Chapter Twenty Six
The entire morning had been hectic.
Daisy had been up since six, and Eve had arrived at eight to help prepare to take the food to the hall Samuel had reserved. The girls had had everything in Daisy's car by nine, and unloaded by ten while Samuel and Gary worked in the labs to complete their daily chores. It was just them, as Heather was out of town with her kids to where her boyfriend was working; and all the other volunteers were busy that day as well.
By the time the boys got there, Gary stubbornly insisting on walking, the girls had everything organized and were starting on the tables. Shortly after, mayhem broke loose again as Brock, May; Max, Sophie, and Brocks entire family arrived, almost tripled in size from boyfriends, spouses, and children. Max, May, and Sophie went to set up a corner for pokémon and children alike, Snorlax marking the pokémon corner, and a table full of games and coloring supplies for the children. Brock joined Daisy and Eve in the kitchen with several of his sisters, the rest keeping the kids under control.
"Never had a Thanksgiving dinner before," Eve exclaimed, wiping her forehead with her arm, smiling happily. Her long hair was pulled into a ponytail, whips of shorter hair falling loose as she moved around the kitchen space with the others. Brock smiled.
"Aw, hell, it's loads of fun. We've been getting together for years." He said. "Natalie, can you hand me the, yes, thank you." He said as his youngest sister handed him a bowl of meatballs, and hurried to make the next batch.
"You seem to have missed out on a lot, Eve." Daisy said. "Your parents must not have liked you getting too excited."
"No, they didn't." Eve said with a bitter laugh. "It was a miserable existence for a child, I'll tell you what."
"Well we'll show you the fun side of life." Brock smiled. "Hard not to have at least a little fun; what with the red-head back on track and full of himself," he chuckled, nodding out the joining counter window, separating the kitchen from the dining area. Gary was currently carting around six two year olds, each one holding onto some different part of him. Eve laughed as she watched this; glad there was so much steam that her face was already red from. It hid her blush. She could hardly keep the color from rising to her cheeks every time she looked at him, as she could only think of the night outside her apartment after his birthday party. His lips had barely brushed hers, enough to snap him out of whatever trance he was in and scare himself off. She had lain awake almost every night replaying that moment in her mind over and over.
What did it mean? Did he actually like her, or was it a moment of weakness, where his mind had not fully been there? She didn't know, but what she did know, was that he hadn't forgotten either. He acted normal, sure, but she could see his furtive glances, sometimes see a flush across the back of his neck, and occasionally, he'd play with her hair when no one else was around.
Those moments were almost serene, like they could last forever. They couldn't obviously. Someone or something always came up; ending anything that may have happened. Thinking about this, she looked back out at him, conversing with Daisy. Even though he was playing, he seemed slightly distracted. She frowned mentally; these moments were growing increasingly, as were Daisy's reports of him violently waking from one nightmare or another, after it seemed those were going to stop.
Her gaze was torn from the object of her thoughts as Daisy called her, just in time to avoid Gary's eyes as he turned to look at her. If only she knew how his thoughts were consumed by her in a much different way than her did him. Partially, he thought of that night, but more and more he was wondering about her. He had searched the Missing Person's pages night after night but no one that looked remotely like her had been listed. Her strange likeness to the two women in his dreams turned his head upside down and inside out, and the more he thought on it, the clearer his thoughts became.
Where had she really come from? Was her story darker than it seemed? He wanted to know, but he couldn't find the nerve to ask.
Gary was suddenly nearly tipped forward by the rambunctious children he was entertaining; thoughts thus disrupted, he tried to push them to the back of his mind as he exclaimed over a small boy's babbled story to him as he swung from his arm.
It wasn't too much later when those in the kitchen called out to alert the rest that dinner was ready, Flint fairly sprinting to the line; the big man had a hard appetite to fill. Gary smiled at Eve as he came up to her, plate in hand.
"Having fun?" He asked her, looking over her slightly disheveled appearance; wisps of hair that had come out of her pony tail, the rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes as she nodded.
"Oh yes, very much." She said, ladling some gravy into his potatoes that he didn't recall her putting there. "It's all very exciting, dinners at home were either very formal or served in my room; Quite dull." She smiled.
"Sounds like it." He laughed and then grinned, reaching over to tweak her nose, making her squeal. "I'll save you a spot at the table, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan!" She said, giving him a thumbs-up as he walked away. One of Brocks sisters, Natasha, leaned over, and nudged Eve's arm with a silly grin on her face.
"What?" The albino asked, and then flushed. "Oh no, no, no, no, no; it's not like that!" She said, flustered, and filled one of Brocks brothers plates as he passed, talking to his wife who was holding one of their three children. Each had several plates skillfully stacked on their arms and balanced perfectly as the other two bounced around their feet.
