You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.
- William W. Purkey
Exhaustion. That’s all I could feel, it was rattling every bone inside of me as I finally plopped down on my bed after a sleepless night at six in the morning.
You see, Hanna had her not-a-date date with Jason last night and after staying with her all day to quell her nerves (that she refused were existent) I helped her choose her outfit, which was a simple summer dress and girly heals. When she tried to convince me that it was all too much, I wasn’t having any of it and she went on her way by eight.
I spent the next few hours cooped up in my room, texting Evan and Marissa while I watched TV and waited out the next few hours for Hanna to get back. When she did, she had so much to say, we stayed up for hours while she gushed about her night and finally admitted to having a “slight” crush on Jason.
Although, since I hadn’t gotten home until four in the morning because of her talking my head of, I’d say it’s a little bit more than a slight crush.
And apparently, something was wrong with my brain because I couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours and I woke up, exhausted yet unable to go back to sleep for some stupid reason, at ten.
As I finished my breakfast of bread- I was too tired to toast it- I went back up to my room just before receiving a call from Evan. Since we had that small argument last weekend, we’d went back to normal two seconds after we made up, thankfully. And thankfully, nothing has changed between us, not like I thought they would.
“What’s wrong?” He asked once I answered the phone in my groggy, not-in-the-mood voice.
“I’m tired.” I whined.
“Then sleep.” He laughed.
“I tried that.” I snapped groggily before letting out a weird whining sound. “Cuddling with you would be perfect right now.”
“Then come over. My bed is all toasty warm and perfect for cuddling right now.”
I giggled lazily. “Can you come pick me up? I’m not going to try to drive, I’m like half dead right now.”
“I’ll be over.” He sighed as if I just asked him to jump to the moon, causing me to roll my eyes at him playfully.
“Okay, I love you.”
“Love you too, Princess, I’ll see you soon.” He said softly before hanging up the phone.
I put my phone in my pocket and forced myself through a three-minute shower before getting dressed in sweat pants and a tank top and putting my hair in a braid down my back. I was being way too lazy to wear anything even slightly decent.
“I’m going over to Evan’s.” I called to Brendon who was probably still in his room. I didn’t hear a response, so I assumed that he was either still asleep or not home so I shook it off and went outside where Evan was waiting in the truck. He hurriedly got out and opened the passenger side door for me, causing me to giggle.
We shared a short kiss and a casual greeting before I climbed inside and Evan got in the driver’s side and we were driving down the street.
I curled into a tired ball in the passenger side as Evan drove.
“So why are you so tired?” He asked me with raised eyebrows as his thumb rubbed over the back of my hand as our hands were interlocked over the center console.
“Hanna.” I mumbled.
“Wasn’t she on a date last night with my brother?” Evan asked in confusion.
I nodded. “Yeah, they had a good time. Great, actually. And she insisted on telling me every single detail until four this morning.”
“Every detail?” Evan asked in disbelief.
“Evan, I now know things about Jason that you never even want to think about.” I grumbled, gently laying down so that my head rested on Evan’s lap as he drove the rest of the way to his house.
“Okay, let’s not share.” He chuckled softly, running his fingers through my hair.
“I wasn’t going to, trust me.” I grumbled as I felt the truck come to a stop.
I sat up and waited for Evan to get out before climbing out the driver’s side for no reason. We walked into the house and I was greeted by an excited-looking Abby and a tired-looking Jason laying on the couch watching some movie.
I would tease him about dating my best friend, but I was just so exhausted that I just wanted to go upstairs and lay with Evan.
Without as much as a hello, we were going upstairs into Evan’s room. I was about to make a bee-line for the bed when something stopped me dead in my tracks. There was a huge suitcase rested at the foot of his bed with a small portion of it full of clothes.
“Y-you’re packing?” I whimpered, staring at the suitcase as if it was the devil himself. I didn’t want to see that suitcase, it made things too real. And I didn’t want real, I wanted to live in my Maggie-and-Evan fantasy for as long as I could.
“Um, yeah.” He mumbled awkwardly. “I have to sometime and I’m leaving in a week and a half.”
“I know.” I sighed sadly, over to his bed and covering myself in the covers. Evan was right over the phone- his bed was very warm and definitely ready for cuddles. “But that doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, leaning over the bed and giving me a kiss to the forehead. “Do you want anything to eat or drink or something?” He asked, not getting into the bed.
