eventually add something here.

Everett never wanted the reason for his move back home be because of his oldest brother's death, but here he was. Dallas left his pride and joy, Dally's Diner, to Everett. He planned to make his brother proud. Yet, their oldest brother, Phillip, who had felt like he was the most deserving, wasn't the happiest about Dally's dying wish.

The last week or so had been a bit of a blur. If it hadn't been for Vaughn, Everett wasn't sure if he'd been able to get through it. So many people had been reaching out to him and saying their condolences that it was becoming a bit overwhelming. All he wanted to do was hide away until all of this was over, but he knew he couldn't do that. Everett knew he needed to be vital to his family.

It was closing time. The cook had already done his duties, so Everett let him go early. He was wiping down the tables when the doorbell rang, singling someone had walked in. "I'm sorry, but we're..." He turned and broke midsentence, "closed." Everett finished a bit softer. He wasn't sure what to make of Soleil standing in front of him right now. They'd been amicable around each other at the memorial service and funeral. Still, he never thought she would show up at the diner.

Everett was confused. "What are you doing here?" He didn't mean it in any way other than how it sounded. They hadn't spoken in over a decade until last week, and as Vaughn said, Soleil should hate him. Everett started walking towards her, slightly brushing past her to lock the door behind her. She still smelled as unique as he remembered. Everett smiled to himself. "So, ah," he nervously began. "You can have a seat if you want?" He invited with a gesture towards one of the empty booths. "You thirsty? Hungry?" Everett wasn't as slick and sly as his best friend, Vaughn. He wished. Everett still got nervous and had a hell of a time hiding it. It also didn't help that Soleil knew all this too.

Soleil had been a wreck ever since she found out that Dallas had left the diner to Everett. As much as she liked to think that she was over Ev, she was starting to wonder if that was true. When he broke up with her by fleeing to NYC, she was heartbroken. Then, she was pissed. He was her first love, and she had their whole life planned out in her head but that all came crumbling down when he left. She spent plenty of time daydreaming up ways that she could get back at him and make him hurt in the way he had hurt her but with time that faded, and she started to move on. She found a charming, handsome, well-off guy to spoil her but now that Everett was back all sorts of old feelings were stirring inside of her.

That was why she found herself walking inside Dally's Diner after closing time. She needed to talk to him, one on one. She needed closure. She needed to know why. Soleil flashed a small, slightly anxious, smile at him when he turned to see that she wasn't some random person walking in off the street. "Hi. Sorry for showing up unannounced, I just happened to be nearby and thought I'd pop in." Her smile dimmed as she looked around the diner. This was the first time she'd been here since Dallas died. It felt weird being here knowing that he wasn't. She could only imagine how Everett was feeling right now... maybe their conversation could wait, maybe what he needed more right now was a friend. Yeah, he had Vaughn, but he was more of a friend that potentially made your problems worse rather than better.

The little jolt of butterflies she felt from Everett brushing past her was enough to snap her out of her solemn mood. "Thanks," she glanced at the worn in booths before back at him. "Yeah... I could eat. But you don't get to have all the fun. I'll help." A slightly more confident smile graced her face this time as she winked at him and strolled into the kitchen. "Alright chef, what's the special for today?" she asked playfully once he joined her in the kitchen. Watching as he stumbled on his words and found her an apron, she couldn't help but be reminded of why she first fell for him in the first place. There was something so cute about the way that he got all nervous and shy.

"Umm... what? Eggplant... fries." Soleil raised an eyebrow as she questioned Everett's sanity in this moment. "Are potatoes banned in New York or something? You gotta be yankin' my chain." She was having a hard time believing him when he assured her that he was serious. "Well then. Eggplant fries it is, I guess." She tied her apron around her waist and went to wash her hands in the sink as he set up a station for her.

Everett didn’t date much while in New York. There were a few girlfriends here and there, but he always found something wrong with them and often broke things off only a few months in. Honestly, the only reason why his relationships didn’t work was that they weren’t Soleil Hawthorne. It was that simple. Everett was never going to admit that, though. He tried to forget her, but nothing he did could make him forget his first love. Ev constantly played their last days in his head, even after all these years, and he knew how much of an asshole he had been to her. If he could take it back, he would.

Everett had been selfish, stupid, and naive when he up and left Chicago in the middle of the night. Only Vaughn knew where he was because he had been the one to drive Everett to the train station. He left because he was still being blamed for their friend's death even after it’d been classified as an accident.

“You were just nearby?” Everett didn’t entirely believe that but decided to go with it anyway and not press the issue. He hadn’t thought she’d agree to have something to eat, so he was taken back and put on the spot when she asked what they were making. Everett didn’t fucking know, so he spat out the first thing that came to his mind, “We can make my eggplant fries. Super quick and easy.”

