Evelyn's eyes slowly fluttered open in the morning light. She groaned as she stretched and rubbed her eyes, trying to rid herself of her fatigue. Evelyn turned on her side and faced a sleeping Finley. She furrowed her eyebrows while trying to recall why Finley was sleeping in her bed. She looked behind the sleeping girl and her eyes widened, only now realizing this was not her bed or her bedroom. The bright white comforter and walls were not even close to the dark blue one she owned and the light mint green walls of her bedroom.
Looking over her shoulder, Evelyn glanced at the time on the digital clock placed on a white bedside table, 9:14.
She nudged Finley trying to wake her up so she could figure out where they were. "Hmm... fuck off," Finley mumbled and turned away from the girl. Evelyn began shaking Finley to wake her up, she had never seen this room and started to panic, "Fin, where the hell are we?"
Finley begrudgingly peeled her eyes open to be met with the panicked look on her best friend's face, and at that moment she decided to mess with her. Finley widened her eyes dramatically as she looked around the room, "What the fuck."
Evelyn looked like she had seen a ghost, the panic starting to sink in that they were probably kidnapped and being held hostage.
"Finley what the fuck? Where the fuck are we? We're gonna die here, oh my god!" She almost yelled as she started tearing up. Finley noticed the fear in her eyes and the way she started swearing, Evelyn only swore when she was extremely mad or extremely scared.
"I'm just kidding!" she snorted. Evelyn paused and looked at Finley and the smirk plastered on her face.
"Wow. I hate you so much," she groaned as she threw herself back onto the pillows while wiping her eyes, "I could've had a panic attack."
"Oh calm down," Finley said as she closed her eyes again, ready to sleep after getting a small kick out of scaring her friend, "You totally wouldn't have. Plus, we're just in Luke's house."
"You have no sympathy," she said as she noticed the girl trying to sleep again. Finley smiled and nodded lazily, agreeing with the girl beside her.
She realized that Finely said they were in Luke's house. It took her a moment to recall the night before. She then vividly remembered celebrating the blonde's win the night before with some alcohol and herself falling asleep while they talked about extraterrestrial life on other planets. "Yeah... okay," she nodded, assuming that Finley must have brought her to bed after she passed out.
"What time is it," Finley asked after laying in the bed for a few more minutes.
"It is," Evelyn paused as she turned back to look at the clock again, "9:27."
Finley jumped up from the bed so fast Evelyn thought she had whiplash. "I have a class in thirty minutes!" she panicked and started tripping over her own feet as she scrambled to grab her phone off the floor and ran to the other side of the bed to haul Evelyn out of it.
"Get your ass moving! I'm gonna be late!" she yelled as she kept pulling Evelyn out towards the living room.
"Well if you didn't scare me maybe we could've left earlier," she whisper-yelled and rolled her eyes as she tripped over her own feet trying to keep in pace with Finley.
"Slow down, Lightning McQueen. Where are you going so fast?" Ashton asked from his place on the couch.
"I'm gonna be late to class!" she shouted as she hopped on one foot trying to pull her high heels from the night before. Evelyn slipped her sneakers on easily and asked,"Is Luke still here?"
"Yeah he's in his room, last one at the end of the hallway," Calum replied and gestured distractedly towards the hall they just came from. She nodded and started waking back to the hallway to find his room, all the while Finley was still trying to lace up her heels.
Evelyn's footsteps on the wooden floor lightly echoed as she took time to observe the walls—white with one painting hung. It was a skyline of New York City at night, the water illuminated by the city lights. It was nice but typical. She made her way further into the corridor and took quick peaks into the rooms with open doors. Once she reached the end of the hall, she stood in front of another wooden door. The door was ajar but she felt she had to knock anyway. Common courtesy, she thought.
She lifted her fist up and hesitated slightly before remembering the rush Finley was in and decided she didn't have much more time before she would be escorted to the truck. She lightly tapped her knuckles against the wood.
