Catalyst (Connectivity Book 2) Read online

  After settling around the table, Travis spoke again, answering Cory’s question. “Oh, come on. You didn’t think you were getting out of this that easy did you? Just a movie? Nah, man. You’re only get married once and your bros gotta pull it together. I ordered these last week after the banquet and I just knew we had to do something to make this memorable. So…” He reached into his bag and handed off the sashes to Josh and Cory.

  “What is this?” Josh asked, turning the fabric over. The look on his face was priceless as he glanced between the rainbow sash, Cory, and Travis. “You got us groom-to-be sashes?” he asked almost looking on the verge of tears.

  Travis nodded. He could only imagine what Josh and Cory seemed to be feeling at that moment. Their wedding was a huge deal and Travis was instantly glad he’d gone the extra mile to get them the sashes. If he could be a part of bringing some treasured memories to the couple before their big day, he was glad to do it. Their love deserved to be celebrated.

  “Yeah, man. I know what tomorrow means to you. I wanted to do something for you guys to make tonight fun and let you guys enjoy the night before you’re stuck with each other forever,” he teased and threw them a wink. He knew exactly what tomorrow meant for the couple, but wanted to play the moment up with a little fun, instead of all the feels.

  “Thank you, Travis,” Josh said earnestly and came around the table to squeeze him in a big hug. Cory was right behind Josh and asked him to take a few pictures of them with his phone. Travis nodded and watched them help each other get their sashes on and straight, before they turned to him with their arms wrapped around each other, smiling the happiest grins, right there, in the middle of Chili’s.

  When they all returned to their seats and looked over the menu, they agreed to just split a bunch of different appetizers, and shortly thereafter, placed their order with their waiter.

  Travis made sure to catch their waiter’s eye. He looked to be holding back some rather unpleasant remarks about having to serve their group, or more specifically, the couple who was so obviously celebrating their out-and-proud status. As the waiter squirmed and moved farther away from Cory and Josh’s end of the table, he blanched when Travis stared him straight in the eye. Travis raised his eyebrow in challenge, and the man turned away quickly, scurrying off to place their order.

  Samuel nudged him to draw his attention and he shook his head, telling him to leave it. Samuel nodded and rejoined the conversation. Across the table, Josh checked his phone and said something to Cory.

  “Be right back, guys,” Josh said to the table and he and Cory got up and walked toward the entrance of the restaurant.

  “What was that with the waiter?” Samuel questioned quietly after Cory and Josh were far enough away.

  Travis looked over at Samuel. “Did you not notice the way he was looking at them? He’s lucky they had their backs to him and couldn’t see his face when he saw what they were wearing. I’m not going to let some homophobic jerk ruin their night. I was just subtly letting him know his place.”

  Jake leaned around Samuel and looked over at him too. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Just the waiter being a dick. It’s fine. I just didn’t want him to ruin their night.”

  Jake looked around trying to find their waiter, but Samuel nudged him in the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all here and we won’t let anything happen either.”

  Travis nodded and looked up just in time to clear his face as he saw Josh and Cory approaching again. He nicked his chin out. “Drop it. They’re back.”

  Everyone looked over as Josh and Cory moved aside to reveal the wisp of a man behind them. The other man suddenly stopped and locked eyes with Travis, whispering something under his breath, and Cory smiled and said something back.

  For a moment, Travis felt his stomach clench as his body responded to his first glimpse of the man, but as Josh introduced his friend and ran down the line of them, pointing them each out by name, the sensation vanished and he almost wondered if it had been there at all. Blinking to clear his mind, he realized the sensation in his chest and stomach had almost been like déjà vu, like he’d recognized Josh’s friend, but he was sure he’d never seen the man before. Travis knew he’d have remembered that hair and those lips.

  As the man joined their table, Travis tried to relax and look casual, but his mind was reeling. He’d never really been all that attracted to anyone in the past, man or woman, or at least his body hadn’t been, but either way, the way he felt in that moment left him confused. He could barely focus on the conversation as the rest of the guys all asked Jersey questions in an attempt to get to know him better.

