Trying My Best

003; Baby Steps Forward

Pulling out her phone, Evelyn looked at the screen and saw Atlas' name.  They've been in contact for a few months now, texting, calling and facetiming back and fourth. Some days, if he finished work early, he'd sit and wait for her shift to end. They'd either have a drink there, and then go for a walk before heading home; or they'd go to one person's house and watch a movie or two before departing. Sometimes, if it was a little late, they'd just have a sleepover. Nothing more. Up till now, they still considered themselves, Friends. However, saying that, both Atlas and Evelyn had began catching feelings for one another; but neither one would admit it. They'd rather die with their secret than to admit it aloud. 

Evelyn called Atlas - she preferred calls - and waited for his answer. "Hey Atlas what did you wanna talk about?" Evelyn said once he picked up,  "Hey, Y'Know instead of meeting at the café today, shall we meet at the arcade near by?" He asked her, and then waited for her reply. She was hesitant at first, and paused for a moment, "Yeh sure. I'll bring some extra cash with me in case. Shall we grab a bite to eat afterwards at the KBBQ restaurant down the street?" She replied, asking him a question back. "That'd be great! I'll bring extra cash too. See you later!" He said, "See you later, bye. Lov-" She hung up before she could finish her sentence. 'YOU IMBOCILE! Are you trying to give yourself away? Christ, i hope he didn't pick that up.' She said to herself, mentally hitting her head on the wall. She nearly, accidently, confessed her feelings. 'Why must you be so annoyingly stupid Hyejin?' Speaking to herself once again. 

Atlas held the phone in his hands staring at the screen flustered and confused. 'Did I hear what she nearly said correctly?'  He said aloud to himself. He held the phone over his beating chest; 'Stop beating so fast!'  He shouted in frustration, scolding his heart. He had mixed emotions about the whole thing. He didnt know whether to be happy, excited, hopeful, insane, or maybe he was overthing it? who knows. Either way it made his little heart flutter like crazy. 

After her initial shock over the slip of her tongue, she started to question things. Was this their first official date? Was he just offering to do something different? Was it just something friendly, like a hangout? She screamed in frustration, falling into her pillows. 'Why does he do this to me?' she mumbled into the pillow. 'Am i overthinking all of this?' She asked herself, expecting an answer. "Overthinking what exactly?" She jumped at the sound of her best friends voice. "LENA! Don't just appear like that, its scares me!" Evelyn whined out. 

Lena has been Evelyn best friend since college, when they were 16. She was tall and slender, and hard mousey brown hair with complimentary sky blue eyes. "So, are you gonna tell me about this mystery guy?" Lena said, wiggling her eyebrows and smirking as she did. "H-how did you know?" Evelyn stuttered as she questioned Lena. "Your face says it all. You're all flustered and red, and you've buried your head into your pillow. You usually do this when you have boy issues, and you can't tell me I'm wrong" Lena said without a stutter in her sentence. Evelyn just stared at her not saying anything, in shock that Alina had figured her out by simply listening and watching. 

Evelyn explained the situation to Lena, adding in the small details and all the things they had already done. "And then today he asked to meet at the near by arcade instead of staying at the café. How am I supposed to go about this, or even feel about it?" Evelyn said, venting out the frustration. "Why don't you dress casual fancy? You know, like jeans paired with a more fancy dress top and some cute sneakers." Lena chimed in. Evelyn thought about it and then bounced up off her bed, "Okay! Can you help?" She said, running into her closet and rummaging around. 

She grabbed a pair of mum jeans and a thin black lingerie looking spaghetti strap top, and put them on. She took a quick glance at herself, "Somethings missing." Lena said from behind; she grabbed some gold accessories and threw them at Evelyn. Evelyn put them on and It looked somewhat better, then a light bulb went off. She grabbed her favourite long, thin, dark green suede coat and put it on. 'Better' She thought. She added a few finishing touches, and put on her black doc martins, and smiled big. "It's perfect. I don't look too dressed up, but I don't look dressed down." Evelyn said cheerfully, "You have a sixth sense for fashion. You put that together so fast" Lena said and Evelyn chuckled in response.

Finishing off on the last table, Evelyn wiped the sweat from her forehead and sat down - resting her arms and legs for a moment. 'I'm so exhausted. Today was a long day.' She said to herself, closing her eyes and massaging her lower arms to relieve some of the stress. "Hey. I'm guessing today was busy?" A familiar voice spoke. She bolted up and opened her eyes, awkwardly smiling, "Mhmm. I'm fine though. I just feel a little sore." She explained, looking down at the floor as she did so. 'Why am I so awkward?'  She mentally screamed at herself, "Are you sure you're up for the arcade?" Atlas asked worriedly, but Evelyn nodded, giving him as reassuring of a smile she could in her tired state. 

Patiently, Atlas waited at the nearest table to the door for Evelyn. His mind full of thoughts, his heart racing rapidly and the butterflies in his stomach fluttering excitedly. He didn't know how to feel about this and even questioned himself as to whether he asked for a date or casual hangout. In the midst of him being distracted by his thoughts, Evelyn had appeared. He looked her up and down, making eye contact almost immediately after he did so. "You look....Stunning. I don't know what else to say." He choked on his words. He couldn't fathom why he was so speechless; was she really just that attractive. "T-Thank you, Atlas. You too. I mean, you look handsome. well-" she was cut off by Atlas' hand grabbing hers. "Shall we? Go on our...Date?" Evelyn tried to hide her excitement, but ultimately failed. "Let's GO!" They laughed and headed off. Evelyn waved bye to Lena - who said she'd cover the rest of her shift - Lena winked and then waved back. 

Both of them could only hope this would turn out as they had wished and hoped for. Maybe it would be their Happily Ever After.  

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A/N: i hope you guys are enjoying this so far, and are as caught up in this story as I am. Chapter 4 will be up around the same time next week (4PM BST or GMT+1), so keep an eye out for it. Anyways, on that note, i shall be back next week. Also, one last thing, do you like these little A/N's at the end of chapters? or would you prefer i not do them?