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Chapter Thirty-Five: Maggie

The feeling of cold water practically slapping me across the face was what broke me out of my trance-like state.

Making me shriek at the sensation as the sight of Evan's head emerging out of the pool was what greeted me first thing "Evan! What the hell?!" I bellowed as I wiped the water off my face.

His face broke into a mischievous grin as he swam towards me, all the while I was too busy drying myself up and squeezing the water out of my hair as I roped it within my grasp.

"We've been here for almost an hour and the only thing you've done is dip your legs into the pool," he said, playfully stroking my legs from underneath the water for emphasis.

I glowered at him as I delivered a quick kick to his stomach, causing him to wince as his face contorted into a pained expression "That's not an excuse to soak me, you imbecile."

He managed to choke out a chuckle, looking up at me "Would you have preferred a different way to have gotten wet?"

Feeling an unbearable heat shot right through me, I attempted to swing my legs forward one last time but almost as if he predicted my reaction, he was quick to hold them in place.

"Hey!" I whined.

He effortlessly pulled himself up from the water, putting his hands on both sides of the pool as he caged my body close to his "Come on, princess. This is a pool party, let loose." he said.

I sighed as I looked around our surroundings in a moment's worth of recognition, the sun was out and bright as ever in this reasonably warm afternoon.

Jasper was standing on the sidelines cooking burgers whilst Jess, Ashley, Colin, Zach, and Elijah were at the pool playing a wrestling game that required both girls to sit on the guy's shoulders whilst they attempted to push each other into the water.

It didn't surprise me when Jess was the one to bring Ashley down into the pool, I laughed as Jess threw her ups in the air as she and Colin cheered.

"Take that, bitch!" she boasted in victory as Ashley sprung back up from the pool, pouting at her.

Jess's eyes softened as she looked down at her best friend with an apologetic stare "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, sweetheart." she cooed "That was meant for Zach."

I chuckled as Zach barked out a sarcastic "Are you calling me a bitch?" as I felt Evan's eyes on me "See?" he whispered as I diverted my attention back to him "It's fun, right? So come on, join us."

I let out a breath, nodding my head "I will, I'm sorry." I told him "It's just that I've been... distracted."

Evan's brows knitted together in perplexity, and I couldn't help but grin faintly because I've never realized until now how much I found him adorable when he looked confused.

"Why? What's the matter?"

What's the matter? The matter is that I'm still on about the whole Beth situation and how I'm going to approach Evan about it without it being awkward.

I know the only person I can talk about this with is Evan and Evan only, and I can only hope he won't dodge this conversation because even though I didn't expect to talk about Beth of all people when it came to him, their weird, heated interactions are just hard to ignore at this point.

Plus I didn't wanna have to assume the worst of it. Believe it or not, I do feel slightly wary that she and Evan might have some... history.

The kind that's crucial enough for Evan not to have touched on long ago and elaborate.

The kind that I could only fear might be... romantic.

The thought alone makes me shudder.

And it's not coming from a place of bitterness or jealousy... okay, maybe a little bit of jealousy, I have to admit. But the idea of your best friend having some sort of history with the same guy you started to acknowledge your attraction towards, does feel infuriating.

Because Beth is basically a sister to me. She's like family and the possibility that she and Evan might have been acquainted in the past does bring a sinking feeling to the pits of my stomach.

It felt bothersome and it wouldn't stop weighing me down ever since I sensed it days ago. That's why this discussion needs to happen.

"Um... Evan?" I said after a prolonged moment of not answering his question.

He stared at me with this encouraging look in his eyes, basically telling me to continue as he slowly dipped himself down into the pool "Yeah?" he asked, gazing up at me.

I cleared my throat "Do you and Beth... know each other, personally?" I began as he blinked at me, shocked "You know, way back?"

He swallowed, seemingly nervous "U-Um..."

"It's just that I've been noticing it a lot lately," I pressed on "This weird tension between you two, I've noticed it during lunch when you two were arguing about whose table I was going to sit at, and then every time I bring you up, Beth seems to only talk negatively about you-"

"Plus you get so tensed every time I bring her up in conversations as well, and so does Jasper, Jess, Colin, and even fucking Zach." I surmised, "So please, tell me, what's going on?"

His eyes bored into mine, almost as if he was struggling to get the words out of his mouth "I-I... it's just..." he stammered as he shut his eyes.

