thank you so much to everyone who submitted a blurb for the contest! i enjoyed reading all of your entries and it was actually really hard for me to narrow it down to the three i chose. you're all very talented!

along with the winners' entries for the contest, i've also written an extra little blurb at the very end of this chapter. i hope you enjoy the short stories and are as excited as i am to have a little more evan and tee. be sure to show the winners some love!

technically, this was not an entry. but i've never laughed so hard in my life so here's a bonus blurb TO THE BONUS BLURBS, by @fastueux. thank you for this gift.

"shrek, honey, what is that thing in the outhouse?" fiona called from the front of the hut.

fergus, farkle, and felicia were sitting outside playing in the mud pool. fiona had just finished cleaning the outhouse and was shocked to see a cutout of a man behind the toilet seat.

shrek dropped the cup he was holding and turned to face her.

"that's my evan cutout." he looked at her.

"evan? you have an evan cutout?" she sighed and sat on the chair in the living room. "your evan obsession is getting out of hand, shrek."

"but fiona, you don't understand. evan is love, evan is life."

this one was just so cute and hit me right in my feels so i had to include it. thank you for writing this @chesapeakebae.

tee was reading a book, listening to the constant fall of rain outside their apartment, when her mind wandered back to last night. last night's argument, to be exact.

it was the first real fight they'd had since tee moved in for good. it was bound to happen eventually, but it still left both of them aching with raw anger and hurt.

in the moment of yelling, frustration, slamming doors followed by tears, the fight had seemed like the most dangerous thing to ever threaten their relationship.

now, tee could hardly remember what the argument had even been about.

evan would be home from work in less than an hour.

tee sighed and stood from the bed- the bed that had been missing one person last night, because evan slept on the couch.

she headed to the kitchen, intending to make herself something warm to chase away the chill from the rainy, cold atmosphere. she grabbed the first mug she saw- it happened to be evan's favorite- a white ceramic mug featuring shakespeare's quote: "all the world's a stage." tee remembered evan explaining to her that, because shakespeare's theatre was literally called the globe, the quote was not only deeply philosophical; it was also a pun.

tee figured shakespeare would have appreciated that his pun was printed on a mug for hot chocolate.

there was a knock at the door. tee set down the mug and hurried down the hall, not sure what she was expecting. she swung open the door.

evan stood on the doorstep, his hair dripping from the rain.

for a moment they both stood there, and tee frantically searched through the millions of things flooding her mind for something to say. before she found one, she noticed the object tucked in the crook of evan's arm.

"... is that a life-sized cardboard cutout of fiona?" tee asked, incredulous.

evan grinned. "maybe."

"is that your apology?"

"i was thinking more along the lines of another decorative bathroom fixture, but whatever works for you i guess."

he looked ridiculous, standing there half-soaked in the outfit he had worn to teach literature not an hour before, holding the fiona cutout that was miraculously dry. tee smirked, pulling the fiona cutout from evan and closed the door.

another knock, as expected.

tee opened the door. "how can i help you?" she asked.

evan smiled again, and it reached his eyes. "i'm just looking for a friend."

i'm team mystic, but i'll let it slide this one time because this was cute. thanks for writing this @azkabanning.

"please."

"no."

"i need it."

"no."

"this will determine my capability to show my love for you. if i survive, our love will prevail. if not, i expect you to write me a very thoughtful eulogy."

"oh, how romantic. if that's the case, then of course you can."

"really?"

"no."

"oh, come on! it's necessary. don't you care about my happiness?"

"evan, you are not going to run into the woods to catch a pokémon."

evan sighed, a pout forming on his lips. "but why not?" he whined, stomping his foot.

"because i don't want my boyfriend to be attacked by a wolf. or a bear. or a rabbit. knowing you, the rabbit would probably knock you out in ten seconds flat."

"tee, the woods are literally on the other side of the park. there is nothing to worry about."

teagan looked at him, her gaze unwavering. "even if there is nothing to worry about, you would still be attacked. i know you. you're hopeless."

"look at it this way, if i am attacked by a bunny rabbit, we can have one of those total otp moments where you cradle me in your arms, in the middle of nowhere, the whole world tuning out as you focus on making sure i stay with you-"

"oh my-"

"what?"

tee gave him a flat look.

a sheepish smile formed on evan's lips as he grabbed her hand, slipping his fingers in between hers. "alright, so maybe i've been watching one too many chick flicks that end in broken hearts and teary eyes."

teagan's lips quirked up, and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. "really? wow, evan, i'm shocked!"

