Raise Your Heart

Chapter 4

Black tie? No. He'd look like a waiter with his white shirt. Red? No. Too romantic. This wasn't a date. Navy? No. Too professional. Maybe nix the tie. Instead, his blue windowpane-checked blazer with matching trousers. Yes. That would do.

Dante quickly finished dressing and assessed himself in the mirror. Not bad. He looked relatively friendly in the suit. Not too scary. Why he was even worried about how he looked, was beyond him. He didn't really care.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Gio strolled in with his lip curled.

"My new suit."

"New? It looks like a tablecloth. Where're you going? No, wait. Don't tell me. You're going on a picnic," Gio dragged his tongue over his teeth with a smirk.

"Very funny. If you must know, I've been invited to dinner."

Gio's face dropped. "Seriously? Congratulations, man. I'm glad you're finally over her enough to put yourself out there. 'Bout time."

Dante turned, his face an unreadable dark mask. "I never said I'm going on a date. And...I'll never be over her. So forget it."

Gio rolled his eyes undaunted by his uncle's intimidating glare. "When are you gonna accept the fact she's gone?"

"Have you?" Dante countered.

"I'm different. I was her best friend. I have a right to miss her and hope she'll return to me."

"I love her."

Gio shot daggers. "And you think I don't? I'm sorry, but I gotta tell you this. I loved her before you. I wanted her before you swooped in. But I loved her enough to let her be happy with your sorry ass and settled as her best friend. So, yeah, I have every right to miss her and to hope."

"Tsk. Whatever."

"Anyway, doesn't matter. Because while I'm respecting her wishes, I'm also gonna believe she's going to come back to me. You...not so much. Face it, dude, she dumped your ass."

"Gio?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to die?"

"No. But you just might wearing that ugly ass suit. You need to change. Wear black or something. Color doesn't agree with you. Anyway, where are you going?"

"Petra's in town with her friend. I gave them the house down by the lake to stay in."

"Ah. How's Pet doin'? I haven't talked to her in a while."

"She's good. Apparently, her friend is an amazing cook or some shit. Knowing her, she's trying to set me up."

"Yup. Huh. I wonder if I should tag along. Do ya know what they're having?"

"You can come with if you want. And, no, I don't know what they're planning."

"Text her."

"What? No way. That's impolite. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"I'll text her then."

Gio pulled out his phone and sent a short text to Petra. He crossed his leg over his knee and started bouncing his foot waiting for a reply while Dante pulled out different suits.

Settling on a dark charcoal with a plain black shirt, sans a tie, he dressed and disappeared into the bathroom to fix his hair.

"Hey, I'm not gonna go with. Alright?" Gio called.

"Why?" Dante slicked his hair back and tossed the comb onto the bathroom counter before coming back into the room to slip on a pair of cufflinks.

Gio shrugged. "Just don't want to."