"Sleeping's so tough, you're burning up my mind
What would it feel like if you tore me apart?
Come on, chew on my heart..."

✧✧✧

"How do I look?"

Those were the first words to leave the mouth of Evelyn's brother's fiancé, Ana.

Honestly, Evelyn thought the words were quite stupid, because that question, that small seed of doubt in her mind that she looked anything less than absolute perfection, was unfathomable to Evelyn.

Her soon-to-be sister in law looked breathtaking, clothed in a white dress, that flowed like smoke, or maybe cirrus clouds, cascading downward in whispy, beautiful waves of white a purer color than snow.

"You look beautiful," Evelyn's mom, Anette, replied to Ana, squeezing her hand, tears gathering in her eyes.

"So do you, Mrs. Sable," Ana replied, and it was true.

Evelyn's mom was clad in the same exact dress Evelyn was, a bridesmaid one. It was a simple, elegant baby blue dress. The length of the dress coupled with the long sleeves made it modest, but there was a high split up the leg of their dresses that added a slightly more bold way about the dresses. Evelyn's mom did look beautiful with her willowy figure.

Evelyn, on the other hand, looked like she was drowning in light blue frosting.

She did approve of the color choice, at least. Not only was it lucky that light blue happened to be her favorite color, but it was a subtle enough color to not draw too much attention, but different enough from white to not be too close to the shade of Ana's dress.

The part Evelyn liked the most, though, was her hair. Originally, the wedding was supposed to be a spring wedding, so Ana insisted on keeping her idea of updos, with flower crowns. Evelyn's hair was in an elegant braid, a couple wispy hairs pulled forward and curled, a far cry from her usually pin-straight hair.

"You look beautiful, too, Evie," Ana told her with a smile. "Blue is definitely your color."

Evelyn smiled at the compliment.

"Are you ready for this?" Evelyn asked with a smile, linking her arm in Ana's.

"Not at all, but I've never been more ready for anything in my life," she said, taking a deep breath.

"I have something for you," Evelyn said shyly, placing something in the palm of Ana's hand.

She looked down at it inquisitively, looking very confused.

"Well, I don't know if you know, but elephants have emotions, and they make lifelong bonds, so when we were kids, we bought a pack of elephant necklaces. I kept one and he kept one. We made a pact that, when one of us knew the other had found their lifelong partner, we'd give them the necklace. It's old, it's worn, but there's no doubt in my mind that it's yours," Evelyn explained with a soft smile on her face.

Ana looked up at Evelyn, her eyes shiny with unshed tears, and then back at the necklace in her hand, a tiny elephant pendant on it, and she clutched it in her palm like it was the most meaningful possession she had, pulling Evelyn into a surprise bear hug.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Evelyn patted her back awkwardly. "Ah, you're welcome."

Their hug was interrupted by a sound that, ironically enough, reminded Evelyn of an elephant trumpeting. As she looked to where the noise came from, she realized it was just her mom blowing her nose.

"Pretend I'm not here," she said, waving the tissue around, sniffling, before she placed her hand on her chest. "That was so beautiful."

A few moments passed and Ana handed Evelyn the necklace and turned, so her back was facing her. "Will you?"

"Are you sure? You don't have to wear it, especially on your wedding day," Evelyn said.

"I want to."

Evelyn obliged, clasping the elephant necklace around her neck.

Ana gazed at the necklace in the mirror with a bright smile on her face. And that was the exact reason Evelyn knew she was elephant-worthy for Alex.

Something as simple as an old elephant necklace, bought from Target, given to her by his little sister, was enough to make her grin like she'd just been given the most precious diamond in the world.

"I hate to interrupt, but if we don't get our asses moving, Ana's going to be late to her own wedding," another bridesmaid who Evelyn didn't know said, apologetically.

The bridal party began to walk down the aisle, her included, seeing her brother wave at her enthusiastically when he caught sight of her. Evelyn shook her head, but smiled despite herself and began waving back just as frantically, despite how informal the action was, on both of their ends.

As Evelyn got situated, standing in the spot she was supposed to stand at, she couldn't help looking around, wondering where the hell Tristan was. At one point, she'd thought she saw his mop of curly hair, but the person passed by him too quickly to tell. She definitely saw his car, too, she just didn't see him.

It was odd, but she trusted he was getting all the pictures he needed to get.

Evelyn began to feel slightly emotional as she saw Ana's expression as she walked down the aisle, but she felt her heartstrings get tugged on even more when she noticed her brother's expression.

