Love at First Hate

by Muriel Garcia

  “Charming.”

  “Admit it, we hated each other when we first met.”

  “I have to agree with you. It was love at first hate.” I chuckle.

  “That’s actually kinda perfect for us. We’ve come a long way, and I couldn’t be any happier that I’m celebrating my birthday with you tonight. You’ve made this day absolutely perfect. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “You did, twice already.” I smirk, and we walk into the restaurant and are brought to Spencer and Haven’s table.

  “So did you.” He smirks at me.

  “What did he do?” Haven asks, curious as always.

  “Made me come twice.”

  “Oh god, why did I even ask?” she groans.

  “You should have known it would be something sexual,” Spencer chimes in.

  “Yeah, knowing these two, I should have known. Happy birthday, love.” She kisses Matt’s cheek.

  “Thank you, gorgeous.” Matt smiles.

  “Happy birthday, man,” Spencer says and pulls Matt in for a hug. At one point, I’d have been jealous, but we’re past that point now. I hug our friends, and we sit down. Spencer next to Haven and Matt next to me. Matt and I have our backs to the door so we don’t see who comes in, but judging by the look on Haven’s face, whoever came in is bad news.

  “What’s wrong, Haven?” Matt asks her.

  “Uh, I think your brother is here, Nate.” She points past us, and I turn around only to see Frank and Olivia walk toward us.

  “Good evening, Nate,” Olivia greets me and hugs me.

  “Good evening. What are you two doing here? Got lost and saw some light?” I chuckle hugging my brother.

  “We visited a house in the neighborhood, and we decided to try the food that’s offered around here before making our decision,” Frank jokes.

  “Not staying in daddy dearest’s house?”

  “No, we want a fresh start from all that mess,” Olivia says, smiling at everybody.

  “Oh sorry, this is Frank, my brother and his fiancée, Olivia. This is Spencer, Haven, and Matt.”

  “Actually, wife since last week,” Frank says proudly.

  “Really? Congrats to you two.” I smile, happy for them.

  “Thank you. We’d have invited you, but we just eloped to Bora Bora and got hitched there. We wanted it to be just us. We’ll have a party next month. You’re all invited,” Frank says to the table.

  “Congrats and thank you,” Spencer says shaking Frank’s hand.

  “No worries. You’re the infamous Matt?” he asks Matt.

  “I guess so, what have I done?” he grins sheepishly.

  “Making my brother happy is the only thing I have in mind right now.”

  “I try my best.”

  “By the looks of it, you don’t have to try really hard. I’m happy for you two. You deserve to be happy.” Frank claps my shoulder.

  “Thank you, it’s very much appreciated,” Matt says smiling genuinely.

  “Especially coming from me and the family I’m a part of. I know.” Frank chuckles.

  “Didn’t want to say it, but…” Matt says tentatively.

  “It’s all good. It’s all behind us now. Are you celebrating something?” Frank points at the bottle of champagne the waitress just brought us.

  “It’s my birthday.” Matt grins widely.

  “Happy birthday,” Olivia says as she goes to hug Matt.

  “Thank you, darling.” He hugs her back and shakes Frank’s hand before surprising me. “Since we’re putting this behind us. How do you feel about joining us? Might as well start now.”

  “It’s your day, we wouldn’t want to spoil it for you,” Frank says meaning it.

  “You wouldn’t. I insist. If we’re invited to your wedding party, you are more than welcome to join us for my birthday.” Matt flags the waitress down and asks her to add two more people to the table. It takes some moving around, but they give us a bigger table at the back of the restaurant where we don’t have to be afraid of making some noise. I know my friends can get loud, especially when they are celebrating something.

  “I’m sorry, Frank, but I’ve got to ask. What did Robert say when he figured out you got married behind his back?” Matt asks, trying to contain his chuckles.

  “Better than when he got wind that Caroline was divorcing her husband,” Frank scoffs, and we all end up laughing.

  “I think he finally realizes that things can’t always go the way he wants them to,” Olivia chimes in.

