It's Too Cliché...Right? Ch. 04

"Oh yeah, of course," I bumbled out, realizing that I have kept him there. He smiled before turning and disappearing around the corner. I used the opportunity to have one final look at his body before he vanished past the end of the row of lockers.

Well, it seems like I had answered my own question. I wanted to talk to him, wanted to be around him regardless of the fact that I couldn't have him. I just had to settle for a friendship, I guess. Sighing, I headed out of the locker room to see my friends still seated on the bleachers. Sam was the first to spot me. "Here he comes," she announced, causing every other pair of eyes in the group to turn in my direction.

My face probably told the whole story, because looks of pity replaced the features of every single one of my friends. "Oh no. That doesn't look good," Mitch replied.

"Is he still mad?" Jake asked.

"No," I muttered.

"He's not? Then why are you so down?" Brian asked, apparently not understanding my sad tone. I was suddenly feeling the reality of it all coming to me. After all those years of semi-stalking, my crush turned out to be straight. Not gonna lie, it was pretty depressing. I mean, sure, unrequited feelings were a part and parcel of life, but being in a school where being gay was such a norm, it's not often I felt that way

"He's straight," I said, dropping down into the bleachers.

"Oh," Almost everyone said at the same time. It might have been funny, if not for the fact that I was seriously not in the mood to laugh.

"Aw, that sucks man," Brian said, placing an encouraging hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah well, what can you do?" I said.

"Well, I know how to cheer you up," Sam piped in, making everyone look to her. "Bowling."

I chuckled. "You trying to cheer me up, or you just wanna have fun yourself?" I asked. Sure, I liked bowling as much as the next guy, but everyone knew that Sam had some weird obsession with it. Hey, at least she was good, though.

"When I'm happy, I can make you happy," she replied.

"I've got swim practice so, I'm out," Jake said, getting up from the seat next to me. "Damn, he was fast. I gotta convince him somehow," he muttered as he walked away, probably already concocting ways to persuade Evan to join the swim team.

As for me, well, I wanted to forget about Evan for the time being, and bowling seemed the perfect way to do so.

————————

"So, what are you going to do now that you know Evan is straight?" Mitch asked as he stuffed his face with whatever the hell the cafeteria decided to serve today.

During the bowling session the previous day, everyone had steered clear of any topic involving Evan, which I can't even express how much I appreciated. That being said, I knew this topic was bound to come up sooner or later, especially seeing that I was meeting Evan again later that day for yet another project get together.

"I'm not gonna do anything. What do you want me to do? Try to make him gay?" I asked, frustration seeping into my voice.

"Someone's touchy," Melissa said, to which I had to sigh. Yeah, I knew I was, but Evan was still kind of a sore subject for me.

"Sorry, it's just...I think I'm still in denial or whatever this is."

"Yeah, no shit," Mitch growled. "Besides, that was not what I was asking."

"Hmm?" I said, not following.

"I meant, what are you going to do? Get the project over and done with and avoid him like the plague or what?"

"You're probably gonna say that I'm stupid if you knew," I muttered.

"No," he replied incredulously, eyes growing bigger. "You seriously want to stay friends with him?"

"He's a cool guy," I defended.

"Honey, Jake is a cool guy. Brian is a cool guy. Heck, even I'm a cool guy. Believe me when I say you've got plenty of cool guys in your life, you don't need another. Especially not one where you're basically torturing yourself just to be around," Mitch lectured.

"Maybe I enjoy being tortured?" I quipped.

"I don't care whatever S&M shit you're into, but seriously Brad?" Mitch asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? What's wrong with just staying friends with him?" I asked.

"Hmm let's see," Mitch said, tapping a finger on his chin as if deep in thought. "One, you're not going to be able to get over him if you keep hanging around him."

"A three-year crush doesn't just disappear because I find out he's straight, dude. Around him or not, it would definitely take some time. I would just prefer to be around him when I go through that."

Mitch rolled his eyes but continued. "Two, being around him is going to hurt your love life. Brian said you hadn't gotten laid in almost three months. I can bet it's gonna be another three if you continue hanging around Evan."

"So much for the best friend code of secret. Remind me to kill Brian later," I said, directing my eyes to Melissa. "But, much like the first reason, regardless of whether I'm friends with Evan or not, I'm probably not going to do much hooking up."

"You're abstaining from sex? Willingly? Never thought I'd see the day," Melissa added.

"Lastly, and most importantly," Mitch continued. "You need to remember that he is straight."

"I know he is, Mitch. No need to keep reminding me. Besides, what does that have anything to do with being his friend?"

"Trevor Finch. Lucas Gunther. Billy Shayford," Mitch recited.

"What?" I asked, not following at all.

