Another One (Book 3 of selection fanfics)

Chapter 20

"So, did I miss anything while I was gone?" I asked Everly, swinging my legs over the side of an armchair. We'd been forced out of Genevieve's room after an angry nurse barged in, demanding that we leave so she could check her vitals. Even though she had been addressing two princesses, she had no qualms about literally dragging us to the door. Conversation cut short, Everly had invited me into her room.

"Besides Gen's coma and a battalion of guards moving in? Not much," she rolled her eyes as she fiddled with a camera on her desk. "Derek was a wallowing mess of self-loathing and angst."

"Really?"

"Oh, please," she chucked a pillow at my head. "Don't act like you don't know. He broke his own heart by sending you home. Didn't know what to do with himself, so he hibernated in his room all day, leaving only for meetings and visiting time with Gen."

"Yeah, I guess I know that now." I spoke, choosing to look anywhere but her. I could feel her eyes on me, waiting for me to elaborate on Derek. But I didn't want to talk about my love life anymore, not when so many unspoken words lay between Derek and I. We knew we loved each other—but neither of us had addressed what was holding us back, what was holding Derek back from making a decision.

"What about you and James?"

My words surprised her and always-put-together Everly dropped a camera lens as she fumbled for a response. She finally managed to gather the pieces and blew a stray piece of hair out of her face as she stared me down. "What about us?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You know what I mean."

"Do not."

"Do to."

"Do not!"

I groaned. "Has anything happened between you two? A hug? A kiss? An exchange in which you profess your undying love for one another and ride off into the sunset towards your happily ever after?"

"Don't be ridiculous. James doesn't love me." She sniffed and stood up, opening her closet to stash the camera with a drawer filled to the brim with them.

"Of course he does! Why wouldn't he? You're amazing," I frowned and stood up to follow as she walked deeper into the closet.

"Maybe he does, but not in the way I thought he did. Not in the way I want him to," the sadness in her voice broke my heart, though I still didn't know the cause for it. She was rummaging now, as if looking for something only she didn't know what to look for. Her movements were frantic, confused, rushed.

"Ev, I don't know what you're talking about but-,"

Her head whipped up suddenly, surprising me and cutting off the rest of my words. "James loves me as a sister. That's it. And his feelings are never going to change because he's in love with someone else and there's nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can do to change how he feels or how I feel, because I've been in love with him for years. And don't even try to tell me that it's probably weird to him because we've grown up together, because it damn well doesn't affect how he feels about Genevieve."

That stopped me in my tracks. "Genevieve? What do you-?"

Everly's shoulders sagged, wisps of hair flying out of her once perfect braid as her resolve died. Her lip wobbled as the words streamed out. "James is in love with Genevieve. Has been for years. And don't try to deny it—he told me himself."

A beat of silence passed, filled only with Everly as she stared at me, shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Oh, Ev..."

Her tears burst suddenly and I rushed to embrace her. She was shorter than me, her head only reaching just above my chin. She held onto me as if I were a life raft in the middle of a torrent ocean, her small stature shivering as if frigid winds whipped at her.