by Karla Luna
“Thanks, buddy.” I played with his hair a little and looked over at Evelyn and the little girl. The girl was smiling up at her in admiration, and when she spotted me, she came over with an open-mouthed expression.
“It’s him!” she told her mom. I just smiled at her cuteness and then smiled politely at the young woman.
“Hi, sweetheart,” I said to the little girl as I gently pinched her cheek. She smiled and swayed back and forth in shyness.
“She wants to ask something,” the woman said and I nodded at the little girl.
“What is it, sweetie?” I asked as I noticed Evelyn holding the little boy’s hand. And it looked like one of the most amazing things.
“She’s a little shy…”
That’s when I decided to pick her up and throw her over my shoulders. She squealed in happiness and then hugged my neck after a while.
“I’m here to the rescue!” I shouted like I wasn’t even shy or blushing anymore.
“There. That is perfect, both of you.” As the woman said that, Evelyn and I both turned to her and saw that she had snapped a picture with her Galaxy S5. Then when we thought she was done, we turned back to her and then saw another flash.
Afterwards, they left with their ‘thank yous’ and I overheard something about them snapping pictures with every superhero and villain out there.
After that, Evelyn and I did a ton of fun things. Pretty much everything we could do at Comic-Con, which believe me, was a whole lot.
We actually had fun and there were times when Jesse and Ethan would join us. But most of the time, the two of us were left to our own entertainment. When Jesse and Ethan joined us, I didn’t even seem to notice since I kept my eyes and attention right on Evelyn.
She was the only one I had my attention on… and Superman too, of course.
But I liked this. I really did.
27: Teach Her The Right Moves
•Zavier•
“Come on, buddy!” Jesse yelled at me as he and Ethan reached for my arms to pull me up. I was currently sitting down on a couch at one of our hangouts, which was a popular place for the high school kids. But here, it’s like we all got along. It was really weird, actually.
It was called ‘The Hangout’ and it was like a fast-food restaurant with computers, games, and TVs, where, instead of booths and chairs, we had beanbags and couches. It was awesome. It had been a long time since we hung out here but we (or should I say me – I don’t mean to brag) had just won a Mathletes competition against this other high school in the district. Well, with the help of Joss and the other guys, we knew we would win pretty easily.
Best thing was that Evelyn was even there to support me. And she didn’t sleep this time! But I could tell Joss got a little irritated at her yelling and cheering from the stands, especially when she practically threw herself at me after the whole thing.
Jesse even told me how jealous she was. I obviously denied it all because I’m Mr. In Denial with that sort of stuff. Although, when I looked at her, she did seem to be seething with fury as she glared at Evelyn. Was I really missing something or did she just not like Evelyn in general? I still wondered about the yogurt thing sometimes, to be honest.
“No, I really don’t want to get up,” I responded to Jesse, clutching my drink so it wouldn’t slip out. He wanted me to get up and dance to Hollywood Undead, which also happened to be Evelyn’s most favorite band. The guys really knew how much I loved to dance and it had been a while since I’ve done it. I just didn’t feel like dancing, especially in front of everyone here. Almost nobody knew it was one of my hobbies.
“But come on, it’s freakin’ Hollywood Undead, I know you’ve been secretly making up some sort of dance for the adkehfr—” Jesse completely stopped talking when I stood up and covered his mouth with my hand. Even though Evelyn wasn’t around, I’m sure she had some sort of amazing werewolf hearing. It was both awesome and creepy.
“I really don’t want you telling her about…”
“Telling me about what?”
At the sound of her voice, I sort of screamed and hid behind Ethan. Evelyn raised one of her eyebrows and gave me a suspicious twitch of the eye. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, not to worry, Stormy will fill you in on it later,” Jesse said as he (evilly) laughed, patted my back, and walked away with Ethan hot on his tail. I pressed my lips together since I didn’t have anyone to hide behind anymore and just looked up at Evelyn, who was holding a drink as well. Where mine was soda, I’m sure hers was some illegal drink of some sort. In this place, the guys sort of spiked the drinks with no lids and gave them out. And I’m positive that Evelyn didn’t care at all.
