Page 30 of What It Means To Be Found

That was the right call. He was not the kind of guy who could pull off an all-white suit.

No, I replied.

“Why not? I’m sure you have options.” Taylor asked, eyeballing my arms that were crossed over my chest. I stared at them until they met my eyes again, and then they just winked at me before glancing down at their phone. No shame for checking me out.

“Do you want to bring anyone?” Kyle asked, his eyes still glued to all the accessories. Tom shook his head before he rubbed a free hand through his short military-style cut.

“Leave him alone,” Tom warned his boyfriend. Kyle stuck his tongue out at Tom in response.

I shrugged at that, rubbing the back of my neck as I thought about it.

I hadn’t needed a formal date for anything in a very long time, and the thought of finding someone to fill that role stressed me out.

Eloise’s glacial blue eyes and pink lips came to mind, and I shoved the thought away before I got lost in my fantasies again.

“I think you should go with Eloise,” Adam chimed in , his eyes glued to his phone as if his words didn’t shock me to my core. Adam was Eloise’s ex, and that comment from him felt very weird.

Taylor leaned forward to give Adam a confused look. “She hates him.”

Adam shrugged. “She’s just intimidated by him.”

All the guys turned to look at me, waiting for me to add something to the conversation. I frowned. Adam was the only one proficient enough in ASL, and Taylor only knew the dirty words and slang. This conversation was already stressing me out.

Eloise doesn’t want to be my date, I confirmed, mouthing my words clearly for everyone else’s benefit.

“I’ve been trying to get Courtney to set the two of you up since before she and I got together,” Josh piped in, stepping in front of the mirror as he stared at himself in a dark navy suit. His sentence made my shoulders tense and my jaw clench because that was news to me.

“Oh, I like that one,” Taylor added. I felt my shoulders relax because the conversation would easily move on now. We all agreed that the one Josh was currently wearing would be the suit for the big day and that we all wanted to match. So we each had to stand up on the platform while the seamstress squatted around each of us and took her sweet time getting our measurements. We would have to come back later and try all the suits on to confirm the fit.

The band finished getting their measurements, and Taylor was taking their turn standing up for the seamstress, when the conversation came right back to haunt me.

“So why did you try to set up Logan and Eloise?” Taylor asked, their arms fully extended away from their bodies.

“Oh,” Josh blinked, remembering what he had brought up earlier, “Because they would be cute together.” Everyone turned to stare at me, making embarrassment course through my veins. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat before Adam nodded his head almost as if he was approving the pairing.

“You’d be good for her,” Adam added, leveling me with his stare. I tugged the collar away from my shirt, suddenly feeling like I was suffocating. Everyone was waiting for me to say something, so I fumbled my next signs with my hands due to randomly being under the spotlight.

Eloise would disagree with you, I signed and mouthed.

“Probably,” Adam replied, a small smile on his face, “But I’m sure you could convince her.”

I furrowed my brows a little bit at his words, I should not have to convince a woman to be my date to a wedding.

“You’re right,” Adam nodded once in agreement with me, “But I don’t think you realize how very little convincing you would actually need to do. You like her, yeah?”

What the fuck? Was I that fucking obvious? Since when were Eloise and I so openly discussed like this? Heat from embarrassment crawled up my neck, I rubbed my hand on the back of my scalp as I frowned and tried to find a way out of this conversation.

“She sure as shit likes his body.” Taylor nodded at the seamstress before stepping down off the stool and switching places with Adam.

I blinked at Taylor’s words.

Eloise does like me.

“Is that a blush that I see?” Josh lifted a tattooed finger towards my face as if he was about to poke my cheek, and I smacked his hand away in irritation. He laughed before he continued speaking, “I mean, she did send you some spicy voice memos.”

I lifted my eyebrows at Josh, unsure how he knew that. “Yeah, I know about it.” He confirmed with a wink, “I was there the morning after when she was pacing around the kitchen and freaking out about what she had done after having a little too much wine.”

If she was drunk, then she probably didn’t mean it. I replied.

---