"Come in," he spoke from inside and she gripped the handle to slowly push the door open enough for her to enter his room. Luke was laying against his headboard, one arm resting leisurely behind his head as the other was holding his phone in front of his face. Evelyn looked around the room impressed. It was smaller than the guest bedroom and had a completely different vibe to the rest of the apartment, rustic. All the furniture was made of dark brown wood, he had black bed sheets and blankets, the walls and balcony door frame were dark grey, everything was just dark.
Luke watched as she observed his room, though he didn't mind much. If it had been one of the guys that came knocking he wouldn't have hesitated to cuss them out and tell them to leave him alone, but the light footsteps he heard as she walked towards his room was enough for him to want to see her before she left for the day.
After realizing Luke was watching her she stopped her mini inspection of the details in his room and looked back at the blonde.
"Finley and I gotta go now but I just wanted to say thank you for letting us hang out and stay the night."
"No problem," he replied.
"Evelyn! Hurry the fuck up!"
She glanced down the corridor and looked back at Luke. She shyly smiled before saying, "Goodbye, Luke."
Bye Evelyn," He intently watched as she blushed and looked at the floor with that smile still on her face while closing the door. He wanted to memorize her radiant smile and the it had the power to melt his icy heart a little every time—she had the power to melt his icy heart.
♛
Tuesday morning, Evelyn and Finley sat at a booth alone in the bakery. It was Evelyn's day off and even though she would rather not be there when she wasn't forced to, it had almost become a daily routine over the few months they had been in New York for them to sit and drink before they start their days. The two were in the middle of the one argument they can never seem to come to an agreement on.
"I'm telling you Evie, season six was the bes—"
"But it was so sad because it was the last season! Plus you can't tell me dark Stiles wasn't insane. That whole season had me ruined for weeks, I couldn't look at Dylan the same."
"Yeah, but the ending wasn't sad! Well it was, but it's not like anyone di—"
"Shh! No spoilers," Evelyn squealed as she covered her ears.
"Evie... we've watched the show at least fifteen times start to finish," Finley sighed as she placed her head on the table. "And okay maybe dark Stiles was intense as fuck—"
"Hah!" Evelyn yelled pointing a finger at her friend.
"—but that doesn't mean it was the best," she finished as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.
"Really," Evelyn deadpanned, "that's your defense?"
As Finley went to defend herself again, she was cut off by a chair being placed backwards against the table next and the body occupying it.
"What the hell is a Stiles?"
Evelyn gasped and started blushing and quickly looked away from the blonde, "How long have you been listening?"
"Not long," he shrugged as he sipped his coffee.
"Stiles," Finley paused and dragged out the name, "Is Dylan O'Brien's phenomenal role in Teen Wolf, you uncultured swine."
"Stop it Fin," Evelyn lightly scolded as she sipped her hot chocolate and blushed as Luke glanced at her.
Finley continued like she wasn't interrupted, "It's like, the second best show I've ever watched, after The Vampire Diaries."
Evelyn groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Finley, you're getting heated again, calm down."
She rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine. But just know, I don't take slander on my shows lightly," she threatened Luke.
Evelyn sighed dramatically but her attention was immediately caught as she looked at Finley's phone. It lit up with a message from 'calum thomas hood'.
"Oh my god!" Evelyn squealed, "Where are you and Calum going?"
Finley quickly looked at her phone and saw his message, 'Hey where am I picking u up from. Excited for l8r btw'
Finley cringed as she read his bad texting style, "The movies... and I kinda gotta go right now," she said as she started grabbing her things to leave the booth.
"Yay!" Evelyn yelled and high-fived Finley.
"Oh! I forgot to send you something. I'll send it when I have service outside," Finley said as she slid out of the booth.
"See you later Evie! Love you!"
"Love you too, Fin! Have fun!"
The girl shot Evelyn a thumbs up as she left. Evelyn glanced back at her lukewarm hot chocolate as she didn't know what to talk about with Luke. It was more intimidating trying to talk to him alone. Luke opened his mouth to say something when Evelyn's phone buzzed. She quickly picked it up because she knew Finley was going to text her something that seemed important. She looked at the preview before unlocking her phone, it looked like a couple which confused her, she didn't know why Finley would send her that.
