The next day a package came from Eva, JC opened it quickly and was hit by the smell of coconut crème cookies. On the top was a note and a CD. JC pulled out his CD player and popped it in. He sat down on his bed with the note, the box of cookies and pushed play. Taking a bite of a cookie he read the note,
“Josh,
I just wanted to show you what I've been up to these past couple of weeks. Thank you for all the space, I’ll try not to keep you waiting much longer.
Love Always, Eva"
A song began playing on the CD, it was Eva singing and playing guitar. The lyrics were sad but sweet and they hit him right in the heart.
‘No more aching, no more trying, I've found all I need in you. How can I take back those words, and make you mine forever?’
Tears spilled down his cheeks, but he couldn’t stop listening to the CD. He had been craving her so much that even though it hurt him he couldn’t tear himself away. For the next couple of days it was all he listened to, the songs were completely amazing.
Two days after her night with Tim, Eva reached into her mailbox to find a small package from JC. She opened it up to find a CD and a note from him. She looked at the CD, it was called, ‘Celebrity’, it was the finished edition. She then read the note,
“Angel,
Thanks for the package, I just thought I would return the favor. I hope you like it and you don’t mind the intrusion.
Love Always and Forever, Josh”
She ran her hands over his note and her heart ached. Eva quickly went inside and put the CD in her player and pushed play. She played the entire CD and she almost made it through the CD without crying until she got to one of the last songs. It was the song that Josh sang to her to tell her that he loved her. The tears poured down her face, she couldn’t believe how much she loved him and needed him, but she couldn’t bring herself to call him.
The next day, all she did was stay in her room. She had Celebrity on constantly and she had locked her door and she had turned off all of her phones and computers. Rosita became very worried about her after she didn’t eat anything for the second day. She called up Mike to see if he could talk to her. Mike came over and went up to Eva’s door and knocked,
“Eva? It’s Mike. Open the door, we want to know if you’re okay.” There was silence from the other side. “Eva, I’m going to break down the door if you don’t answer me.” There was a pause and then he heard a faint,
“I’m fine, go away.” But Mike wouldn’t,
“Eva, you need to eat something, you haven’t eaten in the past two days.”
“I’m not hungry, leave me alone.” Mike was persistent,
“Eva, please tell me what’s wrong, I want to help.” Her voice was stronger and angrier now,
“I don’t need anybody’s help. I need you to go away.” Mike was about to try again but Rosita stopped him.
“Leave her, go find some way to help her.”
“How can I help her if I don’t know what’s wrong?” Rosita looked down,
“I believe it has to do with Josh. She received a package from him the other day and ever since she’d been like this.”
“Hmm, I figured as much. Okay, I’ll be back soon.” Mike left and raced over to Tim’s. He called the rest of the gang to come over. Once they were all there her laid out the situation.
“Eva’s holed up in her room and won’t come out. She hasn’t eaten in two days and won’t take any phone calls. Rosita thinks it had something to do with some package that she got from JC.” Mike explained and Roxy stood up and began to walk around,
“I don’t get it, why don’t they just get together? She loves him and he loves her!” Tim spoke up,
“It’s a little more complicated that that. Eva’s afraid to commit and will find any excuse to get out of a relationship. She’s afraid of being abandoned.”
“So how do we get her over it so that she can be with JC? I’m getting tired of her miserable mood.” Kerrie said.
“First we have to get her out of that room.” Tim said,
“Then we’ll work on getting JC and Eva together.” Mike finished.
“She can stay her with me, until they get together.” Tim offered, Anna and Roxy raised their eyebrows at him,
“We want to put JC and Eva together, not let you be able to move in on her.” Anna said.
“I’m not moving in on her, I want her and JC together too!” Tim said defensively, “I’m just saying that if she lives alone she’ll end up the way she is right now. We’re just friends, that’s all. I don’t like her in that way, so just drop it.” Tim ended forcefully.
“Whoa, cowboy, just making a comment.” She retorted.
“Yeah, well keep your trap shut.” Tim shot back at her.
“Hey!” Anna yelled,
“Whoa, guys, stop!” Mike yelled, “We have to work together. Eva needs us, all of us for support right now. So let’s get a plan together to get her out of that room.” The group agreed, sat down and planned ways to get Eva out of her room. Once they had a couple of plans they went over to her house. She still hadn’t come out of her room so the tried to pick her lock but then they realized that she had no outside lock on her door. So they reverted to plan B. Tim was the most agile so he was the one that did it. He went to the room next door and climbed out of the window and out onto the roof. He scrambled onto the balcony to her room. He opened the door and went inside her room.
“Eva?” he couldn’t tell where she was in the room it was such a mess.
“Go Away!” A haggard voice said from the bed. Tim went over to the bed and pulled back some of the covers. Tissues were lying around everywhere and Eva was in the middle of them curled up in a ball, her hair everywhere.
“Eva, what happened? Why are you like this?”
“I don’t want to talk about it! Go away and leave me alone!” Tim sighed and went to her door,
“I can’t do that Eva, because,” unlocked it and let everyone in, “we care about you too much to do that.” Roxy and Anna pulled Eva out of bed, she was too weak to resist.
