Silly Of Me

Amelia frowns, growling out in frustration. This has been the seventh dress she’s tried on and she still had no luck. Her older brother is sitting on her bed, playing with his computer since Elyse occupied his room. Chris looks up from his computer, shaking his head at his younger sister.

“You know, the first dress looked absolutely fantastic on you.” He says, eyes returning on his computer.

“You said that about all my dresses.” She replies.

“Not my fault they all looked fantastic on you,” he smirks. “You are my sister, its law for you to look good in anything you wear.”

“Mother of God, this is what happens when Lochte stays over.” Amelia rolls her eyes, walking in her closet once more.

It’s never difficult for her to find something to wear. Her mother loves to shop and would always drag Amelia along or would buy something for her during her outings. For that simple fact, Amelia owns over twenty dresses, so she has absolutely no excuse to ditch a special occasion because she had nothing to wear. The only reason she’s having a difficult time is because she’s dressing to impress tonight. And everyone knows who she’s trying to impress.

“You know, Aaron’s not that hard to impress.” Chris calls out.

“I am not trying to impress Aaron.” Amelia replies.

Chris scoffs. “Yeah, okay, I suppose you’re trying to impress Lochte then?”

“There are other swimmers.”

“No other swimmer interests you, unless their name is Aaron Wells Peirsol.”

Amelia laughs. “Wells is such a lovely name.”

“Chris is a lovely name, Wells, a bit out there.”

“Don’t hate on uniqueness.”

“You are just in too deep.” Chris shakes his head. “I’m your sibling, not him.”

“More of a reason why I should be against you,” Amelia hears her brother laugh as she picks out two more dresses. She walks out, holding it out.

“Honestly,” Chris groans out. “This should not be difficult for you, Amelia. It’s not even full on formal event. Just wear a black knee length dress, sleeveless because it’s, well, warm, and heels. Simple as that.”

“You want me to wear a short dress?” Chris has always had his opinions over Amelia’s dress. It’s the usual brotherly insult about how a dress looks horrible on her or something makes her look fat or it doesn’t go with her face, the usual. But Chris has always been very serious about not letting her wear something that goes a couple of inches above her knees. It’s just not acceptable.

“No, I said knee length, you see where your knees are?” He points at them. “That long, you’re lucky I’m not saying ankle.”

“Yeah, true,” Amelia nods her head, walking back inside her closet.

“Seriously, this is getting ridiculous, Aaron is already here.” Chris says.

“But it’s only six thirty,” Amelia replies.

“Yeah, when you first started,” Chris rolls his eyes. “It’s been an hour.”

“Don’t be an ass!”

“Okay, sorry, jeez,” Chris walks in her closet. “How about this, I pick and you have to wear it no matter what, it’ll solve your problem.”

“Oh god, I’m going to end up wearing some maxi dress to this auction.” Amelia groans walking out of her closet.

“First of all, what the fuck is a maxi dress, second of all, have faith in me. The girlfriend’s been teaching me a few tricks.” Chris assures her.

“As long as it’s not Ryan,” Amelia mumbles.

“Alright, found it, no arguments, nothing. Just come in here, put on your dress and be on your way so I can finally get ready for my date.” Chris walks out of her closet. “It’s hanging behind the door.”

“You sure you don’t want to tag along with us?” Amelia questions as she passes by him.

“Spending my night with fan girls? No, I’ll pass.” Chris replies.

Amelia walks in her closet, closing the door, her eyes fall on the dress her brother picked. A smile spreads across her face as she nods her head in approval.

“Who would have thought that he had style.” She says to herself, finally getting ready for the night.

To her surprise, her brother picked an all white flowy cocktail dress with a plunge neckline, wide straps, and an empire waist. She’s shocked her brother would pick such a dress since it did show some cleavage.

“I’m surprised you picked this,” she says to him once she has the dress on.

“Only knee length dress you have,” Chris sighs. “Aaron will most likely lend you his jacket, so I’m not worried.”

“You’re not worried because the audience is going to be predominantly women.”

“Maybe that’s another reason why I picked the dress.”

She can hear the smile in her brother’s voice. Amelia is definitely appreciative of Chris’ caring, protective side. He tries not to go overboard, but of course there are times that he can’t help himself. Her brother has always set some type of boundary with his sister, he doesn’t go overboard unless he has a reason to and most of the time he does.

“Thanks,” she says to her brother.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just hurry up already.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elyse looks at her reflection in the mirror. She’s not sure how Ryan is going to react about her dress, but at this point, he couldn’t exactly make her stay at the apartment. The dress is perfect for the occasion, it’s casual yet classy. Elyse is wearing a charcoal gray strapless tube top dress. She’s secretly hoping it’s not going to be cold inside the place they were holding the event, but it’s a bit warm, so she’s certain they’ll have the AC on.