“What’s going on, teddy bear?” she asked with that smirk on her face, as she kept getting closer. I nervously chuckled and stepped back every time she kept coming closer, until I was practically up against the glass windows.
I didn’t want her finding out yet because I sort of wanted this to be a surprise? But come on, she’s Evelyn. I wouldn’t be able to keep a secret from her even if she was halfway across the country. It was even harder when she was here, standing very close and right in front of me, with other witnesses that weren’t even paying attention or looking our way.
Actually they were, but only to check Evelyn out. I’m sure they didn’t even know I was there with her.
Sighing deeply, I started to tell her at least a part of my little surprise (you know, minus the Hollywood Undead part that Jesse was about to say). Jeez, how did I get such awesome friends, really? “All right, my mom wanted to tell you later. She gets really excited every year for this. We have this sort of dance competition, fundraiser thing with our friends, families, and other people from town.” She nodded, actually seeming interested in this. She told me she didn’t really dance but I’m sure she’d be great at it, so why not? “People vote on the groups or couples they like best and put money on them. And also, best dancers get a ton of cash to give to their charities. We mostly do it for the mental and cancer hospitals around here.”
She was narrowing her eyes, and I was sort of afraid she had finished listening. But then, she slowly started to smile. “I see. So you need a partner in crime?” She asked, as she batted her eyelashes and bit her lip. I couldn’t help but look down at those soft lips of hers and lick my own. Man, did I want to kiss her again.
“I, uh… y-yeah, I guess. Usually, I just do it with one of my cousins or even my mom. But this year, since you’re here, I want you to try out one of our little traditions.”
She gave me that angelic smile again, only a wider one. “Yeah, sure. But you should know, I’m not a good dancer.” At that, she spun around once and giggled, causing me to laugh along with her.
Gosh, she was cute.
But if I told her that, I’m sure she’d punch me in the face.
“No worries, I’ll do my best to teach you how to break it down.”
“Maybe this can be my payment. I’m teaching you all about girls and relationships while you’re teaching me how to dance.”
That’s true, I sort of needed to repay her with something, but I didn’t really know with what yet.
“I hope,” she paused and I jumped a bit when she placed her warm palm on my arm, “that we can do what we did the other day. Did I tell you what a fantastic kisser you are?”
That caused me to look down and blush. Wow, well, what was I supposed to say to that!? I felt proud of myself, actually, but still. I didn’t know I was that good.
“Um…” I cleared my throat. “I… thanks?”
“You just skipped to physical lesson number three, teddy bear,” she said with a wink. “Now, you can go brag about kissing a girl in front of your nerd friends in Math.”
Sighing deeply again, I threw my head down. I was always so defensive about these things even though I was pretty used to them. “They’re my Mathletes. It doesn’t mean we’re nerds just because we like Math.” She just raised her eyebrows at me and I playfully rolled my eyes. “
Okay, it does, in your world. And others… but look, whatever, I’m good at it.”
“Great ‘cause uh…” She shyly scratched her head while looking away. “I’m kind of failing…” It sounded more like a question rather than a statement.
That caused me to frown at her words. “What do you mean, kind of failing? Is it, like, down to a D or C or something?”
“Ha, see, actually it’s kind of an F?”
I gaped at her and practically choked on my drink. I swear I sort of felt faint too? I was all right, though.
No, nope, I wasn’t. I’ve never had such a grade, but if I did I’m sure I’d really pass out. I understood a lot of people had those grades but it was either because they didn’t try, or they really didn’t understand the subject. I knew Evelyn wasn’t stupid, nor was she lazy, (okay she was) but if she needed help on something, then I wanted to help her. I wanted to help her bring those grades up.
