Weightless

13) Honesty Is (not) A Virtue

(The same day) 15th February 2017

The service ends almost as soon as it begun. It didn't drag - there was just a simple speech and then a declaration of love from the two as the knot was tired. Tears shone in everyone's eyes at the public display of affection. Even Cal had glossy eyes when it was finished.

It was fantastic. There was humor, there were laughs, there was Cal's bit with the rings (which he executed flawlessly), and there were cheers.

And then there was the buffet.

It rushed straight on, no waiting. Cal delivers a witty speech as they all hover by the table, but it's short and sweet. Ethan drifts off for most of it - not because it's boring, but because three hours of interrupted sleep makes it difficult to stay awake during weddings - but, from what he hears, Cal says it as smoothly as they'd practised together. Ethan feels a glow of pride when everyone claps, but makes sure he does it the loudest. His brother actually blushed.

After, Ethan stands by the wall, soberly sipping from his water bottle as everyone fills their plates and then sits back at the table. He stands out conspicuously. It's better than sitting at the table, where the smell of food is unbearably strong. That sounds like torture.

Others don't seem to agree. They eat contentedly, every single person mindlessly filling their mouths. Ethan just watches in fascination. Don't they hate themselves for eating so much?

"Here," Cal breaks Ethan's bubble of thought. He passes a piece of wedding cake on a flimsy paper plate to him. "It was almost all gone."

Ethan only just resists the urge to drop it. "Oh. Wow, thank you. You didn't have to."

"Meh," Cal shrugs with a smile. But he seems on edge. "You might want to have some of the buffet food, too, everyone's going at a million miles an hour to scoff the lot."

"I will," Ethan says. A bare-faced lie, but he hopes and prays that Cal won't notice that. "Just...in a minute."

"Actually, I'm going to get some so I'll grab you a plate too," Cal says. He darts off yet again, not even giving him a second to speak or refuse. That was rather random. Ethan hasn't even spoken to him for a good ten minutes and Cal just spontaneously handed him a giant slice of cake. Strange.

But then it takes only a few seconds to realise.

Cal is still a little on to him, isn't he?

Shit. You've got to convince him!

And he will. Ethan promises himself that, by the time this day is through, nobody will ever be worried again. No matter what it takes.

So he hatches a secret plan and keeps silent.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ethan follows Cal around the room as everyone else begins attacking the buffet. Ethan looks around, feeling as frightened as he looks. It's like feeding time at the fucking zoo. Nobody even asks about the calories, they just eat it! If they had the chance not to chew, they wouldn't. They'd just gulp it down.

"Sit next to me, quit pacing," Cal says, patting a chair. Ethan does. "So. How was I earlier?"

Ethan looks down at the cake and wants to cry into it. But Cal asked him a question, so the crying would have to wait. "You were brilliant. Really... brilliant. And you didn't drop the ring, so that's a bonus."

"And the speech?"

"Just how we practised. You were great."

Cal grins, and it's obvious that he enjoys the praise. "Aw. Well, as fun as it was, I'm pleased I can finally relax now. There's a lot of messing about before the good stuff."