A/N: Hello, operator? Does this account even still work? Hm... Guess we'll find out together.

"Not only did I love her, but I could tell the universe loved her too. More than others. She was different. After all, I would be a fool not to notice the way the sunshine played with her hair." - Christopher Poindexter

BOOK I: The State of Dreaming

Part III: Valley of the Dolls

Chapter XXIV: A Sweet Nothing

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As anyone who has ever been in a school during those first few days after summer break knows, those days where the sweltering heat clings with long bony fingers, a classroom in mid-August can be rather hot. All around, the occupants were tugging at their collars, or sprawled over their desk, having forfeited cooling off entirely in favor of submitting to the exhaustion brought about by the heat. Though she had donned her lightest cotton summer dress, Evelyn could still feel the sweat beading up on her forehead. It made her feel quite self conscience as she felt it unbefitting of a proper lady, something that, while she was not so concerned with as she was as a girl, still mattered to her a great deal. Every so often, she reached up to swipe away the offending substance from her brow when she thought no one was looking. Adeline caught her in one of those moments and rolled her eyes with a smile. In response, she stuck her tongue out rather childishly and made an exaggerated fanning gesture.

This year, the atmosphere in the class had relaxed significantly compared to the two previous years she had attended. Their new teach, a man named Sting, was in his late seventies with both a vision and hearing impairment, and really, it was miraculous he managed to make it to the schoolhouse each morning at all.

From Dio, she'd heard that the boys had bets going for how long before the old geezer dropped dead. Which wasn't funny, she decided, like he so thought.

Regardless, due to his state, it more or less provided free reign for as much goofing off as the class wished. After all, he couldn't hear when they talked amongst themselves, nor could he see far enough to notice when they were busy pulling jokes on each other. Or bullying, but that was a separate issue entirely. Adeline frequently complained about the disruptiveness of their classmates. However, Evelyn noticed her doodling in the margins of her notes on several occasions, so clearly, she didn't dislike their situation enough to do much about it.

At any rate, the heat had left them all quite subdued on this particular day. Even the most rambunctious of the class contented themselves with picking at their fingers or desks or papers or any number of objects – only occasionally at each other since that would require more effort than they wished to expend – their eyes drawn to the tall windows, thoughts of swimming or fishing dancing behind them. It didn't help any that Dio and Jojo were both absent as well, away on business with their father. Knowing he was so far away caused a strange sense of loneliness to crop up in her. Honestly, this little enchantment she had with Dio was going to be the death of her.

All of a sudden, she felt something bounce off the back of her head. Glancing over at Adeline who shook her head, Evelyn snatched up a crumpled piece of paper from the ground. It read: what are you doing? The scrawl was a messy set of scratches she was unfamiliar with, and she turned to look in the direction the note had came from, where she caught the eye of a boy she only knew from a distance.

His name was David Bowen, if she recalled correctly, and he sat in the seat to the back right of her. Only this year had he transferred into their class as he had moved here with his family from one of the Americas – Evelyn was not sure which as she had never met anyone from either before him. His accent did quaint things to words like 'father' and 'farther' and many more. Lots of people would approach him with requests to say this and that, but he seemed to take it all in stride and enjoy the attention as a matter-o-fact. Rather, he was a pleasant, relaxed sort, who seemed to have optimism in spades. He had hair the colour of wheat, cut trim and proper despite its determination to curl, and his eyes were so blue they looked violet.

Evelyn had spoken with him exactly twice prior, but she thought him a kind sort. She hadn't realized he paid her much mind at all. Certainly not enough that he deemed it necessary to pass notes in class. Something she was most definitely opposed to.

She gestured to his note and arched a brow. In response, he gave a grin and a wave.

Even though she should not have... Seeing his encouraging grin, she huffed in amusement and quickly penned a response on the back of his note.

Listening to Sting. Like you should be.

