by Ally Decker
"So, details?"
He shook his head. "I don't kiss and tell."
"Spoilsport," she muttered, but finally let him be, and Charlie relaxed fully, letting the sun do its magic. He thought about how when he'd been a kid at camp, this was what he wanted—the whole camp romance experience, up and including gossiping about it with his friends. But back then, gay boys didn't get to have that, even in a theatre geek heaven. Or at least he hadn't. Maybe there were gay men out there who had been lucky enough to have that in their youth.
He hoped there were.
And while his idea of a camp romance hadn't changed all that much as he got older, it didn't include sharing the dirty details with the spellbound audience. Especially since they were pretty dirty.
He smiled at the memory of the blowjob Kevin had given him before they left the bed earlier. That definitely deserved a reward, or at least returning the favor, say…tomorrow morning.
"Hey, you." Kevin's voice was suddenly right there, and Charlie startled, opening his eyes to see him crouching by his lounge chair with a wide smile and crinkles in the corners of his eyes.
Charlie's heart made a valiant effort to break out from behind his ribs.
Oh, boy.
"Hey," he said, praying his voice would come out steady. "Greg's done with the internet?"
"God, no." Kevin chuckled. "But I left him in my cabin and came to find you. Apparently we can take a kayak out to the lake. What do you say? Up for a little exercise?"
Charlie heard Tara choke on air behind him, but he ignored her. Did he want more alone time with Kevin? Hell yes, he did.
"Sure. Now?"
"I think now's the best." Kevin nodded. "Greg told me that improv session would be sometime in the late afternoon, so if we go now, we can get back in time."
Charlie wanted to tell him that they could totally skip the improv and he'd be happy, but he was too aware of Tara behind him. "Great. Let's go."
***
"God, it's so quiet here," Charlie whispered, not sure if he wanted to break the spell, but not able to stay silent any longer.
Kevin, sitting in front of him, turned his head half-way. "It's weird, right?"
"Yes!" The wind in the trees, the repetitive sound of paddles hitting water, a bird in the distance—all of it was fine, in theory, but… "Maybe sounds of nature are only soothing when you're listening to them, you know, in the city?"
"I don't know, I've never tried." Kevin shrugged. "I think my sister bought me one of those CDs after I came back from Afghanistan, but I've never listened to it. The herbal tea she gave me with it worked great, though. I still drink it."
Charlie stared at the back of Kevin's head. Should he ask about Afghanistan? Maybe it was fine, since Kevin brought it up himself, but maybe it wasn't. Not now, he finally decided. Hopefully, he'd get to learn more about Kevin's past, but there was no hurry.
"I tried it before an opening night once or twice, and it didn't help with the jitters at all," he said instead. "But to be fair, nothing calms me down before opening nights."
"What about sex?"
Charlie didn't need to see Kevin's face to know he was smirking.
"Being a nervous wreck doesn't make one particularly horny."
Kevin chuckled. "We would all be virgins our whole lives if that were true."
Charlie groaned. "Oh God, don't remind me."
"What, your first time?" Kevin half-turned his head again. "Just how bad was it?"
How did they go from sounds of nature to this? Their conversations could take a weird turn sometimes. "The worst."
"Well, obviously." Kevin nodded. "That just means you got better. No one's perfect their first time."
Charlie thought he'd been horrible—especially at the part where he'd freaked out that his parents would come back from work early, so he'd basically kicked his then-boyfriend, Milo, out right after—but he wasn't going to argue with Kevin.
Besides, he had gotten better.
"Are you still in Illuminations or are you doing something else?" Kevin asked, and Charlie grabbed the change of subject with both hands.
"Something else." He hit the water too hard and grimaced, readjusting his paddle. "It's a new show, Joyride, and we're opening in October, with early previews in September."
"Perfect time to try out a new relaxing technique, then."
"Maybe it is," Charlie said, staring at the back of Kevin's head again. Should he take it as an offer? Did Kevin see them still together in October?
