Not Today | ✔️

Chapter Forty One.

"Day after day, I stay locked up in my room
I know to you, it might sound strange
But I wish it would rain..."

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Why was it that when you wanted to be left alone, people took that as a cue to not leave you alone? It was fucking annoying. Tristan loved his aunt and his little cousins, but if another one of the spawn-of-satan twins were knocking on his door like a hammer on a nail again, he would have to flush both of them down the toilet.

When the knocking didn't stop, but only got more insistent, Tristan realized pretending to sleep was no longer a viable option. He groaned quietly into his pillow.

"I'm taking a nap!" he called and for a moment, he felt satisfied when the incessant knocking stopped, but just as he readjusted his head on the pillow, the dark bedroom filled up with light from the hallway, as the door swung open.

"What the hell?" Tristan mumbled, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Well don't you look pathetic," the person said with a snort and he recognized the voice immediately.

"Jerome, if you're here to remind me of what a sack of shit I am, you can leave. I already know," Tristan said and turned, pulling the blanket over his head, hoping he would disappear. Jerome, of course, did not.

"Though that would bring me great joy, that's not why I'm here," he said and turned the lights on before pulling the blanket off of Tristan's body aggressively.

"The fuck is your problem?" Tristan asked, sitting up.

"You," he said with a shrug.

"If I'm such a problem, then by all means, leave," he said and gestured towards the door.

"No."

Tristan groaned. "Seriously, why are you here?"

"I promised Evelyn," he said and Tristan felt his breathing stop as he heard that name slip past his lips.

"Evelyn?" Suddenly, his throat was dry. "You've seen her?"

"I spent today with her," he said with a shrug. A shrug. As if he was talking about the weather. Tristan was hurt and angry hearing that. This was supposed to be their first Christmas Eve and she spent it with Jerome.

"So much for loyalty," he muttered.

"Loyalty?" Jerome said with a scoff of disbelief. "The next time you want to question my loyalty, or Evelyn's for that matter, remember that you chose a relationship with Tanya over one with Evelyn and a friendship with her over a friendship with me."

"She broke up with me! And you stopped talking to me. You made your choices, not me," he argued, but it was halfhearted.

"How long will it take you to realize that you are the one that fucked up? Do you know what Tanya said to Evelyn on the bleachers that day? Do you even fucking care?"

He swallowed. "No, I forgot to ask her again before we..."

"Well, she told me, and fuck, that girl is a bitch," he said, clearly angry.

"You exaggerate because you don't like her. She couldn't have-"

"She said you'd get tired of her because she was a virgin and wouldn't put out and asked her how long until you went back to someone more willing. She said Evelyn didn't actually mean anything to you. She said it was already starting, you focusing on Tanya when she entered a room, instead of Evelyn. And then when Evelyn tried to walk away, she accused her of being weak. The next time you want to defend her to me or say I'm in the wrong, not her, remember that."