Honestly, she tried her best not too – especially since her so called friend Adeline was watching with a rapt sense of superiority that Evelyn could not fathom the reason for – but she found her eyes skittering back in his direction to watch as he read her response. She figured that would be the end of it, but to her surprise, his grin turned determined, and he penned another. Really, Evelyn was a good student. She had made it her goal to soak up everything she could in this new place.. But today was hot and lazy, and surely, exchanging a few notes wasn't so bad? After all, she had seen the others do much worse much more often... Just a few notes, and then she would ignore him.

His answer left her smarting a little: No you aren't. You're talking with me right now. And staring.. But that's okay. I don't mind.

When she glanced up this time, her mouth was slightly open from incredulity and a blush stained her cheeks. Honestly!

On this odd hot day, in this odd mood, Evelyn wondered how Dio – or Adeline for that matter – might respond to such a jibe.

If it's so obvious, then why bother asking such a ridiculous question in the first place?

Evelyn couldn't bring herself to be quite as mean as either of her friends would be, so she settled for the Crew-ified version.

Conversation starter? David offered.

This time, he drew an actual laugh from Evelyn, which she covered with a cough when it drew the attentions of the other students. However, it was already too late. One girl was already pointing at her and David before whispering conspiratorially to her friends. Bogs and Gabe in particular kept giving her odd glances though she didn't understand what they might be getting at. It wasn't like they would care if she chose to slack off for one day. Or even every day for that matter – like their record was so spotless on that account. When her gaze returned to David, her face hot from embarrassment, he mouthed 'is something wrong' a teasing tilt to his mouth now.

That sparked something of a challenge in Evelyn, and she straightened up. Ignoring the others' stares – something she had gotten quite good at from her childhood years – Evelyn wrote her reply.

And back and forth the two went until somehow the bell rang out and signaled the end of the class period. Good Lord! How had time passed so quickly? For the rest of the day, Evelyn wore a big dopey smile on her face, so much so that Marion even remarked on it at the dinner table.

"Oh, well, Crew here's just excited about the new boy in her life," Adeline, who had been invited to the house to join them for dinner under the pretense of studying later, answered for her.

Evelyn choked on her food at that. "You mean friend," Evelyn corrected with a scandelized note in her tone. "He's not a boy-in-my-life like you're trying to imply. I've simply made a new friend for God's sake."

"Evelyn, language," Marion scolded.

"Sorry."

"I wasn't implying anything," Adeline shrugged. "But you seem to be..."

Realizing her mistake, Evelyn turned red and pouted.

"Well, does this boy-in-your-life have a name?" Arthur asked diplomatically, a smile creeping out from under his mustache. Really, he was the closest thing she had to a father. He was supposed to be on her side when it came to things like this.

"David Bowen. Honestly, I don't know what the issue is anyways, Crew. I like him, and they say his father was a rather well-off Business man in New York, though I am not exactly certain if it is the same as the business men we have here," Adeline explained as though she was discussing something trivial, gathering up another bite on her fork. "I think he's find marriage material."

Positively mortified now, Evelyn buried her face in her hands. "I'm sure he is, but that is not the point." With a huff, she turned a glare on Adeline. "We are only friends. Today was the first time we've spoken at length, and that was through notes."

"You were passing notes in class?" Arthur's brows rose.

"I... Yes, sir. It won't happen again."

Shaking his head, Arthur laughed. "I'm not so concerned as I am surprised. You do wonderfully in those matters, and I've no doubt that you'll take to the family practice just like Erina. It is simply strange to see you in such a rebellious phase, dear."

"I'm not-"

"He's very handsome," Adeline interrupted, addressing Marion. "David is. Blond and blue eyed and all that."

Ignoring Evelyn's interjections entirely at this point, Marion and Adeline continued back and forth for some time, Arthur neither contributing nor doing anything to stop them. Finally, once she could take no more, feeling dizzy from all the blood that had rushed to her face and had spread down her neck and chest, Evelyn shoved her food away. "For the love of all that is good! I have been friends with Dio for years! Why would you assume I wish to marry David right out the gate?"

Her outburst managed to silence them all.