That was, until she clicked on the picture. She instantly could tell that it was a picture of her on a couch, cuddled up with someone—that someone who was sitting right beside her. Her mouth was agape as she inspected the picture. She had no memory of that happening and she wondered if Luke didn't either.
"Evelyn?"
She quickly locked her phone, making a mental note to let Finley of how much she hates her when she gets home.
"Yeah, sorry. What did you say?"
"I asked if you were okay?"
"Oh, yeah. Mhm... totally," she fake smiled showing all her teeth. Luke looked at her skeptically, but let her think she had convinced him.
"I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go do something?" he asked, successfully changing the topic.
"Totally," she smiled at him , thankful for the distraction. He stood from the chair and started moving it back to its table. She slid out of the booth and stood beside him as he adjusted the leather jacket he wore. "Ready to go?"
She nodded and they started heading towards the door, "Bye Sophia!" she shouts to her coworker, smiling brightly as she let the door close behind her.
The two started walking silently from the bakery on the busy street. "So that's the real Sophia?" he asked after a few moments, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. Evelyn looked up to see him staring down at her, a smirk adorning his face.
"Oh my god," she groaned and hid her face in her hands.
"Bet she knows how much coffee is meant to fill one cup," he gently nudged her arm, biting his lip to hold back a smile.
"I'll leave," she said as she stopped waking, though the smile on her face and blush on her cheeks showed her amusement.
"Fine, fine. I'll stop," he said and lifted his hands in mock surrender. Evelyn nodded with her chin turned up and took the few steps to catch up to Luke.
"Wanna go to a park," he asked, not completely sure where the idea came from but he knew he wanted to do something to spend more time with the girl beside him.
"Central Park? Isn't that like a forty minute walk from here?" she asked him.
He shook his head, "No, there's one close by that people don't usually go to. Would you want to go to that one?"
"Yes please," she nodded excitedly. Luke shook his head gently, biting his lip again, and looked ahead as he continued leading them to the park.
When Evelyn was able to see the green grass she was surprised it was smaller and had loads of trees around and flowers. It reminded her of one she used to frequent with her mother back home.
She quickly led them over to a bench that looked into the heart of the park where there was a nice view of the trees and the scattered flowers. She sat down and looked up at Luke as he claimed his space on the bench next to her a few seconds later.
Evelyn was quickly caught up in enjoying the sun beating down on them and the nice view. Luke sat next to her, watching as her eyes quickly darted in different directions, watching the flowers sway in the wind or the occasional dogs that wandered by with their owners.
"I didn't think there were any nice parks around here, it's so beautiful."
Luke shrugged as he looked down at her and studied the smile on her face, "I've never really paid attention."
The girl's attention was caught by a blooming flower that was a few feet from the bench. She quickly got up and walked over to see a butterfly had landed on top of the yellow petals. Luke watched her sit there, wondering why she was suddenly interested in the flower.
Evelyn stuck her hand out and miraculously, the bug crawled onto it. She stood up as slowly as she could and started taking baby steps back over to the blonde.
Luke rested his arm on the back of the bench as she sat down, the butterfly was still sitting on her palm, its wings closed. Luke looked at her confused and slightly impressed, "Why do you have a butterfly on your hand?"
She looked up at Luke with her bright eyes that shone as the sunlight hit them. "This is my favorite butterfly," she said in awe.
"But it looks so... boring,"
"That's what you'd expect right?" she asked, taking no offense from his blunt statement, "But the brown on the wings is only camouflage, it's supposed to look like it has eyes so predators won't attack it. It's called a morpho butterfly and I'm very confused."
Luke titled his head, "Why,"
"They only live in tropical climates, so I have absolutely no idea what it's doing in the middle of New York City," she said, as she admired the butterfly on her palm. Luke found it completely endearing how consumed she was by the creature. He enjoyed watching the wide smile on her face as she talked, it made his stomach erupt in butterflies.