"Oh please, you two have been gawking at each other all night!" Natasha smirked. "Yes, we've noticed. You can't hide this kind of thing from one of the Pewter Gym sisters." She winked at the now red Eve.
"Please, don't tease; I don't think anyone else knows." She mumbled, wishing to any higher power she could crawl into the potatoes she was dishing out.
"Oh, some may have. Hell, everyone might know but him!" She nodded to Gary. "Looks to be in denial to me; At least you came to terms with it, eh?" She grinned and winked again. Eve flushed even brighter and laughed a little.
"Perhaps" She said with a weak chuckle, "hard to tell, isn't it?"
"Well, not really." Natasha said, dishing out some turkey. "All you have to do is get him alone somewhere and lay one on him. Either he runs away, you two get it on right there, or he has the decency to either get a hotel, go back to your place, or at the very least kiss you back and return your feelings!" Eve gaped at this girl.
"Natasha, you're what, seventeen?!" She asked, appalled. "What goes through your head?" the dark haired beauty scoffed flipping her hair.
"Please, boys aren't the only ones who have healthy albeit perverted minds. Girls do to; they just don't blurt everything out like boys do." This made Eve laugh, helping kill some of the flush in her cheeks.
"Okay, but I'm doing none of those." She laughed. "Let's get our plates and go sit down."
"Roger!" Natasha said, saluting. Eve shook her head and smiled. She had such a fiery spirit. She was a tiny girl, and she could see the housewife under the flames of her independence.
"I think you and Gary would make a great couple." Eve yelped and jumped at the soft voice, nearly dropping her plate. She turned to see Sophie. She had forgotten she had come in to help.
"I'm sorry! I forgot you were there!" She said, clutching her heart with her free hand. Sophie laughed.
"Yes, I'm afraid it's rather easy to do, since I'm so quiet." She smiled. "But I really do think you two would be good together; almost like you were made to be together." She smiled, and moved around the albino. Eve frowned at the last comment, there had been a hidden message there, and she just knew it. Shaking her head and deciding to dwell on it later, she joined Gary at the table where he ruffled her already messy hair. Samuel was elected to begin grace, and Eve felt her heart lighten and her pulse quicken as Gary's warm hand took hers as they joined in. Maybe the girls were right.
Later that evening, after everything was cleaned up and packed away, Gary insisted on walking Eve home. They exited out into the cool night air, Eve waving off Natasha who was making kissy faces and, suggestive body movements out of eyesight of anyone else. She hardly noticed when Gary took her hand in his, but was very glad for the night when she did, as she began blushing madly.
"Did you enjoy dinner?" She asked after a moment. Gary glanced down at her.
"Oh yea, best one yet, I figure." He said, "You?"
"Very much," She smiled up at him. "So much nicer than the ones when I was a kid." She swung their arms a little as the red-head smiled.
"I'm glad." He said. "Sticking around for Christmas?" he asked, and laughed loudly as she nodded eagerly. "What never had a Christmas before?" He asked. She shook her head.
"No, not really; the best one, and really the last, was when I met Zephyr." She said, calming down rapidly, smiling a little as she remembered that night. Gary watched her, tilting his head.
"You've had it rough." He said after a moment, unconsciously turning down the street her apartment was on. She smiled a little.
"Not as rough as you." She said.
"I doubt it." He laughed. She laughed with him, and randomly, began to hum.
She was digging her keys out of her bag, so she didn't see Gary staring at her, eyes wide in a slight state of shock. He was just barely able to regain his composure when she turned to him with a smile that he returned.
"See you tomorrow, Eve." He smiled, knowing she'd show up.
"See you tomorrow." She replied, and was left in her own odd state of shock, as he leaned down and swiftly kissed her cheek before heading home with a smile and a wave. She waved back with a small smile of her own, before heading inside to plop onto her bed with Zephyr and Gaia on her chest, talking animatedly to them both.
Meanwhile, Gary was sprinting home. He could hardly contain himself as he reached the front door, entering slowly and quietly as he could so as not to wake is sister or grandfather. He padded up the stairs to his room, shutting the door before hurriedly going to his desk and whipping out his journal, flipping to an entry from several days before. A haunting melody had been playing through his head since then, and when he found the page he had written the lyrics on, he sank into his chair, mind racing miles a minute, unable to make sense of it.
The tune in his head and the song she had hummed… were the same.
Authors Note: sorry for the late update! Been a busy couple of days :)
I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did, I loved to write the
interaction between the characters, especially Natasha XD
Thank you for continuing to read despite my awkward updating schedule :)