The Wrong Girl

Chapter 22: The Silver Lining

As Elena heard the rambling in a weak form of what heard like Nina's voice, she tried really hard to actually understand what she was hearing. The words hit the wall of her ears but failed to reach her mind it seemed. Nina was rambling on and on about how "he" had come to meet her and how she found him so different, so changed, so amazingly rude, but all Elena heard was that Evan was here.

And somehow every other word uttered was a mystery to her like a toddler repeating the same words again and again; Elena heard the same words again and again.

Elena wasn't sure yet, about how to react to this absurd situation. Evan was here... was she to be completely heartbroken or giddy? Giddy because Evan was okay and he was here. Heartbroken because he was alive and seemed perfectly fine and Elena was about to realize that he had actually ignored her for the past months. She wasn't sure yet.

She felt like she was judging the weather of her life, looking at what seemed like a sky full of both dark clouds and sunshine. Was it going to rain on her parade or was it a sunny beginning to her life? But even so, she was happy that she at least got to see the sky and she felt that all she had to do was to find that silver lining in the black clouds, make sure that even though sunshine wasn't visible, it was there and all she had to do was look for it.

"Elena... look I know, this year has been tough on you, but look where have it gotten you. You're so much stronger than you were. I don't want you to relapse, go back into the same tragic mode... so I think you should just avoid him." Elena caught Nina saying that in a very motherly tone.

Elena's mind wandered back to the times when Nina had to use her mother's tone, calling in sick to school, to help both Elena and Evan out of troubles. Being in love with a legally non-minor was a tough thing, so many hurdles kept crawling up between them. There were curfews, getting grounded, and what not. Elena's mother had made sure that Evan and Elena's relationship would surpass every obstacle possible. If they overcame it, she would find the love of her life and if they didn't well good riddance.

But the ironic thing was that even after facing all the obstacles people against them had thrown and overcoming them, it was one of those few people who supported them from the beginning that had gotten them to the point of separation. Sarah... Evan's best friend, Elena personally never liked her. There was this "Do-Not-Touch-Me" aura to her on their first meeting, and after that Elena's innocence didn't allow her to read the whole book that Sarah was. She had judged Sarah just by looking at her cover page, the bitch that my boyfriend adores.

"Elena, are you listening to me?" Nina's concerned voice brought her back to the room.

"Yes, I am listening Nina. But I don't understand anything your saying." Elena confessed feeling so much guilty.

Elena hadn't grown stronger as Nina had said. She was the same girl she was a year ago, all she learned to do was smile and make it look real, adjust to strangers and share a lecture - a room with them.

Elena was the same girl inside, she was still in love with Evan, because she wasn't love with the picture or what she thought Evan was, she was in love with what Evan really was and what he wasn't.

She was in love with the man who wasn't completely honest, had the capacity to lie if it were for her own good, who could wait for her an entire day just to say sorry but who'd grew impatient just because she was running ten minutes late. She was in love with him because he made her listen to his stupid music choices and made sure she liked it and if she didn't he made her listen to it for a hundred times until she actually grew used to it and started singing it the first thing in the morning.

There was so many little and big things about Evan that made her heart beat a little faster, her breathing a little hiked up even when she was just thinking about him. She wasn't stronger; she was just hopelessly and helplessly in love with him.

"You're telling me that he's changed and different and rude and blah..blah... but all I hear is that he's here."

"Yeah but..."

"If he's so changed, then tell me one thing Nina, why is he here?" Elena felt the confidence building up inside her, her energy level increasing; she could savor the taste of victory over this conversation.

Nina gave the question a thought, she was about to smile, Elena could see it, but suddenly the almost-smile turned into a frown and Nina used a mocked up tone to say "Apparently he's here to graduate."

Elena almost scoffed to that answer. Evan was here to graduate? With his skills and trainings from the army, he could easily get a job as a cop if it were possible. As far as Elena knew, Evan could be living a rich life anywhere possible but he wasn't. He could be anywhere in this world but instead he was here, where he knew he could find her.

"Yeah...because he didn't find [any] other college to do just that? Come on Nina, you can't tell me that you believe Evan is here to graduate!"

She didn't know why, but she just needed Nina to see what Elena was seeing. She needed to show Nina the loopholes, the blind spots to this weird situation that apparently only Elena was seeing.

"After meeting him... I don't know what to believe."

Nina felt wretched to crush Elena's building hope like that, but rather, she do it then have Evan break her once again.

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I'm sorry if there's any mistake... it's midnight and I'm too sleepy to check... hope you guys like the way this story is turning out to be! Do you see the silver lining yet??