☙❦❧

groaned in annoyance as the sun's blinding light hit her with force. Sitting up, she sighed as she glanced around the messy room with clothes strewn about.

Aubrey was definitely in a rush.

Chuckling to herself, she grabbed her phone off the charger and her eyes widened as she noticed the time. It was 10:05 a.m and it had just occurred to her that she and Maddox were to meet for her 'second lesson' at 9 a.m.

She had him waiting for an hour and no missed calls, voicemails or texts reminding her. She had a feeling he didn't care too much in having her there so that must be it. But she was looking forward to hanging out with him again.

Lips pursed, she breathed through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. She was pondering over asking him to come over. Aubrey would likely be fine with it and Evelyn would then have someone to spend the day with whilst trying to keep the little kid in the room over under view.

Pressing on his contact, she waited for him to pick up. She waited and waited and waited. During all that free time, she managed to talk herself out of doing what she was already in the process of doing. As she was about to cut the call, he picked up.

"Oh no take all the time you need," a playful voice spoke.

Frozen in shock, she couldn't speak. Was anyone ever on her side or did God just want to see her face the stupidest idea she had so far come up with.

"Evelyn?"

Shaking her head, she came out of her shock and embarrassment, "Um Maddox," she said with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah?" he responded drawing out the end of the word.

"Uh yeah I did forget...actually I just woke up and remembered so," she awkwardly started, "do you want to come over? I'm not at my house, I'm at a friend's and I have to spend the day babysitting her son."

The silence that followed just made the whole situation even more nerve racking as she tried to prevent her cheeks from heating up. He was taking a long time to decide which just fueled her regret.

"Yeah sure."

She blinked in surprise, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he said, "Why not?"

She let out a breath of relief. Biting her lip, she looked outside the window across the room as a smile bloomed on her face.

"Okay," she said a little too cheerily, "The address is 527 St. Amber's Ave."

"Got it. See you soon."

"Yeah see you soon," she said before ending the call.

Maddox was coming over.

The thought was finally registering in her mind and she realized how terrible she looked considering she had just woken up. Flinging the covers off her, she raced to make herself look presentable.

Brushing her teeth and changing into a pair of leggings and some big shirt she found in Aubrey's closet, she quickly brushed her hair before rushing out of the room. Racing to wake Riley up, she didn't find him in his room.

"Riley?" she said loudly hoping he'd be near.

"Riley?" she practically screamed as she hurriedly made her way to the living room. She sighed in relief seeing him eating cereal at the counter.

"Jeez, you could've woken me up," she said.

He shrugged as he laughed, "You snore."

She gasped before crossing her arms, "No I do not. Don't spout such lies."

"Are you calling me deaf?"

She opened her mouth to reply but the doorbell cut her off. Looking over towards where the sound was coming from, she turned back to Riley.

"Stay right here."

As she made her way through the living room she heard Riley's snarky remark, "Where else would I go?"

Smiling at his extravagant attitude, she opened the door to reveal Maddox.

"Hi," she chirped as she opened the door wider so he could come in.

"Hey," he replied as he took a step into the little ranch and surveyed the decor.

"Cute."

She rolled her eyes, "Cause I asked for your opinion."

Shrugging, he followed her into the kitchen. As he took notice of the kid with milk sitting above his lips, he cracked a smile.

"Uh you got a little," he started gesturing towards Riley's face, "you got some milk."

Riley wiped the milk with the back of his hand before smiling widely at Maddox, "Is it gone?"

Maddox chuckled, "Yeah you got it."

He beamed at Maddox as he stared at his huge frame. Noticing how Maddox glanced back at Evelyn who was preparing breakfast, he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Are you Evie's boyfriend?" he loudly asked.

Maddox's eyes widened and a clattering of kitchen utensils stopped him from responding. He looked over Riley's shoulders as he saw the pots that Evelyn had dropped back into the sink.

She turned around giving them both an apologetic smile and he smirked at the blush staining her cheeks.

"Uh no hun he's just a friend," she stated clearly embarrassed.

Riley gave her a look that told her he didn't believe him, "Are you sure?" he said with sass, "you don't have friends."

Maddox laughed at his statement.

"We're friends," he said leaning closer to Riley before whispering loud enough for Evelyn to hear, "but she wishes to be more."

Soon, a rag hit Maddox in the face and Riley started laughing. He threw the towel off him before raising an eyebrow towards Evelyn challenging her to do that again.

"God you two are frustrating boys," she groaned.

Maddox playfully high-fived Riley, "She's grumpy."

"And she snores," Riley said piping up enthusiastically.

"No I don't!" she exclaimed.

"Why do I believe him?" Maddox questioned with humor.

"Because you love to torment me," she huffed putting her hands on her hips.

"Well you're not wrong," he said smirking.

"You gorill-"

"Stop flirting," a small high pitched voice interrupted, "little kid alert!"

Riley's blunt statement had them both quiet and once again Evelyn was blushing red as a tomato.

Ignoring the awkward statement, Maddox directed his attention towards the confident kid, "And what's your name?"

"Riley," he responded holding out his hand like some professional employee.

Staring at his hand, Maddox hesitated in confusion. Riley sure was out there.

"Maddox," he said as he clasped Riley's hand in a firm handshake.

"I'm not her child," Riley stated.

"I sure hope not," Maddox said chuckling as Evelyn facepalmed at Riley's expense, "so whose child are you?"

"My mom's."

Evelyn slapped her forehead as she wondered why she ever invited Maddox over. With Riley's sassy attitude, what was she thinking letting Maddox hang around.

