"Get up!" Troy pulled Evelyn even more to the point where she was sitting up. The two were still in her bed, and Troy had yet to successfully get her up.

     "I'm tired!" she cried.

     "I don't care!" he stood, hands still holding onto her so that she wouldn't slump back down.

     "Why are you doing this?" Evelyn looked at him dramatically. Her lips curled into a faint frown, eyes glimmering with fake sadness.

     "Because you are not sleeping all day. That's boring," Troy slightly pulled her closer to him, doing anything to get her off of her bed. "You're skipping your huge, major test to be here with me, so you and I are gonna make the most of it."

     "I stayed home to rest," she threw her head back in exhaustion. Part of it was her not wanting to give into Troy's demands, but most of it was the sleepy haze she was still caught in.

     "You've had enough of that, come on now," he strained while pulling her into him completely. Evelyn was now sat on her knees, looking Troy in the eye with the most annoyed expression he'd ever seen. He chuckled and patted her waist, where his hands were rested. "I finally got you up. Come on, get dressed," he spoke before he pulled away, stalking over to her door. "and don't fall back asleep!" Evelyn decided there was no use going against him, so she listened.

     Troy stood in the hallway listening to Evelyn's shuffled footsteps from outside her door. He didn't know what time it was, but he assumed it had to be around ten or eleven. The sound of a door opening suddenly filled his ears, but it wasn't Evelyn's.

     "Hey, man," Carson's confused voice rang out from beside him.

     "Hey," Troy nodded at him.

     "What are you doing here? It's like really early," Evelyn's older brother scratched his head. He still didn't like the fact that Troy and Evelyn were actually friends (or so he thought). He didn't like Troy one bit. He was only out to hurt the innocent girl, and Carson knew this very well.

     Troy coughed and gestured to her room. "Wait for Ev to get changed."

     "Why?" Carson interrogated.

     "Um- we're hanging out," Troy furrowed his eyebrows, not knowing how else to respond to Carson's accusatory tone. He fully understood why Carson was being so skeptical. Troy knew what his own intentions were, so he couldn't really blame the guy. He was sure if he had a little sister, he'd feel the exact same way. He just didn't want it getting in the way of what he "had" with Evelyn, because as much as troy didn't want to admit it, he didn't really mind spending time with her, even if she was different. She kept him busy and on his toes at all times.

     "I'm done," Evelyn hummed irritatedly.

      "Morning, Ev!" Carson greeted, faking enthusiasm. Evelyn's head snapped to the side. It was clear she wasn't expecting her brother to be standing there.

     "Hey, Carson."

     "So where are you two headed?" Carson crossed his arms, glaring very intensely at Troy.

     "Nowhere specific, why?" Troy answered. The smug tone in his voice did nothing but tick Carson off.

     "Huh," Carson scoffed. "You sure about that?"

     "Carson, what are you doing?" Evelyn asked with a blank expression. Her words seemed to come out all jumbled together.

     "Nothing, nothing. I just want to know what you two are really doing. Besides, what are you even doing home?"

     Evelyn blinked a few times before sighing. "We're just hanging out, Carson," she seethed, "We're probably just gonna go for a walk. That's it!"

     "Fine, I'll let you go. Have fun, Ev," he turned away after giving his sister a look that read 'I'm onto you.'

     Evelyn rolled her eyes before grabbing Troy's arm and pulling him toward the staircase. "I can't believe I have to deal with both you and Carson. What a curse," she shook her head once they'd made it outside.

     Troy scoffed, "I take so much offense to that."

     "Stop," she tried shoving him. "So what are we doing?"

     "I honestly don't know," Troy simply replied. "I was thinking if we can't find anything to do on the ranch, we could try to find something to do... off the ranch," he offered, staring over at Evelyn to see her reaction.

     Troy watched as her lips curled up into a grin. "Tell me more," maybe this day wasn't going to be so bad.

     The two spent some time just strolling about. They'd stopped to see Susie, some other farm animals, and even ran into Scott. In the meantime, they found themselves arguing, going back and forth over the dumbest things; which obviously was not out of the ordinary for them.

     "Now what? There's not really much to do here," Evelyn quipped as the pair walked.

     "Just walk with me, I want to show you something," Troy said shortly with a tinge of excitement in his voice.

