Evelyn

Chapter 26 - Crayon Collections on Crack

~~~

"I don't know how you came up with a seemingly foolproof way to stash drugs. I'm stating to wonder whether or not you're a drug dealer."

"You figured out my secret," I sighed. "You know I have to kill you now. Or I'll send my drug dealing mafia after you. Don't worry, I'll make your death look like an accident. I'll pay some random guy to have plastic surgery so he looks like you, then I'll hire him to impersonate you. You know, so as to not break your mom's heart."

"How kind of you."

"It is very kind of me. Especially after I put myself on the line here. Speaking of which, we have two minutes left before we have to leave, so let's dig faster."

Thank God for Ms. Laurent's love of gardening. The little gardening shovels she had in her garage worked perfectly for digging a crayon box shaped hole five feet underground. If I'm being honest, I got the 'bury the crayon box in a field' idea from literally every crime TV show I've ever watched. People say that watching too much TV is bad for the brain, but it's remarkably helpful in a pinch.

I never expected this to happen though. I expected a nice, quiet afternoon in a cute cottage, but here we are. Burying drugs. In a field. In fifty four degree weather. As someone from Southern California, fifty four degree weather is torture.

"Okay, that should be buried deep enough for those true crime podcasters to find."

I smiled at the joke, relieved that this fiasco hadn't turned into an argument or anything crazy. "Cool. Let's go then. We need to hurry back."

We climbed in the car and started driving back, neither of us knowing what to say.

"Are you cold?" Michael asked, noticing my hands running over my arms. "I can turn up the heater."

"Yeah, sure."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just...what are we going to do about Derek? And what are we going to say if someone asks about the drugs? I feel like I did something illegal. I feel like Kohlberg is climbing out of his grave to psychoanalyze my guilt."

"Hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out, I promise."

~~~

"Shit,"  Michael said from the kitchen. "She's back already."

"Fuck. Seriously? We just got back five minutes ago. Were you able to get all of the dirt off?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, good. We need a cover story though. What can we say we did for the past hour?"

"Shit. I don't know. She could've moved stuff around the house since the last time I was here so I don't know where everything is."

"Chess."

"What?"

"When I walked in, I noticed that there was a chess board already set up on the table outside. We can play chess."

"Perfect. Let's go."

After arranging the pieces to look like we'd been playing for a while, Ms. Laurent walked into the patio.

"Hey! I bought little scones from the bakery in town. Do you guys want some?"

"Sure, that sounds great. Thank you, Marissa."

"Of course. So, who's winning?"

"Winning?" Michael asked.

"Chess," Ms. Laurent gestured to the board. "Did you guys do anything else before you played?"

Michael and I glanced at each other before replying in unison, "nope."

"In completely honesty," I spoke up, trying not to make us sound less crazy in front of Ms. Laurent. "I've never played chess, so I can't really tell if I'm winning or not. I don't have too many pieces left, so I think that's a bad sign."

"Michael," Ms. Laurent scolded. "You already took all her good pieces and you're destroying her spirit during her first game. I raised you better than that."

Michael stuttered nervously, "Sorry mom. I just got a little competitive."

"Go do the dishes while I teach Evelyn how to play. She'll be an even better player than you."

"Impossible," Michael challenged.

"I don't know about that," I interjected. "You're mom seems like a really good teacher."

Michael put his hand over his heart in mock offense, "I thought you were supposed to be on my side."

"I am most of the time, just not now," I winked.

Before turning back to the game, I saw Ms. Laurent mouth to Michael 'I like her.'

Maybe I didn't need to be so worried after all.

~~~

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Double update?!?!
That's unheard of for me.
I hope you like the little twist! Rip the drugs in Michael's old bedroom.
This chapter wasn't meant to be too deep, angst and a Derek confrontation is to come later 👀
Hopefully I'll be back again to post another chapter this weekend!
See y'all soon!!! 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