Loving My Best Friend

Ch 17 - Dress Fitting

It was the day after dinner at Hansen's. They had all agreed to meet up for bridesmaids and groomsmen outfits. The outfits would be brought to them and they would try and finalize.

Eleanor had decided that the bridesmaid would wear a pastel-yellow colored dress. As for the dress design, they could choose what they liked best.

Emily strode in and found Eleanor laughing while chatting with the designer.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Emily asked, looking around, and the designer smiled at her. She smiled back and shook her hand.

“Hi, I am Shae, the designer,” the designer introduced herself.

“Hi, I am Emily, Eleanor’s friend,” Emily said, and Eleanor gave her a side hug.

“She’s my sister, Shae,” Eleanor said with a smile directed at Emily.

“Nice to meet you, Emily,” Shae said and then gestured for one of her assistants to come over. The assistant came at once.

“Emily, one of my assistants here will show you the dresses. Feel free to tell her your preference,” Shae said, and Emily nodded.

The assistant showed her several dresses and Emily chose three of them. One of them was a strapless dress, the second one had a lace top with a halter neck and the last one had a single strap with fabric roses sewn into it.

Emily took all three dresses with her to a room where she could change into them. She shut the door and changed into the first dress, which was a strapless one. She looked into the mirror after changing and nodded in thought. She couldn’t decide if she liked it or not so she decided to ask Eleanor’s opinion.

After looking over herself in the full-length mirror, she walked out of the room only to collide face first into a broad chest. She stepped back to balance herself and stepped on the back of the dress, losing more balance and falling backwards.

A shriek escaped past her lips and she felt an arm curve around her waist, saving her from the fall. Her hand instinctively grabbed onto a fabric and she looked up only to be surprised.

It was Oliver staring down at her with wide eyes. Emily glanced at her hands quickly and realized they were clutching Oliver’s arms. To get away from him, she tried to stand up but her foot was entangled in the dress fabric.

“I am sorry, my foot is stuck,” Emily said, trying to look down, but she had to clutch harder at his arms to keep her balance.

“It’s okay, I will help you,” Oliver said and secured her closer to him. Emily felt his chin graze her forehead and she couldn’t stop the flutter in her stomach. His scent filled her nostrils and she bit her lip. He smelled amazing and she wanted to hug him tighter and inhale deeply.

Nervously, she looked up at him as he pulled her dress for her to step out of it. Emily moved one arm to grab his shoulder to release her foot. The more she pulled her foot, the closer her face moved to his. Though both of them were trying to disentangle her foot, they were equally aware of their close proximity. Emily was sure he could feel her erratic heartbeat against his chest with the way they pressed up against each other.

“Wait, wait. Let me sit somewhere,” Emily said, and Oliver nodded.

“Good idea,” Oliver said, and lifted her by the waist and deposited her on the nearest seat in the corridor. He knelt down in front of her and gently lifted up her dress.

Emily sat back and shook her foot.

“Oh my god, let me help you,” another voice sounded. Emily and Oliver glanced to find the designer’s assistant walking towards them. She gently pulled the dress and knelt down to inspect it.

Oliver stood up and eyed as the assistant freed Emily’s foot. It turned out, some threads were stuck in Emily’s sandals making the dress cling to her foot.

After seeing her foot free, Oliver looked up at Emily. She was staring at him when he looked up and frowned.

“Thanks,” Emily said with an awkward smile.

Oliver nodded and couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering over her, taking in her appearance. “It’s okay,” he said after a while and left, walking away.

Emily stared at his back as he walked away and wondered if he was ever going to be civil with her. After so much time, they were finally best friends again and then this happened. She wondered why all of a sudden he was behaving this way? Had she hurt him someway? He should tell her if she had, but he was choosing to avoid her.

Guess it was easy for him to just move on. But he didn’t know that it wasn’t her fault either. She couldn’t tell him that she was unable to pursue her desire for him because it wasn’t just a desire for her. It was love. She was afraid of getting hurt knowing Oliver’s reputation for seducing women. What would she do when his desire for her would diminish?

Emily’s mind was plagued with questions while she tried the dresses halfheartedly.

After trying and finalizing her dresses, Emily glanced at Rebecca, Kate and Chloe who were twirling around in their chosen dresses.

They glanced at Emily and waved. Emily waved back with a smile and then walked towards Eleanor. She had decided that she was going to confront Oliver about his behavior. If he wasn’t willing to talk, then she would. Even if it meant chasing him to his room.

Emily came to stand beside Eleanor, who was talking to her mother-in-law, Ruth.

“Eleanor, I need to ask you something,” Emily said, and Eleanor walked closer to Emily with curiosity.

“Yeah what is it?” Eleanor asked.

“Uh… Where’s Oliver’s room?” Emily asked and didn’t miss the surprise and amusement in Eleanor’s face.

She grinned and nodded. “Oh, it’s that way to the left, second room on the right,” Eleanor said with twinkling eyes.

