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Eleven - Phobias
Eric held my gaze from across the table. A flash of lightning lit up the kitchen briefly, followed by a quick snap of thunder.
"So Nova has a phobia of thunderstorms," he said, folding his hands on top of the table.
"Yeah," I said. "Ever since she was really young."
"What are your phobias?"
I thought about this for a moment. "Drowning."
"Drowning," he repeated, the word rolling slowly off his tongue. "Explain."
"I don't know," I said. "I guess…it's just, like, being dragged down and running out of oxygen and not being able to do anything about it."
"Yeah," he agreed. "That is scary."
"How about you?"
"I'm deat
Kaugnay na kabanata
Evergreen Twelve - Midnight
Three nights later I was awakened in the middle of the night by the soft chiming of my phone. I reached over to my bedside table and slid my thumb across the screen of the phone without thinking, holding it to my ear.I hardly had time to utter a sleep deprived greeting before sound drifted through the phone's speaker."Luna, I'm in the forest. I just saw the owl —Dinah, or whoever —yeah, I saw the owl maybe two minutes ago."I sat up, putting a hand to my forehead and glancing briefly at my bedside clock. "Eric? It's two in the morning, what are you doing in the forest?""Owls are nocturnal, don't you know! And you said you'd help me find the nest. Now's the time to do it, and I've just seen the owl fly by, probably hunting."I sighed. Do I go back to sleep, or do I go
Evergreen Thirteen - Your own will
He looked at me with his lips slightly parted for a few seconds before a slow smile spread across his face and he reached into his pocket, unfolding his map and smoothing it out.At this point, a little more than a third of the paper was drawn on; Eric's slanted writing crammed beside small drawings of what must be personal landmarks he had drawn.He handed me the map and reached into the pocket of his jacket for a small flashlight, clicking it on and we stood over the map together, deciding where next to go.We stood close to each other, and I could hear his light breathing as he poured over the map, the limited light from the flashlight illuminating his features. His brow was pulled low in concentration as he read his map, one of his fingers tracing over the smooth paper."Right," he said after a few moments.
Evergreen Fourteen - Lola's
Things were different, after that. Clearly. You can't just share a kiss with someone in the forest in the middle of the night and expect things to instantly resume into normality. I didn't quite know what to do, how to proceed from there. On the weekdays Eric would come by to tutor Nova I would try to busy myself with other things; sometimes cleaning my room or watering the plants in the backyard or walking down to City Hall to see if my father needed any help with anything. It did quite seem like I was avoiding him, and I didn't mean to-I just didn't know what else to do. Eric didn't seem to mind my change in behavior. He would smile at me when I answered the door to him and talk to me about the weather while I would make him coffee as we would wait fo
Evergreen Fifteen - Summer in Australia
I felt Genevieve looking at me."Are you alright, Luna?""Yes, why?""You seem a bit down lately.""What does that mean?""I don't know…you haven't spent much time with Nova…. mean, I'm not saying you have to but you usually do anyhow.""She's been busy with her tutoring.""You don't like Eric?"I raised an eyebrow, lifting my gaze to look at Genevieve quizzically. "Where did you deduce that from?""You seemed a bit resentful when you spoke of her tutoring.""No, Eric's fine. It's not him, don't wo
Evergreen Sixteen - Just one dance
"Ow!" Nova said, hands reaching up to her hair where Genevieve was brushing it back into a ponytail."You're hurting my scalp!""Sorry, sorry," Genevieve said, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of Nova's head. She tied a band around Nova's thick hair and set the brush down. "There. You look beautiful."I sat on the bed adjacent to the mirror that Genevieve and Nova stood in front of in my father and Genevieve's room.Tonight was another campaign party, although rather than our backyard this one was taking place in the first floor sunroom Genevieve had cleared out.The sunroom was a bit of an odd room to have in a house in Oregon, but I liked it. It had a full wall of windows, and the ceiling sloped up slig
Evergreen Seventeen - Tree hugger
I turned to lock eyes with Eric, who smiled pleasantly at us both.He wore a black button down shirt with a light caramel tie and black slacks. I hadn't ever seen him wear anything but jeans and casual shirts, and tonight he was easily the most handsome boy here in such an effortless way. I looked at him gratefully, stepping away from James."Who are you?" James asked, a bit irritably."Eric," he said, extending his hand for James to shake. "Nice to meet you."James didn't shake his hand. He looked at Eric and then back at me. "How do you know each other?""Eric tutors Nova in science," I told him."Eric, this is James Greenwood."
Evergreen Eighteen - Planet earth
The party turned out to be a success. My father collected more campaign funds and said we were right on track for the election. I helped Genevieve clean up later that night after I put Nova to bed.Eric left with everyone else and said he'd see me soon.Two nights later I sat with my family at dinner. It was a bit odd, honestly, for all four of us to eat together during campaign season, since everyone was always so busy.Most of the time my father ate at City Hall and Genevieve picked up takeout on her way home for us, but we never actually sat down and all ate together.It was nice. Quiet, but nice.Genevieve and my father talked quietly about the election, and my father seemed to wave the topic off after awhile."Enough about th
Evergreen Nineteen - First date
The day passed quickly and before I knew it, it was 6:57 p.m. on Friday and the doorbell rang.I grabbed my phone and left a note for Genevieve before answering the door to Eric, who smiled at me. He wore a white button down shirt beneath his jacket with black jeans and boots, his cheeks pink from the cold."Hey," he said. "You look great.""So do you," I said, stepping outside and turning to lock the front door."Where is everyone?" He asked."Nova is spending the night at her friend's house and my father and Genevieve are at City Hall," I answered, pocketing my key. "The election is only a few weeks out now."We began to walk down the sidewalk together. "Are you still worried about it?" Eric asked."A
Pinakabagong kabanata
- Evergreen Fifty Seven - Evergreen
- Evergreen Fifty Six - His Words
- Evergreen Fifty Five - unknown man
- Evergreen Fifty Four - His universe
- Evergreen Fifty Three - Great Uncle
- Evergreen Fifty Two - You Found Me
- Evergreen Fifty One - Lost my star
- Evergreen Fifty - Tell Me
- Evergreen Forty Nine - Symptoms
