It Started in a Coffee Shop

Fast Forward again; a few weeks later, around mid-July.
Evan and I never went to parties too much. Our first party we went to together was a house party. Craig had told us about it. I guessed Evan was worried about getting drunk or that he might see Rose, because he was hesitant to want to go. But I assured him it would be ok and he eventually agreed.

Before the party, Evan drove us to the hilltop to see the sunset. I was surprised no one else seemed to acknowledge this place, especially for a such a spectacular view. But I didn’t complain about the privacy much, since we were making out again, like we had on our first visit here.

And of course, just as things were starting to get good, as were touching each other in all the right places and I wanted more, he decided to call it quits.

“Evan!” I whined.

He giggled. “I know, Babe, but trust me.” Evan wasn’t one for using terms like “baby” or “babe” but I liked that it was rare. It made my heart do a little flutter when he did use them.

We came to the party in exceptionally good moods. Evan had known a fair amount of people at the party. I followed him; not like a lost puppy dog type, but naturally. It felt natural to follow him, loosely clutching each other’s hands, to meet his friends and to laugh and to dance.

Craig urged him to have a beer, and Evan denied each time, which I admired. But I was starting to feel bad, like a bossy girlfriend. Plus, I wanted one myself but didn’t want to be a hypocrite.

“No, Evan, you should have one. It’s all good.”

“You sure, Bae? You think it’ll be ok?

“Of course. A few won’t be bad. I’ll cut you off when you start to piss me off,” I smirked at him. Craig made comments about being whipped, but Evan just laughed them off. I felt bad about being bossy, but he didn’t seem to mind at the moment.

He came back with one for me as well. By the end of the night he’d consumed about five beers and I had three. We were feeling ok.

We were back by a wall in the dining room, where the drinks were. He was standing behind me with his arms around me as we chatted with his friends. The dining room had a big doorway that led into the living room, where there was a lot of moving and dancing. And that’s when I saw her, dancing around all of the people, happily sipping from a red plastic cup.

She struck me as a life-of-the-party type, smiling, and dancing, and beautiful. She was nearly breathtaking, naturally flowing about the party like some kind of weird party fairy, with luscious ruby lips curled into a smile. Evan mumbled, “Ah, shit,” from behind me. That must be Rose. She looked most comfortable at the party, like it was what she lived for. And she was as beautiful as Evan. She looked like she belonged with him more so than I did. She spotted us, looked happy to see us and actually danced her way over.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Evan whispered. Due to the loudness of the party, I didn’t hear him as much as I felt it his breath.

“What’s up Evan?!” She enthused.

“Hey...”

“Ooooh, who’s this? New girlfriend?” I didn’t know what she was trying to pull. I didn’t know if she was genuinely happy to see him, or pulling one of those jealous ex girlfriend things where you introduce yourself to the new girl and act like you’re all happy for them when really you hate them.

“Uh, yeah. Baelie. Bae, this is Rose.”

She stuck out her hand, dawning a toothy grin. I shook it and tried to smile in return, but I wasn’t too thrilled to be in her presence. I was actually feeling entirely inferior to her. If she was trying to make me uncomfortable, she was succeeding.

“She’s cute!” she cooed to Evan, before she shot him a wink and walked back to the living room to dance.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said to me as he moved in front of me. “Do you wanna leave? We can leave if you want.”

“Oh, no, no. Uhm, you talk to your friends, I’m going to pee.”

And I did, eventually, after waiting for three other people to take care of their business. Waiting for the bathroom in that hallway, with drunk people going all around, and just simply knowing Rose was gorgeous and had a history with Evan and was HERE, and the fact that I was basically a sack of potatoes in comparison, I was starting to get easily annoyed and irritated. Maybe I was ready to leave. When I was finished, I went downstairs to find Evan to see if he really was ready to go. I went back to the dining room, and he had disappeared. I asked Craig if he knew where Evan went, and he pointed in the direction of the living room. There he was talking to Rose. I tried not to get upset, they were just talking. I didn’t want to be that girlfriend. I leaned back against the wall and watched them, waiting. I wasn’t worried, I had no reason to—

Oh. There it was. The inevitable kiss. Yes. They kissed. Right in front of me. They locked lips, swapped spit, tongue wrestled, smooched, any other words you can think for it. Their lips were together. Right in front of me.

I didn’t really feel anything at first. I felt my face turn red, my nose sting, and my eyes get watery. But for a moment, I simply didn’t have any emotions. I just decided I was going to walk home.

I made it about three houses down, silent tears streaming down my cheeks, when I heard Evan yelling for me.

“Baelie, wait! Come on Bae, wait!” I ignored him until he caught up with me and ran in front of me, cutting me off. I didn’t want to look up into his face, even though he was pleading for me to look at him. He even tried to lift my chin but I pulled away.

“Baelie, I’m sorry, ok, I’m so sorry. You know she doesn’t mean as much to me as you do. No one has ever really meant as much to me as you do. I know it sounds stupid, but she was the one who kissed me, I swear.” He tried to get me to look at him again, but I was still refusing, still sobbing.

“Are you trying to say I meant nothing to you?” Rose had said from behind Evan. Why did she have to join us? Why did either of them have to join me? They were the last two people I had wanted to see at the moment. I turned and began walking away slowly.

