Somewhere in the Middle

Waiting

"Where do you want this one?"

Even just his voice startled her heart, but when Evie looked at him, it was like the muscle was trying to jump out of her ribcage to get to him.

"Um," she glanced around, "Over here is fine. You can just put it right on top of the other one."

Lucas did as she asked, setting the box of shirts on top of the one Evie hadn't opened yet.

She couldn't help smiling at him. And she also couldn't help noticing that Harrison was eyeing them out of the corner of his eye. "You didn't have to help me, you know."

Lucas grinned right back at her. "I know."

"Right." Evie propped the board up against the wall, totally aware of the fact that he was still there behind her. "And you don't have to stay. All the boxes are here. I'm just going to set up now."

He was still smiling when she spun around, and let his book bag slide from his shoulder to the ground. "I know that, too. Thought maybe I could help."

Evie gave him a warning glance, to which he responded with a devilish grin. "What? Two friends, helping each other out, spending some time together. What's the harm in that?"

There was what Harrison would think for one thing. But that didn't bother her all too much. She didn't answer to Harrison. She answered to Pete, and she worried what he might think if he passed by. What Greg or Jamie or anyone might think. And most of all, she worried what Lucasmight think if she were to let him help her with this. She worried he might read into it and get the wrong idea - that she was coming around to the thought of dating.

She knew she didn't need to answer Lucas' question. Evie could see in his eyes that he knew just what she meant with her stare. And if she was honest with herself, she was glad he was choosing to ignore it.

"Besides," he said, ripping open a box. "I've always wanted to do this."

Now she stared at him with some amusement. "What, set up the merchandise?"

"Nope, lug in heavy boxes of said merchandise." Evie could hear the sarcasm and felt foolish for only a moment, because he was smiling when he met her eye again. "Of course, set up the merchandise."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Alright smartass, since you're apparently so interested in setting up merch, you can pin everything to that board."

Lucas glanced at the corkboard she'd already propped up, then back at her. "And by everything, you mean..."

"One of each shirt," she said, opening the box of posters beside her and glancing back to smile at him. "And the posters."

He was staring up at the board with a look of intense concentration. "Right. One question: Will they all fit?"

Evie shrugged. "They'll fit. At least, I manage it every night."

She could tell by the way he looked at her—giving her a smile that looked every bit as competitive as she felt—that he understood the underlying message in her words.

"Hm." He looked back up at the board. "You know, looking at it again," he held up his hands, the tips of his thumbs touching so that he could look between them, "I know just how I'm going to do it."

Evie smirked. "Better get to it then."

She was surprised that he had nothing more to say, that he was silent for the first minute, the second minute, the following minutes. And she tried not to look at him too much. Tried not to notice the way his shirt rose when he reached up to pin a corner of a shirt to the board, revealing a sliver of fair skin at his hip. Tried not to notice the way his tongue poked out when he stuck the pin in. Tried not to smile when he caught her looking as he spun around to grab another one—it was impossible—and tried to slow the reddening of her cheeks when she realized his eyes were still on her when she glanced his way again.