"So what..?" || Kevin Álvarez

||11|| Celoso.

I take a sip of my fancy wine. "I'm going like it or not."
Kevin's expression was unreadable for the first time.

     I finally took a bite of the steak, which was now mildly cold, to indicate that I was done talking about this. Kevin stares blankly at his food without saying anything then takes his hand off my thigh.
He seems mad. No, sad. Ugh I can't tell
     "I'm never going to force you from doing something. I respect you too much for that." He inhales and stabs his food with a fork. "What I'm worried about is your safety, Y/n."
     I frown. "I'll be fine. He seems like a nice guy.."
     Kevin's eyes narrow at my comment. This time he only nods and stays quiet.
     The rest of dinner is silent between us. When it was time to leave, though, he latched arms with me on our way back. This time I do pay more attention to my surroundings and admire the now night sky.
     "There's a lot more stars here than back in the city," he suddenly spoke up. His muscles tense under mine.
     I sigh and nod. "Yeah, it's so pretty, but I'm kind of scared of them." I rest my head on his shoulder. We are again falling behind with no one noticing.
     Kevin turns to look at me surprised but then looks up again. "What? Porque?"
     "It's dumb really." I laugh softly.
     "Tell me,"
     "Nah it's dumb" I try to protest, now embarrassed.
     "Please, I'm curious now," he pleads.
     "Well—" I look up from his shoulder. "When I was little and learned about why dinosaurs went extinct I became anxious at night"
     Kevin scrunches up his nose, "what does this have to do with dinosaurs?" He laughs.
     I roll my eyes and pout. "Don't laugh."
     "I won't- I'm sorry, keep going," he's still smiling, though. "Just explain, please."
     "Well when I learned the asteroid was the cause... little me looked up at the stars and, for some reason, thought one of the stars would end up being an asteroid just getting closer and closer and—"
"Okay, okay, ya entendí" He laughs harder.
"You said you wouldn't laugh!" I remind him and nudge him with my shoulder. I miss this.
     "Sorry—" he murmurs quickly unable to suppress the light laugh. When he finally quiets down, he asks, "Have you always been so anxious?"
"More or less" I shrug. I've never really paid attention to it.
     We don't have time to speak anymore as we are crammed into the limo. This time Jess decides to include me in her conversation with Irene. I don't like Irene very much, but I also don't exactly want to talk to Kevin after what happened at dinner.
The drive back was a bit of a blur. Irene and Jess weren't exactly the best people. They were talking badly about the most minimal things. I didn't want to pay attention to them much. I think Irene even got Tipsy over too many margaritas.
It's not like I can focus anyway, with his hand on my inner thigh.
The limo is dark and everyone is too busy with their own thing. I noticed Kevin doesn't talk to people much.
We get to the hotel and everyone gets out in a hurry. The Driver is fed up with us by now. I follow Jess and Irene to the elevator until I feel an arm hold me back. I turn to face him and see Kevin. Who else honestly? I turn back and the elevator doors are closing.
"Look— I just wanted to tell you to really think about going out with that guy." He explains quickly, probably noticing my glare.
I can glare all I want and pretend to be mad but I'm so glad he's worried about it. I roll my eyes. "Kevin. Don't start," I warn.
Kevin looks down and lets go of my arm. "Okay. Go sleep, Y/n." His tone was soft, and he wasn't looking me in the eyes.
"Goodnight" I Reply and turn around to walk into the elevator. I'm starting to feel conflicted. Is this really the best way to go about this?

...

