MARCH 10, 1991. OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON.
"SO, DAVE'S HOME today?" Josh, from his place in the front of shop stacking records, asks Evie behind the counter calculating sales for the week.
"Yes, he is," Evie smiles, tearing her eyes away from the numbers on the paper in front of her to look at Josh.
"You two are so cute," he says, shaking his head and Evie laughs.
"I'm not sure if cute would be the word I would use to describe us," she says.
"Well I think you guys are cute. You're so in love. It's sweet," he tells Evie.
"Thanks Josh," Evie laughs, "Hey when are you going to tell Ruby you love her?" she asks and now it's Josh's turn to laugh.
"I'll tell her I love her when she tells me," he says plainly.
"You're gonna make her say it first?"
"Sure. She's blunt, so when she loves me I know she'll just come out and say it. But she hasn't said it yet, so I don't know if she loves me," Josh explains his logic.
"Right. I guess that makes sense," Evie agrees, understanding Ruby in the same way that Josh does. And he's right, she will just come out and say it when she's ready. Unlike Evie.
They settle into a silence and continue working away with very few customers for the next hour or so, Evie still stuck crunching numbers and Josh downstairs organising new stock and packaging orders. Finally, the bells on the door jingle as someone enters the shop.
Evie looks up from the book she is consumed in to greet the customer who she quickly realises is not a customer at all.
"Hey, you," Dave smiles at Evie from where he's standing at the door and she stands from her seat, making her way over to him.
"What are you doing here?" Evie states, not expecting to see Dave until after her shift was supposed to finish at 5pm.
"I couldn't wait to see you," Dave admits, placing his hands on either side of Evie's face and leaning in to kiss her.
Evie sighs as they pull apart, "I've missed that."
"I have too," Dave agrees.
Josh must hear them from downstairs, because he comes back up to greet Dave happily.
"Hey man! How was tour?" Josh asks excitedly.
"Hey, it was really good, but I'm happy to be home," Dave tells him, looking back to Evie with his last few words as if she is his definition of home.
Despite talking on the phone every day, Evie has still missed Dave a lot, mainly she's missed his physical presence and has been craving just being able to hold him or stand near him.
"Evie, clock off early. I'll close up if you want," Josh offers and she looks between Dave and Josh.
"Oh, are you sure? That's three hours on your own," Evie asks.
"I'll be fine, shop's dead today anyway. You two go," Josh insists.
"Thanks Josh," Evie smiles as she walks behind the counter to collect her stuff and clock out.
"Thanks," she hears Dave say quietly to Josh as she's crouched down to grab her bag from the floor.
"Alright, have a good afternoon. Thank you again," Evie tells Josh with a hug before she and Dave walk out the door.
"Anytime. Bye guys," Josh says.
"Bye," Dave says as he holds the door open for Evie to step out before him.
As soon as they step out onto the path, their hands habitually reach for each other. They share a quick glance which indicates they both noticed the synchronicity.
"I'm so glad your home," Evie tells Dave, squeezing his hand tighter.
"I am too."
"Did you drive into town?" Evie questions.
"No, I got Kurt to drop me off, I thought you would've driven to work," he tells her.
"Well you thought right. What did you want to do?" She asks Dave.
"Why don't we go back to yours? I miss the Kelly household," Dave offers.
"Sure, but Mia and Dad aren't home so you won't get the full experience," Evie says.
"Well maybe that's a good thing," Dave says, smiling mischievously.
"Oh, I see," Evie smiles at his proposition.
They hop into Evie's car and start the drive back to her house. She asks him more questions about the tour, where his favourite city was, if he enjoyed Canada, what the crowds were like. He gets so excited talking about it, it's clear to see how passionate he is about playing.
"I wanted to talk to you about something kind of important actually," Dave says and Evie's heart skips a beat, scared for what this might be due to the nervous tone in his voice.
"Yeah? Go ahead," Evie tells him.
"Well you know the whole moving to Seattle thing?" Dave asks and Evie understands now, nodding slowly, aware of where this conversation is heading.
"Yeah," she says.
"I think I'm doing that at the end of the month," Dave says slowly, clearly scared to reveal this information.
"This month?" Evie asks and Dave nods.
"Moving to Seattle?" She asks again and he nods.
"Wow," she says. The thought of Dave moving to Seattle doesn't scare her as much as it did before because she knows there will still be plenty of opportunities for them to see each other, but she's still upset at the fact that it won't be as frequent as it is now.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you," Dave begins to explain.
"Dave it's okay, I'm happy for you. I'll miss you, but I think it's good idea," she assures Dave, knowing that if she was in his position she would want his support and he would most definitely give it to her.
