Page 13 of All of Him
“Can we just talk about wedding stuff, please?” I asked.
Teel rolled her eyes and shrugged.
“Delia has an important case tomorrow, so we can check out the dresses for you and the other girls on Sunday. There’s only going to be four of you and two guys.”
“Andyourdresses?” I asked, dying to know.
Teel shook her head.
“You and I will go find my dress in the next few weeks, and Delia is going to have Marcus go with her to get hers. That’s all I know.”
I raised my eyebrows, suddenly remembering that Marcus would be in the wedding. He had been Delia’s best friend growing up and the first one she told about her sexuality. He was a cool guy…who Imighthave hooked up with at a New Year’s party in college. Having him in the wedding would be awkward, but so was my entire existence.
“Can we just go over every wedding detail you have so far so that I can be distracted from the horror that occurred today?”
Teel shook her head again and threw the pillow back at me.
“How about you get his number from Claude and apologize so you don’t go crazy this weekend and then say something stupid at work on Monday?”
“Genius!” I said, leaping from the couch and grabbing my phone from the counter. “This is why I share things with you.”
Monday morning came before a response from Noah was ever received. I’d hoped that it was an error in the phone number and not that he was going to hate me forever, but Claude had spoken to him before on the phone. The number was correct.
I’d sent him a simple but—what I thought was an—effective message.
Hi, Noah. This is Amanda. I got your number from Claude because I have to apologize for saying what I did as soon as possible. I’m very sorry, and I hope you aren’t angry.
Either he was still angry or he never read his texts.
I’d gone with the wedding party Sunday to get dresses for Teel and Delia’s wedding, but I couldn’t get my mind off of Noah. Part of me had wanted to text my dad and find out all I could about the house—or how Noah was—but I didn’t want him to know I cared. If I was going to work with my dad on the project, the last thing I needed was him to tease me incessantly about having a crush.
I walked over to my desk, trying to avoid checking if Noah was in yet, heat creeping up my neck. I’d beaten Claude there, but Penny was waiting with a doozy. For the first time ever in the history of knowing the girl, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her rosy cheeks and excited smile. I needed the distraction.
“Amanda! Oh goodness!”
Instead of waiting for me to reach my desk, she quickly made her way to where I stood, hands flailing. Her eyes were wide with excitement, and I braced myself for her words.
Bring it on. I need this today.
With my normal luck, I should have known what was coming next. But I was still surprised when she happened to meet me halfway. Right at the opening of Noah’s cube. He was there, his back to us.
I felt my face get hotter, but I managed to smile and raise my eyebrows in feigned interest. Suddenly, her story was less appealing with how aware I was of Noah’s proximity.
“What’s up, Penny?” I choked out, still mildly relieved that she was distracting me.
“Remember how I told you about that champagne cork incident with my cousin Beatrice?”
I nodded, though I had no fucking clue what this girl was talking about. Not that I ever did.
“Well, they thought she’d never get her vision back because of the duck bite, but they now think shewillget it back because the cork hit some sort of odd spot in her skull.”
I had never been able to concentrate less on a Penny story, but she was waiting for some sort of response, her eyebrows shooting up eagerly. I tried not to look at Noah as he turned to glance at us. I had a feeling it was because of what had come out of Penny’s mouth, but I felt his eyes on me and couldn’t think straight.
“That’s…” I started, smiling enthusiastically. “That’sgreat, Penny! I’m so happy for your cousin!”
She nodded back at me, clasping her hands together. I needed to get away from Noah before I spewed verbal garbage at him again, but Penny blocked my way, her smile still radiating. Eventually, I watched her eyes as they landed somewhere behind me, lighting up further, but with fake cheer.
“Brayden!” she exclaimed, enunciating the last syllable for much longer than necessary.
