107 P.M.—The Button Manor #2
“Romeo?” He looked up in slight alarm, searching for the source of the very unfamiliar sound of someone calling his name. He was met with what he thought was the loveliest face he’d ever seen. A very familiar lovely face, for that matter. It was one he hadn’t seen in almost three years.
“Evie?”
In a lot of ways, she still looked exactly the same. But somehow different too. Older. They’d been fourteen when they’d last seen each other, and they were very much not fourteen anymore.
She smiled then and bounded over to him excitedly. “Oh my god, it is you! When did you get so tall?”
“I wasn’t aware that I was tall,” he said, returning her smile.
A nervousness began to settle over him as he looked down at her, taking all of her in.
Evie’s hair was tied in a low braided bun with loose strands framing the sides of her heart-shaped face.
She was dressed casually in a sweater dress and boots.
“When I last saw you, I was at least an inch or two taller than you, and now I’m literally breaking my neck trying to look up at you,” Evie said, and then as if to demonstrate, she craned her neck back dramatically.
Romeo couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, your neck might actually snap when you see Octavius and Bilal. I’m usually referred to as the short brother,” he replied, which was only half-true.
Romeo was more often referred to by other names that had nothing to do with height, and more to do with his ineptitude.
But it was true that he was the shortest of the three brothers.
Octavius had a good three inches of height on him and Billy towered over them all.
“I saw Bilal on my way in. He’s gigantic! What is my mother putting in your breakfasts?” Evie asked playfully.
“Considering the fact that Octavius is at boarding school and Bilal basically eats and sleeps at the training center in the city, they don’t have the good fortune of eating your mom’s food as much as I do.”
“I didn’t realize Octavius was at boarding school,” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, a few years now. It was a pretty unexpected decision to be honest, as we’ve only ever been homeschooled.
Plus, I don’t think my brother deals all that well with rigid schedules or authority,” Romeo replied, then added, “Anyway, I wouldn’t be so quick to put the blame on your mother just yet. ”
Evie looked pensive for a moment, her dark eyes glittering. “Well, don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this height mystery one way or another.” She winked in a way that made Romeo’s stomach somersault unexpectedly.
“Oh, I have every belief that you will, Evie Gray,” he said.
Evie smiled at him in response and then moved to lean against the wall beside him, now joining him in observing the room. There was something delicate and subtle about her movements, possibly a habit she’d picked up from years and years of ballet.
“This seems new,” she said, making her first observation. Her curious eyes danced around the library and all the strangers confined in the space with them. “I don’t remember there being a press conference ahead of the Prodigy Ball before?”
Romeo nodded. “All of it is new. The conference, the ball being on the yacht—”
“Oh, right. Thank God I’ve gotten over my seasickness.”
“Yeah, my dad wanted to go all out for the tenth anniversary. He’s even got some huge, explosive, gravity-defying surprise—all his words—planned for the event but won’t say what.
It honestly sounds like a threat, like he’s promising us all an early death or something,” he joked, but he instantly regretted it when he saw Evie’s smile falter and her eyes dim a little.
He felt like the worst person on earth. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have joked about that. I didn’t think—”
She shook her head. “No need to apologize at all. I was just lost in my head for a moment there,” she said. Her smile returned but he couldn’t tell how genuine this one was.
“Still, I shouldn’t have—” Romeo began, but she didn’t let him finish.
“Truly, it’s fine. I’m fine, we’re all fine.
It’s been three years now. We’ve found ways to laugh about this morbid, fucked-up world we all live in.
In fact, I’d prefer to laugh about it. Adam’s probably laughing about it wherever he is now—heaven, hell, purgatory …
Spain,” Evie said, shrugging as she spoke of her dead brother in the same casual tone someone might use to talk through their weekly shopping list.
It’s been three years now … It felt like Adam’s death had happened both yesterday and also so long ago.
Romeo felt the sudden urge to ask if she was okay but decided against it. How would she even begin to answer that question? How could anyone be okay after losing their sibling?
The rising voices of the journalists filled the space between them for a few brief moments. Bilal and Perdita went from looking bored and scrolling through their phones to quietly talking to each other.
