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Dress
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Chapter 28: Dress (Adam's POV)
"Adam," I heard a whisper. Then blissful silence for a mere second. "Adam." A little louder this time. "Adam," she groaned. My eyes fluttered before I squinted them open, looking at her. She was standing next to the bed on my side, her arms folded across her chest. "Hello," she sang, nudging my torso with her knee before keeping one knee on the bed, holding herself up. "Get up, come on. Breakfast is being served downstairs, everybody's already there."
"I don't want breakfast," I mumbled, taking her pillow and putting it over my head.
"We're leaving right after breakfast and we're not stopping for lunch until we're done with Remy's wedding dress shopping. I'm sure you know how long that's going to take. Come on, get up."
I hummed, still not moving.
"Adam," she huffed, shaking me up before snatching the pillow and hitting my head.
I whined, my head hurting with a dull ache.
"Have an Aspirin, I kept it on the nightstand."
I heard her footsteps fading before the bathroom door closed. I peeked at the nightstand and saw the packet of pills sitting on it. I groaned, reaching over and taking one before grabbing the bottle and swallowing the pill. I held myself up on my elbows, looking around the room. I was having a bit of a hard time remembering everything from last night.
I remembered her bringing me upstairs and everything that happened after that. I remember her letting me hold her, saying she finally figured it out. Then I remember waking up in the middle of the night. Oh, she told me about Tainted Hearts! But what happened after that?
The door opened back up and she strolled out, dressed for the day now. She had her hair pulled back in a bun with one of those big claw clips, some curls falling loose around her face. She wore a dress today, it was pale tan in color and had to be buttoned all the way up, it had a belt across her waist, cinching it in, and on one side, it fell down her shoulder, leaving it out to see. She grabbed her shoes from near her suitcase and then sat at the foot of the bed, glancing at me over her shoulder. "Are you coming or are you skipping breakfast?"
"I'm getting out of bed, jeez," I mumbled, ruffling my hair while still comprehending that it was daytime.
Once she pulled her shoes on, she lay back, staring at the ceiling. "I'm all set, just waiting on you now." She glanced at me.
I sighed and climbed out, poking her stomach on my way to the bathroom, hearing her yelp. I chuckled to myself as I washed up, brushing my teeth and running my fingers through my hair before going back to grab clothes. I grabbed a casual, loose black button-up and rolled up the sleeves, wearing black trousers with it, and then went back out to pull on socks and shoes after spraying on cologne. Once I did that, I took my phone, wallet, and the key card before standing in front of her. "Let's go."
She sat up, took the black purse I held out for her, and followed me out. In the elevator, I glanced at her but she was already staring at me. She quickly looked away, her lips pursing as she bit the inside of her cheek.
"Emmy."
"Yeah?"
I bit down a smile.
She didn't tell me not to call her that.
"Are we really not going to talk about last night?"
"Nope."
"Or... anything about the past?"
"Nope. Not until we're back in New York."
I hesitated. "Can I ask why?" The elevator dinged.
"So I have the escape of going to my own apartment. Here, I can't escape you, Adam." She glanced at me before stepping out. I followed, catching up to her. "Two days after tomorrow, we're going home anyway," she added.
"And how do I get to you in New York? I don't even have your number."
She halted. "You don't? You deleted my number?"
I said the wrong thing, didn't I?
"I lost it," I lied. "Changing phones and—"
She rolled her eyes. "Please, I know you didn't lose it. I have yours," she said quietly.
"That... makes me very happy," I replied honestly. "But it would make me happier to have yours." I held my phone out, raising my brows.
She typed it in as we walked to the dining room.
We all ate the buffet breakfast and split up and took taxis in groups again. While standing outside, still waiting for a cab, Emma came up to us. "Beautiful lady and handsome gent, much to your dismay, I cannot share a ride with you guys today. I'm going with Mom and Ava."
Emilia laughed while I chuckled softly. "Beautiful young lady, that is totally okay," Emmy replied.
"We'll see you guys there. Bye." She skipped back, quickly getting into the cab.
I faced Emmy. "Just you and me?"
"Emilia!"
I already knew that annoying voice.
We both looked over, spotting Brett who was holding a cab door open, waving her over.
She sighed softly, "How is he so clueless?" she mumbled and then glanced at me. "Come on."
"You want me to share a ride with him?" I asked, not moving.
She rolled her eyes. "No. I want you to share a ride with me. Try getting in the backseat before he does." She walked over, pulling on a polite smile. I followed her, both of us stopping at the cab.
He glanced at me. "He's... coming with us?"
"Yes, he is," I answered. Emilia slipped inside and I beat him to it once she scooted over.
