Page 45 of Hardcore Vanilla
Happily-ever-afters always made her emotional.
Clearing his throat again, Mr. Standish looked up and around.
"Patrick has been part of our family for a long time, so we can't exactly welcome you to the family, but Wendy and I are thrilled that the connection is going to be official. We couldn't have picked a better man for our daughter, and seeing the love you two have for each other, the happiness you've brought each other, well... It makes us as proud as we are happy." He cleared his throat again and his eyes were turning red. Next to him, Lexie's mom was already openly sniffling and dabbing at her eyes with a napkin.
Crap, there went Sharon's first tear. She quickly swiped it away.
Looking at Patrick, Mr. Standish raised his glass. "Happy to have it official, son."
With that, Patrick broke away from Lexie, stepping forward to engulf the other man in a hug, several tears rolling down his own face. Lexie was already hugging her mom, both of them openly crying, and when Sharon averted her gaze as a little bubble of happy tears choked her throat, she saw Jake coming forward to join the family moment, his own eyes suspiciously red. As soon as Patrick stepped away from Mr. Standish, Jake was there to envelop his best-friend-and-soon-to-be-brother in a massive bear hug.
Ah, fuck it.
She sniffled and wiped at her soggy eyes, leaning against Kate, who immediately wrapped her arm around Sharon's waist. A larger, warmer hand landed on Sharon's shoulder a moment later - Andrew had put his arm around both of them.
"To Patrick and Lexie!" someone cried out while the love fest was going on. The toast was repeated immediately, champagne flutes rising in the air as everyone took the opportunity to take a drink rather than bursting into tears at the emotional scene. At least, Sharon preferred to think she wasn't the only one.
******
Almost everyone besides the immediate family had left when Patrick finally sought him out. The catering crew was cleaning up in the kitchen under Jake's mom's direction while his dad was talking to Jake's uncle in the front hall.
He took the opportunity to head down to the basement and just sit for a few minutes in the quiet. Eventually he'd get up and clean up the plates and glasses that had been left down here, but after a night of socializing and the mass of people who had come, he was enjoying the solitude. Patrick's presence never felt like an intrusion though, so he didn’t mind.
Especially since he came bearing gifts.
"Hiding out?" Patrick asked, handing Jake a beer as he sat down on the couch next to him.
"A little bit," Jake admitted. "It was a noisy night." And not the kind of noisy like Stronghold where he could just sit and watch. No, tonight had been all about catching up with family members, talking about Lexie and Patrick, and generally being engaged in the socializing. Well, other than when he'd snuck off with Sharon for a bit. That had been a nice break from all the social interaction. "Where's Lexie?"
"On the phone with Angel, giving her the update on tonight."
Adam had appeared for a little bit (he'd only stayed for an hour and had been checking his watch the entire time). Angel had stayed home but insisted her husband attend the party. Jake wasn't surprised that his sister was making sure that Angel got the full update on the evening. He was just glad she had such good friends. That was something he'd always worried about, since none of her college friendships had really seemed to stick after she'd graduated.
For a long moment, he and Patrick sat in companionable silence. They’d been friends for long enough that they didn’t always feel the need to speak when they were hanging out.
“So. You disappeared for a bit tonight.” Patrick turned his head slightly to eye Jake, amusement curving one side of his mouth. “Right around the same time Sharon did.”
Jake grunted. “How many people noticed?”
“All of our friends, no one else.”
“Well at least that’s something,” he muttered. Their friends already knew what was going on between them at least. That explained why Andrew had been glowering at him even harder during the second half of the night. Jake had suspected, but he hadn’t known for sure.
“Are you going to be her date to our wedding too?” Patrick asked teasing.
“That’s kind of far in the future for planning,” Jake said, balking slightly when he realized that his first impulse was to answer with an immediate ‘yes.’ “Going with her to her cousin’s wedding is enough for right now.”
Before Patrick could answer, Jake’s mom’s voice cut him off as she came down the stairs and Jake groaned. She’d overheard more than he meant her to. “Going with who to what wedding?”
Patrick smirked at him, lifting his beer to his lips while he watched Jake flounder.
“Just a friend… I’m going to a friend’s cousin’s wedding with her as her friend.” Jake winced as he realized he’d said ‘friend’ three times in a row.
His mom reached the bottom of the stairs and tilted her head at him, raising one eyebrow. Her lips quirked as her eyes darted back and forth between him and Patrick.
“A friend, huh?” she asked dryly. “Is it a friend I know?” Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up. “Wait, is it that single friend I met tonight? That cute young woman, Sharon?”
Jake groaned inwardly as Patrick decided now was the perfect time to jump into the conversation.
