Evelyn

Two Years Later - Present Day
March 2012

The New York streets were busy with bodies even though it was quite chilly out today men and women were bundled up in coats, pushing pass one another, some eager and others not so eager to get to their destinations. The cup of hot coffee warmed my fingers as I picked it up and brought it to my lips. The cafe wasn't very busy today which was nice. Nothing was more annoying than a group of hipsters taking photos of their coffees before editing them and posting them on Facebook while said coffee began to cool.

I pressed the home button on my phone and the screen lit up. It was a few minutes past two which meant the person I was meeting was running late. I glanced out of the window and up to one of the jumbotrons. It was showing some sort of ad for some music award ceremony.

Familiar and unfamiliar celebrity faces flashed the screen. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a group of five men flash by followed by PERFORMANCES BY AVENGED SEVENFOLD another musician flashed by, and then another but Zack's hard face still burned in my mind. I hadn't spoken to him since Jimmy's funeral. Matt and I still kept in contact a little, but as far as I knew, Zack still wanted nothing to do with me.

The door to the cafe opened and another familiar face walked in and over to me.

"So sorry I'm late," my best friend told me sitting down.

I smiled at her. "You wouldn't be you if you weren't late."

"That is true," she said.

I put my empty coffee cup down on the table. "You do owe me another coffee though," I told her.

She laughed before agreeing and walked to the counter. A few moments later she walked back with a coffee in each hand.

"Have you spoken to your mother?" She asked me as she sat down next to me. She brought her coffee to her lips.

I nodded. "The family reunion is next week."

"Are you going?" She asked.

I sighed. "I have to," I told her. "If I don't I'll never hear the end of it."

I almost never go back to Huntington Beach if I can help it. The memories there were coated in an essence of Zack. I hadn't been back since Jimmy's funeral, and if it wasn't for this family reunion, I probably wouldn't go back until there was another death.

"Well, you live across the country," Whitney told me, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "How much shit can they talk that would bother you? It's not like you're going to ever actually hear any of it."

I shrugged. "At least you're coming with me, right?"

"Yes," she told me, dragging the 's' out. "You know I'm not going to pass up a chance to stare at Matt."

I rolled my eyes, taking another sip from my coffee. "He's married, Whit."

"I know that," she said. "But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view."

I laughed. "Actually...it kind of does."

She shrugged. "Whatever. Silence blanketed us. After a few moments she set her coffee down and stared at me. "Is Zack going to be there?"

I sighed. "I didn't ask, but I'm sure he will be."

"Well, maybe he's not angry anymore. I mean, it has been twelve years."

I gave her a look. "That's what I thought when I tried to talk to him two years ago and he all but spat in my face." I told her.

She shrugged. "So, go back and act like he doesn't exist. I'm sure we could get Jeff to come with us."

Jeff was my on again, off again boyfriend I had been seeing for the last year or so. I shrugged at her suggestion, "Nah, I don't think I want to do that."

She glanced at the time on her phone and then sighed. "Alright, well I have to get back to work. But I'll see you tonight when I get home."

I nodded and she stood from her chair before walking out of the cafe. I stayed for a little while longer and finished my coffee while I preoccupied myself with thoughts of how this family reunion could go. It could go really well; Zack could be over what I did to him twelve years ago, he could want to be friends and things would be good between us. Or it could go really bad, and there was no doubt in my mind that's how it was going to go.

---

After graduation, I moved to New York and went to art school. After art school, I decided to do something seventeen year old me wouldn't have ever dreamed of doing. I decided to do an apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor here in Times Square. After a year my apprenticeship was completed and after a few other steps, I was able to get my license.

Many people at the shop tease me because unlike them, I'm not covered head to toe in tattoos or piercings. I don't rock outrageous hair colors or styles. I look pretty much the same as I did in high school. My hair is longer now, and I've got two tattoos but other than that...nothing has changed, physically anyways.

I opened the door to the shop and walked in. "Morning, Evelyn." One of my coworkers called.

I smiled and greeted her before walking back to my office-like room. I flipped open my planner and skimmed the names and designs I would be working with today. Since I was leaving for California in two days and was planning on being gone for a week, I had to switch some of my appointments around. Some were glad to come in earlier, while others got pissy and decided to take their money elsewhere. I didn't mind, moving appointments around meant I had been working a lot more hours than I should have been, and I'm sure I probably wasn't getting enough sleep but that was life.

The front door dinged and a few moments later I heard Jacey, our current apprentice call that my first appointment was here. I walked out of the back room and greeted her.

After a few hours, my first appointment was done and I was moving onto the next, and then the one after that.

"Another busy day, Ev?" My boss, Frank asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, taking a week off next week is kicking my ass," I laughed.

He laughed too. My boss was a beefy man who was covered in tattoos and had more piercings in his face than I have ever seen. "Well, you know you're always welcome to stay next week," he winked. Frank knew how much I dreaded going home.

I nodded. "If I could, I would. Trust me, if I can come back sooner I will."

"Nah, it'll do you some good to take some time off," he told me.

I nodded as my cellphone began to ring the in my back pocket. I pulled it out and instantly hit the decline button before shoving it in my back pocket.

