Dare You To Move [t.h.]

Chapter 12 - Wanted

The next week and a half goes by as normal. It's as if Tom never had the conversation with Harrison and it's as if Harrison and Elli never went on a date. The three of them are back to how they've always been, together and nearly inseparable. The friendship always comes first.

Now, it's the day before Christmas Eve and Elli is standing in her room looking at herself in her full-length mirror. She's done her hair in an updo, bits of it braided and tied off in a bun in the back. Her dress a vibrant red and cuts just above her knees, flaring out. The neckline shows just enough cleavage for sex appeal but not enough to cross the line into unprofessional. Fire engine red lipstick coats her lips, the rest of her makeup on the natural side with a little extra highlighter on her cheeks.

A knock on her open door pulls her attention from the mirror. She spins to face where the sound came from to be met with Tom and his heart stops. He can't breathe with the site of her. She's absolutely stunning and it takes everything in Tom not to let his jaw fall slack. It's taking everything in him to clear his throat and give a casual compliment because, she's wow. He almost feels like Austin Ames watching Sam walk down the stairs from A Cinderella Story. Elli has him speechless.

"Do I look okay?" Elli's eyes widen, looking down and back to Tom.

"Y-yeah, yeah, you look..." Tom swallows thickly as he tried to refrain from running a hand from his freshly gelled hair. "You look, uh....breathtaking." Tom smiles and Elli beams like the sun.

"Thank you." She lets out a breath of relief before looking back to him.

His rental suit fits well, hugging his body in all the right places; shoulders, arms, thighs. Elli always tells him he looks best in color but the grey is doing something for him and he looks absolutely amazing.

The small vibrant red pocket square sticking out of his pocket sends small bursts of butterflies through her stomach. It's subtle and it doesn't matter because they're going together and it's a job. But, there's this small part of her that knows that small piece of fabric represents that they're going together. For the night, he's hers. They're each others. And the butterflies just don't stop.

Tom sucks in a shaky breath as he waits for Elli to say something. For the first time in a long time, he feels self-conscious about what he looks like in front of her. He might be in love with her but part of being in love with her is that he's so damn comfortable around her nothing really matters.

They have sex and they have hair matted to each other and to themselves. Sweat covers their bodies and they wake up together, morning breath and all. They see each other when they're on the bathroom from a night of drinking and hangovers. And they're there when the other is sick and hasn't showered in four days. Tom can't care less about his appearance around her because it doesn't matter but right now, right now with her in a red dress and him in this suit, he's worried about what he looks like and he wants her approval.