Since her revelation that Dio had been the cause of Erina's not-quite-self-imposed exile, Evelyn avoided any mention of Dio to either Arthur or Marion. They were, of course, aware of her affiliation to the affluent blonde boy, and they had not once forbid her from pursuing such an association. But they seemed uncomfortable with it – even if they only believed the rumors had been Erina's downfall.

After a moment, Arthur cleared his throat to finally deal with the issue. "Perhaps this is a conversation for another day." To Marion, he tossed a wistful smile. "We're getting old, I'm afraid. She's still too young by today's standards to be thinking of getting married. Let her be friends if she wants."

Evelyn smiled in relief at him, thankful to put the conversation to rest.

Had everyone at school assumed what Adeline had? She thought they were making fun of how she, who was such a goody two-shoes, was slacking off in class like the rest of them... Now she was even more embarrassed. How could she face any of them after that? How could she convince them they were wrong? She shook her head. Tomorrow's problems were for tomorrow's Evelyn.

She had enjoyed speaking with David though. That she couldn't deny. With Dio around, she had fallen into that old pattern once again and had stopped bothering with making new friends. He took up so much of her time, it was no wonder she didn't have time to meet anyone else. Still, it saddened her when she thought of how making friends was so important to her child-self. It had been all she wanted when she considered how she had felt then, and now that she could have it, she found she didn't really care all that much after all. The desire slipped through her fingers like dust, useless to her. Was that what it was like to achieve one's greatest desires, she wondered... Surely not.. Perhaps she had been mistaken as a child. After all, she was incredibly lonely before she met Dio...

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

It was all questions she didn't wish to think about, and it was easier to ignore. For once, her mind was not focused on Dio or the rift between himself and Erina and Adeline... For once, her mind was on a different blonde boy. One who's smile came easy and freely, one who teased her in a way that didn't really leave her feeling bad.

One that she hoped would she would talk to more the next day.

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To Evelyn's tacit delight, David did not disappoint her. In fact, they spent the rest of the week passing notes to each other – though Evelyn had forbid doing so in class. To circumvent this hiccup, David had taken to slipping her a note in between classes. It all felt rather exciting and clandestine in a way. However, she did not think she was imagining all the looks from her other school mates. This made the embarrassed shy side of her rear its ugly head, but when she had tried to stop their correspondence permanently, David had refused to give it up. With him putting up any sort of resistance, Evelyn gave in at once. After all, she did not really want to stop it either, and they were doing nothing wrong or untoward anywho.

Regardless, whispers and stares had once again become a part of her life. It made her twitchy, and she felt paranoid that they had somehow discovered her past.

It was with this new development that she realized how much her past embarrassed her.

She did not want anyone to know about her Mother or that she was a prostitutes daughter, or that her father was likely some lowborn filth, who had used and discarded her Mother as easily as Evelyn discarded crumpled parchment. Then she would take a deep breath and force herself to remember that no one here knew but Dio and Erina, and neither of them would do something to harm her reputation.

When she was able to push those paranoid thoughts aside, however, she felt a flare of happiness at each note she read and returned. It was… Good, she had decided by the end of the week. Adeline whole-heartedly approved. Jonathan had also been happy as he and David were on friendly terms if not outright friends since they both played on the rugby team. When she had told Dio she was making a new friend he had not seemed to care one way or the other, too caught up in his books or in whatever he and his other friends always chatted about to really care. Another two weeks would pass in much the same manner with David before she ran into him outside of school.

Unsurprisingly, the dregs of summer lingered in the air, unwilling to allow autumn its turn. Even still, outside in the afternoon with the breeze rolling in off the harbor, it felt lovely, and Evelyn intended to make the most of it. Therefore, she gathered up a basket, tossing a blanket, a book, and a handful of treats in it, and headed to the outside town to a little green bank for one of the snaking rivers that emptied into the ocean in these parts. She had spent most of her time reading her book and snacking, and though she felt that her face and the parts of her feet that were exposed were turning red from the sun and would sting later, Evelyn was quite refreshed by the whole situation. By now, she had abandoned the aforementioned book and wandered down closer to the water in order to submerge her feet. On her way here, she had run into Jonathan and asked him to tell Dio to meet her out here when he saw him next. She did not think he was going to come. Likely too busy, and though disappointed, Evelyn was not angry and refused to let it upset her overly.

