Lacuna(1)

Chapter 11

The shriek of the doorbell cut through Evelyn's music. She took off her headphones, hearing talking from downstairs meaning her mom had already opened the door. Since Evelyn was a kid, she could always pick out whose footsteps were whose. Two sets made their way up the stairs. One was Max, the other unfamiliar. The footsteps made their way up the stairs and down the hallway, not past Evelyn's room meaning it was Max's. But who visits Max in the middle of the day? Evelyn thought, walking over to her door and cracking it open to, y'know, eavesdrop.

Through the muffle of Max's door, she could slightly make out Pip's voice. The big question is: why is she here again? Maybe Jess' interview had helped her.

"Thanks for that," Max said, closing the door which muffled it even more. Evelyn being Evelyn decided to instead stand right outside of the door to listen in. "My mom didn't need to know I've been talking about Andie and Sal again. The woman is a bloodhound, never lets anything go."

"Pitbull," Pip commented. "It's pit bulls that don't let things go."

Max's heavy footsteps moved across the room, his bed squeaking meaning he sat on it. "Whatever. What do you want?"

"I said. I want to know how well you really knew Andie."

"I already told you," he said, his bed squeaking again. "I didn't know her that well." Lies.

"Mmm." Pip hummed, a slight thump against his door. "Just acquaintances, right? That's what you said?"

"Yeah I did. I'll be honest, I'm starting to find your tone a little annoying."

"Good," Pip said. "And I'm starting to find your lies a bit annoying."

"What lies?" he said. "I didn't know her well." Your pants are on fire, Max, Evelyn thought.

"Interesting," Pip said. "I spoke to a witness who went to a calamity party that you and Andie attended in March 2014. Interesting because she said she saw you two alone several times that night looking pretty comfortable with each other."

"Who said that?"

"I don't share my sources."

"Oh my god," Max laughed. "You're deluded. You know you're not actually a police officer, right?"

"You're avoiding the question," she said. "Were you and Andie secretly seeing each other behind Sal's back?"

"No. No, I wasn't seeing Andie Bell. Like I said, I didn't know her that well." First part is true, the second part is still iffy.

"So why did my source see you together? In a manner that made her think you were actually Andie's boyfriend?"

"I don't know," he said. "Whoever it was, they were mistaken. Probably drunk. An unreliable source, you might say."

"Did you steal that one from Evelyn?" The floor beside Max's bedroom door creaked, whoever was walking was making their way farther into the room, presumably by his bulletin board. "So let's get this straight," Pip paced around the room, Evelyn mapping out Max's room in her head to try and imagine where Pip was. "You're saying you never spoke one-on-one with Andie at the calamity party?"

"I don't know if ever," Max said, "but it's not like you're implying."

"Why do you keep looking over there?" Pip asked, the floor creaking as she most likely turned, hurried steps toward Max's bulletin board.

"Hey, stop."

Max made his way to his feet quickly. Heavy footsteps made their way in the direction of where Pip had been prior.

"That's my private stuff!"

The sound of pulling and ripping came from behind the door.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Max huffed out.