When Eve walks through our rented rehearsal room's door she makes no notice of me, probably because of the heated conversation she's having on the phone.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do about it," I hear her exclaim as she strides over to where I'm sitting on the floor with two chicken, ranch, and lettuce wraps next to me on a paper plate.

"How did her name even get on the list?" Eve is now standing beside me.

She presses her back to the wall then slides down into a seated position. "So she can just pick her up, whenever she wants now? And take her God knows where!"

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I feel like I've walked in on a private conversation even though I was here first. I decide to occupy myself with eating so I reach down for a wrap, but Eve reaches down at the same time and snatches the wrap I was reaching for out from under my hand. She brings it up to her mouth and takes an aggressive bite out of it before suggesting, "Well can't you just lie and give her a different location?"

Okay then, I mouth reaching for the other wrap. This one I secure no problem and begin munching on it trying not to eavesdrop, which is an incredibly hard task because now Eve is close enough to me that I can hear the person's voice on the other line.

"She's her mom," the voice states through the phone. "You never reported her missing or for child abandonment so there's no outstanding record that would legally prevent us from releasing Eli to her." Now my interest has peeked.

Eve squeezes her wrap so hard I wonder how ranch doesn't go shooting out of it and splatter the ceiling. "Whatever," she snaps. "Guess I'll see you later." And with that Eve hangs up taking another harsh bite out of her meal.

"Geez," I comment trying to lighten the mood a bit, "what did that wrap ever do to you?"

Eve slowly turns to look at me still chewing, "huh?"

I bump shoulders with her. "I said: what did that wrap ever do to you?"

Still looking at me her chewing suddenly stops as if she's now realized the harshness of her actions. She swallows. "Sorry," she says her mind starting to focus more on me.

"Don't apologize to me," I chuckle, "apologize to the chicken strip you were just strangling."

The corner of her mouth turns up into a half smile. She looks down at her wrap very seriously before saying sorry then taking another massive bite. I can't help the laugh that burst from my lips.

"Anna was right about you," I joke, "only psychopaths talk to their food."

Eve rolls her eyes, "ha ha," she mocks, but she can't hide the smile on her face.

We sit in silence for a little while more eating our wraps. It's something I appreciate most about Eve, our comfortable silences. To often I'm made to put on a show for people, to keep them entertained with small talk and feigned interest in their shallow endeavors. But with Eve I can be at peace with being myself. I didn't need to keep her engaged or prove my presence's worth, because just my presence was enough for her.

I glance over at Eve. She's staring off into space. Her eyebrows are slightly knitted together and I can practically see the gears turning in her head.  I wonder if I should ask her if everything is ok, or if it would be better if I pretended like her dramatic entrance had never happened. While grappling with my thoughts I get lost in the moment and don't realize I've been staring at Eve until she is snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Hey Mathews," she saying, "are you ok?"

"What, oh yeah," I respond snapping out of my trance. "Yeah I'm ok, are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm... I'm ok," she states then gives me her best attempt at a smile.

I know she's lying but I decide not to pry. I had gotten her to give me a real smile earlier and I didn't want to do anything that would prevent that from happening again.

"Okay," I sate giving Eve a nod.

An emotion close to disbelief flashes in her eyes and she nods back at me. She probably thought she wasn't going to get away with her fib. She didn't really but for now I'll let her believe she did.

I push myself up from my seated position and reach down to Eve, who takes my hand without hesitation. Once she's on her feet I'm still holding her hand so I spin her around playfully and then bring her in for dip. "You ready to dance," I ask as soft laughter leaves Eve's lips.

"I was born ready Mathews," she smirks.

I bring her back up to a standing position. "And remember Eve, I'm always gonna catch you." With that I walk over to my first mark as Eve does the same.

After running through the dance numerous times Eve and I, sweating and breathing heavy, lay next to each other on the rehearsal room floor.

After a few moments of silence I hear Eve's voice, "thanks."

Confused I turn my head to look at her. "Thanks for what?"

"For understanding when I said I was ok earlier. For not prying when you knew I was lying and for trying to cheer me up instead."

She's looking at me now with a small smile on her face. I let my hand softly move the couple inches across the floor to where hers is. I put the palm of my hand over the back of hers and curl my fingers.