"I can't believe we got done with our project so soon! Now we just get to enjoy Cancun" Jess cheered.
"Yeah, you guys did great." I smile and put on my diamond earrings.
"Can't believe I convinced Layun to come with us to the beach— It's probably partly because Kevin is also going, and they've been getting along well" She starts packing her beach bag.
I straighten up at the name Kevin and instead shift the focus to Layun. "Layun? He's well into his 30's don't you think?" The way she was excited about him coming set off a bit of alarm.
"And a total DILF! Too bad he's married... I could never come in between a marriage." She hands me the bikini I asked to borrow because I didn't pack any.
"Oh, yeah that would be disgusting." I laugh awkwardly.
"I'll just settle for the eye candy," Jess explains and starts putting her hair up in a ponytail.
I go into the bathroom to put on the bikini and it's cover up. I could never settle for just eye candy.
I put on the bikini and I can't lie, Jess knew what was up when she bought this. Despite her usual horrible wardrobe choices. It's a metallic dark red two-piece. The bra part was held by stings and the bottom too. It wasn't overly exposing but did just enough. I put on the cover-up and walk out.
"Thanks for the swimsuit again." I thank Jess. She's a little irritating sometimes but can be useful.
"Yeah, no problem." She puts on her obnoxiously large sunglasses and we walk out.
It's only a short walk to the private beach on the resort, and it's quite big. There, we meet up with about half the team that agreed to go. It was mostly the ones on the young adult side. I look around and don't see Kevin. I relax a bit.
I sit on a beach chair a bit farther from the group. After a couple of minutes, I see them get here. Kevin and Layun. My jaw drops slightly.
I had never seen him with little to nothing on. He had a chain and sunglasses on. He was shirtless and had on swim shorts. His body was athletic and toned perfectly. Not too buff it's scary but also not too skinny it's childish.
He's perfect.
      I make eye contact with Kevin and wave him over. He smiles and begins to make his way over to me.
      Things have been a little less awkward. He's stopped bugging me about Miguel. He is still not back to normal completely, though.
      "Hey." He hands me a mangonada.
      "For me?" I still question before taking it.
      Kevin rolls his eyes, "obviously"
      I take the mangonada and thank him.
      "Y/n! Come get in the water with us!" I hear Jess yell from the group. They were at quite a distance. Again, it's just me and Kevin singled out.
      "Okay! I'll be there in a sec!" I reply. It was getting too hot and the water was pretty calm.
      "Where are you going to change? You brought a swimsuit?" He asks.
      "Yup, this is just a last-minute cover-up," I reply. I take off the crop top and shorts. I instantly feel a million times more exposed in my red bikini.
      I look back at Kevin and he's looking down sheepishly. I grab the sunscreen from my bag and put some on my arms. "You don't want to get in?" I ask.
     Kevin shakes his head. "Nah, I think I'll wait till after I eat.. plus who else is going to take care of your mangonada." He still won't look up at me.
     I smile and walk to him. "Can you put sunscreen on my back? I can't reach.." I'm so smart. I praise myself.
     Kevin looks up at me nodding. "Yeah, hand me the sunscreen."
     I hand him the sunscreen and I turn my back to him. I can feel him step closer. Regardless of how hot it is, a shiver runs down my spine the moment he touches me. The cold sunscreen melts in his warm hands.
     "You really gonna go out on Sunday..?" His voice suddenly in my ear.
I clearly didn't think this through. "Yes," I say and hope it sounds firm enough.
     Kevin leans down and hovers his lips over my neckline. "Didn't your fiancé get you a rose? I remember you were putting one in a vase before we left for the airport.." His hands leave for more sunscreen but come back to my lower back.
     "Yes. He did." My voice almost cracked. My breath hitched in the process.
     Kevin stands up straight. It isn't a good idea to be displaying such misleading affection in public.
      "If things are going well in your engagement... why do you feel the need the need to go out with Miguel..?" He drags out his words slowly.
      "Is that all you think about?" I turn back to him, realizing he was done putting on sunscreen quite a while ago. His hands don't leave my hips.
      "Is this you trying to avoid my question?" The corners of his mouth form a small smirk.
      My eyebrows knit together. "I'm going and you can't stop me, Kevin." Please Please Please give in now. I don't really feel like going out Sunday.
      Kevin's jaw tightens. "Y/n-"
      "Y/n! You coming?" Jess yells again.
      Kevin drops his hands quickly.
      "I better go over there.." my tone is softer now.
      "Yeah." He replies simply.