“Ugh girl, you need a shower, let’s go.” Roxy said holding her nose. Kerrie, Anna and Roxy dragged her into the bathroom and shoved her in the shower, clothes and all.
“Guys, really.” Eva protested but it didn’t matter to them.
“Now, you take off those clothes in two seconds or the shower’s going on with or without the clothes.” Kerrie said crossing her arms as did the rest of the girls and Eva surrendered. She took off her clothes and showered. After she was done they got her wrapped up into her robe and some towels. They came back in and the boys excused themselves to let her get dressed. Kerrie walked over to the stereo,
“Baby we need something more upbeat.” She turned off Nsync and put in a party mix.
“Shoop” came on and the girls began singing to it. They had her dressed in no time and the boys came in with trays of food that Rosita had made up for all of them. Eva felt a little better and discovered that she was a tad bit hungry and wound up eating a fair share of the food. The group sat around and watched classic eighties movies all day. Eva was laughing by time the second movie started playing. After the fourth movie the girls had to leave for the bar as did, Garrett, Sam and Alex. Mike and Tim stayed behind with her,
“Hey Eva?”
“Yeah Mike?” She replied,
“How would you like to stay at Tim’s for a while?” He asked and Tim interjected,
“Buttery popcorn, skittles and Kung Fu movies on tap.” She laughed,
“Why?” She asked and Mike became serious,
“You scared us today. We just wanted to make sure that you’ll be okay.”
“Anyways I miss having someone else to live with and this way you wouldn’t have to come home to an empty house. You can stay for however long you want.” Tim said and Eva thought a minute, being at Tim’s was some of the happiest times she had had since JC had left and he did help to distract her.
“Okay, sure, if you don’t mind.” She said and Tim smiled,
“Not a bit.”
“Fabulous, why don’t we move you in today!” Mike said.
“Okay.” She agreed.
So they spent the rest of the day settling her in to Tim’s place. He had an extra room that he had for guests and gave her that room. She didn’t need much there since her house was right down the street. Later on they made a visit to the bar. The regulars cheered when she walked in and a couple bought her drinks, soon she was tipsy. Some people danced with her or at least tried to. She kept on drinking and soon was a complete waste case. Tim had a hard time keeping track of her, she flitted from one side of the bar to the other. Finally the crowd began to dwindle and he was able to catch up with her. Tim made her sit down on a stool and the moment she sat down the room began to spin.
“Whoa.” She said holding on to the bar for support, Tim held on to her side,
“Okay missy,” He said putting her arm around his neck and lifting her up, “it’s time for you to head home.”
“Okay, Timmy!” She squealed, he laughed and said goodnight to everyone. He took her home and put her on the couch, suddenly she looked at him,
“Tim?”
“Yeah Eva?”
“I think I’m gonna hurl!” She got up and raced to the bathroom. Sounds of puking soon followed, Tim sighed and went to the bathroom. He held her hair while Eva seemed to puke up her entire digestive system. Finally she was done and Tim handed her a glass of water and a paper towel. She wiped her mouth and rinsed with the water as she sat on the bathroom floor. Finally she was able to drink the water,
“Now, this is friendship.” She said smiling at Tim who smiled back.
“It certainly is, come on let’s get you into bed.”
“Why Timothy!” She said acting surprise, “We haven’t even been living together for twenty-four hours and you expect me to jump into bed with you?” She finished laughing and he rolled his eyes at her,
“Come on drunk girl.” He said as he helped her to her feet.
“I’m not a drunk girl.” She slurred.
“Of course not. You’re a really intoxicated woman.” He replied sarcastically.
“Exactly, I’m glad we got that straight.” She stumbled into her room and flopped on the bed. Tim turned and pulled out a t-shirt for her to wear. Suddenly Eva got her second wind and started jumping on the bed.
“Whee!” She said and Tim groaned, “Eva, get down, no, Eva, no, stop. Eva stop jumping on the bed!!!” He finally yelled and she stopped immediately, sitting on the bed looking sad,
“Sorry.” She said quietly and he gave her the t-shirt and said,
“Change.” He turned his back and she changed into the shirt.
“Okay done.” She said, he turned around and went to the bed, he pulled back the covers and placed her under them.
“Now go to sleep.” He kissed her on the forehead and tucked her in.
“Tim?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay with me for a little bit, please?” He sighed,
“Hold on.” He left the room and came back a few minutes later dressed in pj pants and a wife beater. Eva turned on the light by her bed, Jay turned off the overhead and then climbed in next to her.
“This is only for a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay.” She said quietly as she snuggled into his side. “I’m sorry.” She said with her voice barely above a whisper.
“For what?”
“Tonight, you shouldn’t have to take care of me, it’s not your responsibility.”
“I've said it before, you’re my friend and I care about you. Everybody needs to be taken cared of and if your friends won’t then they really aren’t your friends. I don’t mind really.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Well, you’re welcome.” Eva soon passed out, and Tim realized how tired he really was and fell asleep.