Evie fell back onto the bed with a tired sigh. She placed a hand over her forehead and let out a heavy breath. She fought her heavy eyelids from falling asleep while home with baby Layla, at least with not one else in the house. She never thought she'd be so tired at only eighteen years old, but she'd be a liar to say she didn't at least expect to be tired- considering she had been in a major car accident, had a baby, and was now living as a house wife.
Evie had grown skeptical and pessimistic about how she was doing things. She felt that she took longer than necessary for simple tasks, and that she wasn't even doing those tasks correctly. And then she always felt that she wasn't doing a good job of taking care of her baby girl. She wasn't sure whether or not she was really doing a terrible job, or if it was just her nerves about the future, or if she was overwhelmed with how quickly she'd been thrown into it all.
Evie sat up when she heard a knock on the door from the knocker. She got up from the bed with a light grunt and quickly headed toward the staircase. She ran down the steps and to the front door. "Who is it?" she called to the other side of the door.
"It's Cherry," a familiar voice called from the outside of the door.
Evie's eyes widened for a brief moment before she scrambled to open the door. When she did, Cherry stood on the small patio. "Cherry, hi. What, uh… what're you doin' here?"
The redhead seemed nervous. "I, uh… I figured I'd stop by to, you know, see how you're doing. I mean, I haven't seen you in a while."
"Yeah, it has been a while. Wanna come in?"
Cherry nodded and entered the house. She closed the door behind her gently as she walked in. As she walked in, she seemed nervous and uneasy. It was understandable on her end, considering all that had happened and all she'd gone through; it made the girl whose hair was as dark as a raven feel terrible. There was a slightly awkward tension between the two former roommates, which they both hated.
"So, how ya been?" Evie asked.
Cherry shrugged lightly. "I've been ok, I guess," she answered, "What about you?"
"Pretty good. Tired." She let out a light chuckle. "But that's expected when you have a one month old daughter, I guess."
"Yeah, how's Layla? I know she was born kinda early, and I haven't gotten to talk to you since the accident."
"Layla's real good, actually. The doctor's didn't particularly like that she was born a couple months early, but considering the circumstances, it wasn't too bad. They said when she gets a bit older she might have a few health problems, but nothin' too major or serious that can't be treated. So overall, she's fine."
Cherry smiled genuinely. "That's great, Evie."
Evie gave a small smile back and nodded. "You wanna meet her? I was just 'bout to go and check on her."
"Uh… sure, I guess so."
Evie started up toward the staircase, and Cherry followed close behind her. A strange sense of nostalgia washed over the two girls as they walked, remembering the multiple times and reasons they'd climbed up and down that same staircase. It was a good sense of nostalgia, and it made the two girls feel good.
The two girls reached the top of the staircase then turned to the rooms. They continued down the hall until they reached the room where Esther used to sleep. The door was closed, but they could still hear the muffled sound of the baby girl fussing. They opened the door slowly and gently, unveiling the sounds of the gentle, soft whimpering cries that were coming from the baby girl.
Evie rushed over to the baby girl, gently took her into her arms, and then began to hum People Are Strange by the doors, just like she had done when the baby girl was born. She continued this until the baby quieted down. The new mother then slowly turned and faced her friend and former roommate. "You wanna hold her?" she asked with a small smile.
"Oh, uh," Cherry hesitated, "I- I don't know."
"Don't worry, it's easy. You just gotta make sure you support her neck where your elbow bends. Here, I'll help you."
Before Cherry knew it, Evie had walked over ot her and began to place the baby girl in her arms. She held her arms out the way she'd seen others hold a baby, then let her arms adjust when the baby was physically in her arms. Her friend helped her adjust her arms to properly hold the newborn baby girl. After slight and multiple minor adjustments, her friend stepped back and smiled at the scene in front of her.
"See?" Evie smiled, "Nothin' to it."
"I guess so," Cherry agreed, "You know, you're really know what you're doing."
