L A N A
The Fox. It was the Fox. The bleached hair guy in black clothing. It had to be. He had been following us around a few times now. It had to be him again. I wasn't letting him get away today.
Seconds after Everett raced after him, I limped through the nearest narrow alley, and planted my foot in the small hole in the wall of the closed building, and hoisted myself up. I continued climbing up to the rooftop. As I limped alongside the edge of the rooftop, I kept my gaze down on the alley in search of the Fox.
"Come on. Where are you Everett?" I whispered to myself, my heartbeat pounding and beads of sweat breaking across my skin after the climbing.
Suddenly, a shadow stretched across the ground and I lowered my gaze to find the fox jumping behind the wall of this building. I glance down from the other side where Everett was slowly approaching the corner the Fox turned to.
Before the fox could jump out and scared the shit out of Everett, I quickly jumped down the rooftop. When I swiftly landed on the fox's shoulders, he yelped and the panic that rapidly rushed through his whole body made him tumble backward. Before jumping off him, I pulled his hood off and his bleached hair came into sight. He spun around and his green eyes met mine. He had fair skin and a squared jaw, light freckles dusting his nose.
Furious, he opened his mouth but before he could say or do anything, I shoved him up against the wall and took a step back as a wave of nausea passed through me. "Who are you? What do you want from The Sirens?"
He glared. "Not them. You."
I furrowed my brows. "Me?"
His next words left me frozen in utter shock and disbelief. "Carlos is coming back for you. Just for you."
The air swirled around. For a small moment, there was dead silence in my mind.
No. I took another step back, somehow hoping to distance myself from him would make his words less true but that was just wishful thinking. Seconds after seconds, the panic in me grew.
No, no, no...please no. Horrible and terrifying memories started awakening in my head while I realized how much the simplest sound of his name had such a heavy impact on me. My heart started pounding in my chest and my legs started shaking.
"Fuck you," I whispered, clenching my trembling hands into fists.
Just like that, anger appeared across his face. He reached for my arm and shoved me with my back against the wall. My instincts were too slow and my legs were too weak to fight back. Before he could smash my head against the wall, Everett crashed straight into him, sending him tumbling across the ground.
I stared at Everett, stunned. Would this guy ever stop surprising me?
"Lana!" He gently gripped my shoulders and my heart swelled by the immensely concerned sound of my name from his mouth and the familiar warmth of his brown eyes.
"Hey," I whispered, weakly. My legs were so close to giving away and a small part of me that wasn't triggered by skin contact wanted me to fall against his chest.
Everett's panicked face softened along with his voice sounding meek. "Are-Are you okay?"
My vision blurring at the edges of all the physical contact, I barely nodded. "Y-Yeah."
Relief bursting across his face, Everett dropped his head for a second before rapidly glancing to the side. However, the Fox was gone. I didn't even get his name but did that even matter. What mattered was that he knew Carlos who was coming back.
"He's gone. Did you find out who he was?"
I nodded, dropping my gaze to the tip of Everett's white sneakers touching mine. My hands were shaking.
"I'm guessing he didn't deliver good news?"
I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut. Carlos was coming. There was no way I could handle that.
"Hey." His soft voice and his warm fingers suddenly brushing against mine made my face jerk up.
He smiled so his pretty eyes crinkled. "Come on. Let's go to your place. We can play Mario Kart together."
I tilted my head. "For how long?"
He grinned. "For as long as you want."
I smiled, briefly. Despite the news about Carlos, I felt a sense of excitement, relief, and comfort knowing I was spending the evening with Everett. "Okay. Let's go."
~
My apartment looked depressed and Everett with his neat clothes and friendly face looked completely out of place. Like a new piece of furniture abandoned in a trashed place.
Everett sat on the couch, legs crossed, bent over a book while strands of his brown wavy hair fell over his forehead. When I limped over to him, he looked up and his warm eyes met mine. I wish I was immune to it. His warm eyes, pretty face and lean frame.
"Thanks again for helping me with my math homework. You're a genius, Lana."
"The fourth time," I said, counting how many thank yous he could pull off while he was here. His smile turned sheepish but he chuckled with amusement when my stomach suddenly rumbled.
"Hungry? What are you eating today?" He asked, moving his gaze past me to the kitchen. It looked pretty on the outside but the inside, the cabinets, and the refrigerator were emptier.
