Romantic Regrets
Written by Rachel Ravens and Zack Wanzer
Set during Inside My Heart (1989 - 1990)
Paul Percival's Point of View
Tidmouth University; one of the biggest on the Island of Sodor, if not the biggest. Today marks my first day here, following my older siblings Peter and Penny. My goals at Tidmouth U – to get a degree to help me become a member of the railway's staff. Even if I'm just a worker at the Dieselworks or Steamworks or something.
Lunch breaks are my favorite time, of course, because that's when I get time to spend with…
"Anna… oh." I sighed, having forgotten that Annabelle, only child to Henry and Barbara Regaby, was still in secondary school for this year. Although we were born the same year, she was a few months younger than I was. This year is going to be tough, I thought. At least Annabelle still has Patrick, Pansy, most of the Brown sisters and some of her cousins to hang out with…
Of course, Annabelle's related to the Brown sisters too. Her grandmother is their great-aunt. Family trees can get weird, especially when…
"Excuse me?" My train of thought – heh, my puns – was broken when I heard that voice. I swear that lady sounded familiar. Did I see her at my school in passing? "Are you looking for somewhere to sit down?"
"Uh… y-yeah," I said at last. I didn't know if I remembered her name, so I didn't know what to think or do next.
"There's room over here," she gestured toward an empty seat. Shaking my head in bemusement, I sat down. "Hello, my name is Evelyn. First day here, right?" she asked.
"That's correct. I'm Paul." That was pretty quick of her to introduce herself like that, I thought.
"Paul Percival?!" she gasped in surprise. "Son of Peregrine and Polly, grandson of Peter Sam?"
"Yep, that's me," I replied, somewhat taken aback by this response. "I'm the middle child of five."
Peter Sam - the human, not the engine he was named after, mind you - was my mother's father. I found it kind of funny that my father didn't know he was apprenticed under his future father-in-law; maybe that was how my older brother got his name.
"It is an honor to meet you, Paul," said Evelyn. "We can learn about this university together. It's my first day too."
"So I see…" I nodded slowly. She seems alright, and quite curious, I thought. Maybe we can be friends.
After university, Evelyn and I decided to hang out for a bit at the shopping centre. It's a bit further away from the railway lines than I would like, but I knew that Bertie would come by later to pick us up.
"Oh, look!" said Evelyn excitedly. "This is one of my favorite clothing stores!" She zipped inside. Shrugging to myself, I followed her. This was nothing new to me; having two sisters and a girl cousin meant I was dragged on a lot of their shopping trips.
"Has anything caught your eye, Evelyn?" I inquired.
"Oh yes," she smiled; she picked up a dress that was bright red with a gold star pattern on it. "I'll go try it on. Wait right there."
She practically skipped into the changing room. I sat down and pulled out a book from my bag. The Magician's Nephew; the first book of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Now, you may be forgiven for thinking it's not the first book, because it came out after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but chronologically, the former takes place before the latter.
"Hard to believe that Digory Kirke becomes the professor in the second book," I said to myself.
"Professor in what book now?" I glanced up in surprise. Evelyn had just come out in her new dress.
"W-wow," I stammered, feeling sure my cheeks were going pink. "That dress… it's stunning on you…"
"You… really think so?" Evelyn gave a slight giggle, shyly putting her hand to her mouth. "Oh, you are so sweet. I'll go buy it. And then maybe you can tell me about this book series."
Evelyn rushed over to the counter to pay, and my head began metaphorically spinning. Was this… a crush?
Oh, how does one deal with a crush? I wondered. I may ask Douglas and Oliver about this, but then, engine relationships differ from human ones…
"You have a crush, Paul?" Oliver smiled. "Well, it was bound to happen eventually."
"Y-you really think it was?" I asked.
"Ah bet Ah kin figure oot wha th' lucky lass is," Douglas chuckled.
Wait, how did they know about Evelyn? I wondered. "Y-you saw her?" I asked in shock. "Where?!"
"You just missed her," Oliver admitted. "She was finishing up her homework and had to dash off for a girls day."
"Ugh, bother," I sighed. "Well… how does one tell their crush that they like them?"
