eighteen
"the past"

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"GOD, IS THIS GUY GONNA give it up?"

It was a nice evening so far, and it was even more fun, because Lynn was happily teasing Lizzy about a good looking man who kept flirting with her, even when she said she had a boyfriend. He was resilient, no doubt.

Earlier, Lynn and Lizzy took a small table in the back where Bobby, Athena, Hen, and Karen had already placed their purses or coats. Dinner was served shortly later, where they either had a choice of filleted fish with a side salad, or a grilled steak matched with a choice of soup. It was delicious, either way, while everyone chewed their food or sipped their champagne.

"Maybe just give him one dance and he'll stop," Lynn joked, letting that same smirk from earlier reappear on her face.

"I mean, I do wanna dance," Lizzy shrugged lightly while her eyes scanned the man standing a few yards away from her. "I'll see you later, Evelynn."

Lynn rolled her eyes while letting out a chuckle or two, watching her older sister as she rose up from her seat and made her way over to that same charming, young man. She knew Lizzy would never in a million years cheat on Joe, but she is a big fan of dancing, especially slow dancing.

Lynn let out the smallest of sighs as she glanced back down to her glass, and her red painted nails trailed the circle of the glass of alcohol.

"Bored all by your lonesome?"

Lynn glanced up from fiddling with the champagne towards the man who spoke up, and she flashed a half-smile towards Buck as he sat down in the seat Lizzy previously had.

"Well, you know Liz, makes friends five minutes with a new crowd," Lynn stated, and she almost sounded annoyed, but she wasn't sure why. Her eyes switched from Buck's to search the crowd, and she saw Lizzy chatting with two other men on the dancing floor. "Sorry, that came out wrong, she's just a people's person. Me? Not so much."

"Oh, c'mon, you're telling me you don't love people?" Buck fake gasped, placing a hand on his chest for dramatic appearances.

Lynn scrunched up her nose towards Buck teasingly, sticking her tongue out at the boy as she placed her elbows on the table while placing her chin on her palms.

A slow song started echoing over the speakers, and the two seemed to scan the crowd as everyone formed less of groups, and into pairs. Lynn glanced back down to the white sheeted table, feeling quite awkward and almost having flashbacks to high school dances and awkward boys.

Buck rose from his seat, and Lynn rose her eyebrow towards the boy as he untucked his hands from his pockets. He lent out his hand in front of Lynn's face, and she almost let out a scoff in surprise.

"Evelynn Kennedy, may I ask you for a dance?"

Lynn couldn't help but let a smile crawl into her lips, and she was happy she already had blush covering her cheeks or else it would've been even more noticeable.

A side of Lynn worried. She worried that someone would judge the two coworkers for sharing a slow dance, she worried that they would only be teased further, and she worried that somehow her two left feet would ruin the moment.

But the excitement bubbling in Buck's blue eyes matched with his goofy smile made Lynn unable to decline him. She extended her hand, gently placing her palm into Buck's as she rose from her seat. She adjusted her dress slightly, hoping that there wouldn't be wrinkles from sitting down for so long.

Buck's smile only seemed to grow more by the moment, and he carefully moved his way through the crowd with Lynn closely behind him.

After finding a big enough space on the floor for them, the two took a step closer together. Buck wrapped his arm around Lynn's waist, specifically not too low. And with his available hand, his soft fingers were interlocked with Lynn's slender ones. Then Lynn placed her hand on Buck's shoulder, and she had to glance up to meet his eye contact.

Lynn recognized the song blending loudly with the dancing crowd, it was The Night We Met by Lord Huron, and she remembered it from a dance from so long ago.

"I know I was a bit dumb earlier," Buck spoke up after a moment of silent dancing, and his eyes meet that of Lynn's. "You do look amazing, I don't know why it came out so weird."

Lynn let out the smallest of laughs, her gaze lowering for a second before the crinkles grew under her eyes.

"Thank you. You look good, too, Evan," Lynn smiled, and she licked her dry, pink lips and lingered on her bottom one anxiously. "So how's life now that my sisters practically moved in?"

"Oh, you know, other than her waking up at the crack of dawn singing her heart out to Taylor Swift, good," Buck joked, letting out a good laugh while shaking his head softly. "I'm looking into a new place, because Joe and Lizzy seem happy and everything, but I just feel like I'm invading their privacy."

