Hey guys! The winner of the word picture from last chapter is Wattpad user TheFaultnBeinErudite. The picture is in the sidebar!
The search said there 11 results for #FindingEverett on Instagram. But I only saw seven! *mad* So I think some were on accounts that were private, so I couldn't see them. :/ I was really disappointed! So if your account is on private, and you create a word picture, then share the link to the picture specifically with me in the comments so I can still see it! :)
If you're unsure on how to do it, here's the instructions: Below your picture there are three vertical dots. Tap that, and a copy link option will come up. Tap it and the link to that photo is now ready to paste!
Alright, now that's taken care of, I can't wait to see more word pictures! You guys all rock! :)
The song for this chapter is When Can I See You Again? by Owl City. Love this song.
* * * * * * * * * *
The air had shifted just ever so slightly in the North household. While the soundtrack that constantly played in the background still churned out tunes that could be considered dark and sad, a slightly more up beat and hopeful melody played at times.
Jesse smiled as the current tune seemed to seep into his body and forced him to relax. Much to his relief, Everett had avoided another instance with Lizzie that showed off his lack of people skills. Or the fact that he just wasn't a people person. In fact, the man acted semi-normal. Still rough around the edges, of course, but nothing he couldn't handle.
Lizzie had made herself right at home in their house, helping herself to snacks and drinks and of course, pestering Everett whenever she had the chance.
At first, Jesse couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. And when he actually said the words, he realized how childish he sounded, but Lizzie had been his friend first. It seemed like anymore, her time was split between him and his brother.
But after he gave it some serious thought, he found that this change in pace and having Lizzie as a new dynamic was exactly the sort of thing Everett needed. Jealous as he may have been of the time his new friend spent with his brother, he kept his thoughts to himself as he knew how much this meant to Everett. Even though the man wouldn't admit it for all the tea in China.
Jesse stood in the kitchen, sifting through items in the fridge. He appeared to be in one of those moods where no matter what his hand touched, no matter how appetizing something looked he just didn't want to eat it.
Even though his stomach had been grumbling for the past twenty minutes.
Grabbing a something to drink from the fridge and skipping food altogether, he began his ascent up the stairs. But he didn't make it too far since someone started knocking on the back door.
Frowning, Jesse made his way back to the door and peeked through the blinds that covered it. Once he got a good look at the person on the other side, he yanked the string to pull the blinds to one side and opened the door.
"Lizzie?"
Jesse cocked his head to the side and took in the duffel bag on the girl's shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? I didn't forget you were coming over, did I?"
Lizzie shook her head, wringing her hands together nervously. "Well, not exactly. I just ... well, I have this idea for Everett. And ... well, dangit, Jesse I don't know I just wanted to come over and say hi and have some fun with you guys," she finally blew out, tossing her hands up in the air with exasperation.
Jesse chuckled a bit before moving to the side so that she could get in. "Chill, Liz. You know you're always welcome," he told her, being a gentleman and taking the bag from her shoulder. "Good Lord, woman," he groaned lifting the bag onto the counter and unzipping it to see it's contents. "What did you bring – bricks?"
"Nope. Baking supplies," she said proudly, a rather huge smile on her face.
Jesse arched an eyebrow and stared at her. She wrung her hands together and muffled a sigh. "I just thought it would be fun. Everett either sits at the piano or in his room. I barely see him anywhere else. I thought it might be fun to do something random, like baking."
Jesse shook his head, but his face still held humor and a grin. "You're insane. I really have nothing else to offer but that simple statement."
Lizzie just shrugged her shoulders and smiled wide. "So I've been told!" She started unpacking all the different items, laying them out on the counter in a strategic way. Jesse only watched, wondering if there was a reason things were set out the way they were.
He finally spoke when something caught his eye. Taking a couple steps forward, he pointed to one of the labeled jars and said, "Liz, is that ...?"
Slapping a hand over his mouth, she grinned. "Shhh. It's sort of surprise for him. I don't want him to over hear you by accident. The guy has Vulcan hearing." Lizzie rolled her eyes before removing her hand and wiping it on her jeans. "Alright, I'm gonna go get the man of the hour. You feel like joining us, Jesse?"
Jesse quickly shook his head and held his hands up in a defensive manner, a smirk playing on his lips. "I think I'm good. I'll just sample the end product. Have fun though."