Charlie knew he moved too fast, thinking about this stuff, but he couldn't really stop himself. Once they'd kissed, he was all in. He wished he knew where Kevin stood.
"You were amazing in Illuminations, by the way," Kevin said after a stretch of silence.
Charlie paused moving his paddle and stared at Kevin's back. He didn't expect that. "You saw it?"
"Of course I saw it. It was back when Greg was in it, and Sylvia made us all go." Kevin paused and sent Charlie apologetic look over his shoulder. "Sorry, it came out bad. I wasn't convinced it was a good fit, but I went and had a great time. And as I said, you were amazing in it."
Charlie didn't even try to contain his smile. He was pretty sure he was blushing a bit, too, but at least Kevin didn't see that. Over the years as an actor, he'd gotten better at receiving compliments, but this was different. "Thank you."
In many ways, those few weeks after he'd gone from the understudy to the lead had been his favorite during his entire run in Illuminations. The joy of finally being the official lead actor and the fact that Greg had been there, playing opposite him, helped create a feeling of synergy and flow every actor longed for, but didn't get all that often.
He could only hope his next project would bring him that, as well. He didn't want to think about it now, though.
He decided to tease Kevin instead. "Sylvia made you all go, huh?"
"You have to understand that if she'd had her way back then, we'd all be going to the theatre at least once a week." Kevin shook his head. "But yeah, she insisted we saw this one. And when she came at us with free tickets, we couldn't exactly refuse."
"Oh, I see how it is. Free stuff was what convinced you."
"We made a company night out of it. Dean was, surprisingly, the most enthusiastic. He rarely went out anywhere back then, but he was all for it. Shawn loves a night out, so he didn't mind. Nate was the one who was dragging his feet, but by then, Sylvia and Greg were dating for real, so I'm pretty sure he agreed mostly to do his overprotective thing."
Charlie snorted. "I heard something about that." Nate seemed like a cool guy, but both Greg and Sylvia had quite a few stories of that overprotective older brother shtick.
"Yeah. He mellowed down some, at least partially because of Claire, but Sylvia will always be his red hot button, I think."
"The times I'm glad I'm an only child."
"I know, right? Me, too. Although I got Nate-ed a few time in the past. At one time, he'd decided that I'm not sleeping enough because of the long hours at work, and he made it a rule I have to leave the office by nine."
Nine still seemed late to Charlie for an office job, but what did he know? He was rarely at home before eleven at night.
"I'm sensing it's not the end of the story."
"Oh no. I couldn't exactly tell him where to stick it, we weren't that close yet back then. But we were close enough that I could send him selfies from all the bars I went to after work."
Charlie chuckled. "He didn't like that, I bet."
"He was smart enough not to comment, but he did tell me I can set my own work hours. So it actually worked out better for me, in the end."
Charlie wanted to ask if he still had trouble sleeping, but since the whole point of Kevin's story was Nate being overprotective, he didn't want to appear the same way.
He shelved it as one more question for another time.
He just hoped he would get to ask them all, some day.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Friday turned out to be
all about arts and crafts, wedding edition. Kevin somehow got roped into helping create greenery garlands which, as he'd been told, were to be chair decorations.
"I'm not sure Sylvia should approve of hanging this anywhere," he told Charlie and showed him his latest attempt.
He got an indulgent smile in response. "You know she will."
"Yeah, well, she's weird."
"I heard that," the bride-to-be spoke up from behind him and a second later she was at his side, tilting her head at his poor-piss garland. "It's fine, you big baby. We can string this one to the balloon."
"To the balloon?" Nobody told him about balloons.
Sylvia nodded, bouncing on her feet. "Yeah, I spoke to one of the staffers. Apparently they have a helium tank and some white balloons, and she'd said we can use them. She'd shown me some great pictures for inspiration."
"I bet," Kevin murmured, putting down his garland to start another. When you can't beat them, join them. Or at least indulge. Sylvia was the one getting married, after all.
