Chapter 141: Eva’s Doll
The phone rang several times before disconnecting, no one on the other end making the slightest effort to press a button. Thoroughly inconvenienced, Blanche paced back and forth in front of the residence doors, her phone pressed to her ear.
She tried again.
After three rings, someone finally picked up.
Otherwise, there would've been murder—or, failing that, one less door.
The slow, heavy sound of her best friend's breathing confirmed she was indeed on the other end of the line, though she couldn't even be bothered with the customary hello. Considering Eva's legendary laziness, Blanche wasn't surprised.
"Eva?" the redhead ventured, hearing what sounded suspiciously like a snore.
She had answered...
...and then fallen back asleep?
"Mmmhh..."
"Would you come downstairs and open the door for me?"
"What door?" Eva groaned as she rolled over in bed, producing an infernal racket that echoed through the phone.
"The residence door! I'm outside—I can't get back in!" Blanche explained as quickly as she could.
Another rustle.
Then a suspicious silence.
"Blanche? Shit... your bed's empty."
This time, Eva was fully awake.
"Yes! I'm outside! That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you!"
"What the hell are you doing outside?! No—don't tell me. I'm coming."
She hung up before Blanche could answer.
Blanche let out a sigh and waited.
After a certain hour, the residence doors only opened one way: you could leave, but you couldn't get back in.
Eventually, Eva appeared, still only half awake.
The petite brunette shuffled toward her, shoulders slumped with exhaustion, wearing the same favorite pajamas she stubbornly refused to replace despite Blanche's constant teasing. Her sleep mask, hastily pushed onto the top of her head, barely managed to keep her thick brown curls under control, while several rebellious strands had already escaped to frame a face still marked by the imprint of her pillow.
Her large black eyes, usually so lively, were only half open. She blinked repeatedly, as though her brain categorically refused to accept that morning had arrived. Her naturally rosy cheeks, still puffy with sleep, gave her an endearingly soft appearance that contrasted sharply with the pout on her face.
Her famous yellow chick-shaped slippers squeaked softly with every step, their little plush wings flapping ridiculously as she walked. At this hour, they looked almost as exhausted as their owner.
Short and generously curvy, Eva radiated the sort of comforting warmth Blanche sometimes envied. Even stumbling out of bed with messy hair and sleepy eyes, there was something naturally welcoming about her—something almost reassuring.
She finally stopped in front of her friend and yawned so widely she had to cover her mouth.
Blanche struggled to suppress a smile.
Honestly, even fresh out of bed, Evanescence was still... Evanescence.
Eva held the door open, glaring at her with an expression fierce enough to intimidate a demon.
"God damn it, Blanche! You'd better have a very, very good explanation. You're lucky the hall monitor's sleeping like a log," she whispered furiously.
The hall monitor really was snoring.
The two girls climbed the stairs as quietly as they could—not exactly like commandos, but discreetly enough to avoid disaster.
The moment the bedroom door clicked shut behind them, Evanescence let her have it.
"It's six in the morning! Classes don't start for another three hours! Where the hell were you?!"
Fortunately, it was the only day of the week their lessons started at nine instead of the usual eight.
"At my boyfriend's," Blanche muttered without thinking before collapsing onto her bed, still fully dressed.
"What?!" Eva shouted, utterly dumbfounded...
...and, strangely enough, hurt.
Blanche frowned, still half asleep.
What had she said?
She genuinely didn't understand her friend's reaction.
Then it hit her.
Oh. Crap.
She really shouldn't have said that.
"Shhh!" she hissed immediately.
The walls were thick, but in the dead of night even the smallest sound carried.
"What?!" Eva repeated, much more quietly this time.
Phoenix seized the opportunity to pretend he'd been sleeping under the bed all night before climbing onto Blanche's lap for a cuddle.
Smooth as ever.
"I'll tell you everything tomorrow," Blanche said wearily. "Right now I need at least two hours of sleep..."
The exhaustion was already catching up with her.
A normal kind of exhaustion, thanks to Odin.
The mattress was soft.
The bed was far too inviting to resist.
A little nap couldn't hurt...
...could it?
"Oh no. You woke me up. Now I want an explanation. And it had better be a good one."
Even while still angry, Eva couldn't resist petting the fluffy ball of fur.
Phoenix immediately began to purr.
"Fine. I'll tell you everything. But afterward, you let me sleep."
Eva nodded cautiously.
Despite her fatigue, Blanche instinctively examined her friend's aura.
It looked blurred.
Fractured in places.
That wasn't normal.
Something was wrong.
She pushed the feeling aside and explained that she'd met a charming Drakion.
"Where?"
"Out on the street. Completely by chance. After that... we were practically inseparable."
Oddly enough, Eva didn't really believe her, but she let it slide.
The cracks in her aura deepened ever so slightly.
"So... what's he like?"
"Blue."
Eva raised an eyebrow.
"...And?"
"Gorgeous."
"Blanche."
"Yes?"
"You're impossible."
The redhead smiled despite herself and resumed her story where she'd left off.
At first, she simply spoke about Saphir.
About that utterly unreal metallic-blue hair that caught the light like dragon scales beneath the sun, sometimes dark as an uncut sapphire, sometimes brilliant as a tropical sea.
Then she described his smile—that rare smile capable of transforming his entire face, wiping away the Drakion's natural solemnity in an instant to reveal a man of almost disarming gentleness.
Then came his eyes.
She struggled to describe them.
They were beautiful, of course, but that wasn't all.
Whenever he looked at her, she had the strange feeling of being truly seen—listened to without ever being judged.
There was something incredibly soothing in his gaze, a quiet warmth that made her want to lower every one of her defenses without even realizing it.
Then she told Eva about the dancing.
Mostly about her own disasters.
How her feet had repeatedly decided to live lives of their own.
Her legendary stiffness.
Saphir's amused remarks whenever she insisted on analyzing every single step instead of simply following the music.
Several times, Eva burst out laughing.
"So let me get this straight. You tried to fight a waltz as if it were a duel... at the house of a man you'd barely met... just because he's your Drakion Companion?"
"That's not true."
"Oh?"
"I lost the duel."
Eva buried her face in her pillow to muffle another fit of laughter, her aura already looking softer.
Blanche rolled her eyes before continuing.
Little by little, however, her smile became more subdued.
She spoke about the closeness.
About the way he guided her without ever forcing her.
About that strange feeling that he always knew exactly how far to go, as though he instinctively sensed her hesitation before she herself could put it into words.
About his arms when he'd embraced her.
About the deep purr that had vibrated against his chest.
About that overwhelming feeling of safety unlike anything she had ever experienced before...