Chapter 9
2051 Words
CHAPTER 9
Alena POV
Yesterday night I opened up my laptop seeking someone to talk to and thought of my penpal Raven 121 on the App English Lovers. I quickly write her a message apologizing that I haven’t talked to her in weeks and ask about her honors degree and how it was going. I also tell her about Evander who is staying with us.
She didn’t answer me until this morning.
Raven 121: “Hi Alenal! It’s been good, thanks! I’ve done a lot of reading since we last spoke and have amazing recs to give you. So it’s the same guy you met in your first year? What a coincidence!”
I smile when I read her message as I get dressed and quickly reply:
“I feel kind of inspired to write again since he arrived! Strange right!”
Raven 121: “What! That’s amazing! You should use him as your muse for your book! Or have you finished it yet?”
Me; “Not yet, I’ll think about your idea and study him for some character inspiration. Got it! Speak to you soon, sorry gotta go! I have practice, but I’ll speak to you tonight :)”
Raven 121: “I’m super chilled! Was nice hearing from you again! Will give you my recs tonight and then you should spill everything about your new muse :)”
After I finish emailing her I can think straight for the first time and focus on my goals for the week. It’s Monday and the fog with the name Evander has finally lifted from my mind. I go to training at five AM and do some laps clearing my mind. I jog back and appreciate the sunrise. My heart sometimes felt like the moon. I had two sides. One side no one has ever seen. The side of me that wants to break free from all of this and live. Live loudly in a way that is reckless, but exhilarating. Like the night I met Evander. I haven't felt anything like that before. Even my first time with Patrick wasn't even that exciting.
I guess I was settled. I promised myself I would marry the first guy I slept with. I was stuck. Dewei said it was only in my head. I had a choice, but why didn't it feel like it? The side everyone always sees is the girl that is clumsy and loves too much. The girl who is confident on a stage and posts about her perfect life on social media. The girl who tries to be kind and reads books to feel more. When I first came to New York it was with the plan to never become the typical ordinary girl I was like in high school. The push over that settled, the people pleaser and yet, here I am. I settled. I'm not unhappy and I didn't change. not really. I grew my hair again, because that's what Patrick liked. I feel like I can't speak my mind around him when it comes to my feelings, because he always makes me feel like I'm the one who's wrong. I missed Dewei so much. We didn't go out much because usually it would end up with me and Patrick fighting and it wasn’t good for our public image. I didn't even change my wardrobe for peet sakes! I had the coolest Pinterest board of ideas and even had a stash of cute new clothes. I only wore them when I was home alone, because I once put on one of the crop tops and he almost lost his s**t. He was only protecting me. The way he spoke once reminded me of Brad from high school, but that wasn't fair to compare him to someone who cheated on me. Patrick would never cheat on me and that is something that is very important to me. He's kind and sweet and motivates me. Maybe I'm only thinking about these things, because Evander is here and that is a whole new level of messed up. Evander looks like a player and yesterday I found out he was the Captain of the football team back at Harvard. I understood now why our seniors freaked out and were so mean to me and Dewei back in my first year after the merge party. Maddie, Patrick's older sister, once almost told Patrick about my reckless night and I almost died. I wonder if she knew who Evander was? Knew about him staying with us? I think of Evander. The captain of the football team? Boxes for fun? Family is ridiculously rich according to Patrick. There is no way that he doesn't have a thousand girls flocking after him. He is the opposite of Patrick in ways that make me feel more comfortable with Patrick. As the sun is fully visible I start to jog again and hear a small voice in the back of my mind.
Do you only want comfort?
When I get to the apartment at six I hear Evander is awake talking on the phone again. I grab my things and quickly shower and get dressed. I’m applying some lip gloss when Patrick throws the bathroom door open without knocking. I almost scream, but quickly cover my mouth cursing him with my eyes. I see the distress in his eyes and quickly calm down.
“Pumpkin please make me some oats. I'm going to be so late! I totally slept through my alarm!” he begs with his hands and I just smile and quickly kiss his cheek as he darts into the bathroom past me.
“Yes, I will.” I say to myself and quickly make some oats and marvel at the interesting organic muesli Evander’s mother bought us. His room door opens and I see his hair is still a little damp. He’s once again wearing a suit, but this time it’s a very dark gray that looks almost black. So he showered before I got home? Definitely. I can smell him from where I’m standing. His eyes roam over my black pencil skirt and red blouse.
