Evan.
Everly's hand fumbled around in her coat pocket as she tried to find her key. "Found it!" She suddenly yelled out and she proudly held it up with a massive smile on her face before unlocking the plain white door. She kicked off her shoes and nudged them into a corner before motioning for me to follow her into the kitchen.

I quickly took off my shoes and left them besides the neat pile in the hallway and followed after her with my hands shoved in my pockets.

"Are you sure your parents won't mind me being here without us telling them in advance?" I asked nervously, my fingers fiddling with as loose piece of thread inside of my right pocket.

Everly, who had been in the middle of pouring us both a cup of sprite, looked up suddenly and waved me off. "My dad's gone on holiday and my mum likes you so you're fine. We have the house to ourselves since Owen's gone out with his friends which means he won't be back for ages."

I let out a relieved sigh and took my drink, thanking Everly before following her up to her room. I sat down on her bed and carefully placed the cup on the nightstand besides it. "You've got a really nice room, I don't think I told you this last time," I said while looking around it slowly.

Her walls were painted a light grey which made her room seem a lot bigger than it already was. The wall closest to her bed was covered in pictures of friends, family. There were a lot of photos of her, Kasey and Isabel along with a lot of family ones taken in various different places across the world.

"Where was this one taken?" I asked curiously as I pointed to one that looked as though it had only been taken a few years ago; Everly was at a beach with her brother and sister, the three of them grinning like jack-o-lanterns.

Everly walked over and carefully removed it from the wall. "It was taken in Spain, somewhere near Malaga," she answered, her fingers lightly traced the photograph.

"Everly, you alright?" My eyes scanned her face, desperately trying to find some sort of clue which would let me see what she was really thinking.

An unreadable look formed on her face and she nodded, quickly putting the photo into the drawer of her nightstand. "Yeah, I'm great! I'm just a bit tired." A smile automatically greeted her face but this time, it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Please talk to me.

"I know that, and if there was anything bothering me that was important then I'd obviously tell you," she whispered in a soft voice. Everly straddled my lap and pressed a gentle kiss against my lips, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck loosely. "I'll be back in a minute or two, I just need to go to the bathroom."

As she got up and left, I decided to take this time to observe her room more. Fairy lights were strung up on the wall besides her desk which was covered in stationary and open books, her school bag was sat besides the desk, it's contents spilling out onto the varnished floorboards.

A sudden scream coming from somewhere down the hallway caused me to jump up and instantly run out the room. A look of confusion crossed my face as I saw Owen leaving his room hurriedly to also see what had happened.

Everly was standing in the bathroom with her hands covering her eyes as she threw a towel over to some random boy that I had never seen before. She quickly walked up to Owen and pinched his arm. "Owen, I am giving you exactly one minute to explain what's going on," she said in an eerily calm voice.

"Ow! Ev, your nails are digging into my skin. If you leave a mark on me then I'll show it to Mum and you know how she feels about pinching!" He exclaimed as he pried her fingers off of him.

"And I'll tell her about how you broke her favourite pan last week. Maybe she'll feel like making something with it." Everly innocently twirled a strand of her hair.

"And I'll tell her that you brought Evan home without letting her know."

"And I'll just have to tell Mum that you were doing some funny business with-" Everly spun around on her heel and took a few seconds to study the boy's face. Her eyes widened as her finger went back and forth between Owen and him. "Wait...are you Tristan?"

He gave an awkward smile and nodded. "Um yeah, I am. Sorry that we're having to meet like this, mind if I go and put on some proper clothes?" He asked before hurriedly exiting the bathroom, leaving the three of us in an extremely awkward silence.

"How about we just promise to not say anything to Mum at all?" Owen proposed.

"Sounds great. Should we go watch a movie downstairs? Evan, is that alright with you?"

"Sounds more than alright to me." I smiled and wrapped an arm around Everly's shoulder as we made our way down to the living room. Once the movie was finished, I'd offered to help Everly clean up the mess that had been created between the four of us. "Are you going to tell him about today?" I asked.