She rolled her eyes when she realized her thoughts had wandered to him regardless. Really, it was selfish of her to monopolize his time like she did. He was one of the Joestar heirs. One of the brightest men she had known, and she was starting to realize how much she clinged to him in this place. It was unbecoming. A lady was supposed to be mysterious, and Evelyn knew she was nothing of the sort unfortunately.

That reminder pushed a sigh from her lips, and she splashed her foot particularly hard in the water, sending flecks of water all over her summer frock.

"Everythin' alright, Molls?"

At the sudden voice, Evelyn jumped and twisted her torso to see who had come up. Squinting into the sun, she just made out the form of David, his slim shoulders seeming to broaden every day. He was wearing his usual grin to accompany his striped swimsuit.

Despite her forlorn thoughts, Evelyn felt a smile bloom across her face. "Molls?" her voice sounded pleased at the silly pet-name.

Grin widening, he came closer and dropped down beside her on the embankment. "There she is. Sunshine suits you," he informed her, and she got the idea that he was referring to more than the weather. Before she could reply though, he continued, "I didn't know anyone else ever came here."

"Funny; I was going to tell you the same thing. No one else likes to come here since its so far out of the way, and I've never run across anyone else out here," she told him with a wry twist to her lips.

"Just luck," he assured her, glancing out over the water with a shrug. "Plus, Adeline might've mentioned a thing or two when I was asking about you."

At the thought of him talking to Adeline about her and what her incorrigible friend might say to him, Evelyn flushed so bright she was sure steam would come out of her ears. "You asked Adeline about me?" she did not bother to conceal the horror in her voice at the notion. "Oh dear Lord in Heaven.." she covered her face with her hands.

He started laughing then. "Good things! All good things, I promise, Molls." When she finally managed to face him again, he was staring at her with barely repressed humor.

"Adeline has no way to temper her words and gets all these mad notions in her head about everything, and I am sorry you likely had to deal with her ramblings. She's insane, I assure you."

"Now, now. I already told you she had only good things to say, and it really wasn't near as bad as you're making it out to be."

A little calmer now, Evelyn cleared her throat and managed to compose herself. Though she was curious what Adeline had told him and what exactly he'd been asking about her, Evelyn wasn't certain she could handle that kind of answer right now, and instead, she circled back to her earlier question. "Where'd you come up with Molls, anyway?"

For the first time since they'd sat down, his smile twitched with uncertainty, and he cocked his head. "Molls is… Well… Isn't Molly your middle name?"

Amused by the switch in behavior, Evelyn grinned at him this time. "Yes."

With her answer, he let out a massive sigh of relief and bent over his legs. "Jeez, I thought for a second Adeline might've been lying to me. That was one of the things she told me," he explained with a chagrinned look. "The way you were reacting, thought maybe that'd be the kinda thing she'd do. And well, then I'd feel stupid coming out here calling you something completely off the wall."

Giggling, she shook her head. "It's true, but ah, in the future, just ask me if you have any questions."

"You got it, ma'am, I promise."

"Good!" She wagged a finger at him firmly, and they both laughed a little.

In the silence that followed, Evelyn considered David. He really was handsome as Adeline continually pointed out. Though it made her stomach flip in a strange manner, Evelyn could admit that much to herself. It wasn't just the way he looked that made him handsome though, and it took her a moment to pinpoint exactly what it was about him that stirred something in her. Finally, she decided it had to be his openness. He didn't speak in riddles around her, or beat around the bush. He would tell her what he meant and say just about anything to her. It was… peculiar. Everyone she had always known was so much more reserved than him. It just made him seem so much warmer, like he thought she was special. It made her curious.

