Chapter 16 Eva
Eva
XAVIER
How were your beverages?
EVA
I have just pulled into the restaurant.
I’ll call you once I get home. I have SO much to tell you.
XAVIER
I’ll clear my calendar.
EVA
It will be worth it.
Lovelovelove xx
The drive, while only fifteen minutes, flew by in a mass of what the fucks, did that just happen, and oh my fucking God.
I owed approximately sixty dollars to the swear jar and was no closer to deciphering what in the freaking flickity flack had come over him.
And how I was going to maintain my composure throughout dinner when I was desperate to whirl through a few hours of overthinking. Stat.
First his parents had openly belittled me - they tried to do it when I wasn’t there, sure, but they weren’t quiet enough - and then I had to continue to pretend to enjoy their company and the absolute nonsense they sprouted for over an hour.
An hour!
To make matters worse, I somehow ended up front and centre, because Coop had spiralled and retreated into hermit mode by the time I came back with drinks.
Oddly enough, the physical closeness between us wasn’t the issue; leaning into him and holding his hand felt natural, easy even.
But knowing his pretentious parents were quietly judging me based on where I was raised, made my blood boil.
Only, Cooper unexpectedly pressing a soft kiss to my lips and hugging me just a bit tighter was more than enough of a distraction to keep me from unravelling.
From then on, my focus was shot. I barely kept up with his parents’ droning, my mind far too occupied with the very firm presence against my backside.
I needed an entire week with my headphones and a fully stocked kitchen to mentally recover, alongside some serious alone time to eradicate the pulse between my thighs which felt ever present since I moved in, and now, after that kiss, was aching.
“Hey, so sorry I’m late,” I said, plonking into the last spare seat as the table fell silent.
“What?” I asked, wondering what the heck I’d interrupted when all the attention fell to me in a mix of horror, irritation, curiosity and giddy anticipation.
Felicity, the irritated goddess desperate to peer inside my mind, looked from Marlee to Arna to Winter before flattening her hands on the table. “I’ll take this one then, shall I?”
“Take what?” I feigned ignorance, discreetly hiding my left hand under the table because I knew it would piss her off more and there was something about the little fire behind her eyes that begged me to see how long it took her to flip her lid.
She never could handle when people didn’t just speak their mind.
“Three questions – total,” I clarified, my eyes scanning the entree list as if I wasn’t about to be ambushed.
“Are you serious?” Flick gasped, a second before I realised my mistake in holding the menu.
“Is that your first question?” I challenged with a smirk as all eyes fell to the large emerald sitting on my ring finger. And let the show begin.
“I just can’t…” Arna started before falling silent.
Aggressively twisting my hand from side to side, Felicity was open-mouthed gaping. “Evangeline Micallef, this-is-a-vision.” She admired at a volume loud enough to be heard a suburb over.
“I just can’t picture it,” Arna chimed, reaching for my hand and tugging it towards her.
“That is actually attached to me,” I huffed, casting a glance at Marlee who was suppressing her anticipation and what I knew to be curiosity.
“I need to see you guys together. When can we go out?” Arna dropped my hand before gesticulating wildly as if wiping the air clean. “Wait, that’s not one of our questions.”
“Does anyone else find him kind of terrifying? As in, we all know he’s easy on the eyes and that whole whiskey thing is super-hot, but I want to know how he is with you. Surely, Seb lost his shit when he found out.” Flick babbled rhetorically and I exhaled in exasperation.
“He was definitely shocked,” Marlee said with raised brows. “But I can only imagine how he’s going to react when he sees the size of that bad boy.” She pointed at the hand I was massaging with my other after it was nearly detached by these savages.
“You guys are so dramatic. Have you ordered?” I attempted feebly.
“Nice try, Evs.” Winter said, scanning the QR Code in the centre of the table. “I think they would rather starve than miss this podcast. I’ll order food for the table while you share.”
“Preferably over-share,” Arna chimed.
“I’ll eat anything, but I need a Fruit Tingle, please and thanks.” Flick shot at Winter before turning back to me as if I held the answers to life's greatest questions.
“Wait, do they have Fruit Tingles?” Win asked.
“Of course, babes. I wouldn’t have suggested coming here otherwise.”
“What did Seb say after we left the other night?” I asked Marlee, interrupting before Flick forced us all to order a cocktail and I was left with a hangover.
