Fresh Air

Chapter 2

The texts were coming in faster than Evelyn could keep up with them. So much so that she was on the toilet, holding on to her phone so she would not miss any details. Over the course of the night, Evelyn and Joey had agreed to go out on an official date to an Italian restaurant in town. Giddy as all hell, she tried to hide her excitement so no one questioned anything. Antonio as always was over at the apartment watching tv in the living room, but Evelyn was getting ready for her date.

Slowly Evelyn got lost in her thoughts:

Should I wear this red dress with the cleavage all out? Is that too scandalous? What if he thinks I am a whore or some boring prude who never hangs out. He is the sexiest guy I have come across in the past two years. I think about him all of the time. I never thought this would actually come true. Oh jeez. I hope this date does not disappoint. Dad would be laughing at the stress I am going through over just seeing some barista at a restaurant, but the truth is I have not been on a date since I was 17. That date ended horribly. I was sitting in my dad's truck afterwards and all I could do was think about how boring and rude that guy had been. Joey needs to do better, he MUST do better. Oh shit, I am going to be late.

Rushing to put her dress on and slipping into her highest heels, Evelyn decided that this would have to do. After all, did she care that much? The drive to the restaurant would be around 15 minutes, plenty of time to think about everything and anything that could go wrong. The last time that she was this nervous- she must have been 10 years old. The unexplained nerves were driving Evelyn and Antonio up a wall.

Slipping into the living room, Evelyn crossed her fingers that her brother would not comment on anything. It was awkward enough that she was so nervous about this date, it did not need to be made worse by his harsh commentary. Her main and only goal was to escape with as little fuss as possible, but lord knows how annoying her brother could be.

"Wow. Haven't seen you dress up in ages. Must be hoping to make a good impression for the first time in your life. I'll head out shortly after you do, I have to go home eventually"

"You just had to say something didn't you? I hope I can make it in time. I am leaving later than I was hoping."

The drive to the restaurant was mostly clear with a few lights in between. Evelyn could only think about getting there and not appearing out of sorts. The moment of truth came up following the 3 trees at the end of the road with a rainbow of colors. One of them lightly red, one still green with some orange parts, and the last one still looking a vibrant green. Once she had found her stop, she took a deep breath and was off into Lorenzo's restaurant.

Evelyn walked in looking slightly overdressed in her skin tight red dress, the cleavage was present, and so were the curls in her hair. The outfit matched the theme of the night. Joey was already seated in a booth with a flannel shirt and some jeans.

**(Evelyn's thoughts)**

**Oh god! I think he saw me. What should I do? Oh I have to go over now. No backing out now. Come on Evelyn, walk over there. One foot in front of the other. I have never seen Joey outside of his work uniform and wow he looks great. His eyes are as sharp as ever, his hair slicked back, and those tattoos are poking out from all sides of his shirt. I wonder how many he has under that we cannot see.**

"Hey Joey. I'm a bit late. I was rushing out of the house, but Antonio needed to talk to me"

"Hey! You look beautiful. Give me a hug"

The next few seconds had time frozen for Evelyn. Between the feel of his muscles through his shirt, the enticing cologne, and his strong demeanor Evelyn could not help but melt into his arms.

"So tell me. Why did you want me to come out with you?"

"Are you kidding? I have been crushing on you since the first time that you walked into the cafe two years ago. I always thought you would never look twice at a guy who is working as a barista. Happily I might add. "