Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter Four

Everett opened his mouth and she quickly cut him off.

"Tell me truthfully that I'm wrong," she clarified, her voice sounding slightly smug.

Everett wanted to; he really did. But he, in fact, had no reply to her. The very, very small file in the back of his mind marked 'Lizzie' opened up for a moment and he sifted through what he knew about so far.

Lizzie was a bit of an enigma to him.

She was rather strange; Lizzie loved art and she clearly had a knack for it, if Jesse's comments to their mother were true. But she only dabbled in it.

Rock and roll seemed to be her anthem (her cell phone ring tone was Three Days Grace), yet she knew classical music by title and composer. A bit of curiosity rang through Everett.

Which persona represented the real Lizzie?

Clearly, Lizzie could only stand silence for so long, considering that she jumped back into some sort of conversation after Everett remained quiet for a few moments.

"So you're into classical, right?" she pried.

"Sometimes," he dead panned.

He could practically feel her determination waning as she fell silent. His constant fighting against her efforts to befriend him really started to wear her down; he could just tell. Almost immediately, the need to lay off and not be so harsh on the girl next to him hit Everett in the chest and he thought a bit more carefully about the course he was pursuing.

For once, he didn't have to fight to get someone to be his friend. Why would he shove her away? Why couldn't he just let this person have a normal conversation with him?

But his stubborn side kicked in before his more reasonable half had the chance to open it's big fat mouth. There was no reason for them to be companions. It didn't make sense and simply had no logic. They had nothing in common. Maybe they knew the same composers, but that most certainly didn't sign the best friends contract.

Everett reinforced the brick wall around him with these thoughts, trying to ensure the safety of his isolation.

"Well, then, what kind of music do you like?" she tried again, scooting closer to him, making Everett squirm uncomfortably.

Everett knew she was determined. But why? It bugged him – why was she so dedicated to making him smile? Why did she want to get to know him? He was nothing special. So he could play piano, big whoop, right? It just didn't make too much sense to him.

Everett immediately scooted farther away before huffing out a large breath of air. "Why are you sitting here?" he groaned in frustration, completely ignoring her question. Would she ever leave him alone or was he destined to sit through her constant questions?

"Because I want to know what kind of music you like. Now spill," she insisted.

Lizzie just had to be stubborn. Why did she have to be so insanely stubborn? Sometimes, he just wanted to strangle her.

Despite the situation, Everett mentally let out a humorless laugh, rubbing his face harshly with the palms of his hands. He was talking as if they had known each other for forever. He acted like he had known her for months rather than days. It was a weird feeling; he hadn't met someone that made him feel so ... he couldn't put a proper word on it. He would just go with annoyed for the time being since that feeling was the predominant one.

Letting out a sigh, he tried a different route. "If I tell you, will you go away?"

She clearly wouldn't leave without some sort of an answer, so he might as well provide her with one, right?