I was finishing up my last tattoo for the day when my phone rang again. "Sorry, Gena," I apologized to the pretty blonde woman sitting in the chair, next to a guy I’m assuming was her boyfriend.

"You're fine," she told me as I turned off my gun and pulled my phone back out of my pocket. My finger moved to the decline button once more, but I sighed and instead stood up from my stool.

"I have to take this, I'm sorry." I apologized to her again before walking off. I clicked the accept button and raised the phone to my ear. "I'm working."

"I've been calling you for three days," the low voice said.

"I've been busy. I'm taking a week off work next week, so the shop has been hectic." I told him.

Matt sighed. "I just wanted to give you a heads up. Zack is going to be at the reunion too."

"I figured," I said.

"That's not all," he told me. "He's bringing someone."

My stomach squirmed. It had been twelve years and he hated my guts, so of course he moved on, I knew that. I ignored the icky feeling in my stomach and replied to Matt. "Okay."

"It's his fiancé...he's getting married next month. She wasn't supposed to come but now she is and I just wanted you to know."

I nodded, ignoring the pang in my heart and the burning behind my eyes. "Okay. Well, I have to go. I have a client sitting with her shirt off and half a finished tattoo in the next room. I'll see you next week." I hung up before he could respond.

I leaned against the wall in the hallway and pulled myself together. Of course, this was going to happen. This is why I didn't keep up with him and what happened in his life, because I knew he was eventually going to find love and get married and start a family. I knew I wasn't over him, and I knew a part of me never would be but I didn't expect it to hurt this bad once I did find out that he had found happiness with someone that wasn't me.

I composed myself before wiping my eyes and returning to the room where Gena sat. She was canoodling the light haired guy with her and barely noticed when I walked back into the room. When she did she looked over at me and frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." I told her before washing my hands and pulling gloves on. I sat down and looked at her tattoo. We have been working on it for a couple of weeks, and this was the last session. "This is looking amazing," I told her. "I can't wait for you to see it."

She grinned. "I'm excited too."

---

Later that night I stood in my room with my third large glass of wine in my hand. I stared at my empty suitcase knowing it should be overflowing with clothes but I just couldn't bring myself to pack right now.

The memory of mine and Matt's conversation kept playing over and over in my head. I wasn't ready to face Zack again, let alone his fiancé. I wondered what she looked like, but then I realized I probably already knew. Zack and I had dated in the past, but I knew I wasn't necessarily his type. We were complete opposites, so I was sure he was probably dating someone more like him. I imagined him dating someone more like Kat Von D.

That wasn't such a bad thought, actually. At least if he was dating Kat Von D, I could fan girl over her. I groaned, but at the same time if he was dating Kat Von D, how big of a fan of hers would I actually be?

I moved my eyes from my still empty suitcase and over to my laptop. I quick google search would probably fix my dilemma. I chewed at my lip for a moment before deciding what the hell and walked over to my desk and sat down. I took a large gulp of my wine and sat it down as well before bringing up Google Chrome.

The Google homepage was set as default so all I had to do was type in what I wanted to know and the Google Gods would find my answer.

I chewed at my lips again, emptied my glass of wine and then typed in "Zack Baker" before I hit the backspace button. What was his stage name again? Oh yeah. "Zacky Vengeance girlfriend 2012"

The search page turned blank and then suddenly the words "No internet connection. Please connect to wired or wireless internet and try again" popped up on the screen.

I groaned and took it as a sign that I should refill my wine glass before continuing. I grabbed it and walked out of my bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. I filled the glass to the brim, and took a drink before going back into my bedroom.

I sat back down and ran a diagnostics on the internet connection while I sipped more wine. After a few tries it fixed itself but with low connectivity.

I refreshed my search page and waited for it to load. I heard the front door slam and knew Whitney was home. I wished the page would hurry and load because I didn't want her to know what I was searching, but it still took its time.

Her footsteps sounded on the stairs, and then she popped into my doorway. Instinctively, I slammed the laptop shut, just as she began to greet me.

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Are you looking at hardcore midget porn again, Ev?"

I laughed. "Shut up, you're home late."

She shrugged. "Your mother called me. She said to not allow you to sleep until you're completely packed." Her eyes traveled from me to the suitcase on the bed. "And it looks like you haven't even started."

I sighed. "I don't want to go."

Whitney gave me a weak smile. "Did you finally answer Matt's phone call? What did he say?"

I looked down at my hand that rested on my closed laptop. "He's engaged - getting married next month."

"Oh," she mouthed. "It's okay. Maybe now that he's found love and he's happy again he'll be nice to you. Maybe now you guys can be friends."

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe." I just wasn't sure if I wanted to be just friends.

She gave me another weak smile. "Okay, but I'm going to take a shower and then we're getting your ass packed."

I nodded and she disappeared. I stared down at my closed computer but any desire to know who my ex was now dating had already left me.

Notes

Thank you so much for all the feedback on the first chapter! You guys are awesome! Keep it up!!

Title credit: Panic! at the Disco "Death of a Bachelor"