Her eyes were focused on them the way you'd focus on the most climactic part of a book or most action-packed part of a movie, so she, of course, noticed the exact moment Alex noticed the necklace around Ana's neck. He was quick to look at Evelyn with an expression of shock and she sent him a quick thumbs up, which earned her a bright smile, before he returned his attention to his bride.

The ceremony proceeded, and, it was nothing less than beautiful, to Evelyn. What was more beautiful than that, though, was when the reception started and she could finally sit down and eat, since the heels were killing her feet, which were unused to wearing heeled shoes. She just watched all the couples dancing, a small smile making its way to her face when she saw her parents, her dad towering over her mom, and her mom looking up at him in adoration.

"What are you doing all alone, sis?" her brother said, coming up to her chair, a frown on her face.

Evelyn turned her attention to him, unable to speak yet as she had a mouthful of ice cream. She held up the one moment gesture.

"Alone? I'm in the good company of mint chocolate chip ice cream," she said, gesturing to her bowl. "Couldn't you tell."

"Ooh," he said, reaching his hand out, going for her spoon. She slapped his hand away.

"Hey! Share," he said with a pout.

"No," she replied.

"Sharing is caring," he pointed out.

Evelyn shrugged. "You're still not getting any of my ice cream."

"It's my wedding!"

"Exactly. It's your wedding. I'm a guest. Is that any way to treat a guest?"

Alex sighed. "I can't believe you're my sister."

"Thank you," she said with a charming smile. "On a real note, though, Alex, congratulations."

Alex grinned and, as if he had no control over it, began scanning the crowd until his eyes landed on his bride. And, as if she could just tell, she found his eyes, too, and smiled at him.

"You gave her the necklace," he murmured, still looking entranced by his bride.

"I did."

"I can't believe you still had it," he said, looking back at Evelyn.

"Don't you have yours?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Duh," he said, shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out his elephant necklace. "Who do you think I am?"

"You just carry it around with you?" she asked.

"I mean, yeah."

"Why?" she said with a laugh.

"What if I ran into Robert Downey Jr. and I didn't have the necklace with me? What if we couldn't immediately call dibs on him being your soulmate? What then?"

Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows. "Alex, he's old enough to be my dad."

Alex shot her a look. "And? He's Iron Man."

Evelyn shook her head. "I'm not going to end up with Robert Downey Jr., Alex."

Alex threw his hands up in frustration. "Kids these days."

Before Evelyn could reply, her brother was walking away from her. Evelyn let out a laugh to herself. He was weird, but she missed him with all of her heart when he was gone.

Evelyn went back to her ice cream, pretty much just pushing it around with the spoon, as it had mostly melted. Evelyn was bored out of her mind, as everyone seemed to know everyone, except for her. She knew no one, not really enough to want to talk to them.

Well, except for her aunt Lena, who was pretty cool, but she was drunk, and looked one daiquiri away from making out with the floor.

She began focusing on her heels, moving them back and forth slightly, watching the way they shone under the light. The more she stared at them, the more she realized just how much she liked heels.

Evelyn noticed a shadow fall over her, her shoes no longer shining the same way. She also noticed the male dress shoes which had just stepped in front of her. She trailed her eyes upward, up the pristine, classy pants and up the torso, clad in a silk, or maybe satin (whatever it was, the fabric was shiny), dark blue in color, the sleeves pushed up, showing his forearms, and the first couple buttons left undone, showing part of his chest.

Her eyes finally met his face and she noticed the camera in his hands, level with his eye.

"Smile," he said with a grin and took a picture of her, causing her to let out a light laugh at the unexpectedness of it.

"Hey, Tris," she said.

"Hey, Evelyn," he replied, moving his camera away from his face so it was hanging around his neck.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"Taking pictures," he said with a smile and small shrug.

"And? Do I get to see them?" she asked.

"Maybe you do, maybe you don't," he said mischievously, causing her to pout. Jerk.

"Fine then. I see how it is. Go take your pictures," she said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I'm done taking photos," he said.

"What?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "But the reception isn't over yet.

"I know, but your brother came up to me and said, and I quote, 'What kind of idiot leaves a girl eating mint chocolate chip ice cream alone?!' then he smacked the back of my head and said, 'You're not elephant-worthy, not even close. Stop taking pictures and ask the girl to dance!' and then he stole the cupcake I was eating," Tristan said looking quite confused, while Evelyn, on the other hand, was blushing, feeling mortified at her brother's words.

"That all being said, may I have this dance," he asked, holding his palm out to her, a charming smile on his face.

