It Started in a Coffee Shop

Evan and I walked aimlessly around the town, shooting the shit, just getting to know each other. I learned that he was 25 and was just now going into his senior year after getting a late start on the whole college thing. He wanted to wait until he had a solid idea of what he wanted to do in life.

I told him how I wished that I had done the same. I was going into my sophomore year and had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I started out wanting to major in Political Science because I genuinely enjoy politics. That was until I realized politicians were the scum of the Earth and I would never be able to accomplish anything unless I too became the scum of the Earth. Otherwise it would be such a fruitless effort. Since then, all of my future plans and dreams and goals had literally been all over the place.

He was from another state, just outside of a big city. He went to a large high school and liked to go into the city with his friends to bars or to see local bands play at clubs.

I, on the other hand, was from a small town about three hours away. My graduating class had about 80 people and for fun we went to lame house parties, cosmic bowling, and shitty malls.

We wandered for what seemed like hours, just chatting away, telling stories about our old friends, what we used to do, what we do now, what movies and books and TV shows we liked. It amazed me how similar yet different we were. We loved all the same things; same bands, same TV shows, and even had the same favorite book. But he was an alien to me in the sense of where he came from and how he lived and how much he had lived as opposed to me. I was so intrigued, which may sound a bit odd. But life in my hometown was terribly dull. The parties were always the same people with the same drinks, and the bowling alley smelled and hardly any of us were actually good at bowling. I had so many inhibitions because I had experienced so little and I was afraid to leave my comfort zone. But Evan was slowly becoming part of my comfort zone as we walked and talked.

I felt silly to have these thoughts rattle through my head. I barely knew Evan, and just the night before he was drunkenly yelling at me after failing to get me to go all the way. Yes, we were exchanging basic life stories, but I still didn’t really know him. There was still a lot for me to learn about him. But for some reason, I felt like I was starting to trust him. Yet I didn’t dare lead on how quickly my emotions were evolving in such a short period of time. I continued to act nonchalant and slightly flirtatious, joking back and forth about the things we both liked.

It felt like we had been walking forever as we headed toward the outskirts of town. The sun was getting lower in the sky and more golden, but not quite setting. Evan was leading me up a hill as my heels and knees began to ache in protest. “Evan, why are we walking away from the town? Is this the part where the naïve girl gets led to her inevitable death?” I was mostly joking, yet the idea that it could be possible flashed across my mind; I played it off as overreacting, something I was good at sometimes.

“How did you guess?” he turned looked back at me with mock seriousness. He quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me into the brush on the side of the road and onto a narrow dirt path.

“Jesus, Evan! Are you seriously trying to kill me?!”

“God, no. Relax! I just wanna show you something.”

He led me to a clearing on top of a hill that overlooked the town. I never noticed that out beyond this town was a vast landscape of hills and mountains and trees. It was so captivating and beautiful and the sad part is that I’d been here almost a year and never noticed what lay beyond the town.

“It’s great isn’t it?” Evan enthused as he plopped down on the grass.

“Yeah,” I said as I bent down to join him. “It really is. I never noticed all that’s out there before.”

We admired the scene together, like a model town with tiny toy cars, as the sun inched slowly closer to the horizon.
“Well,” he said, “I could show you some things.”

“Uh huh…” I gave a him a weary glance, not really knowing what he was implying.

“Oh, no, no, God. Not that. I mean, not that I wouldn’t, but… I just mean we should go out and do stuff some times. I think you’re cool, and I wanna see you more,” he explained. I couldn’t believe it. A 25 year old gorgeous man, was asking me to hang out. Evan he had me hooked; he was clutching me right in the palm of his hand. I must have been doing a pretty good job at hiding it.

Blushing, hopefully without notice due to some preexisting redness in my cheeks from the day outside, I had agreed. “Of course, we can hang out more.”

I looked over to him. Maybe there was something in the way he was leaning back on his palms, or the way he was squinting his eyes as he looked in the distance. Or maybe it was the way he had his legs extended with his ankles crossed. Or maybe it was the fact that if I plopped a cowboy hat on his head, he would be a carbon copy of James Dean in the movie poster for Giant. Something about him in that moment made me want him in whatever way I could get him.

I didn’t know what was getting into me. I’m honest when I say I’m not into fucking around. We definitely weren’t dating and let me reiterate that we barely knew each other. And I wasn’t exactly in love with him. But I sure as hell was in lust. There was no way I could deny the sex appeal that he emitted, just by leaning back and staring into the distance with squinted eyes.

“And Evan… You could show me anything you want,” I said before I could stop myself, before I realized what I was actually saying.

His eyes shifted over to meet mine. Upon making eye contact, I’m sure he knew what I had intended.

“Anything?” he questioned. I scooted closer to him, our sides pressed against one another comfortably.

“Anything,” I whispered.

He sat himself up to look directly at me. I could see the longing in his eyes, and the want. With less hesitation than our first kiss, yet not without, he leaned in, and just like before, gently placed his lips on mine.

It was just as wonderful as the first time. My hands automatically found their way to the back of his neck and ran through his hair as he gently guided me down to lay on my back. He was propped on an elbow, slightly over top of me, using his free hand to run up and down my side under my shirt.

Kissing him was euphoric. The way he touched me was Heaven. He laid himself on his side, and once again we became entwined, just like we had on his bed. We laid there in the grass, kissing each other, tangled in each other, wanting him more and more with each kiss, running our hands on whatever skin we could find. I wanted to stay there as long as I could just to feel him.

But he pulled away and propped himself up on his elbow again. “Not yet,” he smirked at me.

“What? What do you mean not yet?”

“I mean, none of this, not right now. Come on, we’re outside, on top of this hill that looks over the entire town. I bet someone down there can look up at this hill and easily see us.” He had a solid point. If you can see them, then they can probably see you, right? “Besides, you made me wait. So I think a little pay back is in order.” he chuckled.

“Evan! No!” I sat up and shoved him. “You jerk, I should kick your ass for that. This is different!”

“Oh is it?!” he exclaimed, pinning to the ground with his handsome, smiling face oh so close to mine. I was getting lost in those sweet brown eyes, and I thought for a moment we just might kiss, yet again.

“Soon, grasshopper.” Ugh. No kiss, just a devilish grin. He got up and held out his hand to pull me up. The sun was finally setting, casting its orange light onto the scenery. “It’s gonna get dark in a bit. We should head back. Walk you home?”

“Yes, I suppose,” I replied defeated.

Walking back, our fingers grazed a few times, yet unfortunately, didn’t interlock, until we reached the door to my apartment. I had turned to say goodbye, and he simply reached for it, as if it were something natural. “Soft hands,” he commented.

Holding his hand felt warm and right. As did looking into his sweet brown eyes when I said goodbye outside of my door. As did our kiss, a soft, warm kiss with no intention of turning into anything more.

Everything about Evan felt warm and right. I thought I would have to wait much longer to feel like that again. Yet there I was, laying in bed, replaying the day in my head, smiling to myself as I fell asleep.