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didn't realize that there was another fair in town.

"Wait so you're telling me we get to eat more cotton candy?!" her voice screeched out as the four of them sat in the car driving to what she now knew was the fair.

Tiana rolled her eyes. "Yes naive little Evelyn. That is indeed what we're telling you."

"I didn't even dress up though!"

Reese turned his head swiftly to glance down at Evelyn outfit. He took his time and it seemed as if he was shamelessly checking her out. "I wonder what you'd look like with that tank top off," he said as his eyes met hers. He wiggles his eyebrows jokingly.

Evelyn laughed as Maddox glared bullets into the side of Reese's face. Reese pushed Maddox's face back towards the road.

"Eyes on the road lover boy."

Tiana chuckled as Evelyn immediately blushed with embarrassment.

Maddox stilled.

"We're not together Reese," he bit back swiftly.

The car went silent as his words hung in the air. Tiana studied Maddox's stoic face before looking at Evelyn's dejected one. Glancing back at Tiana, Evelyn offered a tight-lipped smile. Turning away from them, she decided it was best to keep quiet and admire the view from the window.

Reese just sighed as he flicked Maddox's cheekbone.

"Way to make it awkward douchebag," he mumbled under his breath. Not wanting to stay in a car this awkward for another 20 minutes, he quickly put the radio on. He started bobbing his head like a rockstar as a random song came on and started screaming with the lyrics which it was obvious he didn't even know. Evelyn raised her eyebrows at his antics.

He's weird.

Tiana attempted to cover her laugh but she couldn't help it and ended up laughing so hard tears practically left her eyes. Evelyn laughed at Tiana's expression and soon enough Maddox joined in once Reese's screeching reached an all time high.

Evelyn snuck a glance at Maddox through the rear view mirror and she smiled at how his eyes crinkled slightly when he smiled. How his smile lit his whole face off.

She smiled because he was him and that's who she loved.

~•~

"It's bigger than the last one!" she screamed into Maddox's ear as she tugged on his arm to take them further into the crowd.

Maddox was unamused at Evelyn's excitement. He would've been shocked if she wasn't acting how she was.

Reese shot a look to Maddox. "Why is she so excited?"

"It's her second fair," Maddox responded as he chuckled at Evelyn bobbing up and down on her tippy toes. "And she really loves cotton candy."

"Yeah we can see that," Tiana piped up from behind him as all three of them glanced at Evelyn staring hungrily at the cotton candy booth.

"She's a weird little girl," Reese said with a chuckle.

Maddox shrugged, "It's endearing."

Tiana and Reese exchanged a look as Maddox continued to stare at Evelyn with a small smile gracing his features.

"Let's get out of here," Reese whispered beside her.

She immediately nodded her head as they interlinked arms like the best friends they were. "Yes please. I need to get away from their lovey-doveyness or else I might puke," she replied making a face.

"Maddox!"

Maddox whipped his head around to Reese and Tiana.

"We're gonna go to the haunted house," Tiana said.

Maddox furrowed his eyebrows, "You're gonna leave Evelyn and me?"

"Uh yeah that's the plan," Reese said.

"What the hell am I gonna do with her?" Maddox whispered-yelled gesturing to Evelyn- the girl who was still staring at the cotton candy booth as if her life depended on it.

Tiana looked at Evelyn over Maddox's shoulder before shrugging and dragging Reese away from them. "Get her some cotton candy!" she yelled back.

Watching them go, Maddox sighed shaking his head at his friends' antics. Turning around, he walked towards where Evelyn was.

"Ok time to get you some cotton candy."

Her eyes got big and she was practically shaking with excitement. "Let's go!" she screamed before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the booth.

There was a line and so they had to wait. Evelyn was looking at the different flavors before whipping her head around to look at Maddox.

"I think I'm gonna try the blue one this time," she said nudging Maddox with her elbow.

He stared down at her in amusement laughing slightly, "Slow down there babe you're gonna get whiplash."