"i could feel the sarcasm radiating off of you in waves. anyway, where was i? oh, right, team instinct needs me, tee! i gotta catch them all-"

"remind me why i'm dating you again?"

"-my team is relying on me-"

"i'm breaking up with you."

that caught evan's attention. his head whipped towards her, eyes bugging out of his head. "no you're not."

"yes i am."

"you wouldn't be able to live without me." he smirked at her look of disbelief.

"evan!"

"you never denied it." he proclaimed, a smug smile making its way onto his face.

his real handsome face, teagan thought.

his really handsome, really stupid face.

"i quit." she pulled her hand out of evan's, turned around, and began walking away.

"okay, fine! i won't catch the pokémon! i'll just have to make it up to spark some other day."

teagan kept on walking.

"tee?" evan called out.

she paused, a grin on her face. schooling her features into a blank expression, tee turned around and faced evan, raising an eyebrow. "yes?"

"come back?" he said, a shy smile on his face.

teagan couldn't help the blush that made its way onto her cheeks, nor could she stop the lovesick smile that no doubt was stretched wide across her face.

"i never left."

i really felt like this next blurb captured tee and evan's personalities so well. plus i love her writing in general and you should all check her out if you haven't already. thanks for this blurb @autheras.

"hello?"

"hey, baby."

"do not use your sexy voice on me. i need a favor."

"oh really?"

"tee."

"evan."

he sighs, a sound of frustration over the speaker of the phone. "i have just had seven hours of telling teenagers to shut up and listen to me. can you act serious for a second?"

"you are calling a sex line," she reminds him devilishly, a giggle in her voice. but she sobers. it's evan on the phone. and he's no usual customer.

"every time there's nothing in my mind she slimes her way back into my head."

"slimes?"

"yeah, like a snail."

she lets out a burst of laughter.

"what do i do?"

"hm." she pauses to think. "you need some kind of trigger to stop your mind from going to her every time it's empty. maybe replace her face in your mind with an ogre or something."

"that would probably turn out borderline erotic."

this time, her laughter is so loud that she covers her mouth. "you're such an idiot."

"and you're supposed to help. isn't that what i'm paying you for?"

a pang of guilt hits her. sometimes she forgets she's charging him for their conversations. "i am helping."

"all you're doing is making me fantasize about shrek," he moans, as if he's muffling his face against his pillow. and then she's wondering just what his face looks like, whether it's long or short or dimpled, whether his chin is roughened by stubble or whether his lips are full, and how they pull when he smiles.

"tee?"

"sorry."

"what are you doing?"

do his eyes crinkle when he smiles? or did they stay wide, like a psychotic kind of look that fixates on you? she hoped he didn't. she thought he was a crinkler. the infectious kind of eye-crinkler.

oh, god she shouldn't be thinking about that. but even if he wasn't supposed to be real, and just another voice on the phone, she couldn't help but imagine him there beside her, speaking to her in murmurs as the tv played in the background.

"sorry," she finally said again. she held the speaker away and shook the remainder of the thoughts from her head, taking a breath. "how was your day?"

thank you so much to everyone that participated in the competition. i really had a blast reading all of your entries and it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down. as promised, i have one more blurb for you. this one is written by me. i hope you enjoy it and thank you again for reading hot line!

evan lays on the bed, his back facing the ceiling as he scrolls through his phone. teagan told him to wait in the bedroom while she put on her halloween costume and so that's exactly what he's doing, waiting.

it isn't until he feels her cold hands trailing up his bare back that he's realized she's left the bathroom and rejoined him in the bedroom. her mouth gently wraps around his shoulder as she bites down lightly, pulling all of his attention away from his phone and towards his girlfriend.

his lips tug upwards as he stares back at her, taking note of the mischievous glint in her eyes. "did you just bite me?"

she smiles, exposing the plastic fangs in her mouth. "i'm a vampire."

"kinky."

she laughs as he turns onto his side, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her body closer to his. he nuzzles his face into her neck and lets out a long sigh. another light laugh passes her lips as she allows him to just hold her in silence for a little while.

"what are you going as?" she asks, finally breaking the silence. "as much as i like you without a shirt on, this hardly looks like a costume."

