Listen To Your Heart

Timing Is Everything

Mal walked into her room to see that there were more dresses than she could count. Evie was furiously seeing something at her desk. But the machine was so overworked that is stopped working. Evie cried in frustration and hit the now smoking machine.

"Now what?!" Evie was in tears and flung herself on her bed and sobbed. Mal was unsure how to approach her since she wasn't sure she was mad or sad. If Evie was ticked off, you got as far away as possible. She had a temper worse than most, even Mal. Realizing Evie was genuinely upset and crying, Mal took her chances and approached her.

"Evie?" Mal questioned, rubbing the crying girls back. "You okay?"

Evie sat up, puffy-eyed, makeup dripping down her face. "What's the point? I can't do anything about it anyway!"

Mal sighed. "Has Doug not asked you,yet?" She was seriously done with this drama.

Evie shook her head. "No, but that's not the worst part. He's going with someone else!" Evie choked through sobs.

Mal couldn't believe it. She was gonna kill him for hurting her best friend. "Okay, tell me what happened!"
********************************************
Earlier that day....

Come on, Doug, Doug thought. You can do this! Just go up to Evie and say 'Evie will you go to prom with me?'. And then, if she likes you back, she will smile and say yes and you will go to prom together and you'll dance the night away and you'll live happily ever aft-

Doug was interrupted in his thoughts by a sudden hand in his shoulder. "Doug?" His friend Eric said. "Dude you okay? Band practice ended like 10 minutes ago, and you've just been standing there, staring off into space."

Doug was embarrassed. "Oh, uh...yeah... I-I'm fine, thanks anyway. Bye!" He rushed out of the band room and went to look for Evie. Eric just looked confused and eventually left also.

Doug was running fast and by the time he made it to the courtyard, he was out of breath. He scanned the area and saw Evie at their usual . He pulled out the candy apple he had made for her. He always brought her an apple, but today it was special. This had to be perfect. This was it. He was finally gonna ask Evie to the dance and they were gonna live happily ever af-

"Hey Doug!" He looked to see one of his best friends, Crystal smile sweetly at him. Since she was Snow White's daughter, they had known each other their entire lives. He used to have a crush on her, but quickly moved his affections to Evie. "It's great to see you! Hey, I was wondering if you're going to the dance this Friday."

"You mean prom?" Doug questioned. He really wanted to cut the conversation short so he could ask Evie before it was too late. "Uh, yeah I'm going, why?"

Crystal blushed and bit her lip, ever so casually batting her eyes. Classic flirt technique. "Because I was wondering if you would like to go with me. To prom." She looked at him with hope in her eyes.

Doug was shocked. He never thought Crystal, a cheerleader, would like him. Let alone, ask him to prom. Swing the look in her face, and being a great friend he didn't have the heart to say no.

"Well, um maybe." Her face fell. "I'll think about it okay?" Her face lit up again. He'd ask Evie and if she rejected him, he's go with Crystal. Simple solution.

"Um what do you got there?" She said eyeing the delicious candy apple in his hands. "Can I have a piece?"

"Um, actually..."

"Great! Thanks!" She said taking the apple and grabbing a bite. "You know what! Can I have it? It's so good!" Before he could answer, she had already taken it and left to her dorm.

Wow. Doug could not believe her. But she was a family friend so he had to deal with it. He turned and made his way to Evie. But with every step he took, his earlier confidence was fading. Fast.

Evie was doodling in her notebook, mind wandering from her chemistry homework. She was upset that Doug hadn't asked yet and prom was three days away. She kept drawing little hearts and 'E + D= love' all over her notes. She sighed and looked up to see Doug baking his way to her. She closed her notebook and straightened up when he appeared.

"Hey Evie," he greeted. "Can I talk to you?"

Evie nodded, wondering what he wanted to talk about. "Yeah, sure."

"Um.." Doug didn't know how to word tha without bring obvious. "Um, I have a question about prom."

Yes. This was it. Evie perked up. This was the moment Doug was gonna ask her. "Okay," she answered.

Doug was extremely nervous. "Crystal asked me out to prom. And I don't know if I should go with her," he blurted out. "What do you think?"

Evie tried her best to conceal her hurt on her face. She really liked Doug, but somebody else had taken him from under her nose. As much as she wanted to make him ditch Crystal, she knew they were close friends and drugs happiness meant more to her. "I think that she could be the one. You're families are so close, she's beautiful and popular, and you know they say that most guys and girls that are best friends eventually get together." Evie said with a fake smile. "I think that if you really like her, you should take her. You deserve the best. Now if you excuse me, I gotta go yo my dorm. See you later!"

Evie left in a hurry trying, but failing, to not cry. She couldn't believe her luck. Maybe her and Doug weren't meant to be. She ran back to her room and burst into tears.

Doug, on the other hand, was shocked. He knew it. He knew Evie never liked him. She was just a great friend. She wanted him to go with Crystal. Well,he thought, I guess I better tell Crystal the news. I'm going to prom with her, not Evie.
********************************************
Back in the present...

"So I just told him, that he should go with Crystal. Am I crazy for not telling him how I feel?" Evie said, finishing her story.

"Well," Mal said, rubbing her back. "I think you did the right thing. Maybe Doug just likes you as a friend. I honestly thought he liked you, but you did the right thing. You're a great friend."

"Yeah, I just want him to be happy,"Evie agreed. "Can we go get ice cream?"

Mal laughed. "Sure. Whatever you want. I would like some brownies to go with it, but when I tried to make them, it didn't turn out so well."

Mal then started to recount the events of that morning and Evie forgot all about her heartbreak, and realized that with a friend like Mal, no boy was worth crying about.

Little did she know, that in his dorm, Doug was upset, realizing that as much as he liked Crystal, she wasn't the one. Evie was.

When he told Crystal yes, she was so happy, which made him feel better, if only for a millisecond. He should've asked Evie sooner, but she didn't like him like that. He eventually decided to go to sleep, even though it was barely 4:32 p.m.

If only they knew of each other's feelings and things weren't always getting in the way.

Talk about timing.