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Saturday, May 25th, 2019: Buckhead, Atlanta — Casey
Casey buttons the vest that goes with his rented tuxedo and says, “I think that the next time Ty gets married, he needs to consult us about our vacation plans first.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to hope that Ty only gets married once,” David says, laughing.
“There’s hope and then there’s Ty’s Mama,” Casey says. “I’m pragmatic, David.”
David shakes his head. “You have to wait until at least Monday to say that, Case.”
“If I end up alone with Ty’s Mama, I’m saying anything I have to say,” Casey says.
“Brat,” David retorts.
“That was a lot more convincing before you started whisking me away to exotic locales, sorry,” Casey says, then he sticks his tongue out at David.
“That just makes you a spoiled brat, the way I figure it.”
“Whose fault is that, then?” Casey asks.
“Hmmm. Danny’s, maybe,” Dave responds.
“Poor Danny. He has all the cats and all the responsibility for my behavior,” Casey says, trying and mostly failing to sound sad. Casey takes a step back so he can take a good look at David all dressed up in his rental tuxedo. “If we had to interrupt our trip, I guess there are worse things to interrupt for. You look really good.”
“Only the finest in pre-worn apparel,” David jokes. “And I think Danny likes the cats, anyway.”
There’s a knock on the door, and Danny’s voice calls out. “I heard something about cats!”
“Uh-oh. Danny’s cat radar must have caught us,” Casey whispers.
“Anyway, it’s time to go to the sanctuary,” Danny continues. “We have to make sure Ty doesn’t run off. That’s the traditional job of groomsmen.”
“Is it?” Casey asks David.
David shrugs. “I have no idea. I thought maybe it was like Halloween, and we were dressed alike to confuse the evil spirits.”
“Makes sense to me,” Casey says. “I can’t think of any other good reason why we should all match, anyway.”
David opens the door and heads down the hallway, following the signs to the sanctuary. They stop just outside of it, standing there with the minister. The minister goes over where they’re supposed to stand and a few other things, but it seems to mostly be for Danny’s benefit.
“Did you not find Coop?” David asks Danny.
“I think he’s just running late,” Danny answers, shrugging.
“I’m here!” Coop says and he comes sprinting into the room, his tie still undone and hanging around his neck. “I got turned around trying to get here ’cause of the construction on Northside.”
“Your tie isn’t tied,” Casey points out, just in case Coop didn’t realize he hadn’t actually tied it.
“Right, I just hadn’t gotten to it yet, is all,” Coop says. He ties his tie, though he puts minimal effort into it and the resulting knot looks like a tie somebody made only a minimal effort to tie.
“Well, all we need now is Ty and his brother!” Danny states, looking around almost as if he expects Ty and his brother to appear from behind one of the potted plants.
“No, it’s a shift wedding,” Casey says, straight-faced. “Everybody does their part in shifts. We go do our part, then it’s the bridesmaids’ turn once we’re done. Ty doesn’t get to go until after the bridesmaids are all finished.” He looks at David for backup. “And then Mercedes goes last, right David?”
David shakes his head slowly. “I’m pretty sure Ty’s mother goes last, Case.”
“With a spotlight and a full orchestra,” Casey says. “As it should be.”
Saturday, May 25th, 2019: Buckhead, Atlanta — Dave
Dave is pretty sure that he and the other groomsmen are doing a good job of confusing the evil spirits, if being in a church isn’t enough to keep them away, and if Dave were in fact as concerned about evil spirits as people in the middle ages or whenever had been. The five of them follow Ty in, then watch as the bridesmaids proceed in, followed by Mercedes, who doesn’t look at all like she was horribly stressed the night before.
Since Dave knows she had been stressed, though, that’s a very good sign. The ceremony isn’t exactly what he’s used to, without some of the specifically Lutheran elements, but most of it is familiar, and neither Ty nor Mercedes fumble their vows. There’s a little more praying than Dave is used to, as well, but at the end of the ceremony, the minister informs Ty that he can kiss Mercedes, and Ty manages to hit the right note between too chaste and too provocative.
“I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Davis!” the minister announces, and everyone claps. Ty and Mercedes head down the aisle first, and the rest of them follow, forming a formal
receiving line. Dave notices that Mercedes has a few friends from Lima, though not a huge number, and among them, Quinn looks the happiest for Mercedes, as well as genuinely pleased to have been invited.
After the receiving line finally ends, the entirety of the wedding party is ushered back inside the sanctuary for formal photographs. The bridesmaids are featured first, and then the groomsmen are waved forward to join them. Dave watches Casey gamely try to smile naturally, which is not the easiest thing for him. The bridesmaids are allowed to sit down while they take a series of photographs with just the groomsmen, and finally everyone who isn’t Ty, Mercedes, or their family is told to head towards the reception.