"I knew this was going to come up," he said instead, sighing "I was just too afraid and I didn't know how to approach you about this because I didn't think it would have mattered."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that... Well, I didn't think we needed to come to this, you know? Us trying to work out a relationship and acknowledge that we have feelings for one another?" he implied "I didn't necessarily think that past issues with your friends would've been a problem."

"Okay, okay, wait." I said "Past issues? What does that mean?"

He heaves out a breath "I'll tell you, don't worry. But first, we need some privacy before we even talk about-"

"Burgers are ready!" Jasper suddenly announced, interrupting Evan as he held up the plate of burgers in his hands, a big smile on his face.

Shaking my head, I forced myself to dismiss his declaration of said burgers, thinking I needed to attend to much more serious matters...

But then I glanced at the delicious pile of newly cooked patties and couldn't help but ogle, and Evan didn't fail to notice my expression as he chuckled.

"Do you perhaps wanna eat first?" he suggested.

I sighed, smiling sheepishly "Please, can we?"

* * *

Dang these stupid fucking burgers.

Just when I was about to find out the very information I was dying to ask about for days is when I decided it was the right time to be distracted by food.

But in my defense, I hadn't eaten since breakfast because Jess was already ringing me up so early in the morning, telling me to get up because she'll be picking me up to go to her house.

In a way, my body was calling out for these damn things.

But now that I've gathered enough energy to confront Evan regarding his issue with Beth, I finally pushed my third plate aside (which was shocking considering back then I'm only ever able to consume at least one plate) as I turned around to see that Evan finished as well, all the while as I stood up and made my way towards him.

We were in the kitchen and the others were done too, and Evan decided to wait for me as I was too busy basically digging my face into my plate like an animal.

"So... hey." I greeted as Evan turned around from his seat to face me "I'm done-"

But I wasn't even able to finish my sentence when a very unladylike burp came out of my mouth, automatically causing my hand to shoot up as I covered it, embarrassed.

He couldn't help but smirk "I'm assuming you enjoyed your meal?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, wanting to sink to the floor "Why are you attracted to me again?"

He laughed as he stood up from his chair, taking my hand in his and looking at me as if I didn't just produce the most barbaric sound of all time "Because you go from acting like a princess, scolding me about not washing my hands before I ate to devouring three plates of burgers and emitting a burp that I would've assumed was Zach's if I didn't know it was you." he teased as I rolled my eyes, though I couldn't resist the smile creeping up my face.

"I was hungry and I didn't get to eat breakfast because Jess woke me up so early that I didn't get enough sleep as well," I said, and just then I yawned to confirm it.

Evan scrunched his nose at that "Yeah, and your breath still smells like burgers too."

Oh. My. God.

I groaned as I covered my face "Ugh, why am I so gross today?"

The sound of his laughter resonated loudly inside the room, his hands still on my cheeks as he gently pulled my palms away from my eyes so I could look at him.

"You're not, don't worry."

I snickered, "Yeah sure, prove it."

He grinned mischievously before he quickly pecked me on the lips, causing my face to heat up as he leaned his forehead against mine, laughing softly.

"If you were gross, I wouldn't have done that."

"You're so cheesy." I retorted, amused.

We stood there for a while just staring at each other, with his warm, rough hands caressing the sides of my face as I lifted my own and intertwined them with his, my thumbs fiddling with his own as he looked at the gesture, grinning.

I smiled back at his reaction, leaning toward his touch "But I like it when you're cheesy though," I added, "It's comforting."

He hummed at that, quite pleased. "Then it would be more cheesy if I were to say I have to go ask Jess if we can come home early so you can get some rest?" he suggested as my lips curled up at the idea "And maybe then we can also talk about... Beth."

The light-heartedness of the situation immediately simmered down as I pulled away from him, and it was obvious my withdrawal bothered him as he watched me move with saddened eyes and a frown glued to his face.

"Yeah sure," I told him. "Go ahead."

He just stared at me for a prolonged moment before he heaved out a sigh, taking a step forward as he gently grasped my chin, tilting my face up so I would face him.

I don't know why I felt the need to withdraw from him when he finally brought up the actual elephant in the room, but the feeling of having someone intervene in our lives after things were going so great just bothered me. And the fact it had to be Beth, out of all people.

Maybe it's me and my tendency to be paranoid and distant when certain confrontations arise as to why I'm acting like this, or maybe it's me and my insecurities acting out or the overall fear that everything good in my life just can't be sustained and that one way or another these phases will eventually die down and implode, and I'll just end up being miserable in the end.

I always wind up overthinking when it comes to situations like this, especially now that I'm getting involved with Evan, who has had many rivalries with different people in the past.