“Elyse, are you ready?” She hears Ryan ask from the other side of the bedroom door.

“Yeah Ry, give me a minute,” she takes a deep breath. Ryan’s opinion matters to her, if he doesn’t like something, she tosses it out. It’s pathetic, she knows, Ryan Lochte should not be dictating her life, but it’s very difficult to say no to that man.

She opens the door, Ryan’s back facing her. She’s the first to take in his appearance and she groans inwardly as soon as her eyes roam around his muscular built body. His build is the perfect size for her, he isn’t exactly the most muscular guy out there, but he’s perfect for his size. He’s wearing one of his Ralph Lauren polo shirts, black. This man just does clothes justice. Her eyes drift over to his feet and she’s thankful that he’s wearing white sneakers instead of his ever green shoes.

Ryan finally turns around, preparing to knock on the door again, but instead he’s the one who has his breath knocked out of him. Cheesy, but that’s how he feels. His eyes roam around Elyse, unable to form words with his mouth. She looks absolutely stunning in her dress. A little too short for his liking, but he couldn’t even find himself to scold her for the length of her dress. Her legs look fantastic in that dress and they look like they went on for miles, he never noticed her long legs before. And for a moment, he doesn’t freak out that he’s checking out his best friend.

Realization finally hits him and his eyes narrows at her.

“That dress is too short,” he states.

Elyse rolls her eyes. “The first thing out of your mouth couldn’t be a compliment?”

“You don’t need me telling you that you look beautiful Elyse,” he says to her, a slight smile appearing on his face. “But all those assholes are going to be looking at you with their perverted thoughts.” He cringes, his temper slightly rising thinking of all the men in the room checking her out.

“Ryan, last time I checked, it’s not so bad to be admired. I rarely dress up like this,” she reasons with him. “It’s not like I’m going to sleep with them.”

“Swear like I would let you out of my sight,” he growls out. “Change.”

“I have nothing to change to.”

“I bought you that dress.”

“I returned it, I’m never going to use it.”

“Elyse!” Ryan shakes his head. “Amelia must have an extra dress lying around.”

Before Ryan can make a move, Aaron appears beside him, giving Elyse an approving look. “You look fantastic, Elyse.”

“Thanks Aaron,” she narrows her eyes at Ryan. “Nice to know someone appreciates how I look tonight.”

“Don’t start, Elyse.” Ryan warns. “I told you, you look beautiful, I’m just not going to appreciate the perverts.”

“Ryan that should be the last of your concern. None of those guys are going to take me home.” Elyse says to him. For a moment, she thinks, hopes that Ryan is acting out of jealousy, but she knows better. Ryan is just being the overprotective prick that her brother doesn’t play often. Even her older brother trusts her judgment and more importantly, he worries about her, but he tries to keep it at a minimum. She’ll be lying if she said that her brother’s never overprotective, he is, just not like Ryan. The guy takes it to another level.

“Elyse is right, Ry, there’ll be too many women there. Only male swimmers are being auctioned tonight.” Aaron reminds him.

Ryan looks over at Aaron before his eyes move back to Elyse. “At least wear some leggings.” He pleads.

“No,” Elyse walks out of the room leaving Ryan and Aaron by the doorway of the room she just left.

“Don’t encourage her,” Ryan narrows his eyes at Aaron.

“Hey, I’m not the enemy here,” Aaron holds his hands up. “She’s an adult, Ryan. Give her a break. I know she’s your best friend, but you’re acting like her boyfriend right now. A douchey boyfriend at that.”

Ryan rolls his eyes before walking after Elyse. Aaron chuckles, making his way down the hall towards Amelia’s room. He knocks on the door and hears Chris’s voice. Opening the door he finds Chris using his computer with Amelia nowhere in sight.

“Where’s your sister?” Aaron questions.

“Hi Aaron, how are you? Me? I’m good, thanks for asking.” Chris sarcastically says to Aaron.

Aaron laughs, rolling his eyes at his best friend. “I’m sorry for not greeting you, Christian. Hey Chris, how’s your day going?”

“It’s going amazingly well, Wells.” Chris winks at Aaron, causing for him to groan hearing his middle name come out from Chris’s mouth.

“Wells, we’re really going to go there?”

“I like your middle name, I don’t know what’s your problem with it.” Chris teases him.

“Whatever, where’s your sister?”

Chris nods his head towards the closet. “Still getting ready, getting prettified for you.”

“CHRIS!” Amelia yells out from the closet.

Chris laughs out loud, taking his computer and standing up. “If you excuse me, I have to get ready for my night. Have fun, hopefully you get someone hot.”

Aaron rolls his eyes at Chris as he walks out of his younger sibling’s room. He sits on Amelia’s bed, waiting for her to come out. He’s excited to see what she’s going to wear. It’s not like Amelia isn’t beautiful, but he wanted to see how she would look like for this event. The auction is nothing big, but wearing jeans wouldn’t exactly be acceptable. He’s seen Amelia wear dresses before, but for some reason, he always likes her best wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Maybe it was the comfort of the clothing.

