Dilynne #2
And now, getting ready to meet his parents, trying to help him discover the real reason why Tori is back, and thinking about what it’s going to be like having him with me at Motorlux, is making me question every feeling I’ve been experiencing lately—especially because I’ve been fighting to ignore them.
“He’s…not terrible, I guess.”
Vienna laughs. “Wow. So eloquent.”
Elodie giggles too. “I knew there was always something between you two. I mean, I picked up on it the first time I met you guys.”
Laney pops her head inside the bathroom again. “I tried telling her that Elliot isn’t as bad as she’s made him out to be, but if you think he’s stubborn, Dilynne is ten times worse. Which is why I’ve always thought that eventually the tension between them would snap. But…”
“It feels so good to know that my best friend has secretly been hoping I’d bang one of my brother’s best friends. Thank you.”
Laney bounces her eyebrows. “Speaking from experience, it’s been life-changing for me.” She rubs her belly, winks at me, and then goes back to the main room.
Elodie places her palm on my knee. “Do you think Henley would have a problem with it if you two were serious about each other?”
“First, I could give a rat’s ass what my brother thinks about who I sleep with. But second, that isn’t what this is. This is just an arrangement.”
Vienna licks her lips as she tilts her head at me. “I don’t know… Rhonan mentioned the other night that he’s noticed Elliot reacting to you differently for a while now.”
That gets my attention. I lean forward in my chair, batting Elodie’s hand away. “Wait. What do you mean?”
She winces. “Not sure if I should say anything. I don’t want Rhonan to get upset with me.”
Laney comes up behind her. “Respectfully, screw what my brother thinks. Spill the beans, girl. Everything spoken here stays here, right?”
Elodie, Laney, Vienna, and I all look between each other and nod.
Vienna sighs. “Fine. Do you remember the night that I met Rhonan at The Charming Bull?”
I nod. “Yes...”
“Well, I guess the entire reason they were there that night was to run an experiment.”
Laney leans forward. “What kind of experiment?”
Vienna smirks. “A penis experiment.”
Laney’s face scrunches up in disgust. “Ew! Please don’t tell me about my brother’s penis!”
Vienna waves her hand at her playfully. “Not Rhonan’s! Elliot’s!”
Elodie spins around to face Vienna. “Was there something wrong with it? Erectile dysfunction is actually more common than people realize...”
“Why do you know so much about erectile dysfunction?” I ask, and then it dawns on me. “Ew! Are you talking about my brother’s penis?”
Elodie twists back to me. “No! Trust me, there is nothing wrong with Henley’s dick.”
“Or Rhonan’s,” Vienna echoes.
Laney and I look at each other, about to gag.
Laney clears her throat first. “Okay, please elaborate so I can ward off this nausea swirling in my belly right now.”
Vienna rolls her eyes and then adjusts her stance. “I guess Elliot hadn’t been able to…” She sighs. “God, I almost feel bad for bringing this up now.”
I smack the bathroom counter. “There’s no going back now, girl. Spit it out!”
She laughs. “Fine. Elliot hasn’t been with another woman since Tori, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying, I guess. So, he begged Rhonan to go to The Charming Bull that night to watch the bull riding contest to see if any woman might make him…excited.”
Laney covers her mouth, hiding her smile. “Oh my gosh. Poor guy.”
I arch a brow at her. “Why are you bringing this up?” And then something clicks. “Wait. You were there that night. Are you telling me that Elliot got a boner watching you ride the bull?”
She shakes her head and then smirks, pointing directly at me. “No, honey. He got one while watching you.”
Silence descends upon the small bathroom as all of us process what Vienna just shared.
Elodie slowly turns back to face me, eyes wide. “Holy shit.”
Laney blows out a breath. “Uh, didn’t see that one coming. Although, I’m so glad this story wasn’t about my brother, so there’s that.”
Vienna hasn’t stopped looking at me.
But I don’t even know what to say.
Elliot got hard while watching me? Is that something I should even be concerned about? I mean, maybe it was just a one-off thing.
“And…I guess it’s happened again since then,” Vienna adds.
Well, there’s that…
“I, uh…”
“Dilynne?” Laney starts, concern in her voice.
“Yeah?”
“Has Elliot said anything to you about…”
I snap my gaze to hers. “Uh, no, Laney. Elliot has not admitted that I made his dick hard on more than one occasion,” I reply sarcastically. “Not sure that’s something that he would ever share with me.”
