Abby makes a funny face, crinkling her forehead for only a second before returning back to her story, “Anyways, so today…well, for the first time since I’ve seen him in the wing on his appointments, I actually ran into him,” she stops, looking at me, hesitant in her words which is not a normal thing for her. “I don’t know…it was just really strange and kind of…” Abby closes her eyes for a second before reopening them to go on, “…it’s just, he used to be so playful and like to screw with me. You know, like at Christmas. But today, he rounds the corner…” she pauses again, biting the inside of her lip and thinking before moving on, “…he was just really bitter and angry and acted like he hated my guts. I didn’t do anything, even say anything. I had my roses in hand and he lets out this loud sigh and becomes this huge asshole. I mean, more than he ever was.”
I’m all sorts of confused. “And that bothered you?” She hasn’t really told me anything; I have no clue where this conversation is going. “More importantly, what happened to him?”
My door creaks, drawing our attention instantly in that direction. Evan’s face appears in the doorway, and I can’t help the girly grin that comes over me.
“Hi,” I draw out in an over-the-top adoringly happy tone with a huge smile.
“Oh brother!” Abby rolls her eyes, before looking back to Evan.
He cocks his head in a questioning manner. “What’d I do?”
“Nothing!” I stand up, quickly walking towards him. “We were just talking about…”
Abby quickly clears her throat, cutting me off. “Well I guess I better get going. I’m meeting Hayden at the restaurant. I’ll see you guys there in a little bit.”
I take her subtle, yet abrupt exit as her not wanting to discuss Tristan in front of Evan. I’m not sure why, but I go along with it, dropping it.
“Oh wow, yeah…that thing…” I raise my eyebrows as she looks at me with a smile, nodding her head and completely getting my joke about what we were talking about earlier. “…definitely need to get some of that thing. I’ll see you there.”
Winking, she throws her hand in the air to wave us both off.
“Catch you later, Abby,” Evan says before turning to me. “Ready?” He snaps his attention over my shoulder to the roses on my dresser, looking pleased that I have them proudly displayed in my room.
I bounce up onto my toes, excited for the night and everything that’s yet to come. I’m hoping tonight will be a new beginning for us. Everything inside of me is eager to move forward, to let go of the past and just live; enjoy him like I’ve never allowed myself to before. I’m ready to get everything we’ve held back out of the way.
“So are you ready for this super private, romantic, alone-time, triple date we are going on tonight?” he smirks, sarcasm lacing his every word. “Maybe we’ll get a group rate.”
I smile, knowing something he doesn’t and hoping to cast a small shadow of thrill into his thoughts about the private and alone-time part; I’ve never officially celebrated Valentine’s day with anyone, but my dad, so the romance part is already in high gear.
“Actually, Abby texted me a second after I left campus…it’s on the house. Lanie is going to comp and she said for us to go nuts.” I pulse my brows, feeling a surge of confidence that I just one-upped him and am gearing up for my next eye-opener. “And I think we should…go nuts that is.”
Evan’s whole demeanor over the group date night perks up, “I sure hope you aren’t referring to us ordering two of every appetizer or then again,” he slyly waggles his eyebrows, making my toes tingle and my stomach tighten. “Maybe we’ll just count dinner as the appetizer for the night?”
Every organ in my body zings with nervousness, yet sweet excitement and anticipation. Enough talking; now I’m thinking like him. Nodding, because I’m way too giddy to speak, I frantically swipe my purse off the bed and grab his arm to urge him out the door.
“My thoughts exactly.”
My smile stretches to the point of making my cheeks ache as we make our way down the hall and to the front door, caught in a flirtatious game of him wiggling his brows and me in turn giggling uncontrollably. My belly quakes and my entire body shakes in a happiness that only he can ignite within me.
Before I can reach for it, the door swings open. I take a quick look at the clock; 5:30, then fling my gaze back to the door as Dad walks in with a massive collection of kaleidoscope roses running from yellow to magenta to multiple purple tones and on to a deep blue like tropical waters, interchanging from petal to petal all the way to the center.
