22

Everly knocked on my open door frame the following Friday afternoon. Tyler was sitting on my futon, and I was sitting at my desk working on homework.

"You busy?" She asked, camera hanging around her neck. Her bangs fell into her eyes, and her long hair was pulled up into a purple and black bun on top of her head. "I have a proposition for the two of you," she looked between us.

"What's up?"

She leaned against the door frame and looked at me through the viewfinder on her camera. Without taking a picture, she put it back down. "I need to take pictures of a couple for my Portraits class, and you two are the closest thing I have."

She knew I didn't believe her, but I knew what game she was playing.

"What about Evan? Doesn't he have a girlfriend?" I didn't have to ask about Emerson and Caleb. I knew Everly was going to stay as far away from that situation as she could.

She rolled her eyes.

"I was going to use him and Maggie, but your dad pulled him over for speeding again. So, he's grounded."

"Did he give him a ticket this time?"

I looked over to Tyler, who was typing on his phone.

"No," Everly replied. "Another warning. He said next time, it's going to be a ticket though. If he doesn't knock it off, I'm afraid something bad is going to happen. Anyway, that's not important right now. Are you in or not?"

I looked at Tyler and raised an eyebrow.

Tyler: Sounds fun

Tyler: Just make sure she buys us pizza

I looked up at him, and he slightly raised his eyebrows. I turned back to Everly.

"Payment in pizza?"

She grinned. "You are so predictable. What about tomorrow afternoon? We can go to that meadow in Promise"

We all agreed and made plans to meet up with her the next day.

After Everly left, I got up from my desk and walked over to sit next to him on the futon. I sat with one leg under me, almost resting my head against his shoulder.

Tyler: How old is he?

"Who? Evan?"

Tyler nodded.

"Twenty-five. And, their sister Emerson is twenty-two. Everly also has a twin sister, Elodie," I said, tentatively resting my head on his shoulder. He didn't move away, so I left it there and continued. "They also have a much younger brother, Eddie."

My phone buzzed with a text. I sat up and groaned when I saw that it was from my mom.

"I bet it's about Alpha," I muttered.

Mom: Reminder to talk to Chloe about rushing

Mom: How are classes going?

Me: They're good

Me: I'm not rushing

I didn't really feel like elaborating about school to her. She was only concerned with convincing me to join Alpha, so it wasn't worth my effort. I turned my phone on silent and handed it to Tyler. "Will you put that on top of the fridge for me? I can't deal with my mom right now."

He took it and put it on the fridge, along with his.

"I never told you about my history with Chloe, did I?" I asked.

He shook his head, gently took my hand, and pulled me back next to him. My head awkwardly landed on his shoulder, and I scooted a little bit closer to get more comfortable. He moved his arm to the back of the futon, and I adjusted again.

"Is this okay?" I asked softly, looking up at him. He nodded and gave me a soft smile that I hadn't seen before.

We fit so well together.

I took a deep breath and started.

"Everly and I have been best friends since kindergarten. We grew up down the street from each other so we were always at each other's houses. My mom has been friends with Chloe's mom since they were little, and our grandmas were the same way. It goes back six generations.

"Chloe and I were in classes together all throughout school, but we didn't really start associating until freshman year of high school. We were both in the running for valedictorian from the beginning, so it started a rivalry between us. It started out friendly, but Chloe got really into it. My mom thought it was going to spark this amazing friendship, but honestly, I think she pushed it too hard. I just wasn't interested.

"You've heard me mention Alpha, right?" I looked up at him, and he was looking out the window. He nodded, so I continued, resting my head against his shoulder again.

"So, attending college here and being part of Alpha Delta Beta is a family legacy at this point. For me and for Chloe. Our great-however-many-times grandmothers rushed Alpha the year of its inception, and their daughters, except my mom, followed after that. Technically, my sister was supposed to, but she went to Lavender Springs instead. So, now it's on me. And, I don't want to."

