Chapter 4
“Hallo?”
“Who is this, and why do you have this number?” Eyvor blinked, startled at how harsh the voice was.
“I’m sorry, you called me? I think I should be asking you that. Why do you have Steven’s phone?”
“Ste–you’re a friend of Steven’s?”
“Yes? Evin? You called me from his phone, kompis. Where’s Steven?”
“I’m sorry. There’s been a misunderstanding, I think.” Wait a minute. That wasn’t an accent she knew, but Jake had done impressions of it enough that she knew exactly who she was talking to. Looks like Marc had found the phone call from Steven in his phone.
“Look, kompis, I don’t know who you are, but if you’ve done something to Steven, I will fuck you up, understood?”
“Yeah, yep, loud and clear. I was just worried about him. Sorry.”
“Don’t you forget it either. Now, who are you?” Just for fun, she got up from the steps in the park she was sitting on and started walking towards Steven’s apartment. “I can find you pretty fast if you’ve done something to him.”
“No, no, he’s fine. Sleeping, right now, actually. I was just–look, I overreacted. I’m sorry. I’ll tell him to call you when he wakes up, okay?”
“You’re on thin ice, kompis, and I’m fond of him enough to not accept that until I hear his voice.”
“You wanna talk to Steven?”
“You guessed it. Put him on. Wake him up.” She was antagonizing him, and she knew that, but Eyvor wasn’t liking Marc’s attitude right now. So Steven had a friend? What did he care?
“Uh, hold on. I’ll go get him.”
“Good.”
There was silence for a moment on the other end of the phone, and she continued to walk towards Steven’s apartment.
“‘Ello?”
She laughed. Looks like Marc panicked.
“Yes, Steven. I’m still here.”
“Oh, Evin. What–”
“Yeah, I’m almost there. Make sure to let me in.”
“There? Where–you’re coming here?” Eyvor laughed again.
“Yeah, I am. I’ll be there in a minute. Gotta stop by the shop and buy the salads.”
“Salads?”
“Aw, Steven, are you still shaken up from everything yesterday? Did you forget we’re having dinner?”
“Oh, nope, no, we’re all good. Didn’t forget. Just–little distracted, I guess.”
“I understand. We can wait, if you want? Will that be better for you?”
“No! No, please, come over. It’s okay. I–Gus misses you.” Aww. She wanted to pinch his cheeks and give him a hug.
“I miss Gus too. I’ll be there in just a minute. Anything you don’t want in your salad?”
“Nope, nope anything’s great.”
“Okay! I’ll call you when I’m outside.” Eyvor picked up some salads in small containers and headed to Steven’s building. He let her in, and when she reached his apartment door, he was already standing nervously, picking at his shirt cuffs. “Hi,” Eyvor greeted with a bright smile.
“Hi! Welcome. Come in. Sorry for the–the mess.”
“I saw it yesterday, and my place is just as bad. Don’t worry about it.” That wasn’t technically true. She didn’t have books all over the place. She had a very small apartment, smaller than Steven’s, but it had more walls so it was even smaller. Anything left out of place became a hazard. But she liked it. Steven’s apartment was cozy and smelled of books. She liked his place too.
“Here we are,” Steven said, motioning to the small table he had cleared off (hurriedly, she supposed, from the stray piles that were precariously high). Eyvor pulled the salads out of the bags she was carrying, setting the containers out on the table and tucking the bags onto the counter behind them.
“I got you vinaigrette dressing. I hope that’s okay?” she asked, uncertain if it was in line with his vegan tastes.
“No, no it’s great, perfect even! Thank you. Very thoughtful of you. Most folks don’t even think to ask.” She shook her head.
“I don’t get it. But I’m glad you asked me over. I enjoyed talking with you yesterday. I was a little worried about you, if I’m honest.”
“Worried? Why?” Steven asked as they started to eat.
“Well, you just–I don’t know, you seemed so jumpy. I know it was a stressful situation and everything, with the museum and your apartment. I just didn’t want you to think that you didn’t have someone on your side.”
“Well–that–that’s very kind of you. Thank you.” She grinned at him.
“I would like for us to be friends, Steven with a V. I happen to enjoy your company very much.”
“Oh, I–I’d like that, yeah.” He gave her an eager smile, bright and sunny. She laughed.
“Great. In that case, give me some fun stories. Fun facts. Anything. Entertain me.”
“Oh, uh, what do you want to hear?”
