21

Evan's POV:

Post-shower, Lexi stands in front of the mirror, brushing through her hair.

"I hope you brought extra clothes." I laugh.

She smirks, "brought the whole damn closet."

I giggle and take my brush from her, dragging it through the subtle tangles in my hair. Lexi watches, nibbling her lip.

"I'm taking you on a date tonight. So put on a dress or something nice." She says.

I furrow my brows, "um... what happened to a simple dinner?"

"I changed my mind. I'm taking you somewhere special." She shrugs.

I don't really know how to react. I haven't been taken on an actual date in years, even before the divorce. "I- but where?!" I ask her.

She shakes her head, "don't worry about the details. Just look pretty, which shouldn't be hard for you to accomplish." Lexi grins, kissing my cheek quickly as she walks off.

My eyes roll, "whatever you say, Lex."

I begin getting ready, per Lexi's request. She goes out to her car, retrieving her bags and doing the same.

About forty minutes into the process, Lexi joins me in the bathroom again. "I don't see why it takes you this long to get ready. You're already gorgeous, so what are you even doing in here?" Her arms snake around my waist and she lays her chin on my shoulder.

"You told me to look nice, didn't you?" I taunt.

"Yes, but.... do it faster." She laughs.

I shake my head and continue coating my lashes in mascara with Lexi's arms around me. She kisses the exposed part of my back a few times, and her hands slide up and cup both my breasts. "Oh, really?" I laugh, staring at her through the mirror

"Really." She winks, her hands still on my body.

Her lips touch my skin again and I sigh deeply. "If you want to get out of here anytime soon, I strongly suggest you stop there."

"Fine, hurry up." She gives, removing her arms and walking back to the bed.

I finally finish up my make-up and hair. I find a dress to wear, nothing too fancy, and start sliding into it. "I want to know where we are going."

"How about no?" Lexi jokes.

My eyes roll once more and I pull the straps over my shoulders and struggle to zip myself up. Lexi appears in the doorway and raises her brows. "Help?" I whine.

She happily obliges, zipping the back and straightening the dress for me. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you to dress nice. You're too hot." She gawks, looking me up and down multiple times.

"You're sweet." I pout my lips out. As I say it, I feel a burning sensation on my left asscheek where Lexi's smacked me. "Ugh- I take it back." I scoff.

She smiles and kisses my cheek quickly, "are you ready now?"

I nod quickly, slipping my foot into my shoe. "I suppose."

She smiles and heads out of the bedroom, me trailing behind her. I follow her out to the car, where she opens my door like she usually does, and she gets in and drives us to a restaurant.

"What is this place?" I ask, not having been here before.

"Look at that... I'm showing you things and you've lived here a whole lot longer than I have." Lexi teases, making a face. "I hope you're in the mood for pasta."

I smirk and she jumps out, running around the car and opening my door again. I sit in my seat, shaking my head. I can't believe she does this sort of stuff. I mean, I can, and I love it. It's just- new for me. It's nice.

"This is the part where you get out..." Lexi laughs, still holding onto the door waiting for me to exit the car.

"Come here." I mutter, motioning with my finger with my eyes on hers. She does, and I grab her collar, kissing her lips slowly. Something about her is just so irresistible and sexy to me. I want her at the worst, most inconvenient times.

She rests her hand on my knee, but it slides down my thigh and pushes my dress with it. One kiss turns to two, and I can't force myself to let her go. I keep kissing her, my tongue venturing into her mouth and my thigh moving against her.

"Mm-" she moans against my lips and her hand grips my thigh firmly, "don't start something you can't finish." Lexi groans, letting her teeth grab my lower lip.

I fall back against the seat and sigh hard, analyzing her face. "Don't act like I won't get in the backseat and finish it, Lexi. I'm not that much older than you."

Her brows raise and I can tell she's actually contemplating it. "Dessert before dinner is always an option." She leans in and kisses me again.

I tease her a bit more, brushing her lips with my tongue a few times. I finally separate our mouths and giggle softly, "you are just too good, Lexi Brewer."

She winks and grabs my hand, escorting me out of the car and all the way to the door.