"Have I got something on my face?" he asked, pushing a few stray curls back from his face.

For once, Evelyn wasn't even embarrassed to be caught staring. "Is everyone in America like you, David?"

That drew the loudest laugh from him yet. "I think America's a little too big for me to say somethin' like that." He shrugged. "'Sides, I figure America's a lot like here. There's all types there. Though, I gotta say it's different in a lot of ways too."

"Tell me about it," Evelyn implored, enjoying the way his eyes lit up as he began speaking to her about his old home. He spoke for the next hour, telling her all about his life in Texas, one of the newer states he was proud to inform her as it had only been admitted in 1845, and how President Cleveland had made things a lot easier on his family out with his policies against high tariffs, about his sisters, who had stayed behind with his mother and uncle while his father was attempting to expand their business overseas. And though to others it might not be all that interesting, Evelyn was enthralled. It was the way he spoke of it, the pride and the, the freedom of it all. He had told her that there wasn't really a big to do about society there. Every man could make it to the top if he had the guts, no matter who his dad was.

It sounded utterly bizarre… and wonderful.

As he was winding down, a softer look stole over Evelyn's face. "You miss it, don't you."

"It'll always be home," he admitted.

"Yeah," Evelyn nodded, "that won't change."

"You moved here from a ways away too, huh?"

With a sarcastic smile, she shook her head. "Not quite so far away as America."

"Doesn't matter how far away it is," he told her, and she found herself listening quite intently. "Home is home, and you miss it. Sometimes, I think this place won't ever feel like home."

She nodded. "Yeah.. That goes away some I think.. The good, even the bad…. It stays with you even when you've been away from years. Sometimes, the weirdest little thing will remind me of London. I lived there for so long, and it meant- means a lot to me. I don't think that ever will change even if I'm a lot happier here than I was there.. You just sort of move on I suppose," she admitted with a shrug of her own. Perhaps she had a peculiar look in her eyes because now he was the one staring at her.

Feeling a little self-conscious, she tucked her hair behind her ears, playing in the water with her toes. "At least from my experience," she added. Perhaps he did not feel the same way she did. Good Lord, but she didn't know why she was all but baring her soul to David anyway. He would probably laugh at her now. She knew Dio would laugh if she had said something so sappy.

But he didn't do that at all. In fact, his face broke into this grin that was tinted with awe, and Evelyn had no idea how to respond to that. "That's why I like you, Molls," David was saying, his voice soft enough that she had to lean a little closer to hear him, and she realized how much she wanted to hear his response. "You get it. Get me. Not many of the others do." Putting his hands up in defense, he was nodding to himself. "They're all fine folks and all, but most of 'em have spent their whole lives in this sleepy little town. Don't think they know what it's like to be so far away from their comfy little lives. But you do. And so do I, and I really like that."

"Me too." Flushing again, she pulled her legs out of the water and rose to stand. The sun was beginning to set, and she did not want to be out too late tonight. Arthur and Marion worried far too much. Following her lead, he stood too, and they padded back to her little pic-nic set up, where she began packing it away once more. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she said suddenly, "There are others who get it. More than you think."

His smile faltered. "You, uh, you mean that blond fella you're always hanging around, huh?"

"Dio?" Evelyn clarified, continuing when he nodded. She felt uncomfortable with the idea of talking to David about Dio, though she couldn't explain why. "Actually, I wasn't really referring to him. I mean, he did move here from London, like me. But he doesn't miss home like you and I. It wasn't a … happy place for him."

"Oh, I see…" He hesitated and seemed to struggle with himself about something. Finally he sighed and muttered something to himself she couldn't quite catch before he turned back to her. "Molls, I'm not good at being sly about these things, so I'll just ask. Are you and him… uh, involved?"

"Involved?" she repeated dumbly. Then it dawned on her what he meant, and Evelyn started sputtering. N-no! Of course not! Don't be ridiculous." She couldn't meet his eyes, and she probably used a bit more force than necessary as she stuffed the last few articles back into the basket. "He is my friend, probably my best friend… But nothing more." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. It reminded her of the futility of her feelings for him. In her head, she knew it was never going to happen. Now, if only her heart could get that message too.