“I hope they have some of those little cocktail sausages,” Danny says to Dave as they walk towards their cars.
“My face hurts from all that smiling,” Casey says.
“But now it’s over,” Dave says to Casey, suppressing a smile. “Your face can recover on the drive. And Danny, I don’t know that they’ll have those.”
“That’s too bad,” Danny says with a little shake of his head. “I was really hoping for them.”
“If they don’t have ’em, you can come over to my place and we’ll whip up a batch for ourselves,” Coop offers. “That’s the best part of a party, in my opinion. Those and a cheeseball, man. That’s the good stuff.”
“If you ever find someone to marry you, you can just let Danny cater your wedding,” Dave suggests. “As a bonus, I’ll make Karofsky Chili for the rehearsal dinner.”
“How about if I ever meet a girl who’d want Karofsky Chili for a rehearsal dinner, I’ll ask her to marry me,” Coop says.
“Seems reasonable,” Casey says.
Danny nods sagely. “That’s a real good idea, Coop. Snap her up.”
“If it catches on, I have a side business,” Dave says with a chuckle.
“Karofsky Architecture and Chili Catering,” Casey muses. “That could work.”
“Nah, I’d split ’em up,” Dave says. “Dave’s Chili Catering, and Karofsky Architecture. It’s like having a secret identity.”
Danny climbs into Coop’s SUV for the drive to the reception, and Dave decides not to follow Coop, since he isn’t going the way Dave’s phone suggests. When they get to the reception, everyone is milling about and most of the attendees are visiting the bartender. “Thirsty?” Dave asks Casey.
“Sure, I’ll take a Coke,” Casey says. Dave nods and walks over to the bartender.
“What can I get for you?” he says without looking up.
“A Coke and a bottle of Sweetwater 420,” Dave answers.
“Great choices,” the bartender says, grinning at Dave. “Oh, hey, were you in the wedding party?”
“Yeah, we were confusing the evil spirits,” Dave says, accepting the two drinks. When he turns to hand Casey his Coke, Casey is glaring at the bartender. “What?” Dave asks under his breath.
“He was hitting on you!” Casey hisses.
Dave snorts. “Nah, he was just hoping for a good tip or something,” he says dismissively.
“Oh, he was hoping for something, alright,” Casey grumbles. He sips his Coke angrily, taking Dave by the arm and walking him away from the bar.
“There’s Ty’s parents,” Dave points out. “Ty and Mercedes should be here soon.” And, in fact, after Ty’s parents are inside the door, one of the History Center staff puts down an ornamental broom just a few steps from the entrance. The music stops, and the DJ takes the microphone.
“Announcing Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Davis!” the DJ says loudly, and Mercedes and Ty appear, jumping over the broom to loud cheers.
“It’s too bad they didn’t rent the Ramblin’ Wreck,” Dave comments.
“It’s true,” Casey agrees. “They could have jumped out of it and over the broom.”
“That sounds more like something Brittany would do,” Dave says. “The jumping out of it, anyway.”
“Brittany might jump out of a cake. Though, come to think of it, Danny might, too,” Casey says.
Dave laughs. “Yeah, that’s true.” He nods towards the buffet. “C’mon, let’s get some food before all that’s left is the carrot sticks and ranch dressing.”
Saturday, May 25th, 2019: Buckhead, Atlanta — Casey
Wedding receptions are comprised of eating, mingling, more eating, and watching people awkwardly dancing in formal wear. Casey does all of the above, along with participating in the actual awkward dancing himself, at Ty’s Mama’s insistence. He dances with Ty’s Mama, then David dances with Ty’s Mama, and then he and David dance, and then there’s more eating.
His sample size of weddings is small—including Ty’s wedding, Casey has been to exactly one wedding—but he wouldn’t say his impression of large weddings is particularly favorable. He’ll wait until after Rick and Alicia’s wedding to make a final call, but so far, all the fuss and ceremony and high volume of people aren’t making the process of a formal wedding all that appealing. There’s a certain inevitability to the fact that he and David will get married at some point, but Casey’s vote will be firmly in favor of no actual wedding and only a small reception, or maybe just a small, informal party.
“We don’t look that bad,” David says suddenly. “I mean, it’s still a rental tuxedo, but for that, it’s not bad.”
“Huh?” Casey shakes his head to clear it, realizing he’s probably been staring off into the crowd while he thought about weddings. “We don’t look bad at all. We look great. You look great, at least.”
“I don’t think anyone really looks ‘great’ though,” David says. “Good, yeah. And no cumberbund. We should really thank Ty for that.”
“No, you definitely look great,” Casey insists. “Don’t listen to Finn.”
David laughs. “Hudson could be right on occasion.”
