𝗜𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 | 𝐁𝗼𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲/𝗥𝗙𝗞

XXXIV: "High Noon"

A young dame was smoking by the water fountain in a mix of serenity and sorrow; like an angel who's expelled from heaven and cursed to walk the earth, a place identical to hell. "Evelyn!" And there was the devil himself, smiling to himself as he treaded carefully towards her. In a passive-aggressive manner, Evelyn murmured, "If it isn't my favorite Kennedy." Carefully veiling her hostility. "What have I done now?" The old man quipped in a millisecond — it runs in the family. To scoff or not to scoff, Evelyn pondered for the right answer. "Walk with me, will you?" Joe requested, lending an arm for the damsel to hold onto — just like a member of the oldest profession.

As they strolled peacefully through the garden of George Skakel's enormous house, Evelyn stared intently at Joe — and his glasses that she had always found outré. The man gently sighed, he could feel the stare Evelyn gave, and the fury in her chartreuse eyes. "Listen, Evelyn..." Joe eventually stopped in his tracks once they reached the gazebo at the center of the garden. While he was searching for the right words to utter, Evelyn waited impatiently. "I know about you and my son," Joe said. Evelyn quickly responded, "Which son?" It was to deflect the imminent confrontation. "Very amusing. You and Bobby were seeing each other before this whole thing came into picture, correct?" The outré round glasses enhanced the stern businessman look he was going for, but that was not Evelyn's main focus anymore.

"Hold on, Joe, who told you?" The hesitancy that usually had a grip on Evelyn immediately vanished once she realized somebody had told on her, she was no longer afraid of Joe — she already had one person in mind, too. "I know it was a long time ago. But I do want to apologize to you," The man continued, pretending he was having hearing problems. He reached out for Evelyn's hands but was rejected when she glared visibly at him. "Tell me, who told you?" She still needed her answer, and Joe needed forgiveness — well, more like a clarification that the woman wouldn't hold it against him when they work together for Hollywood. "Evelyn, we both know it wouldn't work." Joe placed his hand on the dainty, cold shoulder of the starlet. She kept thinking, "how can a voice be so gentle and lethal at the very same time?" It was an act of betrayal, again, by another Kennedy.

"Why not?" Evelyn brought it to question. Why not, she asked — if Joe was a businessman, he surely could give her a straight answer. "Oh," Joe exclaimed casually. "There are so many reasons, I thought you'd be smart enough to see one!" He guffawed so loud, it echoed off the trees in the garden. Evelyn furrowed a brow in disbelief, it wasn't hatred she was feeling; it was just a rude awakening of Joe's true colors. The big, foolish grin on the man's visage quickly faded as he realized they weren't on the same page. "You have a bright future, Evelyn! And Hollywood isn't very keen on hiring housewives," Joe explained, with or without realizing he had disparaged Evelyn into a mere money-maker. "I don't have time for this," She whispered to herself — normally, she'd slam the old man down by essentially screaming, 'fuck the patriarchy', but she cared too much for what she had with his son.

"Just tell me, did you know about Bobby and me before we ended things? You owe me an answer," Evelyn dolorously asked, the stars in her eyes that made her so angelic were gone. Joe saw the tears accumulating in the girl's eyes; it reminded him of the time when she was just a little girl, asking if Bobby would be free in the afternoon because she wanted to listen to Edith Piaf with him on her new Magnavox record player. "How did we get here, dear? How did my boy turn a beautiful thing like you into this? He had made a complete mess out of you..." He trailed off in his speech, for Evelyn, her tears trailed off her face like a braided river. "I knew before you even fell for him. He looked after you more than he did with his own sisters. You're too good for him, Evelyn... sincerely." Joe wasn't the type to care much for anyone but his family, but the Bellamys were a family of people he had respect for. And he respected Evelyn, in his own way. Seeing the girl shedding her youthful tears on his son that hadn't made him proud yet seemed like a waste of time and sorrow.