She's With Me

Vegan

When the couple finally exited the museum, they were greeted with the orange hue of the late afternoon sun. It wasn't quite dark yet, being that it was only 4:30pm. Evie couldn't believe how fast time had gone by. She was having so much fun with Josh. "Fascinating that they have so much stuff in there. I think Jake is gonna like this little Fender I got," Josh said, holding up the miniature guitar, "Wish they had a miniature bass too. Sam's gonna give me shit for not grabbing something for him."

Evie couldn't help but smile, "You sound like you're really close with your brothers."

Josh places the gift back into the little bag, there was still a grin on his face, "Yeah. It's kinda hard not too when you have a twin. We've been inseparable since... since conception I guess. Do you have any siblings?"

There it was. She knew that she'd have to talk about her family eventually, it was inevitable if you wanted to date someone. But she worried now, Josh being a celebrity and all— what if he didn't like that her life wasn't normal? Would it be even worth talking about her family? She hadn't spoken to her mother, her father or siblings in a little over 5 years now. "Honesty is the best policy for a good relationship." Is what Kelsey would say in situations like this. And she was right but...

"Well, um... yeah. I have... I have a few siblings," Evie half mumbled the words, "I'm one of six."

Josh's eyes widened, "Woah, am I hearing that right? Six? Are your family like—."

"No, we're not Mormons," Evie interrupted him, "I get that a lot, but no. My parents are just irresponsible. I have my older brother Matt. My little sisters, Grace, Emily and Paige and my little brother Caiden. I don't know if my mom had anymore since I left home. Paige was four years old when I last saw her." They had finally made it back to Josh's car and had taken a seat inside the cabin. "Do you... talk to them at all?" Josh asked cautiously. Evie pressed her lips together in a thin line before letting a sharp sigh escape her lips. "It's... nothing against you Josh I just. I don't wanna talk about my family. It'll ruin the mood and it's just... not a good time."

Josh was silent for a few moments after Evie spoke and for just a moment, she worried that she'd offended him. "That's okay," he said finally, "You can tell me about them when you're ready. Bigger question though, are you hungry at all? The day is still young. We could have an early dinner if you'd like. My treat of course."

Evie hadn't really thought about food up until now. Last thing she'd eaten was a hastily thrown together ham and cheese sandwich on her way out the door to meet Josh. Then she had her second cup of coffee while they chatted in the cafe. Yeah, she was hungry. "I wouldn't mind, as long as you don't," she said finally, "I just— it feels weird having people buy things for me. You know?" Josh offered a small chuckle of reassurance as his car came to life again, "Well, unfortunately for you that might be something you'll have to get used to. There's a place about 10 minutes from here I think you'll like. I go to it a lot, it's a vegan place that specializes in southern comfort food."

Evie found it strange hearing 'vegan' and 'southern' in the same sentence... strange. The cuisine he spoke of consisted mostly of butter and animal fat that gave all the dishes their signature richness and flavor. "Vegan, huh?" Evie mumbled thoughtfully under her breath. "Have you ever had vegan food?" Josh asked curiously. Evie pursed her lips in thought for a moment, pondering if maybe she'd tried something meatless once. Maybe a small bite of tofu? Kelsey sometimes had tofu. She then shook her head, "Can't say I have. The sub place I work at has this vegan patty that you can sub for protein on and I think I tried a corner of it once. It's not very good."

Josh rolled his eyes, "Pfft, that's not even the good stuff. Listen, I'll take you to this place. You're not gonna even believe there's no meat in it. That's  how good it is."