the next day, eva sits in the lobby of the practice facility waiting for joel. she scrolls aimlessly through her socials, bored of doing that for the past hour. she scrolls through her email, messaging her agent about her current plans location-wise. eva plans on staying in philly for a few more weeks, since she's never been here longer than a few days. her agent was worried about her getting modelo jobs, but eva told her that new york was only a one hour flight away by jet, and she could be back in the same day if she wanted.
after what felt like years, the door to the sixers practice gym opens and several voices fill the quiet of the lobby. she looks up from her phone and turns around to see joel, ben, and matisse walking towards her, followed by their other teammates. eva stands up and turns around to meet them with smiles. "hey," she says.
"hey, eva," matisse says with a smile. ben just up-nods at her without saying much. she bites the inside of her lip and turns to her cousin.
"you ready?" eva asks joel. they have plans to go get lunch, and then do whatever else they wanted to do tonight and every other day before she officially leaves the state of pennsylvania.
joel nods and slides his hand in his pocket to retrieve his phone. his face falls into a frown when he doesn't feel it. "hold on, i think i left my phone in my locker," and he's off before she can say anything.
"well, i'm about to dip. see ya, ben. bye, eva," matisse daps up his fellow teammate and gives eva a wave and a smile before hurrying out of the practice facility, leaving ben and eva alone.
the tension she felt yesterday fills up the entire room. there's a static connection, and she feels like if she touches anything, she'll be burned. eva forces herself to look at him, not wanted to appear awkward and rude for ignoring him, and immediately regrets it. he's already looking at her, his soft brown eyes drinking in her appearance in a way that makes her uneasy. his gaze is so intense it makes her feel off kilter and like she can't breathe. "what?" she asks at last, her voice sounding harsher than usual.
ben lets out a chuckle and relaxes his shoulders. "nothing. you just look familiar, that's all," he says coolly. eva rolls her eyes and that makes him smile. "i'm serious. i spent all night wondering where i've seen you, and then i found it." all night, she thinks. he was on her mind too, in more ways than one.
"yeah? and where was i?" she asks, a playful edge to her tone. ben licks his lips and looks her up and down. her leather jeans suddenly feel see through under his gaze, and she sees something a little too familiar pass through his eyes.
ben opens his mouth to flirt back, but is cut short when eva visibly straightens. joel comes up behind them, phone in hand, and eva clears her throat to signal to ben that this wasn't the time or place. "ready?" joel asks, clueless. eva simply nods and joel daps ben up. "see you tomorrow, man."
"yup, see you, bro. bye, eva," ben says, and then she hears it; the accent tobias mentioned. it's barely there, but when he said her name she heard it loud and clear. she tries to ignore cartwheels that were happening in her stomach.
"bye," she squeaks out, wrapping an arm around her torso. ben gives her a small smile and takes off before them. eva momentarily forgets where she's at, bens sweet face clouding her mind. something about him was charming, and eva couldn't tell if it was his voice, that smile, or his eyes. maybe it was a combination of all three.
evas so lost in her thoughts that she doesn't even notice joel walking ahead of her. "yo, let's go!" he shouts, grabbing her attention back. realizing that she was still standing in the same spot, eva jogs as fast as her leather pants will let her go, to joel. he sucks his teeth and shakes his head at her. "come on, bro."
"don't call me bro," eva says as they get to the car. joel mumbles a 'whatever' as he presses a button and starts his car.
"so, what now?"
eva shrugs and looks out the window. joel starts listing off food options, but she isn't paying attention—her mind is elsewhere, and trying to see if any of the remaining cars in the lot belong to ben. they're all luxury vehicles, and she isn't sure what he would drive.
eva masks her disappointment, when she doesn't see him, by choosing to engage with her cousin. just when they pull out of the lot, eva turns her head to take one last glance at the place, and almost gasps as the two of them lock eyes for a split second.
the moment is so short that eva almost feels like she made it up, but she knows it's real when she looks out the rear view mirror and sees his black car turning in the opposite direction.
