Page 16

CHAPTER 16 EVIE

Lis and the rest of Saturday Sins refused to stop celebrating her acceptance into the clinic; it was almost embarrassing. So, she didn’t need Jake’s congratulations… but she wanted it. She wished for it. Yet, two days passed and he didn’t reply to her last message about acing the interview. No phone call, a thumbs-up, a heart.

She couldn’t sit with this unease, this uncertainty, a shred of which she felt right after getting her interview request. Had he been mad at her for getting an interview request? Jealous? Evie was the one who brought up the clinic to him because her advisor had mentioned it. His silence might make more sense if he had mentioned it first, applied, then got rejected. If that was the case and Evie was in his shoes, she’d feel jealous and slightly resentful.

She didn’t think this was a reason for Jake to get jealous, though. She’d never seen him jealous—especially of her—because they never fought for the same thing.

Whatever the problem was between her and her boyfriend, Evie couldn’t just let it sit there, unaddressed.

Jake’s roommate was out, but Evie saw the remnants of him around the apartment: his unwashed dishes, his water bottle, and his backpack on the kitchen bar. On the other end of the bar was a laptop, which Jake returned to, once letting her in.

She wrinkled her nose at her boyfriend’s sour, musty smell; he must have sat down right after coming back from the gym.

“I just need to finish this quickly. Pick a movie, any movie, and I’ll be there!”

She quickly chose a detective series people were raving about online, and for the next fifteen minutes Evie passed the time by checking her own emails, and spotted the formal congratulatory email from the clinic selection committee, which brought a smile to her face. The official start date wouldn’t be until the next year, but she was asked to schedule an introductory tour to walk through the basics. Contrary to her imagination, they weren’t expected to wear white jackets but were offered maroon T-shirts. She ordered hers in medium.

Soon, realizing it was getting close to a half hour, Evie set down her cell. She got to her knees and leaned against the back of the couch. Her boyfriend was typing away on Word now, working on a different assignment entirely, focusing on that and nothing else.

“Want to do this another time?” she offered. Jake finally turned, blinking several times. If Evie was distracting him from an important assignment, she’d feel bad. Then again, why would he accept her dinner and movie invite?

“Ah no! I’m finished now.” He hit “save,” then closed the laptop. “Hold on, I stink! Can I shower first? Before we start the show?”

“You read my mind. Go on, I’ll wait.”

His shower took ten minutes, and he re-emerged in a white tee and gray sweats. He slid down the hall in his socks, launching himself at the couch like a kid, and Evie backed into the armrest, pretending to escape his outstretched arms. Dove soap and a minty aftershave reached her nose. This was the Jake she was most used to.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, babe.” He brought her in for a tight hug, an arm around her shoulder, and after a millisecond of hesitation, she sank into his embrace.

“You seem busy today,” she whispered. “What’s going on?”

Ticking down on his fingers, Jake listed his workload and his latest duties as a board member’s son. As she listened, like she always did, she chastised herself. He was busy; he couldn’t help it.

“But forget all about that,” Jake finally said. He leaned over and pressed play. “Let’s just watch this. Heard people talking about it in class.”

The blue-and-gray-toned first episode unfolded, following a traumatized detective who’s pulled into a puzzling case that causes her haunted memories to resurface. Even as the moody soundtrack surrounded them, Evie couldn’t quite get into it. Her own thoughts kept her at a distance. She realized Jake didn’t even ask her about the interview, which he definitely knew about it. They texted about it.

Evie waited for him to ask her how she was doing, waiting for him to ask whether the interview had gone well.

“You’re not gonna ask about how I did?” she ventured quietly.

“With… what?”

“The interview for the clinic.”

“Oh shit—that totally didn’t cross my mind!” On one hand, he was busy with other things. On the other hand, was he that busy that he couldn’t even text her back or give her a call? “I mean, I’m assuming it went well.” His tone pitched up to turn it into a question.

Evie sighed. “Yes, I got in, actually.”

“Evie! I’m so proud of you.”

She finally mustered the courage to ask him. “Jake… were you mad that I got the interview request?”

