Alison in Love

She watched Evan Carter from the distance. Of course, he was out of her league. To be honest, she wondered what her league actually was. It was difficult to say. The only ever time she went out on a date in the past few months was when Alan Craig, who apparently had gone out with every girl on campus, and she was the only one left, had asked her.

But, Evan, the shinning tennis star of Columbia University, was one of a different kind.

Never mind. She would stare and stalk him like the rest of the world.

“He’s so Greek God.” Naomi was saying the other day, “So tall and beautiful and intelligent. God! I’ve heard that he’s a pervert and a notorious playboy, worst I’d tell you, than Alan Craig.”

He looked anything but a pervert with that smooth smile and amazingly violet eyes. Yup, Evan Carter was her newest crush.

 

The party was on full swing. One thing she learnt since she started college was that Columbia students knew how to party.

Walk in there, get drunk and bam! Do what you have you. And her Australian American roommate just loved partying.

She let Kathryn into the party, and instead of going in there, opted to go to a bookshop a few miles away.

Her job was to carry Kathryn back to her dorm, after she was pissed drunk unless some guy did that before.

The only reason she feared of going to wild parties was because there was no one to look out for her and the last thing that she wanted to do in her freshman year was to wake up next to a guy with a serious hangover.

“I was looking for the Tenth of December by George Saunders.”  She told the owner; a fat amiable old man, who seemed not less than 75.

“Sellin’ like hot cakes.” He said and handed her the book.

She thanked him and walked out, wondering whether it was time to go back.

And then, her heart skipped a beat.

Evan Carter was walking down her way, in a crisp white shirt and formal pants, his tie slightly askew.

He was holding Carolina Washington’s hand, who like always, looked too beautiful to be true. Right then, they simply walked past her, into the bookshop.

Well, yeah!

She watched subtly for a few minutes as Evan talked animatedly with the owner, who in turn looked so sad and dejected. She wondered what the situation was like, but after a second thought, decided it was best to go looking for a rather drunk Kathryn.

 

“Hello.” The voice startled her.

She jumped up like a kitten drenched in water, and looked around.

He seemed equally surprised for a second. God! He said that hello just an inch away from her ear. What exactly was she supposed to do, other than jump?

And then the shock faded as she registered Evan’s smooth face.

“Hi” she squeaked.

He seemed to be back to normal as he said, “I believe I had seen you that day in the bookstore, Raven Books? You know, the owner says you took away the last copy of George Saunders’s Tenth of December. And since, I was planning on writing my next project based on that, could you do a favour and let me borrow it? I couldn’t find the paperback anywhere else in New York.”

When he stopped speaking, the only words she heard were: book, me, favour, New York.

“What?” she asked blankly.

This time, he repeated the whole thing, more clearly and lucidly.

When he stopped again, the only thing she felt was smug. He remembered her from the bookstore, when he had barely glanced at her. He had seen her, alright. Evil Laugh.

“Absolutely” she said.

“So do you have it now?” he asked.

“No.”

“Okay. So when can I get it. It’s urgent, you see.”

“I’ll give it to you tomorrow.” She said, after a while.

“What’s wrong with today?” he prodded.

“I said tomorrow. End of story.” She surprised herself saying that, and with a casual shrug walked away.

“Hey, that was rude.” He protested behind her.

She turned around halfway, facing him angularly, “You haven’t seen half of it.”

 

She gave the book to Evan the next day. He accepted with a tight thank you and that was the end of it.

After that, she saw him once or twice during the day, and always found his eyes on her. When she turned around, his deep violet eyes were on her, and he wasn’t courteous enough to remove them.

A week later, he came around and handed her the book, “Thank you Alison.”

But she wasn’t going to let him go away, just like that.

“Where’s my thank you gift?” she demanded.

He seemed startled, but didn’t comment. Instead, he stood there; his arms folded and looked at her questioningly.

“You have to take me to your house.” She said. The audacity of her own words struck her, but it was what she wanted anyway.

“And why do you think I’d do that.” Saying, he went away from there.

“You owe me Evan Carter.” She yelled behind her back.

 

“It’s at 7” she told Kate.

“Wow! You actually managed to wrangle out a date with Evan.” Kate said listlessly, “I admire you for that. When I am near him, I basically mute off.”

“I surprised myself. Trust me, I never expected that to come off but then, I saw the chance. I mean, he’s graduating next year. Might as well pull some tricks on golden boy.”

