Not Today | ✔️

Chapter Six.

"This could be the start of something new..."

✧✧✧

"What is this?" Evelyn asked, frowning as she looked down at the small bag with elephants printed on it, which Tristan had just placed in front of her.

"Open it," he said.

"No," she said plainly.

"What?" he asked, as if he hadn't planned for that reaction.

"No," she said. "I've watched enough Criminal Minds to know not to open a random bag or box."

He blinked, as if in disbelief. "Jesus."

"I don't want to see him any time soon," she deadpanned. "So, thank you, but no thank you."

He sighed and pulled a smaller, clear bag of...

"Those are pineapple gummy bears," she said, her eyes wide in surprise.

"They are."

"Okay, so why are you giving them to me?" she asked with suspicion.

"Because you said you liked them," he said and blew out a breath of air, taking a seat next to her. "And I was an ass for pretending to forget your name."

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows. "Pretending?"

"I've always known your name. I only said I didn't to hurt you, because sometimes it isn't what you say that hurts the most, but what you don't say."

Evelyn frowned, her gaze falling upon the candy, biting the inside of her cheek. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of his words. The gesture was nice, but it wasn't exactly an apology and the fact that he intentionally made it seem like he forgot her name to plant that seed of insecurity was all the more cruel.

"I shouldn't have done that," he said after a moment, causing Evelyn to look up at him. "I shouldn't have done that and I shouldn't have tried to provoke you and I shouldn't have insulted you. You didn't deserve that. All you did was ask if I was okay."

"You're right," Evelyn said, finally speaking. "You shouldn't have."

Evelyn took the bag of gummy bears and placed it back inside the gift bag, sliding it towards Tristan before she stood from her chair and walked back to the reference desk.

"Wait, that's it?" Tristan said, following her to stand in front of her, the desk separating them.

"Was there something else you needed? Help finding a book?" Evelyn said, looking into his brown eyes.

"Well, no. I just... that's your response?" he said, looking dumbfounded.

"What did you expect? I can't accept an apology that doesn't exist," she said, raising an eyebrow.

He opened his mouth to speak before pausing and furrowing his eyebrows, as if he realized she was correct that he didn't apologize.

"Oh," he said simply.

"Yes, that is one of the five letters in the word 'sorry'. I'm sure you could get the other four. I believe in you," Evelyn said with a grin, joking.

She didn't want to give off the impression that he could act superior to her, for whatever reason he had to treat her like less than she was, but she also didn't have the heart to hold grudges and hard feelings.

"I'm..." he started, before stopping, as if it was hard to get the word out. Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"Come on, buddy. I believe in you. You can do it," Evelyn said in a dramatic, earnest way, pressing a hand to her heart.

He narrowed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "I'msorry."

"What was that? Did you cough? I didn't hear you properly," Evelyn said.

"I said..." he started, his voice tight, as he said in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry."

"Safari? What? That's a silly thing to say," Evelyn said with a theatrical snort.

"I said I'm sorry!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.

"Shh, lower your voice. We're in a library," Evelyn whispered.

"You-" he started before Evelyn laughed and interrupted him.

"I'm just joking, no one's even in here," Evelyn said.

"So...?" Tristan trailed.

"Hmm?" Evelyn replied, confused.

"So..." he started, looking away from her and shoving his hands into the pockets of his joggers, mumbling his next words. "Are you gonna accept my apology?"

Evelyn couldn't help but smile at that. "Yes, Tristan, I accept your apology... as long as the gummy bears are still on the table."

He didn't smile, but his eyes danced with amusement as he put the bag in front of her. "You better appreciate that. The kid I was babysitting took a long time to separate those."

"That's child labor," she joked.

"Relax," he said. "I obviously gave him the rest of the gummy bears as payment."

"You sound like the worst babysitter ever."

"I resent that assumption," he said and though she wanted to continue the banter and maintain the sparkle in his eyes, she couldn't help the way she kept glancing towards the bruise, wondering if he was okay.

"How's your eye?"

It seemed like an absent-minded motion to bring his hand up to the eye in question, gently rubbing his fingers over it, the pale skin a contrast against the skin of his eye, seeming to be stained with the color of sunflower petals, yellow, instead of the same mixture of purple and blue hue it was before.

"It's okay," he said with a shrug.

"And you...? Are you okay?" Evelyn asked.

"I'm fine," Tristan said with a small shrug.

"So you're fine?"

"Yes."

"But not okay."

Tristan's eyes immediately met hers, the look in them devastatingly intense. She didn't know what he was thinking, but the expression on his face made it obvious he was thinking hard, and Evelyn could practically picture the wheels and cogs turning in his head.

"Never met anyone who made that distinction before," he admitted.

"Oh yes," she said, pausing, as she cleared her throat. "I'm not like the other girls."

And, with that comment, for the first time in their interactions, Tristan laughed. It was not a small semblance of a smile that could barely pass as one, it was a genuine laugh. It wasn't the type that made your stomach hurt and cheeks ache, but it was one, nonetheless, and the sound was pleasant to Evelyn's ears.

"Tristan?"

"Hmm?" he asked, cocking his head to the side in a puppy-like manner.

"Does this mean we're finally friends?"

"No."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Evelyn?" he said after a moment passed.

"Yes?"

"I've actually always liked your name. Even when we were kids... It's pretty."

Evelyn's breathing faltered for just a moment, a light feeling filling her at the compliment.

"Yeah?" she asked.

For a moment, he just stared at her, before he smiled what she could only describe as a shy smile. "Yeah."

"Thank you."

"That still doesn't mean we're friends, though," he said seriously. She just laughed.

✧✧✧

Note: my song choice, lmao. I couldn't resist.
Thank you for reading. x