A Decision for Jarren - 34. Chapter 34

Nash woke before Jarren did the following morning. He allowed himself the pleasure of watching his lover sleep. Jarren was facing him with his head sharing the same pillow. A lock of his soft blond hair had fallen across his forehead, just barely covering one eye. Nash gently brushed it back, remembering how his hands had threaded through those soft strands last night in the throes of passion. He would never get tired of making love with Jarren. He absolutely loved the way Jarren responded to each and every thing he did to him. Nash also loved the responses that Jarren was capable of eliciting from him. They were at the point in their relationship where intimacy was an integral part of their connection with each other. It wasn’t that the sex wasn’t important, it was, however, they both knew that there was so much more to being in love than just great sex.

Nash pulled Jarren closer as the man started to stir. He enveloped him in the warmth of his embrace. Jarren snuggled in closer, nestling his face in the crook of Nash’s neck, automatically inhaling the scent he loved.

“Mmmmm, good morning Nash.” Jarren mumbled, his voice gravelly with sleep.

“Good morning Jarren, did you sleep well?” Nash asked.

Jarren yawned and answered “Like a log. You certainly know how to wear me out.”

Nash chuckled and replied “I could say the same. My ass is making itself known this morning.”

“And a fine ass it is too.” Jarren commented as he stretched his long limbs and twisted slightly so that his back cracked. “If it’s any consolation, my ass is a little sore too. You are an animal.”

“Grrrrrrrrrr,” Nash growled out.

Jarren laughed and threw back the sheet that had been covering them. He sat up and reached for his phone to check the time. Damn, it was already after twelve. “Time to get up. We missed breakfast. I guess we’ll have to settle for brunch. C’mon, get your fine ass up and let’s go. I’m starving.”

Nash sat up and reached for the compression and gel socks on the nightstand. He had gotten pretty adept at getting the socks on and his prosthetic foot in place and it only took him a minute before he was following Jarren into their bathroom. After their amorous activities during the wee hours of the night they had taken a much needed shower before falling back into bed somewhere around four in the morning. It was no wonder they slept until just after noon.

After taking care of their bladders they both threw on some jeans and clean t-shirts and set off for the kitchen. There was a note indicating that they should walk over to Ryan and Seth’s house for brunch. Jarren went back to the room to grab his sneakers and a couple of minutes later they were out in the bright sunshine walking the short distance around the corner to the Carson’s residence.

Nash knocked on the door and it was answered by a petite girl with dark hair and eyes. Jarren smiled and greeted her “Hi Mia, remember me? I’m Lex and Ian’s friend Jarren. This is Nash.”

“Hi Jarren! Hi Nash! Come on in, everyone is in the kitchen or on the deck.” Mia said brightly as she pulled the door open further.

Jarren led the way through the large living room to the huge kitchen at the back of the house. Lex and Ian were there talking with Ryan and Seth. As soon as Lex saw them he smiled and said “Hey guys, come on over. Help yourselves to food. There’s enough to feed a small army.”

Jarren and Nash greeted their friends and said hello to Ryan and Seth before grabbing plates and loading them up. Ryan had hired a catering company to come and provide breakfast. The spread could have rivalled an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. There were warming trays of every breakfast food imaginable, a table laden with cut up fresh fruit, various breads and pastries. In addition to breakfast items, the buffet set up included lunch favorites like chicken, lobster mac and cheese (courtesy of Mia and Shannon, they loved the stuff), cold cuts, and several salads. Nash and Jarren loaded up their plates and headed out to the deck where they saw Rick, Kathy, Rita, Keon and Liam. Jarren’s siblings had been there earlier as well, but had left so they could relieve Kelsey from rugrat duty. No wonder Ryan had provided so much food.

Liam waved at them and told Keon to scoot down so Jarren and Nash could sit. They greeted everyone and then proceeded to dig into the food while Liam and Leon described their ‘epic’ Call of Duty battle last night. The only ones that were missing were Mazen and Cassie. Brie and Casey had already been there as well, and had set out to explore Boston. Everyone figured that Cassie was finally exhausted and no one wanted to be the one to disturb her, not even Lex. Mazen ended up showing up about forty-five minutes after Jarren and Nash and he confirmed that Cassie was still sleeping. They all knew that she deserved it.

