Colliding Paths

(13) It could be worse

Evans POV

I held Cora's hand as we watched the sun set. Both of us breathing easily, sat on top of a blanket. She inched closer to me, I moved my arm so it was around her shoulder.

After about 10 minutes I packed up our things, wanting to leave before it gets too dark.

"It's starting to get dark, the path up here circles back to where we parked." I announced, pointing in that direction.

"Okay, let's get going," Cora smiled and stood up, brushing of her pants again. Once again she looped her arm in mine. Now I wasn't willing to admit it but I was glad she did. I was feeling unsteady on my feet after all this walking. My head felt stuffy and I swayed a bit every time we stopped. It wasn't too bad but I knew that it would probably escalate if we didn't get home soon. It was almost 8:00 and I knew that my mom wouldn't be home for long but I don't want my sisters to be left with a sitter for too much.

We got to the car and I drove Cora back to her house.

"Bye princess, I'll talk to you later tonight," I said to her before kissing her cheek. I made sure she was all the way inside then drove away.

When I got home the girls were watching a movie on the couch with Gretchen.

"Were they good?" I teased and she smiled and nodded.

"I best be getting home girls, I've got some homework to do," Gretchen said.

"And it's your bedtime!" I called from the kitchen.

They both groaned and scrambled to get ready for bed.

Once Lily and Evette were both ready I tucked them in and retreated to my room. When I sat down I began watching videos until I got a call from Cora.

"Hey," I said smiling as soon as I picked up.

"Evann, I'm sooo bored" she groaned playfully.

"I have to clean up from dinner, keep me company?" I asked making my way to the kitchen. There were two bowls left out and after cleaning the counter I loaded them into the dishwasher. Once I'd gotten the dishwasher running I began to feel dizzy. Cora was rambling on about school things.

I sat down against the cabinet and tried my best to listen.

"Evan, did you hear what I asked?" Cora questioned impatiently.

"What? Oh yeah no I got distracted sorry," I trailed off.

"It's fine, are you okay?" She asked slowly.

"Yeah, just got a bit dizzy, that's all." I smiled even though she couldn't see me. It was nice to know she cared, sometimes it felt like no one did.

"Evan..." she stretched out my name, "I can tell when your lying," she stated plainly.

"It's not that bad, I'm just sitting on the floor in my kitchen. The girls are asleep, it's fine," I tried to reassure her.

"Okay..." Cora responded sounding unsure.

I was grateful to have her on the phone, in case something did happen.

"Okay, about what I said. Do you have any plans for your birthday? It's coming up," she asked.

"Honestly I kind of forgot about that, I'll probably go out to eat with my family or something. Do you want to come with us? Maybe our families could meet?" I suggested.

She agreed and as we thought of a place I'd want to go, a familiar feeling came about. An overwhelming sense of nausea and dizziness.

"C-Cora, I-I—" my voice faded out.