Jake froze. “You thought I was mad at you?” She nodded. “Ah, sorry. I guess I was pissed at myself, thinking I’d get in.”

“I wish we could have done this together,” she admitted. She had to tilt her head to see his face. She moved with his shrug. “I don’t know what the clinic is thinking.”

“Yeah, me too. That would have been great. But I guess the clinic wants to keep us apart. It’s not like I need it on my resume.” His comment was meant to be light, but was there also a hint of…

She was imagining it; he wasn’t suggesting that Evie was the one who needed the clinic on her resume.

She mentally shook her head; no, he wouldn’t think that. He knew she worked as hard as him, and he had wanted for the two of them to get through together. Just as she did.

Movie night ended without an issue; she and Jake felt close to normal again. The next day, Evie sent a text asking Jake if they could spend some time together, somewhere off campus. Just the two of them. Told him that she was heading to the FSC’s qualifiers, but otherwise she’d be free.

His response: “Have fun! And sorry, I have a study group tonight. Maybe sometime this weekend?”

Fighting off her disappointment, she pocketed her phone. She was lagging behind the group as they crossed a lawn to the Forensic Science Center. She jogged to where Viet was trailing Lis and Kale. She secretly loved it when her roommate was like this: deliriously happy, waves of energy coming off her in a way that was almost contagious. Kale had caught some of it because he’d looped his arm through Lis’s and squeezed her close.

“Are you nervous?” she asked Viet.

Another person who often disappeared on her over the last two weeks was Viet. He texted her whenever he couldn’t make their morning runs. She wasn’t offended by his absence. More pressing was the concern that he would retreat into himself—like last time.

Her concern was baseless. Unlike the other two, he was strolling with his hands in his pockets, the vision of calm and cool. Before she really got to know him outside of running—the even rhythm of his breathing, the assured stride of his ASICS, the satisfied smile he’d get as he lay down on the grass next to her during their post-run ritual—Evie initially thought it was because he felt he needed to be that way around them. In truth, he enjoyed listening.

Lis and Kale were obviously amusing him because a soft smile played on his lips.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to be nervous,” Viet answered. He gestured toward their friends. “I wouldn’t want to ruin their fun anyway.”

“To be honest, they’re in their own bubble now. They could care less about us.”

“Viet, come on . Evie, stop hogging our teammate!” Apparently not. Lis stood arms akimbo ahead of them. Kale gestured his arms like a marshaller directing a grounded plane.

Evie rolled her eyes. “Never mind.” To her roommate, she said, “I can’t help it! I haven’t seen him in a while.”

It was a joke. But not really.

“Sorry,” Viet said, looking at his feet, avoiding her eyes. She wished she could read minds.

If only Lis’s wanting to win so badly could guarantee that very win. But a few minutes after showing up at the lab, they realized something was off. The fourth team member, Kyle, who said he’d meet them there, was missing. Swearing under her breath, Lis dialed his number and once he picked up, she walked into the hallway, practically hissing through her cell’s mouthpiece.

Like all the labs Evie had been in, the room was ten degrees colder than outside, and everyone glowed blue under the overhead lights. There were more people in attendance than she ever expected. She remembered the weak numbers from previous years, when she came out to support Lis.

It was unusually quiet, reminding her of the morning she’d taken her SATs, when she had random mathematical equations and vocabulary spinning dizzyingly in her mind. She somehow felt it in her stomach, too.

Everyone was taking this competition seriously. The other team all donned lab coats borrowed from the graduate program. Viet slipped his on and Evie hid a smile.

The vision of him being in a crime lab, someday in the future, felt just right.

“What?” he asked, noticing her immediately.

“Nothing. You just look like you belong here.”

“Oh.” Viet looked down, fixed a button that didn’t need to be fixed. “Thanks.”

Sure, he was usually self-possessed, but even he couldn’t fight a blush.

Evie was about to channel Lis and tease him a bit more, when her roommate came back, nearly slamming the door shut. Kale followed close behind, having gone to check on her. She fast-walked over, gestured for them to lean in, and said, “Apparently, Kyle’s sick. He can’t make it.”

