You'd better sit down for this one. This chapter takes the cake for hugeness. Anyway, enjoy.
I had been thinking hard about what Violet and Ellie had said: I had a boyfriend. It was a big thing, and I wasn't about to let him go. I decided that day that I would do whatever possible to keep Evan as my boyfriend. So I was reluctant to agree when Violet wanted me to invite him over for dinner. I knew how Klaus tended to act around strangers. When it's just us and the Quagmires he is very laid-back and jokes around. But when he's with anyone he doesn't know he gets very uptight and only talks about books and his career as a teacher. Nevertheless, I called Evan to invite him over that Sunday night.
The phone rang and my heart started racing. I hung up. I couldn't expose Evan to my strange life. Little did I know, that would be the least of my problems. I took a deep breath and redialed.
"Hello is Evan there?" I asked when a woman answered the phone.
"Who is this?" she asked
"Um, Sunny,"
"Oh! Sunny!" she exclaimed, making me jump a bit "Evan has told me so much about you!"
I laughed nervously.
"Um, can I speak to Evan now?" I asked
"Oh yes," she replied, "certainly"
"Okay," I said
"Evan! Phone!" she shouted
"Who is it?" I could hear him ask
"That cute girl from your dance class!"
"Mom!" I heard Evan call as he ran down the stairs, "Why must you go to such great lengths to embarrass me?"
"Oh sweetie I'm sure Sunny doesn't mind"
He groaned inwardly.
"Hello," he said
"Hi, Evan," I smiled, "You're mom seems nice."
"Oh, yeah," he laughed, "sorry about that."
"It's okay," I laughed, "Um, I just called to ask you if you wanted, it's nothing big- if you wanted to come over for dinner."
"Sure!" he said quickly, "I mean, yeah that'd be cool."
I giggled.
"Okay, so see you then," I said
"Bye, Sunny," he said
"Bye," I said and hung up.
I sighed heavily and returned to the television. Although I was hardly watching, my mind filled with thoughts of Evan.
Sunday morning seemed to go by slower than usual. Every minute seemed as long as an hour. But instead of boring you with the less exciting portion of the day, I'll skip to the interesting part.
I sat outside on the stoop with the two dogs. Francis sat and chomped at a fly, while Harry lay sprawled on the cool pavement. A figure emerged from around the corner and Francis barked. I reached for her collar, but she slipped away and darted toward the person. Harry lifted his heavy head and gave a quiet bark. I ran after her meeting up with the surprised person. I leaned over to grab her collar.
"I'm really sorry," I said without looking up.
"It's okay, Sunny," the person laughed
"Evan!" I exclaimed letting go of Francis.
I hugged him and Francis stared in confusion.
"I'm sorry about Francis," I apologized, "This is her second time doing that."
"She must like me," Evan smiled
Harry trotted over to greet Evan, and we went inside.
"Wow," Evan said, "your house is big."
"Yeah," I sighed, shutting the door.
"Violet! Klaus!" I called, my voice echoing through the mansion, "Evan's here!"
"What?" Violet asked emerging from her workshop.
"Evan's here," I repeated and she walked out of the room brushing the sawdust from her skirt.
"Hello, Evan," she said holding out a hammer, "Oh, um, sorry."
She put the hammer in her other hand and shook Evan's hand as I sighed in exasperation.
"I'm Sunny's sister, Violet,"
"Hello," he smiled
"Oh," I said spotting Klaus coming from the library, "this is my brother, Klaus."
Klaus waved quickly and continued walking.
"No," I said pulling his arm toward Evan, "Come here."
"Sunny," Klaus sighed, "I'm busy."
"Fine," I mumbled and Klaus returned to whatever he was so busy with.
I wanted Klaus to meet Evan, hoping that he would loosen up a bit before dinner.
The doorbell rang and I ran to the door.
"Hey there," Quigley said when I opened the front door.
"What are you doing here?" Violet asked
"We came for dinner," he said
"Funny, you always come when there's food involved." I commented, but Quigley ignored me
"It's fine," Violet said, "there's enough food."
"Were we invited?" Isadora asked glaring at Quigley.
"We better be, I'm starved." Duncan said walking into the house
Evan just stood there, confused more than ever.
"Who's this?" Isadora said gesturing toward Evan.
"This is Evan," I said to the Quagmires
"Sunny's boyfriend," Violet whispered to them. I turned bright red. Isadora smiled, as Quigley and Duncan looked shocked.
"Really?" Duncan asked, "So where'd you find him? Ballet class?"
"No," I mumbled, holding in my anger. I felt like kicking him as hard as possible. For one thing, it was ballroom dancing, and for another, Duncan had no right to insult Evan.
"Duncan!" Isadora scolded, "Young relationships can be very difficult. But I'm sure you can't relate."
I laughed, as Evan still stood even more puzzled.
"Oh," I said realizing Evan's confusion, "This is Isadora, Duncan, and Quigley, or the Quagmire triplets. We've been friends for, like, ever."
"Ten years" Violet corrected.
"Hi," Isadora said, "Sorry about my brother, he's an idiot."
"Hello," Quigley said, shaking hands with Evan, "I'm not the idiot."
"Hi," Duncan said quickly, "I am."
"Hello," Evan smiled, still looking a bit confused
"Ok," Violet said, "Dinner should be ready in few minutes."
"I'm sorry, Evan." I apologized again as we walked into the kitchen, "Duncan's just bitter because Violet dumped him for Quigley."
"It's fine," Evan said
"I know," I sighed
"What's for dinner?" I asked Violet
"Pasta," she answered adding tomato sauce to a large pot.
"I want to help," I said
"No, you have a guest. Go do something." She said, "Besides, it's almost done."
