Coffee Shop

1991-1993

They met at church camp. Evy still remembers seeing David walking down the rocky, dirt road locking arms with his date to the camp banquet with the New Mexico mountains looking purplish against the golden sunset. He was about 15, tall, perfectly proportioned with blond hair and gentle greenish gray eyes and always smiling. Evy was 12 with short permed hair, big, round red glasses, braces and gangly long legs she didn't know what to do with yet. David's little sister, Danielle, and Evy were best friends at church camp and Danielle was always talking about her big brother, David, and how wonderful he was. Danielle also talked about how intelligent and pious he was too. He fit the perfect picture of what Evy wanted.

She would dream about him falling in love with her and all of the heroes in her Christian romance novels started to look just like him in her head. She never thought she had a chance. Of course she was boy crazy at that time and happily crushed on other boys to fill in the time between when she would see him.

One summer when Evy was 14, and had thankfully grown out of the majority of her awkward stage, she went to visit Danielle at her house in Oklahoma, over the 4th of July. David always referred to that as the time they fell in love.

That week was full of fun trips to the mall, the go-cart track and water-parks. David made it a point to involve himself in every one of Evy and Danielle’s activities and always found a way to get a little time alone to get to know Evy a little better. The second night they were there, she and David found each other alone in the living room and spent a good hour or two talking. It started out slow at first.

"Are you reading any books, Evy?" David asked after the first awkward pause.

"Yes. I'm always reading something." She didn't feel tongue tied, but instead, every time she was around him she felt that her heart would beat so fast that it would drain all the blood from around her vocal chords, making it almost impossible to speak, at least in full sentences.

"I just finished Count of Monte Cristo, by Dumas. It's my new favorite book."

"Oh, I don't know that one, you’ll have to lend it to me sometime.”

“Okay.”

David was graduating from high school as the captain of the football team and top of his class.

David and Evy seemed like the perfect couple. Everyone around them would mention what a great match they would be and even David's little brother asked Evy if she was going to marry David someday. They both laughed at the question and looked at each other blushing. It was unavoidable. The chemistry was there too. They would find excuses, like looking through old family albums on the living room couch so they could sit next to each other.

It seemed that every time they would accidentally touch, explosions inside Evy would go off and she lost sense of time and the world as she used to know it. David would talk to Evy on the couch when everyone else was asleep about theology and religion. She tried so hard to follow what he was saying instead of just looking at how beautiful he was. His words all sounded so smart and well thought out, and he used such big ones. He used so many when he could use just a few, but Evy thought the fact that he added bigger words and more of them to decorate his ideas meant he was enlightened intellectually. She liked listening to him talk. He had a smooth voice. Sometimes she would give an insight or ask a question and David would treat her thoughts as though she were smart too.

On July 4th, David came up to Evy after the fireworks at the nearby park.

"Do you want to take a walk?"

"Sure."

They left the rest of the group and started walking towards the local “duck pond”. The air still smelled a little like leftover gunpowder and the smoke lingered in the air covering the stars. It was a little chilly for July so Evy stuck her hands in the front pockets of the sweatshirt she had borrowed from Danielle. They walked in silence for a little while until David asked,

"How did you like the fireworks?"

"They were beautiful. I wish we could have heard the music they were playing better."

"A full orchestra would have been nice."

"That would have been really nice."

"Are you having a good time visiting?"

"Yes! It's great. I love Danielle so much."

"Me too." David laughed. "She's my sister. I have to."

Evy laughed too. She felt completely lost for words. Nothing she wanted to say seemed smart enough to let out.

They kept walking.

"What are some things you would like to do right now?"

Evy was a little puzzled at David's question.

"Right now? What do you mean?"

"If you could do anything right now, at this moment with nothing holding you back what would you like to do?"

"Oh." Evy thought for a second and said. "Play sand volleyball."

"Ok." David laughed. "What else?"

"Um, go on a Riverboat cruise on the Mississippi."

"I can handle that. What else?"

"I don't know. What about you?"

"Ok, um, look at the stars and pick out the constellations."

"That would be awesome! Do you know them all?"

"A lot of them."

"What else?"

David laughed. "I'd like to go night swimming."

"Like the REM song?" Evy laughed.

"Yep."

"Right now? It's cold."

"Not that cold."

"I guess not."

The path they were following, wound around to a little wooden bridge over a narrow part of the pond. Two big willow trees shaded the bridge and there was a bright reflection of the full moon rippling in the water as Evy and David reached the center. They leaned on the railing and looked at the moon. The long limbs of the willows would sometimes dip into the pond when the wind blew them just right. No matter how corny she felt, Evy couldn't help herself from humming Bella Notte from Lady in the Tramp. The scene was perfect.

Evy closed her eyes, leaned back a little in a deep breath and shoulder stretch and put her hand on the railing to hold her balance. She could feel David looking at her and suddenly her heart started racing. She opened her eyes and looked back. Her fingertips had never tingled like that. Her ears were throbbing and her eyes had trouble focusing. She was completely twitterpated. She wondered if David felt the same until he put his hand on hers. She could hardly breathe.

"Evy," David started.

His tone of voice made Evy's ears ring so loud she almost couldn't hear the rest. Her head felt so hot and she could feel her knees shaking. She looked at him and said, "Yes?" as cool as she could. Crushes at 14 are the most intense.

"Evy," he paused again, "I can tell you like me, and," another pause. Evy's ears seemed to be filled with ocean water. What he said next sounded like a muffled fire cracker in the distance. "And I like you too." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"But, you're starting high school in Texas and I'm starting college in Georgia. I want to get to know you better and possibly someday we can have a romantic relationship, but I feel that due to circumstances, it would be best if we stay friends for now and write to each other."

Evy agreed very solemnly as though it didn't hurt just a little that he didn't want to be her boyfriend just then. She knew he was making sense. He had explained to her his ideas of courtship and she saw the logic in the theology he based his theories in. "I understand," she responded, "I completely agree." Her voice was breathy and she hoped he couldn't tell she was having trouble breathing. She admired rational thought and never wanted to be one of those overly emotional girls. It was easy for her to take control of her feelings and show a stoic face at that time of her life. They stood a while longer looking at each other.

When they walked home, hand in hand, neither of their feet touched the ground.