TW: Mentions of buzzed/drunk driving
Eve came downstairs ten minutes later after struggling to get the door unlocked once she was done in the bathroom. It turned out that it wasn't locked, but there was just another confused drunken girl on the other side trying to get into the bathroom without knocking. They'd both giggled and apologized once the door had finally been yanked open and they came face to face with one another. After they'd switched places, she'd stumbled down the stairs, resting her weight against the wall to keep herself upright.
It was then that she searched the room for Nelson, suddenly remembering that he was the one that had come to check on her after she'd snuck off with Otto. Only, he was nowhere to be seen, inside at least. She'd checked the kitchen, the basement, the bathrooms, the kitchen again, and all the empty bedrooms, but still came up empty, until someone came barreling out of the crowd at her, stumbling slightly and out of breath.
"Eve," Milhouse gasped, taking a puff of his inhaler to calm himself down.
"What is it Milhouse," She asked, her words coming out slow and deliberate as she tried to make sure she was speaking clearly.
"Outside. Bart. Nelson. Come. Quickly," He said, each word punctuated with a painful sounding wheeze.
"What are you-" Before she could finish her sentence, the boy was grabbing her by the hand and leading her out to the backyard where a crowd of people was already forming to take a look at whatever Milhouse was trying to show her.
The crowd was cheering something on, and even in her influenced state, she knew that couldn't mean anything good. What were things that would draw a crowd of teenagers outside and away from the booze and music at a house party? She could really only think of one, and that was a fight.
Eve pushed her way lazily through the crowd as chants of Nelson's name stood out to her from the crowd. She really hoped that it wasn't a serious fight that actually meant anything. It wasn't like Bart had done anything to make Nelson mad, at least not the she knew of, and Bart was too much of a scaredy cat to challenge Nelson to a fight. He'd have to be completely out of his mind. Once she reached the front, she saw the fight, and the look on Nelson's face, brows set lower than usual over his eyes, mouth turned down in a sharp sneer as her wiped blood from his lip on the back of his hand, told her that this was serious.
Bart's eyebrow and lip were split open, with blood rushing down his face and over his black eye that was already almost swollen shut. His knuckles were busted and there was blood staining the neckline of his tee shirt. He looked as though he was going to throw up or pass out. Nelson on the other hand, had blood gushing from his lip and his nose, but otherwise seemed very aware of what he was doing, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to knock all of Bart's teeth out, and he did.
It wasn't something that he'd readily admit to any of this, but he did want to know his teeth out. Some would say all of this was an overreaction because all Bart had done was dance with Eve at a party. That wasn't a crime, was it?
No, of course, it wasn't. However, it wasn't just that. Once he'd gotten outside, Bart had only fanned the flames of his anger. Why, you may ask? Well, that's because what actually went down once they'd stepped away from the party went a little something like this:
"Hey, man, what's the big deal?" Bart asked, leaning against the outside of the house.
"What was all of that about?" Nelson asked, hands buried angrily in the pocket of his ripped, ill-fitting jeans.
"All of what?" Bart wondered, taking a sip from the beer that he picked up once they'd passed a cooler set up by the front door, "You mean with Eve? It's just dancing, man."
"Did you have to feel her up like she was just some... some-"
"Listen, Nelson, dude," Bart laughed, "If you want people to leave Eve alone, then you should actually do something about it."
"Oh, yeah, like what?"
"You know," He nudged Nelson, "Get her in the sack, and leave a few marks. That should keep other guys away from her. I know at least some of the appeal is to be the first one to defile the sweet little choir girl."
"What?"
"It'll be like whoever the hell first stepped on the moon man," Bart laughed, "I just know that she's going to have every guy absolutely obsessed with her when we get back to school if she's not taken. Hell, they'll probably be all over her anyway."
"Stop talking about her like that, Simpson, she's a nice girl-"
"Like I said, that's. Part. Of. The. Appeal." Bart didn't even have time to laugh at Nelson's shocked expression before the taller boy had pulled back and punched him square in the face.
Flash forward to now, as Eve and almost everyone else had gathered around to watch what was going down between the two of them.
"Come on, Simpson, you're starting to look a little wobbly on your feet," Nelson laughed, "You're aren't backing out, now are you?"
"In your dreams," Bart said, slurring his words over his swollen lip.
Nelson swung and his fist collided with Bart's jaw and he stumbled like a video game character one hit away from being out of HP. Bart swung twice, but barely managed to make contact with Nelson's chin.