Douglas and Oliver looked at each other with amusement. "Yin thing Ah dinnae recommend is waiting 'til efter a lee or death situation tae tell thaim."
"Right," I said. "I'll make sure to remember that." It still amazes me now that Diesel 10 nearly tearing Douglas apart wheel from wheel was what brought the Scottish goods engine and Oliver together.
"Maybe sit yourself and her down in a quiet place and have a good talk about your feelings," Oliver added. "Tip number two – make sure relatives aren't half asleep watching."
"Donnie overheard us confess," Douglas added.
"Nosy siblings, huh?" I remarked.
"And cousins," Oliver chuckled. "Duck was the second to know."
I had to chuckle too. Donald and Duck had been wanting Oliver and Douglas to get together for a long time. I took a deep breath. "Thanks, you two. I'll go find… her and tell her the situation."
I strolled off, still wondering how they knew about Evelyn at all.
I was wondering just how I was going to find Evelyn if she was on a girls' day out. But much to my surprise, I found her crying in the middle of a park.
"It's not fair…" she sobbed. "It's not fair…"
Oh my, I thought. That doesn't sound good. I walked over to the bench she was sitting at and sat next to her. "What's wrong, Evelyn?"
"I… I bought the dress, but…" she sobbed, "my parents were cross with me for getting it…"
"W-why?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder.
"I… I tore it when I was taking it home…" she sighed. "They had to throw it out…"
"That's not very nice!" I cried. "All that money spent for nothing…"
"I know…" she sighed. "I was planning on wearing it when Christmas came around…"
I wasn't sure what to do. Getting the dress out of the bin wouldn't be much help; who knows what could have stuck to it?
"Maybe… we can take a walk," I suggested. "I know a library around here."
"O-okay," she stammered. Both of us stood up and headed our way over to the Tidmouth City Library.
Down at the library, we started to wander down the hall.
"Okay, true or false," said a familiar voice. "Duck promised Thomas he'd look after Annie and Clarabel to pick up the Ffarquhar Sunday school."
"That's Annabelle!" I cried. I glanced over to see her, my two sisters, and her girl cousins all in chairs with books in their hands.
"That's false," Gwen said. "For one thing, it was Percy who was tasked to look after the Sunday school for Thomas. For another, Annie and Clarabel weren't there at all."
"Nice one, Annabelle," I chuckled.
"Paul!" she cried, and the others turned around. "Good to see you."
"I hope we're not interrupting anything," I said.
"Not at all," said Penny. "We're just in the middle of a quiz about the engines' history. Annabelle's throwing in some twists from the books to make it more of a challenge for us to get right."
"The engines?" Evelyn asked. "You mean… the books here aren't fact?"
"Well, some of them have been changed up to suit the narrative," Annabelle explained. "Out of the books so far, I'd say Thomas' debut follows reality the closest. The one with him being the station pilot, that is."
"You should meet Annabelle's aunt Amanda," said Pansy. "She's writing more accurate versions to the engines for older audiences."
"It's mostly for the engines so they don't get upset for having certain details messed up," Annabelle admitted. "Plus, their real stories deserve to be told."
"Er… right," said Evelyn. "So… who are you girls?"
"Oh, we're Penny and Pansy," said Penny. "We're Paul's sisters."
"I'm Annabelle," the redheaded girl said. "The engines have given me the nickname of 'the Railway Girl'."
"I'm her cousin on her dad's side, Gwendolyn, but you can call me Gwen for short," said Gwen.
"And I'm Bridget, Annabelle's cousin on her mother's side," she added.
"Do you want to join us?" asked Annabelle.
"Er… I wouldn't want to interrupt your girls' day," Evelyn said quickly. "Sounds like you're really on a roll with the quiz."
"I don't really see the issue in the girls having one more member join them," I insisted.
"Why not two?" asked Bridget. "You can join us too, Paul."
"Yeah," said Annabelle. "It doesn't have to exclusively be a girls' day out. It's more of a quiz afternoon."
"I… don't know much about the engines or their history," Evlyen said quietly.
