Landon
"I like Charlie, name him Charlie." Eve says. Her voice makes me snap out of admiring her beautiful face.
Is it normal to admire your friends faces?
"Alright, we've got a name. I already love these names. Candy and Charlie, aw that's so cute!" Sakura says.
"You gonna call our cats soulmates too?" Eve says, why are my eyes glued to her lips?
I laugh, trying to get my head out of the gutter. Eve gets up from the bench. "I'm gonna go to bathroom." Without thinking I say, "Me too."
She nods her head and I follow her down the hall, leading to the two bathrooms.
"Does this seem familiar?" She chuckles, referring to the time me and her bumped into each other.
"Yep. Blame yourself, you were the one on your phone." She rolls her eyes and goes into the bathroom. I stand there like an idiot, completely forgetting what I wanted to do.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." I face palm my forehead. The random memory of me asking Sakura for Eve's number pops up in my head. Shit, she probably thinks I'm super creepy. I only asked for it to apologize, I felt like I was being rude when I bumped into to her. Of course me being the most forgetful person to exist, I didn't remember to say sorry.
I go into the mens bathroom and look in the mirror.
Ugh.
I think everyone on earth has hated their appearance at least once in their life, but none the less I still do. Sometimes, nice words decide to replay in my head.
Worth it.
Enough.
You look good today.
Happens very rarely though. The bad thoughts; more like memories decide to remind me of why I hate myself.
Memories of my parents leaving me in stores, malls, cars. Memories of my dad getting drunk and cussing me out. Memories of cops asking seven year old me why my parents left me in a Whole Foods.
A knock on the door pulls me out of my thoughts. "Landon? Are you done yet?" Eve's voice makes those memories immediately go away. I don't know, something about her incredibly pretty voice makes me feel safe. Like I've found the one escape to my endless thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm done." I walk out of the bathroom door, getting a sight of her dazzling eyes. It looks like a ocean, a green, blue and brown ocean. It seems like there is a story behind them.
She sighs and looks at me with a poker face. "So.." She says, trying to make conversation.
"What do you wanna do when you grow up?" Her freckles look vague. Maybe because it's winter.
"You." I blurt out. Shit, shit, shit.
The fuck is wrong with me?!?
"What?" Her eyes widen, and she looks caught off guard.
"Uh, sorry! I meant to say..to be in a band?" I didn't completely pull that out of my ass. I may be untalented at most things, but I do know how to play some instruments.
"Really? What do you play?" She smiles.
"Well my parents forced me to learn how to play the piano at a young age, but I also know how to play the guitar." I proudly say.
"What about you?" I ask, her smile fades at my question.
Did I say the wrong thing?
Her mood quickly lightens, she puts on a smile. I know what a fake smile looks like.
"Um, I'm still not sure. I do know how to play soccer, and I know the basics of volleyball." She says. "But it's fine, I don't plan on living too long after high school anyway." She laughs, but I can tell she means it.
"What do you mean?" I question, but she doesn't look back at me.
"Nothing, c'mon Sakura's probably wondering where we are." She walks faster and sits at the bench next to Sakura.
She can't just say that and expect me not to do anything?
I quickly walk back over to the bench, purposely sitting closer to Eve. She looks back at me with a puzzled expression, but doesn't say anything.
The bells rings, meaning either church hours are over, or that the priest is here.
"Eve." I mumble, nudging her. She looks at me, suddenly I feel my stomach sting for a second.
Butterflies.
"Mhm?" How come she can easily talk to me, but when I do I get nervous. It isn't fair.
"Are you okay?" I ask, coming off a little more sincere then I wanted. I see many different emotions reflect on her face, but she wipes them off and smiles softly.
"I'm fine, just tired." She says, and simply continues talking to Sakura.
Whatever, I won't push her to say anything. I get up from the bench and walk over to the three of our parents talking.
"And she was way too fat to fit in the dress- Landon!" My mom looks at me.
"Hey, when are we going home?" I whisper. The sound of someone tapping a microphone catches everyones attention.
"Merry Christmas, saints! Wow, it's very packed today. Well, since today is our lord and saviors day we started a funding program to help the families in need. Winter makes it harder for more unfortunate families to gather supplies, so it would be amazing if you could donate some money. Alright, have an amazing Christmas!" A priest walks off the stand and greets another family. I look outside the window to see some snow fall onto the ground.
My mother laughs. "I think it's the families fault for being so poor. If you're homeless just get a job!" She says, making all the other parents laugh. I roll my eyes, my father notices.
