Think I just remembered something
I think I left the faucet running
Now my words are filling up the tub
Darling you're just soaking in it
But I know you'll get out the minute
You notice all your fingers pruning up
- Soap, Melanie Martinez
18| Evelyn
A sound of thunder rumbled outside, "It's gonna rain again."
"Yeah," Evelyn said and pulled back from him.
"I should get going," He said and waited for her response. She nodded. Taking his hand, she got out of her room and climbed downstairs. Dad was standing by the side of the stairs.
"He just got a call from his mom. It is an emergency. He had to go home." Evelyn said looking up at Mason.
"Oh." Her dad replied. "Then you should get going." Mason nodded at him.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, sir," Mason said. Dad nodded in reply.
"Let me walk you out," Evelyn said, and not giving her dad any chance to talk further, she pulled Mason with her.
Reaching outside, they made their way towards Rosy. Standing beside it, he waited with his hand still intertwined with hers.
"I am sorry," Evelyn said.
"You don't have to be. You did nothing. " Mason assured.
Evelyn sighed. She didn't wanna go back inside her house anymore. She wanted to go far away from all this. "It's okay." He said.
"Can't we just run away?" She asked suddenly looking up at Mason's blue eyes. He kept silent.
He smiled after a few seconds. "You wanna run away with me?" A mischievous look and a cocky grin showed up on his face.
"Hey!" She punched on the side of his arm.
"Evelyn Reyes wanna run away with me. Couldn't feel luckier." Mason suggested while still smiling.
"I hate you," Evelyn said with wiggled eyebrows. Mason looked down at their hands and looked up at her eyes. For some unknown reason, Evelyn's cheek felt hot.
"Can totally see that," Mason said almost in a whisper. If Evelyn's cheek felt hotter earlier, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling right now. It felt as if her whole body was radiating heat like blazing fire. Wasting no time, she pulled her hand out of his hold and suddenly didn't know what to do with it.
As if nature was on her side, another thunder rumbled and Mason looked up at the sky. A cold breeze picked up and Evelyn hugged herself.
"See you in the morning. Good night." Mason said looking at her.
"Bad night, worse night. Have loads of nightmare." Evelyn grumbled and he chuckled in reply.
"Bye," Mason said and got inside his jeep.
He drove away and Evelyn still kept rooted in her spot. Looking back at the house, she sighed for the thousandth time. Dragging her feet out of her will she got inside.
"You were gone for the whole day. Don't you think you should have left a message?" Dad was standing there with his arms crossing over his chest, looking passive.
Evelyn felt too tired, not physically but mentally, to argue with him or to talk to him even. She didn't even feel agitated. She felt nothing, she felt empty. Ignoring him, she walked towards the stairs.
"I am talking to you about something, young lady."
Sucking in a deep breath, she replied, "I will leave a message the next time."
She had taken three steps when her dad said, "I am trying."
She stopped for a moment and thought if she had heard it right. Quietly she said, "I don't like the way you're trying dad."
She hurriedly passed the stairs and got inside her room and closed the door. Turning off the light, she let the darkness consume her, knowing full well another sleepless night awaited.
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Tossing and turning in her bed, Evelyn finally decided to get out of it. It was just another shitty day to go through, no big deal at all.
Opening her closet, she looked for something to wear. Her eyes found the dresses Abigail gifted. Instantly, she felt bad for her. Poor Abigail was just trying to help her friend look pretty. So, Evelyn decided, she would wear a dress only for her sake.
She took out the white dress. It was made fully out of cotton with a half sleeve of lace and a layer of lace over the cotton in the chest area with a circular neckline. The dress was simple and the fabric was comfortable for the weather. Evelyn couldn't but admire Abigail's choice.
Stripping out of her pajamas, she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. Instantly, she groaned. She hadn't shaved her legs in months and it was not looking good with the dress that came a few inches down her knees.
Why is a girl's life so hard?
Taking a look at the clock, she went for a shower, shaved her legs, shampooed and conditioned her hair. Blow drying her brunette hair, she combed and pulled them in a side plait, leaving some strands to frame her face.
She took her backpack and headed downstairs. Dad was already there, reading a newspaper. There was a sandwich sitting on a plate for her. She sat down and chewed on it.
"How is school?" he asked.
Evelyn swallowed the food and said, "Fine."
"Was there any test recently?" He inquired.
He is trying.
Evelyn sighed. "Yes, Maths."
He nodded, "I always hated Maths."
Evelyn gave him some credit for trying to spark up a conversation. But she hadn't forgotten what had happened last night and what had been happening for the last few years. His suddenly getting out of his own world and trying to talk to his daughter would not change anything overnight. They needed time and Evelyn didn't know how much she had left till she decided to leave her dad and start on her own.
"You are not even going to ask me how much marks did I get?" Evelyn asked with a blank expression.
"How much did you score?"
"38 out of 40." She replied.
"That is 95% marks." He nodded. " I am not surprised. I know you are smart and intelligent."
Evelyn gaped at her dad.
My dad thinks I am smart.
"Of course. It must be the genes." She rolled her eyes.
"Your mom was really smart. She passed high school as a valedictorian." Her dad said out of the blue. Evelyn felt rooted to the ground. After all the stories and thoughts she had about her mom, none of them included her being valedictorian. Evelyn couldn't see her dad's face as it was hidden behind the newspaper. She didn't even know how to respond to what he just said.