Dad smiles as I take in the beauty of the same arrangement of roses he has gotten on Valentine’s Day since I was sixteen-years-old.
“Hi sweetie…Evan,” he looks from me to him with a nod then back to me as he stretches the vase out between us. I wrap my hands around them, extending my neck so that I can hold my nose over the bouquet and take in a healthy sniff of their perfumed fragrance. “Couldn’t let a Valentine’s go by without getting them.” He looks to Evan sheepishly, as if he feels somewhat bad about still trying to be my Prince Charming for the day.
Slipping Evan an indirect look, a bit of guilt and awkwardness creeps over me. He stares at the flowers just like I did, a less enthusiastic look in his eyes as he had before and all playfulness dropped, but he quickly covers it up with a breathy snicker and a crooked grin.
“Well, I clearly need to do some research on this kind of stuff and until this afternoon, I thought roses were just red. I just went by the little rhyme…you know, roses are red…” he trails off with a laugh and I jump in. “Wow, I just feel like royalty tonight. A dozen beautiful red roses this afternoon, now these and then dinner at Julianne’s. You may create a monster if I get spoiled like this, every day,” I tease them both, glancing back and forth as they share a genuine smile.
Placing his hand gently on my shoulder, Dad draws me in for a quick hug and a small peck on the forehead. “You deserve it sweetheart. And Evan… Red roses?” Dad cocks an overconfident grin that I’ve never seen before. “Not too shabby.”
We all laugh and the typical icy chill of a father and boyfriend competing for a girl’s affection, the same one that makes me feel like I am trapped in some teen drama movie, instantly melts away.
Looking back down at the roses that are still firmly held in my hands, I’m overwhelmed with warmth and adoration.
“Thank you, Dad. I love them.” I turn quickly to Evan, more as reassurance, even though I know he doesn’t need it. “I think I know the perfect spot to put them.”
Swiftly, I move across the living room to the TV center that’s against the back wall and place them right in the center, between the family portrait from the album that Evan and I discovered and picture of me at graduation. I step back slowly and admire their beauty one more time before spinning on the balls of my feet to hurry back to Evan. We have reservations.
Just as I look up and am ready to say goodbye to Dad, the door swings open and bumps him in the back.
Abby pokes her head in. “My car won’t start.”
Dad moves away stepping forward as Abby pushes the door open the rest of the way and joins us. “You should’ve said something. I waved when I was coming in, but I thought you were already headed out.”
“I really thought I’d be able to get it started, then I was texting Hayden…” Abby starts rambling on.
“Do you want me to look at it?” Dad offers and panic begins to slither through my veins, wondering if she’ll want us to wait.
“Abby just hop in with us,” Evan begins, looking quickly at me probably for an answer, but I believe my expression is enough of one; he doesn’t even wait for an answer. “That way we can all be on time and Hayden can just run you back home after dinner or whenever…if that sounds good.”
I slump my shoulders, wanting badly to frown and rebel against her riding with us. She’s my best friend, but I really wanted to talk with Evan and get a lot of things out in the open that we haven’t discussed; th
ings we’ve set aside for far too long. I want tonight to be perfect. Seeing as my options are very limited at this point and I can’t leave Abby sitting here at the house or even ask Dad to give her a ride, I relent, nodding my approval with a smile. We’ve got all night; I suppose we can talk after dinner to get things warmed up. A zap of excitement shoots through me at that thought.
In no time at all, and after a quick suggestion for us to take my vehicle rather than his dusty old work truck, we all bolt out to the car, ready to get the night on its way. Evan makes a pit stop at his truck, then hops into the driver’s seat, shoving a small box between the door and seat on his side. Leaning my head, I make a spectacle of letting him know that I’m aware that he’s hiding something. I love surprises, but I’m way too amped up tonight. Going to a fancy place to have dinner on the most romantic night of the year, for me, is more like stepping onto the red carpet at the Oscar’s. It just never happens and I can barely contain myself.
