✧
Evelyn's eyebrows were pinched together in frustration as she scrolled away on her computer. The Hernandez girl had been doing extensive research on what to major at once college came around, she knew that as much as she loved volleyball, she needed something to fall back onto when her sports career was over. Especially with Asher's life-altering news about football, something like that could happen to her in a heartbeat and she wanted to be prepared for it.
"What's got you frowning?" Asher asked. He had been sitting across from her at a table and annoying her by all the furious taps on the keyboard he had been doing.
"Got to find a major," she sighed. "And I don't know what I want to do. I don't think I can be a doctor, I probably can't be a lawyer 'cause whenever I argue with someone I cry, and I definitely can't play volleyball until I'm all old and gray. My knees crack whenever I bend down!"
"Hey, it could be worse," he sighed. "You could be stuck typing a college essay about a passion that is so meaningful. I am blank."
"You know, Ash," she smiled, propping her chin in her hand. "You're taking this a lot better than I expected. I mean I love you but as your girlfriend, I am allowed to point out your flaws, and you kind of spiral when things go bad."
"Yeah, my brutally honest girlfriend," he rolled his eyes, continuing to type away on his computer. "But, you're right. Trust me, I had my moments but I remember that self-destructive crap is what got me here. Tough lesson to learn."
"But, you learned it," she smiled softly. "That's what matters."
"Babe, in the past 18 months, I got a scholarship to my dream school and then I lost my dream of playing football at Coastal forever. Oh, and I almost lost you. Twice," he sighed. "I think I'm good on lessons learned."
"You could never lose me. But, fair enough," she nodded, reaching over to close his laptop. "Let's go."
"What?" he questioned. "You're trying to figure out what you want to do with your life and I'm typing this essay."
"Yeah, and so far, you've gotten nothing done," she retorted. "And I've got no idea on what I want to do. So, get up. We're going to my place."
He let out a small chuckle. "You're bossy."
She sent him a mischievous grin as she packed up her belongings before pulling on his hand and running out of the cafe. Asher was caught off guard by her sudden need to leave the establishment but he didn't care, he was clearly not getting any work done, and neither was she.
☆☆☆
Once the couple arrived at her house, she quickly took her surroundings in and took note of the lack of cars in the driveway. Meaning her parents were gone and so were both her brothers. Asher dropped his things off at the front door before she tugged on his hand and pulled him towards the bar that her parents had located near the living room.
"We're day drinking?" he questioned. "Is this what rock bottom feels like?"
"We are celebrating," she corrected, sifting through the bottles behind the bar. Her eyes lit up at the sight of a bottle of tequila as she picked it up and waved it in his face. "I know there's not much we have to celebrate but, it sounds better than day drinking."
"Alright," Asher agreed, rubbing his hands together. "Should we go to your room?"
"Let's go to the theater room," she suggested. "No one goes in there. Plus, it's...soundproof."
He blushed at her insinuation, holding his hand out for his girl who slipped her small hand into his grasp. The two wandered around the large empty hallways of her house until they hit the doors to the theater room. The room wasn't anything too extravagant, it had a pretty obnoxiously sized movie screen and had a couple of couches rather than theater chairs because her mother had thought it was corny.
"I don't think I've ever been in here," he murmured, plopping down on the couch.
Evelyn plopped down right beside him and sat with her legs crisscrossed, she nodded her head as she twisted the cap to the tequila bottle. "Yeah, we don't use it that often. Sometimes my brother comes in here to watch his highlights..." She took a small sip of the liquor before holding it out for her boyfriend. "Here, drink."
He plucked the bottle from her grip and took a small sip, giving her a wary expression. "I'm surprised you're encouraging this behavior."
"We needed a break. There's always something crazy going on," she groaned, slipping her cardigan off her shoulders. "And I just felt like we needed to do something that wasn't staring at our computer screens. So, if it's sitting around getting tipsy at my house. Then so be it."
Asher pressed an affectionate kiss to her shoulder, his girlfriend in response flashed him a small smile before grabbing the bottle from his hand and taking a swig from it. The liquor had gone down smoothly as they continued passing the bottle back and forth. After moments of silence between the two, she had picked up the remote and played a random compilation of R&B music to fill the silence as they drank.
Evelyn had eventually stretched her legs over his legs and her cheeks were flushed with a red tint along with Asher's cheeks. By now, the two were a bit tipsy and they had finished about 75% of the bottle. And the air in the room was thick of sexual tension, his hand been slowly inching up in between her thighs.
Given the couple hadn't been intimate in weeks, due to Asher's dad immediately taking him away once he was diagnosed with his heart condition, then there was that week that Evelyn had been keeping her distance from him. But as they sat beside each other in their albeit tipsy state, there was nothing the two wanted but each other.
Evelyn had enough of the awkwardness of Asher's hand inching up her thigh and pushed his hand away, sitting up, and swinging her leg over his lap. The boy had widened his eyes at her sudden movements but he gripped her backside as soon as she straddled his lap. Her arms hooked around his neck and she inched forward, smashing her lips onto his. The taste of tequila was on the tips of their tongues but they didn't seem to mind as they practically swallowed each other whole.
