3. Evangeline

Evangeline - Marie-Jo Therio


Evangeline had never planned for her life to be the way that it was; but it was what it was, and she couldn’t do anything about it.
It wasn’t that she had a bad life, in fact, she had a life that was nearly perfect, just, different…

She had always wanted to be a high school teacher; which didn’t work out quiet as planned. She was a school secretary instead.
She was smart, very smart, and she always did well in school; it wasn’t her grades or ambition that kept her from achieving her goal… it was fate.

When her mother had fallen ill, she had decided to continue on the same path, but some things just weren’t meant to be. When her mother’s ALS got worse, she could no longer justify spending all the time and energy on pursuing that part of her life; not when someone else needed her.
She dropped out, two years shy of graduation, and switched into a diploma program at the local community college.

When her mother passed away the following year, she was going to go back; until she met Jeff.
Their romance had been less-than-wonderful, but he was a good man, and he wanted to be with her. She had told him of her dream to go back to school, but he had talked her out of it.
“I make more than enough money for the both of us… you don’t even need to work, it’s a waste of time Evangeline.” He had said to her when she told him.

Jeff didn’t even like the fact that she worked now, but she told him she wasn’t going to quit until after the wedding; he had grudgingly agreed.
He wasn’t controlling, as much as it might have sounded like that to some, he just liked knowing that he could take care of her. At least that was what she told herself.

Alex would have never told her to give up on her dreams; in fact, Alex was the one that had suggested she go back in the first place…
But his opinion was suppose to effect her less now, wasn’t it? He was still her best friend, still the person she told everything to, but she was marrying Jeff, not him. Didn’t that mean that it was a decision to be made between them?

She sighed as her fingers ran along the length of the key-board; filling out today’s student absences.
Her desk was cluttered, but neat. Pictures of her and Jeff were everywhere; pictures spanning their recent engagement, all the way back to the day they met in Pittsburgh.

She had gone down to visit Alex, but he had had a practice that day, and Evangeline had decided to drive into town, and explore, while she waited.
She was lost, standing on street corner looking around, when a man in a Flyer’s hat had approached her.

“Are you lost, miss?” He had said as he smiled at her. She had smiled back and nodded, admitting to him that she wasn’t from Pennsylvania.
He’d laugh and promised that he’d forgive her then - for wearing a Penguins shirt.

Somehow he’d convinced her to go out to lunch with him, and she’d had a great time.
It wasn’t the same as when she was with Alex - of course, being the only man she was ever with, she related everything back to him - but it was still nice.
Maybe they didn’t have as much to say to each other, and maybe it wasn’t as natural, but there was nothing wrong with him.

He was a lot different than Alex in other ways, she had learned in the days that followed. Jeff was more out going, more loud and more of a forceful personality. But at times he was also like Alex in many ways; when he was being considerate and kind, or funny... she could almost imagine that it was possible for love to exist after Alex.
It wasn’t until thing had gotten more serious between them that she had found out, Jeff Carter was a member of the dreaded Philadelphia Flyers.

When she told Alex who he was, he didn’t get upset, he had told her that as long as she was happy, he’d be happy too.
And she was, sort of.

She still had the side of herself that wished she was back with Alex, but he had never brought it up again, and she didn’t want to be the one that turned their relationship awkward.
Breaking up could have ended them, but it hadn’t; who was she to push fate any further in her attempt to rekindle what they’d shared before?

No, she had become a serious item with Jeff, until her feelings for Alex had simmered down to a quiet spark.
There were still times when she felt that; like through the long times when she was home in Minnesota alone, between Jeff’s visits when she could easily recall all the long nights of love making she’d shared with Alex. But she tried to ignore it and let it go.
She was in a good place with her life, she didn’t want to do anything to disrupt it.


It was after Jeff had asked her to marry him, during the summer of 2009, that she had finally moved down to Philly.
Jeff had been giddy - beyond ecstatic - when she agreed. It made her happy, that he was so happy and so sure about their relationship. She hoped that in agreeing to live with him, it would hide an apprehensions she had regarding where they were heading. It did.

She wanted to get married, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted the type of life that Jeff wanted her to have. She valued her independence and her freedom; she wasn’t sure if she wanted to have children, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be alone all the time, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be ‘looked after’.

It would have been so easy with Alex, nothing more than a natural course that their lives would have taken. If everything had have gone as planned, then they probably would have been married already.
Alex wouldn’t have tried to convince her to have his kids, he wouldn’t have expected her to keep his house or quit her job; and he never would have tried to control her.
Maybe that was too harsh.