I gripped the shoulder of his t-shirt, pulling him onto the bed with me. “You.” I murmured.
He chuckled softly and got under the covers with me. “I was going to get you something to eat first.”
I just shook my head stubbornly, pulling him close to me and laying my head on his chest.
Evan wrapped his arms around me and somehow, our legs entangled under the covers. “Is Maggie Harris actually turning down food?” He gasped dramatically.
I nodded into his chest. “Sleep.” I mumbled.
“You came over just to sleep?” He asked with raised eyebrows.
“I couldn’t sleep at my house and I just want to be with you, Evan.” I muttered. “I don’t care what we’re doing, I just want to do it with you before the only things we can do together will be over Skype.”
He was silent for a moment before leaning down and kissing my forehead. “Okay, baby. Sleep.”
And so I did, I just went to sleep, happy that I could finally get some sleep.
The next time I woke up, I was fully energized and not half asleep and willing to kill anything in sight. To make things better, I woke up with a large stack of pancakes with a hamburger and fries on the nightstand, waiting for me. Evan wasn’t in bed, but I heard shuffling behind me, so I assumed that he was on the other side of the bed doing something.
“I had Jason go down to the diner to get you some food.” Evan spoke up from where I’d assumed he was, behind me.
“You’re the best boyfriend ever.” I cooed, sitting up and reaching for the food- I was so starving, considering all I had to eat that day was two slices of bread and a glass of orange juice. I sat the containers of food on the bed, careful not to spill them, and sat criss cross as Evan walked around his room. “Whatcha doin’?” I asked curiously through bites.
“Cleaning.” Evan chuckled, taking one of the DVDs out of his Xbox and putting it back in its case. “Or my mom will have a hissy fit.”
“Oh.” I mumbled. “Well, I can help.”
“No, Princess.” He grinned. “It’s okay, just eat.”
“And then I can help.” I chirped, popping a few of the diner fries in my mouth. “I’m not going to just sit here and watch you clean.”
“Well I’m also packing.” He told me quietly.
“I’ll help you pack, too.” I said, with less enthusiasm, but I still smiled, which is all that I could ask for in that moment.
“You don’t have to, Maggie. Really, it’s fine.” He insisted.
“When I’m done eating, of course.” I said. “I want to help.”
“Why?” Evan asked curiously.
“Because you’re my boyfriend and I want to help my boyfriend.” I told him simply.
“You just want to go through my underwear drawer.” Evan teased with a smirk .
I giggled, but blushed softly. “You can see right through me, Evan Mathews.”
He nodded and leaned towards me, kissing my forehead. “Yes, I can.”
We continued with light banter while I ate and he cleaned out from under his bed, which was surprisingly messy with empty food wrappers that Laura would have had a fit about, and some summer homework that he had from one of his classes. Ah, school. School started on August 30th, the day after Evan left for Ohio in a week and a half. That's only ten days.
Once I finished all of my food, I threw away the to-go containers that it was held in and offered to help pack up Evan’s clothes.
“Maggie, you really don’t need to help me pack.” Evan told me once again. “I know that this isn’t the most ideal situation and it sucks that I have to leave, but you’re just making it worse for yourself by doing this.”
“I don’t want to be useless.” I muttered honestly as we stood about a foot away from each other beside the bed post. His jet black hair was messy and fell just below his eyebrows, just a little bit longer than it was at the beginning of the summer, yet his green eyes haven’t changed a bit. They’ve been the same comforting, warm, heart-melting green since I looked up at them from the mud that day at the beginning of June at the fair. And I’ll never grow tired of looking into them.
“You’re not useless, I promise. Let’s go do something, what do you feel like doing?” Evan asked.
“I look like poop on a stick.” I laughed, waving a hand down sweats-clad body. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You do not look like whatever you just said.” Evan denied, pulling me into his arms. “But we don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t. Let’s go downstairs.” I told him, stepping out of his arms and putting my hand in his to drag him out of his room and into the hallway.
“What’s downstairs?” Evan asked with amusement.
“Abby, silly.” I giggled.
“You want to play with Jason’s dog?” Evan asked with confusion.
“Okay, you know you love her. You can’t not love Abby, she’s adorable.”
