Chapter Thirty-Seven
"So I started on the guest list..."
"Already?" Aaron hadn't even made it to the kitchen table before Ashlee started back up with the wedding talk.
"Yes already!" Ashlee ignored his disinterest as she set a plate in front of him. "Now like I was saying. I started on the guest list and I need to know how good of friends you and Nate are."
"We really aren't remember, I met him the same day as you." Aaron spoke around a mouth full of pancake.
"Right?" That had been what she thought at first but then when Sarah dropped her off he had spoken like they'd known each other for some time. That had her believing she had simply misunderstood but now he was saying they weren't friends again and she was confused. "Well anyway... how do you stand on him being there? If you want him there I need to know because I'm trying to work out how many invitations we'll need to have done."
"Is this the part where I tell you, whatever you want dear?" Aaron didn't like Nate being brought into their conversation because no matter what he could say it left him feeling like he'd either be lying to Ashlee or betraying his brother.
"Seriously Aaron!
I want invitations to go out first thing so people can R.S.V.P and I can get some sort of an idea what the scale of things is going to be.
I don't want to be planning a wedding for a couple hundred people and only have a few dozen show."
"First off we don't know a couple hundred people and two, how are we sending out invitations when we don't even have a location yet?" Aaron asked as he got up to get himself some juice, he wasn't much of a coffee person.
"Yes we do! We're getting married in my parents church." That was a no brainer. "And a hundred people adds up really quick.
If I invite twenty people and you invite twenty and each of them brings their plus one that's nearly a hundred right there.
So that's why I'm asking, Do you like him enough that you want to guarantee he has a spot by giving him his own personal invitation or are we just going to assume that Eliot will bring him as his plus one?"
"What?" Aaron nearly choked on his juice at those words.
"Well if they get invited separately that's four potential spots that'll be full but if they're coming together than why send out two separate invites.
How serious is your brother about him anyway?
Have they been going out a while or is there the possibility that they wont even be together by that time?
If that's the case though it probably would be better to let your brother decide if he should come or not cause it'd probably be weird for him if they split and then he ends up stuck in that awkward Ex moment." She had been sharing the thoughts as they came but Aaron's slack jaw had her stopping. "What?"
"You just suggested that they're..." He couldn't find his words, how had she?
"Aren't they?" That had been the vibe she picked up but now Aaron had her nervous it might not be so.
"Yeah... but who told you?" He'd be furious at Sarah if she did that to Eliot.
"It was kind of obvious." She hadn't known it was a secret but now she could honestly say it had been poorly kept.
"Are you suggesting my brother comes off gay?" He found himself insulted personally by that.
"I don't even know what that means Aaron!
Look.. if I'm not supposed to know we'll pretend like I don't but what else was I going to think.
They went to church together, they barely left the others side at Sarah's, and honestly did you not see all the different looks they were giving each other."
Another big clue had been Nate actually staying the entire night.
She figured he had to have been in a similar situation as her because she could tell you right now if it wasn't for Aaron she would have left after giving his parents a few choice words. "And even if I hadn't noticed any of that I'm not so stupid that I'd miss the fact that they're obviously living together right now. I just saw that for myself two days ago."
"You haven't known an Eliot that isn't gay." Aaron stated with interest. He wondered if there was a difference in the feelings of acceptance he had and hers of never knowing his brother as anything but.
"Now what the hell is that supposed to mean?" She didn't understand but after some replaying a good possibility dawned on her. "Aaron is this something new?"
Aaron nodded.
He figured since Ashlee had all this figured on her own he really hadn't let Eliot down in any way. "Eliot doesn't share.
We didn't have it the best at home when we were younger and we didn't deal with it well." He knew Sarah still pretended like that life hadn't been hers and he had just barely stopped with doing any and everything he could to set his father off.
"Mom and Dad were too self absorbed to actually attempt parenting so Eliot decided he'd step up and take the role.
He's always been a playful person but taking on that kind of responsibility left him almost unable to allow himself to show anything else. We joke and jab all the time but there's an air of seriousness to it, to him that I've never not known.
He was a constant for me and Sarah and I've just always associated him with that.
He put all of his effort into us and I think the price he paid was losing that sense of self.
He closed himself off so he could handle the day to day trouble we had and now he's having trouble with trying to be open again."
"Well you're not making it worse are you?" She had heard a few things about how things were for him growing up but she never pushed because all Aaron did was go distant on her.
"That would be Sarah. See Eliot didn't tell either of us that he was bisexual, I just happened to stumble on to it at Easter and Nate accidentally let the cat out of the bag when we went that first time to the hospital. It ticked her off and she's just too stubborn to let it go but the thing is Eliot's just as stubborn. He knows Sarah thinks he's in the wrong, we both know that she isn't going to get over herself until Eliot breaks out the sweet talk, and he knows she's fishing for an apology but he wont give it to her. Getting him to admit any kind of wrong doing just isn't gonna happen."
"Well I don't think being bisexual is something he should be sorry for." Ashlee sounded very opinionated about that as she grabbed the syrup and milk and headed to the fridge.
