Crash And Burn

4. Party Planning

This was going to be weird.

Not only would it be weird, but most likely it would also be awkward and slightly uncomfortable.

If I was being perfectly honest with myself, I knew that it was probably also going to be entertaining and most likely highly amusing – Elle would be hilariously nervous, and I doubted James would feel comfortable with the puppy eyes Ben and Elle were constantly making at each other. However, at the moment I could mostly focus on the potential awkwardness.

Even though James and I had decided we were “officially” dating, I knew we both still felt weird about it. The most we usually did was short term casual dating, and most of the times it wasn’t even that. I was actually glad our first date as a couple was going to be with another couple, so I could at least get an idea of what others did when they went on “real” dates.

Elle and I were getting ready at my house so the guys could pick us up, and our other two friends – Iris and Meredith – had come over with us for a while to gush over how cute it was that all four of us were going out together.

“I don’t know what to wear,” Elle whined. I laughed at the sight of her – hair messily pulled into a bun, clothes strewn all around her on my bed, and her hand reaching for more clothing choices inside her enormous bag. If I didn’t know better, I’d have guessed that she was packing to spend a week over at my house. Although I knew it would’ve been easier to choose what she was going to wear at hers, I knew that I couldn’t exactly say anything about it – I had my whole closet to choose clothes from and could change a thousand times if I wanted to.

Realizing each one of my friends was in their own world, I announced I was going to take a quick bath before shutting the bathroom door behind me.

I didn’t like this feeling. It wasn’t that I felt nervous – I’d been on a fairly large amount of dates in my life, and I’d even sort of gone out with James a couple of times before. I felt mostly anxious – I knew that, now that we were “officially” together, our dates were supposed to be more serious.

I had no idea how to do “serious” when relationships were involved.

Elle, in contrast, would only agree to be in a “serious” relationship. Although she was addicted to reading cheesy romance novels and probably knew more about actual relationships than was usually necessary, her nerves and occasional lack of self-confidence was what prevented her from doing a lot of the stuff that I knew she’d end up enjoying.

When I had finished bathing and had properly dried myself, I slipped on some sweatpants and a T-shirt so I didn’t have to run around my closet naked in search for decent clothes. After I’d thrown them on, I’d opened the door to let out the steam and allow my friends to use the bathroom if they needed to.

I opened the door to find Elle already dressed, looking beautiful. She was wearing a bright yellow shirt that left part of her shoulders exposed and black pants. A pair of black heels was strewn over the bed, and her black flats were discarded on the floor.

“How do I look?”

“You look great,” I reassured her.

“Really? I don’t think I’m going to wear this. I’m not convinced about the shirt yet.”

“You look fine, Elle,” Iris agreed, looking over at me and rolling her eyes slightly. This was the usual routine with her.

“I’ll try the blue one on again, and if I don’t like it I’ll go with this one. Whatever. What are you wearing?”

“No idea.” I shrugged, plopping down on my bed and responding to a couple of texts. Pete and I had begun talking again, and he was asking me what my plans were for the night. Looking through my phone, I wished for a second that this date wasn’t planned for tonight – a couple of guys were inviting me over to a party that was supposed to be awesome, but I would feel terrible canceling on Elle.