Saturday came sooner. I kind of think that's because the assignment was hanging like a sword over our necks.

So, when the doorbell rang just as I came back from work, I knew who it was going to be.

"Hey there!" a cheerful Sasha stepped in and sat on the couch.

"Where are your brothers?"

"They're up." when she rolled her eyes and motioned me to call them, I smiled and did that.

"Noel! Someone's here."

"You are so rude. Someone?" She cocked her head and I started shaking my head.

"No, I was- "

"Jeez, just kidding." She chuckled, shaking her head just as Noel came down, running.

"Noel, this is Sasha. She's my friend."

"Hello, Noel." Sasha gave a bright glowing smile and shortly, a stumbling Theo arrived. "Hey to you too, handsome."

A bit of jealousy flashed across Noel's face.

"I'm Sasha, Evelyn's friend." she shook hands with both and handed over a packet to them.

Theo spent no time in ripping it open and giving out a huge smile.

"These are our f-aaaaa-vourite." Theo cooed.

"Ivy always buys these for us." Noel beamed and Theo, without waiting for anyone, started stuffing it into his mouth.

And Noel, my dear little Noel, thanked Sasha like the polite human he is.

"You didn't need to buy those." I told her and she waved it off.

"I promise, I'll always buy these whenever I'll come here. Just like ivy does." She mumbled, kneeling down to look at Theo.

"You are so nice." Theo squealed as Sasha pinched his cheeks, kissing him and I ruffled Noel's brown hair, beaming with pride.

"I had to impress your boys," She turned to me with a shrug and threw me the book  "Shall we start?"

Her initial enthusiasm didn't last much. After working on two or three sonnets, Sasha had a permanent frown attached to her face.

"Why do they need different perspectives of the same things?"

"I think no one knows what Shakespeare actually meant." I sighed with a shrug.

She smirked and grabbed the smoothie that I made for her. But before she could take a sip, her phone started ringing.

I could only hear words like "what?!", "you", "why?!" and "idiot" from her side and she was scowling the whole time.

"What happened?"

"That stupid came here and left in my car. And guess what? He's offering me a ride now. How kind of him! Douche bag." she muttered.

"It's okay, you can stay here as long as you want."

"But no more works, though. I'm done." She held her hands in the air and I shook my head.

"No way. Tired already? We can do a couple more."

"Not at all, I'm exhausted." She let out a dramatic sigh and I gave up, letting her walk into the kitchen.

We made lasagna and the boys loved it. I'm pretty sure both my brothers fell a little in love with my friend.

Then again, who wouldn't?

The idea of Maria meeting Sasha crossed my mind and I dialled her to make it happen. Unfortunately, it went to her voicemail.

As usual Saturdays, Theo demanded to play games and Sasha tagged along with us. We were done with charades and were in the middle of a Scrabbles game when Zack's call came.

"He's out there. I better go." She said and waved goodbye to Theo and Noel.

"It's cold outside, I'll give you something." I mumbled knowing that her beautiful short skirt and crop top would do everything to make her look amazing and nothing to keep her warm.

My clothes were all piled up in the closet, and I had to dig in to find one. After a few dives into them, I finally found a nice coat and a hoodie.

"Will you come again?" I heard Theo ask and Sasha grinned.

"Of course, I will. " She ruffled his hair, turning to me.

"Coat or hoodie?"

"I'll take the coat, thank you." She said with a quick smile. "Will you walk me outside?"

"Sure."

"You had a call when you went upstairs." She said once we were out.

"Oh, who was it?" I searched for my phone and she handed it over to me.

"Mary, I think." She said with a frown.

"It's Maria." I smiled.

"Yeah, who's she?"

"My neighbour. She lives there," I pointed to her house, two away from ours.

"She left you a voicemail when it wasn't answered."

"Oh, actually I wanted her to meet you."

"I'd love to."

I nodded, smiling to myself when she continued. "She said she isn't home and asked you to call her back to make sure your mother isn't here and there wasn't any trouble." 

Oh.

I nodded and kept walking like it was normal. It was normal.

"What troubles?" She raised an eyebrow at me, cocking her head.

"Well, it's nothing. Just a neighbour being neighbour."

"Tell that to someone who didn't hear her tone. She was nervous, Evelyn." She looked at me as if she was nervous, too. "What's it?"

Oh, Maria. What'd you think I was calling for?

A quick look at the time told me why she was nervous. It was a Saturday and it was close to ten o'clock. Poor soul.

"Just cliche stuff." I mumbled.

She didn't say anything but further raised her eyebrow with a deadly stare.

"I'll- " I was cut off by a honk as Zack showed up.

"Get in, Sash." he called out.

Thanks, Zack.

"In a sec!" She hollered. "Everything's okay, right?" She asked me and I nodded so quick that I might as well have sprained my neck.

"What? What happened?" Zack stuck his half body out, glancing between us.

Zack the saviour was worried. I could see it.

And I can't help but shake my head. It's nothing. Just a misunderstanding.

But it feels to know these people care.

"Nothing happened, everything's fine." I nodded. Zack seemed to be okay with that answer, though he had a frown on his face. But Sasha...she was looking at me with a worried face.