"I love butterflies because a lot of people associate them as a deep representation of the soul. I think it's beautiful how these delicate bugs have so much meaning. These ones have this beautiful, bright blue on the inside of their wings that looks so pretty in the light.The blue represents love, change and healing. It's also considered a wish-granter,"
She paused as it spread its blue wings and fluttered off her hand and into the air. They both watched as it took flight for a few seconds before landing on the tip of Luke's nose. Evelyn squealed and quickly pulled out her phone and angled herself to get the perfect picture.
"Make a wish," she giggled as she caught the moment on her phone. She pulled it away from her face and watched as it fluttered it's wings again and flew off, in search of its next landing spot.
She looked back down at the picture on her phone and audibly 'awed' at the scene. Luke's blue eyes were looking past the camera—at what, she wasn't sure—and the shine of the blue wings matched almost perfectly with that of his eyes. The bright blues completely contracted the black of his shirt and leather jacket and his blonde hair, one arm slung over the back of the bench. Her favorite part though, was the tiny smile gracing his face. She hadn't seen him smile many times, and now she had this moment of pure content captured forever. She finally put the picture away and scooted back closer to Luke.
He asked, "So I take it you like butterflies?"
She nodded vigorously as she looked up at him with that smile still on her face, "I love them so much. I have ever since I was like five, my dad told me I was always fascinated with them and I still am. I've learned so much about them and they've just become a symbol in my life, I haven't seen that many types in person though. That was the first time I saw one of those butterflies in real life and it was actually pretty co—sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?" she asked as she noticed Luke staring at her. She figured he didn't really care about what she was going on about, especially butterflies—why would he care about butterflies? She asked herself.
Luke shook his head, "Not at all."
She looked down embarrassed and Luke wanted to tell her he found it adorable, watching her speak so highly of something she clearly loved. But he couldn't, instead he asked, "Can I see the picture?"
Evelyn quickly pulled out her phone, typing in her password, 1203—Luke wondered what it meant.
"Here," she passed him the phone with the picture pulled up. The first thing Luke did was zoom in on his face—more specifically, his smile. His smile. Luke couldn't remember the last time someone had photographed him and he was smiling. He wasn't aware he was doing it but he knew it had something to do with the way his eyes trailed passed the camera and to the girl behind it as he was making a wish.
"Let me send it to you," she offered, washing the look of disbelief off his face.
"I'm good, thanks," he handed her back the phone.
"Oh come on! If I have it, you have to have it too, it's only fair." Evelyn bargained.
Luke agreed, only after seeing the blank, new contact on her phone and the slight pouting face she made, "Fine."
Evelyn bit her lip as she held back a smile, the way Luke's eyebrows furrowed as he typed his number was cute and hot all at once.
"Do you maybe want to come back to mine for a while?"
Luke looked up at the girl as he handed her phone back. He glanced at the watch on his wrist and sighed. "I have training in thirty minutes"
"Oh, that's fine," Evelyn responded, although the way her smile fell a little told Luke it wasn't all that fine.
She stood from the bench as she decided it was probably best to let Luke get ready to go to the gym. "I'll see you later Luke," she waved.
Luke sighed, it's now or never.
"Evelyn, wait!"
She stopped in her tracks and turned around quickly.
"I, um," he paused as he thought of what to say. "I have a fight tomorrow, but I'm free on Thursday."
Evelyn turned her head to the side confused, "So..."
"So, uh, if you're free then maybe we could hang out?" Luke cringed as he hesitated speaking. God, what is she doing to me? he asked himself.
"Yeah, that sounds good!" He was relieved to see her smile was back and brighter than before, "I'll see you then Luke."
"See you then, Evelyn," she giggled and waved as Luke saluted her and walked the other way.
♛♛♛
finally hit double digit chapter numbers!!!
i wanna say thank you for voting and commenting and 4k reads like W H A T
this was one of my favorite chapters so fan hope you enjoyed!
here's what the butterfly looks like incase you were u familiar!
love you guys -olivia