Chapter 3

Mark stood silently at the gate waiting for Aaron and Fred to exit the plane. He still wasn’t sure what he thought he’d seen on the plane. He thought maybe he’d had one too many glasses of champagne, or that weird first-class curtain had been distorting things. But then he’d moved it aside and knew he wasn’t hallucinating.

There were two of his lifelong friends cuddled together like a couple of lovers. Mark had to question whether he had really seen Fred caress Aaron’s face. Or whether Aaron had actually fucking kissed his fingers in response. He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands.

Fred came through the gate with Aaron close behind. Aaron was yawning widely, and Fred looked exhausted. Mark wondered suddenly where the fuck that backpack had come from and why a blanket was hanging out the top of it.

“Hey Mark! How was your fancy flight?” Fred asked. Mark crossed his arms.

“Well pretty good, pretty good,” he started. “I got up about halfway through to come back and see how you guys were doing.”

Fred’s smile faltered for a second, but he caught it quickly. If Mark hadn’t been paying close attention he might have missed it.

“Oh, yeah, well,” Fred said. “We mostly slept.” Aaron was standing behind Fred, face blazing red. Mark nodded glancing between the two men.

“Yeah, well, it did look pretty comfortable. At least from where I was standing.” Mark raised his eyebrows. Aaron’s face flushed more deeply if that were even possible. This time Fred sighed, and he dropped the facade.

“Come on man, can we not do this here? We just got off a long ass flight. Give me a break.” Fred’s voice had lowered to a murmur. It had a warning tone to it, a tone that Mark had heard on several occasions throughout his life, when Fred would feel the need to defend someone important to him, his mom, his sister, his girlfriend. But it was never a tone Fred had used to defend Mark or Aaron before. Mark knew in that moment that what he had seen was, in fact, an accurate representation of what was going on.

“Jesus Christ, you guys,” Mark muttered quietly. “What happened in Vegas?” A long pause followed. Fred’s eyes blazed at Mark with warning.

“Listen, we’ll tell you alright?” Aaron suddenly spoke up. “Just not here and not now. I’m too fucking tired.” Mark stared at both men, looking from one to the other. Finally, he let out a sigh.

“Fine, fine.” He held up his hands in surrender. “But Fred, you tell me on the way home, we carpooled here. I’m not riding with you for 45 fucking minutes home acting like nothing is different.”

Fred looked at Aaron and put a hand on his shoulder. The three men had planned to carpool all together, but Aaron’s work schedule had been so crazy on Friday he had driven to the airport on his own. He’d almost missed their flight out to Vegas.
Aaron held Fred’s gaze for a minute then shrugged.

“It’s fine. Probably we should tell him together, but I ... I can’t here. You tell him Fred,” Aaron lowered his gaze to the ground and started towards baggage claim to pick up his golf clubs. Fred sighed deeply and glared at Mark.

“Oh, what the fuck?” Mark asked, spreading his arms out.

“Let’s just get our clubs, I’ll catch you up in the car,” Fred said and began to follow Aaron.

“Oh, my god,” Mark muttered and followed behind Fred.
----

Fred pulled up in front of Mark’s townhouse. He saw the front curtain twitch and there was Kate waving at them from the window. Fred sighed and waved out his window over the top of the car at her.

“I have to tell Kate,” Mark said. Fred sighed again and scrubbed one hand over his face.

“Sure, fine. I’ll let Aaron know,” Fred said. “But no one else alright. Don’t let her tell her fucking sister. Everyone will know then.” Mark frowned.

“I’ll tell her to keep it quiet,” Mark paused.

He had been shocked into silence while Fred related what had happened in Vegas. He felt like an idiot for not noticing and that made him realize just how distracted he’d been during the entire trip. A wave of shame had washed over him for being so checked out, but Fred didn’t seem upset about it. Mark sat for a moment longer in the car.

“What do you think your folks are going to say?” Mark asked. Fred grimaced at the question.

“I’ve been wondering that,” Fred admitted. “I think my dad is going to be OK eventually. But my mom and Jennifer...” Fred trailed off.

“Jennifer’s going to be a bitch about it,” Mark said. Fred nodded.

“Jennifer’s a bitch about everything,” Fred said. Mark shrugged.

“She’s your sister though.”

“She is my sister. I just ... Fuck. This is going to be really fucking hard,” Fred admitted finally. “It all seemed so easy in Vegas.”

Throughout the last couple of days, he’d convinced himself it would be fine. But he knew it wouldn’t. They were going to lose friends, family was going to cut them off, he might not get to see his nephews ever again if Jennifer really lost her mind about this whole thing.

“Look, man. We’ve been friends our whole life. I feel like I know you and I know Aaron. This is ... really surprising to me. Especially after what a womanizer you’ve been your whole life. I think there’s going to be a time of adjustment. It’s going to be weird for a while,” Mark said. Fred felt tears sting his eyes and a wave of anger followed at the feeling. He pushed it back as Mark continued.

“With that said, you and Aaron are my best friends. If this is what you both want, I support you. I can’t say I understand or that I get it. I absolutely do not. But I trust you guys.” Mark sighed as he finished. One tear rolled down Fred’s cheek and he swiped it away quickly. He sniffed loudly and held out his hand.

