bitter | e.d

| nine

SATURDAY MORNING, 10:28 AM
EVIE'S POV

a wet tongue licking my face is what wakes me up.

I turn onto my other side, bringing the blankets up higher over me. "harley," I groan, feeling her paws walking over me to reach my face again. "let me sleep."

I barely got any sleep last night since I didn't get home until almost three in the morning. the moment I reached my bed, I knocked out. so I currently refuse to wake up.

she starts licking my cheek again, and her heavy breathing in my ear finally grosses me out and forces me to get up. I turn onto my back and squint my eyes open, seeing harley on top of me practically slobbering all over my sheets.

"you're a pain in the ass, you know that?" I grumble, rubbing my eyes and probably smearing leftover mascara under my eyes. harley's ears perk up when I speak, obviously not understanding that I'm complaining about her. rather, she settles herself on my stomach and lays her head on my chest. her big brown eyes look into mine endearingly.

this little fucker knows she's cute.

I give in, letting out a defeated sigh as I lightly rub her neck. even though she just interrupted me from sleeping, which is a fairly serious offense, I could never stay mad at her. she's literally a gentle giant.

guaranteed, she's the only thing in the world that can make me feel soft.

she enjoys my affection, wagging her tail in appreciation. I give her one more good scratch behind the ears before patting her back and signaling for her to get off of me. she obeys and hops off my bed, allowing me to follow suit. I yawn since I still could've used a few more hours of sleep, but I'd rather be productive with my day.

by binge watching horror movies on the couch.

on my way out of my room, I catch a glance of my appearance in the mirror and it's not a pretty sight. I never got a chance to wipe off my makeup or change out of my clothes from last night—I'm still wearing ethan's shirt.

suddenly feeling icky, I take a detour down the hall and start heading to the bathroom to clean up instead. but the loud sound of a pan clanging against something stops me. especially since no one should be home.

harley's already raced down the stairs to investigate. she's attracted to noise, I've realized.

I walk downstairs as well and peer into the kitchen. to my surprise, it's andrew at the stove who was making all the noise. my mom always works weekends and andrew is always gone on weekends too doing god knows what. it's weird to see him actually here for once, and making breakfast.

bummer. there go my plans for binge-watching movies on the couch.

since I don't want to talk to him, I slowly start backing away so he doesn't hear me behind him. but one of harley's chew toys is in my path and I step on it, making me jump from the abrupt sound. fuck. as a last resort, I decide to just rush back upstairs but it's too late. andrew stops me.

"wait!" he calls out, his voice firm. "get down here, evie." the tone in his words makes me think he's upset with me. but then again, isn't he always?

I begrudgingly turn myself around and mope into the kitchen, finding him watching me as I walk in. he has the pan in his hand and a spatula in the other, and he serves the eggs he was making onto a plate on the table. then he puts the dishes he used into the sink, which either I or my mom will be forced to wash later.

"sit." andrew gestures at the seat in front of where his eggs are plated. I hesitantly take the seat while he also sits in front of me, leaving us much closer than I ever would've liked. I often avoid being near him.