metanoia

Chapter Five

The sun was setting and washing the leaves in amber. It made Evangeline's big brown eyes glow the color of whiskey. We walked side by side, her hand in mine, her pink dress swishing. She smelled faintly of flowers.

"How beautiful," she murmured absentmindedly, brushing her fingertips against the tall grasses on either side of us, "How beautiful is it outside tonight?"

"Almost as beautiful as you are." I said with a smile.

"Cute." she sighed. She rolled her eyes, but she smiled too. She grabbed my hand a little tighter as we walked. That evening, we talked about everything. Religion, politics, our passions, and eventually, I brought up her sudden change.

"Evangeline?" I asked.

"Call me Evie." she said. "Everybody else does. " She smiled.

"Okay, Evie, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Hit me."

"Why did you change so fast? A day ago you were a sullen bitch, today you're the sweetest girl I've ever met. Why the sudden change?"

She was quiet for a minute, but then she spoke.

"I had a really bad day yesterday. Everything had gone bad at the home, some sleazy guy on my walk home whistled and cat-called at me..." she trailed off.

"Oh. So you use sex to get your mind off stuff, or what?" I held her hand a little tighter. We were getting really far away from home.

"I feel kinda low sometimes, and that's the only thing that will bring me back up. You seemed kinda nerdy, no offense, so I figured you'd be up for it. Plus, you'd seen me before, so..."

"Yeah. You bought blades at my hardware store."

She looked up at me with the most pain-filled eyes I'd ever seen.

"I don't want to talk about it." she choked out.

So we didn't.

We walked and walked until we reached a turn to head home. We managed to avoid the subject for a little while. I knew it would come up again sometime, though I didn't know when. I knew what the scars were from, or at least I thought I did.

Once we got home, she grabbed two mugs and a box of packaged hot cocoa.

"Wanna watch a movie? I like to drink warm stuff when I watch movies. I also like to wrap myself into a burrito or make a blanket fort with that fluffy blanket back there." She giggled. "I love blanket forts."

"You're in luck. I am a certified blanket fort architect." I quipped with a huge grin.

"Oh, are you now?" She teased.

"I have my certification right here!" I pretended to reach into my pocket. I looked up to see a 105 pound girl about to jump on me.

"Liarrr!" She giggled like a schoolgirl while she tackled me. We wrestled on the ground for a while until we got tangled in the blanket. She had me pinned down and as I looked up at her, I swear I saw her chocolatey eyes glimmer. She leaned down and pressed a warm kiss onto my lips, and then another, and then another, until we were lazily making out on the floor. Her eyes began to droop after I'd started sprinkling kisses onto her neck.

"I'm so sleepy." She sighed.

"Go to sleep. I'll hold you."

"Won't you be uncomfortable?" she asked.

"No way." I murmured as I laid a soft kiss on her forehead. "Get to sleep, my Evie."

"I think I love you..." she whispered as she closed her eyes.

"I think I love you too." I replied. She fell asleep with a little smile. I wanted to make sure she always fell asleep just like this, every day for the rest of her life.