Just Talk

Eric was certain from the way that the tips of Eve's ears had turned pink, when her stomach had rumbled that she had been embarrassed. But as far as he was concerned there was nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact he had been grateful for her stomach giving away the fact that she was hungry.

He had been sad, thinking that their interaction would have to be cut short. Eve made for a very good conversation partner. There was just something about the way she talked about things that she was passionate about, that brought out a spark in her eyes. It made Eric want to move in closer, and listen to her going on and on about her interests. 

When she had been telling him about her business, she had been so animated, it had almost been impossible to keep up. But he had managed, enjoying listening to her talk about things like the different shades of paint, and the emotion that she got from mixing them. He'd thought that he detected a bit of sadness too when she spoke of painting, but it had been so brief that he was unsure.

When Eve talked about her work, it was clear that she was talking about something that she greatly enjoyed. For his part, Eric enjoyed listening to her.

It was nice being with someone who understood how freeing it was to do something that you loved. Most of the time when people learned that he had gone from engineering to being a teacher, they did not get it. If anything, they were confused. Almost as though they looked down on the teaching profession. Which to this day still made no sense to Eric. 

Many people were where they were, because somebody had taken the time to teach them after all. So Evelyn, seeming to instinctively get that, had bumped her up a few notches in Eric's book. Which was why he did not mind prolonging the time that he spent with her. In fact, even as they ate their food in silence, Eric did not mind the quiet.

He did not feel the need to fill it with unnecessary chatter. Instead, he just soaked up the companionship and dug into his meal. From time to time he looked up, and when he found Evelyn staring back, the two of them would just smile and turn back to their food.

It was nice sharing a meal the way they were. After all of the disastrous blind dates that he had been to. He had almost forgotten that it could be good to eat in the company of someone who was not related to him. It definitely bode well for the future that they could just sit together and eat, without things being tense, or borderline awkward.

Their meal was an enjoyable one, but the more the food on his plate dwindled. The more Eric began to dread their brief encounter ending. Sure they would still have to talk about their upcoming fake date. But that conversation was all that stood between them, and parting ways. 

Spending time with Evelyn was actually pretty nice. He wanted to have her in his company for as long as possible. But even as the excuse of eating began to fade, the easy going atmosphere at their table began to disappear as well. As he dug into his meal, Eric could feel her eyes on him. But each time that he looked up, she was looking back down at her own plate. Spooning mouthfuls of yogurt into her mouth.

It would have been wise to ignore her and pretend like nothing was wrong. But he could not hold it in anymore. The next time that he felt eyes on him, he looked up too fast for her to be able to turn her attention elsewhere. 

"What?" He asked, not being unkind, just curious. Swallowing her yogurt, Evelyn fixed him with a look. She seemed to be debating something and after biting at her bottom lip, she released it and gave him another look. 

"I am curious. When we were at the restaurant, it was pretty clear to me that you thought me asking you to pretend to be my boyfriend was something that you would not even consider? That you felt as though I was somebody who was doing something that was way beneath you?" 

"What changed between that Eric from back at Chardays to the Eric now? It can't just be that you gave your sister my name, there has to be something else," Question asked, she leaned back in her chair, and idly dipped her spoon into her bowl, but she did not bring it to her mouth. Instead, she toyed with it a bit. Had his mother been around to witness such a display, she would have had a fit. But Eric was not his mother. He was simply a man who had been hit with a question that he had not been expecting at all. 

"You do realize that the two of us will only be pretending to date for one night, right? We do not have to know each other's life stories or our motivations behind why we are doing what we are doing?" She shrugged, putting her spoon down and looking him in the eye.

"This is not an interrogation. You do not have to answer me if you do not want to. But I figured that it would be nice to know why you decided to just change your mind, all of a sudden," Eric thought on her words. She had a point. He might not have liked talking about it, but it could not hurt to let someone else know how he really felt about the blind dates that his sister had been setting him up on.

"Well, for starters, my sister, Beth, has a heart of gold. She's worried about me," He paused at that. He might have been willing to share the fact that Beth was the one who was arranging all of the unfortunate dates for him. But that did not mean that he was ready to talk about Melissa, especially with someone that he barely knew. Skipping over that part, Eric pushed on ahead. 

"She has been setting up these dates and I have been going. But after the fiasco that happened last time, with my date stripping naked. I do not want to do this anymore,"

"I have had enough of love, of romance, just everything to do with potential partners. I do not have it in me to constantly be out there looking for love. But telling Beth that will not do me any favours,"

"She won't understand?" Evelyn asked, her tone soft, the look in her eyes not a judgemental one. Eric shook his head. 

"No, even worse, she would understand. But I can see the worry in her eyes sometimes when she looks at me and thinks I'm not paying attention. Our parents died a few years ago, and Beth is all that I have left to remind me of them. I do not want my sister to go through life worried that I will die a lonely old man,"

"But the blind dates were doing me more harm than good, and I was beginning to fear that if I carried on with them, I would end up detesting her a little bit,"

"And this date that we are going on, are you not worried that it will make things worse for your sister?" Eric shrugged at her question.

If he were to come out and tell Beth that he no longer wanted to go on the blind dates. She would be understanding but a part of her would break. But if he went on a date that was of his own choosing, and then came back and told her that he was taking a bit of a break from it all. She would be less likely to take it to heart, because then she would assume that her having him go on the blind dates, had at least made him interested enough to start seeing other people. He explained as much to Evelyn and she nodded in understanding. 

"That is actually a really good point," For a while after that, there was only silence at their table, the two of them finishing off their meals. Once they were almost done, Eric turned to Evelyn, his own curiosity getting the better of him. 

"What about you? What made you decide to come here, after the way I acted the last time. And why is it that even after you had left, you still came back? I know the fact that your gave your friend my name is not the entire reason," Evelyn looked at him. Then she swallowed, her throat working around nothing. 

She seemed to be having an internal debate, but whatever it was, she decided that he was alright to speak to because she did not instantly clam up.

"Before I answer you, I have another more question for you,"

"I got the general gist of things. But what actually went on during your blind dates??"