The Ordinary Haunting

29. The Rocky Development

"Ooh, a party? I'd love to help you pick your outfit. I have pretty good taste."

Namtan fluffed up her knitted yellow cardigan and crossed her legs atop her stool. I smiled and continued scribbling a portrait of the puppy tied up outside the deli onto a napkin, only too aware of my friends smirking at me from down the window counter.

"That sounds like a splendid idea, Nam," Off jumped in. He sucked on an after-lunch Yakult as he patted his stomach. "Tay here couldn't pick a decent suit if it walked out of a Gucci warehouse and pulled itself right up over his--"

"We were supposed to go shopping tonight; can you join us?" Arm swept his hair back, twisting a toothpick between his teeth. He'd somehow copped the worst seat, and kept having to switch on which buttcheek he sat to avoid the sun aiming for his face.

Namtan set her chin on her fist and leaned into it upon the counter. "Newwiee, can Tay come out and play?"

The rock beside me seemed to progress even farther into his fossilisation than he'd already done so this week. It took three notches on my pivot point to make my head find New. He glanced up from his phone just long enough to drop a vague stare at both me and Namtan before going back to a LINE chatroom whose recipient I couldn't make out without my glasses or contacts.

"Yeah, I can wait at the arcade."

"I guess that wouldn't be too far from the formal wear floor," Arm agreed with an awkward dig of his toothpick at the air under his nose.

"Don't you need a suit too, Thitipoom?" Off asked.

New pressed 'send' on a message. "Earth's lending me one."

I shaded the muzzle of the dog too darkly and now it looked like he'd had his face in a pit of mud. "He's quite a bit taller than you," I muttered.

"I'm not borrowing pants," he muttered in return. "Just a jacket."

"His arms are still longer than yours."

"Not that much."

"Your shoulders are wider."

"Again, not that much."

"If you don't want to buy one, you could wear one of your book launch ones. The navy would be plenty nice enough for my sister's anniversary."

"Your ma said it was black tie."

"You know that doesn't mean you have to wear a black suit."

"I do know that, thank you, but none of my suits are really black tie-appropriate."

"No-one's going to care. I'll wear an old suit too, if that would make you feel more comfortable."

"Tay, one of your old suits costs more than five of mine."

"Who actually knows that just by looking? You take better care of your clothes than I do -- I bet mine are wrinkled at the elbows from all the times I pushed my sleeves up and--"

"Your sister will steam your jacket on the driveway herself before letting you walk in there looking anything less than the prodigal bachelor."

"Who's the prodigal bachelor?"

"Who's prodigal?"

"Who's a bachelor?"

I picked a large ice cube from New's open drink and flicked it across the table at Off and Arm. Off deftly thwacked it back. I didn't even see Namtan move to catch it with the finest tips of her nails. She started tracing circles in water on the table by my forearm and squeezed her lightly blushed cheeks towards her eyes.