Re: Greenwich- Sevilla Restaruant

[QueenLemonz]

"Well... I don't know." Joel's glance shifted to Evelyn for an instant, remembering the flame he'd previously had burning for her. And suddenly it dawned on him.

Carrie and Taylor were dropping hints about him and Evelyn.

His cheeks instantly flooded with heat and he looked away from Evelyn and went to poking at his food, suddenly embarrassed by the topic, having now realized the whole awkward aspect of it all.

Taylor grinned at Joel's sudden sheepishness.

He knew of the previous feelings he'd had for Evelyn, hell he could recall going to hang out with his then red-headed counterpart and hearing nothing but "Evelyn this" and "Evelyn that". The way Joel went on about her was like a man mad crazy deep in love (albeit, back then, Taylor deemed Joel a bit naive when it came to love and romance).

"Are you sure about that, Joel?" Taylor asked as he proceeded to press his leg into Carrie's as she'd done to him.

[Tiger-Lily]

Satisfied that Taylor had gotten the message, Carrie pulled her leg away with a smirk. She resumed eating calmly, sending Evelyn a wide-eyed glance.

"Um, I'm gonna be right back, ladies' room," Evelyn said suddenly. She glanced at Joel, sending him an apologetic look. "Sorry, could you just let me out?" If they were so damn eager to spell it out to Joel, fine, she'd let them and let Joel tell them he wasn't interested in her.

[QueenLemonz]

"Uh, yeah, sure." Joel stood up and stepped back to allow Evelyn out of the booth, his gaze cast away, not entirely sure he could even look at her at this juncture thanks to Taylor and Carrie making things so grandly awkward.

[Tiger-Lily]

Carrie watched Evelyn snatch up her bag and carefully move around Joel to head for the ladies' room.

This could work out for them. Carrie flashed Joel a smile. "So....?"

[QueenLemonz]

Joel slid back into his spot and glanced up at Carrie, swallowing a nervous knot in his throat that seemed to almost appear suddenly.

"So...what?" He asked.

[Tiger-Lily]

Carrie smiled wider. "I find it really funny that Ev is still single. I mean, she gets asked out by so many guys, but she's still like....waiting around, I guess." She nudged Taylor's knee pointedly with her own. "You knwo her, pretty well. It's weird about her, huh?"

[QueenLemonz]

"I think so." Taylor nodded in agreement with a slight smirk on his face. "Maybe she's waiting for someone special to make a move on her, someone she's familiar with, you know?"

Joel sat for a minute, truly thinking about Taylor's statement before shaking his head.

"Naw, naw. Maybe she's just picky with guys, nothing wrong with picky." His words came tumbling out quickly.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Evelyn doesn't take to strangers very quickly," Carrie informed Joel simply. "She's really hard to win over. Who knows, Taylor might have a major point. I mean, it can't hurt."

***

Evelyn was seated on a bench in the bathroom, fooling around on her phone as she mused over the current awkward predicament she was in. And thing was, she couldn't actually say anything. She had no "logical" reason to protest at all, to what Carrie adn Taylor were obviously trying to pull.

Evelyn sent the idiot Spaniard down the hall a friend req on Facebook while she composed herself.

[QueenLemonz]

"Yeah... well... er..." Joel could practically feel the heat radiating off his face as he found himself anxiously gnawing at his lip, his mind going back to the days back in high school where his original infatuation began with Evelyn.

"You know, now that I think about it, you've known her for awhile, Joel." Taylor didn't even bother being discrete about dropping the hint.

[Tiger-Lily]

Carrie smiled again. "Hey, she's never the one for a first move."

***

Evelyn was staring down at her phone, confused and unsure of what to say. She bit her lip as she stared at the FB chat window open. What is this kid ON? Man, they had fights over stupid stuff, but this was ridiculous.

[QueenLemonz]

"I-I-I couldn't. I mean, back in high school it was like..." Joel huffed and reached up to run a hand through his hair. "She didn't like me back in high school, and its been so long that even if she DID she probably doesn't like me in a romantic regard."

Taylor grinned, watching as Joel rested an arm on the table and leaned against it for support.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Everyone is an idiot in highschool," Carrie said. "I mean, back then, it was all the buff football players all the idiot girls wanted. Now they know better...most of them at least. People mature, they make practical choices in college."

