Playing Evelyn

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Oh man, not again,” Gabriel groaned as we stood at the entrance to the kitchen. The place was a total mess. There were pots and pans everywhere and, if I wasn’t mistaken, there was macaroni and cheese stuck to the cupboards.

“Gabriel! Thank god you’re here.” We turned to see Mrs. Halen walking towards us with a squirming and once again naked Matthew in her arms. Her eyes drifted to me and she cringed. “Oh dear, I am so sorry about the mess. I guess you two are here to cook, right?” We nodded. “Oh Evelyn, I’m sorry you had to see the place like this. If you just give me a few minutes, I’ll clean it up.” She looked around for a place to put Matthew down but the effort was futile.

“Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Halen.” I rolled up the sleeves of my pale pink cardigan. “We’ll clean it up, won’t we Gabriel.” I looked up at Gabriel who was scowling at the messy kitchen.

“No way,” he muttered. I elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted and rubbing the sensitive area as he glared down at me. “Yeah, yeah, no problem. Don’t worry about it, Mom.”

She let out a gusty sigh as she set Matthew down, holding his hand firmly. “Thank you so much, you two. You are life savers, I swear. And Evelyn? Please call me Carrie.”

“Sure and it’s really no trouble,” I said cheerfully, still a little hyper from the motorcycle ride.

“She said she’d clean it,” Gabriel grumbled as his mother walked away.

“She’s clearly busy. Stop being such a baby. The faster we clean, the faster we can bake,” I said, checking the time on my cell phone.

“Do you have somewhere to be?”

I looked up to see Gabriel staring down at me with genuine curiosity in his eyes. I just shrugged. “Not really.”

His gaze was slightly disbelieving for a second then he shrugged. “Whatever. Since you volunteered our services, you get to tackle the macaroni.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and went to work. As I wiped at the mess, I thought about how different I was with Gabriel. I couldn’t seem to make myself act like Invisible Evelyn around him and the more I was myself, the better it felt. Sometimes I felt like burning all my cardigans and the stupid glasses I wore. As soon as I moved out, I would do just that.

“So Evie,” Gabriel began as he unloaded the dishwasher, “who was that guy last night?”

I shrugged even though he wasn’t looking at me. “A friend of mine,” I replied, willing my heartbeat to calm down a bit. Just because he’d met Frank and saw me with my hair down didn’t mean that he knew everything.

“He’s really not your boyfriend, then?”

I snorted. “Yeah right. As if I would have a boyfriend.”

He was putting a bowl away in the cupboard beside me when he stopped and looked at me. Feeling his gaze, I turned my head to meet his eyes. “What do you mean?”

I snorted and gestured at myself. My cardigan was a faded pink and about two sizes too big. The khaki pants I had on were a little too short for me and baggy in the butt. My hair was in its usual bun although not as tight as it usually was thanks to the helmet. “C’mon, Gabriel. I’m pretty much invisible. What guy would want to date me?”

He scowled at me as his eyes got a bit darker from anger. “You really shouldn’t put yourself down like that.”

“I’m just being realistic.”