Cassie finally made an appearance around three o’clock and everyone was effusive in their praise of the job that she had done putting the Gala together. It had truly been a huge success and it was mostly due to Cassie’s diligent effort.

“So Cass, do you have the final tally yet? asked Lex.

Cassie smiled brightly before answering, “I don’t have the final number, but as of twenty minutes ago we raised $8.4 million dollars!! She then proceeded to squeal and jump up and down with excitement. That far exceeded their initial projections when they had first started to plan the event. She announced that they had over 800 donors pledge between $10,000 and $20,000. The largest pledge from a single donor was $1,000,000. That donor wished to remain anonymous. Cassie was surrounded and hugged by everyone. Even Lucky, Ryan’s dog, managed to plant her wet tongue upside Cassie’s face when she bent down to hug Shannon and Mia.

The excitement finally died down and Jarren and Nash decided it was time to head home. They were still tired and it was a two hour drive. They said their good-byes, and told everyone they would see them in a couple of weeks for the weddings. Cassie told Jarren that they needed to get together later that week to go over a few last minute items on her wedding to-do list. Keon asked if he could ride back with them as Lex and Ian were staying through dinner. Jarren told him to ask Lex if it was alright for him to sleep over and if so, then he would take him to school in the morning. Keon got the OK and they made their way out to the Honda.

Both boys dozed off in the backseat during the ride home. After pulling into the driveway around seven, Nash suggested they order pizza. Neither he nor Jarren felt like cooking. The four guys managed to decimate three large pizzas and not long after the boys headed to Liam’s room to get ready for bed. The weekend had tired everyone out. Once the boys were settled down for the night Jarren and Nash decided to hang it up as well. They had a busy week coming up and the following week would be even worse.

Jarren was up before everyone else in the morning and he took a quick shower, then got dressed before waking Nash up. Nash was able to manage quite well on his own with the modifications that had been made to their bathroom. Jarren knocked on Liam’s door twice with no answer before he opened it up. The two boys were still sound asleep and Liam was snuggled up against Keon with Keon spooning him. Jarren smiled at the sight. Liam had still given no indication that he and Keon were anything but friends, not that it mattered. Jarren just wanted them both to be happy.

Jarren stayed in the doorway and rapped loudly on the doorjamb and said in a loud, but not shouting voice, “Boys! Time to get up.”

The two kids stirred and Liam groaned at having to wake up. Jarren watched for a moment as the two slowly dragged themselves into consciousness, making sure they were fully awake. He closed the door and headed to the kitchen to pull down the boxes of cereal, set out some bowls and make coffee.

It wasn’t long before Nash showed up and helped himself to a bowl of multigrain Cheerios. Jarren fixed himself a bowl as well and pushed the container of sliced strawberries toward Nash after throwing a few in with his cereal. He got up when the coffee was ready and poured himself and Nash some of the nectar of the gods in the new mugs they had purchased in Boston.

Keon came into the kitchen first and Liam wasn’t too far behind. Both kids helped themselves to Peanut Butter Crunch. Jarren set a banana down in front of each of them as well. They needed at least one healthy item in the morning. The four of them were pretty quiet, still recuperating from the weekend. At seven-fifteen they loaded up into the SUV and Jarren dropped the boys off at the middle school. He reminded Liam that Lex would pick him up and take him to therapy and they would see him when he was done.

Jarren and Nash headed into work. Mazen was supposed to meet them at the office in Springfield to coordinate the schedules for the work that was going to be done over the next few weeks. Mazen was finally able to devote 100% of his attention to the Larkin project now that The Barn banquet extension was completed.

The remainder of the week kept everyone on the go. They managed to stick to the routine that had been established at the beginning of the month and luckily there were no snafus.

Cassie called Jarren on Tuesday and wanted to get together Friday night to go over the final items she needed to nail down for the wedding. They agreed to meet at Cassie and Mazen’s house and Liam was invited to stay over with Keon.