With that, Lizzie spun on her heel and marched toward the piano, where she (of course) found Everett sitting and just ... well, sitting.
"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting down next to him.
* * * * * * * * * *
Everett jumped, resisting the urge to shove a hand over his beating heart and instead focused on his breathing. "Lizzie?" he asked in a rather accusatory tone.
He heard he breathy laugh. "In the flesh. Enough about me, what's wrong? Are you having problems with your music?"
Everett shook his head. "Nah, just ... I don't know, I'm not in the mood to continue playing."
"Oh, then do I have a proposition for you!" Everett could just hear the large smile in her voice and it piqued his curiosity. So he turned his head in her direction, allowing her to see that his focus was on her.
"I brought stuff over for us to bake!"
Everett locked his jaw and shook his his head slowly as her idea for fun sunk in. He was not going to do something that required copious amounts of sight to do. Not a chance. Making cookies and then icing then? In his mind, the just spelled disaster.
"No, thanks, Lizzie. I'm just gonna go to my room."
"But I brought this especially for you," she protested, poking him in the arm. "Come on, buddy. Pal. Friend! It's gonna be a blast!"
"Lizzie, we aren't exactly friends. I don't even need friends." After thinking on it for a second, Everett added on, "Haven't we already had a conversation similar to this one?"
"Everett ..." Lizzie sighed heavily before saying, "Everett, everybody needs a least one friend. Friends are what help motive us. They know our weakness, but also our strengths. When life gets too hard and we feel like falling, friends help keep us on our feet and moving forward."
"I don't need anybody," Everett snapped in reply, angling his body so his back faced Lizzie.
He heard her sigh once more before the creaking of a chair signaled she stood.
"You know what, Everett? Fine. I'll just do this myself. I was trying to be nice, but apparently, that doesn't work for you. So have a good day. Chat with you later."
With that, Everett listened as Lizzie's footsteps walked away, her shoes squeaking on the kitchen floors.
He could heard her and Jesse muttering to each other and wondered what they were saying, what the entire conversation consisted of. Everett could only catch bits and pieces of it.
It sounded like Jesse offered to help her out.
She quietly rejected his offer and he could hear all the things she brought making noise as she moved them, most likely packing them back away.
Everett sunk into his seat. He did it again, didn't he? He let out a deep sigh. So maybe he didn't want to bake. Did he have to be so rude about it? No. He could have just asked if there was another task, literally anything else that she wanted to do.
"Everett?"
Jesse had tiptoed into the room behind him, got right next to him and whispered, "C'mon, Everett. Lizzie really wanted you two to spend some time together. She already brought over all the ingredients and was really looking forward to trying to get you in the kitchen. Can't you just swallow your sullen attitude for one afternoon and go hang out with someone who is trying so hard to be your friend?"
Everett could hear the plea in his brothers voice and felt his already weak solve crumbling. He really didn't want to bake ...
After a few moments, he groaned and stood. "Why me?" he mumbled as he scooted around his bench. "Why did she have to pick me to be her new best friend? There's so many other people in the world. Over seven billion people on planet Earth and her interest lands on me."
Everett could hear the smile in Jesse's voice when he teased, "Well, who wouldn't love your sunny disposition, bro? You're a catch."
And with a sarcastic laugh in return, Everett followed Jesse into the kitchen, who loudly announced in a sing-song voice, "Lizzie – look who came out to play?"
Gritting his teeth, Everett smacked the younger boy upside the head – after searching for it first.
"You decided to come in!"
Happiness radiated from the girl in front of him and Everett ever so slightly relaxed. He could do this, right? She wanted him there, so that took a lot of pressure off him, didn't it? She chattered a mile a minute and he could hear things clinking and being moved and set up.
"Okay, Everett. You're up. Come here."
Everett nodded and walked forward until she touched his shoulder, indicating for him to stop and turned him to his left. "Alright. In front of you right now are two large jars, a big bowl, and measuring cups. I have a few things in front of me with the measuring spoons," Lizzie slightly hesitated, which Everett found odd since she never hesitated. Then she said, "I really hope I did it right; I looked up some Braille last night and got some of those little plastic dots and put them on the jars so you would know what is what. Hopefully I did it right so you can read the labels good."
