Mess? What mess? (Everett)

[Deleted]

Kiara was nervous. And scared. And continuously making up her mind while heading over to Everett’s place. She could still turn around, pretend all was good and that she did not need someone to talk to. Usually whenever the girl went to the apartment, she timed it in order to avoid her brother. This time it was the other way around; this time she rather didn’t have Gabe around because he had been dragged into this mess one time too many already.

When the blonde arrived, she didn’t immediately step inside. Given the bus stop was rather close, the girl just stood there, almost as if waiting for the next bus to come. She was getting cold feet, so it would be ideal to hop onto one and to just go wherever it took her. Kiara also knew that Ev would find out at one point, and she rather had him freak out with her around than risking him electrocuting someone out of anger.

So eventually Ki allowed feet to drag her over to the apartment, up to the right floor, and to the door which she soon knocked. If she remembered correctly, Gabriel had a class right now. And if she were lucky, Ev wouldn’t be home and she could use that as a valid excuse to not have informed him about Jackson having returned to Pilot Ridge.

But of course it totally made sense that her ability lacked effectiveness as nerves racked her mind. It led to her hearing someone at the other side of the door, and soon her brother’s familiar face appeared.

“Hey, Ev.” She smiled. “I thought I could drop by and see if you have some fish crackers left that I could steal.”

[Everett Lilien]

When there was a knock on the apartment door, Everett tossed his comic book onto the coffee table and got up to answer it, wondering who it could be. People usually didn't drop by unannounced, unless it was Gabe, who had forgotten his key again. Or...

his sister.

"Kiara," he said, blinking. Did Gabe tell her to come over? Since everything with him at the diner, Everett knew he had to talk to his sister, but he just didn't know how. I mean, a pregnancy scare? And he'd spent so much time being mad at her. "Fish crackers?" he asked. "Is that really why you're here?" The blonde looked at his sister, not in an accusing way as he had as of lately, but he just looked at her and he wanted to tell her that he was sorry for holding a grudge. Because he knew it was something he was good at.

[Deleted]

Kiara had no idea Gabe had spoken to her brother about the pregnancy scare. Had she known, the blonde quite possibly wouldn’t have dared to head over here. She was already starting to regret it in the first place given her brother seemed to look right through the fish crackers excuse. What did he want her to say though? That she knew he already disliked her and that the reason for her visit would quite possibly make it worse?

“I… just thought I might need an excuse to show up at your door without you sending me away?” With a little shrug, Ki rubbed her left upper arm while looking up at Everett. He had not acknowledged forgiving her, so she was careful with her assumptions. “But I guess that isn’t really working out as effective in reality as in my head.” With a soft bitter chuckle, the girl lightly pursed her lips. For a second she hesitated. “And maybe I also needed my brother to talk to…”

[Everett Lilien]

"And fish crackers was your excuse?" Everett asked, raising an eyebrow. "Really, I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from you." She'd always been horrible at that kind of thing, coming up with something on a whim, an excuse or a white lie. After all, she was Kiara.

He realized that he was talking to his sister in the doorway, letting her stand there like a stranger and invited her inside. "Not really," he replied. Her laugh was bitter and it was a pang to his gut as he realized he'd made her and Gabe feel like shit. Regardless of what they did that he didn't like, they didn't deserve that. The pregnancy scare alone was enough to make them both feel shitty. How did he tell her he already knew? Would she be mad that Gabe already told her? "That's a much better reason to come here than fish crackers," he mused. "Although I do think I have some." He left her standing in the middle of the living room to pad into the kitchen, digging in the cabinets for fish crackers. What was he doing? Was he really that avoidant?

[Deleted]

Everett made that sound quite bad. I shouldn’t expect anything else from you. It made Kiara feel awful because clearly she would have been better off to just keep her mouth. Given the lack of social contact between them lately, the blonde was not even sure how to interpret it. Anyway, the fact that her brother let her in without too much emotional damage having taken place so far, could definitely be labeled as progress. So soon the girl stepped inside and aimlessly halted in the middle of the living room, awkwardly glancing around for a second before eyes darted over to where the kitchen was located.

Was Ev just going to grab them and have her leave? Or had he, after acknowledging her reason for being there as a better one than the crackers, accepted that he would have to talk to her longer than a couple of seconds? Slowly Ki ventured further into the apartment and soon set eyes on her brother again as he appeared to have just found the yummy fishies.

