Sweet Little Lies

Promise

Evangeline~

All of this is piling up.

Homework, work, family, friends, an entire company expecting me to pay full attention to it. I don't know how much longer I can do this.

But I can't think about that right now. Grey should be here any minute, and my parents eagerly await his arrival.

They know nothing about him and I actually dating, and are fairly impressed about how real we are making it seem.

"My God you look incredible." Grey whispers into my neck, as we walk through the doors together. My face goes hot.

"My parents already love you, don't screw it up." I mutter to him, as we approach my parents, and siblings.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wright, a delight to finally be meeting you. I've heard nothing but good things." I smile, watching him shake their hands.

"As to you, Ellis." My father says. I forget that Ellis is his name. I'm so used to calling him Grey now.

"This is my older brother, Graham, and my sister, Paige." I say through a smile. He shakes their hands as well.

"I would love to talk with you later, however, this event isn't going to run itself." My father says, a chuckle escaping from his mouth.

"Of course." I say, as he walks away.

My mother and siblings disappear with him, leaving Grey and I.

I can't keep this fake smile act the whole time.
I drop it, allowing myself to somewhat relax.

I look up at Grey, his strong jawline standing out. The white tie is a perfect white. I'm surprised.

"You okay?" He questions.

Something inside of me shatters. Ive kept it in this long, why does it all want to come flooding out right now?

"I'm fine." My voice cracks. I swallow hard, trying to keep myself calm, but the tears are already glassing over my eyes, and my throat is burning.

"Evangeline," He pulls me close to him. My forehead against his chest, breathing in the scent of his cologne. I try to hide the fact that I'm crying, but my cries are uncontrollable.

"Talk to me. What's going on?" Genuine concern in his voice makes me cry even harder.

"I can't do this anymore. None of it. I can't." I sob.

"Can't do what?" He asks, his hands cupping my cheeks.

"There's always so much to do. Never a break. I just want to be nineteen again." I claim.

"Evangeline, listen to me." I look up at him, I'm sure my cheeks are red, and tear stained.

"You are capable of this. So many people look up to you, including me. I promise you, your family wouldn't have put you as CEO if they didn't think you could handle it." I know him telling me this, is supposed to make me feel better, but it just makes me cry more.

"Jesus, I don't know what my problem is." I sniffle. He wipes away a tear.

"You're stressed, and that's okay. I know that people want to help you Evangeline." Grey says. I lean my head on his shoulder.

"How do you handle it?" I question.

"It's hard, a lot of the time. But when I need help,
I ask for it, and when people offer to do things, I allow them to. It'a a lot of being okay with things." He tells me.

"I am beyond thankful to have everyone here today. We have been eagerly awaiting this launch of new products. However, none of this would have been possible, with my wonderful daughter, Evangeline." Grey pulls me closer by my waist. "Many were skeptical of her taking the position of CEO at such a young age, but, as we can see, our sales have only gotten better. Without Evangeline, who knows what would be going on with WrightLen right now. We would like to invite you to meet, and talk with Evangeline one on one." My father says. I sigh, putting that smile back on my face.

"You've got this, I promise." Grey kisses my cheek, before we walk back towards the party.