Evan.
When I got home that night, the only thing on my mind was Everly. While it felt nice to finally be able to tell someone about my mother, the small voice in the back of my mind kept asking me whether or not I would regret this.

I had fallen into the habit of not trusting people or telling them too much about myself but from most of my conversations, you would think that you knew my whole life, when in reality, no one knew anything.

While some people might argue that I should probably open up a bit more, and let people in more often, I wholeheartedly disagree. When I was nine, Dad sat me down in the living room and told me that you can't really trust anyone in the world other than your parents and just your immediate family, but even then, that isn't always guaranteed.

As far as most people were concerned, my mother just wasn't in my life and I never let there be any room for further questions about her. But with Everly, it just kind of slipped out. I felt like I could genuinely sit down with her and talk to her about that woman without being judged or looked at in a different way.

As I walked into the living room, my lips curved into a gentle smile. Nolan was laying on the couch with an arm around Harper's little body, their soft snores mixed with the faint sound of whatever movie they were watching.

I picked up the remote and turned off the TV, carefully scooping Harper into my arms. I hesitated for a couple of seconds on if I should wake Nolan up and settled on draping the blanket that was hanging over the side of the couch over him, a task that was a lot more difficult than I had previously anticipated as I could only use one hand so that Harper wouldn't wake up.

I quickly made my way up to her room and tucked her in, kissing her forehead as I whispered, "Goodnight Harps, I love you so so much, don't you ever forget that."

Harper was without doubt the best thing in my life, I would do anything for her without hesitation. Tucking her into bed every night was what I always looked forward to doing. I leaned back against her doorframe as I watched her sleep for a couple of minutes before leaving her room altogether, remembering to leave the door half open.

I jumped as I felt a hand on my shoulder and I let out a sigh in relief as I quickly turned around and realised it was just Dad. "Did you just get home? I didn't hear you come in." He gently placed his glasses on top of his head and gave me a tired smile.

"Yeah, I got home like ten minutes ago maybe. Why are you still up? You usually have dinner at eight then go to bed at nine." I glanced down at my phone and then looked back up at him. "Dad, it's like nearly ten now."

"I know. I was waiting for you to get home so we could have dinner together and that way you could tell me all about your date and we can just catch up a little, I feel like I haven't had a chance to really talk to you in ages."

"Well I'm gonna go and freshen up a little but I'll be down in like fifteen minutes. Can we order some Thai food?"

Dad nodded and walked down to the kitchen. I made my way to my room and grabbed a pair of jogging bottoms and a plain t-shirt before making my way to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and set my phone on the counter, just as I was about to get in, it vibrated. I picked it up and a massive grin spread across my face.

Everly ♡
Hey, just wanted to make sure you got home safely. Thanks for dropping me off and thank you again for trusting me, I know that must have been hard for you to do so because I know that I really struggle to trust people.

Thank you for listening to me,
it means a lot to me.

Yeah, no problem. Also,
your hoodie is actually so
comfortable. Where did you get
it from?

Well, you see, I went up to my room
and took it out of my closet.

You're an idiot Evan Blake.

Tbh, I don't mind being an idiot
if it means I get to be your idiot :)

Night Evan.

Night Everly.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

Dad closed his laptop as soon as I walked into the kitchen, he got up and grabbed some plates, setting them down at the table. "Is Nolan eating too?"

"No idea, I think he's sleeping."

"Well go and check, I'm not going to let the poor boy go to sleep on an empty stomach."

"Dad, you do realise that him and Harper probably raided the snack cupboard and got filled up with all of that junk. Knowing them, they probably went out and got some Mcdonald's too."

He pointed towards the living room. "Even if they did, go and check. Knowing Nolan, he's probably still hungry."

I gave him a mock salute and walked over to the living room. A smirk formed on my lips as I made my way over to Nolan. I leaned over the side of the couch and cleared my throat before whispering into his ear, "Kasey's here."

His eyes quickly shot open and he fell off the couch as he scrambled up to his feet, trying to make himself look presentable as quickly as he could. He scanned the room and then finally turned to look at me, shaking his head. "That was evil, pure evil."

"But it was pretty funny to watch."

"Hilarious, like wow, I'm rolling around on the floor with tears in my eyes." Nolan shot me a dirty look as he picked up the blanket and folded it.

"Anyways, are you hungry? We ordered some Thai food."

He placed a hand on his chest and let out a gasp, turning around dramatically. "Is that even a question? I'm offended, we've known each other for I don't know how many years and you're really asking me if I want my favourite takeout. For that, I'm stealing some of your food."