I just didn't think Beth was gonna be one of them.

"... Hey,"

Willing myself to look up, Evan's eyes were boring into mine as he snapped me out of my trance. his voice gentle yet cautious "I promise you, there's no need for you to be suspicious. Nothing happened between me and Beth and I'll explain everything later. Please, just trust me."

I couldn't help but sympathize with his quiet demand for reassurance, reassurance that I do indeed trust him, but again, my paranoia is just as strong.

But even so, I forced myself to nod my head in agreement. "Okay, let's just go home and talk about it as soon as possible." he smiled, planting a quick peck on my forehead before he pulled away and walked out of the room.

I kept my eyes on his retreating figure until he was out of plain sight, all the while I was wondering if I should book a Lyft now while he's still talking to Jess.

So I did, and whilst I fished out my phone and booked for one, I walked around Jess's house, admiring the interior as I looked over from room to room, marveling at the space.

"Agh dude, I can't. I feel like I'm about to get into labor with how much I ate."

"Well, it isn't necessarily gonna help if you keep drinking beer, Zach."

"Man, fuck you."

"Shut up both of you, I'm trying to digest what I just ate and you two aren't helping."

My ears perking up in interest, I looked around and peeped inside a vast room where I found Zach, Colin, and Jasper in, relaxing.

I smiled as I took note of their exasperated states "Hey guys," I called out as they looked up to face me.

Jasper grinned as he sat up from the couch "Hey Maggs, what's up?"

He motioned over for me to come and join them, and so I did, sitting on one of the chairs right across from Colin as a small, wooden coffee table acted as a barrier between us.

"What's up? Have you finished eating?" he asked as I placed my phone on the table.

"Yup, Evan and I are actually planning to leave soon considering we left the house early to come here. With me wanting to get some rest and all," I informed as Jasper pouted.

"That sucks, you guys weren't even here for too long," he said and I couldn't help but smile sadly in response.

"Yeah, I know. But we also need to talk about something back at the house and it's kind of... urgent." I explained.

Jasper arched an eyebrow at that "I hope you don't mind me asking, but is everything alright?"

I bit my lower lip, reluctant to elaborate "Yeah, it's just... well, it's about what's been going on this past couple of days, and I don't know if you guys have been catching up but-"

Sighing, I willed myself to continue "But recently, I've been noticing that Evan and Beth have been acting weird around each other, and not the kind of weird where they can't seem to get along and it's hard for them to adapt with each other's company,"

It seems as though I didn't need to explain further due to how they were passing each other vague glances whilst I was talking, evidently already knowing what I was going on about.

"I just need to find out what's going on between the two of them and Evan told me he'd explain everything later so... yeah." I finished, feeling my chest grow heavy for some reason. "I don't wanna seem a little bit too skeptical about this but I just can't help but wonder, that's all."

I looked up to stare at all of them expectantly, and it seemed like they couldn't do the same as they only stared at each other, almost as if they were avoiding me in some way.

"And I know that in a couple of hours I'll probably get the answers I needed, but if you guys know anything, anything at all-" I implied, hoping that somehow they'd take the hint and pick up on my desperation "Please tell me that Evan isn't lying when he told me nothing happened between them both."

They were all collectively silent, not uttering a single word as the question hung in the air like a hopeless piece of bait, just waiting for anyone to go ahead and bite it.

"I'm sorry, Maggie." Jasper was the first one to break the silence, though the apologetic look on his face already indicated that his upcoming words aren't the ones that I wanted to hear.

"As much as we wanna reassure you of whatever assumptions that are racing through your head right now, I think it's best if you just hear it from Evan first. We would be more than willing to talk about it once he finally tells you the truth but for now, it's not our business to intervene, sorry," he finished, his eyes soft and remorseful.

Swallowing, I forced myself to try and understand their reasons and not get frustrated that they aren't answering my questions because as Jasper said, it's not their place to tell.

That, and it would be more understandable if I heard it from Evan first, but the thing is I just can't help but want to prepare myself first before I delve deep into these uncharted waters.

"I understand," I said, though despite my response I sounded anything but understanding "I'm just very impatient when it comes to these sorts of things."

"We get it, Beth is your friend and Evan is obviously more than just. We can only imagine what it must feel like knowing that two of the most important people in your life right now have some untouched background that you're not aware of that might disrupt whatever it is you and Evan are going through, but again, it's his story to tell. Not ours." Jasper said.

"But don't worry, Evan isn't one to lie. He won't feel the need to hide anything from you and if you feel like he isn't telling you certain information, just come to us and we'll be sure to clarify. But for now? This is something both of you need to resolve alone."