  “True. He’s been so adamant to control our lives, and now we’re all going against his will; his confidence is bound to be rattled,” I say before taking a sip of my beer.

  “Be careful. If he’s going to go after anyone, it’ll be you, Nate,” Frank warns, and I knew that already, sadly.

  “I know, and I will be. There’s not much he can do.” I shrug.

  “Uh, don’t you remember the state you came back in a few weeks ago? And that was after being a hermit for two weeks.” Matt glares at me and softens up quickly.

  “I know, babe. Sorry, you’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

  “Nope, no chance. You’ll just have to deal with it,” he says with a smug grin.

  “Lucky me,” I scoff.

  “You’ll survive.” He turns my face and kisses me deeply. “Sorry, Frank.” He chuckles.

  “About what? I don’t have a problem with who Nate chooses to love. If anything, I’m happy he found you. You make a great couple.”

  “Thank you. I just thought for some reason that you had the same views about Nate’s sexuality as Robert,” Matt says truthfully.

  “I did too,” I tell them.

  “Really?” Frank says surprised.

  “Yeah, I thought you hated me, that all of you hated me besides Maddie.” I shrug.

  “Caroline and I never hated you, but Robert was so against you that whenever we’d say something about you, it would bring more trouble to us,” he says, sounding guilty.

  “It’s alright. It’s all in the past. To new beginnings.” I raise my beer, and we all cheer.

  “To new beginnings,” Frank repeats.

  “And to Matt. Happy birthday, handsome,” Olivia says sounding happy.

  “Thank you, gorgeous.” He smiles at her.

  “Can I ask you something?” Olivia says, looking at Matt.

  “Of course, anything.” He takes a sip of his wine.

  “Did you ever kiss or have sex with a woman?” she whispers loudly.

  “Why are you whispering?” He matches her tone.

  “I’m not sure. I might be slightly tipsy.” She grins innocently.

  “Slightly, huh?” Frank says, and we all chuckle.

  “Okay, I’m well on my way to getting drunk, but we have so much to celebrate, it’s alright.” She pats Frank’s hand and leans toward Matt. “So?”

  “Yes to both.”

  “And you didn’t enjoy it?” She sounds perplexed.

  “It was alright. I just didn’t feel anything really. When I first kissed a guy, my world was lit up, and I knew for sure I was into men. I had my doubts like every teenager, but that confirmed it. As for sex, it was pretty much the same; decent with a woman but didn’t turn my world upside down.” Matt shrugs.

  “What about with Nate?” Olivia has a naughty grin on her face.

  “With Nate? Where do I begin? I knew I liked him and was into him before anything happened. Our first kiss was the best kiss I’ve ever shared with anyone. I don’t think any kiss could trump that one. As for the sex well, it’s fucking amazing. It’s always good, and I don’t think that’ll ever change.” He looks at me fondly, and I melt.

  “I love you,” I whisper and kiss him.

  “I love you too,” he whispers into the kiss.

  “You two are just perfect for each other.” Haven sighs happily.

  “So he’s better than me, huh?” Spencer asks faking being offended.

  “Sorry to say, but yes.
” Matt smirks at Spencer.

  “Ah well, I know I’m the shit.” Spencer shrugs.

  “Aww, got your ego bruised, babe?” Haven giggles looking at Spencer.

  “Not even close,” Spencer scoffs.

  “Wait, you two used to date?” Frank asks, sounding confused.

  “I wouldn’t call it dating. We had something. I was classifying it as just friends with benefits, but it was something more. We were really closer friends who were casually having sex. He’s helped me with some emotional issues. Despite us not having sex anymore, we stayed really close friends, and we still are,” Spencer says truthfully, looking at me to see if I’m okay with it.

  “And you don’t find it weird or get jealous?” Olivia asks me.

  “No, not anymore. I was in the beginning. I was even jealous of Haven, but the thing is, Matt is one massive flirt. He’ll flirt with anybody and everybody so I quickly learned not to get upset about it. I just find it funny now.”

  “I didn’t know you were jealous of me,” Haven says, grinning.

