chapter eleven// a list of rules would be nice
The downside of living in Seattle quickly made itself known to Evelyn. Due to the sudden down pour of rain (it was literally sunny a second ago??) she was practically forced to spend her remaining two dollars on a kids bus ticket for Faith but luckily didn't have to spend a penny for her own thanks to the one and only benefit of being a foster kid — a free bus pass, great right?
The only downfall of it however was the cards picture had yet to be updated since she was eleven years old at the time it was taken and clearly going through her awkward stage which she was near positive she had yet to grow out of, (Faith found the picture hilarious) but she'd get over it for the sake of saving money she definitely didn't have
Thankfully by the time the bus stopped outside her foster parents gated community the rain had quit which the two year old who hadn't stopped nagging for the whole bus journey to go to the park was more than grateful for, not that she would let the rain stop her from playing
The teen struggled holding Faith on her hip along with her school bag and Faiths hello kitty backpack (which had been weighed down by her new library books) , while she typed in the passcode Maya and Carina had given her for whenever entering or leaving the protected community in which they lived
"park?" the toddler asked for what felt like the millionth time, Evelyn would need ten packets worth of pain killers by the end of the day, "yes baby we're going now, but only for a little bit okay? it's getting late"
The blonde ignored the over dramatic huff from her daughter as she walked to the small park that was available to the people who lived within the gates
She warned Faith to stay close and not leave the play area as she sat down on a nearby bench finally taking the weight of both bags of her shoulder, the two year old barley paid her any mind as she raced straight towards the toddler friendly slide
As she kept a close eye on the curly haired girl who had seemed to make a friend to play with she quickly refilled through her tote bag making sure that she had all her assignments done for the next day, which she did but still couldn't help but worry that she didn't in fear of getting in trouble with her teacher— Maya and Carina wouldn't be happy
Seeing that she did have it all done she decided to get ahead on her reading for her English class (a book her English teacher did have a spare of, thank god) As she moved onto the second chapter of the book she felt someone sit down on the bench beside her but didn't pay them any mind not wanting to converse with the stranger
How awkward would that be?
"of mice and men" the stranger said, Evelyn looked up confused to see a middle aged blonde woman who looked like she walked straight out of some designer store looking right at her, "are you reading it for school?"
The teen awkwardly nodded her head, "uh, yeah"
"it's a great book, have you read it yet?" she asked, obviously not, couldn't she see she was literally ten pages in? Evelyn shook her head "well it's really sad so prepare yourself — especially when George kills Lennie, god I don't think I stopped crying for like an hour" the woman laughed, well thanks for spoiling it!!
Evelyn awkwardly laughed back not knowing what to say, all she wanted to do was grab Faith and run in the opposite direction from the stranger. She anxiously played with the corner of the page begging for this to be over
"anyway is that your little sister I saw you come in with? — playing over there with my son?" Evelyn didn't answer choosing to ignore the sister comment not quite knowing how to tell this woman that no that wasn't her sister but her kid that she had when she was barley thirteen years old, so instead she followed the woman's eyes over to Faith and the womans yet to son playing together on the small roundabout
"he's cute" Evelyn commented, hopefully distracting her from the sister question
The older blonde woman just smiled smugly "I know, he's named after me, George — I'm Georgie duh" Evelyn nodded pretending that she cared ,"and yours is?" She prompted
"Oh, uh I'm Evelyn that's Faith" She smiled grateful for not being completely stupid at thirteen by choosing not to name her daughter some odd variant of her own name — Lorelei Gilmore can do it and Lorelei only
"oh, that's nice" Evelyn could tell she was lying but was to nervous to say anything, Georgie looked like she could whip a Chihuahua out of her pink Berkin at any given moment to attack
The awkward conversation continued for what felt like hours but was probably only like ten minutes before Faith came running, more wobbling over, George close behind her
"did you and your family just move in? I've never seen–"
"—momma!!" the two year old screamed throwing herself onto Evelyns lap, the teen catching the look of disgust on the woman beside hers face from the corner of her eye as she was stunned into silence
Evelyn lifted Faith up adjusting her slightly so she sat more comfortably ignoring Georgie who practically was staring daggers into her skull
"momma?" she spat, "aren't you like sixteen?"
