Divya's phone chirped at her from its resting place in the passenger seat beside her. She grabbed it absently, keeping her eyes on the road. Sparing a glance for the caller ID, Evan's winking face with the toothy grin stared back at her. She stifled a chuckle. He looked like an insane, yuppie pirate. She then groaned dramatically, accepting the call. "What, Evan?"

"Well, that's a fine howdy doo, Divs. Wake up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning?"

"Hilarious. What do you want?"

"Chewy's. You need to meet me there in thirty minutes."

"I need to do no such thing. I have plans."

"No, you don't. C'mon just grab a bite with me, I've got something to give you that you're going to want. I'll even let you pay."

Divya's mouth dropped reflexively. "I do so have plans. And I don't want to eat lunch with you."

"Fine, we'll have a martini."

"It's eleven o'clock in the morning, Evan!"

"You're right. Of course, you're right. Blood Mary it is."

Divya was only able to squeak out an exasperated little sound, not knowing what else to say to make him shut up.

Evan took Divya's silence as an invitation to keep rattling on. "Divya, just meet me at Chewy's at eleven-thirty. I could get there faster, but as you may or may not recall, I traded in my Tesla Roadster for a Yamaha," muttering the last part quickly, "golf cart." He spoke up again, "Listen, you don't have to stay long. I just have something very important to give you. And you're going to want to see this."

Divya sighed into the receiver.

She could feel him smiling through the phone. "Yes! I knew it. You have to come. You have no choice. The curiosity alone would chip away at you all day until you became like this quivering, floundering mass of nervous, jittery-"

Divya crossed her eyes. "Will you please stop your incessant rambling? Fine, I will be there in thirty minutes. But I'm not having lunch with you. And I'm not having a drink with you. Understand?"

"You bet. So do you want me to order for you or just wait til-?"

Divya mashed the end call button and just shook her head. She couldn't help the hint of a smile playing at one corner of her lips. "That man is…infuriating…"

Evan rolled up in the golf cart, parking right in between a bright orange 2010 Camaro and a black C-class Mercedes Benz. As he slid out of the seat, he nodded to the swimsuit clad couple climbing into the Camaro. "Niiiice. What sort of horsepower do you have on this beauty?" The blonde guy squinted a little at Evan. "510."

Evan gave the man a thumbs-up. "Sweet. Yeah, I'm sittin' on a juicy 12 myself." He nodded and hiked his thumb over his shoulder at his ride. "Well, you two have a nice day." He gave them his brightest smile and ambled on down the footpath to the beach, sliding his sunglasses on.

Evan hopped up and parked his rear on a stool, bar-side. Tapping out a quick rhythm with his hands on the bar, he met the bartender's gaze. "Morning. Evan R. Lawson, CFO of HankMed." He reached across the bar to shake the man's hand. The bartender shook his hand, looking a little confused, but replied, "Ted. What can I get you?"

Evan's eyes danced up and down and around the inside of the shack. "Ted, my good man, I will take a lemonade and a refreshing iced tea for the lady." Ted, the bartender, looked around and asked, "The lady who's not here yet, I assume?"

"You assume correctly. And I can't believe I beat her here. She drives this really sweet, tricked out, expensive SUV and I…" He paused, looking a little sheepish, "..don't."

Evan jabbed a straw into his drink and took a long sip and finished with a loud, "Ahhh." He admired the crashing waves for a long moment. He muttered to himself, "Yeah, you're beautiful and enticing. But you're just infested with sharks. And octopi. And Aquaman villains. I won't fall for your alluring, siren's call, no ma'am."

Divya's impatient voice assaulted him from behind and he reflexively hunched his shoulders. She slapped her purse down on the bar beside her awaiting iced tea. "Here I am. Happy?"

Evan turned around on the stool and took another sip with smiling lips. "Immensely." He gingerly placed his lemonade on the bar. "So what the hell took you so long? And more importantly, how are you going to live down the fact that your badass behemoth was bested by a vehicle that has to be plugged into an electrical outlet every night to function properly?"

Divya shook her head, "You should be thankful that I'm here at all, Evan. Especially after that embarrassing trap you laid for me yesterday. Wait…" Her eyes went wide. "Is this…? I cannot believe I fell for this. Again! Evan-"

Evan held up both hands in defense. "Whoah, whoah, whoah. This has nothing to do with that. Not even a little bit. Well maybe a little bit. It involves the same people." He pointed to himself and then Divya. "But therein lies the only connection. Scout's honor."

Divya eyed him warily, "I can't see you as a boy scout. Were you?"

"I. Was. Not."

"Well, of course not. Boy scouts, from what I've gathered, learn values that they build upon throughout life to become valuable and responsible members of society. I can see that you entirely avoided the experience. Now, your brother on the other hand: I can imagine that he shot up right through the ranks at record shattering speed."

"Hank was indeed the very model of a modern major-general." He paused and added on with a sagely expression, "Major-general's the highest echelon of the Boy Scout society."

Divya smirked, "Really. Here and I thought it was Eagle Scout."

"That's the layman's term for it."

"I see." The iced tea caught her attention. "Is this for me?"