  Fortunately, their jerk of a waiter interrupted Travis’s mini freakout with their food before he could get too lost inside his head. As their waiter took Jersey’s drink order, Travis snuck a lingering look at Josh’s friend as everyone else occupied themselves with the food littering their table.

  The guy was tiny, possibly five or more inches shorter than Travis’s own height of six feet, and had to weight at least forty pounds less than him, maybe more. He was slight-boned with almost delicate features, but somehow still managed to look sturdy, like he didn’t take any crap from anyone. Maybe his attitude and posture were the things giving off his don’t-mess-with-me vibe, but the things that caught Travis’s attention the most were his lips and hair.

  His hair was probably a normal shade of brown, but for some reason, seemed really shiny and healthy. It was cut with layers, leaving the longest layer to just skim the tops of his shoulders, but the rest was mostly still long enough to tuck behind his ear, which Travis observed, he did quite a lot. Maybe that was a nervous habit he’d developed when he was in an unfamiliar situation.

  Travis caught himself wondering how soft Jersey’s hair actually was. From where he was sitting, the guy’s hair looked like it could be in a shampoo commercial for soft, touchable hair, even though it was evening time and he’d likely been messing with it all day. It still looked amazingly soft and framed Jersey’s angular face in a very flattering way; drawing the eye in, right to those gorgeous lips.

  Blinking suddenly, Travis realized where he’d let his mind wander off to. The clatter of dishes and conversation drew him out of his haze and he absently realized he’d hardly eaten anything. Most of the food was gone by the time he gave himself a mental head-shake, but he still managed to snag a few remaining items and polish off his soda.

  “So, Travis,” Jersey said, drawing his attention and almost causing Travis to blush as Jersey turned his full focus on him. “I hear you’re the one to thank for the awesome accessories my boys are sporting.”

  Immediate relief flooded Travis’s veins at the conversational gift he’d just been handed. He could totally make small talk and play up his attributes a bit. He smiled and shrugged casually.

  “I couldn’t very well let these two tie the knot without a little something to commemorate their big gay love,” he laughed easily and swore he saw the other man staring at his smile. He decided to throw out a bone and see if Jersey would bite. “Besides, even if I don’t have someone in my life to look at the way these two look at each other, I can understand and support the kind of Connection they seem to share. I think it’s awesome they found each other and aren’t afraid to cherish and celebrate it, ya know?”

  “Wow,” Jersey said with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Travis got the impression he hadn’t been expecting to hear that from him and seemed impressed. “Not many people talk like that these days. Everyone seems to encourage and promote being promiscuous. With divorce rates so high, and the stigma that all gay men are hooking up left and right on dating apps, it seems rare indeed that a couple so young would jump feet first into marriage and get the backing of their friends. But I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. After meeting Cory, I could tell he had a really solid backing and foundation, not only from his family but from his peers, his friends. He’s lucky to have you all,” Jersey said, and finally broke eye contac
t for the first time to look at the rest of the guys. Travis wondered at the look Josh and Jersey shared at that moment and what had gone unsaid.

  Jersey continued. “And as Josh’s BFF,” he smiled and elbowed Josh in the side, “I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for welcoming him into your folds so quickly. He’s been a bit of a rock for me, and I’m glad he’s made some new friends who accept him without question.”

  The tables had turned in the span of a minute. Where just a minute ago Travis thought he’d impressed Jersey with his little speech, the other man turned things around and Travis was the one at a loss for words. He’d been unprepared for Jersey’s reply.

  “If I have to give a speech tomorrow, I’m going before him,” Travis blurted out, his mouth talking before his brain had a chance to filter. He clamped his mouth shut as the rest of the table erupted in laughter.