"Neither do I Ash but right now I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you what Sarah's thinking." He hadn't spoken to either of them since that day and he'd admit that probably wasn't the best thing.
"Well she's obviously not.
If your brother is really as closed off as you say and this is the way she starts acting when ya'll actually learn something about him then he ain't gonna ever feel like sharing again."
"I know and I tried telling her all of this but I don't think anyone's listening right now." He stood as he lifted his dishes and moved to place them in the sink.
"Well don't worry about it too much babe, I'm sure things will work themselves out."
"Yeah.." Aaron sighed as he squeezed the hand that was wrapped around his waist. A glance at the clock told him he needed to get going and he reminded Ashlee of that. "Hey, aren't you going to be late for a root canal?"
"Not that I know of." Ashlee denied as she straightened out her purple scrubs. "I believe that I'll be helping with a twelve year old's braces when I get in."
"Sounds like fun." Were Aaron's words but his facial expression said differently.
"Get out of here!" She laughed as she gave him a playful push to the back door.
"Love you."
"Me too but that's not gettin' you out of helping with the guest list when you get back tonight."
Shaking his head at that Aaron offered a simple, "Yes dear." He was sure it was only one of the many that would be coming.
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"I swear it's a million degrees out there." Hardison huffed through the door as he stopped to adjust to the change in temperature.
"It's 102." Parker spoke absently from where she was sitting on the couch with his computer.
"What are you doing?"
"Telling me what everyone has been up to." It was Sophie's voice he heard as he moved over to Parker.
"Hey Sophie!" He greeted as he sat next to Parker and she rearranged the laptop so the webcam had them both in its sight.
"Hello Hardison."
"Sophie was just telling me all about the time she spent in Italy." Parker sounded like she'd be more interested in reading the dictionary.
"Did you tell her about your cats?"
"All six of them." Sophie affirmed with the same disinterest.
"That's cool." Hardison hummed as he looked toward the hall. "Have you heard anything?"
"Not since yesterday." Parker answered. She'd been thinking about knocking but had decided against it.
"What haven't you heard?"
"From Nate or Eliot." Hardison answered Sophie.
"Aren't you still living together?" She hadn't spoken to them in a good few days but surely she hadn't missed that much.
"Yeah they just haven't come out of their room yet." He glanced back that way for a moment before his attention was returned to the girls.
"What's with the worry I'm hearing?"
"Something's off with them."
"HARDISON!" Parker was clear in her feelings. That wasn't their business and it sure wasn't something to share.
"Off how?" Came concern from Sophie.
"They've been," but Parker cut off anything he could possibly say as she quickly shut the computer.
"What did you do that for?"
"Are you seriously telling me you didn't find anything wrong with what you were doing?" She reprimanded as she slid the computer onto the table.
"I was looking for help with this situation!" He didn't believe it, he was being yelled at by Parker.
"I thought we agreed we were going to stay out of it! Not bring Sophie into it!"
"Well that was before I heard them rearranging their bedroom last night!
I've already heard them in like three serious arguments and after yesterday I don't want to wait and see if the fourth is fatal!"
"That is so back stabbing!
You're all like 'Yo ya'll cool' to their face but then you're all eager to sit on ELIOT'S couch and put their problems out there like nothing!" She had stood long ago too furious to stay sitting.
"That isn't true!" He felt attacked.
"Well that's how you're acting!"
"I'm acting like a concerned friend!"
"You're not the-" Parker started but was cut off by a near panicked, "HARDISON!"
One look at each other and they were both racing to see what could have Nate so flustered.
Hardison stopped in the now open doorway not even letting Parker in to see what was going on as he took a look himself.
"You wanna help!"
Parker pushed past Hardison to see Nate propping up a nearly drugged looking Eliot.
He was clearly in the middle of a gagging fit and Parker barely stopped herself from stepping in the vomit by the side of the bed.
"He's burning up." Nate spoke absently as he did his best to pull Eliot into a sitting position.
Sleep hadn't come easy and hearing Eliot choking had quickly coaxed him out of it.
"He's shivering." The contradiction was disturbing to her as she pulled away the soiled sheet.
"Do we have a thermometer?" Hardison asked as he got his head together.
All of this and Eliot was looking as if he'd simply roll over and go back to bed if allowed, he sure didn't seem aware.
"In the bathroom." Nate near waved off as he tried to get some sort of reasonable response out of Eliot.
"What's wrong with him?" Parker asked as they received something more gurgled than mumbled that could have possibly been, 'tired'.
"Eliot" Nate didn't have an answer so he didn't bother with giving one. "Come on Eliot, we're going to get up."
"Here" Hardison had found his search to take longer than expected but he quickly passed the item over.
The six second wait seemed like hours as he stared at an Eliot that was quite literally out of it. "We're going to the hospital." Nate was off the bed and slipping shoes on his feet within seconds.
Parker didn't question it as she and Hardison helped to nearly lift Eliot.
The only thing she did make known was her stern, "I'm driving."
E/N: Another bump but I couldn't resist :P
Also I recently started a new job which might throw off updates (I doubt it will be too bad but just in case)
Let me know what you think because I just couldn't resist the angst!