  “I was. More of the fact that you two were really close, and maybe because I wanted to be close to Matt. Or maybe just because I didn’t have many friends and wished I had more than just one friend.” I shrug.

  “You’ve got plenty of friends now,” Spencer says.

  “I know, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Besides the fact that Matt is awesome, having so many new friends is pretty amazing. I feel like I finally belong to a group of people. While I was a loner for most of my life, it’s good to know that I’m not completely alone anymore.”

  “You’re going to make me tear up!” Olivia shouts and hugs me. Yep, she’s drunk.

  An hour later and another bottle of wine down, I pay the bill, and we head out. Matt thinks we’re going home. He has no idea we’re going to his real birthday celebration now.

  “Where are we going?” I ask Nate as the Über driver takes us further away from home.

  “You’ll see.” Nate smirks, proud of himself.

  We’re all in a minivan. Frank and Olivia joined us, and I have no idea where we are going. I thought I had been good at making sure they wouldn’t throw me a surprise party, but I guess they were sneakier than I was. I’m happy there’s something more planned, but I would have been fine with just dinner. I’m just wondering what the hell they have planned and where.

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to blindfold you now, babe,” Nate says sounding way too into this.

  “And why? Are you taking me to a sex club?” I smirk.

  “Never. I’ll never share you,” he says with so much intensity in his voice that a shiver runs through my body. The tone he used is incredibly hot and does things to me that I didn’t know was possible.

  “Well, we’ll have to use that blindfold whenever we have some time on our own.” I smirk and let him blindfold me.

  “Did you forget we were here?” Spencer chuckles.

  “Almost,” I say, proud of myself.

  “Figured,” Haven says, and I can hear her rolling her eyes from her tone.

  A few minutes later, the van stops, and Nate helps me out of it. There’s barely any noise besides from the street, so it’s not letting on to where we actually are.

  Letting Nate lead me blindly, I hold onto him for dear life. The last thing I want is to face plant into the pavement. This perfect mug doesn’t need a crack in it, especially not today.

  We make our way into a building and go up quite a few sets of stairs. Music is playing, but it’s deafened like it’s still in this building but far away. It’s confusing me and throwing my balance off.

  “Someone else appears to be drunk!” Olivia shouts drunkenly.

  “I’m not drunk. I’m blindfolded! Not the same. Although that wine went down really smooth.” I chuckle, feeling light and happy. I don’t know if the wine helped or not, but I was already pretty happy with how my day started. Nate, despite not having much experience with men, knows damn well how to use his mouth and knows how to please me. He goes straight to the point and doesn’t tease me for hours before letting me come. There’s a time and place when to spend hours sweet torturing each other, and this morning wasn’t it. We haven’t reached that point yet, but it’ll come. Not that we aren’t comfortable with one another, but Nate is still going through some issues with his family, and I didn’t want to thrust him into something he wasn’t ready for.

  “We’re almost there, babe.” Nate’s sweet voice hits my ears.

  “Thank fuck for that! I’m getting too old to climb up so many flights of stairs!” I grunt as we reach the top.

  “You and me both,” Haven huffs, out of breath.

  “I guess we’ll have to work on your cardio,” Spencer says, chuckling as he probably pinched her ass if the squeal she let out is anything to go by.

  “No sex for you tonight!” Haven shouts.

  “Yeah, right. Like you’ll be able to resist my hotness,” Spencer scoffs.

  “He’s right,” Haven says, sounding defeated.

  “Are you ready, babe?” Nate asks me.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. Am I going to hate you?” I ask before we step into the unknown.

  “Hopefully not. It’s nothing I would be against if you were to do it for me.”

  “That’s reassuring.” I smile, confidently and let him walk me in.

  As he takes the blindfold off, the bright light blinds me, and I hear a lot of people shout ‘Happy Birthday Matt’. So far, I have no idea who is there, but I’m happy that they put something together despite me not wanting them to. Not because I don’t want to grow old, just because I don’t want people to feel like they have to come to my birthday or buy me something.

  It takes my vision a minute to settle, but once it does, I see my entire family and our friends.