“Ok, Evan, what’s in the box?” Abby speaks up on the same thing I had planned on pestering him over. This whole time I’ve been giving him obvious looks and drumming my fingertips across my knee to show my impatience; my mouth goes agape on her bluntness. His face goes blank as he stares at the road. Now my curiosity peaks.
“Abby, you just worry about the lame ass tattoo of your name that Hayden will probably have stamped cross his bicep; I’ll worry about what’s in the box.”
She rolls her eyes, giving me a sneaky wink before reaching forward from the backseat to where Evan shoved it. I grit my teeth and shake my head subtly, trying to get her to stop. I’d hate for her to ruin anything he may want to surprise me with.
Abby sits back up straight, her eyes widening in amusement. “Evan! Really!”
I look to her hands and see the dark gray and white box he hid now in her hand.
“What?!” He twists his head instantly, back to the space between the door and promptly back to her again, straining to see her sitting in the backseat directly behind him. His eyes flick from the rearview mirror, to me, then her and back to the road in a flash.
“What in the heck?! Are these made of iron or something.”
I narrow my vision in on the box, scanning quickly for what on earth could be in it.
“Abby! Give it back! It’s not what you think…” Evan reaches to the backseat, the car shifting as his hand wildly fumbles around her legs.
She laughs, moving speedily and pushing herself all the way against the door with the box held high. I glance again as he steers and blindly wrestles for it. I make out a bold black print across the front that reads Edible and I stop, my mouth wide and my eyes about to pop out.
“Abby, dangit…”
I swing my astonishment to him and he instantly notices, stopping his attempt at getting it back. My heart beat ramps up into my throat, but yet, a sense of intrigue starts to overpower any nervousness I feel. I’m plenty used to his teasing, pestering, gags and pranks by now, so anything edible that he may want to happen tonight can be discussed and thought over, but what has my interest rising more, is that he seems to be embarrassed; Evan, embarrassed by someone finding a gag gift of undergarments. He usually would live for this shit.
“Ok, you got it…the secret is out. I’ll be muff diving later and gobbling up those suckers. Now hand them over and Piper can open them later,” he says casually, but I still catch a hint of something unrecognizable.
“Oh come on!” Abby urges him, holding the box tightly. “This has got to weigh fifteen pounds. What did you get, a lock and key with them?”
“Oh, familiar with them, are ya? Hayden do a lot of deep sea diving? Does he go for the hard candy thongs or the red licorice G-string? I’m more of a fruit roll up sort of guy myself…strawberry.”
I look at the box again and see a picture of a strawberry in the corner that reads, scratch and sniff. Oh.my.gosh!
They carry on back and forth as my anxiety level over wearing them increases until I cannot stand it anymore. Evan carries his usual cool and confident facade as he tries to rile Abby up. Of course, she rises to the occasion, her fiery attitude giving way as she defends her sexual preferences with her boyfriend.
“…He’s all big and buff, but I bet he’s all thumbs…”
“He is not and we have not…”
“Oh would you give me this…”
Pressing my knee into the seat with a twist, I snag the box out of her hand and infiltrate their ridiculous squabble. As soon as I have it, the weight pulls down on my arm, surprising me as I plunk back down on my butt. Both of them stop talking and Evan concentrates on the road. I stare down at it, the flat, smooth texture of the box seeming foreign as I study the picture of the very small pair of bright scarlet colored string bikini panties. Gasping, I flick my eyes up to Evan and back down before he notices.
“Just open it…it was supposed to be a joke, but I have a feeling you are looking way too far into this.”
I stare at the round circle sticker that seals the package shut, that appears to have been ripped open once before. Abby probably already looked inside.
“Go ahead, open it,” he urges me again with a more tender, less sarcastic tone.
“Yeah, open it up so we can see just how kinky Evan here can get. Feels like they may be brass underwear rather than a fruit roll up pair.”
