Chapter 34
JAHNVI
W e’d reached DC at like eight o’cloc k and that was the only day we got to go sightseeing. The rest of the days were going to be spent in a musty school in stuffy suits on illegal amounts of caffeine, so I was ready to do all my relaxing that first day.
Everett had other plans.
Our team had a whole bus which was surprising because our speech budget was already stretched so thin. I had always thought a few extra cookies on a meeting would finish our budget, but our coach had somehow managed to secure a decent tour bus. Not that Everett noticed when I pointed it out.
He was on the phone on the entire ride to the first museum.
I overheard him mentioning flowers, so I knew it was something to do with the new change.
After the phone call, I looked over his shoulder to see him texting someone with a frown of concentration on his face.
I figured that with that much concentration, he must still be dealing with the flowers.
I was wrong.
He was texting Evelyn, the best friend with the yellow Volkswagen Beetle. The one that shows up to his house late at night.
There were two options here. I could be the demanding and controlling one, the girl everyone hates in the movies, or I could let it go. But it was really hard to turn a blind eye when I saw the absolute focus on his face as he texted her.
He was giving her his undivided attention. I barely get his undivided attention.
“Ev-Everett! We’re here.”
“Huh?” He looked up at me when I tugged his sleeve. He hadn’t even noticed the bus roll to a stop.
And when he got off the bus, he immediately veered away from the group so that he could keep texting her. Leaving me in the middle of the tour group all alone.
People were looking.
It’s not that a lot of people know about us; it’s not like Everett and I walk around, hand in hand, making out in the hallways like some people do. We aren’t telling people we’re together, but people know.
There was also the matter of what I’d even tell people.
I mean, what exactly were Everett and I?
We weren’t just friends anymore. I mean, most days did seem the same.
He still did his thing in school with his own group of friends and made the occasional joke at my expense. But sometimes he’d give me a look.
And that look...would leave me stumbling for hours after.
There was no way we were still just friends. And people knew that.
I joined a group of people I’d spoken to maybe once and listened to the tour guide, occasionally sneaking glances behind me to still see Everett with his head bent down. He was still texting at breakneck speed.
After a while, the group broke apart to explore on our own.
We all had to be back at a rendezvous point in two hours.
I had strayed from the group of people I had been talking to and was looking at something absentmindedly.
I don’t even remember what it was because I was trying so hard to ignore that pit in my stomach that comes from being ignored the entire day.
“Hey.” Everett came up behind me, breathless. “I’ve been trying to find you everywhere. I didn’t know you were so interested in the...possibility of aliens on Mars. Ha! That one kinda looks like KJ.” He pointed to a green cartoon alien on a poster.
Was it bad that I immediately smiled at him?
The anger I had instantly vanished and the pit in my stomach was replaced by something along the lines of relief.
Oh good. He’s back.
“And that one,” I said, pointing to a cardboard cutout of ET, “looks like you.”
I just couldn’t stay mad at him. Even with my limited, limited , knowledge of how a relationship is supposed to work, I knew this wasn’t right. I was supposed to talk to him, be honest and whatnot.
But I really didn’t want to ruin what I had. I didn’t want him to think I was the crazy girl who wasn’t letting him talk to any other person but me. What we have was delicate enough, and I was afraid that if I said something it might go away forever.
Everett bumped his arm against my arm. “It’s funny you say that because I’m not the one that’s only like, what, five feet?”
“Uh! I’m five feet and three whole inches tall, Everett, which isn’t that short. Just because you’re like the size of the mammoth from Ice Age —”
“You don’t know Manny the Mammoth’s name?” He pretended to faint. “Jahnvi, I can’t be seen with you anymore. You wound me!”
“Pfft! And you call me dramatic.”
He grinned as he looked up at a model airplane hanging above us.
He’s had a thing for space and airplanes ever since we were younger.
He spent the majority of elementary school telling people that he was going to be an astronaut, but that dream crashed after our fifth-grade theme park field trip when he’d nearly peed his pants on a roller coaster and puked up a bunch of cotton candy in a bush once we got off.
After that, he quickly changed his career path to something more. .. stationary.
“If I wasn’t absolutely terrified of my feet leaving the ground,” Everett muttered, still looking up, “I would’ve definitely found a way to be an astronaut. Or at least a pilot. Something up in the sky.”
I tugged his arm and started walking. “Since you were so busy earlier, you haven’t seen this part yet. Let me show you something.”
“Ow! You’re like pulling my arm out of its soc...ket...” He trailed off as I opened the door to an exhibit. It was mostly dark with the only sources of light being the projected stars and galaxies on the walls around us and the ceiling.
It was like we were in the stars without having to leave the ground.
I looked back at Everett. The light only illuminated one side of his face, but that was all I needed to see. I could tell how in awe he was.
His hand in mine went limp.
I thought he was going to let my hand go but when I moved, he immediately grasped it again. He yanked me toward him in a rough hug.
“Ha! Wait, Everett, people are gonna see.”
“No one’s around,” he whispered into my ear. Putting enough distance between us that he could cup my face with his hands, he looked down at me. “You know what’s strange? We’re literally surrounded by all these beautiful stars, and all I can seem to do is look at you.”
And with that, every single negative thought I’d had about him that day vanished instantly.