Notre Petit Lieu

Cheesecake [4]

Whenever Evelina's parents called her it was either to brag about Amber's achievements or to start an argument. And she wasn't looking forward to either.

The first time the phone rang; she let it go. It could've been a butt dial she thought to herself. But the second, third and fourth time were not.

Kate and Jamie were in the back sorting the things for the final day of the festival and making sure that the everything was washed and prepared. As Kate washed, Jamie wiped them dry. They were humming calmly and everything about them was in sync.

Reluctant to disturb their routine, she quietly excuses herself from the café and answers the phone outside.

"Evelina?" The voice of her mother almost screeching her name in disgust.

"Yes?" She hadn't called the woman who birthed her 'mum' since she left for university.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Her voice dark and threatening, Evelina choked on air as she didn't understand what she had done wrong, her mother's breathing echoed in her ears like a haunting chime.

"No." Evelina was feeling the truth for all she knew, sure there were a lot of things that she wasn't able to tell them because of the way they thought and also because they hadn't been able to have a proper conversation in years; there wasn't anything new that occurred.

Her mother's voice began to crack and soft sobs were heard coming from the end of the phone. soon her father took the phone.

"Evelina? See what you've done? You've brought so much stress to her."

Words couldn't be conjured, sounds and syllables didn't leave the tip of her tongue. This was like choosing her A levels all over again when she was forced to take subjects she didn't like. It was lucky that she was able to take a language course outside of school that eventually aided her in successfully getting the right university course that she wanted.

"After all we did so much to raise you! I can't believe you would do this to us."

And there the straw snapped, Evelina came back to her senses and questioned, "Raise me? When did you raise me? I was always in the shadow of Amber, you only ever cared about her...

Oh, Amber did this.

Oh, Amber did that.

Who cares about Eve?"

Tears welled up in her eyes, she had bottled up these feelings for too long and they were all flowing out like lava.

"I had to work to pay for my university and spent 3 years in debt. Did you know that? After saying you won't pay for me if I take a language degree?"

"That has nothing to do with this conversation." brushing the topic off as if Evelina was making a mountain out of a molehill. "We're talking about how you are gay, that is a sin. And you're with that Fleur? You always told me you were only friends."

As if it were like a brick, she was hit with realisation.

The interview.

She told the reporter that she was dating Fleur.

"That wasn't real, we were just joking..." Her voice began to wither away as the confidence she gained from the interview had disintegrated.

She knew whatever she said that her parents won't listen to her and there was no use. She might as well come clean.

"Dad..." She inhaled deeply, "I'm not straight."

This was much easier than explaining what pansexual was; it was already hard enough, but what made this moment more excruciating, than the millions of coming outs that she had imagined in her head since she was 13, was the long silence on the other end of the phone.

Moments passed before a single breath was heard.

"What? What do you mean? Are you gay?"

She hesitated, "Yeah, something like that- I like people of all sexes and genders."

"So, you can still get with a man?"

"I could, but-"

"No buts. You either marry a man or never speak to us again."

For some reason she couldn't see herself walking down the aisle with a man waiting at the other end.

Her voice began to crack... "I'm sorr-"

The phone was cut, Evelina's father had practically disowned her and she had no one left. The hand holding the phone fell from beside her ear to her side as if lifeless accessories that hung beside her with no purpose.

She felt numb. The person she wanted most now wasn't her parents, but Fleur to be by her side. Half of her was fighting the urge to call her, and cry her eyes out and having the reassurance of Fleur's soothing and warm voice tell her that everything was to be okay.

The other hand didn't want to call. Fleur had seen Evelina weak many times before and the beauty of their friendship was that when one was weak the other was strong and would give the other the support needed. Evelina couldn't bring herself to tell them that the reason this had all began was from the hand holding.

Fleur would've blame themself.

If Evelina was completely honest, she hadn't really processed the information properly. So after the initial shock her mind stemmed to suppress the memory... Until at 2am when just before she could sleep, the memory came back and constricted her like a boa.

It had been a whilst since she cried, throughout her teenage year crying was an activity she would partake in almost every night, it wasn't really until she felt that her job was stable and that she was enjoying life instead of just enjoying TV shows that she had managed to control her emotions better.

But thinking about the incident made tears well up in her eyes and before she knew what was happening they came pouring down like waterfalls. She tried to keep her voice down, remembering that this was someone else's home and that she was a guest, but the thin walls gave her away and Kate came rushing down like a mother comforting a child from a nightmare.

The great thing about Kate was that she was a great listener and Evelina needed that. She told her everything and it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, Kate told her to do 7-11 breathing, and around 4 in the morning Evelina managed to fall asleep after a session of selling her emotions out.

Kate messaged Fleur, thinking that they would be asleep, telling them of what had just occurred. Despite being early in the morning, Fleur was still awake and inking the final few pages eager to get back to Evelina. Upon receiving the message all work had been tossed aside; they grabbed their phone and keys and headed out.

She hopped into a cab and ordered the man to drive her to Mayfield and step on it. As he was nearing the town traffic was moving at a turtles pace. Fleur got frustrated and climbed out of the cab, handing the driver a couple of crumpled notes and running towards Kate's house. Sprinting across the town, one foot pounding one after another, not noticing the abrupt shout given. All she could then see was a bright light followed by a numbing pain swallowing her body.

"Eve-" was all she could say as the darkness surrounded her.