First and Goal (Moving the Chains #1) (40 page)

“Okay.” I ruffle his hair, messing it up again. “I’ve really gotta go now. I’ll text you later and see how you’re feeling. I work ‘til eight or whenever they decide to cut me loose, but it’ll be pretty busy since it’s a Saturday. Just rest up, think about it, and feel better. And maybe lay off the pain pills. They make you weird.”

“Oh, is that my problem?” He gives me his customary smirk, a sure sign that he’s calm.

“Yes. But if you need them to feel better, then I guess it’s okay as long as you’re weird here. Don’t go anywhere.” I laugh at him and tap his nose.

His smile fades. He seems to think carefully about what he says next. “Evie, do you really want me to feel better?”

“Well, that’s a stupid question, but yes. Do you need me to go ask your mom for an ice pack or something?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll settle for you kissing me all better.”

“Oh, you’ll settle for that, huh? Wow, Falls, you really do have a way with the ladies.” I laugh again, trying to lessen the seriousness of what he’s asking. This would be wrong on so many levels. For both of us.

He doesn’t laugh. Doesn’t reply. Simply looks at me in that quiet, all-seeing way of his. As if he knows that I’m considering it. Considering suspending reality and pretending if only for a moment.

A moment can’t hurt.

I lean into him. His eyes slide closed, but I keep mine open. I’m afraid to get too lost in this alternate reality. His breathing picks up slightly as I hold his cheeks in my hands. His skin is so warm and strangely stubbly. It’s not even visible, the scruff is so light in color. The last of my resolve to abandon this charade evaporates when my lips brush lightly against his. He holds his breath altogether. My lids flutter closed against my will, and my senses take over. The smell of him, the feel of him wash over me. They fold me up in a cocoon of safety. The fear, guilt, and regret from the past year finally cracks and falls away, replaced by just this one moment that can never be anything more. This one small moment of weakness. When he lets out the breath he’s been holding in a soft rush, I press my lips against his firmly. He never moves, never asks for anything more. I want to inhale his exhale and pretend for just a moment more, but no. A moment is all I’ll let myself have.

I pull back, my hands still on his cheeks. He blinks at me slowly. I expect his trademark grin or a joke about playing nurse, but receive neither.

“Evie,” he whispers. Nothing more. Just my name tumbling from his lips.

Pushing down the overwhelming urge to answer with another kiss, I instead force myself to smirk at him since he denied me a swift return to normalcy.

“I’m sure that wasn’t as good as Dream Girl, but,” I shrug my shoulders, channeling his behaviors. “I guess I’m all you’ve got for now.”

I remove my hands and stand up. He makes no move to stop me.

He laughs, finally complicit in breaking any awkward tension. “I didn’t know I had you to begin with.”

“Meh.” I wave my hand as I walk around the couch. “Romance comes and romance goes, but bio partners are forever. You should maybe knock out reading Moby Dick today to get your mind off things since you’ve suddenly got all this free time.”

I stop at the entrance to the stairwell, turning around to see him still in the same position. “I’ve already finished reading The Metamorphosis and started on my paper. I fully intend on getting back that top spot now that you’ve caught me up in calc. But like you said, I love a friendly competition. Game on, Superjock.”

He laughs as I head up the stairs.

I
’m stunned.

I still can’t believe that happened.

I remember asking for it, but never in a million years did I think she’d deliver.

Oh God, did she deliver.

I close my eyes, and it’s all still here. The best dream I’ve never had. Evie’s fingers threading through my hair. Evie’s hands on my cheeks, her thumbs sweeping back and forth in the softest caress. Evie’s breath on my face, warm, sweet, and feather light. Evie’s lips on mine. Dear Lord, Evie’s lips on mine. I can die any time now. I know for a damn fact that I’ve experienced the best feeling possible on this planet. So much better than anything I’ve imagined these past three years. So velvety soft, so perfectly proportioned. Her lips fit against mine like interlocking puzzle pieces. Like they were made just for me.

I’m pretty sure Evie Papageorgiou was made just for me.

Thank you, God.

The sound of the door closing upstairs snaps me out of my stupor. I’m surprised Ma isn’t rushing down here to pump me for information. She’s obviously playing it cool and waiting me out. Which is fine by me because I have a call to make.

He answers on the first ring. Unusual.

“Alex?”

“Holy shit, bro! Was Eva really at your house?”

I expected him to still be asleep, but the volume of his voice suggests otherwise.

I have to hold the phone away from my ear. “Yeah, how did you know? Did Rachel call you?”

“Hell yeah, she did! She said she saw Eva’s car in your driveway! What the hell, man?”

“Uh, she was here.”

“Obviously. What the fuck happened? Why’d she come see you? Did you finally grow a pair and make a move? Please tell me you at least kissed her…”

I cut him off before he can really get carried away. “Shut up and listen. I need you to take me to the diner.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t work the clutch without my left foot, dumbass.”

His sigh carries over the line. “Fine. But you know what this means.”

“Yeah, yeah…I’ll owe you.”

