Brooklyn Antiques, Chapter 2
The story so far: Steve met a nice woman who needed help.
Steve wasn’t a neat freak but he liked things to be tidy, especially since he didn’t have a lot of money so he had to take extra care of his things. So at least he could take his guest home without worrying about the state of his flat.
Usually it wouldn’t have been proper for him to invite a woman to come with him, especially when she was alone, but so far he hadn’t had a lot of luck with the ladies, especially ones that looked like Evy so his neighbours would probably think she was his cousin. And he didn’t plan to do anything untoward so either way her reputation was unlikely to suffer from this. Besides , with the weather being as it was people were more concerned with getting out of the rain than actively looking around.
Once inside his flat he got her a towel while she stood next to the exit, shaking lightly because of the cold.
“If you want to, you can take a shower to warm up.” he said almost without thinking. It wasn’t until he had heard the words coming from his mouth that he basically asked her to get nacked. But she didn’t seem to take it that way.
“ Thank you. That would be lovely but I have nothing to change into.” she said and looked a bit embarrassed. “ Oh, of course.. Wait. I think I have something for you. It might not fit perfect, but it’s dry.” he had given most of his mother’s clothes away after her death, but he had held onto her church clothes. If there’d been a fire she’d have made sure to save them, so he hadn’t been able to part with them just yet. Still, this way he could put them to good use.
He lead her to the closet and pulled out a long skirt, a blouse and a sweater. She was taller than his mother had been, but since the skirt was long anyway it wouldn’t look vulgar on her. For a second he paused as he held the fabric in his hands, and a small memory hit him, but he shook it off.
“ Are you sure I can borrow this?” she could tell that he treasured these clothes and she didn’t want to take something from him he wasn’t truly ready to give. “ Yes. Clothes are meant to be worn.” he said what he knew his mother had said in this situation and gave them to her. He’d been close with his mother, she had raised him to be respectful and kind, so he still wanted to act in a way that would make her proud. Granted, bringing a single woman to be alone with him in their flat and asking her to strip wouldn’t meet her approval, but helping a stranger in need would.
Steve lead her into the bathroom and showed her how to use the faucet, then he went outside to give her privacy and to change into dry clothes himself.
After he had dried himself he went to boil some water, he was still freezing and held his cold fingers over the pot to get some feeling back into them.
It was a strange sensation to have another person here with him again. Of course Bucky would visit him occasionally, but he was more likely to invite him over to eat with his family than to come here. And if he came by it was often to bring leftovers by his own mother, who had somewhat adopted Steve.
Friendly charity. Something that made him feel smaller than he was and yet he wasn’t in a position to refuse most of it. Maybe that was part of the strangeness of the situation. That he had more than someone else for once. That he had something to give even if it was just a friendly gesture.
After a short while he heard her turning the water off and a few minutes later she emerged dressed in the clothes he had given her. They fit her better than he would have thought, even though everything the sleeves of then blouse ending a few centimeters above her wrists.
“ Did you find everything?” he asked and poured her a cup of tea. “ Yes. Thank you. It really helped. Oh! Thanks. You’re too kind!” she took the cup from him and sat it down on the table. “ Aren’t you going to shower next?” she wondered and blew on her tea.
“ No, I’m already warmed up.” he lied. It was easier to say that lie than to confess he couldn’t afford to shower himself. Not that he usually condoned dishonesty but for once someone wasn’t looking at him with pity and he would like to keep it that way as long as possible. His living situation didn’t make him seem like a rich person anyway so it wasn’t like his little white lie was going to fool her into expecting him to be well off.
“ Are you sure? You still look cold.” almost automatically she reached out and took his hands between hers to check if they were cold. A gesture he knew well and showed that she was used to caring for others.
The Touch revealed his lie but also shot through him like a bolt of lightning. He was seldom touched, except a hug from Bucky, his mother or the army doctor when he tried to enlist.“ You are freezing!” Automatically she started to rub his hands between hers and then breathed warm air onto them.
“ Don’t worry…. The tea will warm me up… “ he stuttered and tried not to blush. This seemed incredibly intimate though she must have done this a hundred times for someone else.
According to the lack of rings in her hands she was neither married nor engaged to be, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a sweetheart. And he probably shouldn’t be thinking about that anyways. She was way out of his league.
Evangelyne closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then it felt like his body was filled with warmth. When she opened her eyes she slowly let go of his hands but the warmth remained. “ I’m sure it will.”
Then she took her cup and sat down at the small dinner table. She took a sip from her cup and watched him as he marveled at the warmth he was feeling.
“ Oh, erm. I’m sorry you must be hungry. I… I think I have soup.” he said blushing and started to rummage in a cupboard in the hopes of finding a can of soup.
Evy didn’t answer him at first and just observed him until he finally found the can he had been looking for. “ You are being a gracious host but I can’t impose on your resources like this. Maybe if you show me the way to a local market I can get ingredients and cook for you. It’s the least I can do to repay your kindness. You saved me from being hit by that car and cared for me. Please let me do this for you.”
She could tell that the idea made him uncomfortable, especially since he didn’t seem to have the means to refuse her offer.
“ I.. Yes… We can do that.” he looked out of the window to see that the rain had slowed down a little. With an umbrella, they would be fine.
“ I’ll get you a coat.” it pained him to have her pay for food but there was no way that he had enough money to feed them both.
So he got out a coat, handed it to her and they went back outside.