Asher pulled away rubbing his hands up her sides before gesturing for her to raise her arms, she, in response, had raised her arms allowing him to pull her top off. His gaze on her bare chest had made heat spread all over her body. The feeling of his hands against her now bare upper half had left a fiery trail over her body and she had to practically squeeze her legs shut to alleviate the pressure.
By now, Evelyn had already rushed to tug off Asher's sweater and shirt off, the kisses she had left along his neck and collarbone had caused goosebumps to rise on his skin. Something she had noticed as her manicured fingers traced his bicep. She gently pushed him down into a lying position, pressing butterfly kisses down his neck, collarbone, and making her way down his toned stomach, stopping right above the waistband of his shorts. A groan of pleasure emitted from his mouth at the feeling of her lips all over his bare torso.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Asher asked, breathlessly.
Evelyn looked up at him with dark, lust-filled eyes, swiping her tongue against her lower lip, and nodded.
And for the rest of that night, the only concerns the teens had to worry about were whether they'd be caught or not.
☆☆☆
"I think I figured out my major!"
"I finished my essay!"
Asher and Evelyn stared at each other in confusion at their synchronization. After the night that they shared together, he had raced out mumbling something about suddenly being inspired. But, she had also been feeling a bit inspired and took some time to herself and finally figured out what she wanted to do in the future.
"Sorry," he chuckled. "You, first."
"Education," she revealed. "That's my major."
"Like a teacher?" Asher questioned, faintly smiling. "I think that sounds perfect for you."
She raised her eyebrow at him. "You do?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Whenever Enrique needs his homework explained he doesn't even bother going to an actual tutor, he turns to you. And Alejandro does the same thing, I mean, he's 5, so his homework isn't that complicated. But, still, you're incredibly patient and you're great with kids. I think you'd be a wonderful teacher."
"I think that's the best compliment, ever," she sighed in content. "Thank you. At first, I thought I was gonna go into dentistry but I couldn't picture myself all up in someone's mouth 24/7. Then, I saw education and I started doing a bunch of research and it just seemed perfect. Now, your turn."
"Right," he gestured towards his laptop, which was resting on her bed. "My essay. Read it."
Evelyn smiled softly at him as she grabbed the computer from his hands. Her eyes had skimmed the meaningful words that he had written. She couldn't help but keep her eyes laser-focused on the screen even once she was done reading.
"Okay, if you're gonna major in education, you might want to read faster," he joked. "Seriously, Evie, you're kind of scaring me. Is it bad?"
She lifted her head up, rubbing the tip of her nose as tears slowly poured out of her eyes. "No. It's really good."
"My essay made you cry?" he asked, biting down on his lip to prevent himself from laughing at his overly emotional girlfriend. "Come on...You're not serious."
Evelyn nodded her head as she pulled her sleeve over her balled-up fist and wiped her tears. "This is really good. You are a great writer and...you made me cry."
As Asher wrapped his arms around Evelyn, he couldn't help but laugh about how hard she was crying. "You're bawling like a baby. It wasn't that good."
All she could do was look at him with a pout on her face as she continued to wipe the tears off of her face.
"Hey...not to ruin this extremely emotional moment. But did you ever speak to your parents?" he asked.
"Um, I was going to talk to my dad earlier since my mom's out of town," she sighed. "But, then you appeared on the doorstep like my stalker. So, I never got the chance."
"Well, why don't I wipe these tears?" he suggested. He brought his hand up to her face, chuckling under his breath as he wiped her face off. "And then I'll leave."
She hopped off of her bed, holding her hand out for him which he happily accepted. "I'll walk you out."
Asher turned his head, glancing over at his girlfriend who seemed to be heavily in thought. Probably debating the dreaded topic about how careless her brother was being, so he gave her small peck on her shoulder as they made their way down the steps. Evelyn left with him a short kiss on the lips before practically pushing him out of the house and making her way over to her father's office.
Joaquin's eyes met his daughter's, the look of guilt was splashed all over her face, making him drop the pen he was writing with down on his desk and his expression hardened. "What'd do you now, Evelyn?"
"Me?" she gasped. "I did nothing, dad! It's...Enrique."
"I swear you two are gonna drive your mom and me to an early grave," he complained, tugging on the ends of his hair. "What'd he do now? Crash my car, again!"
"No, dad," she scoffed. "It's a little more serious than that."
He gestured for his daughter to take a seat one of of the chairs.
"So, Asher told me his heart condition was caused by him taking steroids. And he suggested to Ricky that he should probably see the same doctor considering they both took steroids," she explained. "But, he didn't care and he also didn't seem to care when he ended up in the hospital. Dad...look, I hate to be the one to snitch on him but Enrique doesn't care about his wellbeing."
"I'm going to kick your brother's ass," Joaquin brought a hand a down his face. "You did the right thing, mija. Your mom and I will make sure he gets checked out, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Evelyn shrugged. "But, if he finds out that he can't play football anymore, he'll blame me."
"You've been protecting your brother your whole life, Evie," Joaquin scoffed. "You and Ricky are twins but you act like the older sister the way you take care of your brothers. He'll understand. Thanks for telling me."
"Just..." Evelyn sighed, fiddling with her hands. "Don't be too hard on him. He made a mistake."
"See? You're doing it again and trying to protect him," Joaquin shook his head. "Using steroids was a mistake. Not telling your mom and me about the possibility of him having a heart condition because of his mistake is just stupid and careless."
4x03