The overwhelming urge to do something shot through her body like a rocket, but her mind, soft and fuzzy from weed and alcohol, came up empty time and time again for a way to break this up. You see, Eve was five eight, maybe a hundred and twenty pounds while Bart was five nine and one eighty and Nelson towered over the both of them at around six feet and some change weighting at about two eighty. Obviously, running up to them and trying to break them up was not the sane option, nor was it really an option at all.
Still, she felt herself taking a step forward, only to then feel two hands take hold of her arms. She groggily looked over her shoulder to see Dolph holding onto her and shaking his head as Kearney shoved his way through the crowd to play the role of bouncer. The look on his face told Eve that Kearney was used to, if not expecting, this to happen.
"Hey asswipes, cut it out because someone calls the cops," Kearney shouted, prying Bart out of Nelson's grip and holding him away from him by the collar of his shirt, "What the hell has gotten into you idiots?"
"This is a private thing between me and Bart," Nelson sighed, "I started it and I pan on ending it too. You don't start something you can't finish."
"Nelson, stop it, man," Dolph sighed, "This isn't cool."
"Cram it, Dolph," He sighed, "He knows why he's getting his ass beat, just like he knows that he deserves it."
"Whatever it is, I think you got your point across, you brainless brute!" Lisa shouted, rushing to her brother's aid.
"Oh my God, shut up, Lisa," Eve said, "You don't know why they're fighting, and I'm sure he deserved it, like Nelson said."
"Yeah, Eve, because Nelson has shown himself to be oh so trustworthy," she shook her head.
"You say that like Bart's any better, Lis," Eve said, "Bart can be just as mean as Nelson when he wants to be."
"I should have known that you'd side with your boyfriend," Lisa said, "You've always needed some sort of male validation, but now instead of your dad, it's Nelson that you feel the need to impress. Grow up."
"I know you are not talking about male validation," Eve said, "You call yourself a feminist, but crumble any time a boy much older than you so much as breathes in your direction."
"You don't have any room to talk, Eve," Lisa shook her head, "You've never had a boyfriend, and now just because Nelson doesn't seem to hate you, you're head over heels for him. Well, you know what? You can have him, because I'm done. Milhouse was always the safer option anyway."
"I don't care about you getting with Milhouse, he has nothing to do with any of this," Eve laughed, "You're just jealous because Nelson has finally moved on to something better."
"I don't know if better would be the right word," Lisa said, "I think easier is more your style."
"Ladies, please, this isn't necessary," Milhouse said, finally speaking up now that everyone had gone silent to listen to the two girls argue.
"Yeah, Lisa," Kearney said, turning to her with his arms crossed over his chest, "If you're going to talk shit like that to Eve, you can take your stupid fucking brother with you and go the hell home."
"You're kicking me out because I called her easy? I thought that was the whole point of you guys hanging out with her," Lisa pouted.
"We hang out with her because she's not an uptight, whiney little bitch like you," Jimbo said, Shauna clinging to his arm, "I want the two of you out of here right now before your dumbass brother gets the cops called on us."
"Fine," Lisa said, seeing that no one was really agreeing with her, "Come on Bart."
She led Bart away from the crowd and over into the neighbor's lawn where he'd parked. Eve suspected that Lisa would be the one to drive them home or to the hospital. He needed the latter, but she knew that Lisa would probably just take him home and patch them up there. The nuclear plant didn't have the best health insurance on its employees or their families. Plus, Dr. Hibbert would probably tell Homer and Marge that Bart had come up to his office in the middle of the night and expose the whole thing. Lisa was smarter than that.
Eve rushed over to Nelson who was leaned against his truck, looking even more tense than usual as he fumbled with his lighter, desperately trying to light his cigarette to calm his nerves. She pulled her own lighter out and with one flick of her thumb, a flame jumped to life to light his cigarette for him while he smiled up at him.
Of course, she was curious to hear about why the two boys had been fighting, but she wouldn't ask. She'd learned from experience that if you don't poke and pry into someone's life, then they're more likely to tell you what's bothering them. Not to mention, the argument with Lisa really took it out of her. She was hungry, and tired, and her mouth felt awfully dry, but as everyone slowly made their way back inside now that the fun was over, she leaned against Nelson's truck beside him.
The two of them stood in silence, thinking over everything that had just happened, although they both had very different ideas about how it had all gone down. Nelson had beat Bart in a one on one fight, which he knew he was going to win the entire time, and he had that feeling of pride swell in his chest that told him he'd done a pretty good job of beating his ass. Eve on the other hand, was thinking about the fact that her best friend in the entire world had called her easy and had turned on her so quickly.
