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 Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:47 am
Evan hadn't really been having a great time of things. He was calling out of work frequently, sometimes not even coming out of the house at all. Zack had covered for him a few times, but it was clear even he was getting fed up. And even a bit worried. Usually he left Evan to his own devices and enjoyed seeing the guy run everywhere so he didn't have to be out alone, but twice this week Zack had made sure to drive Evan to work and pick him up to make sure he got there.
It wasn't going to be any good if he got fired; Zack didn't think he'd even bother trying to go out and get a new job.
Evan was only moderately eased with someone driving him; he was barely even comfortable in his kitchen anymore. He kept the back door and the windows to the kitchen locked, curtains drawn, and sometimes he'd even come out and just sit in the bar and wait for an order instead of enjoying his little safety room.
Today, Zack had to run errands so dropped him off a little early; Evan's shift wasn't supposed to start for another half hour, so he was sitting at the bar, head down and tapping on the counter with a single finger while he waited. There were only three other people in the place, and two of them were old men laughing in the corner over some alcohol half as old as they were, or something. Evan didn't know; he didn't really care. He just wanted to be home.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:58 am
Cambria hated when the bar was this show…her tips turned into non-existent piles of…well. Nothing. She was cleaning the polished wooden surface of the bar, watching Evan with mild concern. He hadn’t seemed like himself lately and she didn’t know what was wrong…not that he’d tell her if there was something wrong…
Finally she walked a bit closer and ruffled his hair with her hand. “What’s eating you, Ev? You okay? You’ve seemed really out of it for a while now…is there anything I can do…?”
Of course there was something she could do…but she had wanted to give him the wallet when she was powered so as not to…out herself in front of him…but if it would cheer him up…what if he was just still worrying about it being missing? What if she could have stopped all of this ages ago?
Oh she was a terrible friend. “I have something for you, Evan…sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner.” She drew the wallet out of her pocket and plopped it right in front of her friend, giving a slightly strained smile, and trying to come up with some sort of lie as to how she had found it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:04 am
Evan seemed a bit surprised when she ruffled his hair and he instinctively reached up to try and smooth it out. He already had some vague lie prepared, same as always, whenever someone asked if he was doing okay. He sort of just figured no one would understand if he told them what was really upsetting him.
…He didn't even get a chance to try to lie though; immediately his eyes lit up when she produced his wallet. "—You found this? I thought it was just gonna be lost forever, I already cancelled all my cards." Immediately he started riffling through it to see what was still there—and then he paused. "…Did you go through this?" he asked, one brow hesitantly raised.
…There were still pictures of him and Zack in there, and of the family he was trying to forget, and notes he kept because he'd wanted them close to him.
But then, he just seemed worried. "—Seriously though, where did you get this?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:20 am
“W-well…I found it…yeah…and I had to uh…sort of go through it to make sure it was yours…I mean to see if it was yours…” Her face was growing red and she shrugged, looking away. “You should…uh…you should…be careful…”
Cambria looked back at the wallet in his hands. “…with your wallet, I mean. There’s people in the city who would love to get their hands on you…er…it.”
God she should have just waited until she ran into him as Lysithea again…that would have made this so much easier…
“This city’s pretty dangerous, you know…and I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re a good friend of mine, Evan…and I’m just…worried about you…”
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:31 am
Evan's relief sort of faded; he looked embarrassed and guilty. He suddenly decided to finish going through the rest of it later and slid it into his pocket. He hadn't bothered to replace it yet. "…I haven't cleaned my wallet out in a while. Sorry."
…He knew she and Zack were. Well. 'Pretty close' didn't even really seem to cover it. His head hung a little lower and he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact again.
"If you read any of the papers in there, they're all old. And the one behind the library card…I can explain," he said, but it didn't really sound like he could. "…I didn't mean to lose my wallet. Zack didn't tell you I got mugged?" No, why would he; it probably wasn't even as big a deal as he made it out to be. He'd been more worried about the girl than the wallet, anyway.
