𝒔𝒊𝒙. i won't go breaking your heart

Eve straightened the baby blue cardigan that hung from her shoulders, proceeding to pull down the end of her knit dress. She had a bad habit of fidgeting with anything in sight when she was the slightest bit anxious, a preferred method of coping with it instead of biting her nails.

She crossed her leg over the other and leaned forward into Valerie Kinbott's cushioned chair. The blonde woman smiled warmly at the teen, proceeding to pull out a file that Nevermore had all of Eve's personal information compiled into a few minuscule pages.

"I don't know what any of that says, but I can assure you that I don't need to be here," Eve spoke, her straight posture faltering. "I–I'm not crazy."

"No one is saying that you are, Miss Monroe," Kinbott assured. "It says here that you've been sent here by Larissa Weems' orders for grief counseling."

Eve pulled her lips between her teeth and dropped her head. "Sorry. When everyone constantly talks about how you're going insane, it kind of makes you believe it."

Kinbott nodded with a hesitant smile. "You've been avoiding your scheduled appointments for weeks, Eve. Why is that?"

"I don't think I need them," she softly replied. "I'm fine."

The adult woman leaned forward in her seat, making the conversation more personable. "It's okay not to be okay, Evette. Your grieving period is still new and fresh. It can be difficult and confusing–"

"I said I'm fine." Eve's eyes swelled as she jerked her head to the side, attempting to disassociate from the conversation.

Her hands gripped tightly onto the wooden arms of the chair that she sat in, provoking Kinbott's eyes to widen at the sight of Eve's knuckles turning white.

"Eve!" she exclaimed.

The teen snapped her attention to her hands, realizing that she had lost control of her powers and accidentally singed the wood of the chair. Her lips parted in surprise, immediately bringing her hands to her lap.

"I–.. I'm sorry," Eve whispered, her eyes still wide.

Kinbott's lips twisted into a sad frown. "You can't run away from this forever. You need to begin the process of letting him go before it all washes over you at once."

Eve nodded, wiping away a single tear before it could fall from her cheek.

"It's just hard. Everyone thinks that they know what happened to Daniel when they don't. It was just him and I in the woods that night, and..." her voice trailed. "Sometimes I blame myself for what happened to him. I know that my parents do."

"Why do you believe you're to blame?" the therapist inquired.

Eve flicked her watery eyes up to the woman. "Because it was my idea to go and find that stupid well," she admitted.

Kinbott slouched, entwining her two hands together in her lap. "I need you to know that what happened to your brother wasn't your fault," she spoke.

"I know it wasn't!" Eve exclaimed, her lip quivering as she attempted to control herself. "We weren't the only two people out there that night. I could feel it. T–There was someone watching us."

Kinbott cleared her throat. "The autopsy report revealed it to be an accident, Eve. You have to let go of your theories and come to terms with the true events."

"You can't tell me what I did or did not see!" Eve argued, standing from her seat. "Everyone called me a murderer and not a single person stepped in – you all let it ruin my life. Do you feel happy now? You finally succeeded."

"I understand your anger–"

"You don't," she said through a single breath. "Do me a favor and don't call me in for another appointment again."

Evette was on the verge of a breakdown.

She hated talking about her deceased brother, especially because people only asked about him for the sake of tormenting her or coming up with conspiracy theories surrounding his unfortunate death.

The girl walked with purpose, yet she had no destination in mind. Though she knew that her room would be empty and full of enough silence to let her thoughts run wild for hours, Evette Monroe didn't desire solitude in that moment. She wanted to be seen, to be heard, to be comforted.

Perhaps that was the reason she now stood outside of Xavier Thorpe's art studio, awaiting his presence.

He opened the door, his eyes widening at the sight of her. His grey shirt was splattered with various paint stains, his hands looked the same. His long hair was tied half up into a bun while the rest of it hung on his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" he asked, softly pulling her inside.

"Turns out my mascara isn't waterproof," she managed to say through a laugh. Eve's eyes were bloodshot and stinging from the messy makeup that she had been wiping away.

