Sunshine

“Everyone left and your friend got here.”

Jimmy lifted his eyes from Matt on the couch to Evelyn, who was the only person in the room standing and grinned as he ran towards her, “Evie!”

Evelyn assumed he was about to tackle her in a hug, which was weird since she was pretty sure they had never made any sort of physical contact, but was relieved when he didn’t and ended up stopping a foot in front of her. She tilted her neck back as far as it would go as she looked up at him, smiling sweetly.

“Hey, Jimmy.”

Jimmy put one of his long arms around Evelyn’s slender shoulders and faced his friends.

“Guys, this is Evie. Evie, this is Zack, Cameron or Cam, and Val. I think they’re the only ones you don’t know.”

The girl Evelyn remembered to be Meredith made her entrance known as she sat down next to Zack, who discreetly moved a bit away from her, not liking the close distance.

“And that’s Meredith, Matt’s sister,” Jimmy added, his arm still around Evelyn.

She gave a tiny wave and a smile to the group, who just looked at her in response. Meredith and Val smiled nicely, and Matt didn’t appear to be threatening. He still scared Evelyn to no end, though.

Cam observed Evelyn and nodded, “Nice to meet ya, Evelyn.”

She nodded back at him as her eyes drifted over to Zack, who was sitting next to him. Zack’s eyes were on her, going down her legs. Evelyn looked down at them herself, trying to figure out what was so great about her somewhat short bow legs. Certainly they couldn’t be appealing, more like repulsing. Maybe I shouldn’t have worn shorts…

Evelyn’s cheeks started to turn pink from Jimmy’s arm across her shoulders, the studying gazes of Cam, Val, and Meredith, and also from Zack, who was still looking at her legs. She began to wonder what he thought was wrong with them.

“Actually, Zack here seems to already know Evelyn,” Val said, making conversation. She said it in a simple way, but Zack’s head shot up and he gave Val a ‘why the fuck would you say that to him’ look.

Jimmy raised a brow, his hand and arm around Evelyn tightening a bit. She wondered if he realized he was doing it.

“Oh, really?”

Evelyn now felt strangely uncomfortable. Maybe Brian was right when he said Jimmy was protective, though she had no clue why. She had only known the guy for four months and they just talked under a tree on a daily basis. She was surprised he even considered her as close of a friend as he did. It boggled her.

Why would he care how Zack knew her anyway? And why did the guys tease him about saying ‘hi’ to her? What she really that much of a freak, like everyone said?

Zack’s voice drew Evelyn’s attention away from her self doubt.

“We’re in the same English class.”

There was that cute little, hardly noticeable lisp of his. Evelyn liked listening to it, as creepy as she thought she sounded thinking that. She liked his voice.

Jimmy nodded in response and led Evelyn over to a door. She gave him an odd look as he opened it, revealing a staircase leading to a basement of sorts. She noticed the others getting up behind them and she wondered what they were doing.

“You look nice in shorts. You should wear them more often,” Jimmy said as he took his arm away from her shoulders and took a couple steps, looking back up at her shocked expression from the darkness of the stairwell.

“Grab my arm.”

She followed his command, choosing to put his comment that had caught her off guard to the back of her mind and wrapped her hand around his thin, yet strangely muscular, arm as he led her down the dim and narrow passage. She heard sets of footsteps behind them and soon felt her socked feet touch the cool concrete floor.

She felt someone directly behind her and knew it wasn’t Jimmy, since she still had a hold on his arm. Whoever this person was, they were far too close for her comfort. Close enough for her to tell it was a guy and to feel his jeans against the back of her bare legs.

“Jimmy! Turn the fucking light on!”

Jimmy mumbled something incoherent and cursed. A spark shot out from what Evelyn assumed to be a light and shocked him.

“The fucking light burnt out, Matt!”

A huff what heard across the room and footsteps began going up the stairs again.

“Whatever. We’ll just go sit outside.”

“Won’t your parents catch us drinking if we’re outside?” the voice directly behind Evelyn asked. She recognized it as Brian’s. Of course.

She felt him leave as he went, probably to find and go back up the stairs. Jimmy began to gently push Evelyn’s shoulders and lead her in the same direction.

“Not if we’re cool about it,” came Matt’s reply.

“They wouldn’t really care anyway,” a feminine voice added. To Evelyn, it sounded like Meredith.

Evelyn, being the graceful girl she was, tripped up the stairs and fell right onto someone, who just so happened to catch her. She was surprised, since this person seemed not too big, but obviously bigger than her and strong enough to support her weight.

“Evie?! Evie, oh shit! Are you okay?!”

Evelyn’s stumble must’ve been louder than she thought if Jimmy was reacting that way, or maybe he was just being protective of ‘his Evie’. She would never forget that now that Brian had mentioned it.

“I’m fine. Someone caught me,” she replied, trying to keep her voice calm since this person was still holding her tightly against them, almost as if they were afraid she would fall again, which she probably would.

“Who?” Jimmy questioned.

“Me.”

Evelyn furrowed her brows, not being able to place the voice. The person set her up straight and continued up the stairs, holding tightly onto the railing. After nearly tripping again and making a loud racket, she grabbed Jimmy’s arm behind her and slowly continued up. She now feared stairs as much as she feared Matt.

