Eve pulls up to Eric friend's Curtis' house and gets out around the same time as his mother does. "Hey! Do you-"

"I️ don't have time to talk!" She quickly says as she hops in the car. "I gotta get to the park! Oh,

my baby!" She cries.

"Wait! But I️ don't know where my brother is-"

The lady simply starts the car and throws the car into reverse, almost speeding off. Eve quickly runs back into the car and shuts the door. "Follow her!" She tells Zach.

"Did you find out where your brother is?" Zach asks as he tries to keep up with her.

"She wouldn't talk to me," Eve shook her head as they followed Curtis' mom through the neighborhood. Five minutes later, they arrived at the local park which was a notorious gang hangout spot, a place Eve always warned her siblings against from going. But now, it was swarmed with cops and ambulances and yellow crime scene tape. "Oh my god..." she breathed out as they stopped in front of it. "Eric!" She hopped out the car and ran towards the park.

"Eve! Wait!" Zach called out from behind her, quickly hopping out as well, taking the keys out the ignition before following her.

"Yeah I️ have an African American male, possibly between the ages of 20 & 25, shot three time the chest and abdomen..."

Eve ducked under the crime scene tape and looked around for her brother. "Eric?! Eric!" She calls out.

"Hey!" A white cop yells from behind her, getting closer to her. "This is an active crime scene! You can't be here!" He yells at her.

"Please sir, I'm looking for my brother," she pleads him with tears in her eyes, fearing the worst has happened. But the cop just yanks her upper arm roughly, making her yelp. "No please! I'm looking for-"

"If he was here then chances are he's dead, alright?" He ruthlessly says. "There was a shootout. Now get out of here!" He yells, shoving her.

"Evie!" Zach rushes to catch her. "Hey! Is this how you treat women?" He fearlessly yells back at the cop.

"Beat it kid! You don't belong here!" The cop scorns. "Bad company you keep here son."

Eve stood up with Zach's help. "She's just trying to find her brother," he defends her. "Where is he?"

"Like I️ said, he probably dead," he bites, making her tear up once more. But she then noticed behind him, a familiar face sitting in the back of an ambulance. Eve gasps and runs past them both.

"Eric!" She screams.

Eric looks up at his sister, tears in his eyes. "Evie?"

Eve quickly wraps her arms around his head and shoulders, pulling him in for a tight hug, ignoring his blood stained clothes. "Oh my god, I️ thought something bad happened," she said, pressing multiples kisses on his forehead. Usually Eric would fringe at such affection but for once, he allowed it. She felt his hot tears hit her skin as he cried as many tears as she did at that point.

"He died in front of me Evie," he sobbed. "And I️ couldn't...I️ tried..."

"I know," she comforted him. "I️ know. It's okay, you're okay."

* * * *

Zach pulls up to her house once more, entire car silent. Eric fell asleep against her shoulder after he calmed down, the adrenaline probably leaving his body tired. Luckily, he was physically fine. He ducked behind a tree when the shooting started, but unfortunately it was after Curtis had taken the first three hits to his body.

"Are you...okay?" Zach asked.

"Just grateful," she tells him quietly, looking out the window before looking at him. "Eric, wake up," she shakes him off. "We're home."

Eric blinks his eyes open a couple time and yawns. "Hey, I'll be inside in a minute, I️ have to talk to Zach for a second."

Eric, too tired to make a sarcastic remark, simply got out the car and headed inside. Eve then moved to sit in the passenger seat. "Welcome to my life," she says. "It's not as nearly safe or glamorous as yours," she states sadly.

"Tonight was a rollercoaster, that's for sure," he says. "He gonna be okay?" He asked.

Eve looked up at him, an emotion running through her that he couldn't quite just place. "No, he will not be okay. He just watched his best friend since first grade bleed and die in front of him!" She snapped. "This is practically a rite of passage for people who live here!" She yells. "You are so lucky that the only hardship in your life was passing a fucking math class, and crying over your dense girlfriend!"

"Eve-"

"Think missing football for three weeks is hard?" She asks him. "That ain't shit!"

"Eve-"

"Damn it!" She slaps the dashboard. "I️ have college application deadlines soon, I️ still have a valedictorian speech to write and now I️ have to worry about my brother not doing something stupid like getting himself killed trying to get revenge!" She finally sobs, finally letting the floodgates open.

Zach simply wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Why do you do this?" He asks her. "Why do you put the whole world on your shoulders?"

"If not me, then who?" She asks him. "If I️ don't take care of them, everything's gonna fall apart."

"But who takes care of you?" He asks her.

Eve was genius. It was proven. Which means she usually had an answer for any and everything. But not that. She didn't have an answer for that.

Zach soothingly caresses her cheek, wiping her tears away. "I️ could take care of you. If you let just me," he adds.

"You seen what my life is like. You'll be so over it so fast," she warns him. "No...no, we can't be together," she shakes her head. "We're just...it's just too different. It'll never work, okay? People would talk about us, they would stare, you already go into two fights over me-"

"And I'd do it again! Come on...Evie," he pleaded.

"You're not giving me...us a chance," Zach argues. "What are you afraid of?" He urges to know.

"I'm afraid that...one day, you'll leave me," she tells him. "That...my blackness and the problems that come with it is will be too much to handle," she says honestly, leaving him speechless. "That one day you'll get tired of fighting alongside me and just give up."

"I️ think I️ love you," she continues. "I️ don't know, I've never been in love before," she admits. "My parents never told me they loved me. But saying it to you...feels right," she frowns, reaching out to take his hand. "So why would God make me love someone I'm so different from?"

"Well that's the million dollar question isn't it?" Zach murmured, pressing his lips against the back of her hand.

"I'd use it to get out of here," she tells him, both smiling at each other, breaking into a fit of laughter. "I️ love you," she whispers.

"I️ love you," he says back. "Is this goodbye?" He asked, almost scared of knowing the answer.

"I️ think it has to be," she says.

"I️ don't want it to be," he tells her. "I've never felt like this with anybody but you," he says truthfully. "Don't leave me, please. For the first time, it feels like I️ know who I️ am, and you helped me get there. I️ can't just forget everything we had, what we went through," he expressed. "Evie please..."

Eve presses one last kiss on his cheek before speaking. "Zach, I️ don't have time for a relationship," she sighs. "I'm sorry," she says, getting out the car, shutting the door behind her as she heads inside her home.

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Hey hey hey. One more chapter and then I'm done with the 90's, + plus an epilogue. Kinda weird how this story is kinda done but kinda not LMAO.