Sighing, Evelyn plopped backward onto her bed.  It had not been a good day for her.  There had been a fire drill during homeroom, forcing the students outside into the cold weather when they were all still half-asleep.  Her economics teacher had assigned a huge project to be completed in only two weeks.  She and Mel had been late getting back from lunch, and while she didn’t mind missing the school, she did mind the detention it had earned her.  And to top it all off, the boy she’d been admiring for the past three months had just started dating her arch-rival.  It had been a long, disagreeable day, and Evelyn needed some comforting.

That’s why she’d invited Jed to come over.  Out of all of her friends, he was definitely the most comforting.  She knew exactly what he’d do; he’d pet her, affirm her, and generally boost her confidence.  It was hard to not be confident after spending an afternoon with Jed.

Her father didn’t quite approve of their friendship, of course.  He didn’t really like Jed, though Evelyn had never been certain of why.  It may have been because Jed was the son of an old girlfriend, or because he’d dated Evelyn for a while.  Still, he had never given her father any reasons not to trust him.  Well…not many, anyway.

All that notwithstanding, Jed was coming over, and he was going to help her forget about her day.  She loved that about him; he was fantastic at driving absolutely anything out of her mind that she might not want there.  Sometimes he even made her forget about the things she wanted to remember, but that was hardly a problem.  Distraction was always worth it.

Or so she kept telling herself.  It did make her nervous from time to time.  Would the distractions be so worth it when her father finally caught them?  When Jed tired of being at her beck and call?  When she tired of being at his?

Biting her lip, Evelyn looked down at herself and adjusted the corset she’d purchased for these occasions.  Better not to think of the future.  Or of the past, for that matter.  Just this afternoon.

She heard Jed’s feet on the stairs, and forced everything else out of her mind.  As he opened the door to her bedroom, she flashed him a shy smile.

“Hi.”