And I felt bad.

"My mom," I looked at her, hoping she'd realise it was nothing. "She sometimes comes home drunk. And Maria's sixty years old, she's just making sure I didn't call her this late because something happened."

There. That was a good reason.

And just like that, Sasha's shoulders relaxed and she let out a tiny sigh. "Got really worried for a second there. You should've heard her voice, she was almost scared."

I huffed a silent laugh, giving her arm a squeeze. But in my peripheral vision, I could see Zack tilt his head, narrowing his gaze at me.

"Sometimes, right?" He asked me, voice just little more than a whisper when Sasha went around to get in.

Well, shit. I did tell him mom wasn't really around, didn't I?

"Sometimes." I nodded, waving to Sasha as she got in.

It was true. Only half of the time mom comes home reeking alcohol. The other times, she gets in without waking us up and sleeps in.

"Okay." He nodded with a tiny smile before they drove off.

                              ▪️▪️▪️

"Someone's ditching the class."

I was a bit startled by the voice and dragged my gaze off the book to see Zack.

Zack, who now sat opposite to me.

"No way, it's a free hour." I shook my head with a smile and raised a questioning eyebrow at him, "And you?"

"Stupid projects." He sighed as he pointed to a thick book. "Listen what?"

"Listen to your heart." I replied, dragging my eyes off him and to the book.

"Right...Kasie West. She's pretty great."

"You read books?" I asked him, my eyebrows raising.

"Do I look like a slacker to you? Please, I'm a genius." He declared, a smirk playing on his lips.

"You read romance books?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and he scoffed.

"Stereotypes, stereotypes."

Crap. He's right.

"Who made the rule that boys can't read anything other than mystery and crime? That's so overrated. I mean, we don't read as much as you do. But still, we do. Or at least I do. I'm a romantic that way." He added the last part with a pretty boyish smile.

And that made me smile. But he's right. I did go with stereotypes and assumed. Not so cool.

I shook my head and opened my mouth to mumble a sorry when he beat me to it.

"Don't say it. I know what you're going to say." He smirked, crossing his arms and I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm brilliant at reading facial expressions."

Right.

"You were about to say sorry for stereotyping." That wiped the smile off my face.

"Told you. Brilliant in reading expressions." He smiled. "Just like yesterday..."

He trailed off observing me, to get nothing but a frown. "You didn't tell Sasha everything."

Okay. Maybe he is great at that thing.

"Just so you know, she's a good listener. Won't judge, won't blame. She'll listen and give you solutions. That's her superpower." He mumbled, making me smile.

These siblings were nice. More than nice.

And right there, sitting under the big tree or official loser's site, as Will described... I felt bad for not telling anything.

"Friends are for sharing. When you stop sharing stuff that's when you know your friendship's drowning." That was Sophie's theory. I'm starting to think that's really true.

"You know, putting two and two together, I came to a conclusion." He muttered, still looking at me. More like, observing me. "It might be way off and stupid, but I'm assuming your mom's alcoholic.".

He dropped it like a bomb.

She's not... Yes, someday she comes home drunk. Some days she's more than a little drunk. But other days, she's sober and depressed...

"I can see you buckling up to defend me." He said with the tiniest smirk, his face concerned.

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and placed the book beside me. "I was. But then I realised how stupid my arguments sounded."

"What were your arguments? Just curious." He shrugged and I gave him a sheepish grin.

"That she only drinks when she's out with her friends?"

"How often is that?"

How often...

"Very often? I don't know, It was sort of a reflex action. You know, defending her?"

He knows. He said so, with a smile.

"I know why she started drinking and I understand her pain." I mumbled. "I mean, her parents abandoned her for choosing dad as her husband. I don't know why, they never talked about it."

I remember me and Noel, asking for our set of funny grandparents. Dad said no one can't have everything. And that we had everything else...just that.

I know dad grew up with his uncle and that he died a year before I was born. So we were unlucky in that way. No large family, no grandparents or uncles or aunts.

"And then, she lost him. I think that broke her. The one person in this world who didn't let her go, who loved her, cherished her...when life took that person away from her, she sort of lost her heart and mind.

"She was numb. The only time she cried was when someone delivered a eulogy. Then, for a few months, she was...quiet. Didn't really say anything to anyone, didn't go out, didn't do anything... People said she'd be okay eventually. But she started locking herself in often. And then, she started going out. I thought she overcame her grief then," I added with a nod. "...until she started coming home drunk."

We just sat there, staring at the sky for a few minutes. I wonder why no one else finds this place beautiful. Maybe what Will said is true. According to him "Everyone likes to sit inside. Cafes, restaurants, movie theatres...But in reality, sitting outside peacefully and enjoying nature, is far better than those options."

"How long?" He asked, his eyes now tracking a huddle of guys.

"About three years." There's no about. I know the exact date when William, Brandon's dad, tried to convince us everything will be fine. And merely an hour after that, dad took his last breath.

"Three?" He whispered, narrowing his eyes at me. "You mean Theo was two when she started drinking?"