She was almost sure that Nelson was in the right, but she couldn't be any more sure that he wasn't guilty as Lisa could be that Bart was innocent. Neither of them had any proof to what happened to cause the fight, which meant that they could only guess at why it had happened until either Bart or Nelson admitted to them why they were upset with one another.
Eve hoped that it was Nelson that fessed up first because she had a feeling that if Bart told Lisa, she'd never hear the truth. She genuinely feared that Lisa wouldn't be talking to her for a good long while. It wasn't as if they'd never fought before, but it wasn't something that Eve particularly enjoyed.
"You know, you didn't have to argue with Lisa," Nelson said.
"I'm sorry that I cheesed off your girlfriend," She laughed, but it echoed hollow in the night as she reached for her own cigarette.
"She's not my girlfriend, you know that," Nelson shook his head, looking down at Eve and being disappointed that she wasn't looking up at him in return.
"Then why do you care if I argued with her," Eve asked, "Bart deserved it, didn't he?"
Finally, she looked back up at him and for a moment, he hesitated. He knew that in his mind, Bart deserved it at the time. However, thinking back, he was just telling Nelson the truth.
Nelson knew that Eve was naïve, and that she'd do almost anything for a friend whether they were good for her or not. She didn't see any advances made on her as advances, but simply as friendly conversation. He couldn't even bring himself to tell her the things that Bart had said, but he knew they were true. There weren't many other "bad guys" at the school besides him, his friends, and Bart, but that didn't mean that they nice guys weren't thinking what Bart said they were. They were still teenage boys after all.
"Yeah," Nelson nodded, "Simpson's got a pretty dirty mouth on him. He messed around and said some things that he shouldn't have, and he got what was coming to him."
"What did he say?" She asked, taking a pull from her cigarette as she stared up at him.
"Does it really matter to you?"
"Not really, but I thought that it might make you feel better to talk about it," She said, "Sometimes talking about things helps you get over them."
"Maybe there is a little good left in you after all, Flanders," He laughed, flicking ashes into the grass, "How about we blow this popsicle stand and go back to my house. I'm sure that this party is starting to die off now anyway. They almost always do after a fight, it's normally the peak of the evening."
"Sure," She nodded, "It's not like I can go home right now. My grandparents smoke weed, so my dad will recognize it tomorrow morning for sure."
"Even if you change your clothes?"
"Smells stick to your hair a lot more than you think they do," She said, "But enough about that, let's go."
The two climbed into Nelson's truck, both just drunk enough not to think about the fact that they were drunk, and that Nelson shouldn't be driving them anywhere. Thankfully, Nelson wasn't drunk enough to be considered dangerous, even though his blood-alcohol levels were certainly high enough to land him with a DUI.
They drove a short way down the empty street, nothing moving accept with branches of nearby trees in the random night breeze, with the radio playing some old song so filtered with static that neither of them would have recognized it sober, but didn't mind drunk. That was, until they hit a clear patch of road and the song came through as clear as it could manage for being so old.
Where do I begin?
To tell the story of how great a love can be
The sweet love story that is older than the sea
The simple truth about the love she brings to me
Where do I start?
Nelson's hand reached for the knob to change the song as his eye shot over to Eve, who, although a little slow, grabbed his wrist to stop him. She didn't know why he'd try to change it because she'd already told him that she knew that he liked Andy Williams. Not to mention, she had a special soft spot for this song because she could still remember her mother and father swaying and spinning in the kitchen while she made dinner. Sometimes Ned would ask Eve to dance with him while Maude danced with Rod or Todd. She missed those days.
"Don't turn it off, Nelson, I like this song," She said, "My parents used to dance to it when I was younger."
"Really?"
"Yeah," She nodded, swaying in time with the music.
"Mine too," He said, "My dad was a big fan of Andy Williams and he'd put on his records after he and my mom had a beer or two and they'd dance around in our living room."
Eve paused for a moment, "Well, I think you know that this means."
"What? That our parents liked this song?"
"It means that you need to pull over," She said, "And that we need to dance to this song."
"Are you high?" Nelson asked, sounding shocked.
To Eve, it would come off like he simply didn't want to dance with her, but that wasn't quite right. He was shocked that Eve would want to dance to such a song with him. The thought made his chest feel off and his stomach twisted into itself, but he thought that it could be in a good way.