Finally meeting the woman's eyes, thanking god faith had a tendency to get distracted by the locket round her neck, "n-no I'm fifteen"
Georgie scoffed, "like that's any better" she said standing up grabbing her sons hand rather roughly, Evelyn's could feel her face grow hot in embarrassment "didn't your parents bring you to church? It's pretty obvious that sex is supposed to between a married couple only, not two children who can't keep it in their pants" Evelyn felt like crying as the woman basically screamed bible verses at her slinging her bag over her shoulder, "I won't have my son being corrupted by some bastard child and her slut of a mother"
The blonde woman was gone before Evelyn could even get a word in, not that she would of been able to without breaking down. Though she felt herself get angry at the way Georgie spoke of Faith. She didn't could take being belittled she probably deserved it. But her baby didn't, the teen would of slapped her if she wasn't so shaken up
"momma okay?" Faith asked from her place sat on her mothers lap moving her hands from the necklace to play with Evelyns sun kissed hair
Evelyn smiled forcing away the tears, "mommas fine Fai, that woman was just a big dic— meanie"
Faith nodded her little eyebrows furrowing as she made an angry face, "big meanie"
"I love you" the teen laughed kissing her small button nose , "let's go back to Maya and Carina yeah? It's getting late and cold"
"Maya, amore mio come sit down " Carina pleaded as she watched her wife from the couch angrily pacing their living room "you need to calm down"
The firefighter looked at her wife like she was crazy "how am I suppose to be calm when our kid is missing? We need to phone the police, or at least go out looking for her " she expressed, her hands flying around as she spoke,
"Car it's getting so dark" she added looking outside the window, it was barley six and the sky had started to darken due to fall, as well as Halloween approaching in less than a month
"shes not missing bella, we just had a bit of mis— lack of communication" she comforted taking her wife's hand to stop her from moving, "and I promise if our bambina is not home within the hour we will pull out all the stops; we will phone the police, conduct our very own search party — "
Before she could continue the list of things she was willing to do to ensure her foster daughters safety in order to ease her anxious wife the hall door opened and closed, her heart pounding in relief as she looked at her wife with an I told you so look
Maya rolled her eyes at the Italian ignoring her, instead already beginning to walk towards the entrance of their home, Carina followed closely behind her "Evelyn? Where the hell have you been?"
Frozen the blonde teenager stood nervously just a step in front of the hall door, Faith on her hip refusing to meet either of her foster mothers eyes
"Bambina?" Carina tried this time to get answers out of their silent foster daughter, "where were you?" She asked more gently than her wife
"I— uh I had to go the library after school so I j-just thought I'd get Faith, we walked around for a little bit to kill time and then headed t-to the park down the street" she admitted confused on why they cared
God, she thought they were so hard to understand. They were so different to her previous foster parents they didn't get mad at the usual things she would get in trouble for like Faith crying or eating food she didn't pay for, but seemed mad (or worried she couldn't quite tell) at things previous guardians would usually encourage such as staying out of their way — she just needed a list of rules already!!
"Ev, you can't just go off without telling us" Maya began trying to stay calm as she expressed to the teen the dangers of what she had done, "Anything could've happened and we would have had no idea where you were at"
"I'm s-sorry" she flinched shifting on her feet, she felt so overwhelmed with the days events, first she was made to start a new school again, she was unable to get the textbook she needed for school now meaning she had to somehow come up with $40, then she was slut shamed by some suburban, Pilate going mom who had didn't even know her (though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't use to it, so it didn't bother her that much) and now this? — she wanted to disappear
Faith frowned at the distressed look on her mother's face, turning round to glare at Maya, her little face puffed out to mimic a look of anger "big meanie"
The teens heart dropped as the words left faiths mouth, carefully watching her foster moms for any negative reaction towards the toddler. Oh god, not Faith
Carina frowned at how scared the teen looked then, Mayas worry clearly coming across as though she was mad at Evelyn, which she wasn't she was mad at herself for being so stupid and forgetting to tell the teen she was picking her up, "okay how about we talk after dinner, sì?" the Italian interrupted not wanting to further upset her foster daughter or Faith
Maya agreed guilt swarming her stomach as Evelyn stood still terrified refusing to meet her eyes, fuck, was she becoming her father? She felt sick she swore to herself the day she had decided she wanted to become a mother she would be better than him, but as Evelyn stood practically shaking in-front of her she realised her worst fears had come true and she hated herself for that
Dinner was filled with awkward tension that left Evelyn wishing she was anywhere else, she could barley bring her herself to lift her eyes of the floor to eat the food Carina had prepared but in the end forced herself to do so even if she was left with a crippling stomach pain (anything was better than getting in more trouble than she probably already was with her foster parents)
she wondered as dinner came to an end and was asked to follow her foster parents in the living room (after she'd insisted on helping them to clean up, a way of hoping to ease the probable punishment that would surely come) if they had now decided they'd had enough of the teen choosing now to kick her out for Veronica to deal with her (it wouldn't be the first time) or rather they'd choose to punish her by themselves— would they hit her, lock her in a dark room, deny her food and water for days?
