by Karla Luna
But I was completely fine with it all. I’d buy her the whole world.
“Got it,” I noted. “Should I bring flowers, like before the date or something?”
“Mmm, girls like flowers. I personally don’t. They die the next day, so I’d rather get something else, like drugs, to be completely honest.”
“Evelyn!” I hissed at her under my breath when we got the stares again. Yet this time, they were more disapproving and I’m sure a waiter even heard her and walked away as fast as he could. But all she did was laugh until her cheeks turned red, making me lose it and laugh along with her while covering my face with both hands. “Oh my gosh.”
“I was kidding!”
“Yeah, we should probably go before they call the cops.”
“We’ll be alriiight. There’s nothing on us right now.”
I shook my head at her and tried to stop laughing but failed.
We continued to eat and chat away about anything and everything. Nothing was awkward, which was great for me. The date was going absolutely great and I was forever grateful that Evelyn Jo was my first date.
Because she certainly made it something to remember.
And when we were finally heading out, I couldn’t help myself at all. She looked completely stunning and gorgeous…
When we were just out the door, I stopped her by grabbing her hand. She turned to me with a questioning look, but all I did was continue to stare deeply into her precious eyes, and then down at her plump lips right before pulling her closer, whispering her name against her lips, and kissing her.
I absolutely loved the way her soft, sweet lips felt against my own. I could honestly just kiss her for eternity. Her lips, they just made me feel hot all over and I loved it.
Am I the only one feeling this way?
She couldn’t know anything about it. She just couldn’t.
Once we pulled away, I felt my cheeks hot from the kiss. Or was I just blushing like I always do? My heart was going crazy again and I felt myself shaking a bit as she frowned at me.
So to cover myself up, I gave her a cheeky smile before saying, “How was that? Just practicing the kissing and stuff. Um, to see how I’m doing.”
There was something that passed through her eyes. Was it possibly disappointment? Or was I just… no, I was just seeing things. That’s all it was. I always just see things that actually don’t mean anything. “You’ve, uh… you’ve gotten good. Way better, actually,” she said in a low voice before looking back up at me with her kind eyes.
It was silent for a while, and I completely regretted the sentence I said next. Although, I was completely lucky and safe that she didn’t understand me at all.
“I... pense que je suis tomber pour vous. Dur.”
She looked so confused and I just wanted to laugh at how cute she looked. “W-what?”
But I responded a little bit too quickly with a very nervous and obvious laugh. “Um… nothing. I just randomly speak French at times. I don't even know what that means. No biggy. Should we, uh, should we go home now?” I didn’t want to go home. It wasn’t even that late. But as long as I was with her, I was fine with it.
“Nah,” she said as she took her shoes off and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go to the fair.”
And so we ran off to the fair together like two kids just enjoying the world.
Though, for the rest of the date, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had said. I almost couldn’t even believe it myself.
I told her those words, because I just couldn’t freakin’ say them in English.
Evelyn… I think I’m falling for you. Hard.
32: Take The Lead
• Evelyn •
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in… breathe out…
“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Can’t I?” I asked myself as I finished putting the dress on for tonight’s event.
The dance fundraiser was finally here and to say I was nervous and scared as hell was an understatement. I shouldn’t be this nervous for a dance thing, right? It’s not like it’s some huge performance that I’ll probably… most likely… mess up! And if we don’t win, we don’t get the money for our charities, which will most likely upset Stormy – and I didn’t want that. I wanted to make her feel proud of me as if I was now her own daughter. I wanted to be good.
Oh, what the hell am I babbling so much about?
I’m Evelyn Jo. And she is a pretty damn tough girl. She isn’t good for anyone. And she definitely doesn’t think she’s a fucking loser.
She’s a winner. She doesn’t lose and she definitely doesn’t think so damn bad about herself! She’s confident about everything and she’s going to do this right.
Just think of yourself and nobody else. You’re doing this for yourself.
Actually, you’re doing it for Stormy. Or was it Zavier you were actually doing all of this for? Huh, Evelyn?
“Oh shut the fuck up,” I muttered angrily to myself as I frowned at my reflection, almost throwing my fist to it since there wasn’t anything else near to throw.
“You’ll do great.”
At the sound of the voice, I lightly gasped and turned to see Zavier already in his suit. He was obviously doing more than one dance so he had another in a plastic bag so he could change at the venue, which, Stormy told us was going to be different than all the past years she has attended it – because this year, it would be a pretty huge and beautiful event.
Did that mean the others were ugly though? I mean, she practically said it, not me.
“Oh um… h-hey, Zavier,” I stuttered like an idiot as I turned back to the mirror and looked myself over. Just so I wouldn’t have to look him in the eye.
I don’t know why, but I felt pretty damn awkward right then and I don’t usually feel the slightest bit awkward about things either. It was like I was super nervous about this dance thing. Seriously, why was that?
I completely admit, our date yesterday was just truly amazing. It was the best night of my life and that is definitely saying something – you know, being a criminal and all.