"Do... Do you want to talk about it?" Xavier spoke as he pulled her cardigan from her shoulders and hung it up on a tall coatrack.

Eve shook her head and traveled over to the canvas that he had been working on, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Who's this?"

Xavier's face flushed with warmth as he walked over to face the canvas. Her dark glossy eyes looked up at him, practically forcing him to lose his train of thought.

"You," he gulped.

The unfinished canvas revealed Eve in a white dress, her lips were rosy and her hair fell softly behind her. Orange orchids were scattered within her hair, complimenting the undertones of her skin tone. The unseen sunlight of the painting kissed her skin, accentuating every small detail of her being.

"Well, don't let me disrupt you," she said lowly, motioning for him to take a seat on the stool positioned in front of the painting.

He took a seat, holding a small paintbrush in his hand and a paint can in the other. Eve watched as Xavier's skilled hands danced around the canvas, making sure to not miss a single detail about her.

She smiled to herself but also to him. Unbeknownst to Xavier, her attention had left the painting and fell to him. She found herself studying him from the way he twirled the paintbrush between his fingers whenever he was unsure of what to do next, the way his jaw tensed whenever his hands grew shaky, the way he found himself uncontrollably smiling at the beauty of the painting before him.

"Why do you paint?" her smooth voice asked.

She placed her forearm on his shoulder and rested her chin on top of it, her eyes staring at the side of his face. His cheeks flushed with a shade of pink as he turned look at her, their faces a mere distance apart.

"It helps me escape," he shrugged lightly.

"Hm, I should try it sometime," she replied.

Xavier gave her a close–lipped smile, his dimples forming on his cheeks. "You should," he spoke while handing her a clean paintbrush.

He stood from his stool and brought a small clean canvas before them and placing it on the easel.

Eve let out a nervous laugh. "I don't know where to start."

Xavier shrugged. "Then don't paint just yet. Just... think about what inspires you."

"What inspires you?" she asked.

He smiled, dropping his head. Xavier motions towards his painting of Eve before speaking. "Right now, it's this girl who's been consuming my every thought when she shouldn't be."

"Why not?" Eve asked.

"It makes me afraid.." he paused. "...Afraid of ruining this."

Eve swallowed the nerves in her throat and looked up at him. They stood with the nature surrounding the studio providing sound, almost as if they were afraid to move forward in time.

"In what way?" Eve questioned.

"I– I don't know. I don't know how to explain what I feel for you, Eve," Xavier admitted, cupping her face in his cold hand and running his thumb along her cheek. "But whatever it is, I can assure you it isn't fake."

"You don't mean that," Eve protests. She brought her hands to meet the shirt fabric that covered his chest, providing a space barrier both for him and herself.

Xavier shook his head. "Do you really find it to be that improbable that someone could actually like you?"

She stared up at him, her mind swirling with dozens of emotions and thoughts that she couldn't put into words. Eve gives him silence as her answer, allowing him to decipher it accordingly.

"I wish you could see yourself the way I see you," he speaks lowly, raspiness latching onto his voice.

Eve places her warm hand against the one against her cheek. She pulls it away and holds both of his hands in hers, exuding heat from her palms to warm him up.

"Whatever you think you feel for me..." she pauses. "...It'll pass."

Xavier tilts his head and releases a breath, his gaze still lingering over her face even though her eyes are focused on their hands.

"Don't do that," Xavier pleads, his entire body now warm despite the brutality of the cold weather outside.

Eve drops his hands and pulls her arms to her side. "I'm sorry, I need to go."

She traveled over to the coatrack and pulled the cotton material over her shoulders, giving him a final sympathetic look before stepping out of the shed.

"Eve, wait!" Xavier called for her, peering outside of the studio only to realize that she had already disappeared into the night.

Evette found herself engrossed in her own thoughts as she sipped on Earl Grey tea in a booth in the Weathervane.

Much to her dismay, her mind was only clouded by an unwelcome being: Xavier Thorpe.

With the Rave'n rapidly approaching that next day, she realized that she would have to properly face Xavier after their close encounter in his art studio. There wasn't any sour feelings from either side, rather an overflow of confusion and uncertainty between them.

