Free Imposter in Zebra-striped Briefs by C.C. Dado

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Chapter 13
    The rehearsal dinner ( Nathan )
     
     
    “ARE YOU sure what I’m wearing is okay?” David motioned to his Nike track pants.
    “I think you look amazing.” Nathan said, blushing at his admission and grabbing a bottle of wine off the table. “They said it was casual.”
    They made their way across the hall. Standing at the door, David grabbed the bottle of wine out of Nathan’s hand.
    “Here, let me take that.”
    Nathan glanced at David questioningly.
    “Sorry,” David mumbled under his breath as he tried handing the bottle back to Nathan without making eye contact. “God, I really am bad at this. I have no idea how this works. I just want to do things for you.”
    Nathan tilted his head to the side as he contemplated what David was talking about. It took Nathan a second to figure out why he thought it would bother him, then figured some guys would probably find it emasculating to have someone act like they couldn’t even carry a bottle of wine. But Nathan thought it was sweet. It made him purr inside to have someone bigger and in control. It made him feel cared for, like he could relax and just be himself. Nathan was blown away that this perfect specimen of man was apologizing for doing something nice for him.
    “It’s fine. Thank you,” Nathan said, and knocked on the door.
    “Hey, glad you could make it,” Josh said as he opened the door.
    Josh had on a nice pair of dark jeans with a studded belt, and a black shirt, and his feet were bare. Nathan couldn’t help but notice what a nice pair of feet he had. He froze momentarily, remembering the foot fetish video Josh had sent him. He was definitely into feet. Not in a fetishy way, though. He didn’t want to do dirty things to them. He just thought they were an attractive part of a man, and Josh’s were nice. He wondered what David’s feet looked like. Maybe he did have a creepy foot fetish.
    “Hey, my eyes are up here, tiger,” Josh said jokingly, pointing to his eyes, and Nathan reddened at Josh’s teasing.
    David grabbed Nathan’s hand and moved closer to his side. Nathan wasn’t sure what was going on, but it seemed like David puffed up a little, handing Josh the bottle of wine. This was so weird. It reminded him of the paper he’d written on the mating habits of wolves in the third grade, where they would pee in a circle around their mate to ward off other suitors. That couldn’t be what was going on, could it? Was David metaphorically peeing on him? As usual Nathan wished he were better at reading people.
    The apartment was already alive with energy. Light music was playing in the background. An older lady with big, puffy blonde hair, who Nathan assumed was Brandon’s mom, was in the kitchen cooking with Brandon, and a variety of folks he had met at the bachelor party were mingling in the living room and at the kitchen bar.
    Josh smiled at them both. “You guys want a glass of wine or a soda or something?”
    “Uh, sure. Wine sounds good,” Nathan said, thinking wine had to taste better than beer.
    “I’m fine, thanks,” David said, still sounding marginally irritated, which made Josh chuckle for some reason.
    “Well, I think you know everyone here except Brandon’s mom.” Josh led them over to the kitchen bar and they took a seat. “Dotty, this is our neighbor Nathan and his date, David.”
    David pulled his hand away like he was embarrassed at being called out as Nathan’s date. Nathan’s earlier excitement about being peed on withered.
    “Well, hello, shugahs. It sure is nice to get to meet all of my baby’s friends.” Dotty leaned into Brandon, who was cutting tomatoes, and gave him a kiss on the head.
    “Is there anything we can do to help?” Nathan asked Dotty.
    “Please, you are our guest, honey. You just relax and have a good time,” she said. Brandon winked at Nathan from behind her in an “I told you so” way.
    “Momma, you’re using olive oil, not butter on this, right?” Brandon asked,