Four Steps Forward
The trick to dealing with Olive Reyes was that you simply obeyed every word she said. Erica was the only person to live after disagreeing with her and Stiles had no desire to die before he was even thirty. That was his justification for being in a frantic rush to arrive at Ruby's flower shop at seven in the morning and he was going to stick to that excuse.
"Stiles. Late as usual." Olive sniffed unhappily but Stiles had a remedy for the sour mood. "What is that?"
"Coffee." He let her take the paper cup before he held up the paper bag in his other hand. "With croissants, natural yoghurt and strawberries for breakfast."
"That's remarkably healthy." Olive mused, eyeing him and he grinned at her.
"Someone needs to trick Erica into eating properly when you're not here." His reply was like a magic incantation and Olive smiled at him, eyes dancing with amusement as she sipped at the coffee.
"Sometimes I feel you're wasting yourself as a wedding planner."
That was probably the nicest thing she'd ever said to him.
They didn't wait long for Ruby to arrive and let them in. She seemed to be even less of a morning person than Erica was and the poor woman could barely manage to follow Olive's sharp demands as she shuffled through the shop beside Stiles. He gave her an apologetic look and a coffee, which was hastily gulped down before they got down to business.
He wasn't really needed, the old hag knew exactly what she wanted, plans Stiles was doubtful she'd even told Erica of, and Ruby had suggestions of her own that were easily combined with Olive's outline. Stiles stayed quiet and ran through what else needed to be arranged. He was so wrapped up in his planning that he actually jumped in his seat when his phone buzzed loudly on the table.
Dress up tonight. I'm taking you somewhere nice.
As usual Derek was being pushy but he just didn't care, it's not like he could really be any worse than Jackson after all.
I don't really like expensive.
I said NICE – not EXPENSIVE.
Fine. Where are we going?
"Stiles dear, I'm not paying for you to have a social life." Olive's voice broke into the text conversation and he rolled his eyes. She'd been snappy since Erica had failed to arrive. "Thank you. It's nice to have your attention back. What do you think?"
Ruby was holding a fancy bouquet in her hands, one that they'd apparently thrown together, and it was perfect.
"Yeah that's good. I like the way you have the autumn theme to compliment the season." He commented absently as his phone buzzed again, this time an alert that he had an email. "I just need to check this."
He read the message quickly, his grin growing as he scanned the words. Things really were starting to pick up. First with the tables, then the flowers and third, he had Braeden's niece on board.
"Olive?"
"Yes Stiles?" She was tucking into the strawberries in the same manner that Erica ate chocolate.
"We have someone to do table decorations." He held his phone out to show her the glass sculptures that the girl had made for the Christmas party the previous year. "The email was from her. She's a friend's niece and she's eager for work."
"She made these?"
"All of them from scratch." He nodded, pleased when her eyebrows rose with interest, it was a good sign with Olive. "She's going to be in Scotland until Thursday night and she'll be at your estate on Friday morning to begin plans. Her boyfriend has agreed to help with the work load too. He's a professional artist; they're currently at his latest exhibition in Glasgow."
"Wonderful." She beamed at him, ignoring Ruby as she rushed off to meet the delivery man. "Are you hungry? We should have lunch before we head back to the house."
"Uhm, sure."
Not telling you where it is. I'm driving.
That's silly. Just tell me where and when to meet you.
Your house. I'll pick you up.
You're really annoying.
And you love it. Derek's reply made him snort and he shoved his phone back into his pocket in order to follow Olive. He'd let Derek have the last word, he wouldn't be happy unless he did after all.
When he saw the overly flashy sports car parked outside the Reyes house Stiles smiled. Derek was there again. The thought warmed him a little; he was beginning to get used to seeing him every single day.
"Hey!" Erica dashed over to him and hugged him when he stepped into the kitchen. "I need your help."
"Uhm. What with?"
"The musicians." She dragged him over to the table, pushing him into the chair beside Derek, who winked at him in greeting.
"I thought Derek's father was going to sort that out for you." He really didn't want to add musicians to the list of things to arrange.
"Oh he has. I thought he was going to send a CD for the string quartet but I was wrong." Erica grumped, flinging a glare at Derek as if it was his fault. "He sent me five CDs this morning. One is a string quartet. One is a woodwind quartet. We have a Jazz band. A solo singer and a swing band. I have no idea which one to choose. They're all very good."
"Oh." Stiles hesitated, a little thrown when he felt a hand rest on his thigh. That was unexpectedly distracting and he wasn't sure whether he should move the hand or not. "Uhm, well how lively do you want the party to be?"
"Lively enough." Erica frowned, fiddling with the handle of her coffee mug. "Not classical quartet slow but that still leaves me with the soloist, the jazz band and the big band."
"A lot of big band songs are difficult to dance to." Isaac pointed out idly, placing a fresh orange juice in front of his fiancé. "Plus, I'm not really a fan. So we're torn between the soloist and the jazz band."
