Georgia Peach

Chapter 9

  Her dad showed up eventually, driving Jason's blue truck for whatever reason. The boxes and bags and junk from the backseat was gone, Janis assumed they probably stacked it all up somewhere in the garage or something. She watched her dad stare them down from the rearview mirror as Cady settled into the seat beside Janis, never letting go of her hand once. She really hoped he would wait until they were home to ask about it.

He didn't.

"Everything all fixed up between you two?"

Janis heard Cady giggle when she let out a long sigh, "Yes, dad. It's allllll fixed."

"Good, cause we still have the wedding on the 30th and that would have been...a mess."

"Actually, I'll have you know that Cady is a fantastic actress and even if she hated me forever, no one at the wedding would know any better until long after we're back in Chicago and I'd've moved back in with you," She said matter-of-factly.

"Uh huh, well, we have to go meet Craig at a tailor's shop or whatever. Make sure our wedding attire fit and all that."

With everything that'd been happening, Janis almost forgot about the wedding. She was looking forward to seeing her uncle Craig, she needed to talk to him about something. Namely something named Nate. When they finally got to the tailor's, a small local place that apparently Craig claims to be the only decent tailor anywhere within 50 miles of Petersburg.

When they entered the shop, Craig was the only person aside from an old lady that Janis assumes is the tailor. Craig was standing proud as the old lady check some measurements on his torso, he shot them a big grin when he caught them shuffling in, "Hey, guys! This is Louise, we're doing some final adjustments on my tuxedo but it shouldn't be long."

Her dad stood by the counter while they waited. Janis and Cady wandered around the small shop, looking at all the different displays and fabrics and sending pictures of some to Damian. "It shouldn't be long" turned into 40 minutes which turned into an hour which turned into an hour and a half. Meaning Janis and Cady got bored ten minutes in and were just sitting in some chairs in the back, spamming Damian with memes since for whatever reason he wasn't replying. Eventually Craig came up to them, pointing a thumb behind him at Brandon getting his measurements.

"Cady, you're next. I wanna talk to Janis in private."

Oh?

Craig ushered Cady towards Brandon and Louise, "And it's very important and might take a while, so I need to start talking ASAP."

Janis was shocked, she doesn't think she's ever seen her uncle genuinely nervous like this before. He guides her over towards the dressing room in the back and he's wringing his hands.

"Dude, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just-" He's got a big grin, "I'm getting married! I never thought I would and- Listen, I wanted to ask you something. Janis, I want you to be my best man."

That's not what she was expecting.

She just kind of gaped at him for a moment, "I- I- What about...Nate? I mean...isn't he your best man."

Maybe she was having a little fun with this, she tossed him a wink and internally cringes because she definitely looked dumb as hell doing that.

"Nathan is....is...he's my fiance," Craig was playing with the engagement ring on his left hand, "Me and him...we've been together for like, oof, wow, like seven years now? We didn't really plan to get married, I mean, you know how Mawmaw and Pawpaw are. And Nate's family...they don't even talk to him anymore."

This was a lot more information that she was expecting, but seven years...her uncle's been hiding this for seven years. Probably more! He's only been with Nate for seven years. He's like 46, how long has he been hiding this?

"But just...I don't know, we were watching dumb romcoms one day and just, Nate kinda just looked at me with this look in his eyes and he was like, 'Peach, what if we got married? We're pretty much already stuck together for life, why not throw a party for it?' and it was...I don't know. It was like a wake up call," He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked Janis in the eyes, he was tearing up.

"I want to spend my whole life with this man. And I can't keep hiding that from Mawmaw and Pawpaw, no matter how scared I am. And I love Brandon, but...I want you to be my best man. Because what's a better "screw you, we're gay whether you like it or not" than the gay uncle having his lesbian niece as his best man at his gay wedding?"

Janis has never loved her uncle more, she pulls him in for a hug and buries her face into his shoulder because maybe she's tearing up too now. They're both laughing like idiots, "Yeah. Yeah, of course I'll be your best man, dude."

There was a knock on the door way. The two of them jumped apart., her dad was leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed in front of him and a smug smile across his face, "You tell her yet, Craig?"

"Yeah, yeah, Janibear is my best man now. So you get to stand in the back now, Brandy."

"Don't call me that!"

"Don't call me that!"

Janis and her dad spoke simultaneously and Craig just smiled before walking out, "Janis, don't forget! You're next for the fittings!"

Her dad put a hand on her shoulder, "Now, remember this is Craig's wedding. So you're not allowed to out-smug him at the wedding. But, make sure you are smug, because he'll never forgive you if you aren't a smug bastard towards our parents."

"It's impossible to out-smug, Uncle Craig, Dad."

"You've got a point there, pumpkin," They started walking out of the dressing room back towards the front, "And try not to stare too much at Cady in her dress."

"What do you mean-" Oh. Cady was standing on a stool in...a really nice red dress, "Oh..."

Cady smiled wide and bright, "Hey, Janis! What do you think? Pretty cool right?" She twirled around quickly, giggling.

"Y-yeah...pretty....pretty."

Oh, she was horrible at this. Someone tape her mouth shut and never let her speak again.

Everyone laughed and Janis felt her face burning up. Her uncle was never going to let her live this down. Cady stepped off the stool and grabbed her hands, smiling up at her. Janis had to admit, it was really hard not to smile back at her girlfriend. Okay, one it was impossible and two she was never going to get tired of calling Cady her girlfriend.