One Night

Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Evan took her to a local seafood restaurant that overlooked the ocean. She had always loved it here, and she had to wonder whether her grandmother had suggested it to him.
They sat at a small table against a window where she could see the sun starting to set across the expanse of the ocean. Piper smoothed her dress down over her legs as she peered across the table at him.
“I’m sure you could afford to take us somewhere far more expensive, but I’ve always liked this place,” Evan said as he gestured around.
“Why would you say that?” she asked with a frown.
“After seeing your place today, it reminded me of who you are,” he admitted.
Piper’s frown deepened, “this is one of my favourite places to eat, and you’re spoiling it.”
“That’s not what I meant to do, so I’m sorry about that, but you’ve got to admit that I’ve got a point.”
She sighed and touched the patterned tablecloth. How could she ever explain that she preferred the simplicity of this place far more than any expensive restaurant she’d ever been to?
“Are you trying to figure out how much money I’ve got or my taste in restaurants?” she asked dryly.
Evan flushed, cleared his throat, and glanced around. She knew she had thrown him into confusion, but she did want to know why he felt the need to mention her Shiana truth.
Silence surrounded them as they looked anywhere but at each other. Only when it turned awkward did Evan say something.
“It just boggles my mind when I think of who you are and what you’ve accomplished in your life.  Your songs are played on the radio every day. You’ve won awards for your music. It’s such an awe-inspiring thing. I... you... I guess what I’m trying to say is that you intimidate me, but you also draw me to you. It’s a bit of a conundrum,” he admitted with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“How would I ever intimidate you?” Piper asked as she stared at him.
“Look at all you’ve achieved in your life, Piper. I’ve done nothing with my music while everyone in the world has heard yours. People could name a song of yours and you could sing it.”
“Except nobody knows that they’re my songs,” she pointed out.
“But you know, and you would have the money to prove it. Your songs are famous whereas my songs haven’t even made it out of my garage. Now I’m just repeating myself. Can we start over?” he asked as he winced and raised his eyes to meet hers.
“We can. Just take on board one thing, I wouldn’t have made it anywhere without Colah, Kay, and Shiana. Her pretty face sold my music,” Piper insisted.
Evan went to argue and then stopped. In time, she would see that she was the one who made her music special. He would make it his goal to show her.
“How about we look at the menu? Did you say this was your favourite restaurant?” Evan asked.
“Yes, Gram and I used to always come here when I was growing up. It’s a local favourite and the food doesn’t disappoint. It’s been in the same family for generations, and the recipes are still the same,” she explained.
“I wish I had lived here for longer. it’s a nice area.”
“Yeah, I love being near the beach, it’s an added bonus,” she agreed, “where did you live before coming here?”
He looked at her as he picked up the menu, “I’ve lived all over the place. From cities to the country and back again. Our dad was a chef, and we travelled a lot.”
“I’ve only ever really lived in this state, so it’s cool that you’ve got to experience different places,” she said as she leaned across the table with her eyes sparkling.
“You have travelled with the whole Shiana thing, haven’t you?”
“Yes, but it’s different.”
“How so?”
“You’ve actually lived in different countries and experienced the cultures. I never had much of a chance at that. I always had to do the interviews in secret and that took up a lot of my time. The last thing I got to do was to enjoy any sight seeing.”
“That wouldn’t make those trips much fun for you,” Evan mused.
“No, it wasn’t. Everything had such a sense of secrecy. I wasn’t even allowed to spend much time with Shiana for a lot of it. The team who worked at the shows knew the truth, and we never hired new people,” she said as she decided what she wanted.
“Mauve and I were luckier. Our parents took us everywhere with them. Our education came from cultures all over the world. It was a good way to grow up. I like living here, though, I think I’ve found a place where I’m comfortable,”  Evan said with a warm smile.
“You are a very lucky person to have had such an interesting start to your life,” she mused.
“I am,” he reached over and touched her hand that sat upon the table, “you didn’t deserve the way your parents treated you,” he said as he squeezed her hand.
“I had my Gram, and I’m grateful that I had her,” she replied.
“It’s still not right what they did.”
“You are very diplomatic about it, but I was an overly dramatic child. I cried a lot, and then as a teenager, I rebelled a lot. My parents struggled to deal with me,” she admitted.
“How did you rebel?”
Piper sighed, and then a sad smile filled her face, “lots of yelling and arguing. My mum always wanted to slather me in makeup and fashionable clothes. I refused to go along with her. She’d say look at Shiana and use her as an example. That would only make me angrier. I often told her that if she wanted someone so beautiful, maybe she should’ve adopted. I’d then throw anything fashionable in the bin or run scissors through it, so it was unwearable,” Piper explained.