“Who’s ‘me’?” Jimmy asked as they finally made it up the stairs and into the light again.

Matt grabbed Zack roughly and gave him an affectionate noogie. Zack yanked himself away from Matt harshly and tried to fix his hair, scowling.

“Zack here saved your dear Evie,” Matt said, a cheeky grin on his face. It was then that Evelyn noticed he had dimples. If she wasn’t terrified by his mere presence, she might have thought his childlike grin of innocence was kind of cute.

Jimmy smiled brightly at Zack, his arm making its way around Evelyn’s shoulders yet again, “How sweet of you, Zack.”

Zack frowned at the guys, who were poking fun at him for ‘saving’ Evelyn. She didn’t understand why; all he did was catch her and save her a split open head. It wasn’t that big enough of a deal for them to tease him like they were.

“Thanks, Zack,” Evelyn said quietly as the group made their way through the kitchen and out into the backyard. He turned around and gave her a small smile.

His face returned neutral after Brian gave him a strange look. Evelyn sighed.

The night continued on the same, with the guys teasing Zack to the point of him stopping his talking to Evelyn. Brian continued to pretend like she wasn’t there, and Matt continued to unintentionally frighten her with his loud laugh and gestures. Jimmy sat in the lawn chair next to her all night, constantly attempting to engage her in conversation with the rest of the group. Val talked to her somewhat, though she remained weary from her seat between Jimmy and Brian. Meredith acted bored yet was polite enough to Evelyn, as was Cam.

Evelyn, after being outside for a while, had gotten cold. Jimmy had kindly given her his sweatshirt that he had previously been using as a napkin after the group ate hotdogs and s’mores. She thanked him and wore it nonetheless.

Matt and Meredith’s parents, though they weren’t fond of the idea, allowed each kid minus Meredith one beer, though she drank one anyway. Evelyn wasn’t a huge fan of the stuff since she wasn’t raised to drink very often, but she decided one would be fine and she would do it for the social aspect, not because of anything else.

It got to be about midnight and the group could hear various cars and loud shouts across the neighborhood. Evelyn guessed it to be prom kids going home or to other places to get wasted and high. The idea didn’t appeal to Evelyn, though she did wonder what it would be like to experience that stuff, at least once.

Brian got up and stretched, Jimmy following suit. Evelyn watched Brian cautiously, aware that he was her ride home and if he was leaving, she would have to leave too.

Brian yawned, “I’m thinking it’s time for me and Jim to head back to my place. We’ll catch you guys around.”

Jimmy smacked Brian on the arm and gestured to Evelyn. He sighed.

“And Evelyn too.”

She smiled weakly and waved timidly at everyone. Cam and Zack weren’t leaving just yet and Val was waiting for her parents to come and pick her up since she couldn’t afford a car.

Evelyn didn’t know that Jimmy was spending the night at Brian’s, but she understood he did it often. She knew the two were close, obviously closer than she thought.

Evelyn was confused when Brian pulled into his own driveway instead of hers so she could be dropped off. She figured it was because he was going to make her walk. It wouldn’t surprise her.

She was just about to give Jimmy his sweatshirt back and head home when he stopped her.

“Why are giving me that back? The night’s not over yet!”

He pulled the sweatshirt back down over her head and she gave him a puzzled expression. He chuckled as Brian walked inside, Jimmy giving his back a dirty look.

“Brian’s parents already talked to your parents. You’re staying with me and Bri tonight.”

She didn’t choose to correct him about Ma and Pa being just her parents, though she did inquire why.

“Why?”

Jimmy nodded his head towards the door and allowed Evelyn to join him in the house. She scanned the area, noticing the layout to be similar to her own, and awaited her answer from Jimmy.

“Papa Haner said how your mom wants you to spend more time with your friends, so he offered to let you stay here with Brian while I was over.”

“That’s strange,” Evelyn commented.

Jimmy shrugged, making himself at home in the kitchen. The house was deadly quiet, probably since Brian’s parents, brother, and sister were already in bed. Brian was getting beers out of the fridge and grabbed two jackets, tossing one to Jimmy. He nodded towards the back door and they went out, Evelyn scurrying like a lost puppy after them through Brian’s backyard, past some bushes and onto a paved pathway of the park behind his house.

“What are we doing?” she asked quietly. She wasn’t crazy about hanging out with two guys in the wee hours of the morning, getting drunk in the chilly air.

Jimmy laughed manically, causing Brian to laugh also but shush him for being so loud. Jimmy smiled sheepishly and allowed Evelyn to hold his arm as he led her along in the dark.

“We’re gonna get wasted,” Jimmy whispered excitedly, his lisp more pronounced in his softer voice.

“Where?” Evelyn questioned again, not seeing any place in the open area of the park other than the trees lining the sides of the path.

Jimmy and Brian shared a mischievous look before Jimmy broke out into one of his evil cackle fits again, this one much more quiet than the last. Brian nearly lost it in quiet laughter while Jimmy turned to look down at Evelyn, who was at least a foot shorter than him. He spoke cryptically as he walked backwards, eyeing her and pulling her into a small clearing in the trees with his oddly strong hands on her elbows.

“The spot.”