Evelyn wasn't sure what she'd rather, though she'd never admit it she had enjoyed staying with Maya and Carina and it was clear by the 'family portrait' Faith had made (now living on the fridge) the toddler felt the same but she wasn't quite sure if either of her foster parents felt the same, but was just glad they hadn't denied Faith when she's proudly presented the present to them yesterday
Evelyn could handle rejection, heck she'd been facing it for the past fifteen years from both her biological family and foster families, she never wanted Faith to feel the same she had over and over
"play?" said toddler asked unsurely pointing to her toy box in the corner of the living room as she tugged on her mothers sleeve to be let down. The teen looked towards maya and carina as if asking for permission
"Sí tesoro, go play while we talk to your mama" carina nodded watching as her foster daughter knelt down slightly to let faith on the ground who hesitantly ran straight towards the pink box, plopping herself in front of it
"come sit" Maya patted the space on the couch in the middle of where both she and Carina sat, Evelyn nervously complied sitting down beside them refusing look at either of the two women instead fixating her attention on the bottom of her top, "Ev, baby can you look at us please?"
Timidly the girl raised her eyes to meet those of her foster mom who smiled comfortingly in return, "I'm sorry sweets for earlier if I scared you in anyway that wasn't my intention at all, your ma— Carina and I were just really worried" Maya began tucking a strand of the girls blonde hair behind her ear
"I-I'm sorry" the small teen stuttered biting the inside of her cheek
"No need to apologise bambina, we're all just very new at this and need to be better at communicating sí?" She reassured, "so starting tomorrow either maya or myself will be collecting you from school, and if for whatever reason neither of us can collect you we will send you a text where to walk to whether that's home, the station or the hospital. Does that sound good?" Carina asked, checking that the teen was comfortable with the new routine they'd be setting in place
Evelyn nodded in agreement feeling slightly confused, none of her previous foster placements cared enough to pick her up from school — normally she was left to get the school bus when possible or just walk even if it was long distance
"speaking of, we probably should've done this earlier but it must've slipped our minds" Maya interrupted reaching for something in her back jean pocket, "we should probably exchange numbers so if you do want to hang out somewhere after school all you have to do is check in with us first so something like this doesn't happen again"
Carina agreed taking out her phone too ready to give the girl their numbers, Evelyns faced reddened as she looked down towards her lap looking ashamed, "oh. I, uh don't have a phone" she bashfully admitted, what teenager didn't have a phone?
it was something the blonde was so embarrassed about, she had once attempted to save up for a cheap phone ( 13 year old Evelyns attempt to make the wedge of difference between herself and her peers smaller) though it clearly hadn't worked out haven being practically forced to spend all her savings on a baby necessities
Though a few months ago she had gratefully managed to get her hands on flip phone, which unfortunately didn't last long thanks to the anger of David Attwell and a case of beer (the two didn't mix well)
Maya smiled sadly looking towards her wife, they hadn't thought of that of course she didn't have a phone— she'd been staying with them over a week now and not once had they seen her on one "don't worry about that kid, I'll get it sorted"
Evelyns eyebrows furrowed, she wasn't sure what Maya meant by that but before she could dwell on it the older blonde leant down and kissed the top of her head before standing up, somehow communicating silently with her wife before quickly pecking her lips, " I love you three, I'll be back soon"
A minute later Evelyn could hear the front door close and her foster parents car ignition start, what the hell just happened?
Before she could ask Carina, the brunette had stood up excitedly smiling at the teen "okay why don't I go grab that strawberry ice-cream I promised and you can tell me all about your first day at school?"
