As always, he waited for Treston to open the door before he backed out of the parking space. Treston stood in the open doorway, smiling, watching the taillights disappear as he drove away from the complex. A moment after that, Treston felt another rush of excitement pass through his body and he slammed the door and ran into the bedroom. He unzipped a garment bag and glanced at the outfit he'd bought for the wedding and felt so overcome with emotion he felt a sting in his eye.
Treston wound up oversleeping the next morning because he'd been up all night trying to style his freshly streaked blond hair in different ways for the wedding. He'd parted it in the middle and that looked too casual. He'd tried a messy-looking combed-forward look and that looked too outrageous. After he'd finally decided on a simple off-center part, he packed the remaining boxes in his bedroom. Then he went into the shower and covered his body with a depilatory so he would be extra smooth all over on his wedding day. No one else would know he was smooth all over, but Treston cared about those little details. They were things that made him feel better about himself. By the time he actually did fall into bed, it was after four in the morning. He'd set the alarm for seven a.m., but when it went off he hit the switch and pulled the covers up over his head.
When he finally opened his eyes and saw the clock on his nightstand read eleven a.m., he jumped out of bed, put on a sweatsuit, and practically ran over to the truck rental company. He was supposed to meet Cooper at the club at two that afternoon for the wedding and he still had a million things to do, from packing the van to putting on his new wedding outfit. He also had to make sure he returned his apartment keys to his landlord after he did a final check to make sure he hadn't left anything behind.
Although he never thought he'd be able to pull it all off in such a short amount of time, by one thirty that afternoon he'd packed the van, cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, put on his wedding outfit, and still had time to spare. As he glanced into a cracked full-length mirror behind his closet door, he smiled and made a few turns. The wedding outfit looked even better on him now than it had in the boutique where he'd bought it. The suit was made out of light cream linen, with tiny little flecks of silver woven into the fabric. The jacket and slacks were trimmed with light beige leather and the buttons were made out of tiny little rhinestones. His shoes were the same beige leather as the trim; so were his socks. He wore every ring he owned, including one for each thumb. He had large fake diamonds in each ear and two cufflinks to match. On his left wrist he wore his best watch, and on his right he wore six different gold bracelets. Though no one would know, he'd even put on his gold ankle bracelet and toe rings. He'd leave them on later when he removed all his clothes and made love to his husband on his wedding night.
Before he left to return the key to his landlord, he glanced into the mirror one last time to make sure his hair was okay. He never would have dressed this way for anything else. He'd always tended to be more conservative and most of his friends accused him of being too plain. J.D., who thought nothing of wearing leather pants anywhere, would be shocked when he saw him arrive in his wedding outfit.
Treston couldn't wait to see the look on Cooper's face.
He closed the apartment door without glancing back. Then he walked to the end of the building and knocked on his landlord's door. He'd already given notice and his landlord was expecting him. But when the landlord opened the door and saw him standing there in his wedding outfit, he gaped for a moment and said, "That must have set you back a small fortune." He was a short, stocky middle-aged man who wore his hair like Elvis in the seventies and never wore anything but sweatpants and a plaid shirt. He wore no shoes that day and Treston noticed a small hole in the toe of his right sweat sock.
"I'm getting married today," Treston said. He couldn't stop smiling. "And I want it to be the most special day of my life."
The landlord looked him up and down and laughed. "That's exactly how I felt the first two times."
"Well, this is going to last forever," Treston said. He handed the key over and smoothed out his jacket. Why did people who'd had bad experiences have to say things like that the minute they saw someone who was actually happy?
The landlord made a face. "That's what I thought both times, too."
Treston wasn't going to let this guy get him down. "I left everything clean and the next tenant can just move right in," he said. The landlord may have had two bad experiences with marriage, but that wouldn't happen to Treston. He'd already been through enough bad men, devoid of all character, to know better. He knew he was safe with a decent, moral man like Cooper.