Yours Truly

Chapter 18

Eva's bedroom door opened.

"Eva?" Her mother whispered.

"Yeah, Mom?" Eva turned over.

"George is downstairs...again."

"Can you tell him I'm still not feeling well?"

"Evangeline Marie, I will not continue lying to this boy when he's concerned for you. That's unnecessary torture. Why are you avoiding him? Is it because of what you posted the other day?"

"Mom, please. Not right now."

"Eva."

"Please, OK?" Eva snapped.

Her mother clenched her jaw, but doesn't say anything about the way she snapped at her.

"Fine. But I'm not lying to him again. If you want him to go, then tell him yourself." She left the room.

Eva groaned and fell back on her bed. She didn't want to talk to George right now. She was still wounded about Micah. He'd want to talk about it, but she didn't want to.

What happened has happened. She blogged about it and now she was ready to move on. She just doesn't think he'd understand that just yet, but she didn't have much of a choice. 

She went halfway down the steps to see him waiting with his eyes cast down. She sighed. She'd been treating him so badly.

"George?"

He looked up at her. "Hey."

"Hey."

They stood awkwardly staring at each other before Eva invited him upstairs. He follows her to her room. She sat on the edge of the bed and instead of joining her, he stood by her desk.

She rubbed her sweaty palms on her lap. It was like the night she confessed to Micah about being the blogger of Let's Talk.

"Are you OK? I mean...you can keep avoiding me as long as you let me know you're OK."

A part of Eva wanted to deny the fact she'd been avoiding him, but her mother was right. He doesn't deserve to be lied to like that.

"I'm OK. I'm sorry for avoiding you."

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. "You needed time. I get that."

"Can you come sit down?" she asked softly.

He didn't look at her. "Not yet."

She looked down at her hands. That hurt more than she'd care to admit.

"Do you want to talk about it or I can leave. I just...you know."

"He...Micah apparently had feelings for me." Eva laughed to herself.

She still didn't believe it. She really wanted it to be a sick joke. But after a almost three days,  she never got a "just kidding" text.

"He told you?"

She nodded.

"And you're shocked by this?"

She looked up at him with her eyebrows pinched. "What?"

"Evangeline, it was obvious he liked you more than a friend. Anyone could see that."

"But I didn't."

"That's because you don't think about yourself like you should." The corner of his mouth curved upward.

Her frowned deepens. He finally came to sit next her.

"You're really beautiful, Evangeline."

She blushed and stared down at her lap. George kissed her cheek.