“Until you have to take care of her, sure.” Evan mumbled as I found Abby sleeping soundly on the fluffy couch and Jason was nowhere to be seen.
“I’ve fed her before.” I defended.
“Okay, that’s the easy part, though.” He laughed. “I’ve picked up her crap, dealt with chewed shoes, she even chewed through a pair of my head phones before.”
I sat down beside her, waking her up softly as I started to pet her gray fur and white fur. “But you’ll still miss her while you’re gone.” I sang teasingly.
“I’ll miss you more.” He told me, sitting down on the other side of me as Abby stood up from the couch and started to lick my face. I giggled and continued petting her but pushed her off of my face as I grabbed her tug-of-war rope so that we could play. Once she saw that I had her rope, she leaped off of the couch in pure excitement with her tail wagging and her eyes latched with determination onto the rope in my hands.
“See? Adorable.” I giggled as Abby grabbed onto one side of the rope and started to pull. The husky was a pretty large dog, even for a husky, so she was really strong, but I held on.
“Sure.” Evan grinned, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
“I think I’ll come play with her like after school sometimes.” I told Evan.
“I’m sure Abby would love that, and my mom, too, because she loves you.” Evan laughed and watched as Abby pulled one last time, forcing the rope out of my hand before she pranced away in a victory dance to chew on the rope on her doggy bed beside the couch.
“I love Laura, too.” I chuckled, leaning into Evan’s side. “Maybe I can just go to Ohio with you for the year.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “And what about your life here? We both have our lives, Princess, and I know that it sucks but they are in different parts of the country.”
“But it’s not like I’m the center of anybody’s universe, they can live without me for nine small months.” I attempted, although I know that nobody would agree to let me go with him, not my dad or his dad or anybody except for me and maybe Evan. That would be just too easy.
“Everyone would miss you.” Evan mumbled. “But before I go, I do have one more place to take you.” He told me with a smile.
“And where is that?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
He grinned at me. “Oh, you don’t really think I’m going to tell you? The best adventures are the ones you don’t expect, Princess.”
I smiled at him. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“You’ll love it, I promise.” Evan told me with a soft kiss to my lips. “I think.”
“I’m sure I will.” I giggled. “I know I will, in fact.”
“Your optimism is adorable.” He laughed, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
“Well I don’t really care about where we are, I just want you to be there and I’ll be fine.” I sighed, leaning into his chest.
He sighed heavily. “Maybe some time, you can take a long weekend and fly up to one of the baseball games.” He mumbled. “And I can come down to one of your dance things.”
“Competitions.” I laughed. “Dance competitions. And that’d be great, I bet you look really amazing in a baseball uniform.”
He smirked at me. “You make me feel uncomfortable with your sexual comments.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Oh, shut up, you love it.”
He nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, okay, I do.”
“I know you do.” I sang teasingly.
He playfully rolled his eyes at me. “You’re a little cocky today, aren’t you?”
I shrugged with a grin. “Maybe just a little bit.”
“You’re so pretty when you smile.” He murmured with anther soft kiss.
I blushed softly. “I’m going to be so lonely without you.” I mumbled.
“No you won’t, don’t say that.” He told me. “You have friends.”
“Hanna’s going to start this infatuation with Jason, Amy and Chris are about to break, I can feel it, and Marissa is starting to like somebody, but I just don’t know who, she won’t say.”
“You still have friends.” He laughed. “If nobody else, you have Tanya and Aaron, but I doubt your friends will ditch you for their boyfriends.”
“I suppose.” I mumbled, leaning into him. It was still hard to come to terms with him leaving, it just didn’t seem fair. I mean, I know that I knew about it this whole time, but it just sucked. I never knew that I’d love him so much when I went to the diner with him that night in June, I never expected that it’d hurt so bad to see him go. But this hurts a lot more than I’d ever imagine and it just sucked.
But the only thing I could do was close my eyes and hope for the best.
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Happy Friday (:
So, I know I said this on the last chapter, but I have that website, it'll be in the external link.
I might update tomorrow but I'm going shopping for a bridesmaid dress so I don't know if I'll have time, I'm not sure yet, but when I do update, either tomorrow or Sunday, be ready because the next episode is dramatic. Bum bum BUMMMM.
Until then...
Goodbye <3