"Shut up." She swatted him in the arm before reaching for a base to start working on a garland as well. "I know you're having fun."
"That makes one of us," Kevin told her, but sent a smile towards Charlie who was obviously enjoying watching their back and forth.
To be fair, Kevin was having more fun than he'd expected when he'd been first dragged here to help. The work wasn't hard, once he stopped overthinking it and just stuck the floral ornaments where they seemed to fit best. And Charlie was there on the opposite side of the table, laughing and joking, and generally having a good time. It was pretty contagious.
"Oh yeah, right, I'm sorry, you're obviously suffering," Sylvia said dryly, looking between him and Charlie.
Now it was his turn to tell her to shut up, but she just laughed and went back to her garland.
Kevin noticed once again how radiant she looked, how happy. Of course, tomorrow she was getting married to the man she loved, so it wasn't that shocking, but he also knew sometimes pre-wedding stress could suck all the joy out of it, too. He'd seen it happen.
He let go of the garland to put his arm around her shoulders and kiss the top of her head. "I'm happy for you, you know," he said, lowering his voice a bit.
Sylvia's answering smile was small and soft around the edges. She tucked her arm around his waist and pulled him into a side hug. "Love you."
"Love you back."
They let go of each other, and Kevin went back to his garland without looking up at Charlie—or at anyone else around the table, really.
All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend the day.
***
Another two dozen guests arrived in the late afternoon, including a few Hollywood A-listers whom Kevin tried not to stare at, as well as Lily, the maid of honor, and Shawn and Dean with their girlfriends. When Kevin first spotted them approaching, Alicia and Marissa were laughing at something, Shawn rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, too, and Dean was putting up a valid effort at a straight face, but the corner of his mouth was inching up. So, just like the usual, Kevin thought and realized that he'd missed them. It had only been a week, but he was so used to seeing them all every work day that even a few days without it seemed weird.
"Welcome to the land of your childhood dreams and nightmares," he told them, spreading his arms in an invitation, and received hugs from all of them, one by one. "Nate and Claire are somewhere not-here, and Sylvia has her priorities straight—" He tilted his head towards her and Greg making nice with the Hollywoods, as Kevin was now calling them in his mind. "—so you're stuck with me as your welcoming committee."
"I think it's time to ask for a refund, guys," Shawn said to the rest of their little group, and Kevin raised his eyebrows.
"You could, if you paid even a dollar for any of this."
"He's got you there," Alicia told Shawn, who circled his arm around her waist and didn't argue. She glanced at Kevin and winked. "I missed you," she told him. "The office is too quiet without you."
"That's it, you're my favorite," Kevin told her, before glancing at Marissa. "And you."
"What a relief," Marissa said dryly, but her smile betrayed her. Shawn and Nate had given her a hard time when she'd gotten back with Dean years after their initial break-up, and Kevin, Alicia, and Claire had tried their best to make her feel welcome while the other two got their heads out of their asses. They were all fine now, but Kevin knew Marissa hadn't forgotten he'd been on her team for the get-go.
"Okay, okay, let's get your cranky selves set up in your cabins."
He led them through the campsite, pointing out directions to his cabin, the lake, and the place where they were eating tonight. Sylvia and Greg decided to have a fancy dinner the day before the wedding, and a low-key party on the beach tomorrow after the ceremony.
Logically, he knew he was here for a wedding, of course. But throughout today and now, when he noticed waiters were working at the tables already, it hit him that it was actually going to happen. The week so far had felt more like a simple vacation. Not anymore, though.
He looked around to see if he could spot Charlie somewhere. Nothing. He had to still be at the beach, then. Kevin had left him there to change before coming to help out with the arriving guests, and Charlie had said he'd probably be there until it was time for dinner.
"Kevin?" Shawn's voice brought him back to his friends.
"Sorry, what is it?"
"I was just asking how your week went," Shawn said. "You having fun?"