  “We’re at the Vault?” I ask, looking around as I walk toward everybody who didn’t have dinner with us.

  “Yes.” Nate smiles, pleased with himself.

  “You’re the best.” I kiss him before hugging and greeting everybody.

  The top level of the club has been closed down just for my birthday party, and it’s decked out. There are balloons everywhere. A large table with finger food, one for drinks, and one for presents despite me not asking for any.

  Everything is perfect. I have the perfect man in my life, amazing friends, and loving family. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

  Everybody hugs me and gives me their best wishes for my birthday before a DJ I hadn’t noticed in the corner where the stage is starts playing music.

  Walking over to where Nate is sitting, I wrap my arms around his shoulder from behind and kiss his neck.

  “Thank you. This really is the best birthday ever.” I sigh happily.

  “I’m glad it is, babe. So, do you hate me?” He chuckles.

  “No, if possible, I love you more.” I kiss him deeply.

  “I love you too.”

  “Want to come for a dance?” I ask him hoping that he’ll give me one at least for my birthday. Nate isn’t much of a dancer. Still recovering from the beatings from his father, he’s still in pain.

  “Just one or I know I’ll be on there all night,” he jokes and takes my hand, surprising me.

  “Thank you.” I grin, and we walk toward Haven, Jessica, Maddie, Gabby, and Olivia. They are all dancing and shouting the lyrics at each other, and we join them. In fact, everybody joins them.

  I’ve lost track of time, and before I know it, Haven drags me toward the table where all the birthday presents are, and the music quietens so we can actually talk and hear each other.

  “As you know, we’re all here for your birthday,” she starts, and I can’t help but cut her off.

  “Really? I had no idea!” I say sarcastically but more to tease her than to be nasty.

  “Shush! As I was saying, we’re here to celebrate you. I know you said no presents for your birthday, but a birthday without presents is like Christmas without Christmas
music. It sucks! There’s one small gift from each other us. Some might be totally random, some might be totally awesome, aka mine. Anyway, we also have this for you.” She grins proudly as she hands me an envelope.

  “What have you done?” I ask her suspiciously.

  “It’s not just me. Everybody pitched in, even Frank and Olivia.” She waves at them goofily.

  “Thank you?” I’m not sure what to say really.

  “Open it! Donut,” she mumbles the last part.

  “Alright, here goes nothing.” I slowly open the envelope, and I’m rendered speechless. Inside, there are two plane tickets and a folded paper. I unfold it and read it.

  Voucher for a dream-like vacation at the Four Seasons Resort in Maui.

  You and Nate will spend a week all-inclusive in Maui.

  You two need a redo of your special moment, and we all felt it was the perfect present for the both of you.

  Enjoy.

  Be happy.

  You both deserve it.

  “You’re amazing.” I hug her as I try to hold back my tears.

  “I know, but it wasn’t my idea.” She chuckles, holding and rubbing my back.

  “Nate?”

  “Yes,” she says quietly.

  “That man…” I choke on a sob, and the tears start to fall. Overwhelmed by so much kindness from my family and friends and by how amazing my boyfriend is.

  “I know. I’d totally snatch him if I weren’t married and if he weren’t gay.” She giggles and kisses my cheek.

  “Mine!” I glare at her playfully and kiss her forehead. “Come here you.” I walk toward Nate and pull him to me, kissing him like I’ve never kissed him before. This man means the world to me, and I don’t even want to imagine my life without him. He’s my everything, and this is the perfect way to have our redo of our vacation together. “Thank you,” I tell him after I catch my breath.

  “No need, it’s normal.”

  “No, it’s not. You didn’t have to get everybody to pitch in.”

  “I didn’t. They offered.” He smiles, and everything around us fades.

  We hold each other and lose track of time. I could stay in Nate’s arms forever. This is my happy place. I’ve finally found it. How did I ever get so lucky?

  We spent another two hours at the club before getting a taxi back home. Nate’s leg was hurting him from standing for so long, and I was getting tired and wanted some time alone with Nate to properly celebrate us.