Better Off With Whom?

Chapter-3: UNREASONABLE FEELINGS

Yes Mom we will! Okay, talk to you later! Have a good night!" Gabriel said while he entered the kitchen almost hanging up the phone after talking to his mother and found Evelyn struggling to see if there was something in the upper cupboard standing on a chair almost losing her balance.

Gabriel ran towards her and held the chair as she held him for support and said,
"GOSH, thank you! I could ha-", she was interrupted.

"Nothing could happen to you in my presence miss girl. And what are you even doing here standing on top of this chair trying to get your head burst open?", he said while his hands held her petite waist.

"I was trying to find something to eat!" She responded, nervous to even look at him, she lowered her eyes.

"Nothing is here. Mom said that there must be snacks in that pantry.", he said pointing at a brown wooden pantry.
He also added, "And the blankets are in the room next to the kitchen in the cabinet. Grab the snacks and come to the living room, let's watch something and eat."

Gabriel left the kitchen while Evelyn was feeling as if her stomach was tied in knots and felt anxious after the incident. His sweet words that made her heart flutter, echoed in her mind. Nervousness crawled all over her face.

She took her time to calm herself and grabbed the snacks and headed towards the living room and seated herself on the couch, next to Gabriel with the snacks as Sushi followed her and sat in her lap peacefully.

It was almost 1a.m. in the morning the living room was so dark and the television was still turned on. Evelyn was sleepy and her head swung unknowingly thrice on Gabriel's shoulder while he was asleep while watching the show. It was a few moments later that a lightning's brightness and sound got them squinting their eyes and woke them up, they both realised that Evelyn's head rested upon Gabriel's shoulder when they were asleep. Evelyn got anxious and moved her head away immediately and they both made eye contact.

Evelyn got up suddenly and mindlessly said, "Ahm- uh- I- I should probably go and check on Sushi I don't know where she went...", she cleared her throat.
While Sushi was sleeping on the top of the table in front of the sofa. When Gabriel brought it to her attention.

She felt so stupid for acting so mindlessly and made up another excuse saying, "Oh yes! There she is. How did she not wake up? The sleep is deep. I am going to go to the washroom. Be right back!", she said without making a pause.
She went hastily and locked the door too aggressively which made Gabriel open his eyes widely, fully awake, thinking about what just happened.

While she was in the bathroom, she thought to herself, looking in the mirror..
"Argh! What is happening to me? Why am I acting this way all of a sudden? Why does he make me so nervous suddenly?"

She returned and found Gabriel sitting on the couch and looked at him as he looked at her,
She insisted, "I think we should go to sleep now. It's past midnight, we have to wake up early, fix the car and leave too. If we delay leaving, it will be tiring on Monday. The bed's already made in your room, you go and sleep there and I'll sleep here."

"You go and sleep in my room. It's fine, I'll sleep here on the couch!", he told her.

After debating for 10 minutes, Gabriel sent her to sleep in his room along with Sushi. And he laid down on the couch staring at the ceiling and thought about how the day they had spent was so eventful and rejuvenating after living in the City's chaos.

He also noticed that Evelyn behaved differently after they conversed in the kitchen and was weird about it but said nothing about it. He planned on talking about it in the morning and went to sleep.

While on the other side, Evelyn went to Gabriel's room and found a few photo frames of his childhood, she brushed a gentle finger of those photo frames then sighted one, with them both together, they were probably in middle school at that time. She smiled widely and silently. She admired the pictures and laid down on the bed while Sushi rested on her mom's stomach. Evelyn petted Sushi's head and wondered if she was really inclined towards her best friend. She wasn't sure how to classify such unreasonable feelings.

The next morning they woke up and got the car fixed in the morning and left the place to dwell in the City's chaotic aroma. In the car, it was complete silence. As Gabriel drove, he finally broke the hostile environment and asked Evelyn,
"Is something bothering you? You seem a bit distant. I don't know if it's just my overthinking but I noticed you have been avoiding me since yesterday.."

Evelyn said,
"Yes it is your overthinking. I am completely fine. What made you think so?".

Gabriel answered,
"Just assumed. You are trying to avoid conversation every now and then. You did not utter a word during breakfast and ate in a hurry like you wanted to escape and normally you don't do that. You enjoy your food and take as much time as possible."

Evelyn rudely said,
"Well NO! Why would I want to escape? It's not like I am afraid of something right? So STOP ASSUMING things you aren't sure of!"

Gabriel nodded and remained silent. His silence was consumed in guilt. He thought that maybe he is being clingy and Evelyn is not liking it. He thought that maybe how he feels is being forced on her through his actions and maybe they are better off being friends and nothing more or less.

Evelyn on the other hand didn't intend to sound the way she did, but she was trying to ignore how she felt and, the way she reacted was a weapon to avoid her unknown feelings. She wanted to stray as far as she could to maintain the equilibrium in their friendship and not make it weird with her uncanny thoughts.

They finally reached Evelyn's building and Gabriel declined the request to go upstairs with her and decided to leave. He wanted to go with her. But he wanted to stay at an appropriate distance from Evelyn as he thought that maybe the way he feels would get in between them if he hung out with her more and would make their friendship bitter. So, he dropped her and left.

A few days passed, Gabriel did his best to avoid talking to Evelyn. His days passed with loneliness. Evelyn, was also trying to prevent situations when they could talk. They now used to pass by each other's side in University, smile and greet each other. But the things were different now. They never texted each other as much as before. There were lesser food spam messages from Evelyn and even less spam messages from Gabriel's side in the morning asking Evelyn if she was coming, did she wake up already or when he would be arriving to pick her up.

Both of them didn't really like this distance. But, were helpless and how could they not be? Owing to this completely misunderstood situation.

Finally the next 'Friday Nights, Movie Nights' arrived. Evelyn was eagerly waiting for Friday as she didn't want any more distance because Gabriel was her most trusted friend and now she had no one to rant about the silliest thing to. She wanted to tell him about the whole week, what she ate, what she hated, what she liked and what not.

Gabriel, on the other hand, wanted to go and see her and talk to her and listen to her voice. But, he had to cancel the plan last minute and abandon Evelyn.

As Evelyn's phone buzzed she ran and picked it up guessing it's from Gabriel maybe asking for what she wanted to eat.
She looked at the text he had sent, it said,

GABRIEL: HEY!
GABRIEL: I know that Friday nights are reserved for u.. but today, I'm needed somewhere else. And I SWEAR, it's extremely necessary. Else, I wouldn't have abandoned u tonight! I'll make up for it. Let's meet on Sunday?

Evelyn felt a bit disappointed and replied..

EVELYN: Hey, what's wrong? Everything alright at home? Do you want me to come?

GABRIEL: Yes! Everything is alright. It's just, you know Hailey? From my batch? We have been assigned a duo project and we have to present it by Monday so she called me over to hers so we could work on it.. It's really necessary. I couldn't say no because she helps me a lot in the University. I don't want to make her feel bad by putting her down..

Evelyn felt taken aback. "No I don't know! Who is Hailey?", "She is more of a friend than me now?", "It's EXTREMELY necessary?", "Why would he feel bad about putting a friend down for me!?", her thoughts screamed inside of her. Disappointed and enraged, she texted..

EVELYN: It's fine. Totally. And yes most definitely! Let's catch up on Sunday!
GABRIEL: Thank you so much for understanding! Bye!

Evelyn pouted at her mobile and yelled, "NO! I don't understand this. Since when does he text so dry? And why does he text like this? This is so FORMAL! We were never so formal."