"i was thinking i'd go as a greek god or something. hardly any effort since i already look the part," he mumbles, making no efforts to remove his face from tee's neck.

a loud laugh escapes her mouth. "how humble of you."

he pulls back just enough to allow his eyes to meet hers. his hand tangles its way into her hair and his thumb begins to gently stroke her cheek. "what do you think i'm going to be?"

"i don't know. you're pretty unpredictable."

"you're telling me that you have no idea what i'd want to be for halloween?"

"a sexy teacher?" she tries.

"i'm a sexy teacher every other day of the year. halloween is about dressing up, babe."

she swats at his chest and quietly says, "please tell me it's not shrek."

"i'm an adult. my entire life doesn't revolve around an animated ogre. besides, i was shrek last year. try again."

she sighs, racking her brain for ideas and coming up short. "i don't know. the kool aid man?"

evan's eyebrows furrow as he lets out a loud laugh. "what?"

"you know, the one that goes 'oh yeah!'"

"i know who the kool aid man is." his eyes crinkle tightly as he laughs. "why the hell do you think i'd dress up as him for halloween?"

"i don't know," she mumbles. "it's the only thing that came to mind."

his laughter calms down and his eyes reopen. he leans in, planting a brief kiss to tee's red-painted lips before pushing himself off the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

"where are you going?" she asks, propping herself up on her elbows as she watches evan leave the room.

"i'm putting on my costume!" he shouts, his voice muffled by the wall between them.

tee lets out a sigh, laying back down on the bed to wait for him. a few minutes later, evan returns to the room in his costume. he looks like a man from the 1700s and tee's eyebrows furrow naturally as she stares back at him.

"what are you supposed to be? the quaker oats man?"

evan frowns. "i'm voltaire."

"voltaire?"

"you said you had a crush on him while you were in france." he crosses his arms over his chest, looking down at the floor. "you said you liked his hair."

she smiles, pushing herself off the bed and walking over to her pouting boyfriend. her arms wrap around his waist as she rests her chin on his chest. he glances down at her and the frown that previously sat on his face is nearly wiped away.

"you look even better than voltaire," she says, smiling up at him.

he rolls his eyes, but a smile tugs at his lips. "you have to say that. i'm your boyfriend."

"voltaire? more like, whocares."

he tries to hold back his laugh but fails. "your puns are getting worse than mine. i think you spend too much time with me."

"i don't mind."

he leans down to kiss her and as their lips connect her hands travel down to his lower back in search of his back pockets. evan jerks away from her just as her hands reach their destination.

"what was that?" she asks, her eyes widening at his unexpected reaction.

"what was what?" he smiles innocently.

"what's in your pocket?"

"i don't know what you're talking about."

"evan."

"tee."

"you've never flinched away when i've touched your ass before. what was that?"

he looks around panicked. "i have to pee."

just as he turns to make a sprint for the bathroom, tee leaps for his legs, pulling him down to the ground and climbing up his body to check his back pockets. amongst all his screaming, she finally grabs whatever he's hiding out of his pocket.

she pulls away in a hurry, standing to her feet before examining the object in her hand. a small black box. her entire body freezes as she looks to evan who is just now rising to his feet, his breaths short and eyes wide.

"it's not what it looks like," he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

she opens the box to find a diamond ring inside of it. her eyes find evan's once more. "really?"

"okay. maybe it is."

"were you going to propose to me?" she asks quietly.

when he doesn't say anything she knows she's hit the nail on the head.

"oh my god. did i ruin it all?" she says, her eyes welling up with tears. "i'm sorry, evan. i didn't meant to ruin your plan. oh my god. i am such a horrible girlfriend. take the ring back. i don't even deserve it—"

"tee, calm down. i didn't have a plan."

her eyebrows furrow and she opens her mouth to speak but he cuts her off.

"i've been carrying it around for a few months, just in case. i know i want to spend my life with you but i'm not in any rush to make it legally bound. i guess it was more of a reminder to myself that you're it for me. i didn't want to ask you until i was sure that i was it for you too."

"you want to marry me?" she asks, her words sounding more like a question to herself than a question to evan.

"yeah, of course. one day. there's no pressure. we have our whole lives. i'm just carrying the ring around until the day we decide we're both ready."

she glances down at the sparkling diamond, shutting the box and handing it back to evan. a frown takes over the features of his face but is soon replaced by a look of confusion as he sees the smile on tee's.

"it's halloween," she says quietly. "i would've been satisfied with a ring pop."