Not Today | ✔️

Chapter Forty Five.

"You can wear my favorite t-shirt
And we can waste away the days
But only if you stay..."

✧✧✧

There was knocking at the door. Loud knocking.

As much as Evelyn wanted to gather the strength to walk down the stairs and open the door, she just groaned into her pillow and sent up a prayer that whatever it was wasn't important, because she surely wasn't going to answer. She sighed happily when the knocking stopped.

Sweet silence, once more.

"Evelyn?" a voice said and if her limbs weren't cement, she would've jumped like a kangaroo. Instead, she opened a single eye, realizing Tristan was standing in the doorway of her bedroom.

"Go away," she said, her voice muffled by the pillow, and then added as an afterthought: "...please."

Manners were always important. Just not as important as sleep.

"I have pineapple gummy bears," he said with a singsong voice.

She considered this. "You may enter."

Tristan complied, kneeling next to her bed until he was in her line of vision. He looked beautiful, his eyes like melted chocolate and his smile like sunshine, but her cheek was squished against the pillow, making it hard to fully open her eyes, so she was sure she looked like a chubby chipmunk to him.

"What are you doing here?" she said lazily.

"You weren't in school," he said with a shrug. "I was worried at first, and then I realized you're on your period."

She raised an eyebrow. "You memorized my menstrual cycle?"

"Not on purpose," he said, embarrassed. "But you tend to spend the entire week talking about sharks and eating pineapple gummy bears."

"I always do that, though."

"Yes, but when you're on your period, that's all you do."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes. "Give me the gummy bears or experience the pain of my foot in your ass."

"You're always so vicious," he said with a teasing smile. "Like a hammerhead pup."

Evelyn couldn't help it, she laughed loudly at that. "What did you expect from a seasoned boxing-watcher? Pacifism?"

Tristan chuckled at that, placing the gummy bears on the bed. It was just about the only thing that could move her from her comfortable position under the blanket, so she didn't really think it through when she sat up abruptly, the blanket falling to her waist. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment as she realized she was wearing only Tristan's jersey, without a cardigan, but the warmth only spread as she saw his eyes flicker to where it had slipped off her shoulder, baring the upper part of her arm and the fact that she was definitely not wearing a bra. Still, as quickly as he looked, he looked away, staring at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

She frowned as her eyes caught on her own skin, the scars looking so much harsher in the daylight. Even worse than they looked when she first showed him. God, why had she done that? He was probably only staring because he wasn't used to seeing the scars.

"Stop it," he said with finality, his harsh voice cutting through the silence.

"What?" she asked.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, his eyes gentle and his touch even more gentle as he tentatively lifted the side of the jersey so it covered her shoulder again, before he pulled his hand away. "Stop thinking about it. You're breathtaking, Evelyn."