February 14, 2010
8:00 a.m.
Evalynne’s House


Ding Dong

I jolted up in my bed, startled by the sound of the doorbell. Who could possibly be at my house at eight o’clock in the morning on Valentine’s Day? And why couldn’t they have waited another two hours to ring the doorbell? Didn’t they know that I was still sleeping at eight a.m.?

My parents had both already left for work, so I unfortunately had to climb out of bed and answer the door myself. So I stood up, yawned, and trudged downstairs.

I reached the front door, but before opening it, I quickly smoothed out my hair (or at least tried to) and straightened out my robe. Then I placed my hand on the polished brass knob and opened the door.

Standing on my doorstep was none other than Cole. “Oh my gosh!” I cried. “Cole, what are you doing here?”

He grinned widely, “What, I don’t get a hello?” he asked jokingly.

Smiling, I wrapped him up in a hello-hug and ushered him inside. “It’s so great to see you! You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.” I told him.

“Yeah, I’ve been missing you too.” he replied. “By the way, sorry I got here so early. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, that’s fine.” I assured him, all of my weariness washing away. “So why are you here anyways?”

“Well, like I said, I’ve been missing you. Plus, I love it here in New York. Back in Michigan, things just aren’t the same. And I wasn’t about to spend Valentine’s Day all alone, so I decided to come down here to visit.”

When he mentioned that he didn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day alone, something inside of me felt wrong. It was like my conscience was screaming: “Red alert! Red alert! He wants to spend Valentine’s Day with you! Tell him no! You still love Ash!”

But I couldn’t just tell him to leave. Besides, I wanted to spend some time with Cole, and that could’ve been my only chance.

“Well I’m glad you did.” I told him. “So, does Kristy know you’re here?”

“No, not yet,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell her ahead of time, because I wanted to make it a surprise for you, and I knew she’d end up telling you.”

“You know her so well,” I replied with a grin. After years of being Kristy’s best friend, I knew lots of things about her. So I knew that keeping a secret was not one of her greatest abilities.

“Evalynne?” I turned my head to see Lori standing there on the stairs, looking at Cole and I, here eyes filled with confusion.

“Who’s she?” Cole asked me.

Immediately, I froze up. What would Cole think if I told him that I was taking care of Ash’s mom? I had a pretty good feeling that he wouldn’t take it so well.

“I’m Lori Mongolia.” Lori stated in response, looking proud that she got her name right.

Cole’s eyes widened immediately, “Mongolia?” he inquired, staring straight into my eyes. I knew he wanted an explanation, but my mouth felt like it had been super-glued shut.

“Ms. Mongolia is my stepmother, so I felt that it was my responsibility to take care of her, rather than sending her to a nursing home.” I explained to him, my voice wavering a bit as I spoke.

He nodded, processing this new information. “Well I think that’s great.” he finally said.

“You do?” I queried.

“Yeah, of course. I know it must take a lot of hard work and effort, especially with college, and I think it’s really great that you would do that for her.”

That went so much better than I’d expected. “Wow, thank you,” I replied, grinning.

“I’m still here, you know.” Lori reminded us. She walked down the remainder of the stairs, and over to us. “Now you know me. Who are you?” she asked Cole.

“My name is Cole Wilson, and I’m a friend of Evalynne’s.” he replied.

She eyed him oddly, as if she didn’t like him or something. “Did you know my son, Ash?” she asked.

When I heard Ash’s name, my heart skipped a beat. My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“Yes, I knew him.” Cole told her. His voice was even and free of any detectible emotion, so I wasn’t sure if mentioning Ash bothered him or not.

“Were you friends with him?” she continued.

“Lori, why don’t you go watch some TV?” I suggested frantically.

“I don’t want to watch TV right now.” she remarked, turning back to look at Cole, waiting for him to answer her. “So, were you friends with him or not?”

“Um…kind of,” Cole said, obviously feeling awkward.

“Ok, Lori, that’s enough questions for now.” I told her. “Why don’t you leave Cole alone and go back upstairs?”

She turned to look at me, holding her gaze there for a moment. “Is Cole your boyfriend?” she asked me.

I felt my cheeks growing redder and redder by the second. And Cole didn’t look so comfortable either. My irritation level was rising, and I knew that if Lori didn’t get out of there fast, I would snap.

“No, he’s just a friend.” I told her through clenched teeth.

“Then why are you getting so red?” she inquired.

I felt like I was on fire, by how hot my face was. How much humiliation could possibly occur to me in ten minutes?

“Maybe, I should go now.” Cole said, his eyes darting , his eyes darting towards the front door.

“No, you don’t have to leave yet.” I told him. “But you,” I began, turning to face Lori, “need to go back upstairs right now.”

She glanced at Cole, and then back at me, here eyes filled with dissatisfaction. “Fine,” she stated. “But just so you know,” she said, staring straight at Cole, “Evalynne is still in love with my son. So don’t get any ideas.” Then she turned around and stormed back upstairs.

For a moment, I just stood there, completely mortified. “I am so sorry.” I finally said, turning around to face Cole.

“It’s ok. It wasn’t your fault anyways.” he replied, flashing me a weak smile. “I should probably go though. I still have to go tell Kristy that I’m here, and you probably want to get dressed and stuff.”

I swallowed hard, my Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. I knew that this was just an excuse for him to leave, but I went along with it anyways. After all, I didn’t want to make matters any worse.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” I told him.

“Ok, well Kristy and I will probably stop by later today. Maybe we can all go hang out or something.” he suggested.

“That would be fun,”

He nodded, “Yep…well, I guess I’ll see you later then.”

“Ok, bye,”

He turned on his heel and walked out the door, and as soon as he was gone, I let out a deep breath of relief.

“I know you like him.” The sound of Lori’s voice startled me, making me jump. I turned around to see her standing at the top of the staircase, her eyes dark and a bit ominous.

“You don’t know anything.” I shot back sharply. “In fact, you probably don’t even remember what day it is.” I knew I was being harsh, but I was just so aggravated with her, that I could barely control myself.

“I might not remember the date, but I’ll always remember that look you got in your eyes when you were telling me about Ash when I first woke up from that coma. I know how much you love my son, and I know how much he loved you. But I also know that this boy, Cole likes you too. And you obviously like him.” she said. “But he’s bad news, Evalynne. I can sense it. You should stay away from him.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Ash is dead!” I shouted. “He’s gone, ok? So it doesn’t even matter whether or not I love him, because I’ll never get to be with him!”

She stared at me for what felt like hours before she responded. “If you honestly think that your love for Ash no longer matters, than you must not really love him at all.” Then she walked away, leaving me standing there at the bottom of the stairs, with tears welling up in my eyes.