She scowls at me. “No need to get snippy.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Well, this is the last thing I needed to know before going to dinner with his parents!”
“Speaking of which,” Elodie interjects, checking her phone. “We have about forty minutes left until he gets here, so we need to focus.”
Vienna raises her hand in the air. “Okay, but before we do, can I just share something else with the group because now that I let that secret out, I feel so much better.”
Laney rests her hand on her shoulder. “Yes. Sharing is caring.”
Vienna smiles. “Great. Apparently, Elliot also got his dick pierced a while back.
My jaw falls open, but Elodie’s gasp gains our attention first. “What?”
“Yeah. Rhonan said the reason why he went with Elliot to The Charming Bull was because it was either that, or go with him to get his dick pierced, which he wanted no part of witnessing. So, Elliot ended up going by himself. The guys all know but have been keeping it from us because they didn’t want us to ask them to do the same,” she finishes, rolling her eyes.
“I told Rhonan that a decision like that is completely up to him, but I probably wouldn’t complain. ” She bounces her eyebrows up and down.
But my brain is short-circuiting at the moment.
Not only has Elliot not been with another woman since Tori, which isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem to the girls. But he got a penis piercing as what? A way to move on? A way to help him get over the idea of someone new since he has something new to share?
But the most prevalent question in my mind right now is—which piercing did he get?
Laney blows out a breath again. “Damn. That was a lot of information in a short amount of time.”
“Um, yeah. You could say that,” I say. “I feel like I just lived through that Thanksgiving episode of Friends when Ross and Monica are telling secrets about each other to their parents.”
Elodie turns back to me. “Look, all I need to do is finish your mascara, but then I need to get started on your hair. We can talk and work, right?”
I nod. “Sure.”
My response comes out confident, but that’s the last thing I’m feeling right now as I watch the mascara wand threaten my eyes because knowing what Vienna just shared with us about Elliot is making everything I thought about this arrangement fly right out the window.
***
“Ladies, we did good,” Laney says, high-fiving Elodie and then Vienna.
Elodie pats herself on the back. “All that training in stage makeup certainly paid off.” She twists to look at Laney. “This was fun, though. We should do something like this if Lennon comes to visit, like make each other over or something.”
“When was she thinking of coming again?” Laney asks.
“Maybe next week… Honestly, I’m not sure if she will. She has a lot going on right now…”
“Lennon is your friend from Garnet Valley, right?” Vienna clarifies.
Elodie nods. “Yes, my best friend from childhood. But right now, she’s having some relationship problems and…”
I clear my throat while gesturing to myself. “Not that I don’t want to have girl talk, but I need y’all to make sure that nothing is out of place, like a boob or something.”
Laney snorts. “I think you’d know if that were the case.”
“Have you forgotten that I don’t like wearing bras, so by the time this night is over, I’m going to be chucking this one across my room too?” Sighing, I continue, “But I really am thankful for you all.”
Vienna shrugs. “Not sure I did much to help, but I was glad to be a part of this.”
“Oh, you most certainly didn’t help my brain, that’s for sure,” I mutter as I glance at myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the woman staring back at me. “But these shoes are perfect for this dress. Lord knows I don’t own anything like this.”
The last time I got dressed up was for Laney’s wedding, but my hair was up, the dress was picked out for me, and so were the shoes.
I did my own makeup, which is usually fairly minimal, and wearing something for my best friend felt a hell of a lot different than wearing something like this for a man.
A man that apparently gets hard-ons for me and has penis jewelry.
God, I want to see it.
No you don’t, Dilynne. It’s Elliot’s dick. Remember that.
But my attire tonight is all too unfamiliar. The little black dress that Laney let me borrow has delicate thin straps, lace trim along the cleavage, and even though it hits my knees, it has a slit that hits me mid-thigh.
And my hair is down.
I repeat: my hair is down.
I just hope to God it doesn’t bug me so much that I’m throwing it up in a bun before the dinner is even over.
My makeup is also heavier than I think I’ve ever worn it, at least on my eyes. Elodie gave me a smoky look that’s not over the top, but it makes my brown eyes look darker and more mysterious.
I don’t hate the version of the woman staring back at me, surprisingly. But I am worried that it’s too much.
And what is Elliot going to think?
Before tonight, I’m not sure I would have cared about the answer to that question. But, thanks to the mental karate Vienna just laid down on my subconscious with all of her revelations, now it’s all I can think about.