I can tell she's taken aback my the sudden action because her eyes go wide and her hand makes a quick jolting movement. I can feel my face heating up as I look away from Eve, and I start berating myself in my mind for doing such stupid forward thing.

But then I feel Eve flip her hand over so her palm is facing mine and she curls her fingers around my hand as well. I whip my head to the side to look at her. Eve's eyes are closed and although I can see her breathing has calmed, her cheeks are flushed from more than just hours of dancing.

I smile to myself and close my eyes as well. We lay like that for a short while in comfortable silence and secret understanding.

~•~•~•~•~•~

Eve lightly hops up and down and rubs her hands over her goose-bumped arms. It was surprisingly cold in the wings of the stage. The drama department let us use their stage for our mini competition. I feel bad for Eve who is costumed in a ripped black crop top and shorts.

I hold my arm out to her and it takes Eve a moment to realize what I'm proposing. I see her mull over what to do until finally she sighs and presses the side of her body to mine as I wrap my arm around her and replace her hand with mine that's rubbing her forearm.

"Dear Lord Renan," she whisper yells as to not disturb the dancer on stage, "how are you so hot?"

"My family's got good genes," I joke flashing her a smirk, "plus dancing is a real great workout."

Eve gives me a flat look. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Huh," I say pretending not to hear her.

Eve rolls her eyes before elbowing me in the ribs. The jab causes me to release my arm around her and grab my side. I shoot her annoyed look and Eve returns it with a mischievous smile. "I didn't hit you that hard Mathews. Pull yourself together we're about to go on." She points to the stage where Lina is finishing up her solo performance.

I roll my eyes playfully as I hear the audience applaud and hand Eve the end of our rope. She wraps it around her hand as the lights go down on the stage. When I hear our names being called, I put my end of the rope over my shoulder and we walk out into the stage getting into our starting positions.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

(Greed: Renan & Eve's state comp entry ^)

When Eve throws the rope over me and begins to walk away, the audience made up of fellow dance students, the drama department, and other miscellaneous students, doesn't even wait for the song to be over before they start applauding and whistling. I lay on the stage smiling until the lights have fully been dimmed then jog off stage left to meet Eve in the wings.

The moment I see her smiling face, I engulf her her in a hug and she quietly laughs while stumbling backwards.

When I pull back from her, some of my gold body paint has rubbed off onto her and she smiles when I lean down a little to whisper to her, "now that's what some people would call unbeatable."

~•~•~•~•~•~

A couple hours after being dismissed for lunch by Ms. Amdala, I return to the auditorium with Eve.

We sit on the stage with all the other students who chatter amongst themselves. The audience is long gone and the only people not sitting on stage are Ms. Amdala and the three judges helping her decide who wins.

Our instructor clears her throat. A hush falls across the room.

"The talent that was displayed here today has made it exceptionally hard to select just one dance to receive the winning title and the generous help from AT&CP. I'd like to thank all of you for taking this competition so seriously and putting your all into each performance. No matter what know that in my heart everyone here is a winner. That being said, after much deliberation the judges and I have picked a victor," she shoots us a smile. "Can I get a from roll please?"

Everyone starts to pound their hands on the floor. I watch as Ms. Amdala claps her hands for us to stop.

"Renan and Evelina."

I whip my head around to look at Eve who is already beaming at me. She holds her hand out for a high-five before we both stand and make our way off stage to shake hands with and thank the judges. The applause of our peers has died down and they start to leave the stage as well when we make it Ms. Amdala.

We each shake her hand. "You two," she states smiling, "make an unlikely but beautifully unique team. Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see what you choreograph next Renan, assuming you both make it to Regionals."

"With Renan's choreography," Eve encourages, "we're gonna make it all the way to Nationals," she looks up to me and gives me a genuine smile, "no doubt in my mind."

This moment is the second time Eve's caused my heart to skip a beat.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

A/N:

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is healthy and staying well. My state just went into a "stay-at-home order" for the entire month so looks like I'm for real for real stuck at home, but hopefully that will give me more time to write :)

Thank you for all your reads, votes, and comments!

Love Life & Live Well,
Anne <3