Sinking Ships

Chapter 4

**Evan's P.O.V.***

"See you tomorrow." Said Chelsea, who was standing right in front of me. I couldn't help but question her behaviour tonight. It was too weird. Even for her. But it had been a long day so there was no point in calling her out on it because in all honesty, I was more than ready to leave. It had been too awkward and Mrs Black was clearly not prepared to see me.  I looked around the house, getting hit with a wave of nostalgia. Everything seemed to be the same, but the energy in the house was gone. It's like our memories were in a warm sepia while today's reality was a harsh gray. 

        I huffed, as I said goodbye to Mrs Black and made my way out of the house. I jumped into my car and rang up my friend, Matt. Matt was the energetic dude that every friend group needed. He was the life of every conversation, and the most outgoing person I'd ever met. However, there was a part of him that was more tame, and I got to connect to that part of him. He's probably my best bud, and kept me sane most of the times, and most importantly, he threw the best parties. I had left him behind when I moved back here, but nothing really seemed to change between us. 

"Yo Evan, where you at? The party's started." Matt said through the phone. I assured him that I was on my way, but that probably wasn't the best answer, considering his house was about an hour away by car, and it was already after 8pm. It seems I wasn't going home tonight.

"Did you invite the Chelsea and her friend, what Amelie?" Matt asked. I scoffed at him.

"No I didn't invite Chelsea. She seems busy right now and I can't be too pushy. It felt wrong. And her friends name is Emelia, not Amelie." I answered chuckling to myself. "I'll see you in a few." I ended and I hung up. I threw my phone into the passenger seat and continued to drive off into the night. I turned on the radio and played some soft music as I gathered my thoughts.

          I must admit, I was in total shock when I saw Chelsea. She definitely changed physically... so much so I could call her pretty and mean it. I guess I've kind of fallen for her, hard. And as for her friend Emelia, she looks alright, but she seems kind of awkward. Quite frankly, I'm not sure we'll hit it off. Right now I was just struggling to get things chill with Chelsea. 'Just become friends... then start the relationship' I kept saying to myself. 'You'll see her tomorrow, make the best of the day.' That being thought, I turned up the music in the car, and sped off to Matt's party.

❤️ Chelsea's P.O.V. ❤️

         I walked back into my room to see Emelia on the verge of bursting out into laughter. I rolled my eyes back at her and crossed my legs to sit back down. I don't know how I felt like she couldn't hear what I said, when I made a complete fool of myself. Out of all people to hear me like that though, I was glad it was Emelia.

"What is wrong with you? He's just a guy. You've spoken to other guys before." She said grabbed my hand and resumed painting my nails a deep shade of purple. I simply shrugged my shoulders and let her continue. There wasn't really anything for me to say to justify my actions. Or at least nothing that I was ready to say yet. Before finishing my last fingernail, she put the nail polish away. I looked up at her and furrowed my eyebrows.

"I'm not finishing until you tell me what's going on with you." She said determined. I looked around searching my brain for some sort of excuse but the reality was that I was defeated. I know I should come clean to Emelia. She was my best friend after all and I trust her more than anyone. But it's hard to explain what was going on with me when I wasn't too sure myself. Slowly, I started to talk. I took a deep breath and decided to let the words flow.

"Emma, you are my best friend and I love you soooooo much." She started to smile. "As for Evan, he was my best friend and I treasured him dearly. He's been away for years and now that he's back I'm acting as if he's a new person. I mean... he's kinda cute. My friendship with him before must've blinded me from that. But he clearly just wants us to be friends and I kinda want us to be more. I know it's insane though. I should be focusing on school.. boys should come later. I just don't know what to do.. go for it? Or not?" I ended lowering my head. There was a brief moment of silence as Emelia internalised what I said. The silence was broken when she opened back up the bottle of nail polish and went on to finish off the last fingernail. She sighed,

"To be honest it may be awkward to jump in like that so I suggest that you just, go steadily. You've been away from him for a while and he may have changed. Try to get back your friendship then look to a relationship like that." Not looking up from my hand, I responded.

"Sounds like a plan I guess. Thanks." I smiled genuinely. But it seemed much easier said than done. If these strong emotions came through, was I just supposed to silence them and let time progress before I let them out? However, I trust her judgement. She's trying to save me from doing something stupid and looking like a fool and for that I appreciate her.

"And whenever you're ready, just come and tell me for some more advice." We both smiled and hugged each other. 

      I yawned and stretched. I told her I was ready to sleep but she insisted that she had some homework to finish. She went over to my desk and lit a lamp to do her Chemistry homework while I scooted over to one end of the bed, and then quickly drifted off to sleep.

A/N

Ah, yet another chapter that I failed to properly salvage. I'll definitely have to come back to these once I'm done the rest, and I write some more. It does improve though, that I assure you. It's just this weird middle phase where I tried to rush to the climax and my writing style really changed.