dead wrong (l.h)

"why are we so bad at this?"

chapter seventeen
luke

2:54 PM
Thursday, October 6

After a two-hour training session with a new hire, I was walking through the front doors of the bar where I worked. This was the third day of his training; after tomorrow's session, he'd be the third stagehand, which meant my schedule was about to become a lot more flexible. This was both a good and bad thing; my pay was bound to dwindle because I wouldn't be scheduling as many hours, and soon I'd either have to find a new place to work or pick up another job. The only reason the bar had hired another stagehand was because they hoped to bring in more performers on a weekly basis, but I wasn't very optimistic.

We'd probably get performers, but I hardly doubted we'd be bringing in many more people on a weekly basis. Our regulars kept us afloat, and our college crowd kept us open on the weekends. But I couldn't see us getting a surge of customers.

Just as I was rounding the corner onto Main Street, I saw a familiar car parked by the curb. And while plenty of people drove Hyundais, I knew Evelyn's car like the back of my hand; mostly due to the fact that the scratch on its front right side had been made two years ago when she grazed the back left side of my car while trying to pull out from behind me.

My car still had the scratch to match.

I looked away from the car and toward the shop that it was parked outside of; as if on cue, Evelyn slowly began to make her way out while she talked to somebody on the inside. It took her a few moments, but she eventually said her goodbyes and fully turned around.

"No way... is that Evelyn Meyer?" I asked as our eyes met. She slipped into laughter as she noticed me; seeing her face light up caused my heart to pound.

"You're not stalking me, are you?" she joked, yet didn't hesitate to walk up to me and give me a hug. I hugged her back and instantly felt comforted by her; we probably lingered for a moment too long, but we didn't dwell on that fact once we had finally pulled away.

The first night we had seen each other, I was convinced she'd never warm up to me again, but that's the thing about Evelyn: she had always been the type to surprise you.

"What brings you around these parts?" I asked her jokingly as we sparked up a conversation. I couldn't keep a smile from forming on my face as I looked down at her; every time I was in her presence, I just felt happier.

"You know me... I have to go overboard with the Halloween decorations," she said through a snort as she held up the bag in her hand. "I've been following this shop on Instagram for a couple of months, and the second I saw that they got some things restocked, I made my way over here."

"Classic Evelyn," I said through a breathy laugh.

"It's funny—when I came in, the owner recognized me from my account and we started going on and on about how we're such big fans of each other—she admitted that she looks through my designs all the time, and has always thought about reaching out, so my walking into the shop seemed like a sign. All that being said... you are looking at a woman who just booked her next commission."

"Wait, really?" I asked, completely in awe of her. Evelyn started to excitedly nod, with her nose scrunching just like it always did when she was particularly excited, and it took everything in me not to scoop her up in celebration. The very reason Evelyn had always wanted to do freelance work was so she could focus on local projects; she was sick of having to work under someone who booked boring companies with no personality. So to see Evelyn truly thriving and being happy about her job made me beyond proud and happy for her. "That is really great, Eves... I'm happy for you," I told her as a second-best to my natural instinct to envelope her in my arms and show her just how excited I was for her through physical touch.