"Don't worry," said Pansy. "You can learn. Most of us have been there once. Remember when we all… unintentionally hurt Sir Handel's feelings when we were kids?" Penny and I nodded. Hoo boy, did Annabelle really hand it to us back then…
"Speaking of which," said Annabelle, "here's another question. What did Bridget say to Toby that unintentionally offended him?"
"Oh, you had to ask…" Bridget grunted.
"'Is it electric?'" asked Pansy innocently. Bridget harrumphed in reply.
"Correct," Annabelle giggled. The girls (except Bridget) and I all laughed; Evelyn blinked in confusion.
"How does that offend him?" she asked.
"Toby's a steam tram," explained Annabelle, "and one of the two last ones to survive. Most trams in operation these days are electric powered, although there are some diesel trams like Mavis up at Anopha quarry. She works under my great-uncle Jabez, aunt Amanda's dad."
"It sounds like there's railway people everywhere," Evelyn said quietly. She then nodded to herself. I wasn't exactly sure what she was thinking, but she then said, "It is a bit funny, that Bridget didn't know the difference between a steam tram and an electric tram."
"I was only a child," Bridget retorted.
"Well, there was a friend I met on the mainland once that identified engines as a child," Evelyn said calmly. "She was only five."
"I… I was… seven or eight," Bridget choked. "Not too much older." She dashed off, crying.
"Bridget!" called Gwen. "Come back!"
"Gwen, you go find her," said Penny. "We'll meet up at the ice cream shop."
Gwen nodded. "We'll continue the quiz another time. Sorry, Anna."
"Don't apologize to me, cous," said Annabelle. "I think we may have gone a bit too far today. We'll need to apologize to Bridget."
Penny, Pansy and Gwen left the room, but Annabelle hung back for a moment, raising an eyebrow.
"Met a friend once?" she asked, looking at Evelyn. "You can meet someone once, but friendships take more time to form than just one meeting."
"Yes, well…" Evelyn began. "Er, you know what I mean, right? I met this friend lots of times, and there was this time where they told me they identified engines as a kid."
"I see…" Annabelle was having trouble maintaining eye contact with Evelyn, and the brunette girl skipped away as if nothing had happened.
"Er… bye," I called, confused.
"What was all that about?" Annabelle asked.
"Her name's Evelyn and I met her at Tidmouth University," I explained. "We spent a bit of time together and… well, we got here."
"She seems pretty evasive when it comes to certain topics," Annabelle noted. "You don't think there's something up with her, do you?"
"I… I hope not," I said quietly. "Maybe she's just insecure about new people. She was very upset earlier." I explained about the dress situation.
"Oh dear…" Annabelle sighed. "Sounds like her family isn't very functional… sort of like Addison's parents' constant fights…"
"Hopefully that isn't the case and it was an isolated incident," I said. Part of me didn't really believe that, to be honest; maybe her parents just had a stressful day of work and would get her another dress when they'd calmed down.
I think I'll tell her about The Chronicles of Narnia next time I see her, I thought to myself. That might put her back in a good mood.
And for the next few days, it seemed to do just that. She and I would read the whole series during our breaks.
"…and so, we don't know what happened to Susan," I said; I was talking about Susan Pevensie, the second born child of the Pevensie quartet. "Her siblings ended up dying and reappearing in the real Narnia, but she is still alive."
"That's quite the twist ending," remarked Evelyn. "I don't know why her fate was left open-ended like that."
"The world may never know," I shrugged with agreement. "I think she did end up in the real Narnia eventually. Families do reunite."
"You bet they do," said Evelyn. "Speaking of family… I'd like to meet yours someday."
Wait, was she seriously asking that? I mean, she did meet my sisters, but that was by pure chance. Then again, good relationships are formed by having other people interact with your friend. Or sometimes engines… had Evelyn properly spoken to the engines yet?
"That sounds like a good idea," I said at last. "How about… next week for dinner at M.C. Bunn?"
"Sounds lovely," Evelyn smiled. I got up, tapping my chin to myself. Was I moving too fast? Do I even know what I'm doing?
I got home that afternoon and my family were having snacks.
"We saved some muffins for you," said Peter. "Mother baked them."