Everett playfully gasped at her reaction to his idea of eggplant fries. “What? But they’re so good! You’re missing out! That’s all I’m going to say.” He handed Soleil an apron before finding his own. “Potatoes are still very much a thing, but not so much for the bougie clients I once cooked for,” Everett explained. “If I were to take you to the North Side right now, there would be a handful of fancy restaurants serving a similar dish,” Everett informed her with a grin.

He slipped his apron over his head before pulling out one of his air fryers, sitting it on the counter, and plugging it into the wall. When he initially moved to New York City, becoming a chef wasn’t even on his radar. He just needed a job and got hired as a bus boy at a random restaurant on the upper east side. Everett slowly moved up the ranks before catching the eye of the owner and chef, who eventually took him under their wing and taught him everything they knew. They believed in him so much that they even put him through culinary school when they thought he was ready. Even though he had to lose Soleil in the process, his life turned out better than he could imagine.

After setting up their area, Everett grabbed two nice-sized eggplants and two knives. “You know how to chop? I don't want to rush you to the emergency room tonight because you went ahead and chopped off a finger, okay?” He teased, sitting down the knives and carefully pushing one towards her. “And your eggplant,” he held it out for her with a grin.

He, of course, always asked about Soleil when he talked to his mother, and sometimes she even willingly gave up information. The last thing he heard was that Soleil had a serious boyfriend who she was head over heels for, which made right now even more confusing. As much as he wanted to ask, Everett refrained from questioning his ex-girlfriend about her current boyfriend. That was going to open a can of worms he wasn’t emotionally ready for.

Soleil may have looked like she belonged at the type of restaurants that served eggplant fires but deep down she would always be a south side girl. Her boyfriend, Lucas, loved taking her to those hoity toity places and showing her off. That's not to say that she didn't enjoy the food and attention when she was there. She loved getting all dolled up and being wined & dined, it just wasn't necessary to keep her happy. Luke took good care of her and treated her right, and even if he could be a little boring and predictable at times, that was safe for her. She didn't have to worry about him leaving vanishing in the middle of the night.

The man standing before her clearly wasn't the same man that left many years prior. Or else he wouldn't be having them making such a yuppie dish right now. And if she didn't really know him anymore, that meant he didn't know her anymore. Did he think that she was like his bougie clientele? Did he think she needed fancy restaurant food to be happy or impressed? Did he even still think about her and what they once had? Why was she the one worried about what he thought about her? She couldn't help it. She'd been overthinking everything since he'd come back.

"Hah. Hah. I'll be fine." Soleil responded, remembering the time that she had almost chopped a finger off during a game of knives. That was the last time she ever played that stupid game. She reciprocated his grin with her own as she turned to him to take the eggplant. "Thanks." Their fingers barely touched in the exchange but it was enough to send chills up her arm, even on a hot summer night like tonight. Of course, it wasn't like she could do anything about it so Soleil did her best to ignore it and maintain her calm demeanor. They were just two friends making a meal together. Simple as that. Any feeling she was having for him were just flashbacks of the past. At least, that's what she was going to convince herself.

"You haven't been serving this to the patrons, right?" She half joked. Yeah, Dally's menu could use some refreshing but she honestly couldn't picture eggplant fries being a popular dish here. The regulars didn't come here for fancy dishes, they came here for the greasy comfort foods. She picked up the knife and went to work on her eggplant, occasionally glancing over at Everett to make sure she was doing it right. He made it look effortless, it was really rather impressive. She even set her knife down for a moment to just admire his skills, it was during this moment that she remembered a menu item that could use his expert touch. "Please tell me that you have improved the pasta sauce!?" She turned to him and her hand subconsciously grabbed onto his arm. Whenever Ev would visit before, they would be awkward or keep their distance from each other. The one thing they could always come together for was teasing Dallas about his pasta sauce.

Ev chuckled, “No, and I probably won't.” Eggplant fries were not something Southsiders would want to see on Dally’s menu. “I think I just wanted to be a bit fancy for you,” he admitted casually with a shrug.

He quickly went silent when Soleil brought up his brother. It still hurt. The only person he’d talked about Dallas with was Vaughn, and he ended up a blubbering mess afterward. The alcohol and drugs probably didn’t help the matter either. Everett still felt guilty for not being there for Dallas and his family when they needed him the most. He was there now, though, and he planned on making up for everything. Everett also hoped to fix things with Soleil. He understood that she was in a relationship, and as much as he wanted to respect that, he had a hard time ignoring the feelings that rushed over him whenever he was in the presence of Soleil.