"I filed a police report, it was this whole stupid…thing. I was hoping if you found the wallet maybe you could let me know where. Someone might have gotten hurt and I just…I don't know." It wasn't like he could talk to Cambria about it; she had enough reason to not want to hang around him. He didn't need her thinking he was crazy.
Even if she was being sweet, still. She didn't even seem mad that he was still carrying around pictures of the guy that was now her boyfriend. And she'd said he was a good friend, so maybe Zack did tell her he got mugged.
Ugh, this whole thing was so confusing; Evan wanted to be friends—and it was easy to talk to Cambria, but he wasn't sure if she was just being nice because of how pathetic it was that he still had a few love notes and pictures. "…But, thanks for finding this. I really appreciate it."
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:44 am
“It’s okay…Evan, it’s all going to be okay…” Mugged…is that really what he was going to call it? It was a lot worse than a mugging…but…he was kind of seeming like he was worried about what had happened to Lysithea…which kind of made Cambria a bit happy…
“I’m sure she’s okay. Seriously.”
The words were out of her mouth before they reached her brain and Cambria mentally cursed and quickly interested herself in cleaning a glass. “But being mugged sounds terrifying, Zack never mentioned it, the jerk…”
Open mouth, insert foot, Cambria. Open mouth, insert foot. Hopefully Evan wasn’t really listening and everything and…
Then again…maybe she should just tell him. He was worried…but what if he was with the Negaverse…? But what if he wasn’t. He called it a mugging. He had no idea the powered side of the city…he was just a civilian…a terribly unlucky civilian who she cared for way more than she thought she would have.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:58 am
If Evan had been close to figuring out the truth or suspected anything, Cambria's statement about Zack was enough to distract him again. He let out a long, slow sigh and just nodded. "Oh," he said, and had to make an effort to not sound so disappointed. "It's okay, I mean, I only mentioned it like once. I didn't want him to worry or anything."
He pursed his lips and shrugged before pushing away from the counter as if to stand—and then he froze. His brows were knit and his lips pursed in thought; he was quick to doubt himself, but seemed particularly uncertain.
"…Did I say she?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:15 am
The glass slipped from Cambria’s hand and fell to the ground with a clatter and a smash. “Well s**t.” She swallowed, looking from the mess she had made, then back to Evan, shrugging. “I mean…no, you didn’t…but…I…”
She ducked down and picked up a few of the bigger shards of the glass, tossing them into the trashcan at the end of the bar. “…But I promised I’d get your wallet back, Evan…I wasn’t going to let that jerk keep it…I was fine, seriously.”
Cambria couldn’t meet Evan’s eyes, and her heart was pounding very, very uncomfortably in her chest. Honestly, she felt like crying…what if he hated her after this…what if he told Zack…?
“…I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you better…please don’t hate me…”
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:22 am
Evan just stared.
The two other gentleman in the room glanced over for only a second but quickly resumed their conversation.
His brows were knit and he stared at her for a few extra seconds as he tried to piece everything together. It was obvious what she was saying, he just couldn't accept it.
"I don't…understand," he said after another awkward pause. "You…that was you? You're…" he leaned in a bit, as if mindful someone might hear, "One of them? —I don't…but…"
He swallowed and had to sit back down.
"I don't hate you, I just…I don't understand. How are you…? I—I know a little bit about…that…stuff," he confessed, "I…ran into one when a y-youma…was following me." He looked up at her as if double checking that she was following him, and that he wasn't totally butchering the word. "—But that was you?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:32 am
Cambria shrugged. “Yeah…that was me…I’ve uh…I’ve been that way for a few years now…it’s pretty cool…” She still couldn’t meet Evan’s eyes and shrugged again, terribly annoyed at this shyness that had gripped her out of absolutely nowhere. “I saw him picking on you and I couldn’t not help. I just couldn’t. He’s a creep, I’ve met him before, so I wasn’t kidding when I said I knew what I was doing there…he’s a flirt and a jerk and…awful.”