“The funny thing is, Mauve did the complete opposite to that. She wore all these barely dressed outfits and always had her make-up perfect. Our parents wouldn’t often let her leave unless she wore more clothes. Teenagers argue with their parents, it’s just what they do. It doesn’t give them an excuse to abandon you,” Evan replied.
“Maybe, but it happened. Could we please talk about something else?”
“Sure, so what are you going to do next?”
“You love asking the hard questions, don’t you?” she asked with a rueful grin.
“You can ask me some hard questions if you like, but after you answer mine,” his return grin was full of cheekiness.
“I still don’t know what I’m going to do. The thing I really want to do, after today, is have a chat with Shiana.”
“Then that should be your next move. Now hit me with a hard question,” he clapped his hands and waved towards her.
“What’s with you and female musicians?”
Evan's smile dropped from his face, “we have already discussed that.”
“I know, but I need more information about it.”
To his relief, the wait staff came to take their order. Piper smiled but refused to relent on her question. She wanted to understand his fascination. Once they sat alone, she raised her brows and said nothing.
“Writing songs is like magic to me. Sometimes, it takes such little effort, while other times, the words just don’t want to cone out at all. Your whole life has revolved around that. You’ve made a living off showing your words to the world, and that’s such an empowering thing, Piper,” Evan admitted.
“That’s pretty much what you told me before, but surely it’s more than that.”
Evan leaned in closer across the table towards her. He grinned and dropped a cheeky wink her way, “maybe I like the thought of a woman writing poetry about me.”
Piper’s heart started to thunder in her chest. She loved the way he teased her. The way his eyes lit up and how he always focused on her left her flattered. Evan was quite a force to deal with sometimes.
She swept her hair behind her ears as she wondered how to answer him. Did she dare to reply that she had already scribbled down some words about him?
“That’s very romantic of you,” Piper said as she held back on the truth.
“I’m a romantic at heart, didn’t you know?” his grin only broadened as his eyes twinkled at her.
“No, I didn’t know that about you. I thought you were a musically minded mechanic with only songs on your mind,” she returned his teasing.
“I am definitely that as well,” he agreed.
They shared a smile as the wait staff delivered their drinks. With that shared smile, Piper felt a warmth flow through her. There was a sweet intimacy growing between them, and she loved it.
“I think we should show the guys some of the songs that we worked on today,” Evan said once they were alone.
“We will.”
“I’ve got a friend who works at a cafe, and he reckons he can get us a gig if we’ve got some original songs,” Evan told her.
Piper stared at him wide-eyed, “you never mentioned that before.”
“I texted him after we got back, and he spoke to his boss about it,” he explained.
Piper wasn’t sure what to say yet again. He always managed to stump her. Wasn’t this what she wanted? A chance to make her own music. As nervous as this made her, she wanted that chance.
“I’m scared that I won’t be able to do it. The last thing I want to do is to let you guys down,” she admitted with a dragged in breath.
“We’ll practice more before we try it, but I know you’ll be fine. Look how good you did at Clara’s party,” he squeezed her fingers gently.
“What if that was a fluke?”
“Piper, you’ve had everyone telling you that you can’t do it, but what if you can? Think of the concerts you could play. What about the albums that would have your name on the front cover? I know how scared you were, but you also felt the thrill of singing in front of that audience. Don’t you want more of that?”
“I do, but I’m worried that I’ll freeze, or the words won’t come out or, worst of all, I vomit on the crowd,” she released her fears.
“We all have those worries, but you’ve got to remember the highs. You loved singing in front of those kids  because I saw your expression. Stage fright happens to everyone, but you’ve got to go in knowing you can do it. I’ve now seen you sing in front of an audience, and you did great. It was really awe inspiring,” he enthused.
Piper couldn’t hide the blush on her face. He always had such nice things to say about her. It gave her the confidence to want to get up on stage in front of people.
“How did the band start up?”  she asked as she realised that she didn’t know a lot of information about him.
“Mauve and I always liked singing and playing instruments. Moving about, we always had dad’s guitar, so he taught us how to play. One place we stayed at had a piano, and mum knew how to play, so she showed us the piano. Mauve got into the drums after she had an introduction to the kettle drums, but I stuck with guitar because I liked the way it sounded.
“Kaeden and I became friends because we worked together, and then he introduced me to Logan. After jamming together a couple of times, we realised that we could make a band. Mauve was the one who originally brought up the idea. She’s our ideas person if you haven’t noticed,” he stopped talking and smiled fondly at thoughts of his sister.