Eve giggled, "Yeah, but what's that got to do with it?"
"I don't know."
"Come on, pull over," She begged, tugging on his arm, "I know you like Andy Williams and now that I've said it, I really want to dance."
"I could take you back to the party and you could dance with Shauna," Nelson offered.
"Why are you making this difficult?"
"Because what if someone drives by and sees me dancing with you like you're my girlfriend or something?"
"Then, let them think that I'm your girlfriend or something," She shrugged, "You could do a whole lot worse."
"But the song is over now," He shrugged, "Guess we can't do it."
"I have a phone for a reason."
"Okay, fine," Nelson said, as he pulled his truck into the open field that hugged the road.
Neither of them was sure if they were allowed to be out there in the middle of the night, but it didn't really matter to them. They jumped out of the truck while Eve searched for the song again on her phone. It took her a few minutes to remember the name of the song, but she eventually found it. She balanced her phone on the hood of his truck as the song started and she held out her hand to Nelson.
"I'm probably going to be a little rusty," He said, suddenly feeling very nervous.
"It's fine, I haven't even heard this song since I was like ten," She laughed, motioning for him to take her hand.
He rolled his eyes and took her hand with a huff, "You know, for anyone else, I wouldn't have done this."
"Well, I'm very lucky," She said, resting a hand on his shoulder while he gently rested on her waist.
"Whatever."
With her first hello
She gave new meaning to this empty world of mine
There'll never be another love, another time
She came into my life and made the living fine
She fills my heart
They swayed back and forth in the headlights of his truck; Eve unable to stop herself from giggling as Nelson tried his best to look annoyed. So, he was very glad when her hand slipped out of his and her arms rested on his shoulders, followed soon after by her head on his chest. His free hand made its way down to her waist, still feeling a little awkward while doing so. But, for now, he was happy that she couldn't see him and he could let a small smile trace over his bloodstained lips.
She fills my heart, with very special things
With angels' songs, with wild imaginings
She fills my soul with so much love
That anywhere I go I'm never lonely
With her around, who could be lonely
I reach for her hand, It's always there
It was here, in the dark of night, under the stars, with Andy Williams on the breeze, and Eve in his arms, that he allowed himself to realize that he, Nelson Mandela Muntz, did, in fact, like this girl. The sweet girl gone bad enough to drive you crazy, but not bad enough to ruin your life, had stolen the big bad bully's heart. A heart that was currently pounding in his chest as it dawned on him that he'd officially moved on from Lisa and was now in for the same wild ride with this girl.
That is, if she'd let him get close enough... if he'd let himself get close enough.
He knew that she was a good girl at heart. Eve was the kind of girl that would say no to going out with friends for a night putting together puzzles with Todd, or to stay after school to help a student she's never met before because their falling behind. She'd do anything for her friends and even more for her family. Even now with her head full of drugs and alcohol, she was gentle with him, which was not something many people cared to be.
No one, but Lisa had ever been gentle with Nelson, and he'd almost convinced himself that she'd always be the only one. But now, alone with Eve, he knew that wasn't true. He wouldn't have to pine after someone who wanted to change everything and everyone while being stuck in their old ways. Not everything that is different is better. Now he could just hope that Eve would one day look at him in a similar way to how Lisa had, even though he thought he didn't deserve it.
Why would he? When has he ever been gentle with someone else? When has he ever been someone worth being gentle with?
The answer that he kept coming up with was that he'd never done anything to deserve Eve's affections. He didn't deserve gentle hands on his shoulders or stroking his hair, or a pair of understanding eyes that didn't mind if he let his guard down around them. Something he thought he really didn't deserve was how good she'd treated him after he'd forgotten about her, laying out Alka-Seltzer and a little hair of the dog to help him start his day, and then not yelling at him for leaving her.
His mother would have scolded him and taken the keys to his truck. Lisa would have shouted at him about making her walk alone. Even his own friends took out their anger on him in their own way. But not Eve. She'd tucked him in and cleaned his house in exchange for a promise to not do it again. It was a slap on the wrist to any punishment he'd gotten before.
She was the best thing to come along in his crummy little life, and he wished more than anything that he deserved this gift from the heavens, this angel among men.
How long does it last?
Can love be measured by the hours of the day?
I have no answers now but this much I can say
I know I'll need her 'till the stars all burn away
And she'll be there
With her head on his chest, she could hear his racing heartbeat almost as well as he could feel it. She didn't let her mind wander too far into what could be causing it because it clicked in her head that he was still probably angry from the argument with Bart. However, her mine did wander to something not too far away from that particular subject.