“Don’t give me that shit,” he snapped at her, yelling. “Because if I meant shit to you, you wouldn’t have fucking cheated! Go grow up a little and then maybe you can honestly tell me what I meant to you.” She began to protest, “Don’t you dare downplay our fucking relationship—" but he cut her off. “Shut it, Rose. You mean nothing to me, now. You fucked me over once and you won’t do it again.”

“You’re a terrible fucking drunk.”

“Fuck off.”

Then I heard his footsteps trailing behind me.

Evan followed silently behind me for a while. Once he caught up enough, he tried to catch me by the arm, but I flinched away from his touch. I didn’t want him to touch me. I didn’t want to look at him. I really wasn’t too thrilled that he was following me home, either, but it made me feel safer than if I would have walked home alone.

Despite not wanting to be near him, letting him in to my apartment felt right, so I did.

“Baelie,” he pleaded, “Please look at me.”

So I did. And it hurt.

“I’m so stupid,” I said, defeated. “She is beautiful, like you. She’s fun and she’s charming, like you. I was stupid to not even think that would happen. To not think she would try something or that you would deny her…”

“No, Bae, you’ve got it all wrong!” he cried. “Listen to me. You’re amazing because you’re nothing like her. You’re far more intelligent, and modest, and beautiful, and fun. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. You’re not shallow. But mostly, we get each other. We click. It’s crazy how alike we can be while we’re completely different, you know? I love that about us. We love the same things, and we understand each other, but we’re so different in that we come from these different worlds. But they work together. We work together. I love how our two lives just fit together so perfectly. They click. Don’t you feel it, too?”

He was right. I felt it on our first walk. I was so comfortable with him, and since then everything about him felt right. Holding him, kissing him, laughing with him, eating with him, reading with him, dancing with him. Honestly, everything seemed right when I was with him. I didn’t want to admit it and come off too strong, since we had only been together for a little over a month. But he was in front of me, bringing to light everything I’d felt for the last month and saying he felt it, too. I couldn’t deny it.

I nodded, sobbing heavily. He came and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m so sorry, Baelie, I swear I am. Nothing like that will ever happen again. I shouldn’t have gone over to talk to her, I should have known better. I’m sorry.” I nodded as I cried into his shirt. He cupped my face in his palms and wiped my tears away. “Please, don’t cry,” he said, with a thin line of liquid brimming his eyes. I tried to calm myself, to breathe. He kissed the wetness on my cheeks. He kissed my lips, tasting salty from my tears. He kissed me long and sweetly, resting his hand on the back of my neck. “Do you want to lay down?” he asked. I nodded once again, calmer now.

We'd been spooning for a while, his arm draped over me as I was clutching it my chest when he began kissing my neck, then my shoulder. I laid over on my back so he could kiss my face. And he did, and it made me feel better. Because I loved kissing him, and I felt like I always would. I felt like nothing would be better than that moment.

“Baelie… I—I love you. I know it hasn’t been long, but I do. If you’re not ready to say it yet, I understand. But I just have to let you know that I love you.”

“No, no, Evan I do! I love you, too. Really I do.” Of course I loved him. The feelings I had for him in the past month and a half were far more intense than the feelings I had with Corey our entire lives together. Corey was sweet, and nice, and cute, and the best I could ask for in my hometown. But Evan was that and so much more. Not only physically, but also in ways I honestly can’t even explain. Evan was just everything I ever wanted and more.

Our kissing got heavier as our tongues danced in our mouths. He pulled away, biting my lip as he went. He kissed my jaw. He kissed my neck. He started to unbutton my blouse, kissing the exposed skin as he went. So I began unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it off of him. We proceeded to peel our clothes off of each other, until we were skin on skin, touching, caressing, kissing, breathing, biting.

I nearly cried from sheer want and desire; I brushed my teeth on his neck, and he ran his tongue from my chest and to my torso. Hands all over. All over. Mouths wherever we could get them. Panting. Teasing. Goosebumps. Sweating. Feeling. Wanting. Wanting.

The time had come and I was finally getting what I so desired. He moved his hips slowly at first. It had been so long, I tried to bite back a cry. He groaned and threw his head back in pleasure.

“This your first time?”

“No, no. It’s just been a while. I don’t do it much.”

A gasp escaped his lips as he started to move faster, harder. With this, he became more vocal, and even I let out a few noises. It had been months, almost a year, since I had felt this good. And Evan was better in every way. He was sexier, not awkward, like he was… comfortable, I guess. Corey would always ask if he was doing alright, or if I felt good, which got annoying after the first few times. I just wanted him to be more sure of himself. Luckily, Evan knew what he was doing, which I found to be the sexiest of all (aside from his fit body, of course).

“Don’t stop,” I gasped.

“Trust me, I’m not,” he panted.

We moved and moved, in sync and in rhythm until at last we had finished and we were laying next to each other on the bed panting.

“I’m guessing that made you feel better.” I couldn’t see him in the dark, but I could almost hear the amusement in his voice and feel the smirk sliding across his lips as he spoke.

“Oh, of course not! What gave you that idea? You’re terrible,” I teased.

“Ouch.”

After a moment, once we’d calmed down a little, he slid his arm under my back as I rolled over to rest my head on his shoulder. His skin was so warm; so comforting, despite the summer heat lingering in the apartment.