AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” SHANE asks me as we stand side by side looking in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors of the custom shop where Shane has purchased us suits for the wedding. Because that’s what he does. We couldn’t rent tuxes like normal people; nor could they look like something you’d find in a tuxedo shop. We have to wear some brand that I’ve never heard of. This is how the other half live. Or the 1 percent, in Shane’s case.
They’re not custom because we didn’t have time for that. We had to go with what they had in stock that could be easily altered. I came in last week for a quick try-on, and now we’re just making sure all the alterations are good—a task I could have done without since it was hard enough to get me over here the first time.
“I think that this is the kind of clothing you don’t want to wear on a tropical beach,” I say, smirking at him in the mirror.
“You’re telling me,” Shane says, lifting his chin at his reflection while he runs his fingers along the lapels of his jacket. “At least you don’t have to wear the coat.”
We’re both wearing matching gray linen pants and vests, and luckily for me, as the groom, Shane will be the only one sporting the jacket. He’s not a tie guy, so we’re both wearing only white button-up shirts in some ridiculously expensive-feeling material under the vests.
The linen material of the suits is supposed to be breathable, and we were told it would be best for an outdoor wedding in a humid climate. But I’m already feeling warm in this air-conditioned store that I will probably never set foot in again. It’s all massively overpriced in my opinion. The overstuffed leather furniture, the polished hardwood floors, and the modern art on the walls. I feel like we’re in an art gallery rather than a custom suit store.
I know I said I wouldn’t be taking any money from Shane, but I saw the price tag on this getup and I’m going to let him pick up the tab just this one time. I’d definitely have to put it on a credit card if I were paying. Besides, it’s probably etiquette for the groom to pay for the suits. Not that I’d know anything about wedding etiquette. I’ve been in a couple of weddings, but they were for family, so it was different.
Funny how both of those family weddings were for people I don’t really speak to right now. Aaron, the cousin who left me high and dry (and in huge amounts of debt) with AppInnovate, and my brother, Josh, who doesn’t want to talk to me due to the fact that I somehow let the previously mentioned cousin talk me into some poor decisions.
Shane lets out a heavy breath, turning toward me. “I’m getting married,” he says and then looks back at himself in the mirror.
I grin at his reflection. “Did it just hit you now?”
“Yeah,” he says, a small smile on his face. “It feels real. I’m ready, though. Right now.”
“You’ve got ten days left, big guy,” I say, reaching over and patting him once on the shoulder.
“Yep, and it’s all thanks to you,” he says, turning away from the mirror and toward me.
I shrug. “I just brought you over to talk to her.”
He lifts one eyebrow. “Is that how we’re telling the story?”
“That’s howyoutell the story,” I say, lifting an eyebrow back.
“True. It’s how Nadia thinks it happened, anyway,” he says, turning back to the mirror, tugging on the bottom of his jacket with both hands.
“And that’s okay with you?”
He lifts one shoulder at his reflection. “How I got there doesn’t matter. The fact is that once I started talking to her, that was it for me.”
I shake my head. He makes it all sound so simple … and cheesy. “I suppose the real reason is a lot less romantic.”
He turns his head to look at me. “Oh, so you’re going to admit it?”
“I’ll admit that you’re the worst wingman in the world.”
“I did my job,” he protests. “It’s not my fault you botched it.”
“I didn’t botch it,” I say.
“You did,” he says, a sarcastic frown on his face.
I did botch it, actually. I’m not even sure what happened. I’d been wanting to talk to Mila outside of work to maybe explore more between us, even though getting into a relationship—or even attempting to—was (and still is) not in my best interest. I also don’t know if ethically it’s the best idea. Dating someone you work with just seems like a recipe for disaster. But there’s just something about her that makes me kind of not care. And anyway, I’m not even sure she’d want anything, but that’s what I was trying to find out that night—whether the attraction was mutual.
Because I’d mentioned her more than once to Shane, he was quick to pick up on my feelings. It was also pretty obvious since she was wearing the red dress that messes with my brain that night, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from traveling over to where she was sitting across from Nadia at a high-top bar table, some kind of pink frilly drink in front of each of them. Shane kept nudging me with his elbow and bobbing his head in their direction.
“Come on,” he’d said that night in the dimly lit bar. “Why don’t you introduce me to your employees?”
“Nah,” I told him. “It’s probably not a good idea.”
“Probably not, but we should do it anyway.” He gave me a devious smile. “Take me over there; I’ll talk to the friend, and you can chat it up with Mila.”