I looked down and forcibly nodded my head, standing up as I let out a longing breath. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, but for now, I'll go and see if Evan is finished talking to Jess."

With that, I walked out of the room, feeling my footsteps anchoring me down for some reason as my head started to spin with newly developed presumptions that were bound to slither their way in after Jasper's peculiar explanation.

But I should just trust them. I mean, there's no reason for Jasper to lie to me, right? Throughout the months that I've known him and Evan's friends, they've only ever carried good intentions whenever they're around me. What can they possibly lie to me about?

Stop overthinking. Evan isn't like him. Evan isn't someone to say one thing but then mean another. He isn't someone who can possibly... hurt you, like that.

I was so caught up in my own head that I didn't even realize as I was reaching for the pockets of my shorts that my phone was nowhere on me, so scowling in irritation, I turned back around to go back to the previous room, thinking I probably left it on the coffee table or something.

"... This is bad, why couldn't he have just told her sooner?"

Halting in my tracks, my heart hammered inside my chest as I listened intently to the hushed sounds of their voices, obviously being cautious of what they're currently talking about.

"I don't know, you know how he is, plus who would've ever thought those two would end up liking each other? They practically despised each other's guts since day one and Evan kept complaining about how she was as insufferable as Beth."

"But that's not the case now, is it? It doesn't matter whether they planned to be in this situation or not, he should've cleared the air beforehand and told her he was involved with one of her friends sooner," it was Jasper's voice this time, and he sounded almost agitated.

"In his defense," Colin's voice interrupted "They weren't technically... a thing."

"Yeah well, in Beth's world they were."

"She didn't know what she was feeling, and neither did Evan, like come on. The only reason he even approached her is for some petty reason to try and spite Sean."

Sean.

The alarms in my head started ringing violently at the name, and it was almost as if the new-found information unleashed a rampage inside my head.

"God, how could I forget? I mean, I get why he would be angry because what Evan did was fucked up, but did it really have to come to this?"

"I know, and I'm just really hoping Evan redeems himself this time. He's wronged way too many people in the past, and I'm just really hoping Maggie isn't gonna be one of them."

I can't take this anymore.

As much as I don't wanna be inconsiderate and not trust Evan, I've had enough of people leaving these hints and indirect warnings for me that I don't even understand, just waving these red flags in my direction yet not telling me why they're even there.

"Be careful with him, and if you still have the chance, run as fast as you fucking can."

"You say you've changed yet you're still out here getting involved in other people's business."

"Because we know how Evan is, he doesn't do relationships."

"He's wronged way too many people in the past, and I'm just really hoping Maggie isn't gonna be one of them."

I can't take this anymore. I need to know.

"Hey," their conversation instantly shuts down the second I walk into the room, pretending as if I didn't hear 80% of their conversation as I pointed at my phone that's placed on the table.

"I left my phone, my bad," I said as I motioned for Jasper to hand it over to me.

His gaze shifted towards my phone then back at me, and it was obvious he was analyzing my body language all the while as he reached over to grab my phone.

"Yeah sure, it's okay."

I nodded, taking my phone from him. "It's just that I booked a Lyft and it's already outside, which leads me to my next question..." I was doing my best to try and keep a straight face at this point "Would you mind telling Evan I'll be leaving before him?"

They seemed suspicious of my abrupt request, and I instinctively went to hover my hand against my stomach, feigning that I was in pain. "I just feel really dizzy, that's all. Plus he's taking a long time to come back so I thought I'd leave before him."

"U-Uh yeah, of course," Jasper said as he stood up, and I don't know why, but something about his movements told me he was trying his best to stall time, in hopes that Evan would pop up anytime now "But are you s-sure you don't wanna sit down and wait for Evan?"

No. Because if I do, the questions in my head are gonna pile up, and it won't be long before I explode and this whole thing becomes a goddamn mess.

"No, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I was backing up by now, reaching for the exit "Please go ahead and tell him for me?" with that, I turned around and tried to walk away when:

"Uh, Maggie?"

I turned around to see that all of them were looking at me, almost as if they were cautious of what they were about to say, but more importantly, of what I'm about to do.

"Are you..." Jasper trailed off, seemingly on guard "I-is everything okay?"

I nodded my head, plastering on a fake smile as I held onto my phone tightly as if my life depended on it "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"

He looked over at me with dubious eyes "Are you sure?"

No, no I'm not.

"... Yes, I'm sure."

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