no one said it would be easy

Chapter 22 - glossy streets

Izzie

"Thank you so much Evan, I can't thank you enough", Casey's head wobbles back and forth and I try to stable her body every time her forehead nearly touches the driver's seat, but it's no use.

"Yeah, you know this isn't the first time I see her this drunk, so I'm kinda used to taking care of this dumb one back there", he chuckles a bit and his eyes find mine through the rear mirror.

Evan drives into a roundabout which causes Casey's head to circle around. I've had enough and push her whole body down, her head lying in my lap now. She groans a bit but then continues to sleep.

I stroke my fingers through her hair, just to have something to do.

"I'm sorry I woke you up in the middle of the night", I say, focusing on the way Casey's eyes move behind closed lids.

After I partly walked, partly carried Casey out of the house, I basically had three options:

We could've walked home, but it's quite a distance to walk home, even when you're sober. There's no way Casey and I would've made it home within a few hours. Besides you never know who's out there at night. So I quickly stroke that off from the list.

It was an option to call Doug, but Casey (and I probably) would've gotten into big trouble and even though I never saw Casey's Dad angry, I didn't want to gain experience in seeing him angry.

Evan was the best bad option I had, so I decided to call him with Casey's phone. It wasn't even that hard to get into it, considering she uses face ID, but I'm kinda surprised the camera recognized her in her condition.

Casey twitches in her sleep and I let out a small giggle.

"She twitched again, didn't she?", Evan asks.

I lift my head to look at Evan's silhouette. He has both hands on the steering wheel. The traffic lights let his eye flicker in a steady beat and the shadow play makes him look older than he actually is.

I sigh: "Yeah, she does that a lot when she's sleeping or currently falling asleep."

Evan activates the indicator and makes a sharp right turn. "But her twitching is less annoying than her snoring", he chuckles a bit.

I have to genuinely laugh: "Oh god, she's so loud. It's like she's sawing broader trees!"

We drive past a McDonald's and I suddenly crave some fast food, but I'm too afraid to ask Evan to pull into the drive through. He's already taking us home; he's already done enough for us.

Casey murmurs something in her sleep which sounds like "this car is like a boat" but I'm not sure.

I let out a sigh, which takes Evan's attention. I feel him looking at me through the rear mirror.

"Are you okay? I can make a stop if you need to puke", he offers, being more friendly than needed.

"No, it's okay, thank you", I say and my gaze wanders to my window. At some point it started to rain, making the streets look glossy. My eyes follow a single rain drop that's racing down the glass, while my breath fogs up the window.

"Can I ask you a question?", Evan asks. He stops at a red light, giving him a short second to turn his head to look at me with Casey's head in my lap.

"Uhm, yeah", I mumble, expecting an awkward Evan-like conversation.

He turns his head back to the front, nodding to himself in a quick movement: "Is Casey still into UCLA?"

I knit my brows in surprise and confusion.

"Uh yeah...? I guess so. I mean she – we're not training as much as we used to, but life's been so messy lately... I don't know, I feel like she's somehow dropping her passion to be there for me."

Evan gives me a quick look before engaging the first gear.

"Well, she's setting priorities", he starts scratching the place behind his right ear, "and you seem to be her top priority now."

I look down to the bundle of messy brown hair in my lap.

Evan continues his speech: "Look, what I'm about to say isn't meant to sound smartass or something like this. But you mean a lot to her. You're probably her favorite human being right now."

"Eva-", I try to stop him, but he holds up his hand, signaling me to keep quiet for a moment.

"What I mean is: You have an impact on her. And I know you can push her to achieve her goals and dreams. So please do it. I want her to be happy. She's already seeming happy to be with you, now help her get into that college."

I play with the end of a loose hair strand from Casey, twirling it around my finger, making little curls after some time.

Her eyes move behind her lids and a loud snore escapes her lips.

I hear Evan chuckling in the driver's seat and I look at him again: "Man, I hope you have a backup plan if the little stumblebum back there starts snoring like this when you two live together in the dorms."

"Don't worry, I have earplugs", I joke and Evan and I both laugh at my joke.

But I can't stop thinking about Evan's words.

I was so self-absorbed I never thought about how my situation stops Casey from fulfilling her dream.

Things have to change. As soon as Casey slept off her drinking spree we're gonna train like crazy for UCLA.

I promise you Evan. I won't let us down.