After we went to the fair, we just walked around town and explored different places. Zavier showed me a few things around, too, that I didn’t even know about, and he held my hand the whole time. It was really sweet.
After that, we went to the park late at night and just talked about anything and everything. Just life. It got deep sometimes but I made sure to make a joke here and there a couple times, because that’s just how silly ol’ Evelyn gets out of a super intense conversation.
But I did love making my good boy laugh.
I still wondered about what he had said in French though, after our dinner. I would’ve looked it up if I knew how to freakin’ spell it. I mean, why not Spanish or something? I know a little bit of that, at least. At the Orphanage, there were these Mexicans that I had learned a few insults from. But it’s not like Zavier would insult me. He was too nice.
Although, it would also help if I remembered the whole thing he had said. I just remember the ‘I’ and the ‘dur’ or ‘der’ or ‘dure’ at the end. I don’t fucking remember!
It completely threw me off because when I did look the word ‘dur’ up, well, let’s just say I was very curious and a little suspicious about something – because he did not seem the least bit ‘hard’.
And well, I knew it wasn’t what I thought it was. He definitely might have said something along those lines and it was literally killing me not knowing for sure. I’ve wanted to ask again but he just dodged it. He always fucking dropped the subjects, and dammit, he’s good at it, too.
“Who knows if I’ll do great, but we both know you will,” I said, seeing him smile with his head down. It was weird though that he didn’t blush like he would usually do.
Weirder still was that I was the one who had blushed that time. But only barely, seeing as my cheeks were already a little rosy from the makeup I had put on.
Blue was our color for tonight. I wore a sparkly, sky blue dress that was cut down like a V-neck on my chest and showed off my bare back and shoulders. The bottom was cut up into something like large strips or thick fringes, as well.
Zavier just wore a dark blue suit, but right under, he wore a lighter blue dress shirt. His bowtie was the exact same color as my dress and he had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows. Damn, I found that extremely attractive, especially when he did it.
“We’ll both do great together,” he said, with that sweet little smile of his on full show. He brought his hand to his tousled dark hair once, before biting his lip and coming closer while looking me over in the mirror. It just made me tightly close my eyes for a few seconds while my heartbeat either stopped a little or raced a lot. I couldn’t even tell which it was and that was also a bit scary to be perfectly honest. “Oh, you still need to fully zip it up. Wouldn’t want it all to fall during our routine. That would be a nightmare. Here, I’ll help.”
“I, uh, t-thanks,” I ever so quietly said as I saw him from the corner of my eye starting to slowly walk toward me.
And before I could say a definite ‘sure,’ I already felt his warm and soft hands gliding over my back a little until he reached the zipper of the dress. Goose bumps were all over me and I swore I felt all those stupid little butterflies floating all around my stomach as if it was their own damn little park.
“It’s a very beautiful dress,” Zavier commented. “Would work even better with a fake blue flower in your hair since you have it all up in curls and stuff.”
I chuckled and looked down as he took his hands away from me. I wanted him to keep touching me. His hands made me feel safe. I would kill just to keep feeling them glide over my skin all the time.
Hell, I would kill just to be with him every minute of every day!
I haven’t exactly admitted it to myself, but I’m sure I’ve fallen for this nerdy good boy. But how do you know exactly when you’re in love?
Love… love is just such a strong word.
But I like the word ‘hate’ more, considering I basically hate almost everyone and all.
Right. I’m dodging my feelings again. Seriously, why do I do that? Because I’m just scared of falling in love or feeling something strong toward someone who probably won’t even give me the time of day? But the first guy was just a douche. I knew Zavier was someone that would treat me right. Someone that wouldn’t use me for his own benefit.
I’ve fallen for him because he’s just that great of a person. I thought I was attracted to the bad. But it’s the complete opposite that truly does attract me. And I had to at least let him know how I felt, right? It wouldn’t really change anything. But him being a little awkward dork, well, obviously he’ll feel awkward until it’s time for me to leave. And I really wouldn’t want him to feel weird just talking to me.
This was fucking hard, seriously.
I gasped and came back to reality once again when I felt fingers lightly touching my hair. I blinked hard and saw Zavier putting in a beautiful blue flower in my hair that he found somewhere. His face was that of a cute little kid trying so hard to concentrate on building a toy castle or doing a very difficult Math homework.
Simply adorable.
“There, that looks great on you,” he said once he was done. I thanked him and we both looked up at the mirror at the same time and just stared deep into each other’s eyes.
Once I started seeing his cheeks tint a little, he licked his lip and looked down, clearing his throat.
That’s when I decided to talk about something that I really hated talking about. But the lessons have only been for him to learn and be with Joss. He is going on a date with her tonight and I wanted it to be… great. Maybe not as perfect as ours, but still great. I know he’ll make it great.