  “You should have heard the toast he gave us the morning after we got engaged. Classic Jersey,” Josh said with another laugh and shook his head, looking fondly at his friend.

  Samuel spoke up, announcing it was time for them to pack it up and head to their movie. They all stood and pooled their money to cover the bill, and Travis noted that Jersey threw in more than his fair share. Their waiter certainly didn’t deserve the added tip, but it must have made Jersey feel better about tagging along. Travis could understand where he’d want to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t there to mooch off anyone, so, he let it go.

  They filed out of the restaurant and crossed back over to the theater, where Josh gathered them all around, claiming he needed group shots of them celebrating. Jersey took Josh’s phone from him after the group shots and took several more of Josh and Cory, looking at each other with stars in their eyes. It was pretty sweet to watch. Cory and Josh quite obviously only had eyes for each other, and when they posed together, their love surrounded them like warm rays of sunshine, wrapping them in their embrace.

  Travis could only hope for something as sweet and loving as that. If he wasn’t a Catalyst, he’d have to settle for the endless cycle of dating and attempting to find someone who would come close to loving him the way a Complement might. The thought of having to work so hard just to find someone to love him left a sour taste in his mouth. He longed for the easy, natural way Cory and Josh just gravitated toward each other. A Connective pairing, even though it was all-consuming, was as natural as breathing; the two halves of one soul coming together to complete each other.

  “Kind of hard to watch, huh?” Jersey said from right next to him, startling him out of his thoughts. Blinking to clear his mind, he realized their group had gathered and was heading toward the entry. Jersey walked a step ahead, encouraging him to follow. “Not that it’s a bad thing. I mean, it’s great. Really. I just mean that it’s hard to be around that without feeling like you’re missing out on something, you know? The way they’re so in love and in tune with each other. I’ve been completely jealous since Cory asked for my help before prom.” He shook his head and Travis noticed one corner of his mouth lift in a half smile. “Don’t tell Josh I said this because he’d give me crap for the rest of my life. He knows I date and I’m not a saint, but I think they’ve ruined me.” He smirked. “I haven’t gone out once since I found out about these two. It just seems so pointless after watching them. Like anything less than what they have is a waste of my time.”

  Travis nodded, not sure why the other man seemed to be confessing all these things to him, but he had to admit he agreed. “I know what you mean. I’ve never really dated before, but watching them makes anything else seem like too much work for too little reward.”

  “Exactly.” Jersey nodded.

  Travis caught the door and held it open for Jersey to pass through first. Nodding his thanks, Jersey waited for him to enter before he continued on. The chatter of conversations and the smell of popcorn filled the air as they followed their friends toward their assigned theater.

  “You think you’ll find something like that one day?” Jersey asked and Travis couldn’t be sure of the other man’s meaning.

  It seemed quite a few of his conversations lately were full of hidden meaning and unspoken insinuation. Travis didn’t know what Josh and Cory had told Jersey about their Connection, and he himself had never confessed his own knowledge of it, but the way Jersey spoke about feeling like anything less than what Josh and Cory had, left Travis feeling confident they’d probably shared quite a bit with him. But did Jersey know that Travis knew about it too? Is that why he’d asked the question the way he had? ‘Would Travis ever find someone like that?’ Maybe Josh and Cory understood the hints he’d been dropping after all and had shared that knowledge with their friend.

  “Like that?” he asked, nicking his chin out to the happy couple ahead of them. “I don’t know. It may not be in the cards for me.”

  Jersey gave him an odd look like he didn’t understand. “Why not? I know it seems daunting to try to find it, and you could spend years searching for it, but why wouldn’t you want to find that? I’d be out looking right now if I thought it was meant for me...” Jersey trailed off, looking down at the worn carpet.

  “It’s not that I wouldn’t want it, it just may not be for me either,” he said and Jersey glanced up at him, then back down.

