[Featured in FreetheLGBT: Diverse Literature reading list and Humor: Young. Dumb. Full of Fun list]
Colin Mitchell, a photographer at a well-known store, Snapshot, is openly gay--mostly. His ideal experiences are sexcapades that are always subtle, n...
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Wedding bells were ringing, and Colin could only wonder why they were so goddamn loud. Or why they started again the very moment they stopped.
His phone. The sound was sharp as it cut through the air abruptly, jarring and blunt; it was nothing like the softness of Peter's hair in his face.
He remembered little about last night, only that Peter had woken up to say his back hurt from sleeping in the couch, and had then dragged both of them into Colin's bed.
They had slept facing each other, and the pads of his fingers had toured Peter's skin until his consciousness melted away. It was smooth and unbelievably soft; nothing like the thick, scratchy feeling he was getting now.
Colin sat up with a jolt, eyes widening with surprise when he realised nothing but the sheets and comforter were bundled in his hand. He let go, rubbing his face as he tried to focus his gaze on Peter---or rather, the space where he no longer laid.
The ringing made the brunet tear his eyes from the sheets to his phone, which rested atop the bedside drawer.
"Hello?" Colin said into the speaker, raking a hand through his tangled nest of hair.
"You were asleep?"
He cringed, sucking in a breath when he realised he might have slept through the alarm he set. The rising sun's rays filtered through the windows, so it was a likely event.
Clearing his throat, he feigned awareness. "What? No, no. I've---I've been awake the whole time."
It wasn't as convincing as he hoped, because Amy obviously didn't buy it. "Michael said you weren't there for his bachelor party, which I'm so mad at you for, you were supposed to tell me what happened! And I can't believe you were sleeping by this time when you know the groomsmen have to get dressed on schedule! The caterer is already running late and I don't need you making things worse."
He ignored her first sentence. "I'll get there. Give me an hour."
"An hour? The ceremony is at eight!"
"And it's five---" Colin lowered his phone and looked at the displayed time, "---fifty. The alarm I set hasn't even gone off yet."
"Do not ruin this for me, Colin. Don't you dare---"
Amy cut herself off when a voice in the background said the decorators had arrived. When she spoke again, her voice was a toke lighter, despite the threat still emanating from it. "I have to see to something right now, but you better get to the hotel immediately."
"Yes," he said, adding, "Bridezilla," under his breath.
Thankfully, she hadn't heard him, and was too occupied with asking about the order of service and transportation. He ended the call.
Placing his phone on the table, he swung his legs over the bed and glanced at the empty spot once more. Colin didn't want to think about Peter's disappearance, or the possibility that he had left again. No, he couldn't do that, not when the previous night had been near perfection.
