Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter Nineteen

So I don't know what happened. This chapter sort of got away from me and I'm like ... oi hahaha. So, updates - wow, I don't even know where to begin. I just got a new job at a library, so I hope being around books and people watching as I work inspires some stuff for my stories, but I have no idea what the time span between updates will be.

I will definitely try to write during break though so I don't leave you guys hanging! :)Thanks everyone for the support on this story - you are all awesome and I love you guys for reading and commenting and voting and just ... yes, you are great!

Enjoy the adorable sloth GiF at the top. He's adorable. I now want a sloth.

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The next few days were hectic for Lizzie. Her phone appeared glued to her hand at all times, words flying back and forth between her and the folks on the other end. She hated planning for trips and always did. Most people loved the planning, the anticipation of the journey. But her journeys almost always ended up in a depressing way.

It just didn't work that way for her. Ever.

"Yeah, I get that my frequent flyer miles expired yesterday, but this is kind of urgent can't you just, like ... be cool about this? It's ONE DAY people. Just one. Not even a full twenty four hours," Lizzie vented into the phone. Obviously, this conversation refused to go the way she desired. The pig headed people on the other end of the line just wouldn't work with her.

"I'm sorry, miss," the man on the other end sounded exceedingly bored and uninterested as he explained the situation once again. "But those miles, as you literally just mentioned, are expired. There's no way to recover them."

Lizzie huffed angrily and tried to keep her goodbye as pleasant as possible. She still wished she could have slammed her phone down as she hung up, though. Instead, she practically broke the screen as her thumb slammed down on the red button.

With a sigh, her phone landed on the other side of her bed and she flopped face down into her duvet. Why oh why did things need to be so complicated? Lizzie propped herself up on her elbows and rubbed her face.

"That sounded like it went well."

Lizzie stiffened.

Why was he here exactly?

In slow movements, Lizzie stood and faced the boy standing in her doorway. She crossed her arms and froze him with the ice in her stare. "What can I do for you Jesse? Besides escort you to the front door?" As afterthought, she tacked on, "How did you get in here anyways?"

Jesse sheepishly drug his foot back and forth on the carpet, one hand scratching as his neck. He refused to make eye contact. "We ... Liz, we gotta talk sometime," he said, looking up at her.

Lizzie shrugged a shoulder. "Speak."

The boy flinched at her tone and let out a huge breath of air. "Are you going to actually listen or have you already made up your mind about me? Because I sort of feel like I just stepped into Antarctica over here." His arms were thrown at his sides and Jesse started to return her glare.

"What do you expect!" Lizzie retorted, hands on her hips. "What you said the other night was really just ... awful. How could you say those things? I just don't understand why - -"

"You've never been in my position, Lizzie," Jesse cut her off and took a few steps forward. "You don't get what it's like to be brushed off by your entire family. Trust me, I know that everything I said wasn't good and did a lot of damage. But I want to fix it. I just want to make everything okay again," he pleaded, begging her with his eyes to listen to his words and understand.