     Evelyn knitted her eyebrows together once they reached the edge of the ranch. She was looking at fence. "I'm not climbing over that," she stubbornly shook her head.

     "Good thing you won't have to," Troy wanted to roll his eyes. He pulled the bottom right corner of the fenced section up, gesturing for Evelyn to crawl through. She briefly sighed before dropping to the ground. Dirt stuck to her exposed knees as she made her way off of the ranch. Troy followed suit. "Come on."

     "We're here," troy announced as they were walking up to a body of water. The early afternoon sun reflected off of the sparkling surface, Evelyn thought it was really nice.

     "Wow. How'd you find this?" she asked.

     "Jake showed it to me a while back. Him and I used to come out here a lot, but now it's just me," Troy looked down. He felt a pit grow deep down in his stomach at the talk of what him and his brother used to do. He glanced over at evelyn, hoping she wouldn't push the topic further.

     "It's really nice."

     "The water's even nicer," Troy started. Evelyn nodded, not thinking much of the comment. "Wanna go for a swim?"

     Her head quickly turned. "What?"

     "You heard me."

     "I don't have a swimsuit!" 

     "We don't really need swimsuits, do we?" Troy began walking toward the shoreline. Evelyn ran a hand through her hair.

     "I mean, kinda," she shrugged. She watched as Troy kicked off his shoes, getting closer and closer to the water.

     He didn't stop walking, and eventually, the water was up to his knees. "You coming in or not?"

     "Seriously?"

     "Don't be such a prude! Have fun for once!" he called out to her. "Or not, you choose if you want to be boring!"

     Evelyn scoffed, "I'm not boring!" she yelled back at him, leaning down to untie her own shoes. Troy smiled, knowing he'd gotten his way.  "The water is nice," Evelyn embraced the cool feeling she'd felt once her feet touched the water. Thankfully she knew how to swim, as her father had taken her to the beach a couple times when she was younger. It wasn't really a good idea to be taught at the beach, but to Scott it was a fine solution. He claimed that knowing how to swim was a necessity.

     Troy continued to walk backwards. "Come to me," he reached his arms out. The water was up to his waist now. Evelyn shook her head but complied. She couldn't believe that he'd gotten her into this.

     Evelyn was about thigh-deep when she felt something brush against her ankle. "Oh my god," she flinched.

     "What?" Troy chuckled.

     "Something touched me. What just touched me?" Evelyn stood frozen, panic written all over her face. Th image made Troy laugh.

     "It was probably a frog," he watched as she reacted to this. She looked up slowly, staring at him for a few seconds before jumping and rushing over. "It's just a frog, Ev. Not much to be scared of," he teased as she reached him.

     "Stop, are you serious?" Evelyn shook, completely ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of her wet denim shorts.

     "Why wouldn't I be?" Troy asked.

     Evelyn felt something touch her again. She couldn't tell if it was the same feeling or if it was something different, but either way, it freaked her out. She moved to go behind Troy and clung onto his back, her legs wrapping around his waist as best as they could.

     "Evelyn it's just a frog," he laughed, "it's not gonna hurt you."

     "Yes it is! It literally followed me."

     "You're too funny, Ev."

     "This really isn't funny Troy!" she breathed. "Frogs are nasty!"

     "I'm gonna catch one of these frogs and give it to you as a pet," he commented blankly. His head turned slightly, it couldn't move much because of the way Evelyn's arms tightly wrapped around his neck, but it was just enough to be able to see her face.

     "That would actually be so cruel," she responded, unamused.

     "You're not gonna die, Ev. You can get off of me," she rolled her eyes, but still got off.

     The two were there for a few hours before they left to grab lunch. As per usual, they argued endlessly. Evelyn kept getting scared of what was in the water with her, and Troy kept teasing. It led to a very competitive splash fight between the two. They were left drenched.

     As she entered her bedroom, Evelyn took the time to think about her day. Troy had finally gone home, so she had the space to actually think about things. She was shocked to admit that she had fun. Even so, she still didn't trust Troy. She didn't know what he was doing to her. What she did know was that she couldn't let herself get attached to him. The more she thought about it, the more she stressed, so she decided to put on some music and distract herself.

a/n
this might be the longest
chapter yet and i really
don't know how to feel
about it lol. but at least
we're making progress
i guess! let me know what
you guys think :)
wc: 1712
01.16.21