Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter Twenty Five

The Vitamin String Quartet with their cover of Chocolate (The 1975) on the side because it's the best. Read the end authors note!

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Everett, with the guiding hand of Lizzie, walked forward. She still hadn't said anything and it made him a bit nervous. They already traversed most of the hospital and took an elevator, so the time lapse filled with nothing but silence slowly started to grate on him.

"I'm starting to think you either have a kid or a boyfriend, Liz, so maybe you should start talking before my imagination gets too far ahead of me," he blurted, almost instantly wishing he could take the words back.

Almost. He still wanted to understand why exactly Lizzie dragged him across the country to be in a hospital. Something important remained missing from the equation.

Lizzie chuckled softly, tugging him gently by his elbow to continue walking. "I don't have a boyfriend. No kid either, I'm afraid. I'm sorry to crush your dreams."

The words themselves were teasing, but the tone they were said in held a nervous edge and Everett just couldn't figure out why.

"I guess I should give you some warning before we go into the room," Lizzie let go of Everett's arms and he felt a little empty without her standing right next to him like she always did in new environments.

But judging by the incessant squeaking of her shoes, the girl already starting pacing back and forth while trying to come up with what to say. "So ... you know how I'm an only child?" Everett nodded, confused. "Technically, that's a lie."

"Wait ... what?"

Lizzie sighed and Everett heard a chair creak. She obviously sat down and he followed her voice as she spoke, sitting next to her.

"When I was ten years old, my family wasn't in the best financial situation. We got along and we had food, but the struggle to make ends meet sometimes got a little out of hand."

The small lull in conversation helped Everett really feel the tension in Lizzie and he searched for her hand, gripping in hopes of comforting her. The small squeeze he received in return for his actions told him that it worked.

"My mom got pregnant. And my parents freaked. They never really planned on another child. One filled the hole in their lives, but now ... now they had another mouth to feed and bills and diapers and ..." Lizzie sucked in a deep breath.

"They really didn't want to, but they felt like they had no choice but to give her up. I remember mom and dad having some really serious discussions towards the end of her pregnancy. I was too young to be involved, but I could still tell something was off, you know?"

"But the solution came in the form of Aunt Kate. She loves kids and has a really steady job, had one at the time too. She decided that instead of ripping the baby away from her family completely, that she could take her."

Everett could feel Lizzie's eyes on him as she said, "Mandy thinks she's my cousin and she always will. I'm okay with that, but sometimes it still hurts to know that I could have had a sibling."