“Great. Then you’re coming with me on a double date tonight.”

“No! Why the hell do you think I need to go to the diner?”

He cackles. “Because you were a chickenshit again, and she left without you saying anything, so your mom jumped into your shit?”

“Laugh all you want,” I huff. “She caught me by surprise, but I’m really gonna do it this time.”

“I’ll bet you that double date tonight that you won’t.”

“Yeah, whatever. Bring your Lit book.” If he’s going to make me suffer, then I’m going to return the favor.

“Okay…why?”

“‘Cause I plan on being there for a while, Jesus!”

He laughs again. “Hey, don’t get bitchy with me just because you couldn’t seal the deal.”

I’ve had about enough of his shit. I’m already nervous as hell. “I’ll see you at two.”

“Bossy. You need to use that with Eva, not me. I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Thanks, bro. Your advice is the best.”

“Hey, if you’d listen to me once in a while, maybe you’d already be getting laid instead of just letting everyone else lie about it for you.”

I hang up on him and move to get up.

Mom sits on the couch beside me, crosses her arms and raises her eyebrow. A smug smile plays across her lips. “Well? How did it go?”

She’s practically bouncing on the couch beside me in excitement, but trying her best to stay calm.

“She, uh…she kissed me.” Even saying it aloud, I still can’t believe it actually happened.

“What?” Now she can’t contain herself. “How? When? Why?”

“Wow, Mom. Channeling your inner teenager?” I can’t help but laugh at her behavior. “Uh, before she left. And…I don’t know.”

I’m not about to tell my mom that Evie kissed me simply because I asked her to.

“Was it just a peck on the cheek? Just a feel better, sorry you’re hurt kind of thing?”

“Noooo. No, definitely not that.” The feel of her small hands cupping my jaw, her thumbs grazing across my cheeks, the hesitation after that first brush of her lips made it far more than a pity kiss. The second she pressed her mouth fully against mine, I knew without a shadow of doubt. She might try to hide it. But there was no mistaking from the feel of her against me that Evie had put every emotion that she would never allow herself to say aloud into that single kiss.

“Did you kiss her back?”

“Uh, no? I was too shocked.” And I didn’t want to scare her away. Now that I know I can have her, that I’m not stuck in the friend-zone, I need more. Way more. Like, yesterday. Three years ago in fact. So fucking addicted. I can still taste her on my lips, smell her sweet scent in my nose as if it’s permanently burned into my olfactory receptors.

“That’s not good.”

“What do you mean, that’s not good?” Oh God, what did I screw up now?

“If a girl kisses you and you don’t kiss her back, it pretty much sends the message that you’re not interested.” She looks at me like it’s completely obvious.

“Yeah…extenuating circumstances.” I haven’t had much time to talk to Mom the past few weeks. I’ve been so busy with other stuff, and she’s always at the hospital or sleeping.

She sighs. The look in her eyes is obvious. She thinks it’s just my usual cowardice.

“Okay, so two things. More like three things. She was date-raped by Eddie Hinton when they were together last year. And she might be into someone else.”

Mom raises a hand to stop me there. “Explain.”

I take a deep breath. Where to start? “Remember how I told you that she started dating Eddie Hinton last year?”

She nods.

“Apparently after, I think she said it was their sixth date, he forced himself on her in his truck. They’d gone driving around the back roads. She wasn’t ready for that, but he said he expected it by that point. He raped her. She punched him, got the hell out of there, and called Mike to come and pick her up. She won’t admit it to me, but I know that’s what happened.”

“Oh, Rob. I’m so sorry.” She rubs my shoulder sympathetically.

I must give her a weird look because she doesn’t wait for me to open my mouth. “That’s going to make things much more difficult for you. She’ll always have that fear inside her even though you would never do that to her. You’re right to be careful with her. But honey, I’m just not sure that’s very fair to you.”

I’ve already heard this same song and dance from Mike. “I don’t care about that. I’ll be as slow and careful as she needs. She isn’t afraid of me anymore. She kind of was at the beginning of the year, but she trusts me now. She knows I wouldn’t hurt her.”

She gives me a look like she doesn’t believe me. “Why do you think she’s into someone else then?”

Ah, yes. The other part of this little disaster. “When she finally told me last week some of what happened with Hinton, she mentioned that she had been waiting for some guy that she’d had a crush on since ninth grade to ask her out. He never did. So her friends talked her into trying to move on, which was why she decided to date Eddie in the first place. She’s said a couple of times since then that she’s still kind of into her crush, but trying not to be. She let something slip that he’s not making it easy for her to forget him.” I shrug. I don’t have any more information to give. And I don’t want to dwell on it too much because it fucking sucks.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” Mom waves her hand dismissively which is completely not what I was expecting.

“Why shouldn’t I worry about that?”

“She never would have kissed you if she really wanted to be kissing someone else. She doesn’t strike me as that kind of girl. After what happened last year, things like making a decision to kiss a boy are probably very difficult for her. She wouldn’t have done it unless she meant it.”