Finally she looked up a little. “You really do need to be careful…you’ve had a youma after you too, Ev? I can start keeping a closer eye on you…I know I always try to come by here at night when you’re working late…I don’t want anything to happen to you, I really don’t. You’re a great guy and I care about you a lot. A heck of a lot.”
The ghost of a smile was on her face now and she reached over, placing her hand atop of Evans and giving it a bit of a squeeze. “I’ll protect you, the best I can.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 9:57 am
Evan wanted to be reassured, but his emotions were wavering. He didn't pull his hand away and nodded numbly. "I'm trying to be careful," he said quietly. "I don't want to get in trouble. It just follows me. It has for like, ever. It just. I thought it would stop. I tried to make it stop. I want it to stop. It's not like I ask for them to chase me home. I just—I didn't think I…I didn't think I knew anyone that would…"
He shifted positions. "…Why didn't you tell me you were okay? I went back to Zack's place. I called the police. I tried to fill out a missing person's report, but they yelled at me. I don't think they take me very seriously. I was really worried, I called out for like a week. If Zack hadn't dragged me here…"
It wasn't that he had totally accepted the idea, but he was warming up to it a little bit.
And there was no way she could have known that information if she wasn't the girl who saved him, but he wasn't sure he was happy about that. "…But what about you? —What if that guy hurt you? You can't just run out into danger like that. If he's so bad…then you really, really shouldn't just go away. You—you do know what some creepy guy like that is going to try to do to a pretty girl like you, right? You can't—you can't just be so reckless. If something like that happens—Cambria, it messes you up. You have to be safer, seriously. If something happened to you I'd be so upset. You're—honestly, you're like, the sweetest person I've met in a long time, and I…"
He swallowed. "…I don't want you to lose that. I don't want you to change…"
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:20 am
“What was I supposed to say, Evan…hey there don’t worry about me, I’m the sparkly unicorn girl that got between you and Sanidine, I’m doing just fine? And…and you weren’t here. I wanted to see you, I was going to give you the wallet back as her but I haven’t really seen you since then so…”
It was a bunch of lame excuses but…but that was all she had. Lame excuses. Finally she shrugged. “It’s my job though, Evan…it’s my job to protect people…and that means putting myself into some dangerous situations…I can’t help it…” She didn’t expect him to…to care so much about her, and honestly the thought made her feel very warm inside…and she liked it. “I’ll do my best to keep myself safe though, so I don’t worry you. But even if something does happen…I won’t change. And we won’t change. Our friendship, I mean. I won’t let it. I care way too much about you.”
And she did. Even if he was still in love with her…boyfriend/not boyfriend…it didn’t matter. His friendship came first. At least she would say it did.
A few more patrons came into the bar then and Cambria gave Evan’s hand another squeeze. “I have to get back to work, but you and me should go out and do something sometime. Maybe we could go to a movie this weekend? I’d like that, if you want to…just let me know, okay? I’m here until eleven tonight.”
She winked and walked to the other side of the bar, going to help her new customers…and hopefully make some good tips from them.
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:40 am
Evan watched her as she left; he had a lot to think about and was more worried about Cambria than he had been about anyone else in a while. She was obviously powerful enough to take care of herself if that Nega guy didn't even bother her, but now, more than ever, he didn't want her to get hurt. Knowing her secret…she didn't have to tell him. But she did.
So she must have really trusted him.
…That wasn't something you did for someone you didn't really want to be friends with.
He still had a lot of emotions to sift through, but this…was a start. He was here until eleven, too, and…
Well, now that he know that Cambria was the one who saved him…
She was making an effort to be friends.
And he ought to do the same.
Quietly, he excused himself from the bar and went to his kitchen; after a quick check to make sure the windows and doors were locked, he washed his hands and decided that no matter what else happened tonight, he was going to make Cambria the best dinner she'd ever had here.
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