Lizzie continued to ramble, making him reach out his hand and continue to feel his way around his cooking supplies. But the only thing he could think about was the fact that she actually took the time to look up Braille and try to make this experience easier and more fun for him.
No wonder she oozed disappointment when he said no. She poured so much effort into it and it wasn't just a spur of the moment thing; she really wanted him to have fun.
"Alright, got it?" Lizzie finally asked, through showing him all the basics. He nodded and gulped. He didn't like this. These cookies were not going to turn out well.
"I honestly think these are going to be amazing." she clapped him on the shoulder and started telling him what they needed. It was a slow process. He had to find the right cup size and fumbled a bit for the ingredients. Lizzie helped him when needed and the Braille helped him greatly. After a few minutes, he stopped asking for help, knowing that he had it under control for once.
He took care of most ingredients, with Lizzie taking care of the liquid things and eggs. Despite himself, Everett actually enjoyed it. It was rather easy and while he didn't talk to much, Lizzie provided enough conversation to hold them both up.
He nodded when appropriate and that seemed to be enough to keep Lizzie going.
Lizzie halted her conversation only when she grabbed two pans, creating quite the racket and sprayed them with PAM, setting one tray in front of Everett and one in front of herself.
"Okay, now reach in and grab a chunk of cookie dough about ... this size." She grabbed Everett's hand and put a ball of dough in the center of his palm so he knew what size to go for. After he nodded, the two started making a bunch of dough balls and setting them on the cookie sheets. They didn't really talk, but whatever existed between them didn't need words. They were just comfortable to be around each other.
And if Everett was going to be honest with himself, he actually really enjoyed the baking.
"Okay, done. Let me just pop these in and then we wait to ice them," Lizzie said. Everett heard her walk away before the tap ran through the sink. Most likely to clean up their mess. A few minutes later, Lizzie reappeared beside him.
"So, tell me: was that as bad as you thought?" she teased, nudging him with her elbow.
Everett hesitated and then slowly shook his head. "Nah, it wasn't so bad. I didn't make too much a mess, did I?"
"You? Psh, your side was way cleaner than mine," she chuckled. "I'm a messy baker."
They chatted for a few minutes before the oven signaled it's time to take out the cookies. "We just gotta let them cool before we frost them or else it'll melt all over the place. And we don't want that."
Everett rolled his eyes. "Well, obviously."
Lizzie was silent, but he had a sneaking suspicion she was sticking her tongue out at him and miming him. Since she was standing right next to him, he decided to test his theory. With speed rivaling Speedy Gonzalos, he lifted his hand poked her around the face until he hit her tongue. He made a disgusted noise before wiping his finger on his pants.
"You poked my tongue!" Lizzie cried, laughter making it's way in between the words.
Everett huffed, feeling a little weird now. He honestly couldn't believe he just did that. What on Earth made him poke her tongue?
"Well, you're the one who had it hanging out of your mouth like a dog!" he retorted. His comparison only sent Lizzie into a fit of more giggles and he had to admit, it was pretty funny.
"Okay, what's with her?" Jesse now stood on the other side of him and he sounded quite amused. Everett could only imagine the scene in front of him. Well, he could have if ...
Frowning, he shook those thoughts away before he got annoyed again and answered, "Well, you see ..."
"Your brother compared me to a dog!" Lizzie blurted out, her laughter dieing down and instead just seemed to lack breath. Then taking one last long breath, she said, "So, Jesse. Want to help us frost?"
* * * * * * * * *
With the cookies frosted and ready to go, the trio decided to head into the living room and pop in a movie to pass some time.
Lizzie threw herself down on the couch, cookie in one hand, a bottle of water in the other. "Transformers?" she suggested.
Everett made a face and shook his head. "No way."
"Anger Management?"
"No."
"Phantom of the Opera?"
"Uh-uh."
So it went for several minutes until everyone agreed on a Batman movie, settling into their respective spots and hitting play.
Looking over at Everett as he sat all curled up in recliner with one of the cookies he helped make, Lizzie's heart pounded as a huge smile overtook her face.
It wasn't something big. It was barely even noticeable.
But to her delight, one corner of Everett's mouth was turned up into a small grin.
No matter how small, it was one of the most perfect things Lizzie had ever seen in her life.
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