"I'm sorry Eves," he says again, resting his hand on the back of her neck soothingly.
"You don't have to be sorry. It's okay Dave," she smiles, looking to him and attempting the hide the hurt behind what he's just told her.
They spend the rest of the drive in silence, both in their heads thinking about what Dave just told her. Evie considers what he asked her, moving to Seattle with him, but she's still not sure if she's ready.
Evie pushes the door open to her house and they walk through to the living room.
"Did you want a coffee?" Evie offers, moving to the kitchen and putting on the kettle.
"Yeah, I'd love one."
Evie continues to move around the kitchen without a word, grinding the coffee beans and putting them into the coffee plunger. She thinks about the fact that she hasn't even told Dave about the Rolling Stone internship yet since she didn't want to discuss it with anyone while putting together her application.
"I applied for an internship in New York," Evie says, starting conversation in attempt to break the awkward silence they've fallen into.
"You what?" Dave questions with furrowed brows and she immediately wishes she didn't say anything,
She looks down, pouring the boiled water into the plunger.
"It's only meant to be for a few weeks in the Summer. It's with Rolling Stone," she explains, trying to put as little weight onto her words as possible.
"When did you do that?" Dave asks and she can sense that he's upset she didn't tell him.
"In February," she says, finally meeting his eyes again to hand over his mug of coffee.
"Why didn't you say anything? Didn't you want me to know?" Dave says, placing the mug back down on the counter without taking a sip and crossing his arms.
Evie sighs, "No, Dave it wasn't like that. It was because I didn't want to get my hopes up and have other people getting excited for me, only to get let down."
"So, did you get the internship?" Dave asks, his tone shifting to one a bit warmer, seemingly understanding where Evie was coming from a bit more.
"I haven't heard yet. I just wanted to tell you."
"Oh," he says.
"Sorry. I'm so tired. I'm getting weird and defensive for no reason," he continues, uncrossing his arms and tucking his hair behind his ear.
Evie stands a few feet away from him, locking into his brown eyes, "It's okay. I should've told you before."
Dave shakes his head, "I understand you wanting to keep that to yourself. But that's big news Evie, I'm proud of you," he tells her, picking up his coffee and taking a sip.
"Well I haven't gotten any news back yet," she begins.
"But you still applied. That's huge," he encourages her.
"Thanks," she says quietly.
They sip on their coffees in silence before Dave speaks up again.
"Can we just pretend that all the weirdness didn't just happen and get back to being happy to see each other," he asks.
"Yes please," Evie sighs, setting down her cup and walking towards him. She wraps her arms around Dave's waist to pull him close and Dave's arms immediately find their place around her shoulders.
"I love you," she tells him.
"I love you," he repeats back.
Evie moves her hands to rest on the side of Dave's face, pulling him closer to kiss him and hopefully erase any tension that's still lingering. It seems to work when Dave responds eagerly kissing her back. His hands move to her waist as they catch up on the time apart over the last week.
"Let's go to my room," Evie says, pulling back from Dave.
"Okay," he nods as she grabs his hand and pulls him upstairs to her bedroom. She pushes open the door and moves her hands to Dave's chest to push him backwards towards the bed.
"Okay," he says, noting Evie's controlling nature taking over as he falls back onto her mattress.
She laughs at the surprise in his voice as she straddles Dave's lap before leaning down to connect their lips again, moaning positively at the feeling of having him under her again.
"I missed you," Dave says as Evie pulls away to kiss down his neck.
"Show me," Evie murmurs, pulling Dave's shirt up.
"What?" Dave asks, pulling the shirt over the top of his head before groaning as Evie begins to kiss down his torso.
"I said, show me how much you've missed me," she says, pulling at the waistband of Dave's shorts and he listens.
Dave slides out of the shorts he's wearing, leaving him in his underwear. He sits up so that Evie is sitting in his lap and connects their lips again.
"You need to get out of this dress," Dave says, pulling at the hem of her sundress and rolling it up over her head to reveal her in nothing but her lace underwear.
Dave hooks his arms under Evie's legs and shifts her so she is laying on her back with her legs hooked around Dave's waist as he hovers above her. He moves his kisses from her mouth, down her neck, across her chest and down her torso until he reaches the tiny bow at the front of her underwear.
"This needs to go too," Dave says, tugging lightly at the waistband and sliding them slowly down Evie's legs.
Instead of pulling down his own underwear like she expected, Dave resumes where he left off, kissing softly along the inside of her thighs.
The moment is interrupted by the loud sound of the front door swinging closed and the voices of Mia and Luke coming closer and closer to Evie's room as the sound of their walking moves up the stairs.
