F•R•I•E•N•D•S

T•W•E•N•T•Y•F•O•U•R

Everly

The exhaustion from todays work tolls on me more than the past week. All my classes were dishing out more homework and projects than I could keep up with, not to mention, this book club I'd recently join on account of Ishika. The bubbly brown skinned woman loved her novels more than I loved hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.

Kennedy and Mikayla were hanging out in our room, scrolling through their phones on her twin bed. I greet them both with a smile, before busying myself with laundry. Every so often Mikayla would giggle at her phone, coaxing the nosy side of Kennedy Banks that couldn't help herself. Seriously, you could never have a secret that she wouldn't try to find out.

Except for the one where I'm broke as hell, on a scholarship, while fronting as this 'rich girl'. Yeah, can't forget about that.

"Alright Kayla," Kennedy speaks up after the umpteenth giggle. "What's his name?"

Mikayla sits up straight way, pulling on her best impression of a blank look. "What name? A boy? Who?"
Her obviousness gave it away faster than my professor switching the notes on the e-board.

With a blank look, Kennedy stares back at her. "Fine," the Asian whines. "He's just this guy I met at an open mic night one of my friends invited me to. His name's Adam, he's a musician, and he's super hot!"

A chortle leaves my lips, which I pass of as a sneeze. I didn't want them to know I was eavesdropping; or as much as I could, what with being in the same room and all.

"He sounds like a dream Kayla! Oooo you're so lucky. I feel like I have the hardest time with guys," Kennedy confesses.

"Oh puh-lease," Mikayla exaggerates. "You're extremely beautiful, you're rich and famous. You? Boy troubles? Ha!"

"I'm serious though! Half of them just want me because I'm a Banks, and the other half wants me because duh, all they want is to have sex."

A coughing fit troubles me as I fight to keep my water down. I swear I hate it when liquid 'goes down the wrong throat' as my grandma would say.

"I'm good," I tell them between coughs. When I'm composed again, I watch Mikayla as she takes in my side of the room. She doesn't show any signs of disgust or disdain, so that could only mean that she likes my decorating. Call it what you will, but it's a big deal to me when people like my handiwork.

Leisurely, she struts over to my side, touching each picture of my family, running her hand over my notes calendar, and then plops her butt onto my desk chair.

"What about you? Any luck with boys?" Mikayla inquires.

Without my permission, my mind wanders years in the past to when I'd gotten asked out by my crush in middle school. He was on the varsity baseball team, and was friends with everyone in the school; he had the works.

It was after a Monday game when he trotted over to where I sat in the stands and asked me to grab a bite with him. I was ecstatic. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I even wanted to tell my sister, but she wasn't around much. So, I kept it to myself. I told my grandparents that I was studying over at a friend's and they believed me right away. No ifs, ands or buts.

Long story short, we had a great dinner. It wasn't until he walked me home where we both stood under the dimmed porch lights. He made no move to leave and I didn't encourage the idea. It felt good wanting to be around someone new for a change.
After our short exchange of words, he leaned in to kiss me and I let it happen. Sweet. Serene. Innocent.

It felt like a dream come true.

It wasn't until his hands got curious, that I decided to call it a night. But he still wanted to wander. I kept asking him to stop as nicely as I could but he wouldn't listen. He finally did when I kneed him in the groin.
The next day at school, he had told everyone that we went all the way and they all believed him. Even my own sister.

From then on, I never really took interest in a guy serious.

"Oh no," I chuckle a bit. "You know me, work work work, no play. I wouldn't even have time for one anyways."

She bobs her head in understanding and turns to fiddle with something on my desk. Since I had already started folding my stuff, I decided to commit and finish it through while listening in on their crazy boy stories.

About an hour later, my phone rings from atop my comforter just as I was putting my last bit of T-shirts away. Without looking at the I.D, I prop it up to my ear.

"Hello?"

Quiet sobs is all I can hear until the person whispers through the phone. "Everly," my sister voice calls me.

Forgetting everything at the moment, my worry deepens with every passing second. "Emily? What's going on?"
My sister almost never calls me. The only time she said she'd hit me up is if someone's dying; and I prayed that that wasn't the case now.

"You have to come home it's-" a few more watery sobs is heard through the receiver. "It's Granddad."

Nothing more was needed to be said. It was like a switch flipped in me. I forgot she was still on the phone because I was packing a bag frantically.

The girls seemed to notice my distress though. "Everly what's the matter?" Kennedy asks.

"It's my grandfather; something terrible has happened and I need to go." I threw whatever miscellaneous items I'd probably need in my duffel bag and head for the door.

"Well I'm coming with you," she says firmly.

"No, we are," Mikayla chimes in.

If it wasn't for the weight of the situation I would've hugged them. I never thought that they would've cared for me so much, but I am pleasantly happy to be wrong. On the other hand, if they do come they'd see my humble home life and they'd knew I was fronting the whole time.
I can't risk that. Not when things were going well.

"Thanks girls, but I've got to do this on my own." Despite their protests, I manage to leave our room and the building in record time, shaking as I made my way to the parking lot.
The sun had set hours ago and I wanted to make it home before it got any later than now.

"Crap! Where's my keys?" The small handbag that Kennedy gave to me was a mess as I dug around searching for the item in question. I was so caught up in everything that I didn't see Ben walking towards me.

"Everything okay?" He gives me that knowing look.

"I'm fine, I just need to find my darn keys," I mutter, still in search.

"Well I could help? Maybe if you dump everything out it'll-"

"I got it! Okay?" The polite response comes out more of a desperate chaotic mess. It felt like I was on my last straw. Images of my granddad's lifeless body kept floating through my mind, adding to the stressfulness.

"I'm sorry, I just... I need to go." By now, the tears had started to free fall. Keeping them at bay was no use. At least it was him and not some random person.

Assessing the situation, he approaches me like one would a caged dog. "Everly, I'm not sure what's going on, but you can explain it to me in the car. I'm not going to let you drive like this, especially at night."

He reaches for my purse that I let slip off my shoulders. It only takes him five seconds to find my keys. It made me feel even more useless that I couldn't find my own keys in this state.
Without another word, he gently takes my duffel bag from me and leads me to my car. I didn't put up a fight either. Truth be told, I'm glad I wasn't driving. I knew I couldn't see through the tears anyway.

The car engine starts up, sputtering a few times before turning over. He looked so foreign in my little buggy with his large frame. It almost made me smile.

With a good hour or so of time before we got there, I let my tears fall completely. Unashamed of why they were doing so. Ben didn't seem to mind either, nor that I didn't explain to him what was going on.
He just sat there silently, driving as fast and as legal as he could.

The whole time holding my hand.