Not Today | ✔️

Chapter Twenty Five.

"Darling, you look perfect tonight..."

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"Evelyn Adaline Sable!"

"Uh, yes?"

"Recap this for me, because I don't seem to understand. You've been doing what? For how long?" Evelyn's dad, Matthew, said as he paced back and forth.

"About a month?" Evelyn whispered.

"A month!" he exclaimed, stopping in one spot and pinching the bridge of his nose, taking a calming breath. "You've been sneaking this boy into your room for a month and we didn't know?"

Evelyn wasn't sure if she was supposed to answer, so she stayed silent.

"Anette, are you hearing this?" her dad shouted, looking over at her mom.

"Oh yeah, I'm hearing it," her mom said, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"And you're okay with it?" he asked, bewildered.

"Not in the slightest, but I'd rather her not see us blow up every time she makes a mistake. Then she'll never be honest with us in the future, because she'll be too afraid," her mom said.

Matthew narrowed his eyes. "Damn you for being the brains between the two of us."

Anette shrugged with a smile and Evelyn looked back and forth between the two characters she called her parents, unsure of whether she was supposed to be amused or nervous.

"Evelyn," her dad started.

"Yes?"

"Are you two..." he started to ask, trailing off with a grimace.

"No!" she exclaimed, her face heating.

"Then why is he staying in your room at night?" her dad asked suspiciously, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I..." Evelyn sighed, tugging on her bottom lip. "I was worried about his home life, honestly, so I gave him my number and address and he ended up coming over one night. Before I knew it, one night became twenty."

"His home life?" her dad asked, immediately going from protective father to concerned parent. "Is he okay?"

"He just turned eighteen and he recently got a job. I think he's planning to move out, but he doesn't have a lot saved up, so he's kind of stuck with his dad right now. And his dad is... not the greatest to him," Evelyn explained.

Evelyn's dad blew out a breath and came to sit next to her on the couch. "Why keep it a secret, then? Why not just tell us?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just thought you wouldn't let him stay if I told you."

"Well, what changed now? Why are you letting us know now?"

"Honestly? I like him. I like him a lot and it was very different to have a friend staying in my room without you guys knowing than this," she admitted.

"Are you guys dating?" her dad shot up from the couch, a horrified expression on his face.

"What? No! I just have a crush, that's all," she mumbled, looking down, embarrassed.

It wasn't an easy conversation to have with her parents, but it was important. She valued honesty above anything else and she'd always been honest with her parents. Evelyn had kept this secret for far too long, especially with the direction in which her feelings were going. Her heart had hopped on a train and had been heading straight for 'I got the hots for Tristan' land.