"So basically what you always do?"

"Exactly!" Nolan put an arm on my shoulder as we walked into the kitchen, laughing our heads off as he had somehow managed to trip over his own foot.

Dad motioned for us to sit down, a small smile on his face. "Guys, I'm glad to see you're having fun but please keep it down. I don't want Harper to wake up since we're all going to have to stay up until she falls asleep again."

"My deepest and most sincere apologies." Nolan sat down and looked down at the table, briefly making eye contact with me as we both held back our laughter.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

Dad picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth carefully. "So Evan, how was your date with Everly? Where did you end up taking her?"

"It was really good, and I just took her around West Bridge." I shrugged my shoulders as I fiddled with my fork, avoiding his gaze.

"And whereabouts would that be?"

"I, um, took her to the lake." My eyes frantically searched Dad's face, my heart dropping at the look of pain that flashed across it briefly before it was replaced with a blank expression that I knew all too well.

He cleared his throat and suddenly stood up. "It's getting late, I'm going to go to bed." He rubbed his wrinkled forehead slightly. "Make sure you guys don't stay up too late, alright?" With that, he left Nolan and I alone in a rather awkward silence.

We cleared the table and filled the dishwasher, making sure that the kitchen was pretty much spotless. I glanced over at Nolan and then motioned towards the garden door. "I'm gonna go sit outside for a little bit."

He nodded and gave me a slight smile as I made my way out to the garden and took a seat on the swinging chair. Nolan came out to join me after a few minutes, holding two cans of coke in his hands. He took a seat besides me and handed me one.
"Like the old times, right?"

I took a small sip from my drink and nodded. "Yeah, just like the old times." Whenever one of us was upset, we would always go and sit in the garden and talk about whatever was bothering us over a fizzy drink. Neither of us could actually remember how this tradition of ours had actually started but I'm guessing it was around the time that my mother left.

"Do you think it was wrong of me for bringing Everly there?"

Nolan let out a soft sigh and tilted his head backwards slightly, something he always did when he was thinking. After what seemed like ages, he finally turned to look at me and slowly shook his head. "No, I don't think it was wrong of you to do that. Obviously, I know how special that place is to you so you clearly must really like her a lot to have brought her there. But, I get why your dad might not be that thrilled about the whole idea, like, that place is probably just a constant reminder of you know who."

I nodded and thought over Nolan's words, quietly drinking a bit more. I turned my body slightly so that I was facing him. "But enough about me and my problems, what's been going on with you? We haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk about it and I feel really bad about that."

He set down his mug on the floor carefully and sighed, running a hand through his messy brown waves. "A lot to be honest. Grandpa's in a really bad place and my parents as usual are constantly arguing but the only difference is that now they'll argue about pretty much anything. You know, I've literally turned into a messenger on the days where they're not speaking. Clearly, I must look like Postman Pat to them which kinda sucks considering the fact that I don't even wear glasses."

"I mean, you do have a cat that looks exactly like Postman Pat's cat." I nudged his shoulder gently and laughed as he pointed a finger in my direction with a serious look on his face.

"Hey, we don't joke about Lady Angelou Claude Picard the Third like that."

"I still don't understand why you called her that, like how did you even think of that name?"

Nolan pretended to flick his hair. "What can I say, I am a genius after all. I might as well start a cat naming company."

We looked at each other and started laughing hysterically, taking a while to calm down. I smiled over at Nolan. "But seriously, you know you can come over here whenever you need to get out of your house if your parents won't stop arguing, you can even bring Lady Angelou with you. You're like a brother to me and this place is basically your house anyways."

"I definitely will be bringing her next time, and you have to call her by her full name. C'mon, we've talked about this so many times, I'm disappointed." Nolan smiled and hesitated for a couple of seconds before giving me and awkward hug. "But thank you, I love you bro."

"I love you too, but please, don't hug me again or I will have to reconsider that whole offer about Lady Angelou coming here. Your hugs are actually terrible, like I didn't think it would be possible to meet such a bad hugger."

Nolan laughed and stood up. "Well, my nan has always told me that I am an amazing hugger so I don't know what you're chatting about."

"I hate to break this to you, but she's clearly been lying to you for a while then. That was hands down the worst hug I've ever had."

"Well for that very reason, you're going to get another one."

I sprung up and took a few steps back. "Nolan," I warned as he walked towards me with a massive grin on his face. Just as he was about to hug me again, I quickly turned on the hose and started spraying him with it.

"Oh, you are a dead man Evan Blake."