A few months ago.
Evie stepped out of the car wearing a grey beanie, matched with the same color joggers a white top, and sneakers. Wyatt stood at the other side, leaning against his car waiting for Evie to arrive.
The moon and stars were the only light source, and Evie walked up to him. Each step with an affirmation telling her that she could do this. Her breath was shaky as she was almost in front of him.
They had scheduled their date for today and the weeks prior were hell on both of them because they didn't tell each other what they planned for the date. What would he ask them to do? Where would she take him?
His Sapphire eyes landed on her. Even though her head was covered, her chestnut hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves. Her Hazel eyes glittered under the silver light.
"Hey." Wyatt pushed himself off the car, to meet her halfway when she was already very close.
"Hi. How was your day?" he asked, grinning at her. His hands felt cold out of nervousness. Even his date with Kay didn't have this much impact on him. Perhaps it was because he never went on a second date with her. Technically for him and Evie, this was their first date.
The first was a trial. A simple testing of what the real one would be like that.
"It was fine. The company has been recovering. Which means I'll have tons of more paperwork." Wyatt's brows creased and she laughed nervously, "It's all thanks to your parents."
Wait. That didn't sound right to her. What did she say? Wyatt shook his head. She wasn't good at making jokes like Kay. Like this, she looked like a girl. Bashful, nervous, and saying all the wrong things. This was natural. Not the years of etiquette training they both got.
"Is this what you like? Working in an office?"
Evie stared at him deeply. A pregnant silence overtook them before she finally answered, "I never knew what I wanted to become." She leaned against the car too. He looked down at her lips.
"My life has always been in the hospital room. At one point I thought I'd be a doctor because of how much time I spent in the hospital," she chuckled at a distant memory, recalling it. It tasted sweet in her mouth.
"I even knew the words to some of the things they would diagnose to my parents. I knew everything about my body system and disease that when something was wrong, I'd be the first to know apart from Mitchie. I liked it. Playing doctor with my sister but I couldn't…" Evie trailed off, blinking.
"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it." his voice was as soft as the cool night breeze caressing her skin.
Everyone always thought she didn't have anything to say because those moments were always a blur. But they didn't know that she remembered, felt every single pain that came from the needles, the discomfort and nausea from the probing of the doctors, the pitiful looks that angered her from her family, and the time she lost to be a normal teenager.
What was truly the blur was the time she was spending now. Every second, she looked behind her waiting for her past to catch up to her, for history to repeat itself, and for life to laugh in her face that her happiness never existed in the first place. So to Wyatt, she would tell her truth because he wouldn't judge her.
"I couldn't be a doctor because I couldn't watch myself inflict pain on another person to make them feel better. I know they have no choice but it hurt." To his surprise, Evie didn't cry. It was like she was speaking about another person. Her body was here but her spirit had traveled. It was a coping mechanism, he realized.
"Don't do that. Don't pretend to be strong in front of me." He faced her, eyes pinning her down.
"I don't think I understand." She said cautiously.
Wyatt exhaled through his nose. "You speak like you're narrating someone else's story. But it's your story, Angel. You have every right to cry, get angry at the world for putting you through that."
"I can't." she shook her head. "I can't afford to do that. I wasn't afforded that right. Everyone broke down, so I had to be strong. Every time Mitchie would look at me with so much pain, it broke me. The disease didn't kill me, Mitchie's cries at night while hugging me thinking I was asleep, did. What I put them through..." She choked, eyes stinging with tears, unable to articulate her thoughts well. "I can't be weak. I can't complain because I brought them the pain… if I hadn't been born..."
He didn't know why he did it. He couldn't explain it but he swallowed her words with his lips. Evie jerked back.
"You…."
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't. I just didn't want you to say such things. Have you ever stopped to think that this was never about Kayla or your parents but about you?" He cocked his head, her cheeks reddened because of the kiss. His lips were soft and she was sure he had plenty of practice.
"They could watch. They could be fucking empaths for all we know but this is your pain. All yours, Angel. All yours. And I'm here for you to complain and cry and watch you spiral so I can be your landing." He closed the space between them, hesitating but his palm held the side of her face. "You deserve that too, Angel. You deserve to heal not just physically. They can't ask you to be silent because it hurts them. They don't."
Angel. The endearment weakened her. His touch chilled her, making her feel all fuzzy and warm inside. His Sapphire pools like twilight oceans kissed by the night sky. She could get lost in them forever.
It could be fake. His affection was just because he was going to marry her but that didn't explain why she leaned in when he lowered his head. Didn't give any reason as to why she almost slapped him in the face when he paused, his breath fanning her face.
Slowly, their lips collided and it was like the stars in her exploded. She had been kissed before, but this was different. Kinder, restrained. Wyatt was being careful with her like a fragile glass. Deep down, he wanted to spread her legs on his car and fuck her into oblivion but he waited.
He savored her taste, he was patient. Inhaling her vanilla scent, his tongue licked her bottom lip and instinctively she parted her lips, granting him access. He still enjoyed the lushness, the fullness because he wanted to run his fingers over his lips during practice and still feel her lingering.
Her back was cornered against the door. His tongue found here, intertwining with hers. Something hard was pressed against her thighs. She groaned at the contact.
Wyatt froze before pulling away. "We have a date, Angel. Playing with a starved devil is not the best idea," he rasped, behind her ear causing her to flutter.
Evie flushed, turning her head to the side before clearing her throat.
Seeing her appearance, Wyatt beamed. "You are a vision in the night. All flustered and turned on."
Her eyes widened. "Wyatt!" In a hurry, she ran to her car and he followed her happily.
The drive was a comfortable silence not like the last date. Wyatt couldn't take his eyes off her.
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, three times in a row. She would stop, and bite her lip slightly before starting again. Her dimple which wasn't that deep, would show when she folded her lips. He noticed all of these things and under the moonlight, he realized that he's eyes were lighter than Kayla's.
"We're here!" She announced.
"Where?" He snapped out of it, looking out the car window.
"Here! Our date!"
Carefully, he opened the car door only to be greeted by the sight of a closed-down building.
"Are you sure we are at the right place? This place is closed and for good reasons too." Moss and covered it, the metal chained fence was rusted so if one cut themselves, they would get an infection most likely.
"We are! It's been closed down since I was in like the eleventh grade. So we're going to climb over the fence."
"What do you mean?" He did a double-take to make sure this was Evelyn Hastings.
"This is my secret spot. I always come here when everything becomes too much. It's easy to climb so just follow me. I've always wanted to bring Kay here but she's scared of heights! Now come!" Her expression was animated as she spoke. Stars were in her eyes.
"You are out of your mind. If we get caught, it's over! And it's too dangerous! Our parents would flip!" Wyatt cried out.
"But minutes ago you were more than ready to fuck me in public?" Wyatt eyed the woman. What the fuck? "Our parents have controlled our lives for too long so let's regain it by doing this! I've done it a hundred times and I've only gotten caught three times." The last part made Wyatt's brows raise.
"Evie! This is insane!"
"If you live life without risks then it wasn't worth living! So I'm doing this with or without you! Coming?" She held out her hand.
They were about to break into a restricted building. This sounded mad but this side of Evie was awesome.