"And her name is?" Maddox urged with a light laugh.

"Aubrey," Riley said as his smile grew bigger, "she's the best mom ever and Evie's the best aunt! My mom takes care of me all the time and she makes sure I'm always happy and well. I know she gets really tired sometimes, but she always makes sure I'm okay," he said cheerfully.

Hearing Riley praise his mom, Evelyn almost teared up. Considering the conversation she had with Aubrey late at night yesterday, the words coming out of his mouth were ironic and comforting. If only Aubrey was there to hear them.

Maddox chuckled, "I bet she is, can't wait to meet her."

Riley looked back at Evelyn and he clapped his hands excitedly, "I like him!"

Evelyn laughed with a smile before looking at Maddox, "Well you have his approval," she jokingly said. Except it really wasn't a joke actually.

Riley nodded his head furiously as he looked at Maddox before turning back towards Evelyn.

"Keep him," he stated seriously as he pointed towards Maddox's chest.

Chuckling at Riley's antics, Maddox smiled, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good good," Riley responded before hopping off his stool and running out of the kitchen to play Xbox.

Walking closer to Evelyn, Maddox took a seat on the stool Riley was previously occupying.

"Well he's something else."

Evelyn nodded in agreement, "He's cheery and blunt. He's also got a lot of sass for such a tiny kid."

Maddox smiled, "Well it's intriguing and adorable so I suppose that's okay."

"Yeah," Evelyn replied with a laugh.

As the day went on, Maddox and Evelyn spent most of it playing around with Riley's hyper self. They watched a few Disney movies before putting him off too bed.

Collapsing on the sofa, Evelyn let out a loud sigh.

"I'm exhausted," she mumbled tiredly.

"Tell me about it," Maddox hummed in agreement.

They both stayed silent as the night went on, luring them deeper and deeper into the abyss that called itself sleep. Snapping out of it, Evelyn hurriedly sat up to stop herself from falling asleep.

"Stay awake Maddox," she urged as she shook his arm which was sling over his eyes to nick out the dim light.

"Yeah yeah I'm awake," he mumbled before slowly sitting up alongside her.

"So what's the situation?" he curiously questioned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"What situation," she asked tilting her head in confusion.

"Riley and Aubrey."

"Ohhh," she quietly said biting her lip.

She wasn't sure if she should even tell Maddox, but she knew he wouldn't go around telling anyone else about the hardships her friend had to face.

"She got pregnant young and her parents turned their backs. The father left her to fend for herself and Riley," she started hesitantly, "I met her when I first started working at the diner and she was arguing with Riley's dad on the phone. Apparently he had just left Riley at the house and she couldn't leave him alone, but she had her shift to take. So I offered to take her shift so she could go take care of Ri and we became friends afterwards."

"Dickhead," Maddox said with anger evident in his voice, "What kind of person would do that?"

Evelyn shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know," she murmured fidgeting with her hands, "I don't know, but somehow Aubrey gets through it. She's strong and she's brave, but she never gives herself credit for being so resilient against all the obstacles. She never lets herself cry about how she got the brunt end of the stick we all call life. I don't know how she does it honestly."

Maddox stayed quiet listening to her rant.

"I mean I don't know if I'd be able to do what she does. She gets by on her own. She makes sure that Riley is always okay, but she never bothers to take a seat and mull over all the stress and weight on her shoulders you know? And if she did now, it would overwhelm her greatly," Evelyn finished with a sorrowful sigh.

"She sounds incredibly amazing," Maddox started, "but let's not forget that you have been there for her since she needed someone. I think she probably tries to forget that her life took a turn not necessarily for the worse, but definitely not the one she was expecting. She's holding on knowing Riley needs someone to be there for him."

"Yeah," she nodded blinking back some tears, "Yeah you're right, but she doesn't think she did well. She thinks he wants more and she's not giving him enough."

Maddox maneuvered to sit across from Evelyn before forcing her to look at him.

"That makes sense," he stated, "but if she heard what he said today morning, those feelings would probably leave. She thinks that, but he obviously appreciates all that he has. No doubt he must wonder who his dad is or what his dad is like or what it would be like to have a dad to do father-son bonding with, but I think in the end, Riley's grateful for everything Aubrey has provided him. Aubrey knows that. She knows he loves her more than anything, but she just needs the reassurance. Sometimes people know the truth, but they needed to feel reassured. They need someone to show it to them."

Listening to his words, she had a feeling his speech didn't just refer to Aubrey and Riley. It had to do with him too.

Watching him, she gave him a small comforting smile to show her gratefulness for him being there today.

"Thanks for being here," she mumbled softly.

He squeezed her hand as he slid back down on the couch obviously exhausted, "No problem. I'm not sure if it's okay for me to stay and sleep so if your friend's not okay with it then just wake me up and I'll leave," he mumbled yawning.

Staring at his limp form, she shuffled over to lay down beside him. Although the couch could barely fit the two, Evelyn didn't care all that much. For some reason she yearned to be near Maddox and an unknown feeling crawled its way to her heart.

She wasn't sure what it was, but it was new and she was scared to venture further into knowing what the feeling was.

It was a feeling that sent a shiver down her spine when he wrapped his arm around her waist bringing her closer. It was a feeling that had her frozen when he whispered a soft 'goodnight' and kissed her temple.

It was a feeling that left her completely and utterly in denial because in that moment, she had realized.

Evelyn Moreau liked Maddox Lohan.

☙❦❧