Jeff wasn’t controlling, he just knew what he wanted, and wanted to make sure that he could get it. Everything he did, he did because he cared about Evangeline and he wanted her to be happy.
Any problems in their relationship were minor, and one sided.
She wished she could be as happy as Jeff, that would solve all her problems.

She glanced around her desk again, her eyes coming to land on the one picture that didn’t have Jeff in it. It was her and Alex, the frame was the same it had been for years; the picture was the only thing that had ever changed.
Every time she went to visit him, or he came to visit her, she took a new picture to put in it. Or at least that was how it use to be; now that she saw him every week, she hadn’t changed it.
This particular one was Alex and her in their fall jackets, hugging each other in front of the house she shared with Jeff; on the day she moved in.

Jeff hadn’t been there, he’d told Evangeline that he was going out with his team-mate - and new found best friend - Hartnell, leaving Alex and Evan to unpack her things.

Neither of them had minded though, they loved being together and it was always awkward when Jeff was there. He just didn’t understand their relationship.
It wasn’t that he outright told Evangeline that she couldn’t see Alex - he knew if she had to pick, he wouldn’t win - but at the same time, he made it clear that he didn’t approve.
If that animosity bothered Alex, he never let her know. He tried to be as nonchalant as possible; making sure that he was always there for her, regardless of who she was with.

~*~*~*~*~*~

August - Julia Nunes


Evan was a work, Alex knew that; it was nine in the morning on a Monday. He picked up the phone anyway and gave her a call, just to say good morning and listen to her bitch about how much she hated Monday - he loved every second of it.

“Hey pretty girl! How’s your day going so far?” He smiled, just happy to know that he was on the phone with her; it felt good to be connected to her, even if it was just by a land-line.

She blew a raspberry into the phone, causing him to laugh. “How do you think it’s going… is it Friday yet?” She whined, so pitifully, he wished there was a way he could speed up the clock and give her what she wanted.

“Close… but… big day today!” He exclaimed, slightly bothered with how excited he was to get to spend half the day with her.

She gasped, nearly knocking over her coffee as she threw her hand up in front of her mouth. “Oh my god! Alex! I totally forgot… yay for only having a half day of work!” She cheered, and it was all he could do to shake his head.

He voiced his opinion out loud. “You know, it’s really sad when a girl is more happy about having the afternoon off work, then going to buy her wedding dress.” She chuckled along with him, shrugging; an act that he obviously couldn’t see. “Evan, you need to go back and finish those two years up… you need to be a teacher… not a secretary.”

“Shh…” She warned as she glanced around. “Don’t let anyone hear you say that, especially not Jeff…”

Pause. “What now?”

“Nothing new, he just doesn’t want me working, period, her brought it up again last night. If I told him I was going to go back to school, he’d flip out.” She sighed, smiling at a co-worker as she handed Evan a folder.

Alex took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. He always tried to avoid saying anything bad about Jeff; his mother always told him, ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’. It was hard though, and following that code usually lead to him not talking about Jeff, ever.
Oh, he had things to say… a lot of things to say. But Evan was happy - for the most part - and he had no interest in causing trouble with her. Especially at the thought of her picking her fiancé over him.

“Well, you should do what makes you happy Evan… anyway, I should let you get back to work…” She let out a groan and he smiled, continuing. “…I’ll pick you up at noon, out front. Alright?”

“Sounds good Alex… I’ll see you then. Love you.”

“Love you too…” He hung up the phone and glanced across the kitchen at Max. Max snorted on cue, shaking his head and walking towards his room-mate.

“Love you too? Love you? The only two times those words should come out of your mouth are when you’re talking to your mother, and when the chick you brought home from the bar starts to sober up.” Alex could feel his mouth fall open as he stared at the loud Frenchman.

“I can’t believe you just said that!”

“I can’t believe you just said that! She’s not your woman, Gogo… she’s getting married to some Joe-nobody, it’s time to move on and get laid.” Max countered, never letting up for a second. “What do you think she’d say if she saw you sitting here being a fucking pussy! She doesn’t want you Gogo… move on!”

Alex sighed, not hurt, but sad. He knew Max was right and that was the worse part; not being able to argue with him.
Evan still loved him, he knew that; even his less-than-sensitive friends would never argue that, but it was just in a different way.

He had already accepted the fact that she was moved on, and he was happy for her - or as most as he could be. That however, didn’t mean that he was ready to move on himself; it was possible to be happy for Evan and sad for himself at the same time.
At least, he thought so.