“Good morning Evander,” I say as he eyes my black short heels.
“Good morning Alena. You look lovely for a university student?” He asks as he lifts his eyebrow in question. I quickly retrieve some spoons while he makes his way to where I’m finishing up with the oats. Patrick comes running out the bathroom in only a towel and heads straight to his room to get dressed.
“Hi man!”
Evander only waves at him and takes a seat across from me once again. He braces his elbows on the table and just looks at me. Those dark eyes taking me in from head to toe.
“I’m an intern at a publishing company called TRC, gotta look sharp today. I don’t even know why though,” I admit and look for the sugar. He points behind me without saying anything and I quickly retrieve it behind the toaster. I just raise my eyebrow at him in question. The man even knows what I’m thinking!
He doesn’t say anything and I immediately feel awkward. This man was so intimidating when he just stares, stares and stares at me! Was there something on my face?
“Oats or Muesli?” I quickly finish up with Patricks breakfast and avoid Evanders intense eyes.
“Muesli would be lovely, do you always read books like that?”
I almost drop everything in my hands when he asks that dreadful question and my cheeks are immediately burning bright red.
“I don’t know what you mean.” I lie immediately without pause and he rolls his eyes as I look up at him innocently. I then only realize he’s not wearing a tie as he fixes his shirt.
His eyes rake up my body again as he just stays quiet. I act like he’s not affecting me and put his bowl of muesli in front of him. He just nods as he picks up his spoon.
“Fine, we’ll talk about it another time then. Thank you for this.” He says in a kind of stern voice and I nibble the inside of my bottom lip and try not to frown at him. I take a bite of my muesli and Patrick comes out of his room in his navy suit and wraps his hands around my waist. I try to give him his bowl of oats, but he grabs my bowl of muesli instead.
“Hi! That was mine.” I say as he eats it all with three bites.
“You know you love me!” He jokes and I playfully huff back and feel Evanders eyes on me.
“Evander my man, do you want to go get drinks after work?” Patrick asks and I quickly throw some cinnamon and honey on ‘my’ oats.
I just take one bite of the oats and he then takes it as well and finishes it. I don’t mind because I was already full anyway, but I hated this d**k energy Patrick got around Evander. What the hell was his problem? He was acting so weird?
“Sure will Alena be joining us?” Evander asks and I shrug my shoulders.
“Can I take a rain check?” I quickly ask and literally feel Patrick roll his eyes behind me.
“She’s training! I don’t know why she goes in the morning and then in the afternoon! She’s overworking herself!”
“No I’m not!”
I quickly drink my coffee and while they chat about work things I quickly grab my car keys.
“Can I take my car today?” I ask Patrick and he throws his arm around my hip.
“Why? My work is so far! Take a taxi!” He says and gives me his puppy eyes and I roll my eyes and give him my keys. He was right. My work was just a couple of minutes away. I just really wanted to take my car for a wash! But ok. I wish I could just open my damn mouth, but shouldn’t he have seen how much this irritates me by now? I have told him before, but nothing changes. Patrick gives me a quick peck and then darts out the door. “See you guys later!”
One minute later Evander was in his room talking on the phone again. I start to clean up the kitchen. I still had a couple of minutes to spare. I started thinking about my thesis and everything I still had to finish and submit tonight while I washed the dishes. Being an intern and student wasn’t easy, but I needed the experience. I should go to the library soon and get some research done.
‘I’ll help you with that,” Evander says from behind me, scaring the s**t out of me.
“Did you just sneak up on me?”
“I’ll finish the dishes, go get your things.” He says ignoring my question and I stand there for a moment and just look at him. He grabs one of the rags and starts drying the dishes. He doesn’t look at me as I want to say something, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t take no as an answer. I make my way to the room.
“Thanks, Evander.”
I grab my bag and laptop and as I walk out I see Evander is already standing against the door frame with a laptop bag slung over his shoulder.
“Ready to go?” He asks.
“Yes.” I say and make my way past him and quickly lock up behind us. We walk in silence for a couple of moments and I try to break the tension.
“So how far is your work from here?”
The elevator opens and he quickly presses the ground floor and when I want to press the lobby’s button he stops me by placing his hand over the button.
“Hm?” I mumble, confused and look at him and find he’s smirking at me.
“Same as yours, we work in the same building.”
- Writer
