Wickedly Ever After | Hevie

Chapter 10: G.N.O. (Girl's Night Out)

Little droplets of water fell from Evie's roof as sunlight peered through the trees that had managed to stay standing during the storm. The fresh smell of pine began to overpower that of the rain as dawn arrived. The clouds slowed down to their normal speed and the winds weakened until there was only a slight breeze. Everything was calm outside for the storm had finally passed, yet things were entirely different inside the castle.

"The ambulance will be here any minute," Evie whispered softly into Doug's ear.

"I'm fine, Evie," he slurred. "There's no need for an ambulance."

"I know that," she smiled, "but I just want to make sure you don't have any internal injuries. You were struck by lightning, Doug."

"Almost struck by lightning, you mean."

"It's all the same to me," Evie giggled as she stroked Doug's forehead with her fingers.

Harry entered the room and there was a sudden shift in the air. He couldn't even meet Evie's eyes for he was just too upset with her. The princess was desperate for some sort of affection from the pirate but she knew she was expecting too much.

"Everything's picked up outside," he said, scratching the back of his head to distract himself. "The ambulance is also nearby."

Evie could only nod and that was enough for the pirate to quickly shuffle out of the room and back downstairs. She felt a sharp pain in her chest but remained strong before Doug. The last thing she wanted was her negative aura to affect Doug's recovery.

"I'm sorry I blew up last night," Doug began. "I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I was just too scared of losing you, Evie."

"Doug, it's fine, truly. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I picked the worst time to tell you something that deserved better delivery. I shouldn't have sprung that on you as I did."

"There was never going to be a right time to tell me you chose him, Evie," his voice cracked as he began to tear up. "I thought you were it for me the day that I met you. I thought I had found the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. You are and always will be the love of my life. I think I'm okay with not being yours."

"I'm sorry, Doug," she began to cry. "I tried to bury my feelings for him, I truly did. I wanted my feelings for you to be stronger. I just—"

"It's okay," he smiled in between tears. "It's okay, Evie. You can't control your heart. Our feelings, they control us, it's not the other way around. It's past time I understand that and just let you be happy. We deserve to be happy so let's all just be happy, yeah?"

"Yeah," Evie nodded as she smiled and placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder. "Let's all be happy."

The paramedics arrived and brought up a gurney to Evie's bedroom to take Doug away to the ambulance. As they mounted his body on the gurney and descended back to the first floor, all Evie could think about were his words. Let's all just be happy. They kept bouncing off the walls of her head. She felt as if the world was playing a cruel joke on her, taking away two of the people she loved the most in a single swoop. Harry didn't trust her enough to completely love her and Doug had finally let her go. She hated herself for selfishly thinking of her feelings while Doug was going to be taken to a hospital for examination. She felt as if her pain was secondary to what he was feeling and she knew she was right. She hated herself for continuing to see them both as options to be chosen.

As the paramedics brought Doug into the ambulance, Harry approached the princess from behind her.

"Are ye not gonna go with him?" He asked, standing beside her yet keeping a distance.