“Not this occasion,” Casey says. “Anyway, he looked like he was planning on working his way through that entire bottle of scotch, so maybe we shouldn’t take what he says about our tuxedos too seriously.”
“If you were right about the bartender, that’s probably how Hudson got the whole bottle,” David says. “Bartender was probably flirting with him.”
“Probably,” Casey agrees. “He seemed like the type.” He glances over at Finn’s table and frowns. “We should bring him some food to soak that up.”
David shrugs a little. “Okay. I wouldn’t mind talking to him a little more, since it’ll probably be months before we connect again.”
Casey smiles and puts his hand on top of David’s on the table. “Is it bad that we haven’t even been back for a week and I already want to leave again?”
“We can’t skip next week’s wedding either,” David says wryly. “C’mon, we have to go select some carbs for Hudson.”
“Okay,” Casey says. He stands and takes David’s hand in his. “Potatoes. Maybe some of those little bread balls.”
They walk back over to the buffet table, where David holds a plate and Casey places an assortment of foods on it that should be good for someone who may or may not be drinking a whole bottle of scotch. Once the plate is reasonably full, they walk to Finn’s table. Casey sets the plate down in front of him and then sits two seats down, so David can sit next to Finn.
Casey leans forward to speak around David, and says, “You should eat that so you don’t get sick.” Finn looks a little confused, but he starts eating the food, so Casey settles back in his chair.
“You heading back to New York tonight or tomorrow?” David asks Finn.
“Tomorrow,” Finn says around a mouthful of potato. “Rachel doesn’t like to fly at night because it throws off her body clock or whatever.”
David nods once, looking slightly confused himself. “It’s the same time zone, though?”
“Something about the altitude.” Finn shrugs. “Honestly, I didn’t really listen to her when she explained it. Any time she explained it.” He eats another piece of potato and drinks more of his scotch. “Which is like a lot of times.”
“I have to ask—” David starts to say, then cuts off when Rachel approaches the table.
“Oh, hello, Dave! Casey! It’s so nice to see you!”
“Um. Hello, Rachel,” Casey says. She’s visibly pregnant and Casey makes a point of looking anywhere but at her stomach, because pregnancy is kind of creepy, if he starts thinking about how there’s a partially formed human growing inside another human’s body.
“Rachel,” David says, nodding and smiling slightly. “I hope you’re doing well?”
“I am, thank you,” Rachel says, sounding like she’s trying much too hard to be nice. “We’re just so excited about the baby, of course!” She sits down on the other side of Finn and rather unsubtly nudges him in the side.
“Yeah, so excited,” Finn says. He doesn’t sound excited. He sounds like he’d be happy if Rachel left him alone at the table with his bottle of scotch.
The four of them sit uncomfortably at the table for a minute or two, saying nothing, and then Casey sees Ty and Mercedes moving towards the cake table and announces, “Oh, look! They’re cutting the cake!”
“I hope they don’t do that face-smashing with their cake,” Rachel sniffs. “It’s so classless.”
Casey gently nudges David underneath the table, looking at Finn and then back at David, nodding his head in the direction of the cake. “C’mon, Hudson,” David says. “Let’s go get some of the cake, on the off chance it’s one of the really good ones.”
“Mercedes and Ty’s Mama had a big fight over the cake,” Casey says. “That means it should be really good.”
“Or they compromised with something bad,” David says, laughing as he stands up.
“Ty’s Mama would never let the cake be bad,” Casey insists.
Finn stands up, surprisingly steady on his feet for someone halfway into a bottle of scotch, which just confirms the theory Casey had shared with David after their Wednesday night out with Finn. David walks towards the cake table, turning to say something quietly to Finn as they go.
“I’m sure Mercedes is more than capable of making an excellent decision regarding her own wedding day!” Rachel says to Casey. Casey stares at Rachel, because Rachel has clearly never met Ty’s Mama, but he doesn’t say anything in response. Rachel shifts uncomfortably and then titters a little. “Really, it’s highly unusual for anyone but the bride, and perhaps the groom, to have input into the wedding cake! I did have some excellent help when it came to tasting, for mine and Finn’s, but ultimately of course the decision was mine!”
Casey keeps staring at Rachel for a little longer before he says, “So the wedding cake was like a metaphor.”
David slides a piece of cake in front of Casey while Rachel is still gaping at Casey. “Sorry, no red,” David jokes.
Casey smiles at Rachel a little too widely. “That’s alright, David. Our metaphorical cake can be red.”
Rachel huffs and looks at Finn, who only brought back his own slice of cake, and then stands up, walking off with her belly artificially thrust out. David shrugs. “Guess she doesn’t like red cake.”
“Nobody should have to eat cake that doesn’t make them happy,” Casey says.