Society | A Evan Lennon Story

8 - Our Last Mistake

I'm sitting on a bench in the park while I waited for Zamora, I wasn't waiting long, maybe 10 minutes. She sits next to me and smiles. "Have you been waiting long?" She asks.

I smile and shake my head. "No." I say. "So, want to walk and talk?"

"Sure." She stands and so do I. We begin walking down the pavement. "How's Kate?" She asks.

I look over at her. "Fine. Why?"

"Something just seemed up at lunch." I look down. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be nosey."

I shake my head and look at her. "No, it's okay. She was just trying to avoid Ben." I say and she gives me a confused look.

"She's with Ben?"

"No. Definitely not." She hums and looks in front of her, but I watch her. "Have any siblings?" I ask.

"A little brother. He's 6. A real idiot." I laugh. "But I love him." She adds.

"Yeah. Kate's always had to just deal with me. She's independent which is good, but lately she's been relying on me more and that scares me."

"Why's that?"

I look at her for a moment then look in front of me and shrug. "I don't know, she always kept to herself and never wanted me to know things, I guess it could be because she's older, but it's just a year. She never needed someone to rely on before because she could take care of herself and lately, she's been coming to me about all her problems." I pause because I realize something. "Now that I think about it, every time she's come to me is because of Ben." I go quiet for I don't know how long, but it must have been long enough to make Zamora worry because she asks,

"Are you okay?"

I look at her and nod. "Yeah." I say. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sure Kate just trusts you and probably doesn't just see you as her little brother now." She says. "I wouldn't worry so much about it." I nod. "Especially since you said Kate can take care of herself."

"Yeah, you're right." I say. "Well, enough of that. Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Can I buy you lunch- erm.. dinner?" I ask.

She laughs and nods. "Sure."

"I think there's a diner nearby. Come on." I take her hand and lead her to the diner. We get there in about 10 minutes. We sit and we're brought menus to look at and as we look, I ask, "How's dance?"

"It's good. It's been a lot of fun."

"That's good."

"Are we ready to order?"

After dinner, we walked around the shops and talked about life and just got to know each other better. It was nice. I walk Zamora home around 8. She stops at the door and turns toward me. "Thanks for today, I think I may have needed it."

I smile and nod. "Yeah, me too." I say.

"See you tomorrow?" I nod. "Bye, Evan."

"Bye." She turns and walks inside. I turn and begin walking home. I honestly don't think that I like Zamora in the way she likes me. I think she's really great and I really like her but just as a friend. I think I'll tell her tomorrow. I stop at my house and I notice Bella. I huff and walk past her to the front door. "Go home, Bella." I say.

"Evan, please.." I pause rather quickly when I hear the pain in her voice. I turn and look at her. I can't help but feel concerned when I see the tears falling down her face. "I really need you right now."

Every bone in my body was telling me to not fall into her trap, but what if it wasn't fake and she really did need me? I sigh and pull her into a hug. She wraps her arms around my torso and I place a hand on the back of her head. "What happened?" I ask.

"My dad came back again." I sigh and close my eyes as I hold her tighter. Bella's dad is always returning home but only long enough for her mum to trust him again so he could take all her money and then leave again. He usually disappears after a week of being back. She pulls back and looks up at me. "Thank you for being so nice to me..." I don't reply and I wipe the tears from her face. "Thank you so much.." She kisses me.

I quickly step back. "What the hell?"

"I don't want to think anymore." She kisses me again, but I don't move. "Please, Evan, I don't want to think about it anymore. I need you." Yeah, me neither. I don't want to think about Kate or about Ben or even Barrett, that's all I can think about and it's driving me crazy. I kiss her and she kisses me back.

The next morning, I wake up because the sun is in my eyes. I groan lightly and reach behind me to close the curtains. I look beside me and see Bella sleeping. I sigh and sit up. "Hey." I say. And I lightly shake her shoulder. She wakes up and looks at me then sits up. I stand and start to get dressed. "You know that last night-" She interrupts me.

"That it was a mistake? And it can't happen again because I'm a bitch who doesn't deserve love? Yeah, I know."

I furrow my eyebrows and I sit beside her. "No, I didn't say that. You're not a bitch." She gives me a sidelong glance. I sigh. "Alright, sometimes you can be difficult to get along with, but you deserve love, you just deserve somebody better than me."

She laughs lightly and looks away from me. "Like who? A guy like my dad?"

"Definitely not."

She looks at me. "Who's better than you? You treat me kindly even after I treated you so badly, I cheated on you and you're still there for me when I need you." She says.

"Hey. I wasn't always the nicest to you when we were together." I say. "I was bitter towards you half the relationship."

"Only because you were miserable. I cheated on you and you stayed because you loved me and I don't know why."

I smile. "I loved you because you showed me what it meant to fall in love with somebody." She smiles. "And I know you're not really a bitch or mean, you just want everybody to like you, which trust me, you don't want. Just be yourself, Bells." I say. "Be the girl I know you are."

She nuzzles her head into my shoulder and says, "Thank you, Evan."

I smile. "You're welcome." She leans back and looks at me. "Friends?"

She smiles and nods. "Friends."

"And with being friends, it means no more mistakes, you have a problem, you can talk to me about it, okay?" She laughs. I grin.

"Okay."

I grin more. "Okay."