The sudden loss of contact left Kaden out of breath, even though the kiss didn't last longer than ten seconds. He stood up, feeling confused, annoyed and terrified. Confused because of what he felt, annoyed because he stopped feeling it and terrified because he had never felt like that before. Tamara walked into the room.
"How are you babe?" she asked Zoie, but her eyes were shut and she looked like she was sleeping as she refused to respond.
"Uhm, she's asleep," Kaden quickly covered.
"Well shit I even traced down Layla to get some Tylenol, but I guess she doesn't need it anymore," Tamara pulled up her long hair.
"Maybe when she wakes up?" Kaden suggested as they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Maybe."
Tamara sat down onto the sofa and took out her phone, "I managed to find the bags," she commented.
"I can see that," Kaden said looking at the two black bags on the table, "So what now?"
"Now you can go," Tamara replied, not taking her eyes off the small screen.
"You're going to take care of her?"
"Yes dumbass, I don't even know why you're acting like you've known her your entire life when you've seen her like what, twice?" Tamara smirked.
"Oh fuck off," Kaden walked out and slammed the door shut behind him. In a few minutes he was in a taxi, heading home.
*
"We'll see you at the wedding Kaden."
"Okay, bye mom," Kaden ended the call and dropped his phone onto the sofa.
"You're actually going?" Spencer walked into the warm living room, a glass of red wine in his hand.
"I have to," Kaden sighed, "My parents would kill me if I didn't come."
Chris was always there while Kaden was growing up. He was best friends with Kaden's dad and they were both very much into golf and basketball. Whenever there was a game on, the two of them would be in the living room, cheering for their favorite teams. Chris was also the one who taught Kaden how to play basketball when he was younger, and he went to all of his games.
Chris' weeding was that weekend, and Kaden knew that he couldn't escape it. He never liked weddings, but at the same time he was kind of curious as to who Chris was marrying, because he could never imagine him with a woman.
"I mean you could always tell them that you are sick," Spencer suggested, taking a sip of the dark red liquid.
"It's not like that would stop them from dragging me down there. You know my parents."
"True," Spencer smiled and looked out of the window, "I hate this time of the year. It's so freaking cold."
With that he left the room, letting Kaden get back to his work.
*
"Kaden, honey," she hugged Kaden, before she examined the suit he was wearing, "I thought you were going to wear the blue tie?" she furrowed her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
"I couldn't find it, mom," Kaden said, looking at his grey tie. He didn't think that it was that bad.
Kaden's mother - Aurora, looked perfect as always. There wasn't a single piece of hair sticking out of her brown bun. A simple nude dress was covering her body, a big shiny necklace placed around her neck. She smelled of her favorite, strong flowery perfume, her lips covered in red lipstick.
Behind her was his dad, Arnold, dressed in a suit, with a serious expression. He was a business man, and it seemed as if his whole life revolved around his job. Nobody could say anything about that, though, as he was the main source of income for the wealthy family.
"Hi dad," he hugged the man.
"Hello Kaden," Arnold spoke, a hint of what seemed to be anger, laced his voice .
"Hi dad," Kaden replied, "Love the suit."
"Thank you, it's new," he said coldly and turned around.
"Okay, let's go," his mom said and all of them entered the jeep.
In half an hour they were in a small space, decorated mostly white. It looked very angelic with all the flowers and candles, and the room had already been filled. A woman escorted the family to their seats. Arnold still had an uneasy look on his face, which disappeared for a few seconds every time he was greeting someone.
After a few minutes the ceremony started. The soft music was playing as the doors the two doors on the opposite sides of the room opened.
Kaden watched in surprise as the two grooms, followed by their parents walked up to one another. He looked at his parents who obviously knew that Chris was gay, just didn't care enough to tell him.
But although he was very surprised, after knowing the guy for his whole life, and missing this big detail, he was very happy for him. Chris' face couldn't stop the huge grin on his face, which matched the one of his partner.
*
"Congratulations!" Aurora hugged the newly married couple, one by one.
Kaden and his father did the same, and then Chris introduced his spouse.
"This is Logan, Kaden, I don't think you've had a chance to meet," he smiled.
The dark haired man with piercing blue eyes shook Kaden's hand.
"It's really nice to meet you Kaden. I have heard so much about you."
Kaden wished he could say the same.
"Nice to meet you," he replied with a small smile.
Everyone headed out to the ceremony, and gathered in a similarly decorated room. There was a lot of chandeliers and balloons, a lot of flowers, feathers, and all in all, a lot of light.
"I'll just head to the bathroom," Kaden excused himself before they got to their table.
On his way there he managed to bump into someone.
"Excuse me-"
He stopped dead in his tracks as the all too familiar face looked up at him, with the same, shocked, expression.
"Kaden?" Zoie barely managed to say.
"What are you doing here?"
"My uncle is the one getting married," she crossed her arms, "Logan. What are you doing here?"
"Chris, he's a family friend.."
Zoie nodded, and her face still held an unrecognizable emotion to Kaden, "Well, it was nice to see you," she said and nervously started walking away from him.
"Wait," Kaden called, still wanting to talk to her about that night, but she was already gone.
*
The room darkened and the disco lights were turned on as the music started blasting through the space. Some people were gathered up on the dance floor, while others sat back in their spots and talked or watched.
"Come on Arnold," Aurora said, getting up from her seat.
Kaden's dad still didn't look to happy, but he didn't say a word as he lead her into the mass. Kaden scanned the room for Zoie. It only took him a few seconds to find her, sitting not too far away from him. She was texting someone on her phone, and Kaden took the opportunity to walk up to her.
"Up for a dance?" he offered his hand and she jumped bit in her chair.
"Jesus, you scared me," she put her phone away, "I don't know Kaden, I'm not too-"
"Oh come on," he took her hand and brought her up to her feet.
"I hate you for making me do this," she said as they positioned their arms on one another.
"You could have said no," Kaden smirked, his hands perfectly positioned on her.
"Oh right, forgot that that would make you go away," she said sarcastically, making him smile.
Neither of them was bad at dancing and a few of the women on the dance floor shot them jealous looks as their husbands kept stepping on their Louis Vuitton's.
"Zoie," he said after a few minutes, bringing her eyes back to his face after her staring off into the distance over his shoulder, "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"Why did you get that drunk the other night?" he asked and immediately felt her hand sliding down and off him, but he brought them back.
"Kaden," she sighed, "People get drunk all the time."
"From what I've heard you don't. Especially not like that."
"Oh my god," she rolled her eyes, "Can we just forget that night?"
Of course he couldn't just forget it.
"I'm serious Zoie."
"I'm serious too. It was mistake, everything about that night was a mistake," she took her arms off of him and walked away.