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CHAPTER SEVEN: I'll look after you
THE sudden ring of Evan's phone distracted her from the movie she was watching - some weird rom-com that Lexi had recommended. It was one of those ones that was so bad that it was good.
Picking up her phone, Evan saw that it was Maddy who was calling. It had been almost a month since the whole Cassie debacle. The two had been spending a lot of time together, enjoying each others company. After pausing the movie, pressed the green answer button and turned the speaker on.
"Hey Mads," Evan answered, looking through her nearly empty popcorn bowl.
"Ev," Maddy sniffled through the phone, voice shaky. Evan sat up, picking up her phone.
"Maddy, are you crying? Are you ok?" Evan asked, worriedly.
"Just...can you please come over? Please.." Maddy hiccuped.
"Of course, don't worry about it. I'm on my way," Evan replied, standing from her bed and looking around her dorm room for her car keys.
"Ok. Bye, Ev," Maddy hung up the phone as Evan made her way out of the door, keys in hand.
What had made her so upset?
Luckily, Maddy's house wasn't too far away. She knocked on the front door. It opened and Maddy pulled her inside, immediately wrapper her arms around Evan's middle and burying her face in her chest.
Evan pulled her arms around the shorter girl, gently rubbing her hand up and down her back.
"It's ok, I'll look after you," Evan whispered comfortingly, resting her head on top of Maddy's.
The two stayed like that for several moments, before Maddy pulled away and wiped at her eyes. Evan was about to ask what was wrong, but the small woman grabbed her hand and pulled her toward her couch. They sat down and Maddy took a few deep breaths to console herself.
"Nate came over," Maddy mumbled as Evan listened quietly. "He came over, and he had a fucking gun."
"What?" Evan asked, bewildered. Did he want to hurt Maddy? She knew Nate was a sick freak, but that was another level of crazy. Even for him.
After taking a few deep breaths, Maddy explained what had happened. How Nate had taken the tape of Jules and his dad, how he threatened her, how terrified she was. When was he going to leave her alone?
"I'm done with him, he's a monster," Maddy whispered, as Evan wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.
Evan held Maddy in her arms for the rest of the night, soft conversations flowing between the two about anything and everything, just trying to distract and comfort Maddy from the trauma of the night as best as Evan could.
Evan wanted to protect Maddy from all the horrible things in the world. She had been through so much and despite her tough exterior, she was quite fragile. Maddy needed someone to take care of her - really look after her and care for her. And Evan was more than willing to. Evan was a lover and a giver. Cassie didn't deserve all the love that Evan had to give. But other people in her life do; her friends; her family; her Maddy.
The relationship between Maddy and Evan was confusing yet made all the sense in the world. They were closer than friends but not quite lovers. There was something there, they had just never commented on it. Evan knew that she'd always show up for Maddy no matter what, though. They had really been there for each other after all the drama, and became the person that the other could rely on.
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Everyone was back to classes after the weekend was over, and Evan stood with Jules in the hallway of one of the main buildings before their lecture. They had always been good friends, being the two outsiders in the friend group whilst everyone else had grown up together. The two had helped each other over the past month when they were both dealing with breakups and relationship issues. Though there's a lot of hurt under the surface, they're healing.
Evan was having a pretty good day - she got to her morning class on time for once, the dining hall had her favourite dessert for lunch, Maddy had told her she looked pretty that same lunch and Evan made a mental note to wear pink more often.
Alas, nothing lasts forever.
In her peripheral, Evan could see them; Nate and Cassie, hand in hand, walking through the halls. Guess they decided to go public.
The pair strode right past, Cassie not even batting an eye in her ex-girlfriends direction. Though she didn't want to, Evan couldn't help but watch them as they turned the corner. She hates that seeing them together bothered her. Cassie had hurt her so much, and was now flaunting around with the monster she cheated with.
"Hey, fuck her and that creep," Jules said, noticing the distant look in her friends blue eyes.
"I know, just...still hurts a bit I guess," Evan replied, turning to face the taller blonde, who suddenly had a large smirk on her face. "What...?"
"It shouldn't, you're so in love with Maddy," Jules teased.
"No, I'm...not, I'm-" Evan stuttered - god, she was starting to sound like Cassie being confronted.
"Yes you are, and she's in love with you!" Jules exasperated loudly, causing Evan to shush her.
"Will you shut up?" Evan begged, eyes darting around the halls to see who was listening.
"You both deserve some happiness after all the shit you've been through, and you obviously make each other very happy...whats stopping you?" Jules questioned, seriously.
"Well, for one thing; we don't know for sure if she feels the same way back, you know?" Evan answered, causing Jules to roll her eyes. It was kind of obvious that she was, but Evan didn't know if she ACTUALLY felt the same way. "Ok, two: I got out of a relationship not that long ago and I'm still pretty hurt by it-"
"But your ex has already moved on," Jules pointed out.
"Yeah, with the guy she fucking cheated on me with," Evan said, bitterly.
"Ok, ok, fair point," Jules replied.
"I just...I like spending time with Maddy, and yeah, I have some sort of feelings for her. But, for now at least, I'm ok with how things are between us," Evan answered, truthfully. Like, she'd love to date Maddy eventually - if she wanted to be with her. But she was ok being single for now, and having a (kind of) platonic friendship with Maddy.
She doesn't know what the future holds, just that its hopefully better than it had been. When you reach rock bottom, you can only go up after all.
