EVA
Therefore I Am by Billie Eillish flowed softly from the Bluetooth speakers, giving the room a somewhat chill and badass vibe as Laura took care of my makeup.When I'd first rejected her offer to apply my makeup, insisting that I didn't need one, she had given me a look of disappointment saying, "Your gown deserves better than the treatment you're giving it, Eva. ". I'd rolled my eyes, telling her that I hadn't wanted to wear the gown in the first place but then I'd stared at the gown, then at my face in the mirror, and I had silently gone and sat on the chair by my dresser, watching as she readied her tools with a satisfied nod.I mean, no one said I wasn't pretty, but my untouched face was way too undeserving of the gown. That, I knew.The gown —my gown, was a masterpiece. It would be considered simple to most, underrated even, but it was more to me, much much more. I hadn't worn a gown like that before. In fact, I couldn't remember thEVAHis warm, brown eyes darted between mine in surprise, roving over my body and then climbing back up to ogle my face. "It's really you? "He couldn't believe I was here. The feeling was mutual.I nodded, my throat clogged with emotions. The need to blink was strong, but I fought it because I feared that if I did, he would disappear.His brows dove down. "You look different. "His words seemed to slur slightly. And now that I took note of it, my surprise on seeing him was quickly replaced by worry.I ignored his comment, wanting to ask him if he was okay instead, but before I could get the words out, he lunged at me and engulfed me in a tight hug. Almost immediately, my hands came up to wrap around him. I'd missed him. I closed my eyes, inhaling his familiar scent......... but it was all wrong. He smelled of beer and a cologne too strong to be associated with him.A minute went by, then two, three, four and just when I started to think he had fallen asleep on me, he pulled away abru
EVA.Where are you? The text from Axel popped into my phone and I didn't even pretend to ignore it.At home. Why? We're supposed to pick Omar up. Did you forget? Oh.I have to remind you that we're picking your best friend up today? Really, Eva? I thought he was the one that got drunk.I narrowed my eyes at the screen. So he was back to his usual infuriating self. I should have known that the last night version of him wouldn't last long.I thought I was going alone.When he'd said 'we' yesterday, I hadn't thought he meant it literally. I was shocked he was even helping at all.You thought wrong. The bubbles showed that he was still typing. In curiosity, I clicked on his profile. He had one new post. He was dressed as he had to the party so he'd definitely taken the pictures last night but the house in the background was different. Maybe he'd snapped them at his house. I squinted, pinching on the picture, trying to zoom in so I could see the house clearly, but it was all blurry. I
EVA "He is sitting right here and he isn't deaf. " he shot back. Omar cocked his brow, looking between the two of us and then slowly, deliberately slowly, he turned back to his food, eating in silence. A fine act. If Axel didn't leave, then he wasn't talking to me. I schooled my features before turning to Axel, shrugging as if to say 'well, you heard him'.His mouth fell open in shock. "I cannot believe you. You're sending me out? " I shrugged again. He looked completely floored. He probably wasn't used to not having his way. "Wow. " he blinked, before getting up and storming out of the room. "By the way, you're paying for my breakfast. " Omar shouted after him and I swear I could literally hear the slew of curse words Axel threw at him. I laughed lightly.The truth was, I wasn't really comfortable hashing stuff out and while Omar had seen that part of me several times already, he knew that I still hated doing it, and I could never when we had company.So when he'd asked Axel to
EVA"Hey! We never got to talk about how you met Omar. " I stilled, my spoon of ice cream stopping halfway to my mouth. I lifted my head and saw Axel watching me expectantly. He just wasn't going to let it go, was he?Sighing, I shoved the ice cream into my mouth, contemplating on the best way to answer him.I could lie and tell him that we met at my old school back in Lagos, but that would only attract more questions, which meant cooking up more lies. I wasn't a very good liar. Why not just go with the truth? I asked myself."We met at the orphanage. But he wasn't raised there like me. He got—" I stopped, realizing I was saying too much, then tried again. "He came in when he was like.... fourteeen and I was twelve at the time. I've known him five years. ""What orphanage? " He frowned. "What other orphanage would I be talking about, Axel? " I looked down at the tub of ice cream in front of me. My stomach wouldn't welcome food, that's why I'd opted for it."You grew up at an orphan
EVAI flinched at the word. I never referred to myself as an orphan and it was quite stupid that I reacted that way whenever people called me that because that, in fact, was exactly what I was. I had the documents to prove it, but the truth was, I couldn't term myself that. Not when I knew my parents were alive somewhere in this world. Sure, they could be dead; life wasn't guaranteed. But I didn't believe that."I've only met Mrs Lawson once, but I'm assuming she and her husband are nice people. " He said again, dragging my eyes back to him."Why? " I asked absently."They adopted you. " He said, matter of fact."Well, there's that. " I laughed. Why was I laughing? I frowned."There's also the fact that they built the school pool and furnished the gym to death, voluntarily, of course. " His eyes lit up. "Have you had the chance to go in there yet? "I shook my head. I didn't even know the school had a gym, but I knew about the pool. Zoe took regular swims there after school. I saw her
EVA"Bitch, I'm going to fucking kill you." I ducked before the launched item could hit its target —my head and glanced around surreptitiously, noticing that a few people had turned our way in curiosity. Oh, for God's sake. Not again. "Where the hell did you go? " Picking up the launched item —a fry, I gave Laura a 'really' look for being so dramatic. She wasn't even that angry. She just couldn't open her mouth without calling the attention of everyone in her vicinity.I chewed on the fry, stifling a grin as she narrowed her eyes at me. Deciding I didn't want to push her any further and have her draw more eyes to us, I said, "I had an issue that I needed to take care of. " Abi glanced at me then. She'd seen me come home but she didn't know I hadn't come straight from the party.Shit. I totally forgot.Her brows rose and I held my breath, waiting for her to say something. When she simply resumed eating, I took that to mean she wasn't going to out me. I exhaled. Thank God."What 'i
EVA Jesus, he had grey eyes. Not brown like every other dark-skinned guy at this school. Grey. And how startlingly cold they were.Starting to feel prickly under his intense gaze, I looked away, rubbing my palms together under the table to rid the cold I was suddenly feeling. With my head still lowered, I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye and to my greatest relief, he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was now making patterns with his food on his plate. How weird."Who is that guy? " I asked before I could stop myself."Who? " "The one sitting on the same side as Alexander. " Laura shook her head when she saw who I was talking about. "That's Vaughn. He's a total creep. And I don't mean that lightly. " That much I could tell. "Does anyone even have traditional names here? " I squinted and she chuckled."They do. We just prefer to go by our English names. Since, you know, they're easier to pronounce. "I nodded. That was true, I guess. And I wasn't one to talk. I went by my E
EVA"Hi, Axel. "He exhaled a pent up breath the moment I spoke, his shoulders dropping an inch and I realized, rather surprisingly, that he had been tense. Had he been worried that I would ignore him? Sure, things ended abruptly between us yesterday, but I wasn't a mean person. And not to mention, I was to blame for the awkwardness that ensued after our okay conversation. So where had he gotten that idea?He closed the distance between us swiftly, lifting my bag from the seat beside me then dropping down on the now empty chair, placing my bag on his lap. Some shuffling ensued before he settled.Due to lack of space between the arranged chairs, my right leg and his left leg touched, making me painfully aware of the bunched muscles underneath the fabric of his pants. I glanced at him wondering if he noticed. He had his eyes straight forward, oblivious. In fact he looked rather nervous to notice anything, really.I figured that was a little tell of his. Whenever he was nervous or tellin