He nudged me and handed me my phone.

Tyler: Why not?

I hadn't even noticed that he'd grabbed his phone.

"A few reasons. I don't want to do it just because she wants me to, ya know? Like, a lot of things happened between her, my dad, me, and my sister. It's getting a little better, I think, but we still have a long way to go.

"And, I've never really seen myself as a sorority type of girl, so I don't really fit Alpha's mold. Maybe– " I had a sudden thought. "Maybe it's supposed to end with me. My mom doesn't talk to her mom anymore. Mom didn't join the sorority because she had two little kids and rushing was against the rules. I think it's the end of my family's sorority legacy."

"Anyway, back to Chloe. Unless you're bored."

In response, Tyler shifted a little, pulling me closer to him. I took that as a sign to continue.

"We went back and forth between who would be valedictorian freshman and sophomore year. Then, I had a rough junior year but was able to come back and be valedictorian at graduation. She was in it for the competition though. I just wanted to get the best scholarships I could. Sierra is going for Biomedical Engineering at Lavender Springs, and that program is not cheap.

"So, Chloe and I aren't really friends anymore. And then, she was really mean to you the other day, and that just cemented it. But, anyway," I slowly stood, turning around to look at him. This was the heaviest conversation I'd had with him, and I needed to lighten the mood somehow.

"I'm thinking ice cream and then we get back to doing homework. Come to The Vanilla Bean with me?"

He stood and handed me my phone. Our fingers touched and he left them there for a few seconds while he made eye contact with me. Then, he gave me a quick smile and nodded toward the door.

Everly's door was open when we walked out.

I poked my head in and asked Everly and Sabrina, "We're going to get ice cream, do you want to come?"

"Sure, we'd love to," Everly said. "We'll meet you downstairs.

Everly spent most of the walk to The Vanilla Bean gushing about how excited she was for the next day and telling us about her recent field trip with her Geology class.

"It was so much fun! We were looking at all these different types of rocks and seeing how they fit in with other parts of the landscape. I probably spent more time taking pictures than actually paying attention because," she chuckled, "obviously. Next week, we're going to Lavender Springs to learn about erosion in the river. I don't think I can get away with bringing my camera again though."

"So just use your phone," I said, glancing at Sabrina again.

"Challenge yourself," Sabrina directed to Everly. "I bet you can still take great pictures."

"That's so boring though! Everyone takes pictures with their phones. Hardly anyone uses a camera anymore."

"So be like Vivian Maier," Sabrina said. "Take pictures on the sneak and see what you come up with."

"Ooh, that's a good idea," Everly said as we walked through the doors to the ice cream shop. She whispered to me as she got in line, "Maybe I should practice now."

Everly discreetly held her phone in various positions and snapped photos. She took pictures of the three of us, the shop window, and the ice cream display.

We got our ice cream and sat around a small round table outside. Tyler and Everly sat on either side of me, and Sabrina sat across from me. Everly pulled out her phone to show us the pictures that she took, and Tyler scooted closer to me, our knees touching. He slid his arm across the back of my seat to get a better view of Everly's phone and I leaned back into his arm.

"Hi," I whispered.

He answered by rubbing my shoulder with his thumb.

Everly flipped through the pictures. Most of the pictures were of the floor or our shoes. She laughed. "It was a good effort, but I think I'll stick with my camera from now on."

"Just keep practicing," Sabrina encouraged. "You never know what could happen."

"We're going to hang out on this side of campus for a while," Everly said as the four of us stood to get ready to go. "I'm so excited for tomorrow!"

"Me too!" I agreed, as she pulled me into a hug. "It's going to be so much fun."

Tyler and I started walking back to the dorm. His hand kept brushing mine. Or, mine was brushing his. I wasn't sure which. Either way, I didn't think it was accidental.

I kept sneaking glances at him and catching little smiles.

We walked through the Florentine front door and he gently took my hand and squeezed it before we parted ways for the night.