The shirt was starting to feel moist and disgusting, frustrating Gabriel only more. He didn’t have many options here but he just took a deep breath and began to assess the situation. “Listen… it happens.” He looked closer at the woman, the mask being enough to make her identity completely mysterious. But he was sure that she was as gorgeous without the mask as she was with it. “You’re fine, don’t worry,” he insisted as he started to take off the blazer. Placing it over the nearest chair, he started to unbutton the top few buttons of his shirt before pausing.
“I’m not sure if I can just strip down in the middle of the ballroom. But I can see if I can make some calls to see if I can just borrow something for the time being. But uh if you know anybody here that might’ve been carrying an extra blazer, be my guest.” He sighed before looking around again to assess the environment. He could probably pull off being shirtless for a few moments. It was a love gala after all. “Listen I think we should just make our way to one of those cabanas and figure it out there. I’m not trying to be seen wearing a red wine stained outfit but I’m also not trying to just walk around here shirtless like some douchebag.”
Finally stripping both pieces off, he started to make his way towards the cabanas in question. He had hoped the other would keep to her word and help him figure this situation out. “I don’t suppose you have a blazer on you?” he said as he finally looked back at her.
As she saw that the man in front of her was not as concerned as she thought he may have been, a wave of relief washed over her. Maybe he wasn’t that well-known of a person, maybe he was just understanding and kind, but whatever the reason was for him being humble enough to not yell at Eliana for her clumsiness, she was happy for it.
The man began to unbutton the stained articles of clothing, and Eliana cleared her throat. It had been a while since she had been in this situation with someone, so physically vulnerable in front of her. Since getting pregnant and giving birth, she hadn’t had the time to think about anything else besides her daughter, so this situation was something different that she had almost forgotten how to handle. And now, there was a semi-undressed and attractive man in front of her, telling her that they needed to go some place private.
Eliana tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
“That, um, works for me,” she said with a breathy laugh, pulling her cell phone out of her dress pocket. (That was her favorite thing about this outfit, the dress had pockets.) “I can look though my contact lists and see what I can find, if I can’t find anyone here who can help us I can make some calls elsewhere to see if we can get you some sort of special shirt delivery.”
“Unfortunately, I do not," she said as he turned back to her, sliding her phone back into her pocket after sending a few messages. “All I’ve got on me clothing-wise is this outfit, and while I think you could definitely pull it off, it would leave me without anything which puts us back in the predicament we were in in the first place.”