2: In Your Shadow - Evan Peters

Date Night

My mouth gaped open as I stared at myself in the mirror. The straps of my top had fallen down my shoulders, my mascara had smudged under my eyes. And worst of all, there was a big red and purple bruise at the base of my neck. I ran my fingers over the hickey and cursed under my breath. I was glad that I told everyone I was feeling unwell and caught an Uber by myself back to our apartment, because there was no way I could cover that up.

I decided to take a shower, stripping down from my scandalous clubbing outfit and easing into the hot water as it hit my back. My phone rang from the bathroom sink, and I reached out from behind the shower curtain to retrieve it. I didn't get a chance to look at the contact before I answered and raised the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, the sound of the shower in the background.

"Where are you?" I recognised the voice immediately as Evan's. I grit my teeth thinking of the hickey on my neck.

"What the fuck were you thinking by the way?" I asked him, knowing fair well he'd know what I was talking about. I heard him laugh down the line, making my blood boil.

"I'm glad this is still your number," he started,

"It's so your boyfriend can see that you don't even like him," Evan finished nonchalantly, laughing again afterwards.

"He's not my boyfriend, and you have no right to interfere," I said.

"Are you in the shower?" He asked, his voice raspy and his words slightly slurred.

"Yes?" I said, as if it was obvious with the sounds of water running in the background.

"Prove it," he said, and I bit down on my bottom lip holding in what I wanted to say to him.

"Okay Evan, now you know where I am, whether you believe it or not. Goodbye," I said, hanging up and continuing with my shower.

I hung a towel around my body and settled into my room. I looked over at the bruise on my neck again, and decided I'd try rub toothpaste on it and leave it overnight, like I'd heard somewhere on instagram. I fell asleep with Evan on my mind, feeling the weight of our previous escapade on my chest.

...

I woke late the next morning, disgruntled by the light shining brightly into my eyes from the window. I heard slight chatter outside my room, and rose to see who was in the living room.

"Whoa, did I really do that?" Austin laughs as he looks at my neck, where I'd completely forgotten to cover up my bruise. Dana and Elliot sat wide eyes at me, and then began laughing.

I bit my lip, thinking I could play it off, as Austin was at my neck last night on the dance floor.

"Yeah, it's big," I laughed, joining them on the couch. Austin smirked at me, and bit his lip, staring at what he thought was the hickey he gave me.

"We'll you're going to have to cover that up Alex," Dana laughed, but I could sense in her face that she knew it wasn't from Austin. She'd seen me disappear with Evan at least once last night, and knew that I would never have been that caught up dancing with Austin to not notice him sucking on the skin of my neck.

I made my way over to the kitchen and served myself a bowl of cereal as a late breakfast, listening in to the conversation the three of them were having about last night.

"Evan seems like a cool guy, we should invite him to come hang out with us," I nearly choked on the milk from my cereal when Austin gushed over Evan. Elliot and Dana looked at me, knowing that Austin didn't know my history with Evan.

"How do you feel about that Alex?" Elliot asked, averting everyone's gaze over to me. I broke eye contact, looking down at my almost empty bowl.

"Uh yeah, why not," I muttered, knowing I was digging myself a bigger hole, knowing that spending more time with Evan meant whatever feelings I still had for him would just get more unbearable.