"Every drop."

She picked it up and pressed the lip of the glass to her own bottom lip. Before sipping, her eyes locked on Evan's over the top of the glass. She pulled the glass away briefly. "This iced tea isn't of the Long Island variety is it?"

"Nope. It's unleaded."

She nodded and took a long sip, then replaced the glass on the bar. She then returned her attention to Evan fully, giving him an expectant look. "Well? Are you going to say anything, Mister Motor Mouth?"

Evan furrowed his brows, "Oh! Right! Um, did you do something different with your hair? It's very fetching."

Rolling her eyes, Divya responded, "No, Evan. I wasn't fishing for compliments. I want to know why you called me here."

"Of course you do! And rightly you should! Okay. Remember how the last time you were supposed to get a paycheck…and…and…well, you didn't?"

Divya's gaze tightened on Evan. "With vivid recollection. And I seem to recall that you were wholly responsible for that disastrous debacle."

Evan stopped short and blurted out, "Wholly? Wholly? Holy crap, Divya. That is so unfair. It wasn't me who technically and actually removed money from HankMed's accounts. If you recall." Evan bookended that last word with air quotation marks.

"No, Evan, you just handed the keys to the gate to your father and gave him carte blanche access. And from what Hank has said, the man is altogether untrustworthy, unscrupulous and entirely unreliable. And it seems to me he obviously had quite an influence on you in your formative years. You two seem cut from the same cloth." She sipped her iced tea, waiting for the inevitable return fire from Evan. This is just how it worked for them. Back and forth. Forth and back. But Divya was surprised to hear nothing but the crashing of the waves and the ice tinkling against the glass as she drank. She lowered the glass and met Evan's gaze.

His lips were firmly closed and that gaze was one she had only seen phantom glimpses of in the past. It was…pained. A strange sort of confusion and panic washed over Divya all of a sudden. This wasn't how this was supposed to go at all. Evan was breaking the rules. He was cheating.

His eyes finally left hers, as if this was an intensely shy person she was talking with. The confusion and panic only got worse. "Evan-"

"Wow. I'm um…I really don't know what to say. That was masterfully crafted, Divya. Bravo. You must have been sharpening that barb for quite some time. The killing blow was well placed and…and…quite…potent."

He was babbling, but not in the right way. Not the way Evan babbles and rambles. Divya didn't like it at all.

"Well, ok then. I appreciate you indulging me, and I hope you enjoyed your tasty cold beverage…" He slid off his stool, with little to no Evan-ish flair.

This was all careening out of control, and Divya was totally unprepared for it. "Evan. Wait. I didn't-"

"No no. It's all cool. It's all very, very…cool. We're totally on the same page. I smell what you've got cooking. Loud and clear. Crystal clear. Oh here, take this. This was why I dragged you out here." He handed her a blue envelope the size of a Hallmark card. Divya took it wordlessly. Evan dropped some cash on the bar. "Sorry I wasted your time." He drained the rest of his lemonade and wandered back in the direction of his "car."

Divya fingered the envelope, as she watched him leave. She was still in shock. Shocked by her own brutal words, but more by his reaction. What she said hadn't been that bad. The past few moments tumbled around inside her brain. Yes, they were. They were cruel and excessive. And she had compared him to Eddie, a man Hank hated and had written off completely. She shut her eyes. Why did this always happen? How did Evan always know how to rile her up like that?

Her fingers fumbled with the envelope in her hand. Opening her eyes slowly, she removed what was indeed a greeting card. The front was a full color recreation of the Looney Tunes episode "What's Opera, Doc?" where Elmer Fudd, all decked out in Viking gear, helmet and all, was bent down on one knee, hands raised in a pleading manner to a very disinterested Bugs Bunny, dressed in Viking drag as an opera diva. Underneath, were the printed words: "Pwease, pwease, pwease, forgive me!"

She opened the card. A simple "I'm sorry." was printed in the center of the card. An arrow in hand-written blue ink was drawn from the "I'm sorry." down to the bottom of the card, where Evan had written: "Technically, I'm –not- sorry, but I -am- sorry for how I handled it, and that I hurt your feelings. Dad paid us back. In full. You'll find the missed payment plus (turn over for more)." Divya flipped the card to continue reading on the back: "…your full next payment and some extra for just being so generally cool and sticking with us. I'm still going to be vocal about this whole "marriage thing." Sorry that's just how I'm built." It was signed: Your Friend. Friend was then crossed out and co-worker was written under it. Co-worker was then also crossed out and replaced with acquaintance. Then finally that was also crossed out and replaced with: Your Friend (?), Evan. Something that was probably part laugh and part sob exploded out of Divya.

Inside the envelope, along with the card, was a cashier's check made out to one Divya Katdare.


Thanks for the great reviews. This is my first fan fiction. These two are just too fun to write for. I know the writers of the show will eventually put these two kids together, but it will be a long while before that happens. And I just couldn't wait to get the ball rolling. There should be a good many more chapters, as I want their relationship (whatever it is and may become) to flow as naturally as possible, but at the same time: not move at a snail's pace. Thanks again for reading.