Various memories from the last few days flew through Kevin's head. One or two with Nate and Claire, a few with Sylvia, but most of them involved Charlie.
"Yeah," he told Shawn. "Yeah, I am."
***
In a true pre-wedding fashion, something had to go wrong, of course. Luckily, as far as "wrong" went, it was pretty mild, at least from Kevin's perspective, but Sylvia looked very stressed when she came knocking to his cabin about half an hour before dinner.
"What happened?" he asked right away after he took in her frown and her arms tangled around her middle.
"My mother's here," she said in lowered voice and glanced around as if someone would overhear them behind closed doors.
Kevin's grimace of a smile probably didn't put her at ease, either. He'd never met Theresa Urban, but he'd heard a few stories and could add the rest himself. There was a reason why Nate and Sylvia were so close, and why he was so protective of her. They'd been their own little family unit for years after mostly cutting off contact with other family members. The official version was that they were the black sheep of the family after first Nate, and then Sylvia, refused to join the military. Apparently that was a no-go in the Urban clan. But in Kevin's opinion, something must have been broken even beforehand. A family that had a make or break rule for every member was definitely dysfunctional. Or a crime family, which the Urbans thankfully weren't.
There might have been one too-much-caffeine-fueled night in Kevin's past when he'd done some digging to make sure.
All that aside, he knew Sylvia had invited her mother to the wedding, although without giving her any details about where the ceremony was going to take place. Theresa Urban had taken affront to that and, at first, refused to come at all, and later, announced she'd come with the last few guests, on the day of the wedding itself.
Only to, apparently, change her mind yet again.
"Okay," he told Sylvia, getting a hold of her shoulders and squeezing lightly. "What do you need?"
She took a deep breath and sat down on the chair right by her side. "Could you sit with Nate and the rest of the team tonight? I've had you moved to the main table next to Charlie, but if I make her sit with Nate, one of them is going to explode, and I can't put her up with some random people either, and—"
"Hey, hey," Kevin cut her off, crunching in front of her. "Take another deep breath. It's okay. Of course I will sit with the team. That's not at all a problem for me. I even like them a bit, you know?" he tried for a jok
e, but although she gave him a half-smile, he could tell it was more for his benefit than hers. Then it turned into a grimace.
"I'm sorry." She reached up to run her fingers through her hair, but Kevin caught her hand in his and squeezed gently.
"Your hair looks great, don't mess it up."
"Oh, God." Sylvia hung her head. "I'm such a mess."
"No, you're not. You look beautiful, you live the life you want, and you're going to marry the man of your dreams tomorrow." He kissed her on her forehead. "You got this." Your mother is not taking anything away from you, he thought, but didn't say.
Sylvia sniffed a bit, but this time her smile was genuine. And no tears were spilled, which Kevin counted as a win.
"I got this," she repeated with a nod.
"Yep."
She straightened in her seat and jutted her chin up. "I'll go there and have a great time, and I won't pay attention to anything she says."
"There you go. Let Charlie and Greg run interference, if you have to. They are actors, they can play the part of finding her likable." That joke was a bit of a risk, but it paid off—Sylvia even laughed a bit.
"Sorry for dragging you away from your date, though," she said. "I'd move you both, somehow, but Charlie's the best man."
Kevin was about to say Charlie wasn't his date, but really, that was a lie, wasn't it? Earlier, he was going to pick up Charlie from his cabin and go with him to the dinner. He'd pictured them together at the tomorrow's wedding, too. Charlie was his date, neither of them had just called it that yet.
"Don't worry," he told her instead. "I can spend time with him after dinner's done." He got up and tugged her up by the hand he was still holding. "Come on, up we go. I'm going to escort you to dinner. Speaking of, where's your fiancé?"
Sylvia went to the bathroom, but left the door opened, so he could see her brushing her fingers over the corners of her eyes while she looked at her reflection in the mirror. "He's with his mom and dad."
Ah. Kevin could only hope they were better parents than Theresa Urban. Sylvia could use nice in-laws.
