Evelyn put on every charm she could as she walked in the house with Nick and Tyler. Clarissa and Grizzizzik followed behind them. If Nick was going to come to con, they would have to convince Walt. Evelyn wasn’t sure if Walt would listen to her, which was the main reason they brought Tyler. Bringing an outside voice would hopefully help them.
Which made Tyler sweat. There was a lot of lying going around. Evelyn watched as Tyler did his best to look like a responsible adult. She leaned over next to him, giving a smile. “You can do this. I believe in you.”
Tyler let out an unsteady breath. “This is such a breach of trust with an adult. With your father, of all people.”
“Yeah. Meaning you only need to cross him once, before all your freedoms are gone.” Nick was whispering, but the bitterness in his voice was clear for everyone.
Tyler was rubbing the side of his face as Walt walked out of the hallway. “Oh, hello Tyler.”
“Mr. Larsen, hi!” Tyler eased himself into a game master roll, his acting and mannerisms calm and in control. Evelyn was impressed, and did her best not to show it. “There’s something I wanted to talk with you about personally.”
Walt nodded. “I respect that. Kids these days are far too dependent on texting to have conversations.”
“Oh, come on, dad. Tyler’s not a kid anymore,” Evelyn said.
Tyler gave her a glance that looked almost torturous, like he didn’t like the reminder that he was the adult in the situation. She would have laughed if so much wasn’t at stake.
“Anyway, Mr. Larsen.” Tyler hesitated, then cleared his throat. “I understand our CCNC group has become the… the only extra-curricular activity you trust Nick to do, and I—” Tyler’s calmness was interrupted again by a slight clearing of his throat. “—understand the immeasurable trust that puts on me and Nick’s other friends.”
Nick was doing what he always did when someone was speaking on his behalf in front of Walt. He folded his arms and tried to keep his glare as hidden as possible. Evelyn and Nick both knew that this would be far more successful if her brother said nothing. It would be the best if Nick wasn’t glaring at all, but Evelyn couldn’t expect a miracle.
Tyler smiled, patting Nick on the back. “There’s a con coming up at the end of September that I’ll be attending. It’s all about CCNC. Derek’s already planning on going, and Evelyn expressed interest in going Saturday. Could Nick come, too?”
“Hmm.” Walt’s gaze remained on Nick. With a large amount of effort, Nick tried to smile back, but it didn’t look great. Evelyn needed to save this.
“I’ll document the entire thing,” Evelyn said with a flip of her hair. “I mean, I’m going to, anyway, but I’ll send you every picture I take.”
“Oh, nice!” Tyler turned back to Mr. Larsen. “And if you want, I’ll post my pics to Instagram.”
“Um, okay,” Mr. Larsen said.
“In case… you wanted to…”
“I appreciate the concern.” Mr. Larsen turned toward Nick, who was folding his arms so tightly his shoulders were slumping into themselves. “So, here’s what’s going to happen.” Nick just stared, waiting for Walt to say what he needed to. “You will go with your sister on Saturday at the end of September. I trust your sister’s ability to take pictures every other hour, which I will expect. Evelyn will stick by you the entire time. If you need to be away from her, the only other person I will allow is Tyler. And you will not take the phone.”
Nick’s frown dropped. “But… but what if I get lost?”
“You don’t get lost. Evelyn will be by you the whole time.” Mr. Larsen turned his attention toward Evelyn and Tyler. “And if he slips away from either of you, I expect you, Evelyn, to call me immediately, and I expect you, Tyler, to call security to find him. I assume this place would have measures in place to find missing children.”
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A muscle in Nick’s jaw twitched as the glare he was unsuccessfully hiding came out in full force.
“Um, yeah. I’m sure they have something,” Tyler said.
“Good. This place might be full of game enthusiasts, but you also never know,” Walt said.
Grizzizzik walked past them all, doing a horrible job of hiding a smile as he glanced at Nick. The rogue slipped out the back door. Walt made no indication that he even heard the door open and close.
“Thank you, Mr. Larsen. I understand Nick betrayed your trust two and a half years ago, but I’m hoping his behavior at the conference can help you see Nick has changed,” Tyler said.