"Thanks, Pete," I smiled. Chocolate chip; my favorite too. "Oh, family, is it okay if we go to M.C. Bunn next week? I… invited a guest to come with us."
"Oh, I bet I know who it is," giggled Pansy; she and Penny exchanged a wink.
"It's Evelyn."
Mom, dad and all of my siblings looked at me as if my nose grew like Pinocchio.
"She's a girl I met at Tidmouth University," I explained.
"Really?" Patrick blinked. "I was sure that… er… never mind."
Gee, what's with everyone? I wondered. "Penny, Pansy, you both met Evelyn at the library, remember?"
"You mean the girl that upset Bridget?" Penny scoffed. "She's the one you're going out with?"
"Er… not 'going out', per se," I shrugged; there was no way that Evelyn and I were romantic partners after about a week of knowing each other. "I just want the rest of the family to meet her."
"Well… alright, little brother," sighed Peter. "Do you suppose I could invite Sophie on this outing as well?"
"I don't see why not," I said.
Mom and dad looked at each other with questioning glances, and murmured something to each other.
Why are my family on eggshells about Evelyn? I wondered to myself. Surely she didn't mean that remark about Bridget… She was just having an off day. Regardless, I felt a bit shaken up by the family discussion the previous day, and felt I should talk to Annabelle about things.
"Say… Annabelle," I spoke; we were sitting on a bench at Knapford station. "I organized this family meeting between me and someone I met at university recently."
"Oh?" she asked. "Is this person someone taking the same course as you?"
"No, we only meet up during breaks," I explained. "And it's someone you've met only recently."
"You mean… Evelyn?" Annabelle guessed.
"Yeah," I admitted. "It's only been about a week or so since we met but… I… like her…"
Annabelle bit her lip, and her eyes watered. "Y-you do?"
Oh my… I didn't think she'd take it that hard. "Anna… I…"
"I-It's okay," she stammered, trying to smile. "Y-you're happy w-with her… right?"
I frowned, unsure of how to respond. "Er… we're not… going out yet," I admitted. "I just… have a crush on her, and am… trying to figure things out."
"W-well, I… I wish you both well…" Annabelle was trying not to cry. My heart shattered in two as she started to move away. "I-I'm sorry… I… I'll talk to you later… okay?"
I put my hand to my head; how was I going to fix this?
Annabelle Regaby's Point of View
I couldn't believe it… Paul Percival, the boy I had a crush on, had his eyes on another girl, one that he'd barely met. There was a lot about Evelyn that felt off, yet he didn't see the red flags. Not saying that he's stupid, of course; he's a lot smarter than that.
"Annabelle?" Jumping in surprise, I glanced over; on platform five was Oliver, pulling Old Slow Coach behind him. "What's up, Railway Girl?"
"Oh…" I trailed. "I… well… it's kind of silly."
"Come on, dearie," said Old Slow Coach. "You can be honest with us."
"Well… okay," I said at last. "Paul told me he had his eyes on another girl, Evelyn. And… I…" I started sobbing into my hands.
"Oh, Annabelle…" Old Slow Coach said slowly.
"How dare Paul break your heart like that!" snapped Oliver.
"W-well, Paul and I w-weren't t-together in the first place," I stammered between the tears. "W-we were just friends, Oliver. Please d-don't take this the wrong way."
"Besides, we don't know anything about this Evelyn girl," said Old Slow Coach. "I think it's best we get to know her first before we make any judgments."
"Well, we can tell you one thing about Evelyn; she upset Bridget when we were at the library!" Gwen called.
Oliver, Old Slow Coach and I glanced over; Gwen, Penny and Pansy had rushed toward us.
"Really?" asked Oliver. "What did she say?"
"Well, get this," said Penny. "After we were cracking a few jokes, Evelyn mocked Bridget's ability to identify engines."
"Yeah, I remember that," I said. "That was very uncalled for on her end."
"Okay, Bridget may be insensitive to us sometimes," said Oliver, "but being mocked like that is crossing the line… Er, no pun intended."
"Don't worry, Oliver, we know what you mean," said Pansy. "All the same, I hope Paul will be alright…"
"Don't we all," Gwen said firmly.
