Balance - Salway Slut Trilogy #3

“Can I ask where you got that? It’s so pretty,” Willow asked Evlyn pointing to the glass hummingbird on her desk.

Evlyn took a sip of her wine, the bottle was almost empty, she knew she was going to hate herself in the morning for the hangover, but she couldn’t help herself. Things were over with Ally. They had been together all this time, but in the end, Ally hadn’t been able to handle her family’s rejection. What was worse, Evlyn wasn’t as upset about losing Ally, than she was concerned Ally was just going to deny who she was really, and go back to a straight lifestyle.

“Evlyn?” Willow asked softly, her hazel eyes falling easily on Evlyn, having an idea of what her friend was thinking about.

“I’m sorry…what?”

“This hummingbird, where’d you get it? I’ve always wondered about it,” Willow repeated easily.

Evlyn blinked a few times at the hummingbird, she was so used to having it close by, she almost forgot about it. She smiled, thinking of Joseph and explained, “I had a companion back home, Joseph. It was a birthday gift from him.”

Willow’s eyes widened in shock, “Oh my god! You? You had a personal slave, little miss abolitionist!”

Evlyn nodded, “He’s the reason I do it.”

“Wow,” Willow said in awe, “He must really appreciate it.” As an afterthought she added, “You freed him though, right?”

“He is free now,” Evlyn answered delicately. “I don’t want to talk about him,” Evlyn said as she continued to drink her wine. Truth be told, she hardly thought about Joseph much. Like with Ally, what scared her was that she didn’t feel bad about it. She had always thought she would miss him, that she would always think of him, worry about him. But once again, he had been right, she didn’t need him. He was just like any other friend back home that she never really saw anymore.

Then again, was he the reason she didn’t have a boyfriend? She considered herself bi, not gay. But every time a guy showed interest in her, she just didn’t care. He never seemed right. Had Joseph, then Aaron, simply set the bar too high?

“Alright,” Willow said with a sigh. “Heard back from any schools yet?”

Evlyn closed her eyes as if this also stressed her, “Yeah, all of them.”

“And?” Willow asked expectantly, also surprised that Evlyn hadn’t mentioned them yet.

“Got into the ones I wanted,” Evlyn said with a shrug.

“Then why do you sound oh so excited about it?” Willow said drily. “You’re going to be going back home, back east, right?”

“Yeah…” Evlyn said with a sigh. This was a good thing right? Close to family, close to the place she wanted to make a difference in most. Damned if she was going to let Ryan one-up her. She didn’t want to think about Joseph. Think about her apprehension of living close to him again. Not just back for summers where she and Joseph only met up once a month, if that. If she hardly thought of him now and didn’t feel guilty, why couldn’t she do the same back home?