“You’re lucky to have a sister. I have a half sister, but I’ve never met her,” Piper admitted.
“Is this because of your parents?”
“Yes, I’ve never had an introduction to her. The only reason I’ve seen a photo is because mum sent one to Gram. Mum doesn’t contact Gram much either, but I think Gram forces her to sometimes. I know she tried to get mum to come to some of my school things, but she never did,” Piper sighed and decided not to talk about her family anymore, “why did you decide to become a mechanic?”
Evan acknowledged her change of topic, “its the furthest away from a kitchen that I could think of.”
“What’s wrong with kitchens? Are you suggesting that you’re a terrible cook?” she enquired.
“With dad travelling everywhere for his profession, it meant that I came to resent his chef skills when I was a teenager. There was this girl...”
“Isn’t there always a girl?” she said with a tinkling laugh.
“When I was fifteen, I thought it was true love, and then dad got a new job that wasn’t even in the same country. There was no way that I wanted to move again and to leave my friends or that girl behind. After that move I didn’t enjoy the travelling anymore.”
“Did you keep in contact with her if she was so important to you?”
Evan snorted, “I was a teenage boy, so of course not.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“She didn’t contact me either,” he defended himself.
“Young love lost and forlorn,” she sang the words in a melancholy tone, and he chuckled.
“Even singing sarcastically, you sound beautiful,” he reached over and touched her cheek.
“It’s nice to learn more about you,” she admitted as they had their meals delivered.
“I feel the same way about you. Reading some of your songs today gave me such an insight into who you are. It’s a very humbling experience.”
“How is it humbling?”
“I had a life growing up where I received everything I could ever want. My parents loved me and took care of me. You didn’t have any of that. It makes me grateful for the life I did have, but I find it humbling because look at how far you’ve gone even when the start of your life wasn’t the best.”
“Oh, okay, I guess I never thought of it that way,” she bit down on her lip as she considered his words.
Piper never liked thinking about her childhood. She had never felt loved by anyone except her Gram. It upset her to know that her parents loved other children more. She had always gone through the world believing that she wasn’t deserving of love.
“I’m just happy that I always had Gram by my side,” Piper said.
“I can only imagine. From the day I moved in she’s tried to help me out.”
“She started singing your praises from the second I returned home,” she admitted with a laugh.
“Good to know,” he grinned back.
“Gram likes you.”
“And I like her just fine. I like her granddaughter just fine to,” he winked at her, and her heart thundered madly.
She ducked her head and blushed at his sweet comment, “thank you.”
“I did mean it.”
“Why did you decide to become a mechanic? Was it just to do the opposite of what your dad did?” Piper asked as she peered at him intently.
“I’ve never thought about it, but that’s not why. I’ve always had an interest in cars, and this was my way of learning more about them. There’s a skill involved in being able to make an engine tick and also problem solving when they stop working,” his brown eyes grew animated.
Piper realised that he truly loved his job. She knew how rare that was for anyone to feel that way, and it made her appreciate him all the more. Not that long ago, Piper had loved her job, too. Now, she didn’t even know where to start with her career.
“You’ve got an analytical mind, but also a creative one with your song writing,” she mused as she peered at him.
“I guess so,” he agreed as he considered her.
“It’s nice to learn new things about you,” she admitted, which only made the blush reappear.
“Same with you. Today has been very informative,” he grinned at her, and she shyly grinned back.
Piper’s heart swelled with exuberance, and she knew that her small crush on him had grown. She hardly knew what to say in reply.
“C’mon, let’s head home.”
He went to stand and turned to her with an outstretched hand. She accepted his offered hand and enjoyed having his warm fingers clasped in hers. As they left the building, Evan tugged at her hand to pull her to the side away from the restaurant but towards where the beach beckoned in the darkness.
“There’s something so special about you, Piper. Something I want to have more of. Can you feel that between us?” he asked.
Piper stared up at him and nodded. It overwhelmed her that he saw things changing between them and that he wanted that to happen.
“You need to know that it’s not just because you’re a songwriter. I like you for you.”
As he spoke, he used their joined hands to pull her closer. Before she knew it, he held her in his arms. She smiled up at him as a wondrous dizziness engulfed her.
When his lips met hers, it was the most delightful kiss she had ever experienced. Tingles and heat burned between them as their lips met again. His hands cupped around her face, making her feel more precious than she had ever had in her life. The kiss deepened, and Piper found herself caught in an overwhelming passion as she ardently returned his kiss.
One night, a shared kiss connected two worlds.