"Started? Yes. But she wasn't...like this then. For a year, she stayed back and took care of Theo for most of the day. It's in the evening she went out. And would stumble in, at night."

"She quit her job?"

I nodded. "She quit it when she had Theo. Her plan was to find a new one when he's not a little baby anymore."

And then plans got derailed.

"Then, she got sucked into this whole... drinking thing." After that, she didn't think about her little baby, little boy or her daughter.

Zack had a frown on his face. "So, if she had no job..."

"We weren't rich... but we weren't poor either. Dad had money in their joint account. So, yeah, the first year went okay. I went for a part-time job at this newly opened cafe, which happened to be Tyler's dad's..." That got a grimace from Zack. "Things went okay, if not smooth. That too, until mom started drinking."

I didn't have to explain to him that mom took money from the account to spend it on alcohol. And soon, the account was nearly empty, I had to take care of a three-year-old and work at a jerk's shop while making sure mom didn't spend too much.

"Soon, she was someone who leaves home early morning and may or may not return that day." I tried to laugh it off but I'm afraid it sounded hollow. "Sometimes I feel like I should've done something. Like, right when she started drinking, I should've asked her to stop."

"You don't know if she would've listened to you."

"But what if she would've listened to me? It was a fair chance. If I asked her to stop, if she did listen to me and stopped..." Theo would've had his mom take him to school. Noel would've had his mom to cheer him up on sports day.

"What-ifs are addictive and useless." He said, his gaze fixed on the clear blue sky. "We'll keep on thinking about what we could've done and we'll lose the opportunity to make things right."

Opportunity to make things right...

"Well, aren't you rich in wisdom." I mumbled with a smile and heard him chuckle.

"Far from that, Evelyn. Far from that. Sasha says I'm good at giving bad advice. So..."

I think Sasha might be wrong.

"Which university was the star of your dreams?" He asked with a little smile playing on his lips.

"Star of my dreams?" That got a chuckle from me. I haven't had a dream any years. I think I'm dream deprived. "I wanted to go to NYU."

"You would've liked it." He nodded in agreement. "They have a huge library." He eyed the book and I laughed. A real one.

Wait a second. "You were in-"

"Nope. At least not in this lifetime. I'm not that smart." He scoffed as if it was never a possibility. "My friend Caleb is a student there. I've seen the library, you'll love it."

I'm sure I would've.

"Now, the real reason I approached you." He cleared his throat and turned sideways to look at me.

"Oh, you mean, you didn't come here to uncover my deepest darkest secrets that I've kept hidden from everyone?" I placed a palm on my chest and looked at him with a smile.

Because that's what he did. He came in, swooped those bottled-up things off my heart and smiled.

That boyish smile made a reappearance. "Believe it or not, that wasn't intentional."

"Well, half intentional, maybe." He added with a sheepish grin. "So, Sasha wanted me to ask you to come over to her house tomorrow. I mean, our house. For that assignment thing, you guys have."

"Sure." I nodded. It's been three or four days and we still weren't finished. "And Zack?"

"Yeah?" He looked at me as he dusted himself off.

"Will you say this to Sasha?" It felt wrong to say it to him and not to her. "Maybe after tomorrow? Or do you think I should tell her myself?"

"Nah, I'll do it. That way, you won't have to repeat this and get that gloomy look on your face and also, you won't have to see her tears."

Gloomy face? I thought I did well.

"Shall I say it's a yes from you?" He asked, walking backwards.

Well, cross-checking all the possible chances to meet and get done with the assignment without ditching work, there are none.

So, there goes that. I nodded at Zack right before he smiled and turned back.

                           ▪️▪️▪️

"Ditching work?" Jake fake gasped when I told him I wasn't going to make it today. "I smell a boyfriend somewhere."

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything about you. I think the smell is from the kitchen."

"Oh, you're probably smelling a man-whore then."

"Shut up." He retorted, making me smile.

"See you, Jakey."

"Shut up." I heard him mumble before I hung up.

"So, you in?" Sasha asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I am."

"Cool." She smiled. "But we've to wait for the idiot. He's out in the library."

I haven't met Zack after yesterday's 'me boring him with my rambling' session. Since he left with a smile, I'm hoping things wouldn't change between us.

But what if he thought I was trying to make him pity me? Or that I'm just being dramatic?

But then again, he told me to forget about what ifs. For once, I'm gonna do exactly that.

"It's been almost half an hour!" She mumbled, looking at her watch. "What is he doing in there?"

Exactly five minutes after that, Zack came running as if he could feel Sasha's wrath.

"Oh, hey. Thought you'd be working today." He aimed a bright smile at me and all the what-ifs got crushed by it.

"Please don't. It's almost a miracle that she ditched her work. Don't bring her work into the conversation and remind her." Sasha huffed and he took a step backwards, palms up.

"Jesus! I was just starting a conversation."

Their bickering lasted until he pulled off in their driveway.

I knew they were rich, but I didn't know they were this rich. The building in front of me probably came with a route map.

I couldn't help but compare this house to mine. And even though this one is larger and prettier, I preferred mine.
The comfort and memories in a -not too small but not too big- house steals the prize.