A tub of strawberry ice-cream later Faith had passed out into a sugar coma, the teen haven to get Carinas help to get the toddler changed into her pyjamas and into bed which wasn't an easy task, at all. Not that Carina would ever complain, she was more than happy to help her foster daughter, even if it took some time to convince the closed off teen
she hated how her foster daughter felt as though she couldn't rely on them, like she couldn't ask for help. She and Maya were more than willing to be there for her
After Evelyn got a quick shower, changed into her own pyjamas and was now snuggled in bed next to a sleeping Faith watching the second episode of gossip girl on the wall mounted tv, as she waited for Carina to finish in the shower and for Maya to come back from where ever she went — she'd quickly grown accustomed to their routine of coming to say goodnight to the teen before lights out and though she' never admit it out loud she quite enjoyed it
She was about halfway through the third episode, poison Ivy, when a smiled soft knock sounded the room. The teen paused the show shifting slightly so she sat up against the headboard, "come in" — though one thing she doubted she'd ever get used to was her foster mothers asking permission to come into the room she'd been staying in, it was there house!!
"hey bambina, you okay?" Carina asked now dressed in her own silk pyjamas that Evelyn guessed cost hundreds of dollars, coming to sit on the right side of the bed that the teen was on, Maya following suit
Evelyn wordlessly nodded watching as Maya leaned over her wife to hand the blonde a white bag. The teens eyes shifted between the heavy bag now in her hands and her foster mothers, confusion clearly present on her face "f-for me?" She asked unsure, why would they get her something?
"yes for you, Ev" Maya smiled, "go on, open it" she gestured reassuringly
Evelyn complied, shyly reaching into the white gift bag pulling out the white box inside, her heart dropping as she opened it to reveal a brand new iPhone 15— were they playing some sort of sick prank on her? She hoped not
Once again the teens eyes darted from her foster parents to the box them back again to her foster parents, "really?" she asked, her eyes daring to release tears. Evelyn half expected them to take it back, but they didn't
"Really" Carina agreed watching as a smile overtook the young girls face, before she (surprising both her foster mothers and herself) flung her two arms around both women, muttering her thanks over and over
"are you sure?" she asked, as bothwomen hugged the girl back tightening their hold on her. Evelyn couldn't help but feel guilty at the expense they had went for her, no one had ever done that for her
Maya nodded, "of course we're sure sweets", she said smoothing the girls hair savouring the hug not quite knowing the next time she get one form Evelyn, if ever, "but there's gotta be some rules okay?" Maya said, with disappointment pulling back from the hug after another minute "before lights out you'll have to leave it on charge outside Carina and I's room, we don't want you on it all night"
"and no inappropriate behaviour or we will have to confiscate it, sí?" Carina added
Evelyn nodded agreeing, they were fair enough rules, she was expecting worse, "t-thank you both so much"
"No problem Ev, it's what pare— we are here for — the guy in the Apple Store helped me to set it up, I'm a total grandma when it comes to technology" she laughed, "so it already has both mine and Cars numbers as well as some of our friends just in case of an emergency, speaking off we wanted to check if you'd be alright with a couple of our friends coming round for dinner tomorrow night?" Searching the teens green- blue eyes for signs of doubt
Evelyns face contoured, here they went again confusing the hell out of her "it's your house" she shrugged
Carina shook her head, "it's your home too Bambina, we want both you and Fai to feel comfortable here so if you aren't just say the word sí?"
The blonde bit her lip nervously, "h-how many people?" She asked
Maya smiled grateful her foster kid was letting her walls down, even if it was taking a while "just two for now, I haven't even invited them over yet because I wanted to check with you first, so if you dont want to it's completely fine"
"It's fine they can come" the teen smiled feigning sureness, she wanted to make her foster mothers happy after all they had just dropped a thousand dollars on her
Both women checked a further three times before giving in and standing up to go call them, "twenty more minutes before bed kiddo— we will be back in soon" she said before gently closing the door as go not disturb the sleeping toddler
Evelyn couldn't get rid herself of the smile that had practically overtaken her face as she looked back towards her new phone, how had she gotten so lucky? The blonde knew she needed to savour this, knowing all to well how her life had the habit of doing a complete 180 on her
a note from the author<3
thank you so much for reading chapter eleven of to build a home!!
question— how do you think the dinner will go?
Requests for this story are always open and I'll try my best to include them all!!
once again thanks for reading<33