Evette mentally beat herself up about how she left him but she relished on the fact that she allowed them to get so close in the first place. Similar to Xavier, she was scared of the possibility of something real existing between them.

Everything that Eve passed in her path of life was destroyed. From her perspective, that is. She believed that Xavier was far too good to ever be ruined by the bad omen that she called a life. The bridges she built had been burned and the very few relationships she had with others were typically short and simple – she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if he compromised himself just to be with her.

A detached hand leaped onto Eve's shoulder, forcing her to shriek from her how startled she was.

Wednesday's eyes grew large with amusement as one side of her lips curved upwards into a smirk. "Ah, the shrieks of the innocent will never get old."

Eve face palmed and slumped into the booth as Wednesday took a seat on the opposite side.

"What are you doing here, if you don't mind my asking?" Wednesday spoke, her face resuming to its emotionless appearance.

"I guess I came here to buy something for Xavier's raveposal present, but I haven't gotten around to it yet," Eve solemnly replied.

"I suggest the flower shop around the corner. I go there often to replace the vase of stems in my room. They've shriveled to the point of being unrecognizable and I believe that watching that process is quite entertaining," the raven–haired girl ranted.

Eve's eyebrows pinched together. "You buy flowers just to watch them die?

"Precisely." Wednesday subtly nodded. "Might I ask why you're buying Xavier a gift if you two aren't truly dating?"

Eve choked on the tea that she was about to swallow, forcing her to clear her throat. "What?"

Wednesday tilted her head. "I know what you two are. I caught onto your antics weeks ago but only recently put the pieces together."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Eve hushed.

"Shocking. I do believe that it isn't all that fake judging by the portrait that Xavier has of you in his studio," Wednesday continued. "Though I find it horrifying, our generation seems to find that sort of thing romantic."

Eve leaned forward to hush their conversation entirely, folding her hands onto the table. "How do you know what's inside of his studio? I thought I told you to drop the lead you're chasing."

"Never mind the logistics, Evette," she spoke while standing up from her seat. "I'd advise you to go tell him how you truly feel, but I still believe that it'd be a grave mistake."

Thing crawled up Wednesday's arm and sat atop her shoulder. They soon disappeared through the Weathervane's exit and out of Eve's sight.

"Oh... good talk," she spoke to herself.

      Surprisingly, Wednesday's advice of finding Xavier's raveposal gift in a flower shop seemed to be a good idea.

      Eve held her chosen bouquet of gentian flowers tied together with a single white ribbon. She strolled through the aisles of unopened cards to pick out one that fit him best; a card that would express how sorry she was for constantly running away and how much she wishes she could stop.

      She turned around only to bump into someone as she did so. The flowers that they both held scattered amongst the tiled floor of the shop: orange orchids and blue gentian flowers alike.

      "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was..." Eve's voice trailed as she locked eyes with the person she bumped into. "...Going."

      Eve and Xavier stood parallel to each other with their bouquets in hand. She pressed her lips together to form an unsure smile as she exhaled.

      "What're you doing here?" she asked

      Xavier handed her the flowers in his hand. "I came here to buy these for you. I wanted to apologize for putting you in an uncomfortable position a few nights ago. I was out of line and I realize that."

      "I was here buying these for you," she said, holding out the flowers for him. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for running out on you like that and... I was wondering if you still wanted to go to the Rave'n with me."

      Xavier smiled and held the flowers into his chest. "Of course I want to go to the dance with you," he spoke.

      Eve straightened her blazer and clutched her gifted bouquet to her chest. "So, I was thinking: We break the dress code and actually wear colors. The whole white clothes thing is really not doing it for me."

      He chuckled. "You just can't follow the rules, can you?"

      "Hey, I'm not the only one here who's been breaking rules," she speculated.

      Xavier scoffed, proceeding to laugh. "I like to think that some rules are meant to be broken."

Notes.
you've been robbed 🙏 as if I'd let them kiss so early on. this is probably my favorite chapter so far but the next one.... just wait 🤞

ty for reading and interacting <3 I hope you enjoyed.