Chapter Thirty-3

Lizzie stretched her hand across the table, capturing his in her grasp. His eyes immediately lit up and he gave her a smile. "Still overthinking it?" He shrugged his shoulders a bit. "Maybe. I don't know how to stop it, really." "Well, let's talk about something, anything. What did you do this week?" Everett narrowed his eyes, giving her a smirk. "Really?" Lizzie smacked the top of his hand. "Yes! Come on, we haven't talked in a couple of days. Tell me what all happened." And so, with that, their date really began. Everett told her all about the new song he worked on during the week, how Cole sat with him and pounded on keys as Everett played. Everett would only admit to Lizzie how cute he thought it was. She told him about how she helped her mom with some art projects, including redecorating the studio. That was an art project of its very own. "She literally, like, had me throw handfuls of paint at her wall!" Lizzie ranted, the piece of pizza in her hand flopping around in the air with her movements. Everett chuckled around the mouthful of pizza, his head shaking back and forth. "But why? Isn't that super messy? Didn't it ruin all the other projects in the room?" he inquired, head resting on his hands. Lizzie shook her head. "She covered everything up. Mom just wanted to get some color in there and decided that would be the fastest way." Lizzie tried to hold back with the laugh, but chuckles just came out no matter how hard she tried. "Your mom is nuts," Everett concluded with a smile. The two of them lapsed into silence, quickly shoving the rest of their food into their mouths. Once he swallowed, Everett asked, "Ready for me to call Jesse to pick us up?" "Yeah, I'm good to go," she replied, piling her silverware on the plate. Everett grabbed his money out of his wallet. Everything was in a very particular place in that wallet and as he dug around for the twenty he stashed in there, he hoped he didn't look like an idiot. Finally, his fingertips touched the folded up bill and he breathed a small sigh of relief. Once the check was paid and tip was left, Everett and Lizzie walked outside the restaurant hand in hand. "So was that nearly as bad as your thought it would be?" Lizzie teased, bumping Everett's hip with her own. He grinned and shook his head. "No, not even remotely." He shoved his hand in the pocket of his pants and Lizzie slipped her hand out of his and into the crook of his arm instead. "It was actually awesome. Please tell me I didn't bore you?" Lizzie whapped him in the arm, shaking her head. "You never bore me, Ev." A horn honked, drawing their attention to the street . Jesse sat in the car, his face sporting a big smile and a shake in his hand. "You guys ready?" Both nodded their heads and got inside the car, buckling up as they went to their next destination. "Where are we going anyways?" Lizzie watched as a light blush crept up Everett's neck onto his face, thankful for there being a bit of sunlight left so she could actually see it. "I sort of thought maybe we could walk around the park a little bit?" He replied, shooting for confident and missing it by a few miles. Grabbing his hand, Lizzie gave it a comforting squeeze. "I think that sounds great, Everett. Let's go!" The ride to the park took fifteen minutes - normally it wouldn't have been a big deal, but the with the traffic a little heavier than usual, it took a bit longer. "Okay, I'm gonna park here," Jesse announced, throwing the car into gear and turning it off. "I'm going to walk around myself, but in a completely different direction, I promise." He looked at Lizzie seriously. "I just want to have some fresh air." She smiled back and nodded. "No worries," and then looking at Everett, "Ready?" Everett eagerly nodded and opened his door, Lizzie following close behind. In just a few minutes, they had put a little bit of distance between them and the car. Lizzie and Everett walked in sync, close together and linked. Lizzie's hand found a place safely tucked in the crook of Everett's arm as they moved, her head on his shoulder. "I like this," Everett mumbled, his head falling to the side and leaning on hers. "I honestly never thought this was something I could have and now. . .now I can't imagine not having it." Lizzie's hand squeezed his bicep in response and snuggled further into him. She mumbled something into his arm and he frowned, unable to hear it. "Mind repeating that?" A sigh escaped Lizzie and she stopped, bringing Everett with her. She seemed a little uneasy and Everett didn't know what to say to make her feel better. "You okay?" "Yeah just . . ." Another sigh escaped her, "You just weren't supposed to hear that. I didn't think you would." Everett frowned. "What would you not want me to hear?" "Oh good lord, this is embarrassing," she mumbled. Lizzie then straightened herself and held Everett's hand with one of her own, the other coming to his face to make sure she could look him directly in the eyes, even if he couldn't do it as well. "Liz?" "Look, I get that we aren't like . . . super into this relationship yet. I understand that. I get that tonight was our first date but . . . look the thing is - -" With a smile, Everett leaned forward and fused their lips together softly, effectively cutting her off. He hoped she didn't mind, but . . . he really wanted to say it first. Pulling away, he leaned his head again hers. "I love you, too, Lizzie. And I get it. I do." Everett took another breath before continuing, "We spend a lot of time together, we did before we even became a thing. It's easy. It's so easy with you." She let out an airy laugh and grabbed him, pulling Everett in for another kiss. "I really do love you, you dork." And then as an afterthought, she punched him in the arm, his startled laughter following the action. "And that's for stealing my thunder." And if for the last ten minutes before they met back up with Jesse, they spent it on a bench cuddling and exchanging kisses . . . well, they were the only ones who needed to know that.