Everett didn’t look at her. Instead, he focused on chopping his eggplant into slices. “I didn’t plan on it,” Everett finally said, holding back his tears. “Phil would throw an even bigger fit than he already has if I came in and started changing shit,” Everett admitted. Eventually, he controlled his emotions and could talk without feeling a knot in his throat. “Besides, I promised everyone I wouldn't change anything.” He hadn't wanted to ruin their vibe, but it was too soon to make jokes.

Once he finished slicing the eggplant, he sat the knife down, and went to gather all the seasonings he needed. “When you’re done can you grab the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and three eggs from the fridge, please?”

So, he was trying to impress her. Not that it mattered much once she found a way to put her foot in her mouth. Soleil often forgot that not everyone dealt with grief in the same way as she did. When her mother died, leaving her eccentric father to raise her, they laughed their way thru the pain. They definitely cried and grieved in more traditional ways, but joking was their way of keeping the spirit of their loved one dead alive. Was it the healthiest way to cope, maybe not but it worked for them. Clearly, it didn't work for Everett.

Soleil awkwardly retracted her hand from his arm and clasped it with her other hand for a moment. She rested her nose and mouth on her knuckles and looked down at the floor in shame for a moment. Lifting her head and letting her hands drop she turned away from him and back to her eggplant and picked up the knife again. "Yeah. I'm sorry. That totally makes sense," she muttered, her voice no longer as playful, as she cautiously chopped the purple vegetable to down to resemble fries. 'Soleil, you're an idiot.'

"Yeah. Mayo, Dijon, and three eggs. Coming up." Soleil finished up her last few slices and made her way over to the fridge. Tapping her finger on the door as she scanned the fridge for what he'd asked for, it didn't take her long to gather it up considering how organized the fridge actually was. Once she laid them all out for him, she started untying her apron. "I just need to use the ladies' room really quick, is that okay?" Taking her apron the rest of the way off once he gave her a nod, she hung it up as she thanked him and made her way to the bathroom.

Once she reached it, she softly closed the door with her back as she leaned into it and let out a deep sigh. "Get your shit together." she told herself as she glanced in the mirror. There was a part of her that was convinced that the reason Everett left in the first place was because of her. Because she'd done or said something stupid that made him flee. Soleil never had the courage to actually ask him. She always found a way to talk herself out of it, like tonight when she convinced herself that he needed a friend but then she didn't even hold up that end of the bargain by making that inappropriate joke.

Straightening up and shaking the bad thoughts away, she waited a few moments before flushing the toilet to make it more believable that she went in there for that. Then she washed her hands again and returned back to the kitchen where she found Ev adding the eggplants to the fryer. "Thanks again." Figuring she could help clean up while he did that, that was exactly what she did. After a few moments of silence, neither of them really sure what to say, she finally spoke up. "Hey, I'm genuinely sorry." She wasn't only talking about what she was said, she was sorry that he even had to know what it felt like to lose a brother.

“It’s okay, Sol. You didn’t know,” he reassured her after she apologized. Everett could tell in the tone of her face that she felt some way; he just wasn’t sure. “It’s just a sensitive topic right now for me,” he explained. Everett hoped the conversation about his brother was over.

Soleil excused herself to go to the bathroom, and Everett felt relieved because it meant there would be a few minutes where he wouldn't feel pressured to put on a happy face and pretend to be in a good mood.

While Soleil was in the bathroom, Everett took it upon himself to continue. Once he had all his slices, he began dunking them in the melted butter and rolling them in the flour. Cooking was second nature to him, especially this receipt. So, by the time Soleil returned, Everett was preparing to drop them in the fryer.

There was an awkward vibe. Everett may have been oblivious to most things, but not this. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't. For some reason, Ev physically couldn't speak to her right now. He felt like he was going to burst into tears. Then she apologized again, and Everett couldn't stop himself.

He stopped what he was doing to turn around and look at her, “Stop it, Soleil. I said it’s okay; it’s fucking okay!” Everett didn’t mean to snap, and as soon as he did, he wanted to take it back. “Fuck!” He yelled, aggressively pulling the dishtowel off his shoulder and throwing it before sighing heavily, turning and resting back against one of many metal counters. He covered his face with his hands, crying into them, completely loathing himself. Everett wished he could control his emotions better, but he was so overwhelmed with his life that the only things he could do were cry or get fucked up, and unfortunately, Vaughn wasn't currently there. So, crying it was.

After a few seconds, he remembered that Soleil was still with him. He quickly tried to compose himself the best he could, “You should probably go,” Everett told Soliel without looking at her. Instead, he focused on a broken tile on the floor.