"Oh." That was all she could manage.
"That boy had been waiting for you for a long time now. I think you should get going." He said still hidden behind the newspaper.
"What boy?" Evelyn raised her eyebrow. Her eyes fell on her phone which was on the table. It was not making any sound but Evelyn saw an incoming call from the caller ID named, "Mr. Frownface."
What?
Evelyn turned around and looked outside through the window and saw a green jeep parked in front of the house.
"I think he is alright," Dad said.
It was quite a morning.
"What made you think that?" Evelyn asked as she stood up.
"I know what I see, Evelyn." He said."You can keep him around."
"I didn't need your approval in the first place," Evelyn said bitterly and stood up. "And what exactly did you see in him? I thought you were too busy humiliating him."
Evelyn's dad stared at her but she didn't stop, "I really don't appreciate you insulting him."
Evelyn didn't wait a second before turning away. She put on her new vans which were spotlessly white and got out of the house and closed the front door. As Mason acknowledged her, he waved.
Reaching in front of the jeep she stood with her hands in her hip to look as threatening as possible. Mason wiggled his eyebrow.
Glaring at him, she asked, " So you decided to take up the job of my chauffeur?"
"Good morning to you, too." He smiled with his damn dimple. Evelyn wanted to punch the smile off his face.
"Who gave you permission to touch my phone?" She asked again with her foot tapping on the ground.
"C'mon. Get in. We will be late for school." He said and opened the door leaning in from the inside. Grumbling, Evelyn hopped in.
It was when he started the engine, Evelyn looked at him and then at herself.
No way in hell.
"Wait a minute." She said and unbuckled her seat belt.
"What is wrong?" Mason asked narrowing his eyes.
Evelyn looked at him glaring and then looked down at his shirt and then back at her dress. He followed her with his gaze. As he realized, he cocked his head to the side and said, "So?"
"No way in hell I am going to school wearing matching colors with you," She explained.
He pinched the tip of his nose and said, "Oh, c'mon. Do you honestly think anybody will notice and what if they do? Does it matter?"
"It matters to me." She said feeling disturbed and tried to open the door but it was locked.
"We don't have time for this. Don't act so problematic." Mason replied and started the engine and drove out of the street.
"I will act however I want to. You have chosen to be my friend. You have to deal with it. Or else, you are welcomed to leave me alone." Evelyn looked outside.
"That is what your tactic is, acting all bitter and problematic towards me making yourself hard to deal with thinking I will leave you alone," Mason said.
"No, I don't have any tactic for you. My universe does not revolve around you, sorry to tell you that." Evelyn said, "And how long you think you can keep up with me?"
"I don't know how long. I am going to tell you the truth. I don't know about the future. And I will not make any empty promises either." Mason said with an intense gaze.
"But I know about now. I am here, now." He said, "And that's all matters to me."
Evelyn was taken aback by his bluntness. She tore her eyes off from him. His words felt true and sincere. There was this slight determination along with it. But still, the voices inside her head didn't stay silent.
What if he is the same?
What if he doesn't mean anything he says?
What if the sincerity I sensed is a lie?
Her brain floated around the list of thousands of "What if's".Thinking and overthinking everything he said, she curled herself in a ball. Evelyn still couldn't figure out why he was sticking with her in the first place. If Mason was actually trying to be a friend to her, he didn't know that Evelyn was not in the place where she would trust someone and open up, making herself vulnerable in the process. He could try all he wanted. Evelyn was far away from his reach. Just being around her constantly would not make him trustworthy. If he thought that, he needed a reality check. Barging into her life and asking her questions would not solve anything. He was not her therapist or knight in armor and he had said so himself.
But sometimes Evelyn did wonder how it would feel to actually have a friend, whom she could tell everything and anything she wanted to, who wouldn't judge her, who would take her for whoever she was without any thought of getting any interest from her. Maybe that type of friend didn't exist in the 21st century or Evelyn simply didn't have one.
Evelyn had Cecily but it was impossible to talk to her every day given the distance between them and Evelyn didn't even remember the last she saw her in person. There was also this issue that she couldn't even trust her with all the thoughts she had inside of her. Cecily had known Evelyn from her childhood. She had seen Evelyn as the popular girl in school to the girl she was now. Evelyn sometimes wondered even after all those years why Cecily was still talking to her maybe because she pitied her and simply couldn't leave her all alone.
Or Evelyn was a bad friend herself for doubting Cecily.
Evelyn sucked in a deep breath as she felt she was overthinking like always. She was too tired of her own brain. Some days she wondered if she could just take it out of her head, washed it, and just put it back inside and start over. She was constantly going over the circle of good days and bad days, thinking and overthinking, doubting and weighing herself down.
Evelyn did want to talk, to let out everything she felt. But the fear that she would be judged, the fear that people around her would see her from a different perspective, made it harder. Talking would make her feel she was exposing herself. That she would be naked in front of their eyes. Once she said the words there was no coming back. Either they extended their help to drag her out of her abyss, or they fell into it with her, or they would just ignore her making her feel stupid and worthless for exposing herself to the wrong person.
To overcome that fear was the biggest obstacle she had. And she didn't know if she would ever have the courage to cross it.
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