She couldn't help but think about how nice this was with the twinkling stars over their heads like a diamond canopy, and just feeling as though she fit perfectly in Nelson's arms. Sure, his hands were only on her waist, but she just knew that if he were to embrace her, she would be the perfect size to fit in between them. It was like how hands are meant to hold and intertwine with one another; she was meant to fit with him. She wasn't sure if this was in a platonic sense or a romantic sense, but she didn't dwell on it. She knew her realization would come soon enough.
For now, she simply rested her head on his chest with her arms over his shoulders, his hair occasionally tickling her as it brushed across her forearms. For the first time in a while, Eve Flanders felt content. This was the most comforting and enjoyable moment she'd had since her mother had passed and she was almost unsure of what to do with herself when the song ended. She didn't want to let go, but she knew that it had to be done.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" She asked, stepping back over to the truck so that Nelson might not see the blush that had blossomed on her cheeks.
"It was alright, I guess," He said with a shrug, "But we should probably get going before it gets too late. You've got to get back home early tomorrow."
"I guess you're right," She said, not wanting to think about going home right now.
Still, she climbed into the passenger seat of Nelson's truck, now with her phone in hand. It was a weird feeling for her not want to be away from Nelson, especially after everything he'd put her and her brothers through over the years, but now that she got to know him, things were different. He wasn't this tough guy, bad boy character all of the time. Nelson had his good moments and bad just like everyone else. But she didn't understand why seeing a little bit of his soft side had given her this aversion to going home.
Unfortunately, her head was too foggy for her to make sense of anything at this point, and she'll probably forget all of this by the time she woke up tomorrow morning.
By the time they got to Nelson's house, the clock on his radio said it was 4:30, but it was an hour fast. That hour didn't really matter, all the two of them knew was that they were tired and needed some sleep, especially if Eve was to make a daring reverse escape back into her house before her dad realized that she was missing. She was hoping to be back before they left for church, but maybe she could do it while they were gone. It just depended on what time she woke up because she was not in the mood to set an alarm.
She was, in fact, in the mood to help fix up Nelson before he did so. Surprisingly, Bart had really done a bit of a number on his face, and even though Bart was the one in need of some serious assistance, Nelson needed to be patched up too.
"Sit right here," She said, pointing to the couch as though this wasn't Nelson's house, "Do you have any kind of first aid?"
"I don't need you looking after me like I'm one of your stupid brothers."
"You really think I care what you think you need," She asked, "I'm going to clean you up, and you're going to sit there and let me. Now, do you have any first aid?"
"Fine, there might be some stuff under the bathroom sink," He sighed, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes.
"Thank you," She said, slowly making her way from the living room to the bathroom.
She pulled open the cabinet that led under the sink. It was practically empty besides a cheap pack of toothbrushes and a broken hair dryer, but thankfully, she saw the little red bag tucked underneath the hair dryer that looked like it hadn't been touched in at least a year. She grabbed it and then a washcloth which she dampened before she went back to the living room where Nelson was almost asleep with his head thrown back on the back of the couch with his eyes closed.
"You haven't died on me, have you?" She asked.
"Unfortunately, not," He chuckled.
"Good," She said, unzipping the little red bag and sitting it on the couch next to Nelson, "Now I'm going to clean some of this blood off your face, the washcloth might be a little cold."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, just do whatever it is you're so intent on doing so that I can take my ass to bed."
She took the cloth in one hand, carefully taking hold of Nelson's chin so that he wouldn't pull away. The blood had completely dried at this point and it took a bit more forceful hand that she'd been ready for, but he didn't seem to mind all that much. In fact, he sat still and quiet the entire time that she dabbed the blood away from his mouth. At some point, he'd opened his eyes to see her leaned over him with one knee pressed into the couch beside him with one gentle hand on his cheek while she worked.
To him, it was a sight to behold. The top of her bathing suit that she had worn but not got to use was very noticeable through the sheer white fabric of her dress, and even if he tried not to look at it, it was pretty difficult with him sitting down and his eyes being level with her chest. Not to mention, that if he looked down, all he could see was the way the skirt of her dress had ridden up on her leg when she'd rested it on the couch to steady herself. But maybe that was just the remnants of what Bart had said and the beer he'd drank talking.