Stiles bit his lip, still mostly focused on the hand on his thigh. Derek wasn't giving away any sign that he was even touching him and he was off balance. Jackson hadn't even wanted to stand next to him most of the time.
"Stiles?"
"Jazz."
"Why?"
"Because everyone has a solo singer at their wedding. If you have a proper Jazz band it makes it stand out a little more, plus, it's easier to get groups dancing to it."
He explained, finally getting the courage up to place his hand over Derek's and curl his fingers around it. If Derek was surprised at all he didn't show it and Stiles gave him a little smile as Isaac and Erica started whispering about the music. It was nice to have someone willing to hold hands with him.
"Jazz it is." Erica nodded firmly and clapped her hands. "I feel like things are coming together Stiles! How did it go with the florist?"
"Fine. Olive and Ruby have it all planned and Ruby was ordering supplies with the delivery man when we were leaving." He smiled at her, ready for the next piece of good news. "We also have table decorations."
"Really?"
"Yes. They're going to be hand made. The girl is going to be here on Friday morning to discuss what you want her to do." He was glad at how happy that made her and as she gushed at Isaac, jabbering about her ideas Stiles looked at Derek.
"Yes?" Derek asked with an arched eyebrow, as if expecting a hail of the usual abuse.
"Thank you." Stiles murmured, squeezing his hand gently.
It confused Derek but the wedding planner let go of his hand and stood, grabbing his folder. As he and Erica started pulling out plans he knew Derek was watching him with confusion but he didn't care. Derek didn't need to be told that the tiny bit of physical contact had made him get that warm fuzzy feeling inside his chest.
Not yet anyway.
"So I was thinking that we could have a circle of tables here." Erica drew a rough outline of the grounds and where she wanted to eat. "It's closer to the lake house so the guests will be further from the manor. The stage can be here, and then the lake is to the left of the whole thing so that people can get to the boats."
"What about electricity?"
"What for?"
"The stage and it's going to get dark eventually. We need lights or people will be falling over." Stiles pointed out thoughtfully, unsure of how to counter that problem.
"Candles?"
"Not enough." He chewed on his lip. "Give me a couple of days. I'll try to work something out. We're going to need some sort of generator."
"Okay Stiles. Sorry about this morning."
"It's fine. Olive enjoyed being bossy on her own." He waved off her concern and looked over to where Derek and Isaac were outside talking about something as Isaac hosed down a table covered in moss. "I have to go soon. I have a date."
"With Derek?"
"Yes with Derek." He rolled his eyes as she did a little dance and he dragged fingers through his hair. "I'm nervous."
"Why?"
"This isn't really something I've done before."
"What about with Jackson the Moron?"
"Jackson the Moron?" That was certainly one he hadn't heard before.
"Yeah. It's my new nickname for him. What do you think?"
"Pretty accurate and it's a nice rhyme."
"I thought so too." She took his hand with a bright smile. "So what are you wearing tonight?"
"I don't know. He said we were going somewhere nice."
"Trousers and a shirt? That way you can look acceptable and delicious at the same time?" She suggested, her expression becoming a little disturbing.
"Uhm, yeah I guess. Erica, you're really creepy."
"I know. I have an excuse though. I'm getting married and all of my friends either have children or are single so I'm going to need some normal couples to associate with." She gestured to where her fiancé and Derek were laughing at the window. "And seeing as my fiancé and your boyfriend get along."
"Not my boyfriend yet." He said quickly, a little alarmed at the thought of 'couples time' with Erica and Isaac. He honestly didn't even know what couples did when they gathered. A gathering with Jackson had involved work, or the two of them alone, drunk, in a bed.
"He will be. Now scram. I want to hear all about your date tomorrow."
He left, waving his goodbye to the two men outside, and turned the radio up high as he drove back. Whenever he and Jackson had met up he'd been nervous, but that was usually because he wasn't sure if he was actually going to turn up. It was a different kind of nervous as the date with Derek loomed ahead of him; it was more an excited nervousness.
Naturally he had his misgivings, they clashed a lot and they could bicker like an old married couple but he liked Derek's company and he wanted to have a functional relationship for once.
I'll be there at 8pm.
Where are we going?
Not telling.
I'll make it worth your while if you tell me.
Tempting but no. 8pm sharp. Be ready xx
Stiles shook his head in disappointment, he wanted to know so he knew how to dress and what to expect, it was bad enough going into unknown territory with Derek as it was. Still, it did make things a little more exciting.
He was humming along to ABBA as he climbed out of the car, mentally making a note to clear out the Mini before Derek saw how much mess he'd already made in it, when he felt someone stop beside him. The shadow that fell across the bonnet of the car wasn't familiar and he swallowed. All five of the men were at least a foot taller than him, he couldn't see any faces, and he was instantly on edge when he saw the cricket bat one held.
Typical.
He should have listened to Marcus. He also should have known the car would draw too much attention in his neighbourhood.