The butterflies in her stomach had been torturing her the entire walk back to the dorms. Little ones fluttered quickly as it felt like the wings of the bigger ones tickled the walls of her stomach making her feel weak. Her legs insanely tingly as she could not hold herself together, this feeling was so overwhelming for her she wanted to partially cry without reason to. It was just how she was feeling and the warmth in her chest soothed every after thought she had of the boy.
She felt so alive yet so little at the same time and every part of her liked Dean even more than she thought. It was beyond a crush as she was obsessed with him even if he did annoy her from time to time. Her heart ached to learn more about him and to spend more time alone, wanting to see just how much he could blossom. She too wanted to see how she could spread her wings and live a little more, following his lead.
Her chest felt heavy and with it combining alongside her scratchy throat that ached, she glanced around and inhaled the sweetness of the cold Minnesota air. Evie gulped, having her breath regulated now as they'd left ten minutes ago from the karaoke place.
They stopped at a crosswalk where he waited by the post, palm banging the button as he grew impatient, waiting for the light to change. She glanced over, leaning forward slightly to see what he was doing. "It'll change in eight seconds." She informed him.
"How do you know that?" He chuckled, brows narrowing at her with that sudden yet weird knowledge.
"My dad taught me at red lights to watch the meter. The walk/stop one. The numbers counting is when the light will change."
"Hmm," He nods, not having known that previously. "Interesting."
"Yeah." She shrugged, not thinking it was anything amazing.
As the light changed color, they joined the few other pedestrians in crossing the road as headlights shone across their bodies. Their shadows flashed on the damp asphalt from the hot day turning cool.
Midway walking down the sidewalk, Evangeline reached forward and grabbed Dean's hand. His arm swinging at his side slowly as he walked and she found it looked lonely. A lame excuse to just hold his hand. It became a comforting feeling to touch as she knew she could trust him, even if she was still gaining and earning his trust.
His head looked back over his shoulder, gazing at what she was doing before he interlocked their fingers.
Her face softened, eyes feeling like they were bulging out of her head like the cute animals animated on TV. "Blush any more your face is gonna crack." He teased, swinging their arms between their bodies.
"That makes it worst." She looked away, lifting her other hand to hide herself. "Dean," She whined. "Stoppp."
He laughed it off. "Honestly I gotta say I didn't expect you to join me at karaoke."
"Neither did I." She admitted. "Where'd you learn that?" She skipped ahead, having been falling behind and bumped his arm.
Dean kind of shrugged it off, thinking it wasn't a big deal as he pushed the two of them to the edge of the sidewalk, letting someone by. "I can't lie and say Fulton and I don't rock out on Saturday nights to the bands."
She giggled. "Cute."
"Manly." He corrected.
"Sure, sure." She agreed for the sake of agree. "It's cute, though." She explained. "You guys must be close."
"Hell," He ran his free hand through his hair, ruffling the longer curls on top. Evangeline did secretly want to know what his hair would like if it were straight, she was used to the curls she couldn't imagine it straighter than a frizzy wave. "We met at the Junior Goodwill Games."
She furrowed her brows. "What's that?"
He rose his brows, eyes widened and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. "Sully." He eyed her. "You don't know?"
She shrugged, not having a clue. "No idea. What is it?"
"Heard of the World Juniors?" She proceeded to shake her head, not embarrassed because she didn't watch sports. "Tell me you've heard of the NHL?"
"Of course I've heard of that, silly." She smacked his arm playfully as he laughed along, shaking his head.
Dean continued to walk as she trailed beside him, hands still clasped together. "Anyway, it's this competition with teams all around the world. The difference is this one is all Juniors, so anyone from about fourteen to seventeen, give or take." He guessed, not really sure the ages of the competition they'd joined.
"So, your parents didn't send you to Eden Hall?" She questioned. "Wait, you're from Minneapolis, right?" Her eyes narrowed, taken aback.
For an odd reason or another, Evangeline completely forgot he was on scholarship and that he played at the Juniors. However, she kind of had this hunch he lived nearby and just resided at the dorms rather than his home, which she did here or there.
"No." He laughed. "Chicago. Thought you knew."
"Well, kinda sorta. We didn't talk really last year, remember?" She told him in a 'duh' tone.
He let his head fall as he grew quiet. He found the conversation nice even if she didn't have a clue about much of the topic they spoke. "I was picked to play for the Games. After winning gold-"
"Dean, that's amazing!" She cheered, jumping at his side and he chuckled, watching her giddy spread from ear to ear. "Holy shit."
"Wow." He'd never heard her cuss.
"Sorry." She laughed. "But that's so cool, congrats."
"Thanks. Anyway, we got scholarships here. I didn't bother coming because Bombay ditched. After I saw him take a worn out losing Team USA from a lower seeded team and beat the fiercest seeded team, I didn't want a different coach teaching me."
"Ever thought about what a new coach could teach you?"
He huffed. "Our current coach is nice now, at first he was a pain in the ass...So I was told."
"Soo," She turned to face, bringing her other hand to engulf his with both of hers. "What made you stay?"
He thought about it. "Obviously hockey...as first." She tilted her head, growing quiet. "Now," He looked up with confidence. "You."
He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
She couldn't help but smile at his sweetness.
It felt so much like the movies, she thought everything about her and Dean was unreal. Her heart warmed up at his gentle touch and she set her head on his arm, enjoying the walk back to Eden Hall as it neared nine.
Before becoming an actual friend to Dean Portman, she never stayed out past seven, maybe eight at the latest. She always came back to Eden to finish homework and have a bit of time before bed to do some things. Evie knew she wasn't distancing her friends, but the more time she spent with Dean, the more she wanted to keep being with him. She was sure he felt the same way.
When they got back, Dean had split ways from her at the top of the stairs. He'd headed for the boys' dorms to gloat to Fulton about how Evangeline could possibly take his spot in karaoke. Meanwhile, she jumped around her room screeching with joy to Gloria as they danced terribly. The two girls overly excitedly. One girl's joy was equally her best friend's. Glory didn't know she could sit so long to endure a conversation about a guy who made her friend crush so hard with obsession.
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Twenty-One ~ A Dean Portman Fanfic
Fanfiction"You called me 'Sullivan' all day, why?" "It's your name, isn't it?" She gulped. "Yes." She looked over to him. "But you always call me-" "Sully." He cut her off. ~ The dorky girl he knew from Freshmen year approached her Sophomore year looking rath...
