Making our relationship public, and a fancy dinner

Thomas (pronounced the slightly more pretentious Toe-mahs way even though I knew for a fact he was a Tommy from Springfield, Idaho) met us out the front of Cook-Off with a big smile.

“Robbie,” he said, opening his arms and gesturing me in for a hug.

“Thomas,” I said, giving him a good squeeze.

“Cassidy,” he said when we released each other, putting a slightly ridiculous French accent on it.

Cass smirked and gave him a hug and they did the air kiss thing. “You’re looking thin, Thomas,” she said.

“Why thank you,” he grinned, running his hands down his slender form. He was a concierge at the Sahara and, when he wasn’t being the epitome of a judgy gay man, he was excellent at his job. He was also, from the top of his styled mop of curly ginger hair to his perfectly polished black dress shoes, immaculately put together. “You’re looking… purple and black. What’s all this? Usually, if Robbie brings you out you glam up but this is giving… cyberpunk goth.”

“That, Thomas, is in homage to my bestie,” Cassidy said, grabbing the gay man’s arm and turning him to Cattie. “This is her first night in Vegas with us, and her first proper date night with Robbie. Catherine, this is Thomas. Thomas, Cattie.”

“Hi,” Cattie said with a little grin and a glance at me. I was surprised Cassidy had been that open too.

“Wai- OK, hold on,” Thomas said, holding up the forefinger on both hands. “Did you just- Catherine, you’re gorgeous. Love the look on you. Don’t make Cassidy mimic you though, she needs more colour or she gets washed out. Did you just say she’s on a date with you two?”

I coughed lightly and cleared my throat, hiding my awkward grin behind my hand.

“She did,” Cattie said, chuckling lightly and grabbing my other hand with both of hers. “I’m Robbie’s girlfriend, he’s my boyfriend. It was complicated but now it’s pretty simple.”

Thomas started looking back and forth between me and Cass like we were playing a tennis match. “Since when are you two Poly people? Adding a third to your little love nest? Who are you and what did you do with my friends?”

“That’s a story for when you come get drunk at our place,” I said. “It's too long and complicated for standing around here.”

“You’re also the first person in the city who knows,” Cassidy said.

Thomas scoffed, a hand on his chest, and shook his head. “I never thought I’d see the day,” he said, then snorted and smirked. “Not that I ever even dreamed about it. You two are queer now.” He barked a laugh.

“Technically I was always queer,” Cass said, smiling a little sadly. “Bi, at least.”

“Bi as well,” Cattie volunteered, pointing to herself. Then she pointed to me. “And he’s very straight, he just has a massive… heart.”

Cassidy snorted and Thomas gave me a lascivious grin at Cattie’s implication.

“Try not to spread this,” I sighed, shaking my head at the three of them. I had a feeling this was the start of a beautiful friendship - for them. It would cause a multitude of future headaches for me, I was sure. “It’s still new and I’d rather it get around at my pace, please?”

“Oh, I’ll just let a couple of people know,” Thomas chuckled, then Cass slapped him on the arm and he scoffed. “Fine, I’ll just tell Teddy.”

“His boyfriend,” Cass filled Cattie in.

“OK, but you swear Teddy to secrecy,” I said, raising a finger pointedly. “He’s even more of a tea-spiller than you are.”

“Fine, make me try to **** my lover to keep his mouth shut,” Thomas sighed theatrically. Then he straightened up and snickered. “You know it will spread like wildfire among the group.”

“Yeah, well, I have a feeling it won’t be the last time,” I muttered. “We good for tonight?”

“You are, my friend,” Thomas nodded with a grin. “Honestly, I thought it would be your parents visiting or something for you to ask for two guests, but this is lovely. Come here, you gorgeous thing.” He reached for Cattie and looped her arm with his before leading her into the restaurant. “Now, tell me something I don’t know about those two.”

Cassidy was chuckling as I took her hand and we followed them. “Did you really pick Cook-Off because of the food, or because you wanted Cattie to meet Thomas?”

“Can’t they both be true?” I asked with a little smile and a shake of my head. “To be fair, I need to give anyone else more time to get anywhere fancier.”

“So what you’re saying is… you got somewhere even nicer to bring her tomorrow?” Cass asked.

“No,” I sighed. “Seriously, we’re not wizards, baby. Usually, when we do personal favours for each other we’re asking a couple weeks in advance, not a day or two.”

“Good to know,” Cassidy said, and the way she wiggled her eyebrows at me made me wonder what the fuck she had in mind.

We bypassed the front reception area and the Maitre d’, and he gave Thomas a quick nod and shot me a wink. I didn’t have a direct relationship with him, but I’d done a favour or two just like this for him - routed through Thomas - over at the Vaso and he knew what was up. Thomas led us deep into the restaurant to a round four-top table set for three - it wasn’t anywhere near one of their ‘top tables’ or one of the fancy spots that overlooked the kitchen. It was, in fact, one of the worst tables in the place - tucked away, no particular views. Not too close to the lanes the waiters used, or the washrooms, but still in an active area.

It was a table that wouldn’t ever seat a VIP. Which made it the perfect table to slide through the cracks when someone was doing a favour.

Thomas was already pulling out a chair for Cattie so I pulled one out for Cass and she sat demurely, smiling up at me. Once both ladies were sitting, Thomas leaned into me as he went to step away. “You lucky dog,” he said, the French accent gone as he chuckled and shook his head a little incredulously at me.

“You’ve got no idea, buddy,” I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder before taking my seat as he left.

Once I was in place I glanced up and found myself momentarily tongue-tied as I had a shocking moment of ‘Holy shit, I’m on a date with two absolutely gorgeous women.’

Whatever the look on my face, it made Cattie start laughing and Cassidy cooed as she reached across the table and rubbed my arm.

“OK,” Cattie said. “What’s the deal with your friend? Because he’s so much and in the best way.”

“He’s Robbie’s friend,” Cassidy said, shooting me a grin. “So I’ll let you tell her.”

I shook my head and found my tongue again. “Tommy- Thomas- is part of a… let’s call it an ‘exclusive but wide’ friend group among the staff of the various hotels on and just off the Strip. Supposedly it started just among the various concierges as they communicated to blackball scammers, protect guests from being taken advantage of (other than by their casinos), and do favours for each other related to work. Well, over time the umbrella expanded to other people who were deemed ‘cool enough’ and also able to help out with favours. I got invited about six months after I started at the Vaso when I organised getting some comped tickets to one of our shows for some folks and then helped one of the Event people over at the Hilton Grand when they needed an emergency replacement wedding cake.”

“He saved someone’s ass,” Cassidy added in.

“My hero,” Cattie chuckled, grinning with her eyes as she looked at me with a slightly cocked head that said she thought I was adorable.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s how I met Thomas, and we just sort of clicked, and then he met Cassidy and they clicked, so him and his boyfriend Teddy are some of our couple-friends.”

“Teddy is a bodybuilder,” Cassidy said. “Like the total opposite build of Thomas. Oh, and the whole Thomas thing is a hoot of a story too, but he tells it way better than I could so just wait ‘till we have him over sometime when you’re with us permanently.”

We were interrupted from going any further by our waiter showing up at our table and apologising for keeping us waiting.

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