“Thanks man, that really means a lot,” Fred said. Mark grabbed his hand and pulled him into a quick hug.

“Better go. Kate’s probably wondering what we’re doing out here,” Mark said. Fred nodded, sniffed again, and popped the trunk.

Mark got out of the car and saw Kate standing at the open front door of their townhouse. She waved again to Fred as Mark pulled his bag and clubs out of the trunk.

“Hey Fred!” Kate called.

“Hey Katie,” Fred called back, his voice cracking.

Kate looked from the open window to Mark and back, a look of concern crossed her face. Something was weird, she could feel it. She flicked the little bell she had hung by the front door and its clear chime met Fred’s ears.

He sighed deeply as the trunk slammed closed. As he breathed out, he waved once more to Mark and Kate and pulled away to drive to his own apartment only a few blocks away.

“Hey hon,” Kate pulled Mark close to her and kissed him. “Is everything OK?” Mark sighed.

“It’s fine, the trip was fine,” he said. Kate squinted at him; she knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth but moved aside anyway. Mark went inside, put his clubs by the door to the garage and went straight upstairs to their bedroom.

Kate’s eyes followed him. She looked around carefully, flicked her little bell once more, brushed her hand against the rosemary growing in a pot by the front door and went inside.

She ascended the stairs following the sounds of Mark unpacking his bags. Leaning against the doorway she watched him pulling his clothes out of his bag and tossing them in their shared hamper.

“Should I light the black candles hon?” Kate asked. Mark paused and glanced up at her.

“No, it’s fine,” he replied.

“You keep saying things are fine. I’m not sure you’re using that word correctly. You seem upset,” Kate said.

Mark sighed as he pulled his toiletries bag from his suitcase. Kate was way too intuitive for him to hide anything from her, which is why he told Fred he’d have to tell her.

“Alright,” he said zipping his empty suitcase and pushing it under their bed. “Something did happen.” Mark grabbed his toiletry bag and took it to their bathroom.

Kate settled herself on the bed and waited for Mark to return. She knew it had to be something with Fred or Aaron. Mark had talked to her so much this past weekend she was sure she would have noticed if something had happened to him.

Besides he probably would have told her immediately, so it must be something with Fred or Aaron. Most likely Fred, judging by the way his voice had cracked. He was usually so confident. That momentary vulnerability had given him away.

Mark came out of the bathroom and ran his fingers through his hair, then came and lay on the bed next to Kate. He was silent with his eyes closed for a long time. Finally, Kate scooted close to him and started to run her fingers over his face lightly. He sighed and relaxed slightly at her touch.

“So, what is it?” she asked quietly. Mark paused and she saw his jaw tighten.

“Before I tell you, I need you to swear you won’t tell anyone,” Mark said.

“Even Madison?” Kate asked. She always had to have Mark make that stipulation, otherwise her sister would know everything.

“Especially Madison,” Mark opened his eyes. “This is really serious. It’s honestly not even mine to tell, but I don’t want to leave you in the dark.” He paused again. “I could also really use the extra support.”

Kate pulled her hand away now and sat up straight.

“OK, I promise, I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone,” Kate said. Mark sat up then. He thought for a moment, ultimately deciding to go with the straightforward approach.

“Fred and Aaron hooked up in Vegas,” Mark said simply.

Kate blinked. The casual tone had thrown her off. At first, she thought he meant that the two men had hooked up with separate women in Vegas but when she replayed the sentence in her head it actually clicked.

“Oh,” she looked thoughtful for a second. “OK, so with each other. The two of them ... hooked up?” Kate asked.

“Yes!” Mark said. “Aren’t you shocked?” Kate thought again.

“I am,” she began. “I guess I always thought it was interesting that Aaron dated women. He’s clearly always been a gay man.” Mark’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Oh, come on! Aaron always finds something wrong with every woman he dates. Maybe it’s just that they’re women. Fred though, that’s more surprising. I just thought he was sort of a womanizer. Not terrible, just not one to settle down,” Kate paused and glanced at Mark. “How are you taking this?” she asked.

“I’m shocked! I am aghast!” Mark exclaimed. “How could this have happened right under my nose?”

Kate knew how, he had been calling and messaging her so often there was no way he was truly present on the trip.

“Are you jealous?” she asked. Mark’s eyes somehow got wider.

“What are you talking about? Jealous? Am I jealous that my two lifelong friends had gay sex together?” Mark asked incredulously.

“That was my question yes. Because you seem a little bothered,” Kate pointed out.

Mark started to protest but then gave it some thought. He thought about how close he and Kate were and how that was probably going to be how Fred and Aaron would be if they stuck this out. The thought of being left out of that did bother him a little.

“I mean ... I guess I hadn’t thought about it,” Mark said. “Just thinking about you and me and where our relationship is. Nothing holds a candle to it. No one knows me like you. I guess I’m a little jealous that maybe Fred and Aaron will have that sort of relationship together and I’m not included. Cause we’ve all always been best friends, but now I’m left out. Everything is going to change.”