Story Of A Girl

Evelyn squeezed her eyes tighter as she heard a pounding. She opened her eyes and was met with the view of someone’s neck. Her eyes traveled up and she stared at a sleeping Frank. She looked at her surroundings. She was in her bathtub. She sighed, placing her head back down, ready to fall asleep.

“Evelyn? Frank? Are you guys in there?” Graclin’s voice was muffled due to the door being closed.

She lifted her head back up gently, not wanting to wake up Frank. “Yeah.” She called softly.

“What are you guys doing? You’ve been in there since three-thirty.”

“Oh,” She used her free hand to wipe her eyes. “We must have fell asleep in the bathtub.”

Graclin laughed. “You two are in the bathtub?”

“Yeah, we were just laying down and then we fell asleep. What time is it?”

“Around seven o’clock. Are you done getting ready for picture day?”

Evelyn groaned, leaning her head back. “No, I haven’t even started.”

“Well, hurry. We got to leave by seven-thirty.” Graclin’s voice sounded far.

She sighed, closing her eyes, not quite ready to move.

“Well, you either didn’t want to wake me up, or you’re really fucking comfortable.”

She lifted her head to see Frank smiling. “Why do you say that?”

He opened his eyes, sending a shiver down her spine. “Because you would have gotten up right away, you little goodie-good, you.”

She smiled. “Did I wake you up?” She bit her lip.

He shook his head, well, tried to. “I was awake for about thirty minutes before you woke up.”

“Did Gracie wake you up?”

“Yeah.” He sighed, letting his head fall back on her head. “I’m tired.” He whined.

She laughed. “Well, we have to get up and go to school.”

He rolled his eyes. “You sound like my mom.”

She laughed, sitting up and climbing out of the bathtub. “Wow, I can’t believe I slept in my bathtub.”

He sat up, rubbing his eyes. “I can’t believe I slept in your bathtub.” He pushed himself up and stepped out.

“Well, despite said fact, I slept well.” She poked him in the chest, smiling. “You’re quite comfortable.”

He grinned, grabbing the hand that she poked him with. “I know. You told me yesterday.”

She scratched the back of her messy head with her free hand, crunching up her nose. “Did I?” She yawned. “I can’t remember.”

He leaned towards her, his face less than a mere inch. “Do I have that effect on you?” He asked jokingly.

Her face turned bright red. “Uh, well...” She trailed off, looking down. “I mean...” She shrugged, making Frank more interested by the second. “I really-You’re-I just-Um...” She glanced back up at him. “I gotta get ready for picture day.”

He shook his head, eyes narrowed. “No, tell me.” He reached up, pushing the hair out of her face. “Do I have some sort of effect on you?”

“Well, um...” She shrugged again.

“Come on, Evelyn. Just say it.” He urged.

She glanced up at him. “Yeah, I-I guess s-so.”

A small smile hit his face. “Like what?”

“Well,” She glanced up again. “You-you make me blush a-a lot.”

He snorted. “Well, I knew that.”

She shook her head. “No, you knew I blushed a lot. You didn’t know you made me blush.”

He tilted his head to the side, thinking about this. “Well, your boyfriend makes you blush, don’t he?”

“Well, that's different. He’s my boyfriend. He’s supposed to make me blush; it’s what boyfriends do. You, on the other hand, are just my friend. You’re not supposed to make me blush, but you do.”

His face dropped. “You, on the other hand, are just my friend...” The words echoed through his brain as he sighed, standing up straight. “You gotta get ready for picture day.” He muttered. He walked past her and out the door of the bathroom. He sighed, leaning against the door. He stared at the open door across from him, Evelyn’s room. Out of curiosity, he pushed himself off the door and into the room.

Her walls were purple, and covered with numerous pictures of her and friends or family. She had lots of college-looking books on her shelves. He moved towards them before opening them and skimming through them. He turned the page and a piece of paper fell out of the book and onto the floor. He looked down at the paper, closing the book before bending down to pick it up. He opened the book back up, figuring it was nothing more than notes from the book. He was about to close the book when he finally looked at the page. He narrowed his eyes as he saw his name written in her curly, fancy hand-writing. Hesitantly, he flipped the paper over. His mouth fell open slightly.

The detail was absolutely perfect. She had gotten everything right. He could arguably say she took this picture and printed it on the paper.

It was a picture of Frank, obviously. He was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette with millions of people standing behind him, cheering. He obviously had no idea millions of people were behind him, he was just sitting there, smoking away.

“Frank?”

He quickly flung the book open, shoved the drawing in the page before closing it and stepping away from the shelf. He looked up, expecting Evelyn to be there. “In here.” He called when he didn’t see her.

“Oh,” She walked into the room, once again causing Frank’s mouth to fall open. Her red hair was slightly curly and she barely had any make-up on; just some mascara and a darker shade of magenta eye-shadow on. She looked amazing without make-up, no doubt, but that didn’t mean a little bit of make-up didn’t make her look even more beautiful than before.

“Wow.” He said.

She bit her lightly glossed lip. “That bad? I’m wiping it all off.”

“No,” He shook his head, smiling when she stopped. “It’s looks really amazing. That wasn’t a bad ‘wow’, it was a good one.”

“Oh, that's good to hear.” She smiled.

He grinned, glancing at the book. he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey, Easter? Can I ask you a question?”

She nodded, walking forward and sitting on her bed. “Of course.”

“Um,” He picked up the big book and sat next to her. “I kinda looked through your stuff.” He handed her the book. “Sorry.”

She laughed. “It’s just a college textbook.” She narrowed her eyes. “Was that your question?”

“Um, well, while I was digging around, I kinda came across a picture you drew.” He flipped open the book and pointed to the picture. “I was just wondering what it meant.”

“Oh,” She shrugged, looking down at it. “I guess it meant that, on the outside, which is categorized as in front of you on the bench, which I call ‘The Bench Of Life’,” She grinned. “nobody pays any attention to you. People leave you alone and make fun of you and everything. But, on the inside, which is behind you, I know a bunch of people would think you are a really amazing person once they got to know you, thus the cheering.”

“Wow. That’s a lot deeper than I thought. I just thought people were making fun of me.” He shrugged, turning to face her. “It’s really, really good though. Everything’s perfect.”

She smiled. “Thanks.” She stared at the paper in her book. “Like, I said before, I’ve always wanted to be an artist.” She muttered.

“Easter, do you always do everything your parents tell you?” He sighed. “You should pursue your dreams, not their’s.”

She sighed. “I know. But, I don’t think I could ever stand up to my dad. I tried it once, Muffie was supporting me though, but I still couldn’t so it.”

He grinned. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to support you, then.”

She laughed. “The fact that you’re a guy will just my dad want to murder you.”

“Okay, maybe I should just stay out of your business.” He grinned. He shook his head. “Nah, just kidding.”

“I was hoping so.”