The Alloys of the Blend

Chapter 7

She woke up, her face flushed, her chest pounding. Short of breath, she shot up from her pillow, trying to catch her breath. She looked around the dorm, her eyes going straight to Mal's rumpled bed. For a moment, she wondered where her roommate had gone. That was all before she looked at her phone that kept pinging with messages from her friends. Having slept until ten, Evie scrambled to her feet to prepare for the day.

On any other Saturday, Evie would have gotten her day started much earlier. But today she didn't have the care to do so. She needed a distraction to prevent her from doing what her conscious whispered for her to do. To ride to the theater to see the movie like she told Doug she would.

The day was going to be awful for her—even more so for him. She just couldn't understand why she agreed to the idea of playing with his feelings. It hadn't even been as fun to lead someone as she remembered doing when she was younger.

Doug was different.

* * *

"Hey Evie? You okay?" Carlos called from the hallway, Evie now tending to her hair. She brushed out the large curls in her hair, and threw her mass of locks into a ponytail.

"It's open," she called out to him, the door opening and Carlos appearing. He stepped inside, his backpack hanging on his shoulder. He walked to her desk across from where she sat on her bed, throwing his bag down on the carpet.

Picking out strands of her midnight blue hair from the brush, Evie glanced at Carlos. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to check on you, considering everything goes down today. Mal said you overslept today and you haven't answered our messages," Carlos explained, digging around in his backpack. There was the sound of plastic rustling, Carlos pulling out a sealed blueberry muffin. He threw it to her, Evie catching it and setting it aside.

"Thanks. A distraction is all I need. I feel like everything has gotten out of hand. I didn't expect to feel this guilty about it."

"What? About the 'Doug' thing?" Carlos asked, rummaging through his pockets, finding a plastic bag of chocolate chip cookies. As he was about to throw one Evie's way, her hand went up. She cleared her throat and motioned toward her figure.

"What else do you think I'm worried about," Evie snapped, breaking into the muffin's plastic. The muffin crumbled between her fingers as she broke off a chunk.

"Hey, I was just making sure. So you're really a bad liar then?" Carlos asked, glancing from his cookies to her. Evie turned toward him with pursed lips, and her eyes slit. Carlos threw his hands back.

"Okay, okay. I'll stop. But really? You guys were friends?" A small chuckle escaping his mouth at the absurd notion. He just couldn't envision it.

"Not quite. I just found talking to him... to be not as bad as I thought. A few weeks ago we actually had a conversation. Like about his hobbies, dreams. I realized I don't have any of that. He suggested I explore fashion. I told him I liked movies, romantic and period ones in particular. I asked him about Under The Moon and how interesting it sounds—" Evie stopped, beginning to chew her lip. "I'm spilling way too much. Aren't I?"

Carlos watched her intently, "No, not at all. You need to release it. You know, you could have said something earlier. At least to me. I know Mal and Jay are well... Mal and Jay... and like to play around. But I bet if you really would have explained things they might have taken you seriously."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?"

"You weren't and I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I just want you to know that you have more options than you think. What's done has been done."