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THE STICKY SUMMER HEAT MELTS Evangeline's skin underneath her fuzzy blue coat as she shoves open the front door of the Hub with her shoulder. The whoosh of the short-lived breeze across the threshold drags the attention of everyone in the room in her direction. Most quickly lose interest, but a handful linger until only one steadily remains.
Quickly averting her eyes, she scrambles to the counter, pulling her cross-body closer to her side. The dead-eyed worker asks her what she would like as she stands on her toes to peer at the tiny menu blocked by his triangular red and white hat. "An order of fries, and a cheeseburger," she says, sinking back down onto her heels. As the worker turns around to put in her order, she adds, "And a coke."
She grabs the coke the worker places on the counter, taking a slow sip from the straw as she scans the diner and its clientele. It's fairly occupied for a summer afternoon, a few groups of teens populate the few booths and tables the joint has to offer. A Zeppelin ballad plays over the jukebox where a couple stands staring deeply into each other's eyes. Evangeline's gaze wanders from the loved-up couple and lands on the curly-haired boy whose stare has remained fixed on her since she walked through the door. The raven-haired girl next to him shakes his arm to get his attention, but he brushes her off and says something Evangeline can't hear.
A ding from the bell on the counter alerts her to her finished meal and she thanks the worker before bringing her food to one of the few open tables near the now-making-out couple. At the table she pulls out a magazine to read while she digs in, and the food, she realizes, is still as mediocre as ever.
"What the shit, Jackie?" A loud outburst from the curly-haired boy, now sans glasses, quiets the room for a moment as everyone watches him pick up his eye-wear off the floor. One by one, groups resume discussions, but Evangeline decides it's her turn to watch him.
The friend looks down, a small smile on her face as the boy slips his glasses back up the bridge of his nose; she leans in close to the boy and whispers to him, but not quiet enough to keep her words from traveling to Evangeline's ears in the tiny restaurant.
"Do you know who that is?" Her coal-dark hair bounces as her head bobbles eagerly back and forth between Evangeline and the boy, perfectly manicured fingers subtly gesturing to the blonde who pretends to read her 'zine behind her own rose-tinted shades. "That's the girl whose brother killed himself. Yeah, yeah, remember? The great Point Place tragedy of nineteen-seventy? I remember it 'cause it rhymed." She giggles as if it's the funniest things she's ever heard; the boy clenches his fist slightly and looks away towards the door.
Evangeline knew people were going to talk the moment she returned to Point Place; it was probably the most exciting thing to happen in their small town since the Presidential visit she'd heard about two years ago. She knew they were going to talk, she just didn't think it would be this soon, or that they would broach such a sore topic with her sitting not six feet from them.
