February 21, 2010
1:30 p.m.
Evalynne’s House

Cole had just left about five minutes ago. We had made plans to meet up with Kristy for dinner at Sadie’s around six-thirty. However, that was five hours from now. So at the moment, I was on my way over to Will’s house to apologize for Cole’s rudeness.
When I reached his front door, I rang the doorbell and waited patiently for him to answer. But instead of Will answering the door, it was Kevin. I wasn’t too surprised, considering it was Saturday, so most people were off work. However, I was a little disappointed. Mr. McKnight was a pretty nice guy, but he was too uptight for me.
“Evalynne, what brings you here?” he greeted me, his smile just as bright as I remembered.
“Actually, I’m here to see Will.” I told him.
“Oh,” he said, sounding a little dissatisfied. Why would he be dissatisfied though? It didn’t make much sense. “Why don’t you come inside?” he suggested.
So I stepped into the house, and as soon as I did all of the memories of Ash that were stored away deep inside my heart came flooding back to me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to rid them of my mind. It was too much for me to handle all at once. Being in Ash’s house again was just so nostalgic for me. It was a lot for me to take in.
“I’ll go tell Will you’re here.” Kevin told me. “Just make yourself at home,” Then he jogged upstairs, leaving me alone in the living room. The house had changed so much since I’d last been there. The McKnight’s had completely redecorated it. It was almost as if they had covered up any evidence that the Mongolia’s had ever lived here.
The plain and simple white-walled living room with only a black leather couch and television in it was gone. Now the walls were a light yellow and there was a large crystal chandelier hanging down from the ceiling. There was also a stark white leather couch with a few yellow accent pillows here and there, a round white coffee table with a glass vase on it, filled with three yellow flowers. There was a huge plasma screen TV hanging on the wall, a digital picture frame hanging on another wall, flashing from picture to picture. The windows were draped with sinuous white curtains, and hanging on the wall behind the couch were two huge black and white photos.
One was of Will before the rebellious teenager stage. Back when his hair was neat and combed and all one color. Back when he was a prep. However, the picture hanging next to it was of a boy I’d never seen before. He looked a lot like Will though, with the same deep brown eyes and hair that was such a dark shade of brown it could almost pass for black. I figured that this was the brother he’d told me about, Michael.
I bit my lip as I took in the newly decorated living room. It was decorated well, with its contemporary décor and expensive furnishings, but it wasn’t the way a living room should be. It was so cold and unwelcoming with all of its whiteness. It wasn’t warm and cozy. It actually kind of resembled Mr. and Mrs. McKnight perfectly.
“Hey,” Will said, interrupting my thoughts. I turned around to find him standing behind me.
“Oh, hi,” I replied, flashing him a smile. “I just wanted to come over to apologize for the way Cole acted earlier. He had no right to be so rude to you, and I assure you I won’t let it happen again.”
“Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said blithely. “Honestly, I couldn’t care less whether or not your boyfriend likes me. I’m not trying to become best friends with him or anything.”
I nodded, liking Will even more. I just loved how he didn’t care what other people thought of him. He knew who he was and he wasn’t ashamed of it. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone, he was just being true to himself. And that wasn’t something that was very common in today’s society. It was refreshing to be friends with someone like that.
“Well that’s good, because I don’t think he likes very much.” I confessed apologetically. “No offense,” I added. “It’s not even your fault that he doesn’t like you. You did nothing wrong. Cole’s just the jealous type.”
“Why would he be jealous of me?” he queried. “It’s not like we like each other or anything.”
I bit my lip, wanting so badly to tell him: “But I do like you, Will.” However, I knew that I couldn’t say this. After all, he had just implied that he wasn’t interested in me, plus he was still with that girl, Lacey. And if my suspicions were correct, he wasn’t quite over Valerie yet either. So instead, I lied. “That’s true, but Cole would get jealous of pretty much any guy that I come in contact with besides himself.”
He nodded, “I see,” We were both silent for a moment, but then completely out of the blue, Will spoke up again. “You want something to drink?” I was actually beginning to believe that random really was his middle name.