She wore a maroon dress and let her hair loose. Looking at the mirror, she allowed herself a small smile of victory. C’mon Evan, she thought.

She took the cab to the designated address, and saw him waiting for her.

“There you are.” He said, the moment she stepped off the cab, “Okay. I am making this clear once again-”

“-that this is not a date. Got it” she said. By this time, she had by hearted his so-called speech.

“I am going-” he began again.

“-as a junior who is interested in writing about you, and wanted to get an in depth of your life.” she related monotonously.

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and asked her to sit inside his Jag.

Yeah! Apparently, he is super rich. That’s a nice touch.

They arrived at his parents’ loft. There was an intimate dinner, of what she’d been told, with a few relatives for his sister’s birthday.

“Evan!!!!!!” a girl shrieked as she rushed to encompass him in a hug, “It’s been a while. You’re all grown up! And who’s this? Your girlfriend?” she said indicating to her standing beside him.

“No.” Evan said, and he sounded very reluctant, “this is a junior from college. Wants to do something, I don’t know what.” He pushed past the girl, pulling Alison along with him.

“That’s odd” she heard the other girl say.

Now the loft was more of a hotel than a home, and she got an insight that Evan must have been brought up here. How intimate! Yippee, she was the first girl from college to come to his parents’ home, or hotel.

“Hello Evan” a delicate feminine voice flinted into the air, “Did you wish your sister, yet?”

She turned around to see a graceful figure approaching them, “And God! What did you get for her?”

“My love, mother.” He said smoothly, kissing her.

Then the woman turned her attention to Alison, “Hello dear, I didn’t know Evan was bringing a friend.”

She looked at her son.

He shrugged, “No, she’s not my girlfriend. Yes, she’s from college, and she wanted to come, so I brought her along. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He left the two ladies and strode.

“He can be rude.” The older lady said sadly.

“Never mind.” She said.

“So, you wanted to come?” the lady asked.

“Actually, ma’am, I have a huge crush on your son, and I want him to see that.” She said, “It was a kind of a I-don’t know-I forced him to take me along.”

The woman laughed, “Yes, he can dense at times. It can’t be helped. Anyway, I hope he sees reason because you seem like a perfectly nice girl.”

The table was huge, and they all sat down for dinner like a family.

His dad was at the head, his mom to the his right, next the sister who’s birthday was being celebrated, next was the old uncle who had slapped her in the butt, another uncle-your typical Uncle George from New Jersey, his grandmother-a sweet old lady. And to the left sat, Evan, next to him was she, then a cousin from Stanford, another cousin from England, the girl who had greeted Evan at the door with a shriek, the aunt, Uncle George’s wife and another aunt.

“So, little Alison how’d you like our boy up there?” the uncle who slapped her butt, asked her, referring to Evan beside her.

Evan made a strangled sound.

“Actually, I love him a lot.”

There was an aww from his sister, “This is the first time I had seen one of Evan’s woman.”

“My what?” he asked slipping on his words.

“I’ll tell you what, sweetheart.” It was the grandmother, “To win over this boy, best is-make him a home cooked meal. He’ll fall for you immediately.”

“Absolutely. He’s such a homebody. We literally had to kick him out of the house, and get him a new apartment. He certainly wasn’t making any signs to move out.”

“Evan loves going to Italy. You can take him to Italy. He’ll go crazy nuts for you.” That was the unnamed aunt.

“I’ve been to Italy once” she said mildly, “Maybe we can go together next time” she looked at Evan who threw her an annoyed glare.

“Now there’ s a perfectly nice lady, Evan” Uncle George said, “Ask her out. Take her to the Savoy. On my account. That’ll be the first date and then…we’ll have her soon as a family.”

“Speaking of family” his dad looked at her, “What’s your last name?”

“Yeah” Many of them chortled, “What’s your last name?”

“Granger.” She said.

The dad chocked on his food, and gulped down his wine.

“Really? So-what your dad’s name?” he continued. There was silence in the room as everyone’s interest turned to her.

“Daniel. Daniel Granger.”

This time, his mom put her hand on her head and the grandmother stifled an almost laugh.

“You mean Daniel Drew Granger?”

“Yeah” she nodded.

“You know him?” Evan asked, speaking for the first time.

“Uh—he’s a…umm…” the father looked at his wife uncomfortably.

“He’s my brother back in England.”

Evan looked open mouthed, “You mean Uncle Daniel from Newbury?” then he looked at Alison with wide violet eyes.

It took her few more minutes to let the words sink in.

Oh damn! They were cousins.

__END__