When Friday rolled around Jarren and Nash picked up Liam from his physical therapy session and Karl told them how pleased he was with Liam’s progress. Liam just grinned like a Cheshire cat. Liam still had clothes and toiletries over at Lex’s house so there was no need for him to pack anything for his overnight stay, so they drove straight there after therapy ended. Jarren left the SUV in Lex’s driveway and he and Nash walked across the street after getting Liam settled.

Cassie opened the door and gave both men a hug and kiss. They had seen the new house a few times already, but Cassie and Mazen were working on some minor renovations. They planned on doing a major overhaul next year. This year had been just too crazy. Cassie wanted to gut the kitchen and dining room to open everything up, but Mazen had convinced her to wait until the spring.

Cassie had a checklist that she printed out and they settled in at the kitchen table with cartons of Chinese food spread out before them. Jarren looked at his brother and mouthed ‘thank you’. Mazen knew exactly what he liked and made sure there was plenty of it. Jarren’s belly was happy to chow down on a generous portion of General Tso’s chicken and steamed dumplings. Cassie, in her usual fashion, now that she wasn’t a bundle of nerves, packed away more than her share of food. Nash had no idea where she put it.

While they were enjoying the food Cassie made them tick off items on her list.

Tuxes ordered? Check. Rings bought? Check. Vows written? Almost check. They were both working on tweaking them, but they assured Cassie they would be ready by next weekend. The look Cassie gave them indicated that there would be physical harm done if they weren’t ready. Jarren knew better than to roll his eyes. He and Nash had already decided to keep their vows short. Jarren pretty much already knew what he wanted to say, he wasn’t writing anything down, and neither was Nash. They just weren’t telling Cassie that. Cassie went over the list of RSVP’s that had come in, and the final count was 120 guests. Nash looked surprised. He guessed most of them were Jarren and Mazen’s family. He had invited his brother Knox, but Knox had to decline as his wife was due to give birth at the end of the week. Knox had told him that they could come for Thanksgiving or Christmas if they wanted to. If that didn’t work then they had an open invitation to visit whenever their schedules allowed it. Knox had promised to come and visit next summer when his older kids got out of school.

Maddie, Jeff and John had all RSVP’d and he and Jarren were looking forward to seeing their friends again. Nash’s parents were never even a blip on the invite list. Nash didn’t care if he ever saw them again. He had a new family now, one that accepted him wholeheartedly for who he was and he was enjoying being part of it. Jarren’s family had all made him feel welcome and he looked forward to their frequent family get togethers.

Cassie handed them their schedule for next Saturday. Nash snuck a look sideways at Jarren, who had a somewhat scared look on his face.

“Umm, Cassie, why do we need to be at the spa all morning?” Jarren questioned.

He was surprised when Mazen answered, “Bro, trust me. You’re going to love it. She dragged me a couple of months ago and I swear, the massage alone is worth the price.”

Nash snickered and then getting serious, asked, “Speaking of price, how much do we owe guys for all of this?”

Mazen wouldn’t look at his brother when Cassie said “Nothing. I’m taking care of everything and don’t even think about protesting. Lex gave me a ridiculous amount of money when he got his inheritance and I’ve never spent a dime on myself until now. I can afford it, and I won’t hear any shit from either of you. You’re family and family takes care of its own.”

Both Nash and Jarren started to open their mouths, but at the look of panic on Mazen’s face, they both stopped short. Nash recovered first and merely said “Thank you Cassie. That means a lot. To both of us.”

Jarren smiled and agreed with Nash. Mazen looked relieved.

Once that was settled Cassie finished going over the itinerary for the wedding day. She concluded their little meeting by saying “I know I’m pushy and overbearing, but this day means everything to me and to have you guys be such an important part of it makes it perfect. I love you guys and I truly mean it when I say that you’re family, and not just because you and Mazen are brothers Jarren. Nash, I told you that you’ve been a part of my inner circle since I was fourteen and I meant it. I feel so much more complete because I have you two as part of my life.”

Cassie ended up in the middle of the three guys, their arms firmly interlocked in a group hug. Jarren caught Mazen’s gaze and without words conveyed how proud he was.