"Plus, she claimed to meet a friend once," I added. "But what she said didn't make any sense. It sounds as though she was hiding something from us."
"Hmm, that is very strange, dear," said Old Slow Coach. "I suggest we all keep our eyes open. But if Evelyn doesn't come to the railway very often, that may be difficult."
"Maybe Algy and the other buses can spot her from the roads," suggested Oliver. "Or Harold could see her from the air. Don't worry, Anna, we'll keep a close eye on her, one way or another."
Despite what I had just been through, I managed a small smile. "Thank you, everyone…"
"Meanwhile, we've got a dinner to attend to later this evening," said Penny, referring to herself and Pansy. "Perhaps there, we'll pick out a rat."
"We're not going to get rabies from it, are we?" asked Pansy.
"No, I mean a metaphorical rat," insisted Penny. The two dashed off.
"Hey, Anna," said Gwen. "Maybe a quick trip down the Little Western will cheer you up."
"I've got two seats with your names on them," said Old Slow Coach. "Jump in."
Giving a quick nod, Gwen and I bought tickets and hopped onto the train.
Paul Percival's Point of View
Still having a bit of a foggy mind from seeing Annabelle upset, I had to join my family for dinner at M.C. Bunn.
"So… I don't believe I met your family before tonight," said Evelyn; she was partially correct in that while she had met Penny and Pansy, she hadn't met everyone else in my family.
"You saw my sisters briefly," I told her.
"Did I…" Evelyn said quickly. "Er… what were their names?"
"I'll run through everyone," I assured. Maybe she was bad with names. I understand that can happen a lot. We both sat down; Evelyn practically raced to sit next to me.
"So, this is that new friend you mentioned?" Peter asked; sat next to him was his girlfriend Sophie.
I nodded. "Evelyn, these are my siblings. Peter's my eldest brother, and has taken up a job on the Skarloey line as a guard. My older sister Penny's graduated from university not too long ago, and the twins Pansy and Patrick are in Year 10. That's Peter's girlfriend Sophie Hugh, and these are our parents Peregrine and Polly."
Oh yes, Sophie was the daughter of Ivo Hugh's son, David Hugh. I still wonder how so many of the major Sodor families were tied together in this web…
"You lot are so lucky to be part of a famous family," Evelyn grinned; she gave a little laugh and a smile.
"Er, yes," said Pansy, trying not to sound awkward. "So… could you tell us a bit about yourself?"
"Oh… oh, of course," said Evelyn. Suddenly, she felt awkward herself. "I signed up at university to… get a degree in fashion designing. My parents are famous fashion designers, you see."
"Really?" asked Patrick. "Who are they?"
Evelyn started to step back, biting her lip. "Er… I need to go to the bathroom." She dashed off, and Sophie raised an eyebrow.
"Something's not right about her," I heard her whisper to Peter. "Did you see her reactions?"
"Saying she's got a 'famous family' and then dashing off when she's asked who her parents are?" Peter whispered back. "Yep, I don't like the looks of this." He looked over at me. "Paul… are you sure that Evelyn is a genuine person?"
"Maybe… maybe she's just nervous to reveal who they are," I speculated. "She doesn't have the best relationship with them, from what little I could gather."
"Let's just hope she's nothing like Addison," dad sighed. I winced at that implication. Addison used to be a sweet girl, but then she tried to kill Duck. Surely Evelyn wouldn't go to those extremes, right?
"Who's Addison?" I glanced up to see Evelyn had returned from the bathroom. That was quick, I thought.
"She was a friend of mine and my siblings at our old school," I explained. "But… things went south during the last few years of mine and Penny's time there."
"Oh my," Evelyn gasped. "I'm very sorry that you lost a friend like that. Hopefully she won't show her face around you again."
"We all hope that," Peter said quietly.
As I nodded in agreement to check the menu, I barely noticed Evelyn putting her hand on top of mine. I did hear her giving a little giggle though.
Sometime after that… shall we say, bizarre dinner outing, both Evelyn and I were at the namesake lake of Lakeside.
"The lake sure looks beautiful," said Evelyn.
