Chapter 36
JAHNVI
N ormal rounds lasted two days, then people started getting eliminated as the octofinals and quarterfinals came around. If I thought I was nervous before, I was so wrong.
After the end of the seco nd day, my stomach was squeezing in such a way that made it almost impossible for me to eat.
Tonight, at nine, was when they’d release online who’d made it into the octofinal round and who hadn’t.
If I didn’t make it, then I was done competing, and my speech season was over.
I didn’t want to end it like this, so I needed to qualify for the next day’s rounds.
“You okay?” Someone muttered quietly behind me, distracting me from my anxious thoughts.
Everett.
Luckily, we had found a mutual agreement.
Once we were inside the school, we were competitors.
Sure, I no longer spilled coffee on his socks, and he didn’t make fun of how I limped in my heels toward the end of the day when my feet were burning but we were competitors like we were before.
When we passed in the halls, we politely nodded.
He would keep walking without stopping to look at me with his deep eyes or give me a hug and send my thoughts scattering.
And I was thankful.
This tournament was...important to me. Very important, because it was the last one I would ever compete in. I was done after this.
I was graduating.
And I needed to finish well. After this, I didn’t know how many chances I would get to perform.
I didn’t think Acting 101 was a prerequisite in business school, so this was the last chance I would get at finaling at a big national tournament.
Sure, those trophies I collected would eventually get stored in an attic and, as Everett said, it’s never that serious .
But it was to me. So, I couldn’t let him distract me.
Not now.
But I couldn’t say that I wasn’t missing him.
I missed the hidden touches we had in the halls back at school; I missed those deep conversations we had at EJ’s ; I missed the warmth I felt when he hugged me and cradled my head against his chest. I fit so snugly against him, and I felt perfectly protected.
I’d missed him more than anything in the world.
So the way he was looking at me in this moment was even more painful.
The entire team was having dinner at the restaurant inside of the hotel and Everett was sitting right next to me. He had already devoured his burger and wiped his plate clean of every fry, while I couldn’t even touch my barbeque flatbread.
“Jahnvi,” he repeated, “You okay?”
“Yeah.” With difficulty, I broke his gaze and took a sip of cold water. He was staring at me so intensely that I felt my entire face warm up instantly.
“You haven’t eaten at all though.”
“I’m gonna puke it all up if I eat it. You want it?” I pushed the plate toward him. He was never one to reject free food, thankfully, so he took the plate from me.
“Here.” He split the flatbread with a knife and gave me a third of it. “What did your mom used to say? Pennywise is going to drag you down a sewer if you don’t finish it.”
I laughed. “I’m not going near any sewer because I’ll be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.”
“Oh no you’re not.”
“Huh?”
With a quick look to make sure no one was looking, he leaned toward me and whispered, “We’re off to get real food after this; there’s this Indian restaurant two blocks down that has great reviews. I don’t know about you, but I can’t take any more of this White-people food.”
I smiled. “As fun as that sounds, we can’t leave the building.”
He rolled his eyes. “Right, come on ! I’m dying for something that’s seasoned with more than just salt and pepper.”
“Everett, I—”
“I know you; you’re not going to be able to sleep with results coming out soon. Let me distract you, please? Also, it’s like I can feel my taste buds dying slowly.”
Dramatic . I rolled my eyes, but he was right about one thing: I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Maybe I did deserve a break. A distraction.
And so, thirty minutes later, I was walking down the lobby making sure my coach was nowhere in sight. I had taken a shower to get all the speech stress off me and changed into a dark green dress with little red flowers on them and puffy sleeves.
Everett was sitting on the couch near the doors and was sipping tea from his mug, as usual.
Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing him in a suit.
Like, I love, love , it. But it was refreshing to see him back in his usual clothes.
He was wearing a dark blue sweater vest over a half-sleeve white shirt and gray pants.
He’d tucked in his vest, which was something he never did.
Looking closer, I also noticed that he had on a new coat of nail polish and his hair was done a bit differently so that it looked more professional instead of like he’d just woken up.
Had he done this for me?
He had spent time in front of a mirror to try and look his best for me .
And, I had done the same. I had worn the infamous red hair bow that had littered his car for who knows how long and put on some makeup.
Of course, it was under the lie that I didn’t want to look dead But if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to look good for him.
I wanted to look good for him.
Like this was some date.
I mean, it sure felt like one. Everett, in perfect character, stood up and gave me a single glance up and down before smiling and saying a flawless response.
“God, I missed you”
I missed you too. I missed you so, so much.
Flustered with the way he was looking at me, I brushed it off.” Uh... I...thanks! Should we get going?”
Everett smiled a yes and then stuck out his hand. I laced my fingers through his before I even realized the implications.
I was going to walk down a very crowded street holding Everett James’s hand.
So, this was it.
Our first real outing together. A date. My first date. I had thought about it since middle school and maybe would tell my kids about it in the distant future. It was a milestone, and I was going to be completing it with Everett.
We were walking in public hand in hand. With the way Everett gently steered me through the slightly crowded streets, onlookers could easily tell we weren’t just friends.
Or maybe it was the way he occasionally glanced down at me in a way like he was memorizing my face.
Or, how his hand periodically gripped mine a bit tighter to make sure I was still there.
I couldn’t meet his eyes for the entire walk.
Only in the solitude of my room during the wee early moments of the morning when it felt like everyone else in the world was asleep had I ever thought about what it would be like to date Everett James.
In my bed, I would imagine what being his new girlfriend would be like from what I could overhear from his exes.
Sai Brahma said he bought her flowers before every date he ever took her on.
Lexi from health class mentioned that he never once interrupted or took his eyes off her when she spoke about how painting miniature elves was her passion.
Nalia A. said he even carried her to his car because her feet were too tired from her platform heels, but Nalia has a habit of stretching the truth. Even if she was lying, everyone else was telling the truth.
He was rumored to be perfect.
And I was...not.
This insecure feeling was new. Really new. But the reason I was feeling it now was because of what Everett means to me. With any other boy, I would have waved my feelings off quickly and been unconcerned with what someone else thought of me.
But I do care what Everett thinks of me because I wouldn’t be able to handle it if he left. He’s just been around too long.
So, when we walked into the restaurant and got to our table that Everett had reserved beforehand, I was naturally nervous. He was literally the picture-perfect version of a date; hell, he even scooted my chair back to help me sit.
Who does that outside of books?
I wanted to be the perfect girl for him just like he was the perfect boy for me. And what can I say, I was one of the best actors in the state of Illinois.
One perfect date coming right up!