All Eyes on Me

Chapter 11

"Evan, can you come here?" Maci poked her head outside as he was finishing up his sweep of the perimeter.

"Yeah, sure." He was hopeful that she had reconsidered what happened earlier, like maybe it was a breakthrough moment for them or something.

He was walking to meet her at the door when she told him why he was wanted. "Ben wants to talk to you," she said, her eyes shifting around as she spoke. Evan knew his face fell at that point, but he nodded his head and went over to Ben.

His partner had just come back with the essential items: water, non-perishable and easily accessible foods (e.g.: bread, granola bars, dry cereal, peanut butter, and a few canned things), as well as extra surveillance gear (binoculars, flashlights, and the like.) He had tilted his head towards the other bag, and Evan assumed Ben wanted him to carry it up, as he was headed toward the stairs. He grabbed the bag and followed suit; they ended up laying out everything, taking inventory of what they needed to have on their person, and what could be stored away.

Evan grabbed a pair of binoculars and slung them around his neck, while Ben tucked a flashlight into his waistband. They decided to put all the food in one spot in the kitchen, the only thing going into the actual refrigerator being the gallon sized jugs of water. They were almost done putting things away when they heard the girls giggling.

"Are you two done yet?" April asked, unable to keep the hum out of her tone. She smirked in Ben's direction, and if they were trying to be sly, they were failing miserably. Maci bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing at her friend's question, and swore she could feel Evan's eyes fall on her as she did so. She quickly shifted into a neutral expression, hoping it would stick around for longer than 5 seconds.

"Yeah, baby, we're done. I'm all yours," Ben stated in what Maci assumed to be a suave way. When he leaned over the sofa to kiss his girlfriend, and they exaggerated it, Maci threw her hands up.

"Okay, I'm out. You two can officially claim this sofa as your own."

Ben wasted no time in hopping over the back of the couch to be next to April. Maci cringed at their overdramatic lovey-dovey-ness, and shot a sideways glance at Evan who was fighting a grin this time.

She rolled her eyes. "What?" She knew she'd regret asking.

"Nothing, nothing." He attempted to shrug it off, but his grin still nagged at her.

She shot him a pointed look, and he caved. "Alright, alright. I mean, sure, they're a little much, but aren't all couples when it comes to PDA?"

She quickly shook her head back and forth. "No way, not u-- me. I wasn't, I mean I'm not. Not really anyway. And definitely not that much in public." She shrugged. "To each their own. I'm glad they're still so happy."

Evan nodded in agreement. He opened his mouth to say something more when an onslaught of private moments between he and Maci ran through his mind. He let out a heavy sigh, suddenly feeling really tired. He checked the phone they gave him. It was only 4 PM, but it felt way later.

He called over to Ben. "Dude, you gonna be down here for a while?"

He didn't get a verbal response, but instead a thumbs up from his colleague, whose mouth was probably still attached to his girlfriend's.

He shook his head before turning to Maci. "Hey, so I'm gonna go grab a quick power nap, but I'll be upstairs if yo-- if anything happens."

She nodded. "Okay, thanks. I think I'm going to follow you up--" she stopped mid-sentence, her cheeks turning pink. "I think I'm going to journal or something to ease my worries."