Limerance

3|

☆。°
October, 2011

The past month has been a lot better than expected. Because of my anxiety, it was a lot harder to meet new people in my last town, so people always knew me as "quiet". It's not such a good feeling knowing that that's all they see you as.

My mom bursts into my room with her phone in her hand. "go wash the dishes," she stood there, thinking. "What was I gonna tell you?...oh yeah, tomorrow you have to go babysit for the Khatchadourians. They have a little girl, and it's a favor for my good friend, Eva...you guys have the same name! And she's being generous enough to pay you." She started shutting the door.

"The Khatchadourians?" I asked. "Our neighbors. They're like family friends." She responded. "I'm not doing any favors for you." I gave her a look.

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you." "After what you pulled, hell no. You think I owe you anything?" I raised my voice.

"You gave that weird boy my whole phone number! Even told him I could DRIVE him to school?!" "I'm your mother! Do you owe me anything? Yes!! I gave you your life! I gave you all of this! I can take it back!" She screamed. My eyes feel heavy and watery. "I didn't ask for any of this!" I yell back and she slams my door.

That's her favorite thing to do. Give me away.

                                         •*⁀➷

            School isn't all that great, but my friends make it a little bit better. I still find myself rotting away in my room all afternoon until nighttime, and my days mixing together into one.

Should I change to go?

Im obviously still going to babysit. I could ignore my mother and not go, but I feel like doing something different today.

So.. neighbor. Im guessing it's the house Kevin was watching me in.

I knock on the door.

A lady with short, brown hair opens the door and her face lights up when she sees me.

"Hi! I'm Eva, y/m/n's daughter." I say politely. She suddenly hugs me and my arms stay at my sides.

"It's so nice to see you again!" She smiles, pausing. "Oh I'm sorry," she chuckles. "I've known you since you were little, but the last time your family came to visit was when you were... I think 11? you've grown so much! Come in!" She invites me in.

I look around the giant house, and my mouth clings open. "Your house is huge," I say. She chuckles. "So, you're here to babysit Celie, your mom told me..of course if you want to! But, I'll be back by 9, and your envelope is on the counter. You can babysit 4 days in the week except for Friday if that's okay?" She smiles. I nod.

She gives me a side hug before leaving. I stand there, still in awe of their big house.

I feel someone small squeezing me from the waist. I look down.

A small girl with shiny, golden blonde hair suddenly becomes familiar. Celie.

Now I remember Kevin. He's always been...cold? But I got to know him through the years, and we became friends. I still didn't recognize him though.

"Hi Celie!" I crouch down to hug her back. "I haven't seen you in a while! You've grown so much," I smile, mimicking her mother. "How old are you now?"

"I'm 6 and a half! I missed you Evie!" She says excitedly. I doubt she remembers me. I just turned 16, so she was like.. 3 years old.

"Are you hungry?" I get up. She nods her head and I walk to the kitchen. Celie climbs onto the chair.

I'm looking around the kitchen to find any instructions or something. There's a sticky note on the fridge.

I take out all the stuff to make her a sandwich and see something in the corner of my eye.

I look over to the window facing outside the house, into the backyard. He's there. His black hair and tiny shirt, standing in the backyard and he's holding something. Is that a bow? He pulls back the arrow and lets go, it landing perfectly in the center on the target. He stays still, and then turns around to meet my eyes.

I go back to making Celie her sandwich. I put it on a plate for her. "Do you want anything to drink specifically?" She shakes her head. I grab a glass and fill it with water to give to her and I hear the door sliding.

"What are you doing here?" Kevin asks. "I'm watching Celie." "You came to watch me too?" A smirk flashed on his face.

                                          •*⁀➷

           After Celie insisted to give me a tour, we played dress up and dolls, and finally, she wanted to watch tv. I got curious so I came out to the backyard, where Kevin is still doing his archery.

I leave the sliding door open and sit on a small step, watching him. He's pretty and interesting to watch. I get up and walk towards him.

"Let me try!" He hesitates to hand me the bow. I try to mimic the way he was holding it.

He steps behind me. His hands fix my posture. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears and all of a sudden it's so hot out. His hands touch mine. He shows me how to shoot the arrow and finally I get to try.

It lands a bit off, but "close! I'm not that bad at this," I smile and look back at him, returning his bow.

I get his arrow to give it back to him. "E..Evangeline, you can just leave it there." "Okay" "you can just call me Eva," I pause and try to re word it. "Or Evie". He doesn't respond. "I'm going back inside,"

                                            •*⁀➷

        I put Celie to bed, now I'm just sitting on their couch scrolling through my phone. It's only 8 and I'm bored.

My eyes look around the house for the 20th time, and I see the stairs leading up to the first room, Kevin's room.

Should I go up there? I'm super bored..
whatever. It's not a big deal.

I knock on his door and wait a second so I can open it slowly. He doesn't acknowledge my presence. "What are all those?" I ask him about all the named CD's on the desk by the window. His room is the same as always. Neat.

"Viruses" he says blankly. "You collect viruses now?" I sit down next to him at the edge of his bed. He nods. "Cool."

I stay silent for a little while until I finally muster up the courage to remind him. "It's been so long. I didn't even recognize you," I say. I regret it. Now I just feel like I should've just left it alone.

"Yup." He responds. He pauses. "I recognized you. You haven't changed that much." He chuckles lightly. "It's not that funny" I say annoyed. But he's not wrong.

"How often are you coming to babysit Celie?" "Monday to Thursday."
"Oh"
"We're the same age, why don't you babysit Celie?"
"Because I don't want to"
I nod and stand up.

"So, I'm gonna go home now." I smile at him. He stands up.
"I'm glad I finally got to talk to you again," I lightly hug him goodbye. His arms go up again.

☆°。