-

❝ Just... tell him before he gets married. ❞

-

"Tell him."

"No."

"Jordan - "

"I can't."

Tommaso let out an aggravated sigh, as Jordan crossed her arms and looked down at the ground, a frown on her face.

Once Takeover had ended, DIY had returned to their hotel. Jordan was sharing a room with Adrienne, who was out with a few of the girls, so Jordan was able to talk to Tommaso in private.

"If you lo - "

Jordan's head shot up. "Don't say it!"

"You need to tell him," He continued, skipping over the L word. "He's engaged. You can't just keep these feelings to yourself, just watching him and Candice get married, being happy."

"I mean..." She trailed off. "I could do that."

"No, you can't."

"He doesn't have to know," She said. "You know, and I know, and that's fine. No one else -- not even him -- has to know."

"That's not fair to you," He told her. He was becoming calmer each time he spoke. He was no longer angry, just concerned.

"And that's okay."

"No, it's not," He protested. "Eventually, it's going to become obvious that you're unhappy -- "

"I'm not unhappy."

"Oh, then you must be so fucking ecstatic that you get to watch Johnny and Candice get married in a few weeks." When she didn't respond, he continued, "It's going to become obvious you're unhappy, and when he figures out why, he's going to feel bad that you hid it from him for so long. And I know you don't want him to be unhappy -- it's probably why you don't want to tell him -- but you need to think about how this will affect him, and you, later."

The two of them sat in silence after that -- Jordan on her bed, Tommaso in a chair by the desk in the corner. Jordan stared at her reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall in front of her, while he watched her.

Finally, she broke the silence by sighing. She looked over at him.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"I'll tell him," She said. "But not right now. I... I need time. I need to figure out how to say it, how to tell him."

"Okay." He nodded slowly. "Just... tell him before he gets married."

"I'll try."

"Jor -- "

"I'll try really hard," She interrupted. "I promise."

There was a knock at the door. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, then Jordan stood up and walked over to it. When she opened it, she was greeted by Johnny.

"Hey." She gave him a small smile.

"Joey Ryan just stole my fiancee from me," He said.

"Do they have a show tomorrow?" She moved out of the way, letting him into the room.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I feel like if it was anyone but Candice, it would be a bad thing that Joey stole someone's fiancee."

She laughed. "That's probably true."

"He's married now," Tommaso said. "He's still sleazy, but not steal your girl sleazy."

"You guys are making me question my views on Joey Ryan," Jordan said. "It's confusing me."

"He and Candice are the World's Cutest Tag Team," Johnny pointed out. "So, I guess he's not sleazy anymore, he's cute."

"He literally flips people with his dick."

"I..."

Jordan just laughed at him.

X X X

Back in Orlando, Jordan was in her apartment, eating apple slices, while the visiting Johnny and Adrienne were trying to steal them from her.

"All right, you guys need to go," Jordan said, standing up. She walked into the kitchen to put the apples in the fridge.

"Is it because we're stealing your food?" Adrienne asked.

"We'll stop," Johnny added. "We can change."

"No." She smiled and rolled her eyes. "I need to go shopping," she looked over at Johnny, "to find a dress for your wedding."

"We can come!" Adrienne exclaimed.

"Yeah, it'll be like a field trip," Johnny said.

"We're not in school," Adrienne told him. He just shrugged.

"I mean..." Jordan thought it over. "I guess you guys could come. For some reason, my mind was telling me that you couldn't see me in a dress before the wedding, but you're not marrying me." She laughed, softly.

"Unless you're trying on wedding dresses," He said. "And even then, I'm not marrying you." He paused. "Please don't wear a wedding dress. I don't think Candice would like that."

She laughed. "I'm not wearing a wedding dress, I promise."

"So, can we come?" Adrienne asked, smiling.

"Yeah, you guys can come."

***

"Guys, I really like this one," Jordan shouted from her dressing room. "So don't tell me that I look like a potato in it this time."

"To be fair, that dress you had on looked like a potato," Adrienne said.

"I didn't know they made dresses that look like food," Johnny said.

The door to the dressing room opened, so Johnny and Adrienne stopped talking as Jordan walked out.

The dress was cream colored. It only had one sleeve, on the left side, and it billowed out about three quarters of the way down. It stopped just below the middle of her thighs.

"Please tell me this one is okay," Jordan said. "I'm tired of trying on dresses, so if you even like this a little bit, I'm buying it."

"It looks great," Adrienne told her, smiling. "You look beautiful."

It was silent for a moment before the girls realized that Johnny wasn't going to say anything. Usually, Adrienne would make a comment, then Johnny would add on right after. This was the first time he hadn't said anything.

He was just staring at Jordan.

She raised an eyebrow. "Johnny?"

"Huh?" He acted like he had just been shaken awake.

"Are you also wearing this to the wedding?" She joked. "Should I find something else to wear?"

"No!" He exclaimed, shaking his head. Both Jordan and Adrienne were taken aback by the outburst, so in a calmer voice, he said, "Uh, no. I think Candice should be the one in a dress. I'll stick with a tux." Jordan tucked some of her hair behind her ear, with a confused look on her face, then turned around to go back in the dressing room. She stopped when Johnny spoke again.

"But you look great. Really great."

She was glad she had turned around, because her whole face turned red after that.

***

I'm listening to Hamilton. Here is one of my favorite parts:

no...

ONE ELSE WAS IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED.

The best part is SOUTHERN MOTHERFUCKIN' DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICANS.

Anyway: there are two chapters + an epilogue left after this.

The part where they're back in Orlando takes place a few weeks after Takeover: San Antonio, and they're still a few weeks out from Takeover: Orlando.

There will be a picture of Jordan's dress in the next chapter.

Let me know what you thought! :)