Page 43 of Sure, Pal

He ran his hands up and down my arms. “Yeah. I slipped in after the show already started. I figured Ava would be here, and I’m not in the mood to talk to her.”

My heart lurched again. I had to tell Ava I was seeing him. I was hurting him even more by keeping us a secret. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

I gazed into his beautiful blue eyes. “How are you holding up?”

Evan closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m barely functioning.”

“More bad news?”

He nodded.

“What can I do?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. No one can do anything.”

I wrapped my arms more tightly around his waist. “Fuck.”

“Yep.”

He kissed the top of my head and said, “I’m going over to my parents’ house now. My mom and sisters are losing it, and I need to be with them. I wanted to hear you sing for a minute. It always makes me feel a tiny bit better.”

Evan started to pull away, but I caught his hand. “Do you want me to come with you?”

His eyes traveled over my face for a moment, and then he shook his head. “Just keep our bubble warm for me, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He leaned in for a soft kiss.

“Okay,” I said when our lips broke apart. “I love you.”

“Love you, too, pal.” He gave me a sad little smile and then walked away. I watched him go with my heart aching.

I closed my eyes and then pulled out my phone to call Ava. I was honestly surprised when she answered.

“What’s up, girl?” Her voice was hard to hear, muffled by loud music and laughter.

“Ava, did you get my text earlier? I really need to talk to you.”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. I get so many messages these days. It’s hard to keep up.” She started talking to someone else and then returned to our conversation. “What do you need to talk to me about? Is it still pissing you off that I’m promoting your music for free? That would normally cost you $1,000 a post, so just say thank you!”

I sighed into the phone. “No, Ava. I really want to talk to you in person.”

“Well, I actually had to work really hard to carve out an hour to come and see your show tonight. Why didn’t you talk to me twenty minutes ago when I was with you?” She sounded irritated.

“Because this isn’t something I can tell you in five minutes with a million other people around!” I was getting frustrated with Ava, but it was for selfish reasons. I wanted to appease my guilt, and she wasn’t making it easy.

“Hang on, Si.” When Ava spoke again, all of the background noise was gone. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been a very good friend lately. I have to get ready for a video shoot with the new Too Faced palette, but I want to talk to you. Can you meet me at my place next Saturday afternoon?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yep. Thanks, Aves.”

“Love you.” Ava made a kissing noise into the phone.

“Love you, too.” I hung up and slid my phone back into my pocket. Too Faced was the name of a make-up brand, but it was exactly how I felt. I would have laughed at the irony if I didn’t feel like such a shit person.

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