a soft touch, Trey Fletcher,” he said as Miller made his escape.

  I nodded, “Yeah,” he said, “I know – I’m a sucker for a struggling artist – and you’ve gotta admit – he was cuter than cute.”

  Toby chuckled, “Come on.” He said, “Let’s go and get a massage.”

  Chapter 10 – Dylan

  I loved my job. Seriously – loved it. You might even say that I lived for it.

  Zoe, my best friend and business partner and I had transformed the business in the last eighteen months from a small concern to something amazing and it was all thanks to celebrities like Robyn Reece for choosing us to do a good job.

  Zoe was concentrating more on the wedding dress side of things these days and I couldn’t blame her. The brides were far less ‘bridezilla’ when they were choosing their dresses than deciding upon what the menu was going to be and how big a cake they needed – and don’t even get me started on the venues…

  The only thing missing from my life was someone to share all my experiences with. I was amazing at making other people’s dreams come true but finding my own man? Well, let me tell you that my chances were less than zero – and I totally knew why, too. I was pretty much married to my job – and whenever I did meet a guy, they turned out to be frogs instead of princes...

  Still, I wasn’t old yet. Twenty-four next month. Yikes. The teensiest flare of panic deep down inside threatened to have me running for the toilet but I put that down to the caterers running slightly late as opposed to worrying that my Mr Right was never going to turn up. Call me paranoid by all means…

  I checked my schedule. I had a meeting in half an hour with Lucy Richards, the liaison officer that was being sent from Hello magazine. It was all very well doing these big celebrity weddings – and the money from them was phenomenal but I swear I was going to be grey, or worse – bald – by the time I was thirty from all the stress.

  I looked up as I heard voices and footsteps. It was Robyn and her sister, Clarissa. Both of them had flawless complexions and were stunningly pretty. I smiled, “Hello, ladies.” I said, “what can I do for you?”

  Robyn smiled, “Nothing at all.” She said, “We just wondered if you wanted to come over to the house and have a hot chocolate and a brownie?”

  My mouth watered. This family was perfect. They were everything I wanted in life. All of them were blissfully happy and most of them were in love.

  The only ones who weren’t, were the kids… Oh, and the grumpy bastard, Emilio. I did my best to keep away from him. He was always angry about something. His brother, in total contrast, always seemed to be perfectly happy – but I guess that was down to the fact that he had Sam, his very
beautiful boyfriend.

  I sighed. One day. One day all this might happen for me…

  Chapter 11 – Toby

  At last the day had arrived. Our wedding day. I was so excited I hadn’t been able to sleep a wink the night before – and Trey had been just as bad. We’d spent half the night whispering and giggling with each other the way we used to do when we were kids.

  We were, therefore, a little bleary eyed at breakfast, which was stressing out our wedding planner, Dylan, no end.

  “Oh, my God!” he shrieked when we stumbled into the kitchen, scratching our chests, farting (that was Trey, not me) and yawning. “What the hell happened? You went to bed looking beautiful last night!”

  I shrugged, “Couldn’t sleep.” I said with another yawn, “So we talked all night.”

  He shook his head, “Well,” he huffed, “It’s a good job I have excellent make up skills.”

  I grinned and ruffled his hair, “Oh, Dylan.” I said fondly, “I’m really going to miss you when you leave us.”

  He smiled, “I’m going to miss you guys, too.” He said mistily, “Now let’s do something about that luggage beneath your eyes.”

  He grabbed hold of my hair and yanked my head back.

  “Steady on!” I gasped, “I’m sensitive you know.”

  Dylan chuckled, “Yeah, sure you are.” He said, “About as sensitive as a teaspoon.”

  Trey grinned, “And I bruise like a peach – just so you know.” He quipped.

  Dylan raised an eyebrow, “Is he always like this?” he asked.

  I nodded, “Totally.” I agreed.

  An hour later, Dylan had worked his magic and the pair of us looked like something out of vogue. He was incredibly talented. You really wouldn’t have any idea that either of us was wearing make-up and yet our skin appeared as flawless as his.