Chapter 13

In his arms, Meredith’s eyes widened and her body tensed once more. She gasped and wiggled out from under Evan. Her hands fumbled with the buttons on her blouse and she almost couldn’t find her clip to fix her mussed up hair.

“Wait…” Evan tried to stop her.

She only shook her head and muttered under her breath before jetting out of the room, leaving Evan alone with Jack. He fell heavily onto the bed, giving the mattress what he thought to be a well-deserved punch.

What the hell did you expect to happen? Did you think she was going to actually let you touch her, make love to her? He chided himself over and over. Meredith would never allow that to happen. Yet, another voice in his head challenged, remember what just happened. Where you touched her.

His mind traveled elsewhere. That is, until the sound of Meredith and Bethany talking broke him out of his thoughts.

“What happened to you?” Bethany was asking.

“Huh? Nothing!” Meredith cried. “Um, I mean, why do you ask?”

“You’re hair looks messed up. You’ve never gone for that look. And you missed a button there.”

Evan could imagine how red Meredith’s face must have been right then. He smiled for a moment before pushing his face into the mattress.

“Uh, Evan was helping me move some boxes in my room and I guess my hair messed up or something and, um, I’m not sure what, uh, happened with the shirt but, well…” Meredith stuttered.

“Uh-huh,” Bethany didn’t sound convinced. Evan lifted up his face from the bed to listen a little more closely.

“Seriously! Now, uh, I should probably get going. I told my parents I would be going for a dinner at their place. You know they’re really going to miss me when I leave.”

“A lot of people are going to miss you.” Bethany spoke the words he’d been thinking.

There was a slight pause. Then a quiet, “I know,” from Meredith.

When nothing else was said, Evan strained his ears. The front door opened and shut, signaling Meredith’s departure.

He groaned and rolled over to the side of the bed farthest from the door. The way Meredith acted, he couldn’t tell what she thought of their exchange just a few moments before. He doubted he ever would.

Once his knees hit the hard wood floor, Bethany entered the room grinning.

“Hey,” she greeted her grin wide. “How’d it go?”

He stared at her for a moment. “How did what go?”

His sister shook her head and sat on the bed next to Jack. The dog moved closer to her, wishing for her to pet him. She did so, while saying to Evan, “Don’t act all innocent with me. Meredith wouldn’t run out of the house the way she just did unless something big happened.”

“Maybe she just got some bad news?” He suggested lamely.

Bethany arched an eyebrow at him, telling him she didn’t believe the excuse. “Spill.”

Evan groaned. “There’s nothing to tell. Meredith was cleaning out her room, since she’ll be leaving soon, I helped, and the next thing I know, she’s running out of the room.”

“Uh-huh, now tell me what happened between the you helping and she running out of the room.”

There was silence for a moment, then a restless sigh. “It doesn’t matter what happened because it will never happen again.”

“And what will never happen again?”

Evan shook his head and pressed his face into the mattress, not wanting to answer. Jack, curious, moved over to his owner, sniffing around his head. Smiling, Bethany moved the dog away, pushing him off the bed.

“Come on, Evan, tell me.”

A muffled noise came from the mattress.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.”

Mumbling, he lifted his head up and looked up at her. “We had a moment together that will never happen again because she’s moving and because she’ll make sure it will never ever happen again.”

“Hmm,” was all Bethany said. When she said nothing more, he looked up at her again.

“Listen, Evan, I’ve known Meredith for a long time. Right now she’s definitely freaking out because the last thing she expected was something like I think what happened between you happening. Just give her some time. Actually, I think you two together is a good match. I never thought of it before.”

“And trust me, us being together will never happen. She’s leaving soon, and Meredith is the kind of woman that would never let anything go on between us.”

Bethany shrugged, “If that’s what you think.”

“It’s what I know,” he said matter-of-factly.

She smiled at him and touched his hand. “Come on. Help me make dinner. Looks like it’s just going to be the two of us.”

In her car, Meredith was pretty much hyperventilating. What had she almost done? What had just happened between her and Evan? Surely not what she thought! But when she saw how terrible her hair looked in the review mirror, she knew it was. And from the recent memory of what happened, from the sight of her slightly swollen lips, she knew she had liked it and wanted more.

The light changed red in front of her. She raked through the front seat of her car, searching for a cigarette. Screw going cold turkey, she needed something to calm down her nerves.

A car horn honked at her. She looked up to see the light was green and pressed her foot to the gas pedal. A convenience store was just a couple feet down, she turned in there and bought herself a pack. Taking that first drag after having none at all felt so damn good. When she finished with the one, she just lit another.

After the initial pleasure of being able to smoke again wore off, Meredith went back into her car. There was only one place for her to go and that was her parents house. It wouldn’t be a completely bad thing. After all, she would be leaving soon and spending time with her family wouldn’t happen anymore. Not that she was really complaining, but it would be weird.