He scoffed, closing the door and rounding up, sitting at the front. When the driver asked where we were going, I expected Brett to answer but he just turned to us. "I don't speak Spanish," he chuckled.
I stared at him in disbelief. "You don't translate the name of a place if it's already in English," I stated. "WildFlower Boutique, por favor," I said to the driver.
"Sí." And he started driving.
Emilia and I glanced at each other and she looked like she was biting back a laugh. She looked out the window quickly.
"So Em, are you going to buy your dress too?" Brett asked, glancing at her.
"Yeah. Everybody's buying their clothes for the wedding today since it's a unisex boutique. Aren't you?"
"No, I brought a suit with me."
"Oh... You didn't know we'd be shopping there?"
"No, I knew. I'm just used to hand-made suits from my tailor, I thought I should just bring what I knew I'd like."
He's making my head hurt more than my hangover.
"That's good, I guess?" Emmy mumbled.
"Then why are you coming with us today?" I asked bluntly. Emilia nudged my knee with hers but I ignored her.
He turned to me. "What?"
"If you already have what you need, why are you tagging along?" I lifted a brow.
He shrugged, "Because I'm here for the wedding. Why wouldn't I do what everyone else does on the rest of the trip?"
"If—" I stopped myself when she nudged my shoe with her own. "Never mind," I mumbled, staring out the window.
We got there pretty quickly and once we got out of the cab, Brett was walking inside before the driver even told us the total. I took my wallet with a roll of my eyes and paid, thanking the driver before holding the boutique door open for Emilia and then following her in. We stepped inside and- holy shit. This place is gigantic.
"Whoa," Emilia mumbled, taking a look around. Most of us were already here.
The store was split into two, the left half for the men and the right for the women. It was almost like a hallway and at the end, there was a door on each side, a place I'm guessing held the changing rooms.
Emmy and I faced each other. "I'll see you later?" she asked.
"Of course," I nodded. And then we split up. I walked along the aisle of suits and the rack had so many, I couldn't even begin to count them.
There was one desk at the very front for billing and questions, there were two male employees present to help and two females on the other side of the room. In the middle, there was a square glass coffee table and couches surrounding it if you were here to sit and wait. The entire interior followed a theme of white and gold. The place screamed 'rich' and it was exactly the kind of boutique you'd go to for wedding shopping. I'm sure Remy loved it.
I was fairly quick with choosing what I wanted because if I looked at everything, I'd be lost. I picked two or three tuxes and then lingered, helping out Sebastian since he asked for my opinion and then checking in with Aspen. The person helping him was Remy. Rather than buying herself a wedding dress, she was helping her fiancé choose a good suit.
Wow.
I waited for a while, took a look around, and then handed one of the employees everything I chose. I asked him to leave it in one of the changing rooms for me. With more time to kill, I went over to the women's section, and dear God, I really was lost here.
"Mom, I'm not wearing a pink princess dress at her wedding, I'm not ten years old."
I spotted Emilia and made my way over. Mrs. Feye was suggesting a pale pink, princess gown and Emilia was not agreeing. Choosing a simple dress would take hours.
"Adam, tell her it's a beautiful gown," Mrs. Feye huffed. Emilia turned to me, shooting me a pointed look.
I held her gaze. "It's..."
She shook her head slightly.
"I am... sorry, Mrs. Feye, that is a beautiful gown but maybe not for her."
She sighed in defeat, hanging it back up. "She's more stubborn than Remy."
"I'll help her," I shrugged.
"Oh, thank you. Thank you, hun." She moved over, calling Remy now.
Emilia continued choosing and she hadn't said yes to a single dress yet.
"I didn't realize you were this picky," I said, walking behind her.
"I've always been picky with clothes. Are you done choosing?"
"Yeah. I just have to try them on. That one?" I pointed to a lavender-colored long dress.
"I don't like the lace."
"That one?"
"I already wore that color for the engagement party."
"This?"
She paused and then shrugged. "Maybe." So, obviously, I grabbed it, holding onto it for her. She glanced at me, chuckling softly, "You don't have to carry that or follow me around. I can do this on my own, why don't you try your tuxes?"
"How do you know I chose tuxes and not a suit?"
She stopped in front of a dress, shrugging at me. "Maybe I was watching you."
"Oh? And why were you watching me?"
She picked off a pale blue gown. It had two straps holding it up and it wasn't a puffy princess gown. It flowed down gently and had some layering skirts but the entire dress sparkled. It was practically out of a movie. It literally glowed. She turned to me. "Maybe I like watching you." She dropped the other dress over my arm and then continued looking.
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Chapter 28
Okay, so I've decided to write Tainted Hearts as my next book omg eeeeee but I did change a few things around so it's not too similar to this book (hint - its brother's best friend AND best friend's brother)
next chapter: almost