All For Show

Walls Tumbling Down

Joe didn't sleep that night. He realized he hadn't slept much since agreeing to fake-date Evelyn.

Damn. He still hated that word.

Instead of sleeping, Joe searched up everything he could on Evelyn and Cody's relationship. His stomach turned sour when he realized that their relationship sounded a lot like his and Evelyn's.

No one believed they were together.

No one liked them together.

Everyone thought Evelyn was out of his league.

And worse of all, everyone was relieved when they broke up.

He went through every moment of their relationship. He read through every article, every post, every interview. The more he researched, the more he hated Cody. He stopped researching and went back through their dinner.

Things were slowly getting better until Cody walked in. From that moment to the moment Evelyn ran out of the restaurant, she acted strange. She got more and more uncomfortable the longer he was in front of them.

Joe didn't want Evelyn to feel like that ever again.

The second it was a reasonable hour, Joe left his apartment and headed toward Evelyn's. On the way there he decided to call Jane.

"What do you want, Keery?" She answered.

"What can you tell me about Evelyn's ex-boyfriend, Cody?" He asked, ignoring her greeting.

"That son of a bitch," she seethed. "I swear, if that piece of walking garbage came back into her life, I will destroy his career with one tweet."

Joe listened as Jane continued to grumble and threaten Cody. "Jane," he cut her off. "Evelyn shut down. I got her away from him but. . . How do I fix this, Jane? How do I help her?"

"You can't," she sighed.

"Jane. . ."

"Have you ever been in love?" She cut him off.

"What?"

"Have you ever been in love?" Jane asked again.

"I think so," he stuttered.

"Right," she scoffed. "Anyway, Cody was Evelyn's first love. When he ruined their relationship and destroyed her, she struggled to move on. Whatever you do, Joe, be careful. She is dangerously close to shutting down. And getting her to turn back on after she shuts down is incredibly difficult. Be careful, Joe. And if you can, bring our girl back."

The phone went dead as Joe pulled up to Evelyn's apartment. He sighed, not at all feeling as calm as he had hoped the phone call would make him. The look on Evelyn's face when Joe ran after her helped him get out of his car.

He walked up to Evelyn's loft, trying to figure out what he should say to her. He held his breath as he knocked. He waited a few minutes before knocking again.

"Evelyn," he called out after a third knock. "Hey, it's me. Can we talk?"

He knocked again but something in him told him she wasn't going to answer.

"Come on, Evelyn," Joe called out. "I'm not leaving until we talk, so please open the door."

When she didn't respond still, Joe sighed. "Please, Evelyn," he begged under his breath. "Open the door so I can help you."

The second she opened the door, Joe's heart jumped into his throat. He grabbed her and pulled her into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and waited. It only took a few beats before Evelyn broke.