"You're kidding," Evie groans, rolling off the bed and pulling her clothes back over her naked body in a haste.
"Mia's home?" Dave questions as he does the same, quickly moving off the bed to pull on his shorts and shirt.
"Yep," Evie states, pulling her dress down over her head and flattening it out against her legs.
As Dave continues getting changed in the room, Evie steps out into the hall to let Mia know she's home.
"Hey," Evie announces herself as she steps into Mia's room where her and Luke sit on the bed talking.
"What are you doing home?" Mia says, surprised to see her sister who's meant to be at work.
"I got off early," Evie explains as Dave makes his way across the hall to peer into Mia's room behind Evie.
"Hey Mia, hey Luke," Dave greets the two of them while slinging his arms over Evie's shoulders.
"Dave! I wasn't expecting to see you. how was tour?" Mia asks sweetly.
"It was great," Dave says, stepping side to side on his feet to sway Evie in his grasp.
"That's good. I'm happy your home," Mia says and both Evie and Dave shoot her quizzical looks.
"And why's that?" Evie questions unsurely on behalf of Dave.
"I won't have to hear Evie's whining about how much she misses you anymore," Mia explains to Dave which makes him laugh.
Evie shakes her head at Mia's teasing, "You're so annoying."
Mia pokes her tongue out at her sister which gets a laugh out of Luke and Dave and an eye roll out of Evie.
"Bye," Evie turns, stepping out of Dave's grasp and begins walking down stairs, Dave following her lead.
She walks through the house out onto the back deck, revelling in the afternoon sun shining onto the house and taking a seat in the same couch they had sat in on the night of Oliver's birthday.
Dave slumps into the space beside Evie and she turns to move so that she is laying across Dave's lap with her legs dangling over the edge of the couch. He twirls his fingers through her hair which splays across his lap and smiles at this sweet image of Evie. The warm sun is shining perfectly onto her olive skin as she lays with her eyes closed, breathing in the moment and revelling in Dave's gentle touch.
She is always amused by how her view of Dave is constantly being contrasted. When she watches him play he becomes so powerful and almost aggressive in the heavy way he strikes his kit. In his interactions with friends he is always outgoing and the one providing laughs. But then in moments like this one, she finds herself in awe of how soft and tender he can become, stroking her hair and smiling down at her lazily in a moment of completely comfortable silence.
"What are you thinking about?" Dave asks, and sometimes Evie swears he can read her mind. She blushes at the mere thought that he could hear each of her intricate thoughts about him.
She peels her eyes open to look up at him, "You," she states plainly and he almost laughs.
"You're thinking about me?" He smiles at her admission.
"Yes, I am. What are you thinking about?" Evie asks.
"Honestly?" Dave smiles, "I was imagining you complaining about missing me," he reveals and Evie laughs.
"I did a lot of that while you were away," she says.
"Well Kurt and Krist would probably tell you the same thing," he states.
"Really?" She says happily, now imagining Dave missing her just as much as she missed him.
"Really."
"That's sweet," Evie muses, closing her eyes again.
Dave closes his eyes too, immersing himself in this moment they're sharing and enjoying every second of it. Dave lets his thoughts drift to his and Evie's future together.
"Come to Seattle with me," he states, continue to run his fingers soothingly through Evie's hair, knowing how much she enjoys the feeling.
"Dave-" she begins before Dave cuts her off again,
"I know you feel like you can't and you don't have to say yes or no, but I just want you to know that the invitation is still there."
Evie takes a breath, "Okay. Thank you," she tells him, feeling much better with not having to make a decision, but knowing that if she did decide she wanted to move, Dave would have a place for her.
"I want it to be me and you Eves."
"I want that too. It just might take me a while to get used to the idea of leaving Olympia," she explains.
"Well I'll wait until you're ready," Dave tells her.
Evie smiles, feeling like everything is back to normal. Dave is back home and there isn't any uneasy tension like earlier. Her heart feels full, but part of it is also hurting with the thought that moment like this are going to become less frequent after this month. She knows she must savour these last few weeks of normalcy before Dave moves away.
"I love you," she tells feeling completely sure of the words she is saying.
"I love you too."
-
hi, hello! i'm so happy to be back with an update to this story. i had to take a break for a while due to something happening to someone very close to me, but i'm back! and i've missed dave and evie. i hope people still care about this story and even if no one does i'm going to continue to update just like it was before. like evie, my life is feeling normal again and so i can continue this story where i left off. <333
i want to also give an endless amount of thank you's to everyone who commented and sent love on my last author's note. your comments meant so much to me while i was feeling down. thank you, all the love to anyone who takes the time to read my words.