We're eventually seated, and our waiter takes our order. I order a glass of wine as well.

As we sit, we talk about the dumbest, most irrelevant things, but it feels so good and so natural.

"You know what I love about you?" I ask, swishing my glass around in circles.

Her hand instantly covers her heart and she gasps, "you love something about me?!" She jokes.

My eyes roll, "alright-"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. What is it?" Lexi grins.

"You listen. It doesn't matter what the hell I'm talking about, you listen to me." I say, eyeing her. "And it's not just so you can respond, either. It's so you can understand. I see that, and I appreciate that, Lexi. I really do." I tell her, finding more and more of her qualities to admire as time goes on.

I swear I see her cheeks blush red, and it shocks me. "I try to."

"Holy shit... are you blushing? I hardly ever make you blush." I poke at her.

She swats her hand and cocks her mouth to the side, "psh. No."

"Mmhm, sure." My eyes roll. "You've matured a lot in the last few years, you know? I like it. It suits you well."

Lexi laughs and reaches across the table, grabbing my hand. "I thi-"

Before her sentence can be completed, her phone rings. She glances down at it, eyes rolling. Her face changes instantly when she lays her eyes on the screen though.

"It's my mom?" She says, retracting her hand.

"Is that unusual?" I question, not totally aware of how often the two communicate these days, though I imagine it isn't often.

She nods and answers wearily, "hello?"

I listen to Lexi speak, her voice a bit shaky. "Is he okay?"

He? Who is 'he'?

"I- yeah. I'll head that way I guess." Lexi sighs, pulling her hand over her face.

My brows furrow and she ends the call, "what's the matter?" I ask.

"Mike just got rushed to the ER apparently. He's going in for surgery on his heart I think. My mom is a wreck, asked if I'd come down." Lexi groans, clearly not wanting to deal with the stress of the situation.

"What? My god, Lex." I gasp, surprised at how calm her reaction is. I guess she really did kind of cut ties with her mom after graduation. I knew it was bad, but not that bad.

She flags down our waiter and pays without even giving me a chance to pull my card out. I follow her from the table, headed out of the restaurant.

"Do you want me to drive?" I ask, trying to be helpful.

She looks over her shoulder and laughs, "did you miss the two glasses of wine you just had? And you don't need to go, Ev. It's a long drive and it's late." She insists. "I'm sure your night would be better spent at home."

I shoot her a look and stop beside her while she holds my door open, "if you think I'm letting you go alone you've really lost your mind."

She sighs and shakes her head, "get in the car then."

I do as she says and she starts the drive towards the hospital where Mike is. It's just over an hour away, and Lexi doesn't have much to say on the way there. I can't tell if it's because she's worried about her mom and Mike or annoyed with the situation.

After several miles of deafening silence, she lays her hand over mine on the console. "I'm sorry our night was ruined. I can make it up to you."

I instantly shake my head and hold her hand to my lips, "don't apologize. It's fine, Lex. I'm not worried about it."

She nods and averts her eyes back to the road.

"What are you thinking?" I press, seeing the wheels of her mind spinning.

She sighs, "good question."

I frown subtly and kiss her hand several times, just wanting her to know that I am present.

* * *

Lexi's POV:

Upon arriving at the hospital, Evan and I walk inside and I hear her let out a heavy sigh.

"I told you not to come." I remind her.

"Have I ever been good at listening to directions, Lexi?" She smarts. "I just- I haven't been back to this damn town since the divorce. It feels weird... like I lived this entirely different life here."

"I don't miss it, that's for sure." I sigh. "On the bright side, you are definitely the most well-dressed and beautiful person in this hospital tonight." I grin.

Evan's lips curl and we come to a desk and acquire directions to the waiting area. The moment I turn the corner I spot my mom, who has trimmed down considerably since I last saw her.

"Hey, Lexi." She says, hugging me tightly. It's clear she's been crying, she gets so worked up about even the smallest things, so I'm not surprised.

I pat her back, still having a bit of a grudge for how she treated me. Our relationship can't ever be fully mended between the way she treated my father's death and my preference for women.

