Born To Be

16| Distraction

I smiled, looking down at her while the night lamps turned on. "We should head inside."

She let go of my hands and rubbed her palms together, stepping aside.

"Lead the way," I smirked.

She shook her head at me, biting back a smile and started walking.

I followed behind her, seeing Mr. Bruce waiting with his hands behind his back.

She got to the staircase and I went over to Mr. Bruce before she could see and took the pink tulip from his hands. "Thank you," I whispered.

He nodded with a smile and left while I jogged, catching up to her on the staircase. I put my hand behind my back, both of us turning to each other in front of our rooms.

"I'll see you at dinner?"

"Certainly," I nodded.

She turned to the door and opened it. Then closed it back up. She spun around to face me, "Are you forgetting anything?" she asked.

I slowly shook my head, feigning confusion. "Not that I know of."

"Okay," she mumbled, turning back to her door. She went inside and looked at me before closing the door.

"One last thing!"

She opened the door again, standing there patiently.

I tossed her the flower. She caught it easily like she does every single time and smiled, smelling it.

"Nice catch," I winked.

"Bye, Archer."

"Bye Evelyn." We both went into our rooms.

I grabbed my pajamas right away, not bothering to dress formally for my parents for dinner. I grabbed a black full-sleeved v-neck and pulled it on with grey sweatpants after drying myself off from my shower. I ruffled my hair with the towel, running my fingers through it and removing any knots. I grabbed the moisturizer my mother gave me earlier and looked at it, reading the label in confusion.

"What the hell even is this?" I shrugged, taking some and rubbing onto my face. I went out into my room and wore my slides. I just lounged around in my room until it was time for dinner.

I sighed, getting off the bed and walked over to the door, opening. I ruffled my hair which was thankfully, dry by now. I flicked the lights off and shut the door behind me while the door to Evelyn's room opened.

She was also wearing her pajamas. She looked at me nervously. "Is this allowed?" she asked, holding her shirt. She was wearing black and red plaid pajamas with a plain black tank.

"It should be," I shrugged.

She went back inside and came back out with a black cardigan on over her shirt. "Better?"

"Not that different, but sure," I chuckled. She sighed, tucking her damp hair behind her ear and walking with me in silence.

We got to the table where my parents were already sitting and no one else. "What are you two wearing?" my mother asked.

"We all went swimming. It's too late to get ready," I shrugged, pulling out a chair for Evelyn beside the chair I usually sit in. I then sat beside her and we waited for everyone else.

Everyone except Chloe were wearing pajamas. She was wearing a dress but even her hair was damp and she didn't have much makeup on. Everyone ate dinner while making small talk.

"Evelyn is the luckiest out of us all," Chloe scoffed.

My parents were engrossed in their own conversation but we were all looking at Chloe.

"She gets the room right beside Archer's," she shrugged.

"So?" Evelyn asked, rightfully offended.

"So, I'm just saying," Chloe shrugged. "You can do whatever you'd want to with him."

"Excuse me?" she asked, setting her fork down.

"Well you could, am I wrong?"

Nobody said anything.

"I think you're crossing the line," I said, glaring at her.

"I'm simply telling the truth. She can tell you whatever she likes, do whatever she likes with you, whenever she likes. For all we know, she might be spreading lies about us, am I wrong, Carol?"

We all looked at Carol who shook her head nonchalantly.

"Are you serious, Chloe?" Caroline asked.

"How can you think that?" Mila asked.

"Well, I don't know her. Maybe she is that shallow. Maybe she really does need to go that low. She could really be that desperate to marry him for the riches, who knows?"

Evelyn scoffed, pushing her plate away and standing up, not bothering to excuse herself. Her sudden action caused my parents to start paying attention.

"You all know I'm right," Chloe shrugged while Evelyn turned away and left, running upstairs.

"For the record, she hasn't said one word about any of you or done anything. When clearly, if she did, she wouldn't be wrong," I scoffed, standing up.

"Archer, sit down," my mother said scoldingly.

"No," I argued.

"Archer," my dad nodded. He glanced at the staircase pointedly.

Thank god he thinks like a human being.

I grabbed her plate and mine, taking both of them upstairs. I jogged upstairs, turning the corner to our hallway and walking quickly to her room. I opened the door but her room was empty.

Even then, I could hear her crying in the bathroom.

I set the plates down on the bed and walked over to the bathroom door. I knocked on it slowly.

"Evelyn?"

She didn't respond.

"Evelyn, are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" She obviously isn't.

I tried the handle but it was locked. "Can I speak to you for a minute? Just a minute?" I called out. I heard the tap water running and then after a beat of silence, she opened the door.

She looked at me, her eyes red and puffy, her nose red, her cheeks flushed. "Yes?" she sniffled.
.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 16

Idk what's wrong wattpad's website but it isn't loading and I've literally never edited and uploaded from my phone but lemme tell you

It sucks

I had doing this from my phone it's so much easier from the laptop

Anyway

Next chapter: pure