𝗜𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 | 𝐁𝗼𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲/𝗥𝗙𝗞

V: "Life Jackets"

"Come on, quick," Bobby whispered in a hushed tone. He gestured for Evelyn to enter the house quietly. "Are you sure they won't catch us?" Evelyn scanned the living room, making sure there was no other living soul is present. "They're sleeping, Eve. It's midnight." Bobby tapped on his watch, his cheekiness caused Evelyn to roll her eyes. The house was warm, but there's no blazing flame in the fireplace, it was just tensions in the air.

"I know it's somewhere here..." Bobby stepped on a chair he picked up from the dining room, "hold it for me." He hesitatingly balanced himself on his feet. "You sure it's up there?" The girl furrowed her brows, she was sure the old man would've placed it somewhere more hidden.

"I remember..." Bobby, distracted, paused mid-sentence as his hand rubbed the surface of a tall bookshelf. "Joe told me about this, back when he and Jack had to sneak alcohol to drink with their friends." He shifted his gaze to Evelyn for a second before smiling foolishly. Evelyn blinked several times before looking at the floor — she felt a wave of goosebumps on her entire body. Bobby mentioning Joe's name, as in the younger and deceased one... it was unusual. It was the first time he mentions him in God-knows-how-long.

"Who knew he had it in him, huh?" Evelyn, trying to lighten the mood, casually responded. However, Bobby acted strangely. He stepped down the chair and wiped his hands on his shirt. "What do you mean?" A single drop of sweat streamed down Bobby's forehead, he wiped it away. "Well, I mean... Joe. I didn't think he would do that." Evelyn was put in a position she was rarely put into. She didn't want to make things uncomfortable, so she tried improvising. "Do what?" Bobby added. The look on his face showed genuine curiosity mixed with confusion, but he was not upset, it was truly a strange situation for the both of them.

"Jesus, Bobby," Evelyn scoffed in disbelief, "sneaking alcohol!" Her blood pressure was running up. Bobby instantly shushed her, putting a finger on his lips. Unwittingly, Evelyn had yelled a little too loud that somebody upstairs started walking. "Shit." Bobby, with a rusty key in his hand, tried to open the cabinet in the spur of the moment. "What are you doing? We gotta scram!" Evelyn's hands were grabbing at Bobby's arm as he was unlocking the liquor cabinet. "Shut up! I'm trying here." Still whispering, both of them produced further noises that resulted in the light to the stairs being switched on.

"Who's there?" A voice that clearly belonged to an elderly man echoed through the living room. Bobby wrapped his arms tighter around Evelyn — they hid behind a wall that separated the living room from the dining room. As Bobby began to breathe heavily, Evelyn shut her eyes tightly. His mouth was so close to her, she could smell cigarettes on his breath.

There was no way in hell Evelyn could ignore the constant warm air being blown against her neck, so she tried to speak up, "Bobby—" "Quiet, Eve!" And was shut down instantly, merely for whispering his name. "Shh." Bobby blew air through his gritted teeth. Even with all the ruckus, he's still holding the girl close to his chest — as if God forbade him from letting go.

"Are you kidding me..." Joe discovered his most precious twenty-eight-year-old whisky is gone from the abandoned, ravaged cabinet. Exhaling loudly through his mouth, he chanted, "come out now, whoever you are. Jean... Bobby... Ted. I don't have time for this." Still half-asleep, Joe dragged himself to the couch, grunting as he fell onto it. He was preparing to travel to Paris for a certain "high society" event being hosted on the twelve of May, and the man was more than ready to execute his role as an aristocrat wannabe. From being visibly upset, Joe ended up getting his six hours of sleep on the rough couch.

"He's dozing off!" Bobby said. He laughed breathlessly without making any sound — it was as if he's choking on his own spit. In reality, Bobby was amused and bemused, by his father's snoring in the living room. Evelyn shook her head, she was not entertained — not in the slightest.  "Come on, to the roof." After their whole bodies were soaked in sweat, Bobby finally let go of the grips he had on Evelyn's slender body. That was intense, the girl thought, but little did she know, her whole life was about to change.

Evelyn was walking down a path to a disaster that she once thought a blessing from God — a blessing that seemed too good to be true. Something she's been chasing after since the first time she laid her eyes on the boy, Bobby Kennedy.

Five-year-old Evelyn was shyer than a mouse. She was anything a parent would want; disciplined, well-adjusted, and most importantly, ladylike. Being the only child of the two French socialites, she couldn't be happier to move away from France; from all the parties her mother would throw — at the same time their money, too. Though, the manners her mother had taught her slowly fade away, and she blames it all on "those Kennedy boys", those boys showed Evelyn the American dream; parties — not the ones where adults discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald, but those with alcoholic drinks, music, and perhaps excessive displays of love.

But Bobby was a life jacket to Evelyn, each time she finds herself standing on the edge of a cliff — ready to fall into the deadly water — he would pull her back into reality. When she swims endlessly into the water, he won't allow her to go any deeper, afraid she would find herself lost in the endless abyss of American hedonism. Once Jack, the card dealer, had pulled her into the deep ocean, Bobby would dip his hand into the biting water, and pulls her back out.

He would curse at her, warn her, and even scold her to be careful around his brother, "Jack's a shark. People would tell you he's not as dangerous as he looks, but they forget he bites and relentless with his prey." Evelyn nods and smiles. She heard him, but never listens. However, when the first tragedy — one that caused a death — struck the family, Jack changed. Everybody did, but he was affected differently. Joe was not around to keep him in check anymore, his life jacket was gone — vanished into the thin air.

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