“Amelia, are you done?” Aaron calls out to her.

“Aaron? Where’s my brother?” She replies.

“He just left, did you need something?”

“No, I was just curious. I’m coming out in a second.”

Aaron nods his head, waiting for Amelia to come out. The closet door opens, revealing Amelia behind the door. Aaron’s eyes move over to her and he had to try hard to prevent it from dropping. He has to remain cool, suave; he couldn’t exactly gawk over her. But Amelia looks absolutely breathtaking.

“Wow,” is the only thing Aaron manages to say as Amelia walks out of the closet door. A hint of pink appears on Amelia’s cheeks, shyly smiling at Aaron as she twirls for him.

“I clean up nicely,” she jokes.

“I think nicely is not the word,” Aaron returns her smile. “I would say beautiful, gorgeous, a couple of more words, but we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now.”

“Such a charmer, Wells.” Amelia winks.

Aaron groans. “Just had to go there,” he chuckles. “Wells is not a bad name.”

“No it isn’t, I’m a fan of it.”

“Then Wells is a much better name than Aaron.” Aaron holds out his hand for her. “Shall we go?”

Amelia looks at his hand before taking it, his hands are very soft, warm and she wouldn’t mind holding it especially during the winter.

“Let’s go, don’t want to keep Brendan waiting.” Amelia teases.

“Yes, last thing we need is an upset Brendan.” If it’s possible, the size of Aaron’s smile increased ten-fold. He couldn’t believe that Amelia’s hand is intertwined with his. For a moment he wanted to take it in, watch how her hand perfectly fits with his, but he didn’t want to seem like a creeper. Instead, he just takes the lead and walks her out of the room.

The auction is going to be fun, at least they hope so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryan sits beside Elyse, watching as Michael takes the seat on her other side. He’s not sure, but he has an uneasy feeling as Michael and Elyse’s eyes connect. Michael has a girlfriend, Ryan knows that, but when temptation comes your way, it’s hard to resist, especially with that short, too revealing of a dress Elyse decided to wear.

He saw the way Michael’s eyes roam around Elyse’s body as he sat beside her. Ryan wants nothing more than to wrap his hands around Michael’s neck. Never in his competitive rivalry with Michael Phelps has he ever had the urge to strangle him till now. And they were not even competing. Elyse is not a piece of meat that Michael can just look over, inspecting.

Ryan takes off his blazer, placing it over Elyse’s legs. She looks over at him, but doesn’t argue, instead she thanks him as the AC is on full blast and her legs are beginning to slightly shiver.

“Thank you,” Elyse mouths to him.

He nods his head, giving her a small smile before turning his attention to the host of the event, who just made his way to the stage. As he says his welcome to all the attendees of the event, Aaron and Amelia sits down at the table, Aaron beside Ryan, Amelia sitting in between him and Brendan.

“Tell Amelia to switch with Elyse,” Ryan leans over to Aaron, telling him his request.

“What? No, she’s staying next to me. Elyse is perfectly fine where she is.” Aaron rolls his eyes, knowing that Ryan’s jealousy is talking once again.

“She’s sitting too close to Phelps.” Ryan points out.

Aaron looks over the two. Elyse’s chair is slightly closer to Michael since she’s talking to the guy. Ryan is just overreacting, but he understands where Ryan is coming from. Elyse does have a crush on the guy, he’s a threat.

“They’re talking Ryan, I can’t hear you either unless you lean towards my ear.” Aaron says to him.

“You switch with her, entertain Phelps.”

“Why won’t you switch with her?”

Ryan leans back, looking at Aaron, a smile spreading across his face, realizing that he could technically switch with Elyse. “You’re a genius.”

“Sure am, especially when it comes to seating arrangement.” Aaron rolls his eyes, focusing his attention on the host once again.

Ryan moves away from Aaron, tapping Elyse on her shoulder. She turns towards him, her eyes immediately connecting with his, that beautiful smile that Ryan loves seeing plastered on her face, brightening when their eyes meet. For some reason, Ryan is blown away, he feels like his breathe is knocked out of him as his eyes are captivated by hers; her familiar scent filling his airway, a comforting feeling making its way through his body as he continues to breathe in her scent. He’s seen her before, been lost in her eyes before, but things have definitely changed since his break-up with his last girlfriend. Elyse is different in his eyes, has been different in his eyes. She’s no longer ‘one of the guys’, well she is, but Ryan didn’t see her in that way anymore. He wasn’t denying his feelings, he was simply searching for them.

Of all the nights, they decide to resurface tonight.

Ryan Lochte has finally realized that he’s attracted, very attracted to his best friend since childhood, Elyse Moore.