Breaking up their little love fest, they cleaned up and put away what little leftovers there were. Cassie broke out her bottles of Fireball and RumChata, while Mazen got each of the guys a beer. They spent the rest of the evening drinking, laughing and playing cards. By mutual agreement they had decided to forgo any kind of bachelor party. Cassie was the designated party planner and she did not have the time to focus on anything other than the Gala and the wedding. So tonight was their own private party and all four of them drank just a little more than they should have. Jarren and Nash ended up in the guest room. Cassie’s mom was staying until after the wedding and she had decided to stay with Ian’s parents as they had become quite good friends. Besides, she knew her daughter well and was smart enough to stay out of her way when Cassie got into party planning mode. Cassie spoke to her mom every day and they got together frequently to touch base on the wedding plans, or just spend some mother/daughter time together.

Saturday morning after breakfast, somewhat hungover, Jarren and Nash made their way back over to Lex and Ian’s house to pick up Liam. They were meeting with their family therapist and needed to leave soon. The therapist had been extremely helpful to all of them. So far they had been able to handle the small issues that occasionally cropped up. Jarren and Nash discovered that Liam was capable of having an epic meltdown if he became overwhelmed or was in pain. While they had no way of predicting how much pain he felt after his physical therapy sessions, they did learn to identify some of the triggers that Liam needed help dealing with. It mostly had to do with school, his math class in particular.

Math wasn’t Liam’s strong suit and he easily became frustrated when he couldn’t grasp a concept. The therapist suggested that they email his teacher and see if he could get some extra help. They also told Liam that when he felt himself getting frustrated with a math problem to step back for a few minutes, or put it aside so he could refocus and go back to it later. If that failed then they let him know that he could always ask for help. Liam’s teacher paired him with a girl in his class who had agreed to help him out. So far it seemed to be working and his meltdowns over math were less frequent. Keon helped out as well. He liked math and understood it easily so Liam often called or texted him when he was working on his homework.

This particular Saturday, their therapist addressed the upcoming marriage and was pleased that none of them were harboring any doubts whatsoever. Liam could barely contain his excitement. He viewed the wedding as something positive that would get them one step closer to being an official family in the eyes of the state government. Massachusetts law required a six month waiting period once a child was fostered before the application process for adoption could be started. They would have to wait until the beginning of February before Ryan could file the paperwork for them.

After their therapy appointment they decided to stop by Jarren’s parent’s house. His Mom had issued a standing invitation for dinner whenever they had a chance. Now that Robbie had flown the nest and was at college his Mom would jump at any chance to have her kids and grandkids over. Jarren called first and his Mom happily told him that she would take a few more steaks out. Dad had been planning on grilling and they were more than welcome.

Maggie was always delighted to see and spoil her newest grandchild and Liam soaked it right up. He was happy to be on the receiving end of her attention. Knowing that Liam was developing a love of cooking she took him into the kitchen to show him how to make a chocolate cream pie for dessert. Jarren and Nash sat out on the deck in the warm afternoon sunshine and discussed the Larkin project with Bill until it was time to fire up the grill. Dinner conversation centered around the wedding the following weekend. Maggie was surprisingly calm and she had to admit that Cassie had done a fantastic job of taking care of every last detail. She also admitted that Bailey and Kelsey had helped out tremendously as well, taking care of things that Cassie delegated to them. Maggie admitted to being a little disappointed that she couldn’t fret over anything like she normally would. The guys just laughed at that statement.

Maggie put Jarren and Nash to work setting the table on the deck and carrying out all the condiments. They enjoyed the warmth of the late summer sunshine while they devoured the juicy steaks. Bill had also thrown some baked potatoes on the grill and Maggie had set out butter and sour cream. A large tossed salad fulfilled the vegetable requirement. Liam’s chocolate cream pie, or rather pies, were a hit. Maggie had taught him well as there was only a half of one pie leftover. Liam was disappointed when they couldn’t light the fire pit. It was a school and work night and Jarren was firm when he told Liam that it was time to go home.