"But you want to be," David said suddenly, voice low and filled with realization.

Steeling herself, Evelyn took a deep breath, summoned up a smile, and looked up to meet his gaze. "It isn't like that," she lied. "He was supposed to be here today, but he was too busy. So I'm a little down about it. Nothing so ridiculous."

At her words, he frowned deeply, and his eyes seemed to see straight through her. "If you don't wanna say so, that's your business, Molls. But you don't have to lie to me."

Her knee-jerk reaction was to deny it. After all, lying and denial had become second nature to her by this point. She hardly wanted to burden anyone with her problems, but after all the kindness David had shown her today and the past few weeks, the openness he had displayed, she found she didn't want to lie to him too. Beside that point, he seemed to know the truth already. With a sigh, she allowed the smile to fall from her face. "Okay… It's just not something I feel comfortable discussing with anyone… It isn't going to happen anyways." She turned to head home, but she felt him grab her arm to stop her.

"Hey, Molls… Firstly, that guy would have to be a damn fool to turn you down.. You're smart, pretty, and probably the nicest gal I know." Then he looked a little sheepish, releasing her arm to run a hand over the back of his head. "Would you think too badly of me if I said I was kinda hoping he does though?"

"W-what?" Goodness, this was an embarrassing conversation they were having. She simply didn't discuss her feelings about Dio with really anyone, especially not someone she had known for only a few weeks. Then he said something confusing like that, and she really didn't know how to respond.

"I was kinda hopin' you weren't really involved with any man."

Between the two of them, Evelyn wasn't certain who was more red.

"I—"

"You don't have to give me an answer today. Or even any time soon," David interrupted her, and really, that was probably for the best since Evelyn was still speechless. "But I just wanted to be upfront about it all with you from the get go. Now, hand over that basket." Before she could protest, he shifted her basket to his own arm and looped his other one through hers.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I am walking you home." He kept his eyes on the path ahead of them, steering her back into town, a blush still bright on his own cheeks. "And I won't have a no for an answer. It wouldn't do to let ya walk yourself home and heave this heavy thing around," he gestured to her basket, which Evelyn wanted to assure him wasn't too much for her at all. However, his words, though they made her feel like hiding her face in her hands, were not unwelcome. She also found that she liked the way they fit together side-by-side. It was… comforting.

Therefore, shrugging off her shyness, Evelyn held her head high, and the two started heading through the town itself. To distract herself, she began asking him about Texas once again, and before long, she had forgotten all about his declaration to her – for it had been a declaration of sorts.

However, neither of them had noticed three sets of eyes on the two of them as they walked on.

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A/N: *takes a deep breath* yiiiiiikes... My bad guys. Honestly. I'm so sorry about the hiatus. This is by far the biggest one I've ever taken, and I could sit here and give you like a billion excuses like my job sucks right now or college sucks right now or lack of motivation or blah blah blah, but let's be honest. No one ever really wants to hear those kinda things. The point is, I'm sorry, and though I can't promise I won't take forever between chapters, I promise to make sure to update a little quicker from now on.

Thanks so much to everyone who reads this if you are still out here. I promise that I haven't given up on this story, and I have every intention of finishing it within our lifetimes. I also read every review, and I am extremely grateful for them all. You guys are the best.

Okay, so, this chapter was originially gonna be waaaaay more massive, but I decided to split it down the middle because I wanted to get a chapter out before the new year. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas by the way! What do you guys think of David? And what do you think Dio's reaction to him is gonna be (which is coming in the next chapter. It was actually one of the first scenes I planned out, so I'm pretty excited you guys are finally gonna get to read it.)? I know this is probably not the update a lot of you wanted since no Dio, but it's coming.

Thank you all again so so much. You keep me writing when I really feel like it's time to give it up. So I can never repay yall for that. I love you guys.

Alyssa