"You don't have to just because my brother said to, Tris. It's not that important," she said with a laugh, brushing it off, even though she would have liked to take his hand.

"I'm not doing it because your brother wants me to dance with you, Evelyn," he said, his gaze intense. "I'm doing it because I want to dance with you. So, let me try this again. Evelyn, may I have this dance?"

Evelyn couldn't help a slow smile spreading on her face. "You may."

She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up in a smooth, quick motion that caused her to let out a quiet laugh at the abrupt nature of it.

Tristan interlocked their fingers and pulled her into the crowd of dancing people. Tristan took Evelyn's hand, guiding one around his neck, taking the other and clasping their hands together, sliding his free hand to her waist, pulling her slightly closer, so they were in a standard dancing position. They were an awkward distance away, with the slightly bulky camera around his neck. Evelyn felt a twinge of awkward energy, as well, probably because every time she looked at Tristan, she remembered the fact that they kissed and then didn't talk about it and she was damn confused.

"You baboon!" a voice exclaimed, pulling her from her thoughts. Baboon? She saw her brother fast approaching.

Ah, that explains it.

"You can't dance with a camera around your neck!" he said, smacking the back of Tristan's head, but not hard enough to hurt him. Tristan disengaged from Evelyn as Alex took the camera from around his neck.

"Do I have to do everything for you, you idiotic baboon?" Alex said with a shake of his head.

"Uh, Alex, do you mean buffoon? Baboon is the monkey," Evelyn chimed.

"Oh! Yes, exactly. Buffoon. The boy is like a buffoon monkey, not elephant-worthy."

"No, Alex, baboon is the m-" she started, but he put his hand up.

"Don't defend him, Evie."

Evelyn shot him a look, but he ignored it, instead pushing the two of them back into their previous position, only slightly closer.

"There. My job here is done," he said and turned on his heel, walking away from the two, muttering something about buffoons and baboons.

Evelyn and Tristan looked at each other with confused expressions before bursting into laughter. It was true that, if Evelyn's family were compared to a body, Alex would be the heart, he just gave people life, he was lively and unashamed. He was crazy, but he was her brother.

"I like your brother," he said.

"Thanks, I don't," she said and fake gagged, dramatically.

"What's this whole elephant-worthy thing?" Tristan asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"That's for me to know..."

"And, let me guess, me to find out?"

"I don't know, actually. That one's up to Alex," Evelyn said as she eyed him.

"Hmm."

"You look beautiful," Evelyn blurted, feeling immediate regret when the words came out. It wasn't that it wasn't true, but she wasn't sure she wanted to give him that kind of insight into her thoughts.

He grinned. "Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?"

"It's not a matter of should or shouldn't, it's a matter of what is and isn't," Evelyn said. "And what is is that you're beautiful."

Tristan's smile was as soft as the music cascading from the speakers and hitting their ears and sweeter than the lyrics being sung.

"You know, you make it very hard to try to charm you when you're always the one charming me," he said with a playful smile.

"You don't need to try in order to charm me, Tris. You already do," she admitted.

"See, that's what I mean," he said, looking between her eyes, his brown eyes looking warmer than melted chocolate and softer than the air on a humid summer night.

Evelyn didn't reply, she just sent him a smile and continued to move softly to the gentle strums of guitar playing from the song.

"You do look beautiful," he said. "I wanted to say that first, but you beat me to it."

"Thank you," she mumbled, feeling shy.

"I'm serious," he said, noticing her get bashful. "You looked like an angel in this dress, when I first saw you, and then I saw the split up the side and realized you remind me more of a demon sent just to make sure my thoughts get me sent straight to hell."

Evelyn laughed and shook her head at his words.

"You're not wearing glasses," he said randomly, his eyes wide, as if he'd only just realized it. "Why?"

"Well," she started with a smile. "A certain someone told me I didn't need to wear my armor around them."

"Plus, I think they were actually making my vision worse, since my eyes are fine," she said as an afterthought, with a laugh.

He didn't reply, he just smiled, it was a soft smile and his eyes were filled with something akin to adoration as they twinkled in the warm, subdued lighting.

"What?" she asked with a smile. "Why are you staring?"

"I..." he started, taking a deep breath. "I have a question, but I'm afraid to ask it."

Evelyn frowned at how unsure he sounded. "Ask away."

Tristan bit his lip gently, in a seemingly nervous gesture, before he released it and parted his lips, speaking words Evelyn hadn't expected to hear in a million years, let alone from him. Words that made her heart stop, for just a moment.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"