Sticks & Stones.

6

"Isn't this just lovely?" Kiya awed, pointing to an art piece.

"Aye, y'all, look." We glanced over at Nate. He thrusted his hips against an odd looking wax figure—sticking his tongue out while doing so.

"Disgusting." Lori, one of our girlfriends, grumbled as I covered my mouth, hiding my laughter. "Someone uber these drunks home." The comment made me  snort. "You look amazing in this dress, Gio. I truly do love your confidence." Lori complimented. Her usual ivory cheeks turned hues of pink as I twirled in the dress I'd recently splurged on.

She was a conservative woman—her father was Mateo's boss/The Company CEO so her image needed to be 'up to par' at all times. She dressed like the Duchess Of Cambridge most of the time and I pitied her. For the event, she sported a flounce sleeved, white jumpsuit and black heels—her hair was pulled into an extremely tight updo. I suppose her 'umph' was the bright red lipstick she decided to wear but outside of her recent blonde highlights, that's as far as it ever goes.

"Hey, baby," Garrett, her fiancé, snuck behind her and stole a kiss from her cheek. Mateo did the same to me. "So, the doors are about to open soon. We might want to steal some good seats." He suggested.

We managed to snag a nice table in the center of the large ballroom.

After a night of makeup sex and bickering, we finally agreed to push our differences aside and enjoy ourselves for the night—the tension still felt thick but I think we needed this. No kids, no arguing. Just wine, good music and laughter that only our friends could get out of us.

His hand rested on my thigh when we were finally relaxed in our seats. We'd done our best to hide the obvious so I allowed him to be as affectionate as his heart desired, no matter how much I wanted to gag at the thought of his recent infidelities. "Babe, I'm really sorry." He leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I was wrong." I couldn't contain the sly smirk on my face. "Will you forgive me?"

I didn't respond. Instead I just grabbed his hand, giving it a light squeeze. I suppose silent treatments were a bit...childish? We were married after all.

"Attention," An older man said into the microphone. He was standing on the stage with a stack of paper in his hand. He cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention.

"I'm hungry, damn." Kiya complained.

"Shit, me too. Hey! We got a hangry wife over here, Don! Speed it up, old man." Nathaniel joked, making others laugh and a few folks agreed—some of their wives had been pregnant. A few curious glances were thrown my way but I shrugged them off; people didn't exactly like the idea of Mateo having a husband but his position made it difficult for people to voice such things. They'd be fired in an instant so they just opted for dirty looks and whispers behind closed doors.

"Keep it up and you won't make it to the twenty-first anniversary, Mr.Harris!" He laughed into the mic. We 'ooed' childishly. "Mrs.Harris, if he ever acts up, I got a mean headlock for him, okay?" Kiya's a trans woman but no one really knew that, not that it was their business any damn way. She didn't get any negative reactions since she passed effortlessly—even despite their public surrogacy journey; they just figured she was your typical ciswoman with fertility issues.

Before her bottom surgery, she went through the process of freezing her sperm for when the time came so when she told me her and Nate were finally ready, I was jumping for joy!

"It's okay. I'm doing perfectly fine with keeping him under control!" She reassured.

"Ooh. You're right about that—a man's biggest fear is his wife. Can I get an amen?" He laughed. "Now, you all are gathered here today to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of S.A.I—Smith Architects Incorporated. And, as we all know, the architecture industry has been seeing increasing trends with biomimicry and modular design forms featuring lots of glass. Demand in low impact design with environmental surroundings and support of plant life in urban areas are on the rise. From city living, to multi-family shared spaces. They're even being utilized within apartment buildings and communities." Everyone grew quiet. "So basically, we are making lots of money because we are doing what needs to be done." A few chuckles erupted from the full room.