Page 66 of Septembers

please

I won’t.

promise

I promise, Theo. I won’t disappear again.

SIXTH SEPTEMBER

Rehearsal

cutting it close arent we Dae

Caleb

Don’t worry the rehearsal dinner isn’t important.

exsqueeze me???

Im giving a SPEECH

thats the most important moment of this whole weeknd

Jason

except the actual wedding

debatable

Dae

Here!

The flight was delayed.

I’m getting my bags now and should be at the restaurant in an hour.

“Should I go pick him up?” Theo asked.

“Don’t worry,” Caleb said, “Uncle Dip is in charge of airport shuttling.” He wasn’t acting like the grooms Theo had seen in movies: pacing, sweaty, and sleeping with bridesmaids the night before. Instead, he was even more Caleb: smiling, giddy, and giving out an excessive amount of high-fives.

They’d rented a section of a high-end restaurant for the rehearsal dinner, and both families and bridal parties were milling around in their fancy clothes, trying their best not to knock over porcelain vases or spill anything on the silk tablecloths.

Or maybe that was just Theo.

He was two drinks in—the ideal amount of alcohol for peak charm—when Dae arrived. Black pants, white button-up, thin black tie. Gorgeous. His hair was the perfect kind of messy, like he’d been running his hands through it, and there was a hint of darkness under his eyes. Caleb and Jason swept him into hugs, each of them slapping his back like only bros do.

Then Dae turned those baby browns on Theo. “Hello, Theo.”

His heart flipped upside down. “Hello, Dae.”

Dae went for a handshake as Theo went for a hug, and the result was a soft punch to Theo’s stomach that he powered through. After a second of confusion, they managed a proper hug, and it was possible Theo held on a little too long, because when he pulled away, Caleb and Jason were gone.

Dae’s eyes raced over him, refusing to settle in one place. “You changed your hair.”

“Yeah, I wanted to be natural for the wedding photos.” He’d shaved it off in the summer to get rid of the damaged, dyed bits, and now it was in the perfect regrowth stage, if he did say so himself.

“Looks good.”