Soleil was taken aback by Everett's reaction at first. The thing was... it was completely valid. She had completely fucked up the whole mood with her crassness, but she'd already told herself she was here as a friend - to cheer him up - and she still intended on doing just that. Or at the very least, she was determined to try. Sol's hands covered her mouth as she stared at him in silence for a few moments. The symphony of city sounds outside still made their way into the restaurant, yet the kitchen felt unnaturally quiet as she listened to his soft sobs. Soleil wanted to wrap her arms around him and comfort him as he cried, but she was frozen in her tracks.

Finally, when he spoke up, her legs decided to cooperate, and she made her way over to him. "I'm not going anywhere." She spoke barely above a whisper as she finally wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for the hug that she should have given him long ago. It wasn't surprising when he tensed up and left his arms by his sides, but she refused to let go. Soleil figured that if he wanted her to stop, he certainly had the ability to pull her off of himself, yet he hadn't. After a few moments though, she felt his arms wrap around her and hug her back. Honestly, it felt nice hugging him. Like, really nice. But Soleil reminded herself of her boyfriend and finally pulled away.

"Hey," she started as she brushed away some straggler tears on his cheeks with her thumb. "I'll go if you still want me to, but I gotta admit, I'm looking forward to those eggplant fries... and, that's not something I ever thought I'd say." Soleil flashed him her cheesiest grin, hoping to get even just a small smile from him and luckily enough, it worked. Feeling a sense of relief wash over her, she felt more confident that they could go back to having a good evening. They made some small chat to further ease the tension as they waited for the fries to finish. He told her about some crazy customer he'd had earlier that day, and she told him all about her new job. When the food was ready, he dished them up while she grabbed them a couple of beers.

Sitting down in the booth she'd left her purse at when they went into the kitchen, she sat across from him and looked down at the plate in front of her before glancing back up at him. He had this adorably excited look in his eye as he waited for her to test out her first eggplant fry. Dipping one in the sauce, she examined it for a moment before taking a bite. Sol's eyes widened as she nodded in approval and gave him a thumbs up with her free hand. Once she swallowed her bite, she spoke up. "Alright, you're right. These are delicious."

The salt-washed air clung to her skin as Soleil stepped out of her car, dusk bleeding gold and lavender across the sky. The Pacific murmured somewhere nearby, its breath steady and indifferent, a far cry from the storm still circling inside her. The breeze carried that familiar blend of sea mist, oil from the boardwalk stands, and old vinyl seats left out too long in the sun. It wrapped around her like memory.

Dally’s looked the same.
Cracked neon flickering like it couldn’t decide whether to burn out or keep going. A few silhouettes still dotted the window booths, their laughter faint behind the glass, mellowed by the hour. Inside, the world was a low hum—clinking utensils, the hiss of the fryer, the soft spin of an old record curling out of the jukebox near the corner. She stood on the sidewalk for a beat too long, letting herself soak it in.

Letting herself remember.

Her heels clicked softly against the worn tile when she finally stepped inside. Not the kind she usually wore—sleek, black, minimal—but something with a stacked wood heel and a slightly scuffed toe, just broken-in enough to betray how long they’d been hers. Her wide-legged ivory trousers fell just to the ankle, paired with a loose silk blouse in a faded rust tone—something with movement, with soul. A thin gold chain hung at her throat. Her makeup had worn soft through the day, her hair pinned half-up in a way that felt less curated and more instinctual. Not a statement piece. Not a costume.

Just Soleil.

He noticed her instantly.

Everett was behind the counter, sleeve rolled up, towel tossed over one shoulder like always. He looked up at the chime of the door, that smile—his smile—spreading without hesitation.

And then he saw her face.

The shift was subtle, but she saw it. The slight drop in his shoulders. The crease between his brows. That smile softening into something quieter. Something more careful.

She couldn’t smile back. Not fully. Not yet.

Instead, she gave him a look. The kind that said I’m here. The kind that said I’m sorry. The kind that said I’m trying.

She made her way past the other patrons, past the barstools and empty mugs, and slid into her old booth—third from the back, window view, seat on the right. Her favorite, always. The one with the little tear in the vinyl she used to pick at when she was nervous, the one where she used to balance her sketchpad on the edge of the table and scribble while Everett brought her coffee she never finished.

She didn’t touch the sugar jar this time.

Didn’t take off her jacket or glance at the menu.

She just folded her hands on the table. Looked out the window for a long moment, where Venice Beach glittered like a memory she hadn’t meant to keep. Then she turned her gaze back to him. Waiting. Bracing.

The evening outside was warm but thinning fast, like the last breath of something too tender to last. And inside, the diner glowed—soft, golden, humming with the kind of comfort she hadn't let herself feel in a long, long time.

She didn’t know what she was going to say.
But she knew she had to say it.

And this—here—felt like the only place she could.