“Do… you have time?” The question behind that one was: do you want to talk and listen to me? Time didn’t have a lot to do with it. “I mean, I understand if you don’t. I show up unannounced and you probably have more important matters to take care of…” Kiara wasn’t getting cold feet. She just didn’t want her brother to feel obligated to accept her presence. And maybe the rambling was also a sign that she feared his reaction and that by justifying refusal already, it would be easier to accept and to be less disappointed and sad.

“I could leave if you prefer that,” her voice soft and hardly above a whisper. Her gaze was cast down for a second as well, having a hard time looking at Ev for she didn’t want to spot the disapproval and anger that had been there during all their previous encounters.

(((Woops. Way longer than intended. )))

[Everett Lilien]

Everett knew he was being avoidant and he wanted to face palm for doing so. He would never fix things if he was going to be this stubborn about everything all the time. He thought about this as he was digging through the cabinet. Producing a box of fish crackers, he walked back into the living room, just as his sister asked him if he had time, which he was sure meant something else. Like, 'Do you want to talk to me?'

"Yes," he replied and even if a part of him didn't want to, he needed to. He couldn't keep doing this. "Ki, you honestly think I have important matters to take care of? When have I ever?" He took a few more steps forward and held out the box of fish crackers to her. That was what she came here for after all. "Here, they're yours."

He then walked slowly over to the sofa, running a hand through his hair. He had to compose himself. As he sat down, he finally said something that wasn't avoiding the subject. "I saw Gabe the other day."

[Deleted]

Everett had time. Good. That at least led to some relief. His questions, which might have been rhetorical, got answered either way. The small sad and nervous smile that escaped before it easily indicated how genuine she was about it. “The last couple of months… When everything came before talking to me. I figure those were important matters. Right?” Ev tended to prioritize her in the past. Things were different now.

Anyway, feature slit up some more as she took the fish crackers from him, almost immediately hugging the box close while blue optics followed her brother as he stepped over to the couch. Kiara hesitated what to do next, especially when Ev spoke up again, but eventually she gathered enough courage to slowly walk over as well. “Oh?”

Gabe as in baby Gabe? Or Gabe as in his roommate? The blonde didn’t dare to ask, so instead she assumed the latter as she plopped down next to him. “Did… you speak to him?” She also wanted to ask what they talked about, but that kind of might have been suspicious, right?

[Everett Lilien]

What Kiara said stung, and Everett doubted that she meant it to, because she was Kiara, but it did anyway and something told Ev that he really deserved it. "No, they weren't," he replied, honestly, kind of ashamed. "I was just working and feeling shitty for the most part." He wasn't sure if that was supposed to make her feel better, but it was the truth. "Communication with you should have been a priority, even when I'm mad. And I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah," he confirmed as he sunk into the couch cushions. "Yeah...I had a minor freak out about a thunderstorm. Not that it matters, but he came to see me and we talked. We finally talked. And I learned a lot, Ki. About him. I learned things I didn't know before. But that's not the point." He took a deep breath. What he really needed to talk to her about was the pregnancy scare and how he felt like shit about it because she probably was scared shitless not just because she could have a baby when she wasn't ready for it, but because her own brother might hate her for it.

[Deleted]

The fact that Everett felt shitty didn’t make it any better. He brought the loneliness upon himself. Kiara did not have any say over how long he ignored her; it was out of her control. Hopefully he realized that feeling like shit didn’t even come close to describing how she had felt the last couple of months. “I… never saw you that genuinely mad at me.” The blonde mumbled quietly while recalling their encounters. All Ki was trying to say with that was that his true feelings showed.

Anyway, upon having taken a seat as well, the college student opened the bag of crackers and plopped a couple of them into her mouth. She munched on them slowly – careful almost, while listening to her brother explain. “I’m glad, but-“ Ki had absolutely no clue what Everett was talking about, but she could tell there was more behind his words. “What… is the point then?” The girl ventured cautiously. God knows what he and Gabriel had talked about. Two guys together always behaved differently than around girls – maybe it was something she didn’t want to find out?

[Everett Lilien]

"I know," Everett mumbled. He knew that he'd been more angry than he'd probably ever been, but it was a combination of things, not just what happened between Gabe and Kiara, but what was happening or not happening in his life. He'd just taken it all out on Gabe and Kiara. And it was wrong. She had every right to be acting this way towards him righ now. Distanct, afraid. But he still didn't like it, that he'd made her this way around him.

