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They had already downed a couple beers, when the bar door opened; and Brendan and Will walked in. Brendan hesitated for a moment, before making his way over to the table with Will in tow. Tripp tipped his beer bottle in greeting, while Jayme pretended the label on his bottle was super fascinating.
“Hey guys, mind if we sit with you?” Brendan asked.
“I don’t mind. Jayme?”
Jayme shrugged. “Whatever.”
Brendan and Will pulled up chairs and sat. The waitress came and took their order right away. He watched Brendan open and close his mouth a couple times, before he finally got out what he was trying to say.
“I’m not the father either,” Brendan blurted.
His eyebrows shot up. He and Jayme had just been talking about that.
“I’m sorry,” Jayme said sincerely, meeting Brendan’s gaze.
Brendan shrugged. “She made me believe it was yours the whole time. Not until I found the results, did I think maybe he was mine. But we did the test, had it rushed; and it came back today saying that I wasn’t the father either. She fucked me over too. I just...I can’t apologize enough.”
Jayme nodded. “She manipulated you.”
“Yes, but I’m the idiot who let her. I thought she loved me. I think she was using me to get back at you.”
“Sounds about right,” Tripp chimed in.
“Can we maybe start over? I’d really like to still be friends with you, Jayme.”
He watched Jayme, he could tell that he was thinking about it. He took a sip of his beer, then took a deep breath. He was making Brendan sweat. Tripp smiled behind his beer bottle.
“Yeah, okay. We can start over.”
“Yes! Thank you.”
A small smile lifted Jayme’s lips, before he took another sip of his beer.
“How you been doing? Because in all honesty, you look like shit,” Brendan said. “No offense.”
Jayme snorted. “This is my first time out of bed since Wednesday,” he replied seriously.
“Damn, man. I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
Jayme shrugged. “I’m working on it.”
“If you need anything from me, I’m here.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“That goes for me too,” Will added.
“Thanks, Will.”
They sat there for the next couple hours, drinking and talking. Jayme was buzzing pretty hard when they got in Tripp’s truck to go home. He started the truck, then buckled his seat belt. Jayme reached over and rested his hand on Tripp’s thigh. He covered Jayme’s hand with his own.
“Thank you,” Jayme said softly.
“You’re welcome.”
“It only would have gotten worse.”
“I know.”
Jayme was quiet for a few minutes after that. Then he said, “Do you think we should be married before we look into having a baby?”
He glanced over to find Jayme watching him. “We can do whatever we want.”
“What do you want?”
“Either way is fine by me.”
“You’re being elusive.”
He chuckled. “I’m not. I just don’t have a preference.”
“Do you want to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Good, cause I want to marry you too.”
“Did we just get engaged?” he laughed.
Jayme smiled, and it reached his eyes for the first time in days. “Yeah, I think we did.”
They both laughed, and he brought Jayme’s hand up to kissed it.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too.”
~~~
Jayme
The next morning, Jayme got up early; making sure not to rouse Tripp. He went downstairs to make breakfast. He wanted to do a better proposal than last night’s half drunken one. Tripp deserved better than that.
He went about making some scrambled eggs, pancakes, and hash browns. Once it was all ready, he found a large serving tray and put everything on it; including coffee. He carried the tray upstairs, and into their bedroom.
“Oooh Tripp, wakey wakey,” he called as he walked in the door.
Tripp rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes. “Huh?”
“I have breakfast for you.”
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah. Sit up.”
Tripp yawned and stretched before sitting up against the headboard. He still looked half asleep. He placed the tray on Tripp’s blanket covered lap, then pretended to drop something on the floor. He got down on one knee and waited for Tripp to see his special pancakes. Tripp rubbed his eyes again.
“You made me breakfast in bed? Why? It’s not my birthday,” Tripp muttered sleepily.
“Tripp, do me a favor?”
“Hmm?”
“Look at your pancakes.”
Tripp looked down at the plate in his lap. A slow smile crept across his face. “Jayme.”
“Tripp, I love you so much. You mean everything to me, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
He got to his feet and leaned in to kiss Tripp softly on the lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Jayme.”
He then climbed on the bed and sat down next to him.
“I can’t believe you wrote “marry me” in chocolate chips on my pancakes.” Tripp snickered.
“I figured last night wasn’t romantic at all and wanted to do something better than that. Not that this was the best. It wasn’t planned out ahead of time, but...” He finished with a shrug.