"Just a granola bar. Should we play?" I got up to go get my Switch but halted when Everett suddenly tugged on my sleeve.
I glanced at him and his astonished expression. "Lana. You eat granola bars for dinner?"
I shrugged. "Sometimes."
He stared at me.
"Most of the time," I murmured, gently.
His mouth fell open. "That's why you look so sick all the time! Lana, you shouldn't do that!" Suddenly he jumped up from the couch. "Okay, then. Since you helped me with math, I'll cook for you."
I raised my brows. "You can cook?"
"Yep. What do you want to eat?" He asked, getting up and walking over to the kitchen, and opening the fridge which was close to empty. He frowned.
"What can you cook?"
He glanced at me and smiled. "I think what I'm best at is lasagna. I think we need to go buy some groceries though."
My mouth watered just by the thought of lasagna. When was the last time I ate lasagna or any type of proper homemade dinner? Thus, I nodded and we headed to a nearby grocery store together.
~
"Holy shit," I whispered after taking a bite of the lasagna slice on my plate two hours later.
Everett, seated across from me on the kitchen island, smiled widely at me. "You like it?"
I nodded and quickly took another bite. Everett was eating too but he was more focused on me than on his food.
"Do you enjoy cooking?" I asked, cringing at my awkward attempt to hold a conversation. It felt so natural when others did it, but completely weird when I did it.
Everett nodded. "My grandma and my mom and great cooks. It runs in her side of the family. Emma and I used to cook with her all the time."
Sudden, brief sadness passed his fade by the mentioning of Emma, which I assumed was his twin sister's name.
"Did you guys like have twin telepathy?"
To my surprise, Everett laughed at that question. The sound of his laugh warmed my body and I felt a sense of ease.
"Well, yeah. I guess. But it was kind of one-sided. She was more outgoing and I've always been more of an introvert. She was so good at reading me and just walked in and always gave me advice when I was struggling or overthinking something. I guess it wasn't advice, but more like lectures and her opinions on stuff, but they helped in the same way-" suddenly he cut himself off and then asked, "You're not going to stop me cuz I've started rambling?"
I shook my head and waited for him to continue. He looked like he really needed to talk about this.
Everett smiled and it reached his eyes. "She just always knew what to say to make me feel better about me and the situation I was dealing with. I wish I could've been that for her too when she started sneaking out to parties often and started drinking more and started arguing with mom. I wish I could've done something to stop her from spiraling out of control."
I nodded and suddenly said, "I wish I didn't insist on sushi that night."
Everett furrowed his brows after confusion slowly clouded his face. "What?"
"I insisted on having sushi for a movie night so mom and dad went to get it. It was late and it was raining a lot. They got into a car accident on their way back. That's how they died."
Everett's fork and the knife slipped out of his hands, a deep frown stitched on his lips. The smile was long gone. Why did I just tell him that? I didn't regret it though.
Suddenly, he got off of his chair and his hands twitched by his sides. "Can I- can I give you a hug?"
I blinked. My first instinct was so to shake my head but I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded instead. He was surprised at first but then his disturbed expression softened. As he moved towards me, I remained in my chair and started panicking. If I passed out, he might never touch me again.
Please don't pass out. Please don't pass out.
I gasped when Everett gently wrapped his arms around me and my head rested against his chest, my cheek feeling the soft fabric of his hoodie. He held me for a moment that was in reality too short but felt too long. I mentally cursed when my breath started shortening. I wanted him to pull away first.
"You know what, Lana?" He said, finally pulling away and meeting my gaze as he poked my cheek. "On the outside, you're very cold, distant, and lazy, but I now know beneath all that you're very caring, gentle, soft and understating."
Stunned, I stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Why are you so kind and thoughtful? It's like it's your biological necessity to be so nice to everyone around you."
He smiled widely and ruffled my hair before returning to his seat across from me.
"So what do you do for fun here at your place?"
I shrugged. "I sleep and play games."
When he offered me a cute, boyish grin, I was suddenly fourteen again and something fluttered in my chest believing this world was full of magic and hope. I missed being that Lana. I knew Jada, Carmen and Isha did too.
"Let's play Mario Kart then. This time, Yoshi is going to beat Shy guy more than five times."
I didn't know about magic and hope and all that shit anymore, but I hadn't been this excited for so long.
****
Author's note: Hello, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Make sure to share your thoughts on Lana and Everett and this story so far:)
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