“Strawberry…” Evan peeks into the rear view mirror, clarifying his flavor of choice to Abby. “It’s ok. Abby can give me shit the rest of the night…”
My attention snaps to him.
“Oooooh, yes! In that case, definitely open it.”
Abby’s impatient excitement over a gift she single-handedly let out of the bag, so to speak, and the tenacious enthusiasm in her voice as if she’s the one that has a date with the panties, has my stomach stiffening on an onset of laughter. I dip my brows, trying to hold back my over-zealous impulse to tear open the box and probably rip the fragile candy gift inside in the process.
“Well?” Evan nudges his chin forward to implore me, all while keeping his eyes on the road.
I do as they say, a portion of my heart expecting him to have something even raunchier waiting inside, just to see my face go red; he knows how to do that too. The other part of me knows that by the heart-felt way he said I’m looking too far into this, it may not be what’s pictured on the box at all. A little bit of my excitement drops on that thought; not like I fantasize about exploring new and quirky methods of playing in the bedroom. I don’t even know how to lay there and do the actual act, but it is somewhat thrilling to imagine.
My fingernails work to free the clear round sticker, peeling it up with ease and ripping it off. After pulling the flap of the box open, I slow down, staring down past a clear plastic interior package and spotting a hint of bright red; and it even looks like a fruit roll up. Oh.my.gosh…he did.
“Pull it out.” I don’t even look up when Evan speaks, but I assume he’s watching my reaction.
“Piper, open it all the way. I wanna see what these things look like,” Abby says in a rush of excitement.
I laugh and automatically squeeze my fingers between the box and plastic piece inside to pull it out; it’s heavy…weird.
“You seriously want to check these out so you can go get your own, don’t you? You’re a little kinkster, aren’t you Abby? I knew it!”
“Oh shut up, Evan!”
A squealy sound rises with every millimeter that I slide the plastic out until at last, I drop the box to my side and just hold the small, cratered-like clear holder for the garment. Above the candy-wear sits a whole handful of arrowheads. What on earth?!
“Ok, wait…” Evan starts.
“What is it?” Abby stretches to get a look, immediately scrunching up her nose like I have mine. “Whoa, ok, Evan…you are into some seriously weird stuff here. Why?” She points her finger to the assembly of carved rocks, crooking her head as she speaks as if she is more stumped than me.
“You seriously don’t get wha
t that is about?” Evan speaks so directly that I know there has to be something here that I’m missing.
I circle through my mind, searching for the meaning behind the gift. Combing through them like a mall of windows into my memories, I come to a halt on one particular moment that at the time, didn’t seem too important.
“Wow…I thought they only had these in museums,” I say wide-eyed, staring at the huge display of arrowheads sitting in Evans grandpa’s bedroom.
The large wooden display case is about the size of the window in my bedroom back home and has rows upon rows of these small carved little stones.
“Yeah and he found every single one on this property, back before they bulldozed some of the hills to put in the cabins. I found this one,” Evan’s voice goes high with excitement as he points to the display case at a tiny black shimmery stone that has tiny curved etch marks along the edge, making it look fragile and delicate to the touch, yet somewhat lethal down to the precise tip and sharp border. “… This one too…Oh,” his voice kicks up a notch, anxious to show me more and more. “… And this one.” His finger moves to another one. “… This one I found one day when I was helping Grandpa replace the boards along one of the docks down by the end cabins. We stopped for lunch, and no sooner than I sat down, I looked and there it was…just buried in the dirt. I could barely make out the tip of it.”
My eyes move from one rock to the next, admiring the designs and different sizes; the intricate way someone spent countless minutes or hours whittling out shavings of the stone to create a perfect arrow shape; the precision to detail at each curve and corner and how not one shade of color is the same, ranging from pale beiges to earthy browns, a few blacks and even some whites and creams mixed in, but not one exactly the same; they are amazing. Dad used to take me to nature centers and museums when I was little, and ever since then I was always fascinated with the things people could do with their bare hands and a mind full of creativity; I always admired it.
Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) Page 30