Everly, who had been busy loading the dishwasher, suddenly froze. She briefly looked over in my direction, shrugging her shoulders. "If you're talking about us becoming official then obviously yes," she said, a smile greeting her face almost instantly.

I walked over to her and carefully took the plate out of her hands, setting it on the countertop. My thumb stroked her cheek slowly as I whispered, "You know exactly what I'm talking about Everly. You can't just act like nothing happened."

"Evan, I'm fine. So you can stop asking me this every other minute," she answered through gritted teeth as she blinked rapidly. "Can we just drop this now?"

A defeated sigh fell from my lips and I ran a hand through my hair as I mumbled quietly, "Fine." I took a seat on a nearby stool, pulling my phone out of my pocket. "I should get going, it's getting late and I'm meant to wake up early to go swimming tomorrow."

"Are we still on for costume shopping tomorrow?" She asked hesitantly, her fingers tapping the counter in a slow and steady rhythm.

"Yeah, I'll see you at twelve. Text you later," I said quickly as I walked over and kissed her cheek lightly before making my way out of her house.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

"One minute twenty, you're slacking Evan. You used to be able to swim the one hundred metres in one minute exactly. That's why I said you should've just cut back practice to three times a week instead of once a week," Rachel nagged while she paced up and down the pool's side.

"Do you think I'll still be able to compete next week?" I asked as I looked up at the woman who had become a mum to me over the years.

She stopped her pacing and bit down on her pen. A few strands of her greying hair fell out of place from her incredibly loose ponytail as she nodded quickly. "You don't really have the choice love, but I'm not bringing a loser to a competition. So you're going to need to fix up."

"I mean, I'm on holiday right now so I could always come practise a bit more," I suggested while I put on my best smile to try and please her.

She let out a small scoff and shook her head in disbelief. "Darren, please tell me you heard the lad!" She exclaimed as she looked over at her husband. They had more or less been together their entire lives and were hands down two of the best people that I knew.

"You have a death wish son," He said as he shook his head playfully. He kissed her cheek and smiled as she patted his bald head in return. "I'll see you in a bit love. And Evan, good luck."

She watched him leave before turning to face me, blowing her whistle as loudly as she could. "Five extra laps Evan! And you'll be coming in every morning for an early session until you are back in top shape, we have no room for slacking or losers here."

"How about three laps, Rach?" I pleaded and put on the most charming smile that I could muster.

"Ten extra laps Evan, get a move on before I add some more."

◆◇◆◇◆◇

By the time I had finished practising with Rachel, I was exhausted. She bought me a smoothie and dropped me off at home. She'd insisted on taking Dad out for a meal so that they could catch up which meant that I was forced to bring Harper with me to go and meet Everly.

Everly was already standing by the costume shop. Her hair was down for once, the curls cascading down the hoodie I had given her.

"Everly!" Harper yelled as she excitedly ran over to her and hugged her legs tightly.

"Hi Harps! I didn't know you were coming today, are you excited to do a bit of shopping?" She asked her with a bright and cheerful smile on her face.

"Uh huh! I'm gonna get lots of stuff today. I'm gonna get toys and really pretty dresses and a cat bed."

Everly and I exchanged a rather confused look before looking down at my sister. "Harps, why are we getting a cat bed?" I asked slowly.

"It's a surprise silly!"

"Whatever you say Harps." I turned around to face Everly, kissing her cheek lightly to greet her.

"This is for you by the way, my apology for last night," she said sheepishly. She rummaged through her bag before taking out a small box of chocolates and an envelope, clearing her throat slightly. "It's not much but I felt bad for snapping at you."

"It's fine Everly. We all have bad days sometimes. Now I believe that we have some costumes to buy. I'm thinking that we should go as something that's not very expected but not something that's ridiculously hard to guess."

"I know exactly what we should go as. Let's go idiot." She took my hand in hers and laced our fingers together, leading the way into the shop.