-
ben doesn't waste any time as he pulls into his driveway and pulls out his phone from his pocket. he opens the instagram app and types in 'ev' in the search bar before her account pops up: evaofficial.
clicking on the account, he licks his lips and scratches the back of his head. bens thumb hovers over the 'follow' button, hesitating at the thought of janelle. janelle who was ignoring his calls. janelle who, at one point, he loved more than anything and was willing to do anything for. he's not sure when all of that changed, all he knows is that everything is inherently about janelle.
ben sighs through his nose as he starts scrolling through her pictures. surprisingly, most of them aren't professional, but off-guards and candids. a different version of the woman he saw on the vanity fair cover. bens not sure which side of her he prefers, just that both make him feel some type of way.
"fuck it," he mumbles to himself before clicking the 'follow' button and then clicking the 'DM' button immediately after. ben starts typing out a simple message before he's interrupted by a phone call.
janelle.
he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before clicking answer and putting the phone on speaker. "yeah?" he asks, masking the annoyance in his voice.
"hi," janelle says sweetly. he can imagine her on the other line, curled up on her couch like nothing detrimental has transpired between the two of them. like she didn't just cuss him out on the phone in front of several people. the calm after the storm is what he's getting.
"what, janelle?" he asks, his attitude seeping through. ben leans his head against the window as he awaits her response.
"i'm just returning your calls, ben," janelle says. when he doesnt respond, she says, "i miss you, b."
ben scoffs and shakes his head. "im sure you do. you scream at me for telling the truth and ignore me for days and then act everything's fine, and you expect me to come running back? you know, janelle, an apology would be really nice right now," he says, his tone harsh. he didn't expect to unload all of that on her, given how he usually acts with her, but he's tired of putting up with it.
"you know i'm sorry, baby! cant we just put this behind us?" she whines in that spoiled way that would usually have him apologizing, but not today.
"no, we can't, janelle. because it's never going to go away and you're going to keep doing this. i'm tired of it," ben says.
"so what are you saying?" she asks, attitude laced in her voice. this is the real janelle, the one he's known consistently for the last four months. "you don't want this anymore?"
"if you're gonna keep acting like this, then no," he says, the most honest thing he's said to her in awhile. ben can tell when janelle puts him on mute because it becomes extremely silent.
"where the fuck is this coming from? you got another bitch, huh? i fucking knew it, ben. fuck you, don't ever fucking call me again. fuck you!" she yells.
"this the shit that i'm talking about, man," he says, just as the line goes dead. ben isn't sure how to feel, but a weight feels like it's been lifted off of his chest.
so he does what any other man would do in this situation and sends that dm to eva.
-
eva smirks to herself as she reads the dm from ben. she was hoping that he'd reach out to her in some way, since the way he was staring her down at the dinner and earlier today was suggesting a lot.
bensimmons: vanity fair
evaofficial: that's where you saw me?
evaofficial: the only place?
bensimmons: yep
bensimmons: there are a few other places i'd like to see you tho
eva pokes her tongue in the side of her cheek, heat flooding her middle section. it's been awhile since she's actually responded to someones dm, someone she actually wanted to talk to. most of the guys come on too strong, or are actual assholes in real life. ben is sweet, and the right amount of upfront. and he's totally her type.
looking at the message for another minute, eva starts on her response.
evaofficial: oh really? i'd like to know..
bensimmons: i can show you better than i can tell you 🤷🏽♂️
her lips part as a scoff elicits from her throat. maybe he is coming on strong. but she likes the energy either way.
evaofficial: show me then.
evaofficial: you know where to find me 😉
——
A/N: HIIII I HOR U LIKE ITTTT YALL ARE MY FAV PPL EVER. THE ENDING WAS KINDA WHACK BUT YOU KNOWWW IM RUSTY OK!!
but thanks for all of the love and support!! i'm even busier than ever since i'm in college but i hope i can get inspo from this :)
ily!
excuse any mistakes.