1: Whispering Smoke - Evan Peters

Marshmallows

Evan and I huddled around the fire pit on the back porch. The stars were beautiful out here along the lake, and quiet lapping of the small waves at the shore made it even more relaxing. We hadn't spoken much since our small argument earlier in the day, we were both exhausted from the kayaking and I think stuck in our own thoughts as well. Evan had cooked and made us dinner earlier in the evening, lovely chicken breast fillets and some salad, and afterwards we'd made our way outside to sit to enjoy the view.

Evan got up suddenly and moved towards the wood-fire box, and reached for two small pieces of wood to fuel our fire. Once he'd placed them in the fire, he came over to closely sit next to me. He'd had a couple of beers at this point, but he wasn't intoxicated. I could still smell it on his breath.

"Baby will you talk to me?" Evan mumbled, reached for my hand that was placed in my lap. I grabbed onto his hand and looked into his brown eyes.

"I dont know what to say," I said, before looking down at our intertwined fingers.

"Let's talk about my past," he suggested, and I looked at him with a raised brow. I had never thought I'd hear him suggest we talk about our pasts. Evan was closed off about his emotions, mainly when it came to talking about anything to do with his past, no matter how much I pried the last month.

He took a deep breath and his eyes travelled towards the fire. I sat in silence anticipating where he'd begin.

"Emma was my first ever serious girlfriend, and my first time. We'd met back in high school during senior year, when she moved here from the east coast. We'd dated for years after that, always fighting and disagreeing on everything. I think after she'd hit me, was when I began being withdrawn from the relationship and I think she could tell. I started smoking, and drinking, a lot, and letting my anger out by punching shit. I still proposed to her, even though we didn't love each-other like we used to anymore. She cheated on me about a year and a half ago, with the guy she's having a kid with now. She still calls me because he hits her, and I always respond because that's how I've always been - a doormat. I think a part of me will always love her but not significantly," Evan took another deep breath, squeezing my hand.

"When I met you that night on the bridge, I saw it almost as a sign. You looked so beautiful, despite being drenched in rain," we both laughed, and I saw tears well in Evan's eyes. I agreed with him, it was a sign for me too.

"She called me that night and made me come to her house to pick her up. I got there and her partner was there, and we got into a fight. I left and drove home, then I saw you," he confessed, and I realised how fresh it was, his situation with Emma. He seemed hurt and let down, almost hopeless.

"We slept together, and then I never saw you again until a month ago. I saw it as another sign, like you were the light in my dark sky,"

"Between then and now I'd go to bars and drink and take girls back to my apartment just to sleep with them. None of them had the same glow you did. None of them even compared. I even saw Emma again a couple of times, but then I got so angry after we had a fight one night I broke the front window of my apartment and got evicted," A single tear rolled down Evan's cheek.

"I moved in with Curtis and tried to make ends meet doing odd jobs I knew I was overly qualified for. When I was 15, my mom had taken me to LA to pursue acting. I went to school for it and everything and I loved it, but I lost my passion for it and moved back, thinking I'd give it a year and try again. Then I met Emma and it never happened. That's why I wanted to move back to LA, try and make a career for myself," Evan explained, and I nodded.

"I want you to come with us. You've been amazing and I've never experienced a relationship like the one we have. You make me happy and you try new things even if you don't know if you'll like it, you're talented and so fucking pretty," I smiled at his compliment, and leaned over to place my head on his shoulder.

"You bring a good balance to my life, you make me want to be better." Evan finished, and I lifted my head off his shoulder to look at him. I leaned in to kiss him, before pulling away and wrapping my arms around him in a hug. I held him for a while, while he sniffled into my shoulder. I hadn't realised how devastating his past relationship was, or the impact it had on his present self. It sounded like he'd formed a trauma bond with Emma, and he needed to escape it.

"I'm here Evan, I'm not going anywhere," I reassured him, before I felt like it was my turn to talk about my past.

"Do you want to hear about mine too?" I asked, and Evan smiled at me softly.

"Yeah baby, if you want to," he replied, as I watched the fire crackle in front of us.

"Well, I dont know where to start. My home town was small, as you know, and I grew up around a very small group of people. When we went into high school, I started seeing Kai, even though I'd known him my whole life. Kinda similar to you, I was abused. He'd take advantage of me while I slept and used to hit me if I tried to get away. We were only 19 when it started. I had nowhere to go because we felt so far away from everything. He'd come to my house and pound on the door early in the morning, and threaten me and my family with a gun. It got so bad we had a restraining order on him. The police were close to useless. Kai would see me out and come up to me, call me a whore and worthless. I fell into a deep depression, I was scared and I felt like I couldn't escape. I moved here to get a fresh start. Id get anonymous phone calls from Kai telling me he'd find me and kill me. The night at the bridge, I was going to jump off," I held my breath as I looked up to  see Evan's reaction. His face remained calm, but his eyes showed anger and sadness.

"I couldn't cope with being scared anymore. Then I met you, weirdly a sign for me too. I spent a year after wondering what the fuck it all meant and then I saw you again. Maybe we're just two broken people trying to make ourselves whole with each other," Evan's hands rested on my cheeks, and his thumbs wiped away the tears rolling down my face.

"Im so angry that happened to you, Alex. I'm not going anywhere either, I let you down once, and I never will again," Evan placed a kiss on my forehead.

We sat in silence again, holding each other, before I felt Evan rise from his spot next to me.

"What do you say, we fucking brighten up and roast some marshmallows?" I smiled and nodded my head. I knew we were both crap about talking about our emotions, and now we knew absolutely everything about each other, we'd try and distract ourselves from our past and look into our future. I was optimistic that college, university, Evan and the new friends I'd made laid down a good foundation for that.

Evan disappeared inside and came out with a bag of big fluffy marshmallows. He picked up two sticks, and put a marshmallow on the end of each one. He handed a stick over to me and I thanked him. We sat and roasted them over the fire until I had to pull mine out to blow on it.

Evan held out his marshmallow to me, and I clinked it with mine,

"To a fucking awesome time together," Evan laughed and I joined him, before we ate our marshmallows.