He froze as soon as the words left his mouth and as did Evelyn. What the hell was he thinking? That was the problem though. He wasn't. The word had left his mouth in the most natural sense.

He noticed Evelyn's rigid form and knew he had to explain before making things awkward between them. He sighed, "Look Evelyn I di—-"

He was cut off before he could even begin. She held up her hand to stop him and the silence that followed after was agonizing. She took a deep breath before looking up from her shoes and she gave him a small smile in return.

"I know," she mumbled softly, "It was a mistake."

Before he could validate her response, she turned away to look into the crowd. She felt the tiniest of tears form in the corner of her eyes and she blinked quickly to get rid of them. Her hands shook a little bit and she didn't even know why. Maybe she just didn't like saying that Maddox referring to her as 'babe' was a mistake. She didn't want it to be a mistake. She wanted him to be with her. But the more time she gave him, the more space she gave him, the more she felt like they would never be a thing again.

She bit her lip and drew out a shaky breath as she watched the crowd. Her eyes scanned over the groups of teens littered around the grounds of the fair when she felt herself being watched. Turning back to face Maddox, her eyes found a group of girls a few feet away from them. However, they were looking at the boy beside her.

And it was obvious Maddox seemed to notice the attention he received. Evelyn watched as one of the girls- who seemed to be the one who wanted him most- offered him a flirty smile. Evelyn giggled to herself because she knew Maddox wasn't the kind of guy to hand out smiles for fun. He was way too stoic for his own good.

Unfortunately, she noticed his eyes stay on the girl and slowly enough a smirk adorned his lips. Evelyn's smile dimmed as she watched the exchange and her heartbeat picked up.

Maybe it was the stress of trying to keep Maddox's interest in her present.

She quickly tore her attention away from the flirting she'd just seen. It would've been harder had they not reached the front of the line by then.

"What do you want?" Maddox asked from behind her.

You.

She shook her head trying to clear those thoughts knowing that he was someone she'd never have in her grasp again.

"Um," she mumbled softly feeling herself get flustered from how close Maddox was to her. If she took one step back she'd crash into him. His body heat was making her woozy.

"The blue one please," she finally piped up from her short height as she got on her tippy toes to properly look at the cashier. The cashier nodded before grabbing her order and handing it to her. Oh god she hated how high these truck thingies were. She could barely reach the damn thing. She blamed her mom for those genes. All of a sudden, she felt herself be lifted up and soon she had the treat in her hand.

Just as soon as she was picked up, she was put down. She angled her head slightly to look up at Maddox who was now paying the cashier. He looked down at her and smiled.

"You're short. You would've never been able to grab that if it weren't for me."

She blushed smiling back at him. "Thank you," she chirpily replied as she stuffed the cotton candy in her mouth. She gave him a wide smile with her chipmunk cheeks. He laughed as he grabbed her hand and steered them to sit somewhere else.

She hungrily ate her food until realizing she hadn't offered a single bite to Maddox. Ripping a piece off she offered it to him. "You want?"

He shook his head. She frowned.

"One bite Maddox please?"

"No."

She pouted. "Pleaseeeeee please please please pleaseeeeee——-"

"Fine!" he groaned right before she shoved the cotton candy in his mouth.

She nodded her head at him in reassurance, "Good right?"

"It's fantastic," he responded with the sarcasm dripping in his tone.

She rolled her eyes. "You have no taste."

He shrugged not disagreeing with her. She looked to her left and saw the sign for the bathroom. Getting up she dusted herself off before speaking.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom," she said, "I'll be back in a jiffy."

He raised as eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"Only you would use that word," he laughed.

She gave him an even wider smile before turning around and skipping off to the stalls. she continued to smile feeling as if the day had been great between them so far. Ignoring the small insignificant awkward moments, her and Maddox was being good to each other. It was nice. Letting those thoughts continue to play in her head, she quickly went to the bathroom.

