Chapter 29

Evelyn

“We’ll meet next week to discuss the next part of the lesson. Have a safe weekend,” my professor calls to the room, and everyone gets up quickly to exit the lecture hall.

I put together my stuff in no real hurry to get anywhere. Friday or not. I don’t have anything planned for the next few days.

I told Ava and Olivia that I’d just sat and talked with Sebastian about everything. They didn’t press further, but we were gone for a long time—so long, in fact, that the two were both asleep when I came back into the room that night.

“We tried to wait for you,” Olivia insisted the next morning.

“I know, I appreciate it,” I told them both. “He just wanted to know what happened so he could deal with William for me.”

Ava had raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to let him take care of it?”

I sighed. “I really don’t need more drama in my life right now. If Sebastian wants to handle it, then he’s free to.”

I haven’t seen Sebastian since he took me back to my building that night. We’d laid on the sand for at least an hour, maybe even longer. But it was calm and the sounds of New York had ceased in that place.

I looked up Lake Davey the next morning, and it didn’t show up on my map.

I still don’t know how he found that place, but I wasn’t looking a gifted horse in the mouth.

“Fuck William,” Ava announced that morning. “He’s dead to me. If he dares to show his face again I’ll burn him alive.”

“What about if we get even?” Olivia pondered.

“I’m not interested in that,” I said, stopping them.

They had tried to argue, but I refused to continue talking about it.

I keep thinking about Sebastian’s kindness. He was so angry when he called me, but came to my rescue regardless? How had he known it was that bad?

And why is it when I think of his rescue, my stomach flutters with butterflies I never imagined would take root?

I head back to my room, exhausted from the long week. I’ve avoided William and his buddies, but each place I go I begin to suspect someone’s seen William’s post about me. How many people know me because of him?

And what are they going to do?

I shake my head and it travels through my entire body. “Get it together, Evelyn,” I whisper. I don’t have time to question the things William wants to do.

All that matters right now is hiding away for the weekend.

When I finally arrive, I collapse on my bed, and Olivia pulls her headphones out. “You look alive,” she teases.

I close my eyes and groan. “I’m so done, Liv. I want a break.”

“Well, what parties do you want to go to this weekend?”

I cover my face with my arms. “No parties. Only hide.”

“You can’t hide forever,” she insists.

“Correction. I can hide as long as I’d like.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Evelyn I know.”

I sit up, shocked by the voice. Standing in our doorway is Sebastian, smirking as he leans against our doorframe.

“Sebastian!” Olivia cheers.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, dumbfounded.

“Can’t come visit?” He taunts. “Plus, never seen your place. You two have seen mine enough.”

“No, you absolutely don’t give a shit about our room,” I say back.

He shrugs. “You’re right.” Sebastian comes in and hops up on my bed by my feet, smirking wider. He’s got such a great smile, and seeing him this genuine always makes my heart flutter again.

“What are your plans for tonight, ladies?” Sebastian asks.

“Evelyn wants to be lame and hide out in our room!” Olivia rats me out.

“Hm. Seems boring. Why don’t you two accompany me to the game tonight?”

Olivia sits up. “The football game? Really? You want to go with two freshmen?”

He shoves my leg. “You two aren’t just two freshmen to me. We’re friends, right?” His eyes seem to ask too, like I may say otherwise.

“We are,” I assure him. “Friends, I mean.”

“So, come to the football game with me.”

“What about William?” My roommate questions, which makes me feel sick again. The last thing I want to think about is that piece of shit.

“He’s not going to be there. Especially if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay far, far away from you from now on.”

The hard edge in his voice is evident. I wonder what happened with his roommate.

“Ava should be cheering, too,” Olivia adds, and I can hear the desire to go to the game. “Come on, Eve.”

“Yeah, come on, Eve,” Sebastian taunts.

“Fine!” I say, throwing up my hands but laughing. “Let’s go to the game.”

“Yes! My first football game!” Olivia cheers.

I can’t help but just shake my head and laugh at her, Sebastian giving me his kind eyes and smile at the same time.

In the end, Sebastian and Olivia are right. The game is incredibly entertaining. I can’t remember the last time I sat in the stands and cheered my team on.

“Never thought you to be a sports fan,” Sebastian asks as we’re in the stands. Olivia is jumping up and down calling out her cheers.

“I love surfing and grew up in a small Hawaiian town. Why did you think that?”

He shrugs against me. “Evelyn Walters doesn’t seem like a sports fan, sue me.”

