similarly to evangeline, brady was also not in the best of moods. however, he was more so infuriated than he was sad. he was frustrated with himself. he knew it was a bad idea to pursue anything romantic with eva for the sake of their friendship, but he still went ahead and let his crush on her get the better of him.
but what frustrated him even more was the fact that eva kissed him. she constantly talked about how much she loved being friends with him and she constantly called him a friend. and yet, she was the one who kissed him. and brady was absolutely flabbergasted. she friend-zoned him, kissed him, and freaked out about it all in the span of five minutes. she didn't even give him the chance to tell her how he felt. and for the first time ever in his life, he was mad at evangeline.
he was mad that she brushed everything off without letting him speak his mind and telling her about his feelings. she was so big on communication, but the second they had something they needed to talk about, she pushed him away. brady did try texting her the day after her birthday. it was only a single and simple text that read: how was your birthday? after receiving a dry response from her that said: good, brady sighed and immediately knew that there was no way they'd go back to being just friends.
he thought that evangeline just needed some space, so that's exactly what he's been giving her lately. but it came in the price of his own happiness. brady hated not talking to her every single day. he hated how awkward it was between them. he hated how he ruined everything. and sometimes he'd take out his feelings by constantly being irritated by anyone who wasn't eva talking to him, and by playing even more aggressively in volleyball.
just as he promised in the groupchat with his friends, connor decided that today was the day that he knocked some sense into his brother. he's done it before, he could do it again. sure connor was tired of his brother's irritability issues, but he was also tired of seeing him deprive himself of happiness. evangeline was the most perfect girl for brady and connor would be furious if brady fumbled all because of lack of communication.
connor knocked on brady's bedroom door. he could practically hear him roll his eyes from where he was standing. "come in!" brady called out. connor opened the door and found his twin laying on his bed in the darkness. it was the middle of the afternoon and brady had his blackout curtains closed. not only that, but brady had the hood of his hoodie on as he had his blanket wrapped around him, completely diminishing any light that wasn't already blocked out.
