chapter 25
Laylen
“So what’s the deal with you two?” Evan asks as we lounge in the house, waiting for Gemma to come back, hoping that everything will be okay and that, when she returns, Aislin and Aleesa will be with her.
I’m searching a bookshelf in the library for a book I know I saw once that has information about debts to Lords and Queens, hoping to learn more about it. “The deal with whom?” I run my fingers along the titles.
Evan pulls out a book, glancing at the cover. “You and Gemma?”
My forehead creases as I stare at him. “We’re friends.”
“Yeah, right.” Evan rolls his eyes. I’m not really sure how I feel about the dude. He seems to like stepping on my toes and it’s getting annoying. “That hug you two shared back at the crazy lady’s house was not a,” shifting the book underneath his arm, he makes air quotes, “’friend hug.’”
I roll my eyes, sweeping my hair out of them before returning my attention to the titles. “What does that even mean?” I slide out an ancient looking book that has a layer of dust on the top of it. “What even makes a hug qualify as a friend hug or a non-friend hug?”
Evan wiggles the book back into its place on the shelf. “The kind where you hug for way longer than what seems necessary.”
I shoot him a dirty look because he’s striking a nerve. “She thought I was dead—I thought I was dead.”
He shrugs and starts humming as he heads over to the end of the shelf. “Whatever. Just know, though, that she cried over Alex’s body a lot longer than yours.”
Shaking my head, I start to follow after him, fueled by a lot of anger. “I’m sorry, but do you have a problem with me?”
He stops near the window, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he gazes out at the lake. “No, I just see how stupid you’re acting,” he says. I’m about to shove him, when he adds, “I’ve been in that place.”
“What place?”
“The awkward friend place where the love is only one-sided.”
“That’s not where I am.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Seriously, man.” I walk backwards towards where I was searching the shelf. “Gemma and I are just friends. I’m actually with Aislin, but you don’t know that since you showed up like a few days ago.”
He shrugs, still staring out the window. “Whatever you say. I was just telling you from my own personal experience that it’s not going to work out in your favor.”
“I don’t have a favor,” I mutter under my breath, but as I say it, I realize I have no idea. About anything.
Maybe it’s time to change that, though. Maybe I need to start figuring stuff out about relationships, about life, about what I’m going to do for the decades and decades I have lying before me.
Alone.