Page 46 of Sunflower Persona
“At least let me walk with you. Please.”
The “please” almost gets to me. I’m about to agree, but Karis interrupts me before I can.
“And how are you getting home, then? Because in case you forgot, I’m your ride. Evelyn walks home alone all the time, and you never say shit about that.”
“It’s different,” Gage growls.
“The fuck it is. Kori is a grown woman. The last thing she needs is your overbearing ass trying to tell her what to do,” Karis snaps back.
It’s only then I realize how quiet the apartment has gotten. Everyone is staring at Gage and Karis with a wide range of expressions: Evelyn and James with concern, Morgan with confusion, and Nathan looks amused at the whole situation.
“Where do you live?” Evelyn’s soft, almost melodic voice cuts through the tension.
“Rutherford.”
“I’m next door in Myers. I can walk with you if you want,” she offers.
“Is that to your satisfaction?” Karis asks Gage with a mocking sneer.
Gage huffs, which I assume is his way of relenting. I don’t get him. He barely said a word once the game started, but then gets all growly when I want to walk home alone. From how Karis is acting, this isn’t normal behavior for him either.
“Sure. That sounds good. Ready to go now?” I ask.
Evelyn nods, and I grab my stuff to follow her.
“Thank you again for having me,” I tell James before I walk out the door.
Evelyn stays silent as we step out into the humid night air. The tension from inside follows us even as we make it back onto campus.
“Okay, spill,” she says when she can’t hold back any longer.
“Spill what?”
“What’s going on between you and Gage?”
“Nothing?”
It shouldn’t be that hard to believe we are friends.
“You can’t tell me what happened in there was nothing.”
“What do you mean?”
Talking? That’s nothing unusual. Hell, I’m talking to her now. Isn’t that what people do with their friends?
“How could you not see it? The longing glances, the getting close without touching,” she gushes. “I think that’s the most I’veever heard him talk. Normally, it’s just one-word answers or those annoying grunts.”
“Oh. He does grunt a lot,” I say with a laugh, “and huff.”
“How could I forget the huffs? He’s all ‘Me too manly for word. Man no need word. Word bad.’” Evelyn does her best caveman impression, which has us both bursting into a fit of laughter.
“Have you known them long?” I ask.
“About a year now. But I’ve been friends with Jamie longer. I met the rest through Morgan, and our other friend Chelsea dated Nathan for a while, so our groups sort of merged. She graduated last spring, though.”
The rest of the walk passes by with comfortable small talk. That should be an oxymoron, but somehow with her, the words flow easily. All thoughts of Gage slip from my mind as we talk. Yes, I might have a crush on him, but crushes are fleeting. Friendship—especially from a group like this one—is far more valuable. In the most convoluted way imaginable, I somehow stumbled upon exactly what I was after.
I manage to stick to my convictions for a whole forty-five minutes before he goes and ruins it.
