Evangeline (Unedited)

10

C H E E S E C A K E
(Kind of on the sadder side, and not a fav chapter of mine. I have been so incredibly busy but I've been trying to balance the rest of my life with writing because I love it so much, but it's hard. Happy 10 chapters!)

The dinner was filled with small talk—one of my least favourite things to endure. A lot of questions were directed at me, but thankfully Tommy would come to my rescue when the awkwardness took over my thoughts and all of a sudden I had forgotten everything about myself. I noted to thank him after dinner.

"What do you do for fun?" Andreas asks after I said I didn't go out much or get involved in school much, his voice fairly quiet. He hadn't spoken much. Just the odd agreement or inquiry here and there, which I didn't mind, but wished I could do as well.

"Um, I hang out at a flower shop a lot. Or, I did, before..." My voice dims, and I blink away my thoughts or try to. I would never go there again. "I hung out at a flower shop called the Blue Bird. The owner is a sweet old man and I helped out a lot. He gave me a key so I'd be in there even during closed hours, but it was... nice."

Alessandro is smiling at me, everyone nodding along.

"What do you even do there? Sounds boring." Noah says through a mouthful of food, and he immediately gets reprimanded. So far, Noah does not seem to like me much. His twin, on the other hand, Leo, has been nothing but sweet—albeit shy. My heart starts to beat faster at the subtle judgement if that's even what it was, and I squeeze my fork tighter.

"Mostly helped water plants and assorted bouquets and stuff." I inhale a breath, trying to steady my breathing. I hate talking when everyone is looking at me. Listening. "But a lot of the time I just hung out in the back, the greenhouse. Listened to music, did homework, read, you know, stuff like that."

"So, boring stuff." He rolls his eyes.

"Noah. Enough." Alessandro sternly tells him, and he mumbles something that I don't hear. I half wish I could've heard, but also know if I did it would've sent me spiralling. "Evie, that sounds lovely, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the gardens we have at our manor."

My eyes dart to his, and he smiles at the way my face lightens. I notice how obvious my excitement became and try to relax more, but the idea of being surrounded by plants and bugs and dirt again, one with nature, soothes the aching in my body and mind.

Feet wet from the dewy grass, hands covered in small cuts and dirt, cramps in my arms and hands from lifting heavy buckets and bags all day, lukewarm water that was once ice cold but I got so sucked into the plants that I hadn't remembered to drink it, petals in my hands and bees buzzing in my ears. He was right, I would enjoy it.

"I'm sure." I agree and happily finish off my plate. Everyone seems to do the same, and eventually, the scraping of utensils disappears and overlapping chatter begins again.

"Oh, Evie, now that you're here I have somebody to go on runs with every morning." Tommy attempts to make me excited, and my eyes widen.

"Right..." I try not to be rude before I let him down, but the idea of that makes me feel sick. "I think you've got the wrong girl."

"What? You totally have a runner in you. A little marathoner." He shakes his head, voice raising an octave. I giggle and deny it again.

"Definitely not. There's a reason my hobbies are limited to sitting and walking the whole time." My eyes drift to the trees in the distance being illuminated by the pink skies in the sunset. I look back and he's chuckling, rolling his eyes.

"What are your hobbies?" Leo says through chewing food and gets scolded by Alessandro. Noah snickers beside him. He shrugs with a sheepish smile on his face and turns back to me.