A gay story: Best Friend and his Boyfriend
CW: Manipulation, Dubcon?
I was not crying. I had slowly finished my third cup of coffee and was trying to look around from time to time. My legs were shaking a little more than usual. Maybe it was caffeine, or maybe I wanted to just run out of the café and cry my heart out.
It has been ninety minutes since I had been waiting for Janice. I think the waitress figured it out by the looks on my face. I was looking at my phone with a sense of defeat when I heard his voice.
“Mark?” A male voice called for my attention. “Is that you?”
I looked up to see that my best friends’ older boyfriend was right there in front of me. Raymond Stokes has been in a serious relationship with my best friend Kyle Vance for a year and a half.
Ray was in his late forties or maybe early fifties when he got into a relationship with my 19-year-old best friend. I didn’t even know Kyle was gay until he actually introduced his boyfriend to me. It was a shock to me to find out that he was gay and it was an even bigger shock for me to see how old his boyfriend really was. That was not even the most shocking thing to me. It was really jarring to me when Kyle straight up decided to drop out of college a few months into the relationship.
We are 21 now, and still keep in touch over texts and talk on the phone from time to time. But there has been a distinct lack of meeting up and chatting together like old times.
“Yes Ray.” I answered him. “How’ve you been?”
“I’m doing fine.” Ray answered as he sat on the chair that was meant for my date.
“It seems like you’ve had better days.” He commented as he sat in front of me.
“Yeah, well…” I felt like telling the complete truth to him might make me feel better. “I just got ghosted by someone I was serious about.”
Raymond took a moment to process what I just said. His eyes widened up and he had to forcefully close his lips.
“That’s messed up.” Raymond responded. “Are you sure she’s not just running late?”
“It’s been almost two hours.” I responded. “I don’t think she’s coming.”
“Did you try to…”
“No response.” I answered before he could finish his question.
“Well,” He immediately tried cheering me up. “Maybe she came over; saw that you were way out of her league and ran away.”
I closed my eyes as I could not even force out a polite smile. I was still feeling the full brunt of the heartbreak.
“Hey,” I felt Raymond’s hands on mine as he started speaking. “It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”
I opened my eyes and looked at the mature hand holding my softer ones. Then I looked up to see genuine compassion in his eyes.
“I know it hurts right now.” He kept talking. “But you’re so young right now. A year from now this whole thing is going to feel silly to you.”
He paused for a moment, looked me up and down, then said, “I bet you won’t even remember her a few weeks from now.”
“Thank you for saying that.” I felt like I had to say something.
“No really,” Raymond doubled down. “With how gorgeous you look; you’ll have no trouble finding a partner.” He rubbed my palm before letting me go.
“I’m actually famished.” Raymond commented. “Let’s order lunch.”
“Let’s.” I said as I thought I might as well have something to eat.
Raymond ordered for the two of us. I was happy to let him take the lead since I was still having trouble processing the ghosting incident.
The waitress was cheerful as she came over to our table. She smiled at me as we made eye contact. She probably saw the two of us holding hands and thought that Raymond was my date. I did not have the energy to correct anything as I waited for the food to come.
Raymond was doing his best to keep the conversation going. He asked me about my college and my future plans. I gave him short answers for everything. That did not stop him from talking. He sprinkled in compliments constantly in the middle of the conversation.
This was probably the first time I understood what Kyle saw in this man that was more than double our age. He seemed like a genuinely nice person. And he’s not the worst looking person, despite his age.
But I still think Kyle was being hasty when he moved in with Ray a week after meeting the man. Not to mention him dropping out of college months later.
I did talk about it with Kyle. He justified his actions by saying that Raymond was the man for him and he does not see himself with anyone else, and Raymond will provide for him.
For a long time, the whole situation did not sit right with me. But they have been together for a year and a half, and they still seem like a happy couple. So, what do I know.
—
The food arrived and we had our lunch almost silently. Raymond was on his phone, texting someone during lunch.
He later told me that he texted Kyle about our sudden encounter.
“Kyle is already on his way over here.” Raymond mentioned.
“Oh!” I have not seen Kyle for a couple of months. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. “What were you doing at this restaurant?” I asked him.
“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and saw you sitting alone over here.” He then called the waitress and asked for the bill.
Raymond paid for both of us and I saw Kyle entering the restaurant. His eyes lit up as he saw the two of us. Raymond announced that we should be getting out of the place. Kyle came rushing over to me and gave me a tight hug.
“Oh Mark,” Kyle said without letting go of me. “It’s going to be all fine.”
I assumed Raymond told him about my situation and just sighed in response. Despite the hug being really strong, it felt good to be held like that.
We left the restaurant and Kyle immediately suggested that we go to the beach for a walk. I didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day. So I agreed to go along with them.
It was a fifteen-minute drive to the beach. As we started walking, I immediately realized that this was a bad idea. Kyle and Raymond were holding hands, walking around like the loving couple they are.
Despite never wanting to be with someone like that, seeing the two of them together like that made me feel incredibly jealous. My chest felt heavy as I realized that I missed out on a loving and tender relationship.
Kyle was the first one to understand my discomfort. What he did next shocked me. He held my hand as well now. We started walking along the beach as if we were in a three-way relationship.
Kyle asked me about life, college and family. Raymond chimed in with comments about his experience with people.
The constant stream of compliments did not stop at all. Kyle was more comfortable with touching different parts of my body. I was feeling slightly better than before as the sun was setting.
But I knew I would be going home and soon, I would be left alone with my thoughts. That would not be a good thing in my situation.
Once again, Kyle understood how I was feeling and said that we should go to a club and get plastered. That seemed like a good idea since I have the tendency to get drunk pretty easily.
Kyle knew that too. At least I would not think about Janice for the rest of the night. And I was with two people I could most likely trust.