Eve

“Why are you so moody Eve?”

“I’m not. I’m just reading.”

“Then why have you been on the same page for five minutes?”

“Because I’m digesting it.”

“Uh huh. It seems to me like you’ve got something on your mind. Or someone.”

I knew what she was talking about and I just ignored her because I didn’t want to talk about it.

“Come on Eve. You’ve been acting weird ever since we all got back. You still haven’t told me what happened between you and Stan.”

“There is nothing to tell. Why don’t you want to talk about you and Qing?”

“I do, when you tell me about Stan.”

“You’re exhausting with this. I told you before, there is nothing to talk about with him. We got close a couple of times and Carl found out about it. They got into a fight, sort of and I haven’t seen him since. I figure that it’s better that way because we are a lot different. And it looks like Carl is never going to let it go. I think he is always going to be mad at me. I wish I had a friend that liked my brother and he was single.”

“You know that I’ve offered before. He’s always been super cute.”

“Yeah, but he’s still not interested. It’s just as well anyways. It never would have worked. He’s in New York and I’m here. Long distance never works. It just leads to heartache.”

“Well what if he was here?”

I looked up at Callie and shrugged. “There is no point in playing the what-if game. He’s not.”

“Yeah, but what if he was.”

I sighed loudly. I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say, but I could tell that she was leading somewhere. She never had been good at hiding her intentions.

“What are you getting at Callie?”

“Well I can see him walking up to the door right now.”

“Whatever, don’t mess with me. I know he’s not here. I made it clear that it wasn’t going to work.”

“He didn’t seem to get the memo. He’s here.”

I told her to stop messing with me because even though I knew she was just messing with me, my heart still skipped a beat because I couldn’t control it. Just the thought of Stan brought back so many memories. That much about him had not changed. I still couldn’t get him out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. Callie wasn’t helping the situation.

“Just stop.”

I stopped talking when I heard the doorbell and I saw Callie wave towards the door.

“Are you serious?”

“Yep, he’s outside right now and it looks like he has some flowers with him.”

I wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, but I told him that it wasn’t going to work out. I’d made myself crystal clear, as well as promising my brother that I would leave him alone. It just wasn’t worth all the stress and strife that us coming together had brought. It was a shame, it really was, but there was really nothing that I could do about it.

“Do you want me to get it Eve?”

The doorbell rang again, and I knew that she could see him, and he could see her. I was on the other side of the wall and I wanted to almost tell her to tell him that I wasn’t here. I wanted to hide because I knew that there was going to be a flood of emotions that took over me.

“No, I got it.”

She smiled at me and when I moved past her, I asked her if she minded. Callie said that she didn’t, but she wasn’t getting the hint that I wanted her to go so that we could talk. I don’t know what we had to talk about, but I didn’t want a witness to it.

“Fine, I will go, but I want to hear about it later. Nothing going on between the two of you, huh?”

My cheeks got red with being caught in a lie. There was something going on and I wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“Promise. Then you’re going to tell me what is going on with you and Qing.”

She said that she would, and I told her I would call her later. She grinned at Stan as he came through. “What’s up Stan?”

“Not much Callie. Good to see you’re looking better. Are you happy to be home?”

She shook her head vigorously. “Yes, I don’t know what I was thinking talking about staying there. That would have been a mistake.”

“I’m glad that you’re back and looking well.”

There was a silence and I thought I heard whispering, but I couldn’t be sure. It was a conspiracy as far as I was concerned.

When I finally saw Stan, there was too much anticipation. I was literally shaking I was so nervous and I sat down on the couch. I didn’t want to embrace him like we were old friends and feel his fingers and hands on me. That just wouldn’t be fair.

“Hey Stan. What are you doing here?”

“That’s no way to greet me.”

“I wasn’t expecting you Stan. I thought that we had parted ways for the last time.”

“No, that’s not what that was.”

“Obviously.”

He frowned for a minute and asked me if that was what I really wanted. I didn’t have an answer for him because I wasn’t sure what I wanted. All I knew for sure was that I didn’t like the way this made me feel.

“I don’t understand why you are here?”

“You said that we couldn’t be together because of all of the things keeping us apart.”

“Yes, I did. So why are you here?”

“I live here now. Well not here, but a couple of miles away.”

“You live here now?”

He nodded his head and told me that he had came to a truce with Carl if he did one thing.

“And what is that one thing?”

“I don’t know if we are ready for that yet. I am, but you aren’t.”

I kind of knew what he was talking about. He’d mentioned something about it before when the two of them were fighting. I’d been irked that they thought they could have that conversation without me, like I had no say in it. But at this moment I wasn’t irked, just cautious. I think Stan was right that I wasn’t ready for it. There was no point in disagreeing.

“So now what?”

Still I didn’t have an answer and he moved towards me like he was going to make one. As Stan sat down, I got a little nervous. I was glad that I was seated now because he had that famished look on his face like he was starved. About a week was all he could stand before he was back for more.

“I don’t know Stan. I didn’t expect to see you again and I certainly didn’t think you would move. Isn’t that a big deal with your job?”

He told me that it wasn’t that hard to get licensed in Illinois as well.

“I don’t want to talk about my job. You’re so practical when you’re not being stubborn. Tell me that you don’t want me here with you and I won’t bother you again.”

“You came all this way, moved, quit your job for an ultimatum?”

Stan was a little confused and then it was like something dawned on him. He leaned forward and kissed me. It was a possessive kiss and he pulled back to look at me.

“You’re mine Eve and that’s that.”

“That’s better.”

He mumbled something about never understanding me before he kissed me again. There was no promise of what was going to come tomorrow, just a feeling that we were going to try and see what happens.

Who would have thought that after all these years, I would be the one in Stan’s arms?

I thought of the girl from so long before and a surge of jealousy welled up inside of me and I held him tighter. “You’re mine too Stan. Only mine.”

He chuckled and looked at me like he didn’t know what came over me and I didn’t say what. I just moved back into his arms and had to agree with him, he would probably never understand me, and I can’t say that I blamed him. Ever since he’d came back into my life again, I wasn’t sure that I understood it all either.

THE END