She shrugged. "What do you think, Tay? Can I call you that?"

[QueenLemonz]

Taylor chuckled and shrugged.

"Why not? And Carrie's right, Joel. Maybe she didn't have a thing for you back then, but what if she COULD now? All romance starts with a spark and every spark needs someone to start even that." Taylor nodded, rather sagely.

"Yeah, but, well, I donno." Joel said, feeling like this little lunch outing had him backed into a corner.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn's fingers were shaking with suppressed anger and hurt as she shoved her phone back into her bag. She checked her face for any evidence of her bad mood and then shook herself. She wasn't going to let this ruin her day. She didn't get to see Joel very often.

She inhaled and exhaled a few deep breaths and then felt her aggravation tuck itself away. She walked back out to the table, boots clicking on the wooden floor. "Sorry, Joel, " she said, grinning at him. "The Queen has arrived. Yield before me."

Carrie flashed Joel an encouraging sort of smile. "Your fish is gonna be cold and the guy's bringing dessert over," she pointed out to Evelyn.

Evelyn shrugged. "I'm good."

[QueenLemonz]

Joel glanced up and smiled somewhat sheepishly, getting up. The whole topic of a would-be-possibility of Evelyn had him somewhat muddled, but he tried his best to try and ignore it for the sake of his and Evelyn's friendship and their current outing.

He slipped out of the booth to allow Evelyn back in.

Taylor grinned as well before looking to Carrie, giving her a look of "we did good".

[Tiger-Lily]

Carrie returned Taylor's satisfied glance.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, taking this to hope they had moved on from the previous topic. "You guys have finally secured telepathy, huh?" she said, sitting back down and scooting in. "That was fast. What's next, Vegas?"

Carrie blinked and then glared at her. "Um, okay, you completely missed the whole topic."

[QueenLemonz]

Joel coughed loudly and cleared his throat.

"That's alright, we can move on to something else," he said quickly before licking at his lips.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Like dessert?" Evelyn suggested, as the waiter came over to take their plates. He flashed her a smile in agreement as he walked off again.

There was a painful silence. Evelyn fiddled with her napkin and glanced around the table. Carrie was biting her lip and throwing unreadable glances at both Taylor and Joel. Evelyn frowned. What the hell had she missed?

[QueenLemonz]

Joel poked at his dessert, glancing every so often towards the menacing twosome sitting across from him and over to Evelyn, his mind working quite hard as he mulled over the subject content he, Carrie, and Taylor had gone over.

Taylor cleared his throat.

"Good dessert," he said, trying to break the silence.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn heaved a breath, nodding as she started her tartuffo, mind flying back to the last time she'd had it here. She exhaled slowly, feeling her shoulders slump. To take her mind off that, she spoke up, "So I hear they have all these crazy things going on at campus. Like, I know there's the formal in November and - "

"Do you have a date yet?" Carrie asked her. "It's almost mid-way through October."

Evelyn hesitated. No, she didn't. But she really didn't want to discuss this! "No, but...."

"I don't either. No offense, but most of the college guys in this city seem to be perverts I can't stand to be around longer than it takes to say no," Carrie confided to the boys. "I mean," she flushed, "not you guys, obviously."

[QueenLemonz]

"Thanks." Taylor chuckled as he began work on his dessert. "Joel, you don't have a date either, do you?" He asked, glancing his friend's way to only watch him visibly tense for a moment.

"Ah, no, I don't," he replied, hoping that'd be that as he took about of his tartuffo.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn decided to spare Joel the humiliation. "So, who's your date, Taylor?" she asked pointedly.

Her tartuffo didn't taste so good anymore. She had a sudden image of garlic and overly spicy chicken and stolen chocolate truffles. She put down her dessert spoon.

[QueenLemonz]

"Don't have one yet," Taylor replied upon swallowing what was in his mouth. "I've got a girl in mind, but I haven't figured out how to go about asking her." He nodded thoughtfully.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Oh, you're going to make it fancy, huh?" Evelyn teased him. Carrie frowned across the table, smile fading a little. She jerked it back up.

[QueenLemonz]

"Well, yeah. Stuff like that should be special, shouldn't it?" Taylor asked, giving a firm nod.

[Sponsored content]