Emily nodded with a smile and left. She went to his room and knocked. When he didn’t open the door after several knocks, she wondered if he was in his room or somewhere else. She gently twisted the door knob and walked inside his room, realizing that he wasn’t in his room.

Sighing in relief, she pondered if she should wait in his room. She looked around and realized his room had changed quite a bit since she last saw it. Last she saw it was when they were teenagers.

A smile formed on her face recalling those days. She walked inside and decided to wait for him in his room. Glancing at her watch, she then looked around and then her gaze fell on the flowers.

She walked forward and her eyes widened. The flowers were protruding from the trashcan and they were the same flowers she had gifted him. Did he…?

A gasp escaped her lips in shock and she felt her lips tremble.

On getting closer, she looked into the trashcan and her eyes filled with tears when she saw inside. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Inside the trashcan was lying the gift she had given him with so much love and consideration. He hadn’t even bothered to open it and had discarded it in the trash can.

~~~~~~~~~

Oliver was sitting with Rickard in one of the rooms, discussing work and how the wedding preparations would be managed when Eleanor came in. She came in and kissed Rickard on the lips, making him smirk.

He whispered something in her ear at which she blushed.

“Okay, guys. I am right here,” Oliver interrupted them and Eleanor laughed, pushing Rickard back.

“Oliver, what are you doing here? Go to your room,” Eleanor said in confusion.

“What? Go to your room if you want to… you know…” Oliver said, waving at the way they were hugging each other.

Eleanor shook her head, standing straight. “No. Emily’s waiting for you there. Go to your room.”

Oliver stiffened on hearing Emily’s name and Eleanor smirked. Rickard noticed his brother’s reaction and frowned lightly. Oliver usually had a smirk on his face at Emily’s name, but right now he looked pissed.

Eleanor walked towards Oliver and pulled him by the arm to stand up. “Go, she’s waiting for you.”

She pushed him and Oliver nodded and walked out towards his room.

“What happened to them?” Rickard asked and Eleanor shrugged with a frown.

“What? They are good,” she said, and Rickard shook his head.

“Oliver looked pissed,” Rickard said, but Eleanor pushed him back on the couch, straddling his lap. She moved her face closer to his and whispered.

“Oh, I will be too if you continue to ignore me like this,” Eleanor said, looking into his eyes, and Rickard smirked.

“I cannot ignore you even if I want to,” Rickard said and took her mouth in a passionate kiss.

“You know our wedding is in three weeks, are you sure we should be doing this?” Eleanor asked, joking innocently, and Rickard pulled her back. “What if someone sees us together?”

“Then I will tell them to mind their own business,” Rickard said with a chuckle and kissed her back.

~~~~~~~~~

Oliver walked to his room in thought and wondered why Emily was waiting for him in his room? Did she want to apologize for her behavior? He saw the door was open already. She must be inside his room, Oliver thought, and walked in. In a few steps, he saw the floor littered with leaves, stems, and… flowers? He frowned, looking at the floor and looked around, finding Emily standing in a corner, glaring daggers at him. Her full mouth was pressed into a thin line.

“What’s this?” Oliver asked, pointing to the floor and saw her nostrils flare. Great, what had he done now?

It was then he noticed the box in her hands and his eyes widened. He looked up to her face and gulped, knowing his downfall was right there.

Emily moved forward towards him. “This is the bouquet and gift I gave you, which you so heedlessly discarded in the bin.”

“Emily…” Oliver began to say, but she lifted a hand to silence him.

“Since you don’t care about my gifts, then what’s the point of giving them to you? You know I personally designed this for you as a reminder of us. But you don’t care, then why should I?” Emily said and tears began to fall from her eyes.

Oliver saw the tears falling and he felt like his heart was sinking in his chest. He moved towards her and tried to pull her to him but she stepped out of his reach.

“Stay away from me. You, your anger, your respect, your emotions are all that matter to you. You don’t care what anyone else feels. You’re a self-centered man who just wants to do what is better for him without thinking of anyone else,” Emily said.

“Enough. That’s too much, you’re crossing the limit, Emily,” Oliver said in a warning.

“Isn’t it true that you don’t care? You never cared about our friendship. One argument and that’s what you do; you discard my gifts in the trash. It only means that our friendship was trash for you,” Emily said and angrily wiped her tears, but they only fell more.

“You’re just assuming things now. I never said that and never meant it,” Oliver said.

“Well, your actions scream something else and I am not stupid…” Emily said and looked down at the gift she had in her hands. She felt so stupid for buying that gift for him. She should have known that she meant nothing to him.

Oliver stared at her, fuming and clueless at how to handle her.

“And this gift… is useless,” Emily said and tossed it into the corner where she had been standing before. A crashing and breaking sound came from the gift box and Emily closed her eyes. It was breaking like her heart. She didn’t want to feel hurt, but yet she did.