The smile was still on her face as she left the bathroom and she started walking back towards Maddox. However, her eyes caught sight of the same group of girls they'd seen last time, except now they had taken the seats around Maddox at the table he sat at. The girl who had smiled at Maddox sat dangerously close to him, coincidentally the spot Evelyn had been sitting at. Her steps came to a stop as she processed the scene in front of her.

Worst part of it all was that Maddox hadn't asked them to leave. In fact he was engaging in a conversation with the girl. Evelyn felt sick to her stomach. The lump in her throat was heavier than ever and her heart hurt.

It burned.

She closed her eyes and swallowed back the lump trying to compose herself. Giving herself a few seconds to come back from the pain, she opened her eyes and sighed. Slowly, her feet picked back up and she'd made herself back to the table.

The table which was now full and had no place for her to sit.

That was fine she supposed.

The chattering had come to a stop as she made her presence known offering them all a kind smile, even the girl who currently had her hand on Maddox's bicep. Evelyn hoped no one saw the anger flash through her eyes.

She was the only one who was supposed to touch Maddox's bicep.

That was fine too though she supposed.

Her eyes finally landed on Maddox and she felt all the anger leave her body as he smiled back at her. He had that kind of effect on her. She didn't think she'd ever get over the butterflies he made her feel.

"Hey you're back."

She bit her lip.

"Yep," she replied trying not to seem jealous, "there was a line which was annoying."

He chuckled at her pout, "What'd you expect? It's a fair."

She laughed shrugging her shoulders. Before she could respond though, the sound of someone clearing their throat had gained both her and Maddox's attention.

He smiled down at the girl beside him before realizing he hadn't introduced them. "Oh this is Bianca," he said gesturing towards the absolutely stunning girl on his arm.

Evelyn gave her a smile, "Nice to meet you. I'm Evelyn."

Bianca smiled back although it didn't seem that genuine. "And are you his sister?"

The fact they all knew she wasn't his sister was what made Bianca's friends quietly giggle to themselves.

"Um no," Evelyn responded, "Uh I'm his uh well I'm his friend."

She didn't know how else to respond in all honesty.

Bianca made a noise that showed she didn't really care about Evelyn as she turned back to Maddox. She smiled as she traced his bicep again. At this point Evelyn had to restrain herself not to tackle her.

"So," Bianca started, "I really want to go to the haunted house but all of my friends are too scared to come with me and obviously I don't wanna go alone. What do you say you be my partner?"

"Sure why not," he shrugged.

Evelyn was praying that Maddox would say he can't so when the words left his mouth, she froze in place. She tapped his shoulder softly.

"Don't we have to find Reese and Tiana though?"

"You can do that right?" he asked with a smile on his incredibly handsome face.

"For sure yeah," she mumbled taking a step back as everyone started getting up from the table.

She didn't bother looking at Bianca's evil face and kept her eyes away from her friends too. She glanced once more at Maddox but his eyes were focused on the freakishly beautiful girl in front of him.

Evelyn wanted to punch her face. She was so focused on her rage-filled thoughts, she jumped when Maddox came to give her a quick side hug and a kiss on the temple. "Be back in a jiffy," he said, using the weird word Evelyn had used before. His soft smile made her melt, but her insides were still hurting.

If only his sweet actions were enough. She waited for him to look back at her and smile once more. She really waited.

He barely glanced back as Bianca and him followed the girls and left Evelyn behind. She watched him disappear into the crowd and once he left her sight, she finally released her lip from her teeth, letting herself shake however much she pleased.

"You wait for me then I'll wait for you," he murmured as he gazed at her.

Wrapping her own pinky around his, she bit her lip and smiled as his eyes got darker at her action.

"Always."

She wanted to blame him for that. But did he ever promise her? At this point, she didn't remember.

Her heartbeat refused to go down and Evelyn refused to try and keep calm. She glanced down at her hands and squeezed them tight not caring about the pain her nails caused by digging into her skin. Once her whole body reacted to the pain she felt, that's when Evelyn finally let it happen.

That's when she finally let a tear fall.

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