he sits in the living room, headphones resting in his ears to block out what tee's doing in the bedroom. he tries to focus on grading the pop quizzes in front of him rather than the dirty words his girlfriend is currently speaking to a stranger.
this has become their routine. normally, she tried not to take calls while she was with him. but every now and then it just happened. if he wanted to spend time with her, he had to accept that sometimes she'd be taking calls. this was only temporary after all.
he knows that at the end of the day, it's his bed that she ends up in. and he isn't paying her to do so.
he lets out a relieved sigh after he finishes grading the pop quizzes. he reaches for his phone, pausing his music and taking the headphones out. he checks the screen for the time. 6:27pm. they're supposed to be at her place at seven.
having no idea how much longer she'll be on the phone, he reluctantly sits up from the couch and heads towards his bedroom. he can hear her soft voice through the thin wall and, against his better judgement, he quietly opens the door.
he stands in the doorway silently, watching her flip mindlessly through a magazine.
"and then what?" she says, her voice sounding deceivingly sexy despite the uninterested expression on her face.
his eyebrows furrow as he watches her, arms crossed over his chest while his back leans against the wall. he's never seen her in work-mode before.
"oh, paul," she moans. his lips twitch up into a smile as he tries to conceal his laugh. if only this poor paul fellow knew that teagan couldn't be more uninterested in what he had to say.
it's then that she finally looks up from the magazine and spots evan standing there in the doorway. a scream passes her lips before she quickly covers her mouth. he holds his stomach and covers his mouth, trying his best to silence his laughter.
"no, paul, i'm sorry! my fish jumped out of the bowl and i was worried. yeah. he's all right now. um, where were we?" she glares at evan.
he takes this as an invitation to join her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting kisses along her jaw.
"yeah, tell me more about that," she says faintly, her eyelids fluttering shut.
evan smiles into the kiss, nibbling just below her ear and eliciting a moan from her. he laughs, only to be smacked in the chest. the flushed look on her face and the upwards curve of her lips is enough to show him that she's not really mad.
he leans in, kissing her cheek softly before reaching for the phone. he covers the speaker and her eyebrows furrow as she reaches out for the device. he only pulls it further away from her.
"finish up. we have to go, babe," he says quietly, planting one last kiss to her forehead before handing her back her phone and heading towards the living room.
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"that was rude," she says, buckling up her seat belt and frowning at evan.
he shrugs, turning the car on before backing out of his parking spot. "i thought it was kind of hot."
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"your hands are so clammy," she says, scrunching her face up as they walk towards her front door.
"i'm nervous. you're supposed to love me and my clammy hands."
she leans over and plants a soft kiss to his shoulder. "don't be nervous. they'll love you."
"he told me he'd roll me over with his wheelchair if i hurt you."
"well then you better not hurt me." she winks before opening up the front door and stepping inside. "chris! i'm home!"
evan steps in after her just in time to see her older brother, the most intimidating man in the entire world, rolling towards them, his wheelchair being pushed by a young nurse.
"look who finally decided to stop by," he jokes, smiling fondly at his sister.
"i live here." she rolls her eyes.
"hardly." he looks past his sister and over to evan. "you must be evan."
"yeah. it's nice to finally meet you," he says, placing his hand out for him to shake. chris stares at evan's outstretched arm and the entire room falls silent.
"um, he can't move his arms, ev," tee says quietly.
"oh shit. i'm so sorry. i forgot," he says, retracting his hand as a furious blush spreads across his cheeks.
chris smiles. "it's all right, man. i appreciate the gesture. i'd shake it if i could."
evan smiles, embarrassed. the woman behind chris introduces herself. "hi, i'm lany. i'm chris' nurse."
"nice to meet you," evan says. if he wasn't nervous before he got here, he sure as hell was now.
"lany and chris have been friends since college," tee explains. "she's been nice enough to help around here so i have a bit more free time."
"i hate to see my little sister wasting her golden years taking care of me," chris says with a sad smile. "lany is much easier on the eyes anyway."
"chris!" lany scoffs, though the smile on her lips betrays her offended facade.
"it's true," he says. "anyway. we have dinner ready in the dining room. zoe is already asleep for the night but if you're as great as my sister says you are, i'm sure you'll have plenty of other opportunities to meet her."
evan looks to tee, a soft smile on his lips as he sees the excited look in her eyes and says, "i hope you're right."