"The point is that I'm not happy with where I'm at right now. And that has nothing to do with you and Gabe. That was just one thing that bothered me that I blamed everything on." It was true. And it wasn't an excuse, but an explanation he was offering. "And when I talked to Gabe, he told me." It took a moment for him to add on to that sentence. "He told me about the pregnancy scare."

[Deleted]

Kiara and Gabe had come to the agreement to not apologize for what had gone down that one night. That, however, didn’t account for Everett as well. While the blonde wanted to mumble an apology, the timing appeared to be incredibly off given he soon mentioned the pregnancy scare. She had been ready to react to the words before that, but instead a ‘what?’ slipped past the girl’s lips. Gabe had told him? Why? Ev might not look angry (though Ki had difficulty reading his face right now), but he possibly could have reacted badly!

“Why did he do that?” The question was asked out loud even though it was doubtful her brother could answer it. Kiara was not hiding her wish to have kept that to themselves – Ev could tell their parents. Either way, it clearly made his sister sensitive and somewhat vulnerable as blue eyes cast down at the bag of crackers, feeling very insecure. “He shouldn’t have told anyone,” she mumbled quietly, only to faintly gaze over at Everett through eyelashes as her head was lightly dipped.

“Please don’t hate me.”

[Everett Lilien]

"Because I'm your brother," Everett answered at first, the simplest answer. "And no matter how much of an ass I'm being, I deserve to know about my sister's well-being. He thought I should know." He had to add the rest of it because it needed to be addressed. She was staring down at the box of crackers now instead of looking at him and he knew he'd made her uncomfortable, but this needed to come up.

"Why? Why shouldn't have he? I'm your brother, Ki. And even when I'm being stupid or stubborn, I care about you and about a possible pregnancy!" He'd outstretched his arms as if trying to find other words. "I don't hate you..." Why would she think that? Had he really been that cold?

[Deleted]

Everett was her brother, this she did know. His words made Kiara feel awful, but at the same time there were no regrets when it came to having kept it from him. The current situation was different from the one a couple of months ago. His opinion could be way more optimistic now. With a small sigh, blue eyes settled on the man again. “You would have been so mad and there wouldn’t have been a single chance for me to try and tell you without you blowing up. It was just a scare and it wasn’t worth upsetting you even more.”

Shrugging shoulders, almost as if in an attempt to discard the current topic, Ki seemed to be in deep thoughts, deciding what fish cracker to pick next. “How would you have reacted had I told you? Based on your opinion of Jackson, you would quite probably have called me irresponsible… Or something else that I could have missed at that moment.” With a weak bitter laugh, she looked up again. “You might have hated Gabe even more.” Ev and Gabe were best friends. Kiara felt awful about coming in between to begin with. The last she had needed was knowing she unintentionally made it worse.

[Everett Lilien]

"And I didn't expect you to tell me," Everett added, when she correctly assumed that he would have been too angry for her to get a word in. She was definitely right about that. "That's why Gabe told me, because he and I both knew that it would have gone badly if you tried to tell me." Gabe was his best friend and he had a feeling that Kiara hadn't exactly been alone during the scare, that Gabe had been there for her.

But she continued on, and it made him feel worse and worse. She was exactly right. "But this is different. This is Gabe and not Jackson. Being irresponsible happens, Ki. But who knows how to be more irresponsible more than I do?" It had been one of his main qualities in the past. "But I'm trying to fix that, and I have no right to critique how you act when I'm worse. I get why you didn't tell me and I'm not mad that you didn't. I'm mad that I didn't provide you the means to be able to."

[Deleted]

Everett had no idea how much this was starting to agitate her. Kiara couldn’t grasp why every situation that involved her was different than when it would have been another person under the exact same circumstances. “Why would you have been mad had I told you..?” She seemed lost, sitting there next to him with a giant question mark written all over her face. It even expanded some when her brother replied to the rest of her statements.

“Why do you hate Jackson so much? I mean… I understand it now. But before that? Why did you never give him a chance?” Because, yeah, that could also account as her brother being irresponsible. He risked losing his sister like that. Either way, a small sigh did escape afterwards and the bag of fish crackers was offered at Ev. “Can… you start with forgiving Gabe? He misses his best friend. None of it was his fault either… It was mine.” After that, a small pause followed. “But thank you… for trying.”