After a very long wait, I am pleased to present the fourth part of House-Sitting With a Homosexual. This segment takes place four years after the third part and is set just a few days before Eric and Elena's wedding when Daniel returns to Eric's life. I hope you enjoy the story.
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Elena and I sat across from each other at the kitchen table in our small apartment. We were going over all of our handwritten notes and lists for the second time this evening. We neglected to follow the typical course for wedding plans and were playing catchup now. The very first thing we decided on was a music playlist for the wedding reception. Then came reserving the reception hall and wedding chapel before deciding on caterers and a cake. Our focus had solely been on the afterparty at the reception thus far so we were only now getting to plan the actual ceremony.
This was the first time Elena and I had actually sat down to hammer out these details even though the checks for the church and reception hall had all cleared and the wedding was less than two months away. Invitations should have been sent out weeks ago. We didn't even know who all we would invite.
Whenever I stopped to think about it, it was still amazing to me how much your life could change in just five years. In high school I was a cross-country and track star who almost won the 800 meter dash at the state finals. I had decent grades too and was awarded academic and athletic scholarships to the university of my choice where I planned to major in Computer Science. Back then I assumed I would spend most of my college years picking up girls and winning medals and trophies while studying occasionally.
That all changed when I met Elena at a mixer for the new residents of the freshman dormitory. Something about the two of us just clicked. We met only a week after both of us moved into the residence hall and I haven't wanted another woman since. In the spring semester of our freshman year I suffered a debilitating injury to my knee that effectively ended my athletic career. The only upside to that unfortunate turn of events was that I had much more time to devote to my studies and more importantly to Elena and I's budding romance.
Majoring in Computer Science Engineering proved far more difficult than I had anticipated and my CSE grades started slipping by the end of my sophomore year. The several summers I spent working on air conditioners as a mechanic for the Housing maintenance department piqued a curiosity in me to learn how things worked. These two things combined led to me switching my major to Mechanical Engineering. Elena would graduate with double majors in English Literature and Political Science. Between changing majors and focusing on two subjects it took us both five years to graduate. We received our degrees a few months ago and I proposed to Elena not long afterward.
I took Elena to our favorite art museum where there was a pretty little outdoor courtyard with trees and a fountain. I led her to the courtyard and while surrounded by flowering trees in full bloom I got down on bended knee and asked Elena to marry me. I told her that I hoped every day I could give her just a fraction of the happiness she made me feel and that if she committed to me I would love and serve her for the rest of our lives. Though I had little doubt what her answer would be, I still felt excitement and relief when she cried "Yes!" and jumped into my arms just as soon as she managed to quit sobbing.
Our engagement had always been a foregone conclusion. We knew within a few weeks of first dating that we would be together forever. My parents absolutely adored Elena and my father couldn't stop telling me what a great decision I was making. Elena's own parents were somewhat cold and standoffish toward me at first. They definitely didn't approve of the fact that Elena and I had moved in together prior to getting hitched. But eventually they realized how deeply and truly I loved Elena and soon warmed to me. I'm sure it didn't hurt my cause that I found a nice, well-paying job straight out of college.
I found employment the month after I graduated with a local HVAC company where I built and repaired air conditioning systems. These weren't like the outdoor units for residences but rather the large air handlers that served commercial buildings and businesses. While I focused primarily on the maintenance aspect of the job, I soon drew accolades due to my attention to detail on the more technical aspects of the work. My superiors noticed my aptitude and encouraged me in my development by helping pay for some extra training I would undergo once all the wedding business had been taken care of. My bosses flat out told me that I was someone they believed would rise quickly to a foreman and management level and they wanted to be sure to hold onto me by assisting in my training. My career goal was to eventually become an inspector of newly installed systems and to assist in the design of new technologies.
Elena found employment as a receptionist in the district office of the local public school system where she could work while she took a year off of school before starting her graduate program. She planned to obtain a masters degree studying either educational or public policy. Considering how passionate Elena was about social issues like women's and LGBT rights it seemed like the perfect fit for her. I could definitely foresee Elena someday sitting on boards or presiding over committees where she would probably either steamroll or outright demolish any opposition to her initiatives.
After graduating from college and getting a real job, I finally cut my shaggy hair that had been my hairstyle since my senior year of high school. Now I kept my dark brown hair short while retaining a bit more length in the front that I styled back in an attempt at a James Dean hairdo. I wore a well-trimmed beard that lent me a far handsomer appearance than when I was clean-shaven. I guess I just have a face well-suited for a beard.
Elena looked different too, though still pretty as ever with her round cheeks and cute button nose. Objective observers might not consider Elena beautiful due to her critical, piercing gaze that occasionally reminded me of a bird of prey's glare. Elena also held a perpetual look of discontent on her face. This so-called "resting bitch face" was quite perplexing considering Elena was almost always happy. I never became bothered by these features though. The fact that I could make that face light up was so gratifying when I saw how beautiful Elena looked when she gave me the secret smile she shared only with me.
Elena wore less makeup than she used to, forgoing the deep black eyeliner and lipstick that she used to favor and instead applying more modest paint to her face. Elena dressed more professionally and far less provocatively as well, a change that I didn't exactly welcome. The days of enjoying her body when dressed in short skirts or too tight tops were over now. Unfortunate, but completely understandable considering she was now working for a public school system. Her beautiful dark hair was shorter than the near waist-length locks she sported in college, only descending to her shoulders now. Elena also was much more likely to tie her hair back into a ponytail or pin it up into a bun than in the old days when she almost always wore her black hair straight.
Elena and I moved into the apartment we currently called our home a few weeks after graduation. The rooms were woefully small and the building itself was located in kind of a rougher neighborhood. The other residents at the apartment complex were mostly college students and immigrant families who didn't speak English. Everyone seemed friendly enough though the police seemed to be in the building nearly every weekend for drugs or a domestic assault. Our rooms had been advertised as 'garden level' which was really just a code word for basement.
Yeah, it was admittedly a bit of a dump but we were trying to save money so we could buy a house as soon as possible. We didn't want to spend the time, energy, and money needed to move to a larger, more expensive apartment when we could wait just a bit longer and purchase a house instead.
Elena and I had already combined our bank accounts and had bills, credit cards, and pretty much everything else in both our names in anticipation of our marriage. After carefully inspecting our finances, Elena and I estimated that in about six months we would have enough money for a down payment so we could then begin househunting seriously. Elena made a decent hourly wage at her job while I was bringing home pretty serious money for a recent graduate and it seemed my advancement within the company was set to occur rapidly. We just needed to spend another half a year here and then we could start pursuing our dreams.
"So it looks like my wedding party is set. It will be my sister as the Maid of Honor and Allie, Amber, Breana, and May for my bridesmaids," Elena said as she looked down the list written on the notepad in front of her.
Elena looked very sexy and stylish tonight with her hair pinned up in a bun and wearing glasses with cats-eye lenses. I was still trying to convince her to wear the glasses while we had sex. She totally pulled off the sexy librarian look.
"Your Best Man will be Bryan of course," Elena said, referring to my twin brother. "So then your brothers can fill out the rest of the groomsmen. But that leaves five attendants in my party to four in yours."
I considered the discrepancy for a moment before answering, "I'll ask Devin if he will be one of my groomsmen. He's my oldest friend."
