Dopplebanger (Meet-Cute #5)

Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

“No, no, you’re going to break it,” I said, reaching for my backpack, despite handing it over to Evan all of five seconds ago.

“You asked for help with the stuck zipper,” he said, a statement I couldn’t deny.

“That’s because I didn’t realize you’d try to rip apart the seams.”

“I’m not going to—” A loud noise rent the air. Not a zipping sound, either. Nope, definitely a fabric-tearing sound.

My mouth hung open and Evan’s expression mirrored mine.

“Hulk smash!” he suddenly shouted, bringing his fist down on my bag. Then he grimaced. “Would now be a bad time to bring up how if you think about it, it’s kind of your fault for asking the Hulk to help you open something that clearly needed to be done with more finesse?”

“Oh, great. The guy I’m taking with me to a wedding is going to smash it. If only I knew before the carnival that you turned into a brute when angry.”

He hung his head and held my ripped bag toward me. “Hulk sorry.”

I sighed, then opened the door to the car and tossed my backpack inside. “Guess there’s no reason to take it now.”

“I’ll carry everything.”

“Clearly you have no idea how many souvenirs I’m planning on buying.”

“Remember how strong the Hulk is?”

“How can I forget when he just shredded my bag?” I gave him a mock dirty look edged with a pinch of real dirty look because I’d clearly told him to stop.

He gave me puppy dog eyes—you’d think I’d be immune to them with how many I dealt with on a day to day basis. Evan hooked his finger through my belt loop, tugged me closer, and softly kissed me.

As much as I loved puppy kisses, Evan’s were far superior, not to mention less messy. I couldn’t help reciprocating, moving my lips with his and winding my arms around his neck.

“Am I forgiven?” he asked.

“I plead the fifth.”

“Already using my job against me.”

“I figure if I’m going to date a lawyer, I’d better learn to play dirty.”

He playfully pinched my side. Then he tucked me under his arm and started toward the tall spire of the Washington Monument. “We better get a move-on, or we’re not going to be able to see all the sights we want to.”

“Leading the witness,” I said, probably a smidge too proud of myself for using that, and a might too happy to be led by him, too.

Over the next hour, we took pictures as we walked through the World War II memorial, then alongside of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool. We paused for more pictures as we approached the giant seated Lincoln statue.

A slightly different mood hit us as we stepped inside the building, one full of reverence and awe. I laced my fingers with Evan’s, and he gave my hand a genial squeeze.

“Would it hurt my rep as a superhero if I recited you the Gettysburg Address without reading it off the wall?”

“Well, technically the Hulk is Bruce Banner, and he’s a total nerd. So I’d more say it’d be fitting.”

Evan’s jaw dropped. “Nerd? This coming from the girl who says ‘well, technically.’”

“Unlike some people I know, I’ve never kept my nerd status a secret. Never claimed to be a superhero, either. Cough, cough.”

My boyfriend threw his hand to his chest, as if I’d daggered his heart with my words.

I giggled and snuggled closer to him, moving his hand to cover the spot over his heart with mine. “You misunderstood.” I twisted us so that I could see the famous presidential speech but Evan couldn’t. “I’d be totally into it.”

“Four score and seven years ago…” he started, and as he rattled it off, here in this place where I could feel the history underneath our feet, the impact of the way the man honored had changed the world, I fell a little bit harder for Evan Haynes.

As promised, Evan carried all of my souvenirs. While both of us agreed we’d love to spend more time in D.C., the traffic would be getting bad soon, and I’d already gotten two texts from my parents asking when we’d be there. Guess we’d have to hit the Philly stuff on the way back if we had any time to spare, but I didn’t regret taking longer to really enjoy this stop.

It’d been nice to forget about what was coming tonight and tomorrow. Admittedly, I’d worried more than once that my parents wouldn’t like Evan. Sure he was charming, but he’d never been very serious or career-driven before. I was seeing a whole other side of him, though, and I had a feeling my mom would adore this version of my boyfriend.

That upped the pressure even as it brought comfort.

Since I wanted to hold on to the comfort, I wasn’t going to think about my dad’s opinion—he’d been overprotective before everything went to shit with Kyle.

“Car’s this way,” Evan said as I tugged him toward the intersection to cross the street.

“I know, but we need to make one more quick stop. It’ll be like a drive-by. But you know, with walking. So a walk-by.” I’d noticed a building on the map, one that wouldn’t have caught my attention before, but after what Evan had said about being a lawyer… well, I hoped I was leading us somewhere he’d appreciate.

His footsteps slowed as we neared the building with the sign declaring it the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building.