"The loop line was only built four years ago," I explained. "In 1985, Skarloey and Rheneas celebrated their centenaries, and so did the railway itself…"
"Yes, very interesting," said Evelyn, cutting me off before I could continue. "Say, want to go and swim?"
"Er… I didn't bring my swimming clothes…"
"Great!" said Evelyn. She took her clothes off – for the record, her swimsuit was underneath her clothes – and she leapt right into the lake.
"By His Grace's name!" came another voice. Surprised, I went down to see who spoke. No contest as to who it was…
"Duke!" I cried; he had Gertrude and Millicent in tow.
"What on earth is she doing swimming around in the lake?" Duke asked; his tone sounded serious with a hint of concern in it.
"Er… I was talking to her," I said, not quite sure what to make of the situation. "And then… she cut me off."
"Paul," said Gertrude, "are you… dating that girl?"
"More like… testing the waters with her."
"Now's not the time for puns," grunted Millicent.
"Right, poor word choice," I apologized. "But officially, we're not. It was her who arranged this meeting between us."
"And she didn't say to pack your swimming clothes," Duke pondered. "Yet she wanted to go swimming." He paused for a moment. "Paul, one important thing about relationships, be it romantic, platonic, family or even business relationships, is communication."
I slowly nodded at this. No sooner had Duke's guard blown the whistle when Evelyn ran up to me, dripping wet all over.
"That was great!" she grinned. "You should swim too!" She wrapped her arms around me, much too tightly, partially soaking my own clothes.
Maybe the others are onto something… I thought to myself. What have I gotten myself into?
The longer Evelyn and I were together, the more clingy she seemed to be. I was practically stuck in this so-called "relationship" that I couldn't get out. But, sooner or later, I'd find myself out of it.
"Come on, love..." Evelyn used such a sickeningly sweet voice I wanted to throw up. "I want to go to the shopping centre after we get off this train."
"Give us five minutes," I sighed. "The engines usually have something new to tell and I don't want to miss it."
"Fine…" she sighed; her tone sounded irritated. "Whatever it is, it better be quick!" As if to rub things in further, she pressed a kiss to my lips.
"Ugh…" I groaned, dashing ahead of Evelyn. As it turned out, Annabelle was in the coach ahead of Evelyn and I, and she got to Gordon first. The big blue engine sounded very amused about something, and I listened in closer.
"…and then, Spencer ran out of water, right on my hill!" Gordon was saying. I knew a little bit about the big silver engine, but this was news to me.
"Well, it serves him right for being a stuck-up drama queen," laughed Annabelle. Her laughter was contagious, and I couldn't help but grin myself.
"Why did the Duke and Duchess go for such a hoity-toity engine, anyway?" I wondered.
"Maybe Spencer being owned by them influenced him somehow," suggested Annabelle.
"Well, speaking from experience," Gordon put in, "Gresley engines have been… er… proud, to say the least."
The pride is definitely there, I thought. I have to wonder if Gordon used to be as proud as Spencer in his pre-Sodor days.
Evelyn rolled her eyes with disgust. "Now what on earth would a 'train' have to be proud of?" she scoffed. "They're just transport!"
Gordon sneered at Evelyn, but before he could retort, Annabelle cut in. "It's 'engines', Evelyn," she said firmly. "And they're not just transport; these engines are the heart and soul of the island!" The express engine felt much better at once.
"Thank your lucky stars Sir Topham Hatt didn't hear that," I muttered. No doubt he would have given Evelyn real words to chew on…
"What are you going to do, dear?" Evelyn snarked, flicking her hand dramatically. "Tell him what I said? Well, my parents sure would take that hard. It'll be all over the news."
"All of this over a simple misunderstanding?" Annabelle scoffed. "Sounds petty if you ask me."
"Quite right," agreed Gordon. "I swear, that woman is a pain in the tender!" I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing, but Evelyn… well…
"A pain in the–?! Me?!"
I'd quickly recovered from nearly laughing, but still smirked. "Oh, look; she does get railway terminology."
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Evelyn snapped. "You should keep them to yourself."