“You know what he’s like.” Marls flicked her wrist dismissively. “Asked me my thoughts and then distracted me when I tried to ask for his.”
“Distracted you with handcuffs?” Arna asked, eliciting a laugh from the girls and a gag from me.
“Gross!” I mumbled, erasing that thought from my brain immediately.
“Can’t say I’m surprised. It’s his best-mate and his sister,” Winter postulated, still making selections on the digital menu.
“Brother’s best-friend,” Felicity and Arna blurted at once, before they both chortled.
“You guys are a romance novel waiting to be written. Winter, you should take notes,” Arna said, only half joking and I shook my head, unable to prevent the smile.
Imagine how they’d respond if they knew he’d almost made me smell the colour red from just a kiss.
“Fine, what are your questions?” I braced, while Marls, Arna and Flick whispered conspiratorially behind a purse on the opposite side of the table.
Winter gave my thigh a sympathetic tap, although her grin oozed excitement.
“One,” Arna started the second her purse dropped. “Who initiated your first kiss?”
My thoughts strayed to less than an hour ago, the way he grabbed me, the desirous glint in his eyes and remnants of mint chocolate lingering on his tongue.
“Argh, Evs?” Marlee called. The girl's laughter sliced through my memories, dragging me into the now. “Do you and your thoughts need a room,” she grinned, and I shoved her under the table with my foot.
“He did,” I answered listlessly, as if this entire conversation was exhausting when it was taking everything not to show how lightheaded it made me to recall the pressure of his tongue against mine.
“Can’t you give us details,” Felicity whined. “A sympathy freebie for the only one of us not getting any?”
“Nope,” I reached for the jug of water in the centre of the table and poured myself a glass. “Your question was close ended. You’d think as journalists you would know better,” I mocked.
“It makes me far too angry when your math brain is right,” she huffed. “Has he dicked you in the distillery?” She asked sourly and the girls erupted into laughter.
“Your alliteration is on point, Flick,” Arna cackled as I shooshed them all.
“Noooo,” I groaned, although my heart did a dramatic nosedive.
It had crossed my mind a few times when he wandered the distillery shirtless.
And, for a split second earlier, when I wondered if he was going to take me right there on the floor of his house.
An exceptionally delicious idea and much more enjoyable than the minefield I was currently navigating.
“You have one to go,” I said, taking another large mouthful of water to cool my raging thoughts.
“My turn,” Marls said, and my shoulders relaxed. She would have my back.
“My question isn’t about kissing or sex,” she side-eyed the girls as if she was above such lascivious questioning. “I want to know how he makes you feel when you’re with him.”
“Ooooh, good question,” Winter whispered, and I exhaled with a gush.
My hands dropped into my lap as I glared at my soon-to-be ex pseudo sister-in-law.
How did he make me feel? I pondered silently.
Cooper made me feel needed. Lightheaded.
As if my soul could leave my body and I would still be whole.
As if I were drowning in feelings I never thought I would feel.
As if being me, exactly as I am, was enough.
And when he kissed me - he made me feel consumed. Utterly and entirely consumed.
“Seen,” I breathed, tracing the shape of my own fingernail until the silence became so loud, I glanced up, instantly regretting doing so.
Marlee stared with an open-mouthed gape.
Winter’s hand pressed against my thigh, pushing down with force as if my answer was too much for her to process and Arna and Flick both had bulging eyes and hands over their mouths.
Their prolonged stillness made me uneasy, and I bit my bottom lip anxiously.
Maybe I should have selected a dysphemism to alleviate what was already too much interest in something I hadn’t had time to think about.
It was never meant to be like this. A lie that felt as though it were gaining wings with every added fabrication. Because there were some very real feelings starting to emerge.
Finally, as if the lid of a shaken bottle was opened, a cascade of delighted squeals erupted, my response clearly the most exciting revelation they’d ever encountered.
Stomping of feet under the table was bested only by Arna using her purse to fan Felicity who was dramatically slumped against her seat as if she’d fainted in the overreaction of the century.
Marlee was the only one not to join the commotion, still staring at me quizzically before tilting her head and repeatedly nodding as if she could see straight through me. As if she could see how my heart beat out of my chest at the mention of his name.
“Anyway, that’s your three,” I cut through the elation. “Now can we please change the subject?”
“Flick, give us an update on the store.” Marlee said, thankfully saving me from anymore interrogation.