“Anything,” she said, leaning half on one hand as she ate. “We’re friends now, aren’t we? Story for a story, then. I’ll go first. My mother has the best apple orchard I’ve ever seen, and actual feuds have started over getting just one taste of one.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Do you want to try one?” She reached into the bag on her hip and handed him one.”
“Oh, you just carry that around all the time, do you?”
“Mhm! Mother gave it to me before I left home.” Steven reached across and bit into it, his eyes lighting up.
“That is, without a doubt, the best apple I’ve ever tasted!”
“See? I told you!”
“No, really, I mean it, that is the sweetest, juiciest apple. I can see why people would fight over one. She just gave you a whole bag of these when you left home?”
“She did. I have a taste of home with me wherever I go.”
“Where’re you from, then?”
“Oh, very far away. It might as well be another world, it’s so far.”
“Don’t you miss your family?”
“Sometimes, but I came here to find a purpose, and I think I’ve found it helping people, like you. It’s what I’m supposed to do.” Steven nodded along with her.
“Good, that’s–that’s really good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Your turn. Tell me something fun.”
“Uh, Gus grew a fin.” Eyvor turned around to see a fish with two fins, but she bit the inside of her cheek hard to keep from laughing. She had been on the receiving end of Jake’s frustration that Marc had been gone long enough to get Steven’s one-finned fish killed. She’d also gotten a rant filled with curses and Spanish in the aftermath of Marc’s frantic searching around London for a one-finned fish before he’d actually shoved Jake to the front (unconsciously) to handle the end of it when all he could find was a regular goldfish. Jake had stormed back to the apartment, ranting to her about it the entire time. Eyvor had had to hold the phone away from herself to keep him from hearing how hard she was laughing.
“He did what?”
“He had one fin. Kinda why I bought ‘im, right? Looked at him yesterday, after you left, right? He’s got two.”
“How weird. Fish don’t do that.”
“It’s weird, right?”
“Very.”
They spent the rest of the evening like that, swapping stories. She didn’t give him any details about Asgard in particular, but she told him stories about her teachers and her parents and about some of the things she’d gotten up to in London since she’d come here. She left out Jake as much as possible, even though she really didn’t do much outside of her late night excursions, regardless of if they ran into each other or not while they were working on their own. Now that she was talking to Steven, she was realizing she really needed to go out and do things more, not just carry out her self-given job. She took walks in the park, but not often.
Huh. Maybe Steven was a good influence on both her and Jake.
Eyvor wondered if Steven knew how unintentionally funny he was. She wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or not. It didn’t seem like he was doing it on purpose. Either way, she hadn’t laughed this much in a very long time. She and Jake teased and prodded at one another, now that they were comfortably in their stride together, but Jake’s humor was dry and subtle, so she often just laughed to herself later, when she finally understood the joke. Steven was all word play and jokes, intermixed with unintentional humor as he spoke. She giggled for what felt like hours, basking in the easy joy of talking with him.
“Evin?” Steven asked as she was helping him clear away the remains of their meal.
“Hm?” She turned her head to look at him from the serious tone his voice had taken on.
“Does–it doesn’t bother you, does it?”
“What’s supposed to bother me?” Steven motioned around the room before looking sheepishly over at the bed with its sand and ankle restraint. “What, the sleeping disorder? The books? The fish? I saw it all yesterday, Steven, and it didn’t bother me then, when we were complete strangers.” She nudged him gently with her hip. “Besides, we all have our oddities, don’t we? Don’t worry. None of this is gonna scare me away.”
“Good, right. Of course not; I mean, bit silly, innit? Bein’ so worried about it?” He laughed in a self-deprecating manner.
“No, Steven, it’s not. It bothered you, so it’s important. It was unfounded, but it was important. We’re friends now, aren’t we? Friends talk to each other. Tell me if something is bothering you, and I’ll handle it, okay?”
“Alright.” Steven nodded. She smiled and dried her hands on the hand towel before grabbing her jacket and shrugging it on.
“Good. I’m glad we’ve got that cleared up. I’ll head out now, let you try to get some sleep. Talk to you later.”
“Right, I’ll walk you out.” Steven walked with her to the elevator, and she smiled as the doors opened.
“Thank you for the fun evening, Steven. Sweet dreams.” She kissed his cheek and hit the button on the elevator, leaving him standing there in a daze. She waited until she was two floors down before she started laughing.
Jake was going to kill her.