dead wrong (l.h)

"i think i need a drink"

chapter two
evelyn

8:34 PM
Monday, September 6

"So, is someone going to tell me what exactly is going on? Or are we going to play a fun game of charades until I answer correctly?" My eyes rolled playfully as my younger sister, Martha, started to whine; being one of my best friends, I had invited her over as moral support. I had decided to call Luke and I couldn't do it on my own. 

"Wait, you haven't told her yet?" Calum asked, unable to believe that I would wait an entire day to let her in on what had happened the day before. "You are officially the least favorite, Marty."

"What is going on?" My sister asked, more frustrated now that Calum had pitched in. Since beginning school at a university close to us the year before, Martha had become much closer with Calum. They often spent their time picking on one another.

As for why I had waited a full day to fill her in on Luke leaving me the voicemail, there were a couple of different reasons. Those reasons were the following: (1) Martha had been Luke's biggest fan until our fateful end and was still bitter, (2) she had spent all weekend studying for an exam that was scheduled for this morning and I didn't want any of her energy coming my way, and (3) I knew she would have immediately opened her mouth to our mom who would have felt the need to weigh in her unsolicited opinion—waiting until the last second to tell her kept me from being lectured.

"Luke texted me... and called me... and left me a voicemail." As the words left my mouth, Martha's jaw progressively dropped further and further. She slowly turned to Calum, suddenly whacking his arm with the back of her hand.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"You knew about this and didn't tell me?" she asked him, seeming disgusted by his existence as she sat beside him.

"It wasn't my information to tell! You're not allowed to be mad at me," he told her, smacking her arm back. She went to hit him again, but he shielded himself with a pillow that he had grabbed quickly.

"Okay, can we focus?" I asked both of them, not the least bit amused by their interaction.

"What did he say?" Martha asked, pulling the pillow out of Calum's hands and into her chest as she sat back against the cushions. Calum scoffed at her question, which wasn't far off from what I had wanted to do.

"He apologized for treating me the way he did... and admitted to knowing that he messed up a good thing, I guess," I explained vaguely, yet one line of his voicemail seemed to have burned itself into my memory permanently. "And he might have said, verbatim, 'you'll always have a place in me.' Or... something."

Once again, Martha was sitting with her mouth so far open that she was practically inviting flies to drop in for a visit.

"Holy shit, Evie," she managed to mutter. I nodded my head slowly as I brought my hands up to my face, covering my eyes as several more parts of the voicemail began to play on a loop inside my head. "Wait... so, why are we here?"

"That's the real kicker," Calum stated before falling sideways on the couch.

"I'm... going to call him back," I informed Martha. Her eyes widened and I watched as she looked over at Calum, whose face was now covered by his hands.

"And say what?" Martha asked in a slightly panicked tone. "Evelyn, this could be a terrible idea! Has he tried to call or text you again since leaving the message? Was he sober enough to realize he sent it? Do you really think he deserves a response from you?"