The house was quiet when she entered. In the driveway, the SUV had been missing so Meredith could only assume the family went out tonight. She sighed with relief and headed for the living room. The place to herself. This kind of thing never happened.

“Back already?” Ross’s head popped up from the couch.

Meredith jumped in surprise. “Jesus, Ross! You scared me!”

“Meredith?” Ross’s eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”

“I decided to come for a visit. Is that a bad thing?”

“I guess not,” her sister shrugged.

“Where is everyone?” Meredith sat down on the couch next to her sister.

“Mom and Dad went out tonight, wanting alone time since the due date is coming near. Klein and Em are down at Uncle Kyle’s now.”

The due date. The twins were going to be coming soon. Gwen was nearing her eighth month right now. Some might say it wasn’t soon, but to her and the rest of the family, it was. Another two children to add on to what they have now. Meredith shook her head and sunk deeper into the couch.
“Are you ready for two babies in this place?” She asked her sister.

Ross shrugged, “It’ll be okay. It’ll keep Mom and Dad preoccupied. Em won’t care for it so much, considering she won’t be the baby anymore.”

Meredith nodded. Em might not ever get used to the fact that not one, but two babies were going to be taking her place in the family.

Ross straightened and looked at her. “Okay, Meredith, spill. What happened?”

“What do you mean?” Meredith asked. There was no way her little sister could know about what happened. Unless…No, Evan wouldn’t be that much of an asshole to call her family and let them know what happened…Would he?

“Please. You never would come home voluntarily. Something must have happened to bring you back home like this.”

“Oh, well, nothing happened. I just felt like coming home. Is it that strange?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ross climbed onto the couch with Meredith. “Come on, I’m your sister. You can tell me.”

Meredith sighed. “It’s nothing big. I just needed to get away from that apartment for a while, that’s all.”

“Away from the apartment or away from someone that lives in the apartment?”

Meredith was silent before mumbling, “Someone that lives in it.”

“And does this have to do with a certain, strapping young man named Evan?”

Again, there was a silence throughout the room with the exception of the television.

“Come on, Meredith, tell me. Does it have to do with him?”

Letting out a deep, flustered breath, Meredith nodded. “Yes. It does.”

Ross clapped her hands together and then rubbed them. “Yes! Now we’re getting somewhere! What happened?”

“Nothing! Nothing happened and nothing will happen!”

“Something happened.”

“No!” Was she really that bad a liar?

“Something happened and it was obviously big or else you wouldn’t be acting this way.”

“And what way is that!”

“This whole trying to cover something up way. Acting like you came home just for the sake of coming home.”

“Hey, I told you why I came home.”

“Now give me the real reason,” Ross shot back.

Meredith chewed on her lower lip, a habit she acquired from her mother. “Fine. Something did happen. Between Evan and me.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Oh, Meredith really didn’t want to get into detail with her little sister about this!

“Go on.”

Meredith squeezed her eyes shut as she rushed out, “Like Evan and I were in my room, found our way on my bed with my clothes coming off, but Bethany came home before anything else could have happened, and something probably would have happened because it felt really, really good.”

Ross said nothing, only nodded.
“Well?” Meredith cried. “What do you have to say? Spill it!”

Ross shrugged. “I’m not surprised. Evan’s hot. He’s smart, he’s funny. He handled Em like a pro. He’s got a real nice butt too.”

“Rosalynn!” Meredith cried.

“It’s true. Besides, he’s really into you. Everyone can tell by the way he looks at you. And after Em’s birthday party, it couldn’t have been more apparent.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Were you not there? The man was always looking for you. He defended you against two of the biggest assholes this family has come to meet. And I doubt he didn’t enjoy that kiss he gave you. Excuse me, he’s done more than that now, hasn’t he?”

The pillow that had been sitting next to Meredith’s side now hit the side of Ross’s head. She caught it real quick, chuckling. “It’s true!”

“You can’t tell anyone about what happened Ross. I mean it.” Meredith warned.
“Why not?”

“Because something like this is never, ever going to happen again between him and me. This was a one time thing. We lost control. It won’t happen again because Evan is bad for me.”

Ross gave her a doubtful look. “No. Paul is bad for you. Brady is bad for you. Evan just might be the best thing to come along for you.”

“And why do you say that? Why would you even think it?”

Ross shook her head. “You can’t see it, can you?” She asked quietly.

“See what?”

“Evan’s the only guy who cares about you. He doesn’t care who your parents are or what connections you have. He’s the only one who takes the time to get to know the rest of your family. He’s not scared to tell you the truth. He respects you, Meredith. Brady and Paul, they would never do anything like that. They would never think to. You don’t try to see the good in him.” Ross stood up. “Maybe you should think about it.”

“There’s good in Evan?” Meredith blurted.
“Yeah,” Ross said softly before leaving the living room, “and if you can’t see it in him, maybe you don’t deserve him.”