ivy ; malachi barton

chapter twenty ; risk

"god i'm jumping in the deep end, it's more fun to swim in, heard is the risk is drowning but i'm gonna take it." risk; gracie abrams.

malachi

It was bad that I loved her.

I knew that it was, and I knew that she didn't want me to.

It was hard. I sat across from her at meals, I sat next to her in the lounge room. She was so close, yet so far out of reach.

Brady had her. Everyone knew it. But that didn't stop everyone from knowing that in a way, I had her too.

"Shut the fuck up, Malachi!" Evelyn exclaimed, giggling her gorgeous laugh as she teasingly shoved me. I laughed; but not because it was funny. Because the girl before me was so effortlessly beautiful that it was laughable.

"No! I still can't believe you fell into the lake!" I chuckled, taking the pressure of her shove like it was the most pleasant spring breeze.

The twitch of her cheek at my remark made me grin. I may not have been able to have her, but to be in her presence was a mere blessing in itself.

"Hey, Sophie told me that walking on the railing was safe."

"And you believed her?"

"I didn't think she'd lie!"

"Okay, okay!" I surrendered, smothering my obvious amusement. Evy giggled again, brushing her silkly golden hair behind her ears. Her porcelain skin glistened in the soft morning light, casting an ethereal glow over her face. Her eyes were low and hooded, but the whimsical aqua hue managed to pierce through the shadows, rattling me to my very soul.

The feeling of the girls eyes on me made me weak.

It was preposterous.

"Yo, Ev. I found your favourite chips." Milo approached the first class lounge, his arm around Meg and a bag of snacks in hand. The pair of us eyed him in humour.

"Thanks, Mi." Evy graciously nodded, laughing at the overload of food the man had purchased.

"You do know they serve meals on the plane?" Meg rolled her eyes, taking a seat across from the younger blonde girl.

Milo huffed in distaste, flopping himself beside her, directly before me. "Yeah, like salad and... casserole. Ugh." He seemed to shudder at the thought.

The group of us laughed at his statement, yet I found my eyes pinned on the pretty girl beside me. It was rather vexing that I couldn't seperate my daydreams of her from my every day life, but I couldn't find it in myself to act on the thoughts. It was becoming all too familiar to be plagued by gorgeous ideas of Evelyn Summers, and I was becoming all too hesitant to rid myself of them.

"What?" The girl whispered as she caught my lusting eyes trained on her. "Is there something on my face?"

"No. But if there was, I probably couldn't tell you." I breathily replied, not being able to look away. "There isn't much that could distract me from your beauty. It's rather... overwhelming."

I watched in pleasure as her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes filled with hope and imagination, quickly followed by the usual scarce joy that so often is found in her pupils. I knew that I flattered her; I knew how I made her feel. She didn't do much to disguise it, but she did more than necessary to avoid it.

"Okay, Prince Charming. That's enough." She scoffed, lightly joking in order to avert the awkward of the situation. This is how it often was with us - flirty banter, hastily shot down by snarky comments on Evy's end. It was entertaining for me, to see the way she reacted both physically and verbally to my words. Yet was I able to make her speechless, but my time was far from running out.