“A whole building dedicated to justice,” I said. “I assume anyway. This is a big law place, right? Or was it just historically a law place, and I’ve had us walk over here for noth?—”

Evan bracketed my face with his hands and crushed his lips to mine. He kissed me thoroughly, glanced at the building with awe, then kissed me again. “Thank you.”

Warm tingles danced up and down my spine. “Sure thing. Seemed silly to be this close and not see it. Would you ever want to work there?”

“Hell no,” he said. “I’ll stick to the lower profile cases. But seeing it is… It’s…”

“Your inner fangirl is squeeing?”

A crooked grin spread across his face. “If I admit that, I’m afraid I’ll have to kick my own ass. There’s you being into nerds, and then there’s me embarrassing myself.”

“Honestly, it’s good to see you so passionate about something. Maybe eventually you might want to work at an office besides your dad’s. I know he’s always on you, and you say you can’t live up to who he wants you to be, and I’d imagine that’s pretty stifling.”

His expression shifted, more serious with an edge of something else. Only for a moment and then he hugged me again. “You are the coolest, you know that?”

“Of course, but sometimes other people don’t see it,” I joked.

“Idiots,” he whispered. He took one last long look at the building and then we assumed the position that was quickly becoming a favorite—his arm around my shoulders with me tucked securely to his side—and headed toward the car.

I leaned in to his embrace, practically floating.

I’d barely clicked my seatbelt into place when my phone buzzed at my hip. I pulled it out of my pocket, sure it’d be another text from my mom. Instead, it was Tori.

Tori: I tried to be patient, but remember how I’m living vicariously through you? Have you and Evan banged one out yet?

Tori: Two out yet?

Tori: Three?! OMG, you nympho!

Tori: But seriously, I’m going to text until you answer, and you know I have nothing to do now that you’re not here to hang out with.

“Everything all right?” Evan asked, making me jump and drop my phone. I quickly snatched it back up. His eyebrows drew together. “You look a little flushed.”

“All that exercise. Walking. And… getting in the car.” Yeah, way to brag about how you can get out of breath sitting and putting on a seatbelt. That’s super believable.

Although, honestly, not as far of a stretch as it should be…

My phone vibrated in my hand.

I swiped my hair behind my ear and cleared my throat. “Tori’s just being Tori. Basically she’s being a needy wench, and I mean that in the most loving way. In fact, I’m going to tell her that, because I think it’s on the British side of the spectrum, which will make her happy. Although I’m not sure she deserves for me to make her happy right now.”

Evan nodded, his expression slightly vacant. As big of a fan as Tori was as Evan, I worried he didn’t especially like her. Admittedly, she was an acquired taste and took some time to get used to. With things progressing between Evan and me, it felt even more important they like each other, but I’d have to worry about how to accomplish that later. After I shut off the stream of texts.

Me: OMG, you needy wench! Stop blowing up my phone!

Tori: Ugh, so you haven’t had sex with him yet.

Me: Why do you say that?

Tori: Because if you’d been laid, you wouldn’t be so grumpy.

Tori: Unless it was bad. Don’t tell me it was bad. It’s such a disappointing shame when hot guys end up being mediocre in bed.

Tori: Probably because they never had to try. Wankers.

Me: Judging from the kissing that won’t be a problem. And before you ask then what am I waiting for, I had an allergy attack last night. My ice cream had peanut butter, so I took a couple of Benadryl and passed out, but not before saying embarrassing stuff, apparently.

Tori: WHERE’S YOUR EPIPEN? DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE TRAVELING WITHOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!

“Oh my gosh, now Tori’s lecturing me on using my EpiPen,” I mumbled.

“As she should,” Evan helpfully added. Well, at least they found common ground.

Me: I have it and I’ll use it if I need to. As for the other thing…

I glanced at Evan, admiring his handsome profile and the way his long fingers curled around the steering wheel. The thick traffic meant he was concentrating on the road, and I should get to being a better copilot. But since that’d be hard to do with Tori texting every five seconds—not to mention Evan might see the texts while I was showing him the directions on my phone, and then I’d have to die, come back from the grave, and haunt my best friend—I decided to tell her what she wanted to hear.

Me: As soon as I get the chance, I’m totally jumping my boyfriend’s bones.

As I hit send, my resolve strengthened. Last night had been a bit of a disaster, almost like once I’d decided to have sex with my boyfriend the universe was like “oh no you don’t.”

But now that we’d gotten that out of the way, surely karma would give me a break and give me the night I deserved with my amazing, sexy, nerdier-than-expected boyfriend.