Finding Everett | ✔️

Chapter Twenty Six

"You're having fun though, right? I mean, if you traveled that far, I at least want you to have some fun."

Everett listened to Jesse, a small smile tugging onto his face as he listened to his brother mentioning all the different things to do in Flagstaff, Arizona. When he called Jesse thirty minutes ago, he didn't expect the onslaught of panic, happiness and curiosity that his younger brother answered the phone with.

Over the past minutes, Jesse made sure he told Everett of several places that he found on the internet with different things to do in the surrounding area. No one was entirely sure how long Lizzie and Everett would be there, though they couldn't imagine it being too very long. Either way, Jesse wanted them to be prepared, clearly.

For Everett, it was nice to see a bit of a different role in Jesse. It seemed like he always needed to step up as caretaker; now, he just stepped up as a brother. That was something Everett sorely missed.

Everett rolled back into the conversation from his train of thought he followed and playfully rolled his eyes, shaking his head. The mouth on the other end of the line still spoke and it didn't seem like a stop would be in the future. At least not anytime soon.

"Well, I don't know about all that stuff," Everett interjected, swiftly cutting his brother off and hopefully shifting gears in the conversation, "but I did have the pleasure of meeting someone really special the other day."

Several days already passed since Everett met Mandy. Lizzie and he went back a few times to visit and hang out. Everett absolutely adored the little girl, which surprised him considering how much he hated Lizzie when they first met. It seemed completely natured that Mandy and Everett forged a tight bond in those few days, much to Lizzie's surprise. But not to her disappointment.

Silence consumed the other end of the line. "Does this mean you don't like Lizzie anymore?" Jesse whined, making Everett burst out laughing from how distressed he really sounded. His brother was the biggest fan girl.

"I didn't mean special like that, you dork," Everett retorted, his head shaking back and forth. "I just meant she was a special person." He paused to think if Lizzie ever told him not to share the secret. But, then again, it wasn't really a secret. Everyone seemed to know, even the one person the secret should have been kept from.

"I met Lizzie's sister."

"Whoa, whoa, wait . . . what?" Jesse sputtered. It sounded like something had been in his mouth when Everett dropped the news, if the hacking and wheezing on the other end was anything to go by. Once Jesse had his breath back, he continued to sputter and groan and tried to find words to express his thoughts, most of which accumulated to 'I can't believe she didn't tell me' and 'The nerve of some people'. Or Everett's favorite, 'Dangit, Lizzie - I shared my Cheetos with you! You couldn't share the fact you had a sister?!'

Jesse muttered on and on for a few minutes, or at least Everett assumed. He sort of put the phone down after the first few lines, grabbing his drink and popping his back before picking the phone back up.

To his surprise, Jesse still let loose a stream of complaints about Lizzie not telling him and in return, Everett wanted to reach through the phone and smack him.

"Okay, okay, seriously?" Everett deadpanned. Jesse stopped and Everett continued, "We're still learning about Lizzie. I've come to accept that it's a normal concept of being friends. Besides, you knew tons of stuff about her before I did," he pointed out. "This little gem is all mine."

An indignant huff came from the other end and Everett grinned triumphantly. Jesse gave up and Everett would never forget it. "Do you wanna see a picture of her? Lizzie said she took one of us, so I can have her send it to you."