She scoffed a bit. "Not really. I feel like I don't got a clue to any a' this."
"Really? Cause like I said, it sure seems like you do know what you're doing."
Evie smiled at her friend's words. With all her personal thoughts, opinions, criticisms and doubts, it felt good to have someone compliment her. She'd thought that the redhead would be cruel to her for all that had happened, so she was especially shocked that she'd been the one to give the compliment. In her mind, that made the compliment from her old roommate even more special, genuine and most of all for her: reassuring.
"I'm sorry," Evie said suddenly in a sad tone of voice.
Cherry gave her a questioning look as she placed Layla back in her crib. "Sorry? For what?" she asked in a confused tone.
"Lying to you this summer. I shouldn't have done it an' I-"
"Evie, stop. Don't beat yourself up. I forgive you."
Evie began to smile. "Really?"
"Yes, really. And thank you for letting me live here over the summer.
"No problem… but I do have to ask?"
"Yeah?" Cherry said.
"Are we still friends?" Evie asked hopefully.
Cherry nodded and smiled. "Yes."
The two girls smiled at each other before they shared a friendly hug. Seeing that the baby girl had fallen asleep, the baby monitor was turned on, and the two girls left the room, closing the door behind them. They walked down the hall and to the staircase, then proceeded down until they reached the first floor of the house. The two girls then sat down in the living room on the couch and talked together. As they did so, it was like they'd been best friends their entire lives, rather than new friends from everything that'd happened over the past summer.
-/-/-
Soda and Steve left the DX together. Steve had invited his best friend over to his shared house to try and his mind off of a few things. He figured that if there was anything he could do to possibly at least temporarily distract his best friend, even by just hanging out for just a little while, he would.
Soda still had been acting strange. He'd spend most of his time at the DX, working on cars and dealing with the girls that would come in just to see him. The only plus side about him spending so much time at the DX was that he'd get paid overtime for all the extra time he'd been working. Otherwise, his entire personal demeanor had changed. It continued to make those around him nervous and worried. They had all tried to get him back to normal, but so far, nothing had worked just yet.
They knew the only thing that would work would be him talking to the redhead- but that likelihood of that happening was that same as a snowstorm in hell.
"Maybe you could finally hold Layla," Steve suggested with a smile as they walked up to the door.
Soda gave a weak smile. "Yeah, maybe," he said.
The two opened the front door and walked into the house. Before either of them could say anything else, both their eyes locked on the sight of the two girls that sat on the couch in the front living room. The two girls stood up in slight shock and alarm as the two boys walked in.
Soda looked at the redhead nervously. "Cherry," Soda announced with a heavy breath.
"Soda," Cherry said nervously as she looked at him.
Oh, don't you just love cliffhangers? I know I don't. So however you're feeling with this cliffhanger, it's how I felt when I was reading "North and South" by John Jakes and Charles (my favorite character) was about to have a duel with some butt and my mom made me get out of the car and leave my book in the car as we went into Best Buy, right as ten paces away from each other was being counted.
I finished reading The Lost World by Michael Crichton. It was great. My favorite character- Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum in the first two Jurassic Park films) was high on morphine for the majority of the second half, or the last third of the book. Ironically, it was pretty much that way in the first book as well. It was funny, especially cause he gets really cynical and philosophical when he's high, it's amazing. Now I'm reading Buckaroo Banzai by Earl Mac Rauch; the film from 1984 is my second favorite film in my top three (Rhinestone from 1984 being my first, then This Is Spinal Tap from 1984 being my third). Supposedly the book came first, but it's suggested to watch the film first.
By the way- please wish me luck! Right before I finished typing this, I got a call from Chick-Fil-A. I submitted an application for work there yesterday, and I got a call to schedule an interview, which is tomorrow, so wish me luck (I'm sixteen and need a job so yeah).
So yeah, I think that's it. Alright, hope you enjoyed the chapter, peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=