Only in Youth

Chapter 1: December 2017

Evan Jane adjusted the way her flowing, dark green, long sleeve shirt fell over her legs and shoved her feet into a pair of tan, wide-heeled booties. Desperately, she tried to make the black, slouched beanie that covered her head and ears fit into her ensemble in some way as she walked out of her the single bedroom suite and into the living room of the vacation condo her family would be staying in throughout Christmas and New Year."Mom, Dad," she called. "I'm ready! Just waiting on you guys!" She dropped onto the couch and prepared herself for the panicked rush of her parents as they hurried through the condo trying to finish getting ready and then worry about whether she was ready despite her previous announcement.

"Eve," her mother called while emerging from the bathroom. "Dark or nude?" she asked, while holding up two tubes of lipstick. Elina wore a pair of dark blue jeans with knee high tan boots, a white, long sleeve shirt, and a burgundy and beige patterned poncho."Definitely light," Evan said as her mother hurried back into the bathroom.

"Hey honey," her father called out to her as she leaned back in her position on the couch.

"Yeah, Dad?" she called back, mimicking his tone.

"Red shirt and green tie? Green shirt and red tie?" Evan couldn't help but laugh as her parents desperately tried to coordinate their Christmas themed attire for the party their family would be attending tonight."The teal blue shirt, no tie, your dark brown, leather shoes, and your tan khaki shorts," she said, giving her father as much assistance as she could.

"Thanks sweetie," he said and kissed his daughter on the head before he walked away while shoving his arms into the short sleeves of the bright shirt. Within minutes of their fashion consultations with their daughter, David and Elina Bexley emerged from different sides of their condo and embraced one another. "My lovely wife," Dave said with a smile flooding his face as his eyes fell over his wife. Evan beamed at the way her parents looked at one another after twenty-five years of marriage and nearly thirty of being together. Growing up, Evan never question the strength of love her parents had for one another or for her. As many of her friends suffered from the pain of growing up in a broken household, a seeming inevitability in this day and age, Evan could never relate. Her parents were the definition of soul mates and she longed to one day have such a connection, but she was certain her chance had floated past her on the river of opportunities long ago.

"Did you throw that together yourself?" Elina asked her husband in surprise as she surveyed his outfit. Her tone of disbelief pulled Evan's wavering attention to the couple as she desperately waited to hear whether or not her father would take credit for her guidance.

"What do you think?" Dave boasted as he placed his hands on his side and puffed out his chest, Mr. Olympia style.

"Thanks for the assist, Ev," Elina laughed as Dave mocked Elina to their daughter while his wife's back was turned.

"You're both so weird," Evan stated as she grabbed her purse and dropped the room key and her phone into it.

"Well, now you know why you turned out the way you did," her father teased. Evan narrowed her eyes at her father and turned up her nose, mocking his teasing laugh, but she would be lying if she tried to deny the fact that a warming sensation of gratitude had overcame her. Evan was lucky to have the parents she was born with and she knew it. Her family, and the love they had for one another, was never something she would take for granted.

"Yeah," her mother sighed, "you really had no hope from the get go," Elina finished as she piggybacked off her husband's statement. Elina plucked the slouched beanie off her daughter's head and handed Evan a scarf which she insisted would better accentuate her outfit rather than having her look like a 'hoodlum.' Evan pulled the scarf around her neck to where it rested across her collarbone and traveled over her chest in loose loops, then quickly ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to smooth down the fly-aways that appeared after her mother's careless removal of her hat. After hastily examining her hair in the bathroom and applying a deep red, almost purple lipstick to her virtually invisible lips, Evan returned to the living room of the condo only to see her father pretending to be asleep.