Oh fucking hell, I can’t…
“So…” his head popped up when he heard me, like he was expecting me to yell at him for putting the flower on me. But I made sure to give him a reassuring smile and he seemed to exhale deeply. “You’re going on your date with Joss, after the dance competition?” I asked, even though I clearly knew the answer. I wanted to slap myself for asking, seriously. Why the hell am I doing this to myself?
“Um… y-yeah. I’m wearing this suit, too, so I won’t have to change into a third outfit.”
I nodded. “Well, I hope it all goes great with you and her.”
He opened his mouth, about to say something, but it seemed like he thought better of it and changed his mind. Then he gave me that adorable laugh.
“It’s, uh, n-not really a competition.”
“Ohhh, it is definitely a competition! We are beating their asses and getting the money for the poor people in need.” He grinned wider and fixed the watch on his wrist. Then he stretched his arms out and put his hands in his pockets. I noticed his veins quite clearly as well, telling me that he had been getting tense again.
“You know, when you want to be, you’re a really nice person.”
I gaped at him and playfully hit his arm. “Hey! I can be very nice.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said as he started walking closer again. “You’re really, really nice…”
That made me lose my breath as my heart accelerated. I felt like I was losing my cool with this guy. He made me a bit nervous, and he made me feel things that I never thought were possible for me to feel.
This was real. He was real. My feelings for him were fucking real!
“Come on, we need to get going. It starts at 1,” he said, as he extended his hand out to me.
I looked down at it and then back up at him. He raised his eyebrows at me and told me with a look that he insisted I take the warmth of his hand in mine.
And so, I did.
As we were walking towards the venue – which already seemed a little bit too packed – Stormy was telling me a bit about how this whole thing would be going.
Well, not the whole, whole thing but more on how the judges were going to act and how the other competitors were. This year, Stormy would be a judge, but she might also be dancing a little later with her son.
Our therapy sessions have been good, too. They’ve been normal and I’ve really been listening to her, so I can earn her trust again. And I was quite happy I didn’t have to leave so soon. I definitely wouldn’t want that.
“Can she slow down a bit,” I whispered to Zavier as we watched Stormy speed walking in her black, 6-inch heels. My heels were barely 3-inches and she could walk better. Though I made sure I could dance in these. And I admit, our dance was pretty damn awesome.
“Some people,” we heard Stormy say, “get a little too crazy in these things. Or at least a few families do. But just make sure to ignore them. They’re harmless… sort of.”
That’s when we passed by a few people standing right outside the door to practice or to talk. Seemed like both to me, really.
“Uno, dos, tres… you keep stepping on my foot! Go to my right! To my right!”
“My right, or your right? Dammit!”
“Ohhh, don’t you use that tone of voice with me! Estúpido este…!”
I cocked my head to the side at the dancing couple and turned to see another arguing. Though, one of them seemed to do all the yelling while the other stood as frozen as ice.
“Stop it! Stop standing there and staring at nothing! You’re creeping me out a lot!”
I walked closer to Zavier and he tightened his grip on my hand. Ever since we left my room, we haven’t really let go of each other’s hands and that made me extremely happy. I couldn’t stop smiling, even if I tried.
“Wow,” I whispered to him as he nodded in agreement.
“These bitches be crazy for some goddamn dance competition.”
After hearing that, Zavier stopped walking and turned to his two best friends. And yes, the great Jesse and Ethan have decided to join us on such short notice. The little fuckers! “Remind me again why you two are here?”
“Fr
ee food, why else?” Jesse answered nonchalantly. “Oh, there are some very beautiful girls around here, too. I wouldn’t miss the chance of getting a few numbers, if you know what I mean.”
I rolled my eyes at him and looked at Ethan. He just bit on his nail and shrugged at me, not really giving us an answer for his coming. Was it me or was he just getting quieter and shyer each day?
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Zavier said. He started walking again but stopped and turned to them once more. “Don’t do anything to get us kicked out or embarrassed is what I actually mean.”
“Yes, sir,” Jesse sarcastically said with a salute as Zavier huffed and turned back around.
We were finally in and the place was bigger than I thought it would be. Flickering, colorful lights were everywhere as they started getting the stage at the very center ready. A couple tables were around as well, and of course, food. But there was way more space for people to walk about and dance in. Just think of those high school prom things.
Haha, I will never go to those things. Maybe to crash it, yes, but…
“Hi, Zavi!”
I frowned when I heard a slightly high-pitched voice coming from a lower level. But once I looked down, I saw a cute little girl in a pink dress, holding a doll as she shyly smiled up at Zavier while flirtatiously blinking her eyes.
Oh… so a little girl even has a crush on him. What was she, five?
Gotta admit though, she was pretty darn cute.
Zavier let go of my hand very slowly, as if he didn’t want to let go of me, and crouched down to be at eye-level with the little girl. He gave her a sweet smile and she went over to hug him tight. “Anita, look how much you’ve grown up. How’s my little princess been since I last saw her?”
She giggled and blushed a little. “She’s been good. Will you be dancing tonight!? Definitely got my vote!”
“Of course I am! Don’t waste too much money betting on me though.”