“Maybe I can help you?” I almost breathlessly asked, trying to keep my posture normal. If she showed me that grade, I’d be down and on the floor. I know I’m exaggerating, but come on, I’m a geek and I admit it. I’m not admitting it to Evelyn though, so she can keep on teasing me just for a laugh.
“You’d do that?” she asked, her face adorably lighting up, making me smile.
“Of course.”
“Great, just give me cheat sheets and we’ll be ready to go.”
“Whoa, whoa!” I frowned at her and faked a laugh. “Okay, no cheating. Never cheat, God is always watching.” I don’t know, my Junior year History teacher always told us that and I was actually pretty scared even though I’m not the least bit religious. But God is a big, powerful man. So who knows? Hell doesn’t really seem appealing to me even though I’m so sure I’m going there instead of...
Evelyn deeply sighed and crossed her arms. “Fine, fine, just tutor me every day after school for at least an hour? Or, after your nerd club.”
I sighed and hung my head low yet again. Seriously? Is she going to say this every single time? “For the last time, it's Math-letes.”
She simply waved her hand in annoyance as she turned to start walking away. “Yeah, yeah - Mathletes, nerds, same difference.”
Taking a deep breath, I tried to concentrate yet again. I mean, why am I still so nervous around her? It’s not like I haven’t had my body pressed up against hers already. Oh no, don’t think about that! It makes things ten times worse!
Goddam—
“Are you okay?”
I cleared my throat and looked down at Evelyn’s adorable eyes looking up at me. Her left hand was on my right shoulder, and my right hand was at her waist. I was very lightly touching her, but I just wanted to run my hands down her whole body like the last time. What was even stopping me?
It was pretty awkward right now since we weren’t holding hands yet to make us fully connect in order to dance. So our free hands were just limp and at our sides, not knowing when to go right for it. Should I make the move already or…?
“I… yeah, yeah. I’m great,” I lied right through my teeth. No, Evelyn, I’m not okay. Not when you’re so close to me, yet so far.
“Aren’t we supposed to like, hold hands or whatever,” she stated with a small, knowing smirk as I took a deep breath.
Okay, I could do that. I could hold her hand and act like it meant nothing to me. Because that was what it was – nothing. We were nothing.
A few days ago, when she told me she liked me, I swore my heart was about to beat right out of my chest. But it soon died right when she said those damn words: You’re a great friend, Zavier.
Honestly, I had no freakin’ idea why I got so upset. So she didn’t like me like I sort of wanted her to, but why would she even like me like that in the first place? This was why I didn’t want to start falling for her or anything. I knew she’d break my heart, so what better to do than go ahead with our little deal? I’d get Joss because I really like her. I won’t fall for anyone else in the process. Evelyn loved her bad boys and I was clearly not one.
Although, why did my mind keep telling me that I sort of want to do those bad things with her? I want to have fun, no matter how illegal it might be. I’ve already had marijuana for God’s sake, so what could be the worse? My mindset really was changing just by her being here with me and you know? I really didn’t care if it was.
Ever so slowly, I put my free hand on her waist and she looked majorly confused. I wanted to laugh at how cute she was being, but all I actually did was smirk at her.
Yes, I smirked right at the bad girl.
It felt sort of odd, I’m not going to lie. But seeing Evelyn’s reaction made my stomach churn in a pretty good way. She seemed surprised and her eyes gleamed with something. Something I couldn’t really read until it was gone just as quickly. Then, I lightly squeezed her waist and pulled her body closer to mine, hearing her intake of breath. I was getting to her and I knew that. And man, did that make me proud!
She licked her lips and stared down at my chest, not daring to look up at my eyes. Did I actually have the bad girl speechless and defeated?
I decided to stop teasing her, even though it was actually kind of fun, and slowly went for her hand this time. I lightly touched her arm and felt her tense up as small goose bumps formed on her skin. This time, she dared to look up at me and we locked eyes. I didn’t move my gaze away as I grasped her warm hand in mine.