“I bet it’s drones,” Evie suddenly said.
“What?” Romeo replied.
“The big, explosive, gravity-defying thing your father is planning … I’d bet it’s a drone show. Sounds like it from your description, anyway,” she said with a shrug.
Romeo had only a vague idea of what a drone show was, and it did sound a lot like his father. He’d thought the obvious answer would have been fireworks, but then again his father had a thing for spectacles that were grand and unpredictable.
“You’re probably right,” Romeo said with a nod.
“I tend to be right about most things,” Evie replied matter-of-factly in the same confident way she always did when they were younger.
He’d always loved how assured she was in her theories.
When they were kids, they’d spent hours together watching old detective shows, and she’d always solve the mysteries before any of the detectives did.
Romeo smiled at her. “We’ll see.”
“That we will,” she replied.
“Does that mean you’re planning on coming to the Prodigy Ball tonight?” he asked.
She gave a small shrug. “Well, your father sent me an invite. I guess it would be rude not to go. And I haven’t seen Mr. Button in so long—I’d like to catch up with him. Maybe it’ll all be fun?”
“I don’t think fun and my father even exist in the same stratosphere,” Romeo said. “Most exciting thing that has probably ever happened was the year one of the fire-breathers set both the ballroom curtains and my father’s hair on fire.”
Evie cracked a genuine smile then. He could tell because of the way her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I remember that! What a brilliant disaster that year was. I believe that was also the year of the underpants incident,” Evie said with a sinister laugh.
Romeo’s face warmed at the memory of the so-called underpants incident five years ago.
Aka the year Romeo had accidentally put on his underwear over his suit pants rather than under—where they actually belonged.
He’d just failed a series of important exams that week and had been grilled pretty ruthlessly by his tutors, so his head had been somewhere else when he’d gotten changed that morning.
He would’ve stepped out of the house like that too, if Evie hadn’t alerted him about his wardrobe malfunction.
She’d agreed to never mention the mishap to anyone, but still referred to him as Captain Underpants for months after that.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Evie Gray,” he replied.
Evie gave him a mischievous grin. “I can refresh your memory if you’d like—”
“That won’t be necessary,” Romeo interrupted, his face a furnace.
Evie laughed again, and despite his embarrassment at being the subject of her humor, he didn’t mind. Evie had a great laugh.
“On the bright side of the fire-eater fiasco,” Evie continued, “your dad did manage to pull off the half-bald look pretty well, if I do say so myself.”
Romeo snorted. “He looked like Professor X’s evil twin brother for several months while his hair grew back.”
“Well, does baldness not suit Professor X?”
She had a good point.
“You’re right. I suppose it does,” Romeo said.
“Of course I’m right. I told you I’m right about most things,” Evie said, leaning into him a little to give him a playful nudge while facing forward. He could smell her sweet jasmine perfume when she did.
A comfortable quiet settled between them and Romeo glanced sideways at her. He was trying to be subtle with his staring, but he clearly wasn’t subtle enough because a moment later she glanced at him too, an impishness in her eyes.
“Your, uh, mom said you’ll be around for now.
Do you think you’ll, uhm … have time to do other things before you head back?
” he asked, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling rising at the surface.
This time, it was because a very pretty girl was standing right next to him, and he did not know how to be normal about it.
She looked away, back out into the sea of people and cameras. “I’m here indefinitely, actually.”
“Oh, your mom said—”
“I know. I haven’t told my parents yet that I’m planning on staying for a little while longer. I’ve been looking for the right moment to let them know.”
Romeo was about to ask her what the right moment meant when a sudden round of applause erupted across the room.
From the front entrance of the library he could see his sister Fola emerge, dressed in an oversized burgundy blazer dress and heeled boots that contrasted well with her honey-blond curls. She gave the crowd of at least fifty journalists a curt nod as she took her seat.
“Fola hasn’t changed one bit,” Evie said.
“If you mean her height, then that is very true. I think her last growth spurt was when we were ten,” Romeo joked.
“I meant her confidence, but I guess that too.” Evie gazed at Fola like she was the most interesting person in the room now.