“For your information, Sebastian, I love football.”

He lets his smile tick upwards. “Okay, then tell me, what does the quarterback do?”

I roll my eyes. “The ball snaps to him at the beginning of every play his team has the ball, and he’s almost always the one tossing the ball to his teammates to score points.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Lucky guess.”

“I know football, Sebastian, come on!”

“Then tell me what the yellow thing is at the end of the field.”

“Really? The goal posts, come on!”

“Alright, I concede,” he surrenders, his hands in the air. “Just wasn’t going to ever peg you for a football girly.”

“Well, didn’t we have this discussion? There’s a difference between what people see and who people are.”

Sebastian stares at me, his eyes refusing to break from mine. I feel a shiver in my body, unsure what he’s thinking or, better yet, what he’s going to do.

“I like learning new things about you, Princess.”

I shake my head, then gesture to the field. “Tell me who you think the quarterback’s going to pass to.”

He looks around the field, then gestures with his chin. “Number fifty.”

“Why?”

“Fastest guy on the field. He’s been passed to like, five times in the past twenty minutes.”

I nod. “Okay, I’ll take you up on that.”

We watch the play, the quarterback watching the field before he throws the ball, and it soars over Sebastian’s guy. Number seven ends up catching it and keeps running, scoring a touchdown.

We jump to our feet, cheering for our team, the rest of the stand following suit. It’s a thrill of excitement to watch the sport again, and Sebastian even seems to be having a good time.

Ava and the other cheerleaders continue to keep everyone’s energy up, and by the end of the game, our team has won by over twenty points.

“That was so fun! We need to go to more games for sure,” Olivia is saying as we start heading off the stands.

“I’m down if you two are,” Sebastian teases, bumping his shoulder with mine.

“I’m gonna go say hey to Ava, I’ll be right back!” She shouts over the noise, rushing off to find our friend.

“And that,” Sebastian says, touching my arm. “Is my cue.”

He pulls me away from everyone else and under the bleachers, out of sight from others.

“What are you doing?” I question.

“What I should have done before.” He seems determined and ready to talk to me, but I don’t know what he’s thinking.

“I don’t understand.”

“Just listen, Princess.”

I nod, because if Sebastian really feels strongly enough to pull me away, then it has to be important.

“You can’t keep telling me we can’t be together every couple of days. When the wind changes, suddenly you’re kissing me or telling me we’re better off apart.”

I open my mouth to say something, wanting to argue with him. But I don’t. I don’t know what to say, honestly. He’s not wrong that I keep flip-flopping.

However, my mind refuses to cooperate with me.

“I want you to think about the second condition.”

“What condition?” I question.

“Being with me. I’ve thought about it a lot, especially since what happened at Lolita. I don’t like this waffling. You’re up, you’re down, you’re diagonal? It’s like I need a road map to keep up with you.”

“You’re asking me what exactly, then?”

“To stop changing your mind. To no longer tell me after a fight or whatever that we’re not going to be together.”

“I can’t just promise that, Sebastian, it’s not that simple.”

It’s not. Because as much as I want to admit my feelings for him won’t fizzle and die as I’d hoped, it’s still dangerous to act as if we can be together.

I keep changing my mind because I don’t even know what the right choice is.

“This is the game, Evelyn. The only way out is through,” he admits. Then, with his classic smirk and something of a twinkle in his eyes, he muses, “Unless you want this to end up online for the world to see?”

I can’t help it, and breathe out a laugh, shaking my head. I look into the man’s blue eyes, wondering which path will lead to less pain and heartbreak. But that’s an impossible answer to find now.

“Can you give me a few days? To at least consider this? I promise on everything I know that I will give you an answer, but I need you to please trust me on this. I need to consider every angle.”

I know he doesn’t want to hear that. I know he wants me to say that I’ll do whatever he wishes. But with this romance between us going nowhere but into the dangerzone, I need to be positive.

“I promise. I’ll give you an answer as soon as I know.”

His reluctant eyes shimmer from the field lights, and I see the torment in his face. I know this isn’t easy. But it’s not simple for me, either.

I take his hands in mine, squeezing tight as I watch our hands connect and hold one another. It’s a feeling I’ve continued to avoid.

Holding Sebastian’s hands is like holding his entire universe. I feel the weight falling onto me, and I want to be gentle.

“You have one week to play the game, Evelyn,” he whispers.

And he means it. Because if he uses my name, then he’s serious.

And I respect that.