XIX: "Cola Courage"

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Evelyn Bellamy and her childhood friend, Ted Kennedy found themselves a quiet spot by the water under the bridge. They sat on the grass, drinking Coca Cola out of bottles. Evelyn let her hair free in the wind as Ted thought highly of her beauty as it was being shone on by the sun.

"Milana is very interesting." Ted chugged on his coke, distracting himself from looking at the girl for too long. "She is. She really is." Evelyn agreed, her eyes squinted as she was looking at the shiny river; the fresh water streaming delicately in front of them. "Hey, I just want you to know that it really doesn't matter to me who you've dated. You're still the great Evelyn to me." The boy raised his crystal clear bottle, toasting to her. "Thanks, Ted. I'm more nervous about Betty. She doesn't know Robert and I have history." Mouth gripping tight on her bottle, Evelyn shut her emerald eyes tightly. "Oh, I see. That's tough," Ted said, adding no actual meaning to the conversation. They sat quietly in serenity until Evelyn finished her drink.

"I'm sure she'll understand, but it's hard to tell someone the painful truth, you know?" Evelyn was thinking of Robert, but a different one — not the one they just met. "Yeah. I get it." Ted definitely did not. "Bobby would get it." Evelyn hinted at the boy, thinking he might tell her a thing or two about his departure. "Oh. So, you know..." He answered back, voice so quiet almost as if he was disappointed. "Since two months ago." The girl smiled at nothing, her eyes looking forward at the trees. "Hell, I only know about it a month ago." Ted shook his head with an eyebrow raised; perplexed with the truth.

"Heh. Your dad really is something." Evelyn chuckled, the agony inside her spaced out quickly, numbing the resentment she was feeling. "What?" Ted turned his face to Evelyn, revealing his utter confusion. "What? You don't know that your dad's arranging it?" Evelyn smirked, unbeknownst to the tangible truth.

"The wedding?" Ted uttered, graciously bewildered by the false revelation. "What— what wedding?" Evelyn shifted her body, twisting it to face Ted more clearly. "Holy shit, Eve." The boy chuckled, thinking Bobby was playing another game with the girl; not telling her anything just out of spite. "Edward, what wedding?" The girl was impatient, she was eager to know if it involves her secret lover. "Bobby's getting married after he graduates." It was so simple for Ted to say, he didn't even pause or had a moment of hesitation before uttering the words.

"Eve, he didn't tell you?!" He continued thinking out loud, but once the girl look mortified, Ted stopped talking. "No... and I'm beginning to wonder why." Evelyn's voice was soft; there was a slight change of tone. Her eyes were hollowed, not even a mind reader could get her thoughts correct at that moment. "Well, he's getting married to Ethel, unsurprisingly." Ted shrugged as Evelyn's worst-case scenario was no longer a scenario.

"Did he... refuse?" A tiny bit of hope left in Evelyn, it was the last question she had. "Not really. He was the one who proposed it." More shrugging from the boy who knew too much. "That can't be. No, no way. He wouldn't do that," the girl mumbled frantically, unable to process her thoughts sensibly, there was no more hiding her true feelings. "What do you mean?" Ted's heart beats faster, he was afraid — afraid of what was happening to Evelyn, it seemed like she drifted away.

"Why would he do that?!" Then, the anxiety truly kicked in for both of them. "Why would he just... love her again?" The nerves around Evelyn's eyes sore achingly before tears accumulated. "Because they are in love." The boy answered. Evelyn, with her shattered heart, looked straight into Ted's eyes and uttered, "You don't understand... he despised her." She brings it to the fore.

"He probably said that 'cause he just wanted to get in your pants." Ted broke the eye contact, shifting his cold blue eyes elsewhere. "What the hell's wrong with you?!" Evelyn's handgrip on the coke bottle tightened, she could almost break it if she tried harder. "What!? I'm just saying, if you gave in to him, he'd still ignore you as he is now." But the problem for Evelyn at the moment was that she definitely gave in to Bobby. "Just be glad you didn't. Now you see how he truly is." Ted proceeded to take Evelyn on a trip down the guilty lane.

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