Bringing it up, we both looked at our hands touching at the same time, and then I entwined our fingers together, watching her swallow hard as my heart beat fast against my chest. I was still nervous as heck, but this actually felt quite nice. Obviously, I’ve never done this before and by the looks of it, she probably hasn’t had this happen to her either.
Our hands fit together perfectly, as if they were meant to hug each other, as if they were meant for one another. But that just sounded way over-board, didn’t it? We weren’t meant for each other. I obviously couldn’t tell the future but I just… I don’t know.
I can really be a huge pessimist sometimes.
“Zavier,” she whispered to me, as I tugged her a bit closer to me so that our foreheads would touch. Our noses were almost touching as well and she was breathing hard while closing her eyes.
“Yeah,” I whispered right back, getting closer and closer to her sweet lips.
“I… I might be leaving soon.”
At that, I went stiff and looked at her with my eyebrows furrowed together. I cocked my head to the side and figured I was just hearing things. What did she just say? Did I possibly hear right?
I hoped I didn’t, but I did.
“I… w-what do you mean you’re leaving soon?”
“Not like, in a day or something,” she joked. “I mean, maybe earlier than I’m supposed to. I mean, that’s what Stormy told me. I’ve actually stayed in school for a little over a month, so that’s new.” She shrugged and I just stared at her, not really knowing what to say.
Well, what do you even say to that? Oh, that’s great news! I guess. Because honestly, to me, it didn’t feel like such great news. I wanted her to be here, with me, at least until we graduated, so that we could even graduate together.
This was ridiculous. She was finally getting what she wanted and I shouldn’t feel bad about it. She wanted to leave, so why would I want to stop her?
“Okay,” I said, faking a little smile. I really didn’t want to talk about this, so I just ignored it for now. “Let’s start.” She gave me a small smile that also seemed to be fake and stood straight as I guided her through a couple of moves. She was still a beginner, so we had to start off easy and small (even though she already knew how to slow dance pretty well), which was good, because sometimes (or a lot of times) during the faster moves she ended up stepping on my foot.
Right afterwards, she apologized for each and every single step, and I let it go. It really was nothing. I could handle it.
“All right, well, I’m gonna go get a quick snack,” she said between ou
r break as I threw myself on the couch. “I’m sorry again, teddy bear. You want anything?”
“Yeah, an ice pack would be nice.”
• Evelyn •
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest as I looked down at the bad boy, sprawled all over his king-sized bed, a winner smirk plastered on his face. Though really, when doesn’t he have that stupid thing on his face? It’s been getting annoying and the only guy who made it really attractive now was the sexy nerd Zavier.
Goddamn, did he make me melt and squirm at the same time? Was he teasing me back there? And did I really let it happen? I bit my lip just by remembering what had happened when we started to dance. Why did I have to be so stupid and fucking ruin our little moment? It felt so nice and special and cute.
Dammit, I was turning like one of those girls in love. But I wasn’t falling for Zavier. I didn’t want to. He deserved way better and I wasn’t it. He didn’t deserve me and I didn’t deserve him so before I even think about it, I won’t let myself get too attached to him. I just can’t.
Swallowing hard, I looked back at Davne as he patted his bed, signaling for me to go sit next to him. Or, more like, on top of him.
Fucker!
“I am not going over there,” I bluntly told him. I may be sexually attracted to him, but getting into bed with him was a definite no-no.
“Come on, just for fun. We make out a little, take off our clothes, no sex. You know, unless you want it. It’s not rape if you don’t say no.”
“No.”
He chuckled almost darkly as he grabbed one of his pillows and began squeezing it. “It’d be fun, you know, to see how tough that dumb little nerd boy of yours is.”
That’s when I started breathing hard and my heart drummed faster. “He’s got the right muscles for it, that I know. But I’m sure he doesn’t know how to fight at all. It’d be a real shame if I pounded his face in and…”