The two took a second as Buck rose his intertwined hand with Lynn, and he released her to do a quick spin-which only made her giggle-before pulling her back into his grasp.

"Who knew you were such a good dancer, Buckley?" Lynn teased, her lips turning into a toothy grin.

"Thank my sister," Buck replied, and it looked like a sad smile trailed his lips. "I was determined to impress this one girl for my senior prom, so Maddie helped me and I had dancing lessons everyday after school for a month."

"Was she impressed like I am?" Lynn joked, trying to reel in the information that Buck had a sister, whom he had never mentioned before.

"She and her friends made fun of me, inevitably," Buck stated, flashing an almost sympathetic smile. And Lynn was mentally facepalming for bringing up the baggage.

"Well, she should know she's missing out on a fantastic dancer," Lynn responded, her blue eyes scanning those of Buck's, hopefully not making him any sadder. "And I didn't know you had a sister, why haven't you talked about her before?"

"We haven't spoke in almost three years," Buck shook his head, lowering his eyes down to the ground, and Lynn popped her jaw off to the side.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea where I'd be if Lizzy had somehow disappeared on me," Lynn trailed, furrowing her eyebrows on how different her life could've been if Lizzy had left her when she first moved out, if she never took care of Lynn all those years.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Buck shook his head, his almost sad eyes once again meeting Lynn's.

"After my dad died, Lizzy really stepped up."

Lynn suddenly spoke up, and she was almost scolding himself for spilling the beans on her past. She never, and I mean never, talks about her parents, her dads death, hell, nothing that involved her past. But somehow, she seemed to be less stressed around Buck. Like his presence calmed her spirit, and he could quite literally trust him with anything.

"I didn't know your father died, I'm sorry," Buck commented, and with his arm still hanging on Lynn's waist, he tugged her a bit closer to his body-she didn't protest.

"He died in a factory fire," Lynn shrugged softly, and her eyes shifted between her bouncy dress and Buck's. "Saving me, or what he thought was me. It was a party place, everyone who was considered cool was invited. And for the first time, I was actually invited. Of course, my parents hated the idea of it, so like every other teenager girl, I snuck out."

Buck intently stared down at Lynn as she told the story, their two body humming together in a nice rhythm as another slow song rumbled throughout the speakers, which was Give Me Love, by Ed Sheeran.

"A fire somehow started, nobody knew what exactly happened, and, uh, my dad was a firefighter captain heading it," Lynn said sadly, swallowing some anxiety and sadness, knowing this was the most she'd spoken of the event since it happened. "The incident commander called it quits, saying it was too risky to conduct any further rescues. But my dad, he found out that it was the party I was at, and, well, he disobeyed a direct command."

Buck's face twinged with sadness at the realization of how the man died, and he could almost see the guilt riddled in Lynn's eyes.

"My dad died trying to go back into a fire I was already saved from," Lynn concluded, letting out a shaky breath as she tried control the wetness warming in her eyes.

"Eve, you cant blame yourself," Buck shook his head, raising his hand to place it on the side of Lynn's cheeks. His eager eyes searched those of Lynn's, and they flickered for merely a second-between her eyes and then her pink lips. "What your dad did, disobeying the order, that was his decision, not yours."

"I can't help but think it's my fault," Lynn admitted, and it felt weird saying the words out loud. "I mean, Liz lost her father, my mom lost her husband, but that's a different story. My family lost him, and that was a sufferable blow we couldn't come back from."

Lynn then shifted, and she almost shook her head at the fact she had quite literally shared one of her biggest secrets with the man when he didn't even ask.

"God, I'm sorry," Lynn backed away, loosening her grip on Buck's hand and shoulder while placing her palm on her forehead. "I just dumped all of that on you and you didn't—"

"—Evelynn, stop, I-I want to know all this, I want to know about you," Buck interrupted, grabbing Lynn's hand before she could back away any further. "Thank you, really, thank you for telling me."

Lynn's eyes searched Buck's, to see how deeply he was being truthful, and all she saw was much she could trust him.

"Now, can we finish this dance without either of us devouring our past?" Buck laughed, pulling his hand still tucked into Lynn's, and she instantly was wrapped back into his tight, comfortable grip.

"I think that's a good idea," Lynn giggled, placing her hand back on Buck's shoulder.

And the two continued to dance for the rest of the song, where their bodies perfectly hummed together in happiness and glee with the biggest of smiles stretched across their faces.