Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter Eleven

The muscle car that carried her came to a halt, a very specific halt, and she jumped out and folded the front seat forward so Everett could squeeze past her. "I hope you have a good day today, Everett." she said with a smile. "I'll see you later."

Everett walked away as Lizzie got back in the car, the door slamming shut and listened as the rumbling of the engine turning into a roar of power when Jesse drove away. He sighed heavily, sticking his cane out in front of him. What he wouldn't give to be in a real school. He would be able to spend more time with Jesse and Lizzie. He frowned when he thought of her name.

He couldn't understand how she missed his subtle hint for her to come over today. It had been several days since he had even spoken to her, seeing as she had been dropped off at school by her parents for a few days. It had been killing him. The song he had played out and practiced until it was perfect was definitely one she would like, and in a way, he was thankful she had been gone so he had time to perfect it before he unleashed it on her.

But now he just wanted her back over so they could spend time together again.

"Hey, Mr. North. I see you had company on your way here today." he heard the smirk in Charlie's tone above anything else and the happy look that overcame his face quickly faded into his signature frown.

"What of it?" he slowed down a smidgen to allow Charlie to walk beside him. He heard the squeaky footsteps and was assured it was indeed the man.

"Nothing. Just thinking that that's the first time I've seen someone other than Jesse in the car with you," he mentioned. Everett didn't miss the smile in his voice. "She was pretty."

Everett's steps faltered slightly. Was she? He imagined her to be so; her personality was too kind to be for her to be anything but beautiful. Blushing at this secret confession, Everett walked faster. He hated when his brain turned to mush on him like that. So what if she had a good disposition? So what if other people thought she was pretty? It meant nothing to him. She was a friend. Not even a friend, really. More of an acquaintance. She was really Jesse's friend.

Yeah, right. He did a mental eye roll.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," Everett replied. "She just comes across as a pretty person."

He mentally smacked himself. What kind of a crack was that? He just was thankful he couldn't see the crap-eating grin on his helpers face. Although he could practically hear it as he spoke.

"Does she hang out with you a lot?" Charlie asked, putting a hand in front of Everett to slow him down. There must have been another person there.

"Quite a bit," he admitted quietly. "She's Jesse's art partner. She's always coming over to come up with ideas. But she visits with me a lot too. She'll come down and tell me how their project is coming along or tell me that she liked what I had been playing."

Everett realized that Lizzie actually came down and talked to him a lot. She was always keeping him company, even though she really should have been working on her project. He halfway wondered if that meant something.

Could she really just like being around him that much? Because if he was going to be honest with himself, he liked being around her that much. He had missed her the past few days when she hadn't been coming over. It was almost worse than the first time they had a break from Lizzie. It had gotten to the point where he would try to strike up conversations with Jesse about random things, trying to get some companionship since the bubbly girl who usually supplied it was gone. He needed someone to fill the gap. Jesse just happened to be the closest thing and every time he was within earshot, his ear got talked off.