My mom's eyes shift to the blonde behind me, not recognizing her at first. I see the look in her eyes change the moment she makes the connection, though.

"Evan Copeland." The name rolls off her lips in the rudest way imaginable.

"It's no longer Copeland. It's Johnson. Hi, Amy." Evan says, being civil. I can imagine that Evan isn't very fond of my mother either, but she's playing nice for my sake.

My mom's eyes go crazy shifting between the two of us. "I- why is she here?" Her voice is low and directed at me.

"I asked her to be." I say, even if it isn't the whole truth, Evan is the one who insisted on coming. "If you want we can go." I shrug, acting as if I'm going to walk away.

My mom's hand grabs my wrist and pulls me into a hug again. I glance at Evan and she shrugs, unsure of what's going on.

"You're a bit overdressed for a hospital, no?" My mom spits, glaring at Evan's exposed (and very toned) thighs.

"Hey, I'm not having that. If you can't be an adult, then we'll both go. I'm here because I'm trying to be a decent daughter and step-daughter, not because I wanted to hear your judgement and ridicule." I explain, ending it before it can begin.

"I just don't see how-" I give my mother a glare and she stops speaking. "Okay."

My mom sits in one of the chairs, and I offer Evan a seat on one of the couches in the room. I take the spot beside her and the room goes silent. Pin-dropping silent.

It stays this way for about an hour, then a nurse comes in.

"Brewer?" She confirms the last name and my mom nods quickly. "Surgery is going well, his heart is under a lot of stress, but things are holding up."

"Will he be okay?" My mom asks, worried sick. I wish she would have loved me even a fraction of how much she loves Mike.

"He... should be. The doctor is doing his best to ensure that." The nurse says, nodding.

My mother nods and sits down again, sighing.

I feel a bump against my shoulder and catch Evan dozing off. "You tired?" I ask her.

"No, I'm good." She lies. I see it in her eyes, she is exhausted.

"I'll be right back." I say, leaving the room.

I'm gone for about fifteen minutes, and when I enter the room again I sense a tension that wasn't there before. My brows furrow but Evan throws me a half-smile, easing my worry.

"Here." I say, passing over a twenty dollar blanket that I bought at the gift-shop.

She laughs and takes it, "you didn't have to buy a blanket. I was fine."

"The chills on your legs suggest otherwise." I grin, pulling my fingers over her thigh.

Evan covers herself up and I coax her head to my lap, though I know she may not love the idea because of my mother being present. I refuse to let my mother ruin things or have any aspect of control over my life of my actions anymore. It isn't worth it.

Evan eventually dozes off, and once she's out I glance at my mom.

"You don't have to like it or approve of it. I'm not expecting you to." I say, my voice soft in an effort not to wake Evan.

"That woman ruined everything. She isn't even fit to be-"

"This should be good. Let's hear it, mom." I growl, leaning my head against the wall.

"Alexis, the woman seduced you. You were eighteen, and she took advantage of you! I don't get why you're in contact with her again, especially in this way!" She groans, motioning to the blonde laid across my legs. It's pretty obvious our relationship goes past friendly, even if I didn't come out and say it. "The woman isn't even fit to be a mother, you know. I heard that Scott got their kids in the divorce! How pathetic of a woman she must-"

My mother's words piss me off at the core. It's one thing to not like the relationship I have with Evan, but talking about Evan as a mother is crossing a line. If there is one thing Evan is, it is a great mother.

"You have the audacity to talk about being a fit mother? Seriously?! That's bold, mom. You literally put a grown ass man before your own daughter, practically forced me to change my name from dad's, and then disowned me because of the gender of the person I love." I hiss, my voice getting progressively louder. "Evan is a better mother to her three kids than you have ever been to me, and you do not have any right to talk about who has custody of the kids or why. You know absolutely nothing about their divorce or their lives, so please... do not start."

By the time I finish my rant, Evan is stirring in my lap, my mother has a look of pure shock and hurt on her face, and a figure in scrubs has appeared in the doorway.

"Lexi Brewer, long time no see." The figure speaks and I turn my head that way, only making the connection to the familiar voice once my eyes land on the person.

"Katie."