Unrequited

Awkward Encounters

Is this guy serious? "You know, ice skate a couple of rounds, maybe even ski," I say with deafening sarcasm in my tone, smiling up at him.

He looks at me confused "Uh, this is a grocery store?-" he looks at my face "-and you were joking. The sarcasm lives on!" he chuckles while weakly pumping his fist in the air.

"Yeah," I get cut off by a noise behind me. I turn and see Eva. She whimsically walks towards me.

"The total's $64.78. I need $32 from you. I paid using my card, you can send me the money later," she gestures lightly towards Matthew standing behind me, with a confused face. I shrug.

"Hey, Matthew! We never met officially. I'm Evaline," I give Ev a look, boring my eyes into Matthew's.

"Nice to meet you Evaline," Matthew nods curtly.

I look back and forth between the two. I have no idea where these formalities came from, but ok.

"Ok, we're going to go now. Have a good day!" I grab Ev's arm and steer her away from our checkout counter, desperately trying to avoid the question I know he is going to ask.

"Hannah! You never told me if you were going to come to my place for dinner or not!" Matthew shouts from behind me.

Ugh, there it is.

Eva grabs my arm tightly, making us stop. Dang. While, holding my arm, she turns us both around to face Matthew.

"What're you doing?" I whisper-scream at her. "Answering his invitation," Eva flashed her teeth at me.

I try to look anywhere other than Matthew's face. "We'll definitely be there," Ev says confidently. I widen my eyes and look at Ev, giving her my best "I really hate you right now" look.

"Stefan will be there too," I add quickly. 

"Cool, the more the merrier right?" Matthew smiles at us as I quickly turn the shopping cart, grab Ev's hand and make a bee-line for the door.

"Hey, I didn't even get that guy's phone number," Ev frowns at me, as I drag her outside Walmart.

Ev starts mumbling to herself "We could've stayed for another minute. But that Matthew guy had to be there. Why do you hate him so much anyway? I mean, what could he have possibly done?" Eva says like a child.

I stop in my tracks. "Eva. I've known you for a long time. Please trust me enough to know that the reason is big. I don't want to talk about it anymore, please," I look at her with pleading eyes, she nods agreeing to drop it,

"Great, now we just have to take these back to the apartment," I smile at her, hauling the bags into my hands.

Ev groans and reluctantly grabs the remaining bags from the cart into her arms. She gestures her head forward, as to say "let's go"

We walk all the way to our apartment building. "Oh my, I'm exhausted. Kill me, I can't go any further," I roll my eyes at Eva who looks close to collapsing. 

"Oh, come on. It was only a 15-minute walk," I haul Eva's arm and shove her through the main glass doors of our building.

I haul the bags over to the elevator and attempt to press the button with my elbow. I groan and look over to Eva who was also struggling to hold her bags.

"Don't worry I got it" a long veiny hand reaches out to press the button. Wow, those hands. My weakness. 

"Th-" I turn to face our elevator helper. Of course. "Thanks," I say reluctantly.

"No problem. We can go up together neighbour," Matthew smiles at me. I flash my teeth at him awkwardly, while Eva snorts.

"Here, let me help you with those," Matthew reaches out to help me with my groceries. I turn away from him, to face the elevator door.

"Here Matty boy, you can take mine," Ev drops her bags into Matthew's arms. Matthew groans in response, 

Matthew walks up behind me "Hannah, you know we need to talk," I shift uncomfortably closer to the elevator door, watching the floor number decrease.

Much to my relief, the elevator door dings open. "Here's the door," I say a little too loud walking into the small confined space.

Ev and Matthew walk in behind me, the doors closing behind them. 

Eva quickly presses the 'floor 5' button, trying to get us all out of the elevator as soon as possible. 

I watch the floor numbers slowly increase, silently praying that there are no stops in the middle. But of course, life never goes as planned for me.

The elevator stops at floor 4, the doors opening wide, the same as my eyes when I see at least 6 people standing on the other side making their way in.

I'm pushed up against the corner of the elevator, with, of course, Matthew pressed up against me. 

Of course.

Thank Merlin for the groceries in between us otherwise, I'd be getting a face full of Matthew's chest.

Matthew looks down at me, his green eyes piercing into my brown. For a second. I let myself believe that I'm in high school again. 

Just for a second though.

The doors of the elevator open wide, signalling my chance of escape. I shove past the people in front of me, desperate to get out of the elevator. 

I walk briskly to the door of my apartment, attempting to rummage in my purse for the keys. "Ugh, where are they?!" I shout, still aggressively trying to find my keys. 

A small hand warms my shoulder, "Hannah, I have the keys bub," Eva says from behind me. 

I turn to look at her, a small smile forming on my face. 

Eva opens the door and I rush inside, placing the groceries onto the kitchen table. "Oh my, I'm pretty sure my arms were on the verge of snapping off. You get the groceries?" I dust my hands off, while Eva closes the door.

"Yeah, yeah I got them," she places the bags next to the ones I set on the counter. "First off, are you okay? I saw your face in the elevator," Ev raises her eyebrows at me.

"I'm okay. I mean, it's not like I can do anything right?" I smile at her, trying to reassure her that I was fine.

"Well, ok. But we don't have to go to the dinner if you don't want to. We can cancel. I mean he could still be outside, I can go-" I put my hand up to stop her from talking, she looks at me confusedly.

"It's okay, we'll go. Let me just call Stefan and ask him to come with us," I take my phone out of my pocket and start to dial Stefan's number. 

Stefan picks up on the third ring "Hey Han! What's up?" his sweet enthusiastic voice fills my ears making my lips subconsciously turn upwards.

"Hey Stef, I'm alright. How're you doing?" I pace around the room absentmindedly fidgeting with the rings on my fingers. 

"I'm great. I- uh I mean Boris missed you at the library today," Stefan cleared his throat.

I smile "Yeah, I was a little busy today. Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner with my neighbour,"

"Oh. What was his name Mark?" I hear a little disappointment in his voice.

"Matthew. So, will you come?" I say hopefully, trying to convey my desperate voice through the phone. 

"How could I ever say no to you. When do you want me to come?" I blush, flustered while smiling like a madwoman.

"Uh, okay great! You can come to our apartment on Friday at 6. Then the three of us can walk over together," I finish brightly.

"Cool. I'll talk to you later love. Bye," Stefan hangs up leaving me a red, flustered mess. 

"You okay Han?" Eva says from the kitchen. I can practically feel her smirking.

I sink onto the sofa "Perfect," I whisper to myself.