Best For Last || Evan Peters AU

surprises

      The smell of sizzling bacon woke you up the next morning, and you stirred in the empty bed you'd shared with Sabrina. If Evan had still been awake last night when you finally came back from the playground, he didn't show it at all; and you were grateful. You reached for your bag at the foot of the bed and closed the little curtain to make a tiny private room for yourself to change in. You had an off-the-shoulder, white, slightly-cropped top and a shin-length, fern colored skirt. You disregarded your shoes until later, always preferring to be barefoot, and joined the others outside. The sun assaulted your eyes immediately as you tried looking around the firepit at everyone. Arya, Sabrina, and Sid were missing-- leaving just the old trio from back in the day.

   "Damn you must've needed this," Dante teased as he tidied up the supplies he'd used cooking.

   "Sorry," you said with a playful smile and descended the RV's three stairs. "You guys could wake me up any time."

   You shaded your eyes with your hand and noticed for a split second that Evan's scanned you up and down. He caught himself quickly and went back to crunching on his nearly blackened bacon.

   "That ain't what vacations are for, sleep as long as you want," Dante shrugged, then gestured to a plate of sausage patties next to a large bowl of scrambled eggs.

   Once you had your plate, you didn't dare sit in the chair next to Evan, but instead leaned awkwardly on the edge of a collapsible table. You used stuffing your face as my excuse to not join in on he and Dante's conversation. They both seemed in good spirits, and you hoped he would forget last night as much as you were trying to. Admittedly it'd been pretty hard to go to sleep last night; you'd mentally kicked yourself for not just taking the kiss, then congratulated yourself on your strength, and finally ended up in tears over the emotional toll of it all. You crunched on your last couple bites of bacon as Arya, Sid, and Sabrina reappeared from behind the line of trees, the latter two in their bathing suits. Sid's wasn't so much a bathing suit as a sopping wet t-shirt and basketball shorts, but Sabrina's electric blue bikini surely counted. You were gathering that she seemed to have a thing for neon colors: she loved either the 80's, or getting every head turned toward her.

   "Oh good, Y/N is awake," Arya beamed as their group approached. "Now we can go on our hike!"

   Your foremost feeling about a hike was excitement, but there was also some anxiety lingering. How far? Where to? Did you bring the right shoes? Just how much were you about to sweat?

   "Hell yeah. I'm ready as soon as I put this last bit of stuff away and get my trunks on," Dante quickened his pace of putting things like tin foil and used the used spatula away.

   "Trunks?" you asked. "Are we going swimming?"

   "Kind of, yeah," Arya answered. "It's a little bit of water like 4 or 5 feet deep, but there's a gorgeous waterfall next to it that you just have to stand in." She must've noticed your apprehension, and quickly added, "It's not rushing or anything crazy, it's light and pretty. You'll see."

   "Alright," you shrugged, "be right back then."

   You retreated back into the RV to put your bathing suit under your clothes, thankful you'd chosen an airy skirt as your bottoms today if you'd be hiking. When you got back outside, Dante and Evan went in to change into their trunks, and when they came out you had to fight a giggle. Evan's legs were exceptionally pale under his maroon trunks, and Dante had pastel pink ones with dark blue flamingos on his. Sid was not so discreet with his amusement.

   Once everyone was armed with dark sunglasses and sunscreen on at least their faces, the group followed Arya down a slightly less walked trail. The shade made it immediately cooler, and you could finally stop squinting your eyes from the sun. Long grass ticked your ankles as you all trekked on and on, and your flip flops weren't doing much to protect your feet from the sharp pebbles you walked over. The entire walk, you were constantly and acutely aware of where Evan was in relation to you. Every 10 steps forward raised your body temperature another degree, you just knew it. Twenty minutes of this, along with the terrain going from level to steep and then back, you guys finally made it to a sign that read Natural Bridge and pointed right. Sabrina had Sid take a picture of her in front of it with her arms spread, and you all trudged on.

   "Wow," you spoke first, unless gasps from others counted. It wasn't a huge area, but the view surrounding you was still breathtaking.

   The six of you stood on the main boulder that extended to the middle of the small body of water, and straight across from you, streams of water cascaded down mossy earth that rose probably 30 feet high. A breeze blew some mist your way, a gratifying refreshment after your long walk. Without taking his eyes from the moving water, Evan removed his shirt, back muscles flexing with the movement. Seeing as he was turned the other way, you let yourself openly look at him, that familiar body you hadn't seen or touched in so long. You were biting your lip without realizing, remembering last night and wondering how far he'd have let it go if you'd given in.

   "You good?" Arya bumped her hip against yours with a smile, startling you from your inappropriate fantasizing.

   "Yeah," you blinked rapidly and averted your gaze. "Just... maybe the heat's getting to me."

   She offered a laugh, then said, "Well get to your bathing suit, girl! The water will help."

   You nodded, and removed your clothes as inconspicuously as possible as you watched Sabrina take selfie after selfie in the waterfall. When you were finished messily folding your clothes into a pile at your feet, you stood, feeling the sun completely on all your exposed skin. This wasn't your first time wearing a bikini, but first time with this specific lilac one you'd bought months ago with nowhere to wear it to. You grabbed at the scrunchie on your wrist to tie your hair up, and just as you'd been doing to him mere moments ago, Evan was unapologetically staring right at you. He looked you all the way from your ponytail down to the anklet that dangled over your left foot.

   "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" he spoke quietly to you with a smirk, and you shrugged with false innocence. He shook his head at you, then mouthed, "Not fair," before letting himself fall the two foot drop into the water.

   Down there already, Arya squealed as Dante gently splashed her, and Sid waited with his waterproof camera for Sabrina's selfie-taking to be over so he could snap a few photos of the waterfall by itself.

   You refused to let this time be all about Evan; you were in a beautiful spot with a few good friends and on a long, much needed vacation. He'd gotten what was bothering him off his chest, heard your response, and that was that. You breathed out one last laugh to yourself at his reaction to your outfit, and soon descended to join the rest of the group in the invigorating water.