Stay (Completed)

Chapter 6- Can Anyone Say Coincidence?

Maria’s POV:

I left work and went back by my house to change. I pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a red off shoulder tee. I let my hair down and grabbed my purse and I was out the door. It was 7:30 so I would be a little early but that would be alright. I liked the atmosphere of the Lobster Shack too much to wait around to go there. When I pulled into the parking lot I saw it was packed, but that wasn’t unusual since it was a Friday night.

I walked up the wooden steps to the front door and was immediately thrown into the sights, sounds, and smells of one of my favorite restaurants in town. There were laughing people everywhere, the smell of freshly cooked lobster, and locals and vacationers alike sitting at the same table in order to save space. There were about 10 people in line so I put my name in and went to wait for Rachel.

But that’s when I saw him. Evan. Of course, he was here. That would be what would happen. I tried to figure out if I should go say hi or not but then he looked up after laughing at something Tommy, or maybe it was Jack, said, and he caught me staring at him. He kept smiling and squinted a little just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was and then excused himself from his family. His dad saw where he was looking and turned around to see me. He just laughed and shook his head as if he knew it would be me.

“Hey Maria.” Evan smiled as he came up to me.

“Hey Evan.” I half laughed half said as he stopped in front of me.

“Fancy seeing you here.” He said with a glint in his eye. Did he know I was going to be here? Wait a second…

“Wait…You heard Rachel and I talking today didn’t you?” I asked him, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Well of course I did, I mean your friend talks as loud as a bullhorn.” He laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh too.

“She does she does…so you knew I was going to be here…”

“Well…yes,” he looked down at the ground, but then looked back at me and said, “…and when I showed my dad the advertisement for this place he said it looked like a good place for dinner…how could I disagree?”

“I guess you cannot say no to the best lobster in McClellanville.” I let him off the hook. Whether he planned to see me or not didn’t really matter, what mattered was that he came over when he did see me. “How was your dinner?” I asked.

“Amazing! Just like everything else in this town.”

“Glad you liked it,” I told him, “You know I know the owner-“

“Of course you do,” he interjected.

I laughed and continued. “I know the owner and he catches these lobster three times a day; you cannot get any fresher than that.” I told Evan.

“Impressive. But you know what my favorite part of this place is?” he asked me.

That I’m here. I thought. No, what am I thinking; that’s not it.

“What’s that?” I asked him.

“The people.”

I was close I thought. “What do you mean?”

“Just…everybody here…and in this town. They are all so welcoming and ask you how you’re doing…and I feel like they actually care…I don’t know…it’s just different.” He told me, serious in the end even though the beginning hadn’t started out that way.

I wonder what it was different from. His hometown maybe? By then we had worked our way out of the busy restaurant to the balcony overlooking the beach. Not many people were out here since if you wanted food you had to be inside.