Annabelle finally had enough, and shot daggers at Evelyn. "Oh no, he should not!" she growled. "You should shut up for once in your life!" It wasn't the pure destructive fire that once burned the workman's hut at Tidmouth Hault; no, this was the sort of fire that had that deep sense of passion and protection. I gave a nod of acknowledgement to her.
"Annabelle's right," I said; the chains started to snap. "When we first met, I thought of you as a sweet girl who could be a good friend. But you've been very rude to my friends and you never let me meet your family!" I paused to think about what I was going to say next. "It would be a shame if your famous parents found out about your deplorable behavior; they could go out of business."
That seemed to do it; for Evelyn, this may as well have been the lump of coal that broke the wagon's sides. "My parents aren't famous fashion designers!" she screamed. "They are completely broke, and I was going to university to try and get a job to help them! Being the girlfriend of a famous family member was a mere bonus!"
Annabelle and Gordon just exchanged a "thought so" look. I just stared at Evelyn with anger, who covered her mouth upon realizing what she'd just said.
"Peter and Sophie were right all along," I said; every word that came out of my mouth was practically ice-chilling at this point. "You were nothing but a toxic influence on me this whole time, and all I want is for you to go away!"
Evelyn didn't say anything at first, but tears began to prick her eyes.
"…fine!" she snapped. "Leave a poor girl like me to rot in the streets! But you'll be sorry one of these days, Paul Percival!" Crying, she ran out of the station. If she was literally anyone else, I would have tried to console her. But she had passed the pale at this point…
I turned back to Gordon and Annabelle, sighing. "If she was respectful and honest from the start, she could have had a great life. I'm sorry you both had to see that."
"Never mind, Paul," Gordon comforted. "It was her own fault, anyway."
"Only we can control our own actions," Annabelle added.
"I know," I sighed, sadly shaking my head. "If only I had seen the red flag warnings much sooner…" I felt a tear coming into my eye over what I'd been through the past several months; trapped in a relationship that could've caused me and several others more emotional damage had I not cut ties with Evelyn just then.
"Come on," said Annabelle, gently putting a hand on my shoulder. "I think I know where we can go for a while. Mom's baking a mixed berry pie at my house."
"Oh, that sounds great, Annabelle," I said.
"Maybe you can finish your story next time, Gordon," Annabelle called. "I might draw a picture of Spencer stranded on your hill."
Gordon laughed at the prospect. "See you, Annabelle. You too, Paul." He then added quietly, "I hope Paul will feel better soon…"
I think I will…
"Hi, sweetie!" Mrs. Regaby kissed Annabelle's forehead. "Oh, Paul, what's wrong, young man?"
"I've just been through a lot today," I explained. Mrs. Regaby gave us a slice of pie each, and some iced chocolates. As we ate, I told Mrs. and Mr. Regaby everything.
"We're sorry to hear that it didn't work out," said Mr. Regaby. "When I was a bit older than you are now, I had bad luck with another woman too. She wanted me because I was from a rich family."
"That's what Evelyn wanted me for." I shook my head. "Why are there so many gold diggers out there?"
"Tell me about it," said Mrs. Regaby. "Men were on my back all the time when I was younger too. But there are genuine people out there."
"Yeah…" I nodded as I took another bite of my pie. "I can name a lot of them." I glanced over at Annabelle. "Like you, Anna. Thank you for sticking by me, especially through those darker days."
"Aww… that's alright, Paul." I could have sworn she blushed, and she slowly moved her hand down the table. I did too, and both our hands connected halfway. Her green eyes seemed to shine like emeralds, and her long red hair would make the sunset pale in comparison.
She was there for me all along… I thought. How was I so blind? Maybe… maybe there's a future for us down the road. Only time will tell.
The End
Athour's notes: Here's a story Zack's been super excited to get to. This further explores Paul's toxic relationship with Evelyn Broke. I swear, some people writing books write out toxic relationships without intending them to be. I guess you could say Zack and I took all those tropes and swept them up in this very story. We also showcased Gwen, Penny, Pansy and Bridget's friendship with Annabelle a bit more, which was quite fun. And fun fact, when writing up the "I met this friend once" line, I did not intend for it to be contradictory. Just accidentally correct writing, I guess.