However, once she'd cleaned the blood off his face, she moved the small first aid bag and sat beside him on the couch, still not worrying about how her dress was riding up with how she was sitting. She carefully took his large hand in her much smaller one, cleaning up his busted knuckles with the same cloth she'd been using before she changed over to an alcohol pad that she'd found tucked away in the first aid bag. He'd cringed away from her slightly and she even felt his hand pull a little, but he didn't pull his hand away, although he mumbled a few curses under his breath.
"Sorry," She said with a small smile as she put it down on the table and started placing band aids on each of his knuckles because they didn't have any gauze or tape.
"Don't worry about it," He said.
"Alright, well, I'm sure you want to get to bed now," She said, closing up the first aid.
"Wait." He said, gently taking hold of her hand.
"What, did I forget something?"
"No, there's just something I want to do first," Nelson said, his heart pounding in his chest.
"What is-" She started, but was cut off by Nelson slamming his lips against her and catching her completely off guard. So off guard in fact, that she didn't even register that she should be kissing him back until he pulled back, a sort of mortified panic in his eyes.
"I-" He started, and now it was Eve's turn to catch Nelson off guard as she went in for a kiss, albeit a lot gentler than he had.
A thought that stood out in her head was that she was probably doing a terrible job. She'd only kissed Milhouse once when they were preteens and it ended so abruptly it was as though it hadn't even happened. However, when Nelson kissed her back, trying his best to be gentler with her than he had been with his first attempt. Neither of them knew what to do with their hands, and it was awkward, but at the same time, it was nice.
Eve was the one to make the first move to sort of deepen the kiss, her arms draping themselves over Nelson's shoulders and her curious fingers finding themselves twisting themselves into the end of his shaggy mullet. Nelson took this as a sort of invitation to get closer to her as well. One of his hands slid up the edge of the couch and then up to her waist while the other braced him up against the arm of the couch behind her.
Their lips moved together in inexperienced, sleepy want as Eve leaned further back, pulling him down with her as her head came to rest on the arm of the couch where Nelson's arm previously claimed residence. Both of their minds were racing with thoughts that ranged from "what the hell am I doing" to "why didn't I do this earlier" and occasionally made detoured into "Oh my God, how far do they think this is going to go?"
Nelson, who had kissed Lisa, and a few drunk girls at some of Jimbo or Dolph's parties, knew enough about kissing to be okay at it, but what came next? Surprisingly, or not, it just depends on how you think of Nelson, he'd never been to second base with anyone before, and he wasn't even sure if that's what he wanted to do right now. He liked kissing Eve. She tasted like the punch that Shauna made, and she smelled like vanilla (and weed and beer, but that wasn't as hot or romantic).
Eve, even though she was the one to initiate this make-out, was beginning to panic. As mentioned before, she'd only ever kissed Milhouse that one time and now had something besides how good at kissing she was on her mind. Now, she was wondering just how far Nelson planned for this to go and how far she, herself, wanted to go. So, before things got too out of hand, she decided to speak up about it.
"Nelson," She said, pushing against his chest.
"Yeah, Lis?" Nelson asked, froze and then panicked, "I meant Eve, shit, I'm sorry."
Eve wiped her mouth on the back of her hand as her stomach dropped straight out of existence. She pushed Nelson off of her, feeling angry, stupid, and tired. Of all the names in the world, all the names in Springfield, he had to call her Lis, the best friend that she just probably lost earlier because she took his side on an argument.
"Eve, I swear, I didn't mean to call you that," Nelson said, reaching out for her only to have her shrug him off.
"Why was her name even in your mind?" Eve asked, getting to her feet.
"I don't know, I just-"
"I'm the one that stood up for you! I'm the one who cleaned you up after you got into some stupid fight that you won't even tell me about!" She huffed, "So, why the hell did her name come out of your mouth?"
"Eve, why are you so mad?" He asked, "I told you that I didn't mean to say it. People slip up sometimes."
"Not when they're feeling someone up," She rolled her eyes.
"You're making this a bigger deal than it needs to be."
"You know, I wouldn't have cared if you called me Shauna, or Sherri, or Terri. Hell, I wouldn't have even really cared if you called me... I don't know, fucking, Bart. But you just had to call me Lisa!"
"I said I was sorry."
"Whatever," She shook her head, "I'm going for a walk."
"You shouldn't go out there right now," he shook his head, "It's dark and there's no telling who's out there."
"I don't care!" She said, feeling ridiculous as tears pricked her eyes. She needed to get out of here.