  They walked up the ramp into the viewing room, and after a brief discussion, in which Travis gave himself a mental shake to stop moping again, they selected their seats and only had minutes to wait for the show to start. Jersey took the seat next to Josh, and Travis filed in to sit next to him on the end. He tried to engage in a more lively conversation before the movie started, but once the lights dimmed and the trailers started, he let his mind wander again. Maybe he and Jersey really did have something in common. They both understood what was at stake and anything less was just not worth it.

  -III-

  The day of Cory’s wedding, Travis double checked his suit in the morning and stopped in to pick up the engraved picture frame he’d ordered with Jasmine.

  He wrapped their gift and jotted down a few notes since he wasn’t sure if he would be expected to say something about the men at their reception. He’d also been texting with a few of the guys about the group gift they planned from the baseball team. There were ten guys who had contributed various amounts of money toward a surprise mini honeymoon for Cory and Josh. It wasn’t anything too extravagant since none of them had gobs of money lying around, but Travis thought it would be more meaningful to the men since the team had put it together for them.

  Travis had been planning to arrive at Cory’s parents’ house around midday to help with any set-up, decorating, or general preparation of tables, chairs, food or whatever. He’d recruited Jake and Liam as well, and once everything was set up, the other men would leave and return later after the ceremony and pictures were finished.

  Cory and Josh had explained that they really only wanted a small group for their ceremony since it was on the top of the hill next to Cory’s parent's house and the space wasn’t big enough to handle many people. But in reality, it probably had more to do with wording and talk about their Connection, and they didn’t feel comfortable sharing that information with too many people. Usually only family and really close friends were told but that was up to each individual couple. Travis understood and tried to relay the grooms’ wishes to their friends.

  When he arrived at the Lasting’s house, Cory and Josh were nowhere to be seen, and Cory’s parents explained that the grooms were having a quiet afternoon to themselves in their new apartment and would be back a couple of hours before the ceremony to partake in some pampering that Josh had arranged for Cory.

  There was still plenty to be done, though, and when Liam and Jake arrived, they were all put to work alongside the grooms’ families.

  They spent an hour setting up tables and chairs and draping them with linens, and when Jersey arrived, after rounds of greetings, he helped set up the flower centerpieces and candles that would decorate each table. The grooms a
nd groomsmen were going to be sitting at a separate table that needed to be decorated differently and Diane explained how she wanted the floral garland draped and arranged.

  More fairy lights were wound around the trunks and branches of the trees in the yard and a small table was set up for the cake and gifts. The caterer was set to arrive just before the ceremony and they were providing their own table for the food.

  As the afternoon wore on, Jake and Liam left with many thanks from the families, and Travis finally got a chance to sit and chat with Jersey. The man had come dressed in skinny black capri pants with white sneakers and a white and black striped shirt. Even after only two meetings, Travis could tell that Jersey was a very smart dresser.

  They sat on opposite benches in the front yard, each with a soda and small plate of snacks, taking in the scene and resting after all the commotion of setting up.

  “So, I know you said yesterday,” Jersey started, drawing Travis’s attention, “that you support Josh and Cory’s decision to marry young, and they’ve also told me about how you helped them at that disaster of a prom, but just to reiterate and offer my own words, I wanted to say thank you. I know we only just met, but it seems to me that you know more about what’s going on with them than you let on with everyone else around.” Travis nodded along as Jersey spoke, confirming that the other man was correct. “I thought so, but with all the dancing around I wasn’t sure.”

  “Same,” Travis agreed. “I knew you must know something, but I wasn’t sure how much you knew, or if you knew I knew. Wow. That was weird,” he chuckled and Jersey smiled. Travis liked the look on Jersey’s face when he smiled. It drew his eyes to those amazing lips again.

  “Well, I know enough to realize the hand fate dealt these two and how lucky they are to have found each other. If I were in their shoes, I’d probably be doing the same thing they are, even if I do give everyone a hard time about love.” One corner of Jersey’s mouth lifted in half smile. “What do you know about Connectivity? A family member somewhere?”