"Here take the keys, make sure to lock the car when you're inside." He says. I nod and start walking towards the exit, when Eve catches up to me.
"You're leaving?" She asks. Aw, does she care?
"Um, I'm just gonna wait in the car for my parents." I continue walking but she grabs my wrist. A confused look rests on my face, and she gives me some sort of puppy dog eyes.
"What?" I'm not sure what she wants me to do.
"Uh, can I go to the car with you? I'll just wait for my parents to finish up with yours.!" She says, the thought of me and Eve being in the back seat of my parents car makes me sweat.
"You're just gonna leave Sakura?"
"No, of course not! I'm not a bad friend, she's too busy trying to figure out if her apps or broken or something." she pauses. "Also, if you're gonna ask why I can't just go to my car..my parents wouldn't let me be in their car alone." She adds.
"Alright, let's go then." I smile, maybe getting some alone time with Eve won't be so bad after all. When we open the exit-door, the wind hits my face. I feel my nose slowly get red.
"It's snowing, weird." She puts her hand in front of her, and snowflakes rest in her palm. It reminds me of those dreams I would have of her. I haven't had them since I officially met Eve. She looked so beautiful, it's kind of hard not to fall in love with her after seeing her like that.
We arrive at the car and I unlock it. I slide into the back seat and Eve goes into the opposite side.
After a moment of silence, I decide I should say something. Okay, I may kind of like her, but those feelings go away quickly. It'll be fine. "Um, are you tired?" I blurt out.
"Why would I be tired at three pm?" She laughs.
"I don't know, you're always tired. You even said you were."
"Landon, I'm pretty sure you know what "tired" means." She holds up quotation marks with her fingers.
"I don't." I smile, clearly lying.
"I don't know, I guess you're right. I am always tired. A kind of tired sleep can't fix. I mean it does for a certain amount of time, but nothing lasts forever." She rests her head on my shoulder. My heart skips a beat, and I feel my cheeks heat up.
"Can you pet my hair again?" She breathed. At this point, my heart is racing Sonic and winning.
"You like when guys pet your hair?" I grin. She rolls her eyes.
"Not all guys, just you." She smiles. "You should consider charging people for your head massages." She states.
"Well just for you, I won't make you pay." I start to stroke her hair, she looks straight ahead.
We sit in quiet for a while. Her hair is soft, I could feel it all day. She's wearing the outfit she wore last night. I rest my other hand on her thigh, I notice her eyes flutter. She fidgets with my fingers, pulling one of my rings up and down.
"I wonder when those stars will come and find us." She whispers.
"You know, I used to go to the beach everyday. The stars only rarely show."
"Why'd you go everyday?" She asks.
"Boredom, mostly. My parents would always be at work, and my girlfriend-" I cut myself off but she doesn't say anything. "Ex girlfriend recommended I go to the beach. Ever since then it's become my comfort place. Sometimes I read there, other times I bring my guitar. Most of the time I would wait and see if the stars would show. I've only seen them at the beach like two or three times." I ramble, why do I talk so much?
She hums in response. I continue running my fingers through her hair. She moves her head from my shoulder and looks out of the window. I notice how close she is to me. I feel my bottom half go hard.
This is not the time for a boner.
"I should probably go, my parents are most likely done anyway." She sighed.
"Bye!" She gets out of her seat.
"See ya." I smile.
Once she's out of sight, I sigh and a smile creeps onto my face.
Eve, Eve, Eve. Her name replays in my head.
I throw my head back, my small smile gets bigger.
Her scent is still inside of the car. I open my phone and click on Instagram. I go onto Eve's account, the sight of her face makes me smile. I may look like an idiot right now, but I don't care. I press on the button to see who she's following, the first thing I see is Kitty's account.
Oh.
Maybe she don't know her from me? Maybe their just mutuals..right?
I press on Kitty's account. I scroll down a bit.
She still has that photo of us kissing on the internet, what the fuck? I took down all my photos of her, right? So why does she have still have me on her feed? I turn off my phone and sigh.
I won't make a problem out of it, maybe she just forgot to take it down.
Eve's name repeats in my head once more.
Why can't I stop thinking about her?
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a/n: hello! remember to comment and vote if you like this book :) I may not be updating as frequently because I start school in two days but I'll still make sure to update when I can!! anyway I finished my rough draft of their first kiss, and saying it'll be steamy is a understatement ;)
tiktok is 'whenthestarssawus' for more content on this book
ily all sm remember to take care of yourselves, toodles <3