All Eyes on Me

Chapter 4

Evan was on his second beer when he decided to FaceTime Ben. "Hey man, what's up?"

"Evan, man, it's good to hear from you! Or see you, I guess," Ben replied. "How've you been?"

"Good, good," Evan answered, showing off the bottle in his hand.

"Getting your shine on tonight?" Ben asked casually.

"Yeah yeah, sue me," Evan joked. "I've had a long day, alright?"

"Well, is that why you called?"

"Sort of," he admitted sheepishly. He took another swig of beer before continuing. "I just need your advice on something."

Ben shifted his phone for a second. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Well, you remember Heidi? The agent I was partnered up with?"

"Yeah..." Ben began, before seeming to put the rest together. "Oh. Yeah, yeah I do."

"No," Evan tried, before sighing. "I mean, at least I don't think it's like that. That's the thing. I don't know. Hell, I don't even know how I feel about it – or her."

"Well, tell me more about her. Or what's been going on between you two."

"I mean, we work really well together. I didn't like her at first, and vice versa. We just have two different personalities that clashed originally. Now, we've kind of learned to work with it, instead of let it work against us. But lately, she's been a little more flirty, and I don't hate it. And at first I was like, well shit, maybe I do need a distraction, but as the days have dragged on, I'm kinda thinking I should focus on the job, and not another woman."

"Shoot, Evan, that's a lot. You sure you're only on loan for a few months as opposed to like, a few years?" Ben cracked a smile.

"Very funny, Harrison. I'm serious, help me out here."

"Okay, okay. Well, I mean, if Heidi's fine in your book, then maybe you just need to blow off some steam. You know, get it out of your system. Nothing wrong with hooking up, as long as you're both on the same page. Or else – obviously – things could get very awkward."

"Well, yeah, no shit. I know that much," Evan rolled his eyes.

"Hey, you asked for my help, remember?" Ben defended.

"I know, I know," Evan replied, running his free hand through his hair. "Dammit. When did all this shit become so complicated? I used to just be able to be with a girl, and that was that."

He paused, expecting Ben to jump in with his two cents, but his friend stayed silent on the other end. Evan gave him a confused look, and Ben still didn't say anything. He almost looked hesitant to speak, which was very unlike him.

"Oh Jesus, just spit it out, Ben," Evan begged.

"Well, I was just gonna say, that was before...you know who came into the picture." He offered, making sure not to mention her name aloud.

"Oh for fucks sake, Ben. This has nothing to do with her."

"Well then what's the problem, man? Because the old Evan – the pre Maci Evan – would've hooked up with Heidi before now, and still been able to do his job."

Evan was tempted to hang up on his colleague, but, when he took a second to think about it, maybe Ben had a point. He had changed, and the old him would've definitely just been able to do it and be done. Not have things be complex. No thinking it over or considering anything.

Did she ruin that easy go-with-the-flow part of him? He didn't know. All he knew was he was ready to chuck his phone across the room. He told Ben he had to go, and hung up the FaceTime call before he could argue. He tossed his phone on the couch, before going to his room.