Multiple groans erupted.

Kale cursed. “What a traitor. I knew we couldn’t trust him.”

Viet’s head swiveled. “Wait, what do you mean? He’s sick—how is he being a traitor?”

“He’s friends with my ex,” Lis said. “Or at least friendly with him.”

Ex was perhaps in exaggeration; they had only dated for a few months, before Lis dumped him. Kale nodded. “And I bet you a five-course meal that he dropped out so the ex’s team would automatically win.”

Across the room, in his own circle, the ex lifted his head and shot them a smug smirk that made Evie wish she had something heavy to throw. She saw why Lis might have liked him in the first place; on the outside, his style was classic academia, but she bet he was just some spoiled kid who went abroad to some fancy boarding school. She imagined he had everything handed to him—and if not, he had the means to eventually get what he wanted.

At the front of the room, under a poster that said UNCOVER THE TRUTH , a graduate student clapped her hands. She had paired a lilac headscarf with a white long-sleeve shirt and beige pleated pants and held the room’s attention better than some professors. A glittery blush on her cheeks made her dark brown skin shimmer. She introduced herself as Ilyasah. “Okay, we’re about five minutes away from starting. Pick a spot—each seat has a test and a pencil. You’ll have an hour to fill in fifty multiple-choice questions. After that, we’ll move on to the staged crime scene, which is in the room next door.”

“Excuse me, but I think the other team is short one player,” shouted Lis’s ex. Of course his voice was also unbearable.

“Jerk,” Lis whispered.

The grad student frowned. “If you don’t have four players total, then I’m sorry, but you’ll have to forfeit your participation. Those are our rules.”

Kale stepped forward. “Wait, but it’s not our fault . It’s—”

Lis touched his shoulder, saying quietly, “Save it. It’s not worth the explanation. She’s right. We don’t have enough players. They win this time.” Her tone had never been this monotone. Evie didn’t like seeing her this way, like some villain had zapped away all her energy. She made a note to buy her roommate all the snacks she wanted after this.

Then the grad student narrowed her eyes in concentration, having noticed Evie standing a few steps away from the group. “Wait, there are four people.” She stared at Evie. “Aren’t you going to participate?”

Of course. Why didn’t Evie think of that?

Her roommate sighed. “No, she’s just—”

“Oh yes. I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention just now. I’m the last member.” Evie stepped forward and set down her backpack. She ignored a trio of bewildered looks as she grabbed a lab coat.

The judge, whether she knew the truth or not, only smiled, gesturing for them to take a seat. Lis’s ex looked at them like an aristocrat regarding a commoner. Meanwhile, his team members seemed to care less… which suggested a few things about the group dynamics.

“Evie, what are you doing?” Lis whispered.

“Look, if you lose now, just because you’re short a member, that’s going to suck. But if there’s a chance I can sub in and somehow help you, I’m willing to do it. Then if by some miracle we get through, all you have to do is find someone to replace me.”

Lis hugged Evie. “I don’t care if we don’t make it through. I just hated the thought of forfeiting right away—and now we won’t have to!”

Ilyasah, the judge, spouted the rules printed at the top of the test. The scores would be averaged after, meaning if one person bombed it, you basically lowered your team’s chances of moving forward. Evie tapped her pencil against the table. One-two. One-two. What if she wasn’t as confident as she was five minutes ago? What if she ruined this for Lis and everyone?

She glanced over to her right at Lis, who seemed to sense her hesitation. “Evie, you know this shit; you helped me out so many times over the years. But even if you do score low, somehow, it doesn’t matter. After this, I’m going to shove as much ice cream as you want down your throat.”

“That’s a bit violent,” murmured Viet who sat behind the two of them.

“No, that’s love,” Lis retorted. Shooting Evie a smile: “I really owe you one.”

Hope sprung within her. She would try her best. For her friends.

“You got this.” She turned around as Ilyasah counted down from ten, and saw Viet’s encouraging smile.

Evie concentrated on the cool paper under her palms just as Ilyasah told them to begin.