Liam thanked his Grandma for teaching him how to make the pies and she promptly anointed him her new apprentice. Maggie told him that he would need to come and spend a weekend with her sometime in October and they would have a cookie making marathon. This was something she did every year before the holidays and each of her kids at one time or another had been required to help. Now that she had grandchildren she usually spent time teaching them how to make cookies, pies and other assorted sweet treats for the holidays. Massive batches of cookies and fudge were made and then frozen, ready to be distributed to various family and friends. Jarren knew that Robbie would have whooped his approval at the announcement, as he had been roped into baking duty every year since he was ten. He would be quite happy and relieved to pass the baking torch onto Liam.

That placated Liam enough that he didn’t protest any further when it was time to go. They were all going to be busy this week, and Jarren and Nash had already agreed to let Liam skip out of school early on Friday. There would be a rehearsal and then dinner at The Barn and they didn’t want to be rushing around at the last minute.

It wasn’t too late when they got home and Jarren told Liam that he could play XBox for an hour before getting ready for bed. He saw Liam grab his phone and guessed correctly that he was texting Keon so they could battle online for the approved hour. Jarren shot a quick text off to Lex to let him know that the kids would be playing online and he had given his approval for an hour of gaming, that way the kids couldn’t pit the adults against each other in their quest for more gaming time.

Nash and Jarren watched a little TV while Liam was occupied with his gaming and they even gave the kids an extra twenty minutes before telling Liam to wrap it up. It was another ten minutes before Liam signed off and got ready for bed.

Jarren and Nash were still cuddled up on the couch when Liam wheeled himself over to say goodnight. Jarren caught the look that was on Liam’s face and asked “What’s up Buddy? You look like you have a question.”

Liam was quiet for a moment, they could both tell that he was trying to figure out how to word his question. “How do you know if someone you like, likes you back?” Liam asked.

“Do you mean likes, as in friends, or likes as in romantically?” Nash replied.

Liam blushed as he answered, “Romantically.”

Nash looked at Jarren and weighed his thoughts before giving Liam his opinion. “It’s not always straightforward. It really depends on how well you know the person to begin with. If it’s someone you don’t know very well then you need to try to get to know them and become better friends first. It’s never really a good idea to just spring a declaration of love onto someone you barely know. If it’s a good friend then the best way is usually the most direct. Ask him. A true friend will tell you the truth and if the answer is no, then you have to decide if you can live with just being friends.”

“But what if I say something and he says no and then doesn’t want to be friends anymore?” Liam lamented.

Jarren answered this question by saying “Liam, if the person doesn’t want to be friends just because you tell them you may have romantic feelings for them then you need to let it go. It’s their loss. You can’t force someone to like you, either as a friend or a love interest, but don’t forget, at your age a lot of kids don’t have the emotional maturity to sort this stuff out. If a friend drops you, don’t cut off all ties, things may change down the road. You’d be surprised how something that is a major ordeal when you’re 13, isn’t quite the same catastrophe when you’re 20.”

“I think I get it. Thanks guys. I love you.” Liam declared as he came over to give them each a goodnight hug. Nash hugged him back and kissed his cheek.

Jarren hugged him as well and kissed the top of his head, then leaned in and whispered “And Liam, straight boys and just friends don’t cuddle and spoon their gay friend all night.” He gave Liam a wink as a red blush crept up the poor kid’s neck. Liam just wheeled himself around and headed for his room.

Once they heard Liam’s bedroom door shut they looked at each other and at the same time said “Keon?”

Jarren smiled and told Nash, “Yeah, I think so. They were cuddled up together with Keon spooning Liam the morning after we got back from Boston. My guess is that they’re both trying to figure things out. Oh, to be thirteen again!”

“No thanks! Puberty and hormone overload? Once was enough.” Nash chuckled.

“Speaking of, how do you make a hormone?” asked Jarren.

“Huh?” said Nash.

“Squeeze his balls nice and tight!” Jarren laughed as Nash shoved him off the couch.

Nash got up and helped Jarren up. “You hang around Liam too much. I don’t which of you is worse with the corny jokes. Come on, you can practice ball squeezing on me. Maybe it’ll even out your hormones!” Nash said as he took Jarren’s hand and led him to their room.