“Sure,” I replied with a smile. We both strolled into his kitchen, which had also been redecorated. Now there were stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and dark mahogany cabinets.
Without asking me what I wanted to drink, Will grabbed two water bottles from the fridge and handed one to me. “So, you move on pretty fast.” Will stated, his randomness unwavering.
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Well, you’re husband just died a few months ago, and now you’re already going back out with that perverted kid, Cole.” he replied, sounding casual, as if him calling Cole perverted wasn’t offensive to me whatsoever.
“Well, I still love Ash.” I informed him. “But I can’t spend the rest of my life all alone. I have to move on.”
“I’m just saying that if I died and six months later my girlfriend was already back with her ex, I’d be pretty angry.” he said.
I crossed my arms defensively over my chest, not really appreciating what Will was saying to me. “Well sorry that I don’t take my sweet time to move on like you do.” I remarked. When his eyes clouded over with confusion, I explained. “I saw that picture of you and Valerie in your car.”
His no longer confused eyes widened, and he glanced away from me for a moment. “How did you even know that was Val?” he asked me.
“Believe me, it wasn’t that hard to figure out.” I replied. “She was pretty, you looked happy with her, and the picture was obviously taken before your whole self-make-over. I just put the pieces together.”
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his throat. “You have no right to speak to me about how I feel about Val.”
“Well, you have no right to speak to me about how I feel about Ash.” I shot back.
He considered this for a moment, realizing that I had a point there. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t realize how rude it was for me to talk about him like that. And you’re right, I don’t have the right to say anything about him. I don’t know the guy, so I shouldn’t talk about him.”
Frowning, I immediately felt bad about going off on him like that. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “And I’m the one who should be apologizing for snapping at you like that.”
He nodded, “You had every right to,”
Sighing, I decided not to continue this argument for any longer. “So,” I began, “do you still have feelings for this girl, Val?” I wondered aloud. “If you don’t want to tell me, you totally don’t have to though.”
He eyed me for a moment, as if deciding whether or not he should trust me with this information. Then finally, he caved in. “Yes,” he admitted. “Very much,”
I smiled sadly, feeling sympathetic for him. I knew how it felt to still care about someone who had hurt you. I knew how painful it was. “I’m so sorry that she hurt you the way she did.”
He grimaced, like just speaking about it hurt him. “Don’t apologize.” he said to me. “Only apologize if it’s your fault.”
“Oh right, I should’ve known. You have a thing against people apologizing for things that aren’t their fault.” I replied with a chuckle.
He grinned, flashing me those perfectly white teeth of his. And he was about to respond to my comment, when his dad walked into the kitchen.
“Don’t mind me,” he said to us. “I’m just grabbing a bite to eat,” He opened up the refrigerator, rummaging through what it had to offer. He ended up settling on an apple. Will and I remained silent as he sat down at the kitchen table only a few feet away from us, gnawing on his fruit.
“Really, Dad?” Will demanded. “You have to eat your apple right here?”
“Well, this is the kitchen table.” Kevin replied matter-of-factly.
Will shook his head, “I’m not stupid, Dad. It’s pretty obvious that you’re only down here to try and eavesdrop on us.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Kevin cried, but I could tell by the look on his face that this was a lie.
“You know, I should probably get going now anyways.” I said, interrupting the enraged dispute that was about to erupt between them.
Will sighed, rolling his dark eyes at his dad. “Fine, I’ll talk to you later.” he replied.
I gave Mr. McKnight one last smile, to let him know that I wasn’t angry with him like Will was before leaving. Although, I was kind of disappointed that Mr. McKnight had intruded on us like that. I really enjoyed spending time with Will, and I valued every second I got with him.
To be honest, I was a little bit paranoid that for some reason, he’d end up leaving me just like Ash and Cole had. Yeah, Cole came back for me, but what if Will left and never came back? I’d learned from experience not to take anything for granted. Because before you knew it, it could disappear right before your eyes, right when you least expected it.