"Fine," I sighed. I gave Evan a tour of the mansion, all ten rooms. Then we stood on the balcony, overlooking the city and the bay.
"This view is amazing," Evan said, "the only thing you can see from my house is another house."
"Yeah, it's my favorite spot in the mansion," I stopped, "besides the kitchen."
"It's amazing you don't have a book written about you," Evan said, "You have the perfect life."
"Yeah," I said, not realizing what he had just said, "I mean, uh, of course there isn't."
"I was joking," he said
"I know," I said, "But-"
"Sunny! Evan!" Violet called, "Dinner!"
We walked downstairs and sat down at the dining room table. We had just begun eating when the doorbell rang. Violet got up to answer it. I could hear her open the door, then a man's voice and Violet's surprised voice. Violet walked back into the room followed by a man who looked familiar. Isadora dropped her fork and Klaus gasped. Evan and I just stared in confusion.
"Is that you?" Isadora asked
The man nodded, "I was just in the neighborhood and I noticed that the Baudelaire mansion was standing again. I hope you don't mind."
"No," Violet said, "Of, course not"
The Quagmires, along with Klaus stood up to greet the man.
"How long has it been?" he asked
"Almost seven years," Violet said
"I can see you've done
"What's going on?" I asked
The man looked at me.
"My goodness," he said, "Sunny Baudelaire, you certainly look different."
"Um," I said, "I guess."
"And who is this?" he said motioning to Evan.
"This is Sunny's friend, Evan," Violet said
I sighed in relief that she had not called him my boyfriend. But the man stared at me knowingly.
"Sunny," Violet said, "You may not remember him, but this is Mr. Snicket."
"Really?" I asked in astonishment, "the one who wrote the books?"
"Yes," Mr. Snicket replied, "but I hope you have not read any of those. I do not recommend them for anyone, especially you, assuming that it would bring back such horrible memories."
"What books?" Evan asked.
I stopped. What had I done? Before this, Evan had no idea that a series of books all about the unfortunate childhood I shared with my siblings was being published. He didn't know me, unlike the thousands of other people who knew me as the biting, cooking orphaned baby. It had all been messed up in less than five minutes.
I sighed. I had to tell him now. I quickly thought of the words in my head.
"Sunny didn't tell you?" Violet asked Evan, "There is a series of books published about us, written by Mr. Snicket."
Evan looked at me. I frowned. I felt like was going to cry, right then and there, but I stifled the tears and swallowed hard.
"Um," I said, "I was going to tell you…" I couldn't hold it any longer. My eyes began to get watery and before I knew it, tears began falling from my tired eyes. I don't know why I felt so emotional. Maybe it was because I thought Evan was going to hate me, or I was nervous in the presence of Mr. Snicket, maybe seeing him brought back memories, maybe a combination of all three.
Violet rushed over to me, surprised at my reaction to a simple question, but she comforted me nonetheless.
"What's wrong?" she asked. I looked up to the shocked faces of my friends and family.
I got up from the table and ran up the stairs and into my room.
I buried my face in a pillow. I was hoping to disappear. I lay on my bed for a few minutes before there was a knock on my bedroom door. I sat up.
"Come in," I said, assuming it was Violet.
However, to my surprise, Evan entered the room.
"You okay?" he asked caringly
"Why are you talking to me?" I asked
Evan didn't answer. He simply walked over to the bed and hugged me. I hugged him back and cried on his shoulder.
"I…I…I miss my parents," I faltered
He took my hand silently and waited until I felt better.
"C'mon," he said, "let's go back downstairs."
"No," I said wiping my eyes, "I can't."
"Just come," he encouraged
"Fine," I said, "Is Lemony gone?"
"Who?" he asked
"Mr. Snicket,"
"No," he said, "but just come."
Evan led me down stairs, still holding my hand. Everyone had busied themselves clearing the table or washing dishes. They quickly glanced at me as I entered the kitchen with Evan. He still held my hand. I was about let go, but I decided not to. I didn't care who saw at that point. Evan was the greatest boyfriend in my opinion and I was scared to share it. After washing dishes, we chatted with Mr. Snicket and I explained everything to Evan. He wasn't angry at all. So we all sat in the small backyard of the mansion, laughing and talking as the sun set. It felt good, surrounded by friends and family. But, Unfortunately, dusk slowly turned to night as the Quagmires, Mr. Snicket, and Evan had to return home.
"Do you want me to drive you home?" Klaus asked Evan
"No," I said, "It's close, we'll walk."
"Ok," Klaus said, "suit yourself."
"Well," Evan said as we began the walk to his house, "that was, um, interesting."
"I'm sorry," I said, "my family's a little strange."
"No," he said, "I loved it. My family is so…normal."
I smiled and took Evan's hand.
"Anyway," he said, "I like being around your family, and you."
"I like being around you too." I said. I felt stupid. I didn't just like being around Evan. I liked everything about him. I felt like saying "I love you", but that would be rushing things. And I didn't want to get too caught up.
"Evan," I said as we stopped in front of his house, "I really like you and…I'm sorry I haven't been as great as you have been. I just…"
"Shhhh" Evan said
I stared into his green eyes. They pulled me in closer until, once more, our faces were only inches away. I closed my eyes and our lips met. I don't want to give minute details, forgive me if I already have, but my first kiss is something I hold dear. Anyway, we, eventually, said goodbye and I drifted home. And without a word to Violet or Klaus, I floated up the stairs and into my room. I flopped onto my bed. I sighed dreamily and stared at the ceiling. I smiled and anticipated the next day of camp. So far, my summer was anything but uneventful.
Phew! Almost done. Only one more chapter left. Please review!