Walt grunted before turning around and leaving them in the front entryway. The vase in the entryway might have caught fire if Nick’s glare got any darker.
“Thank you,” Nick said, keeping his arms folded as he moved deeper into the house, going into his own room.
Tyler had his phone out, scrolling through something. “Hey, you’re on insta, aren’t you?”
“Um, yeah. Yeah, I think you followed me back a couple of years ago. I post little there. It’s more a mindless scroll for me,” Evelyn said.
“Oh, okay.” He must have found her Instagram, because he was looking through the pictures. Most of them were from cheer. “I tell you what, cheerleading takes a certain amount of skill that I could only accomplish if I was a level 20 monk.”
Evelyn felt a smile on her face that she needed after talking to her father. “Oh, god, Tyler. Now you’ve got that image in my mind, and I cannot rest until I actually see it.”
Tyler let out a laugh. “Well, then, I’m sorry, but the very laws of nature have now disappointed you.”
“Well, the laws of nature also said CCNC characters wouldn’t enter our world, so you never know.” Tyler chuckled, then turned off his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Evelyn brushed her hand against her arm. “Hey, thanks. For coming and talking to my dad.”
“Yeah.” Tyler’s face changed to one of concern. “It makes me sad, what happened between Nick and your dad. And I’m honestly impressed that this hasn’t turned Nick bitter.”
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think Nick’s bitter?”
“Bitter toward your dad? Clearly. I was more talking about you and him. Little siblings have torn each other’s hair out if someone got half an inch of a bigger cookie than the other one. Speaking from personal experience with my older brother,” Tyler said. “I’m impressed Nick doesn’t resent you. Your father did just say he was placing you, his little sister, as a babysitter over him. I hated it when my older brother, who was just a year and a half older, was my babysitter for even an hour.”
Evelyn glanced at her brother’s room, feeling slightly guilty. Actually, very guilty. It was obvious to anyone who was in their lives for longer than three minutes to notice her parents treated her a lot better than they did her brother. Not only that, but she had a social life. She remembered rushing to the hospital with her parents after Nick was in a terrible crash. She had heard a strange story that didn’t feel like her brother at all. Driving with his new friends to a different town. Breaking into cars to steal things. Having the police get called on them. Nick was in the back as his new friend was driving way too fast so they wouldn’t get caught by the police, but they didn’t know the town well. It was dark. The road made a sudden bend, and the chase was over almost as soon as it began.
She understood why Walt wanted to punish Nick, and she could also understand why this was stifling her brother to the point of torture.
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” Evelyn said.
“Well, keep not thinking of it that way. I think the only reason Nick doesn’t resent you so much is because you’re not being a brat about it.”
Evelyn looked at Tyler. “I guess I’m just confused. I thought you loved your older brother.”
“Oh, I do. I don’t know if other siblings have ever experienced this, but once we realized how close we could get to actually killing each other, we somehow mutually decided it was a stupid idea and instead became best friends,” Tyler said. Evelyn giggled as Tyler’s phone vibrated. He checked it. “I’ve got to go. College starts Monday, and my roommate’s girlfriend is stress cleaning our apartment and I’ve got to make sure she doesn’t throw away my dice. But I will see you next week.”
“Yeah. And thanks, Tyler. For everything,” she said.
Tyler, who had done a pretty good job of ignoring the problem, looked as though it all came crashing back down on him at Evelyn’s words. His brows dropped, his shoulders sagged, and the half smile disappeared from his face as he glanced at the door. “Yeah.”
He slipped out of the front door, and Evelyn approached the window. Tyler got into his car before driving off. Evelyn waved at the car, knowing Tyler wasn’t going to notice, but she waved anyway.
Tyler was such a good friend. And part of why Evelyn loved hanging out with him was because Tyler never thought of her in any sort of sexual way at all, simply because he had only ever seen her as a little sister. Not only that, but the ex-girlfriend’s little brother’s best friend’s little sister who was still very much a minor. Tyler was safe, and she liked hanging out with safe people.