Desperate Lies

Chapter 9 (Explicit Content)

That same night.

Eve wore a black sweater over a light lavender dress that went down to her shins, her cross necklace, and her boots with the cross on the heels. She lets her hair down as she and Chris walk into the living room. Eve takes a breath, then pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and musters a small smile.

"Hi, again," Eve says, giving an awkward wave.

Standing behind Eve, Chris silently gives a thumbs up to everyone else. When they see this, Eve is immediately welcomed by everyone else again, as if she and Chris had never been apart. Eve slowly begins to feel more comfortable around everyone else, and does her best to, at least in front of these people, act like everything was okay.

A pretty brunette woman walks up to Eve and smiles, "Hi, I'm Jaime - Ricky's girlfriend. I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh," Eve states, "I've heard about you too. It's nice to finally meet you."

Jaime nods and smiles, "So...you and Chris, huh?" She asks, lowering her voice so that only Eve could hear her.

"Um..." Eve starts; she looks over at Chris talking to the guys, seeming to be catching them up.

"I don't know," Eve admits, "Maybe? I think so? I hope so..."

Eve makes her way around the group and manages to make a bit of small talk with everyone else there. She actually did end up enjoying herself a little bit, almost forgetting about all of the troubles she was experiencing at home. Almost.

What Eve admired the most was that - despite everyone's hesitation towards her earlier in the night - they'd all become extremely welcoming towards her. Eve felt more at home with these people who might as well have been complete strangers than she ever did among people in her church that she'd known almost her whole life.

Things were still a bit awkward with Chris throughout the night though. He tried to act like everything was okay in front of his friends, but both he and Eve were struggling with finding things to talk about with each other other than what Eve had told him about Paul. It was difficult to try and be casual, and there was also the fact that neither of them knew what the relationship was between them now. Were they going to get back together? Were they going to be just friends? Neither of them had the answer...but they were both hoping that things could go back to the way they were.

There were a lot of things that they would need to discuss privately later on, but Eve was pretty sure she knew how to ensure that what she wanted in hers and Chris's relationship clear. When the countdown began on the TV, Eve nonchalantly made her way over to Chris. Despite being nonchalant, Chris could very obviously see what she was doing...but it gave him butterflies and he couldn't help but smile.

"Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!"

Eve stands on her tiptoes, puts her hands on either side of Chris's face and kisses him. Chris smiles into it, and he puts his hands on Eve's waist and kisses her back. It felt so amazing to kiss her again; he never wanted to let her go. He had to make sure that Eve knew she could trust him, and that the two of them could be truly happy together.

When they come apart, everyone is staring at them.

Eve's face turns bright red and Chris scratches the back of his head, awkwardly.

"Happy New Year, guys."

x

Eve was the last one at the house after everyone left. She'd helped Chris clean up - despite his protests and telling her she didn't have to - and the two of them made some small talk, but they didn't really get around to talking about anything important.