Evie’s POV
I smile, thinking about dinner with Tony. It was amazing.
I throw myself on the couch and soon fall asleep.
An hour later I wake up to three missed calls from Tony and I'm about to listen to my voicemail when another one comes through.
"Hello?"
"Hi. Um. Is this Evie?" A small voice comes through the line. It sounds like Emily.
"Yeah, it is. Is this Emily?"
"Yeah. Hi. Um, can you and Donny come over? Like right now?"
"Yeah, Emi I guess." I look at the clock. It's 12:30 a.m. "What's going on?"
"Well, um. My mommy left for work hours ago and Tony was supposed to watch me and put me to bed but he won't come out of his room. He locked me out and and he's breathing really really really really hard and talking to himself and... I'm scared." Emi's voice breaks at that last part and my heart goes out to the little girl.
"Ohh okay Emi. You have to calm down okay? I'll be there in 15 minutes. Try and talk to Tony through the door, okay?"
"Okay." She says between sniffles.
I rush to get myself ready and check to make sure my mom is in her room. For once, she's there. I slowly open and close the front door and head out.
I make it to Tony's house in a few minutes and I knock on the door.
Emi opens the door after a moment and grabs my hand. "You gotta make him feel better like you always do."
She practically drags me to his doorway and then runs back to lock the front door. She comes back and stands behind me expectantly.
"Um, Emily? I think you should wait in your room. Just until Tony's better. Can you do that for me?"
She nods quickly and then heads down the hallway to her room.
I softly knock on the door. "Tony?" I call out. "It's me."
I don't hear anything back, so I turn the doorknob to find out it's unlocked.
I open his door to see chaos. His chair is overturned, there are papers and clothes everywhere, and right in the center of it all, Tony is balled up on the floor hyperventilating and shaking.
This has to be the worst one yet.
I step over books, pencils, random papers and clothes until I reach him. I kneel down and put my hand on his shoulder. He jumps and spins around to look at me. He's sweating and his eyes can't focus. Instead they keep darting around the room and then back at me.
"Tony. It's me Evie. Can you hear me?"
He nods slowly but continues hiccuping and shaking.
"You need to focus on breathing, and calming down okay? Just focus on me, and focus on breathing." I unclench his fists and hold both his hands so he looks at me. "Just breathe. And focus on me."
His breathing starts to slow down and I move to his side and help him sit up against his bed. "You're gonna be okay. I'm here. I love you." I start running my fingers through his hair. He continues nodding and his breathing is more regular now.
I hold his hand and he breathes deeper. His eyes start to focus finally and he looks at me.
“I think I’m okay,” he finally whispers.
“Yeah?” I lift his face and see that there are tears in his eyes. “Do you… What.” I can’t find words. “What happened?”
“Juan,” he says after a while. “He got shot. I saw him get shot.”
“Oh my gosh Tony.” I start to panic myself. “What. Why. How. I… What happened??”
“I dunno.” Tony rests his head between his legs. “I was just walking home from your house. I guess Juan was down the street behind me. A car pulled up and next thing I knew, they were spraying bullets at him.
“I am so sorry Tony.” I don’t want to ask to the next question but do so anyway. “Is he… is he alive?”
"I don't know... I saw him get rushed to the hospital, but I haven't heard anything."
“We… we can call the hospital if you want Tony,” I suggest shyly.
“Nah.” Tony wipes his face. “It was a gang related shooting. They’re not gonna give away that info.
“Gang related?”
“Yeah.” Tony looks away.
“Oh.” I decide not to push it anymore and just hug Tony.
“Can you spend the night?” Tony finally asks quietly.
“Um. I.” The topic of sex has never come up between me and Tony. It’s not that I don’t love him enough to sleep with him. I’ve just always thought that my first time was gonna—
“I just wanna be next to you,” Tony says urgently. “I can even sleep on the floor if you want.”
“Oh. No. It’s fine.” I smile a little. “Lemme just tell Emi that everything is okay.”
“Okay.”
I tiptoe out of Tony’s room and open Emily’s door. She’s sleeping and her thumb is in her mouth. I sneak over to her, plant a kiss on her forehead and turn out the lights. When I get back to Tony’s room, he’s in a pair of boxers and pulling stuff out of his dresser.
“Did you want a change of clothes?”
“Sure.” I try not to be awkward as I wait for Tony to find some clothes for me. Knowing that I’m gonna be sleeping in his bed is actually pretty funny to me.
“Here mamas.” Tony hands me a large black tshirt and a pair of sweats. “This is the smallest stuff I could find.”
“It’s cool.” Tony stands around awkwardly as I put my bag down to change.
“Uh. You want me to turn around?”
“I don’t really care.” I pull my shirt off and Tony walks to the other side of the room.
“I guess I’ll just wait over here.” He glances at me then pulls out his phone. We have the same one. I can tell he wants to look at me but doesn't wanna be rude. His eyes keep flicking back and forth between his phone and me.
“You’re so funny Tony.” I take my bra off and Tony's eyes meet mine. I hold his glance for a second before slipping his shirt on.
My jeans come off next. Tony is still gazing at me and his eyes are filled with wonder. I throw my jeans at his face and he quickly catches them.
"Geez Evette. So violent."
I stick my tounge out at him; partially because he called me Evette and partially because I don't know how to react to his curious eyes.
I crawl into Tony’s bed and it smells like him. Tony sits on the floor and looks up at me.
“Can you toss me a pillow?”
I laugh at him then lift up the blanket. “Come here. You said you wanted to be next to me.”
Tony smiles then crawls into bed with me. He wraps his arms around me and I lean into his chest.
“This is perfect,” Tony whispers.
“Yesss.” I wiggle a little and we both laugh.
"Evie?" Tony's voice is softer.
"Yeah?" I turn to face him.
"How did you know to come over?"
"What?"
"How did you know? I didn't call you or anything, and all of a sudden you were just there. I was blacking in and out and then you were in front of me."
"Ohh. Emi called me."
"Really?? That kid is too smart."
"Yeah, well she saved you."
"So did you." Tony turns his face towards me and his green eyes meet mine. "Thank you, Evie."
"Mhmm. I love you too Tony." He laughs and pulls me closer.
I’m starting to fall asleep when I feel Tony’s hand slide down my backside. Naturally, I feel a little shocked at first but when I look at him, he’s already half asleep. His hands continue roaming in his sleep and I can’t help but smile.
Sure, he still has things to work out but I love him so much.
And I could definitely get used to this.