"What do those three guys have in common? Those were all guys that you wanted to sleep with at one point, and all of them turned out to be straight."

"Your point being?"

"You backed off. Immediately. You didn't try to pester them or whatever. You've always done that with any straight guy who turned you down. So why are you not backing off when it comes to Evan?"

"As much as I hate to agree with him, he's got a point," Melissa piped in, agreeing with her fraternal twin.

"I never had a crush on any of those other guys. I just wanted to sleep with them. Evan is different," I said, suddenly wishing that the rest of our group was here to maybe stick up for me. Brian was off with some dude on the football team who needed help with his car. Sam and Tim had some marching band thing to see to and Jake was meeting with the swim coach. So, that left the twins to grill me over lunch. Then again, even if the rest were here, they'd probably gang up on me anyway.

"Please don't think that I'm trying to tear you down, because I'm not. I just know that chasing after unrequited feelings is just another way of making yourself hurt," Mitch said.

I sighed, dropping my head onto the table. "I know, but what can I do? I'll probably get over him eventually, but as of now, I think being comfortable around him is going to help in that process."

"I mean, if you're sure," Mitch said.

"I am...I think."

So, that's what I focused on while waiting for the end of school bell to ring. I mean, I now knew that he was straight and wasn't that I wanted to know in the first place? Sure, the straight part wasn't what I had hoped for, but I wanted to know his orientation didn't I? Now I had the answer, and I had to accept it.

The shrill ring of the bell brought me out of my thoughts, picking up my stuff and heading down to the library where I was supposed to meet Evan. I expected everything to be the same as our previous meetings, regardless of the fact that I no longer had to wonder if anything more would come of our get togethers. Hell, it should make the meetings go smoother on my part.

What I didn't expect, however, was Evan waiting outside the library doors, leaning against the wall as he stared at his phone. I found it slightly strange that he hadn't gotten a seat while waiting but I ignored it.

"Hey," I greeted, bringing his attention off his phone and onto me. "Why didn't you wait inside?" Instead of answering, he just pointed to the sign that I just realize was pasted onto the glass.

'Attention students. The library is closed for a faculty function. Should you require an area for studying, please proceed to rooms 102 & 103. Sorry for the inconvenience.'

"Oh, so maybe we could check those rooms out?" I asked, to which Evan shrugged in indifference. I proceeded to lead the way to the designated classrooms, noticing that Evan was being exceptionally quiet. He was naturally a quiet person already, so he basically made no noise whatsoever. I wanted to ask him what's up, but I felt that I wasn't there yet in terms of friendship to ask that. Actually no, I knew that we weren't there yet. We're talking about the guy who basically didn't have a single close friend for over three years. So, I kept quiet.

Approaching the vicinity of the classrooms, I could already tell that this arrangement wasn't going to work out. Outside the classes, stood congregations of students, chatting away amicably, occasionally popping their head into the classroom to shout something.

I approached and peeked over the shoulder of one of the students, looking into the classroom to find a mish mash of students. Some had earphone plugged in as they focused on actually studying, but the majority of the kids were just goofing off, talking loudly much to the dismay of many of those students who had been kicked out of the library.

I turned to look at Evan, before voicing the obvious. "This isn't going to work."

"Yeah, we're not gonna get anything done in there," he replied, finally saying something. "Maybe we can meet tomorrow instead? It's only due on Thursday."

"Nah, tomorrow's no good. I've got football practice."

"Oh, okay. So, what's plan B then?" he asked.

"We can head back to my house, if you want," I suggested. "You'd have to drive, though."

"Yeah that's fine," he said. I smiled, turning around about to head off when it suddenly hit me. It was the day. 18th October.

"Oh wait, my house is a no go today," I said, giving Evan an apologetic look.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's the day my dad left like fifteen years ago," I explained. It wasn't a big deal to me anymore, because I seriously couldn't give a shit about the jackass anymore, but by the look on Evan's face, I could tell he didn't know this.

"Oh, I'm so sorry—"

"Don't be," I interrupted before he could set off on a string of apologies. "He was an ass. But my mom likes to get drunk on this day, one of the few days a year she just let's go. Just her way of coping I guess."

"You should have told me. I wouldn't have suggested we have this meeting today if you had," Evan said, eyes furrowing.

"Don't worry about it," I said, waving my hand dismissively.

"But, wouldn't you want to be there for your mom?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, but she doesn't want us to be," I said, but I only got a confused look from Evan in reply, making me continue my explanation. "She knows we know she gets drunk on this day, but she never wants us to see her like that. She used to go out and get wasted, but eventually Tim and I figure we'd rather her get drunk at home instead of at some sleazy bar. At least that way we know she's safe, so we just always make ourselves scarce on the eighteenth of October."

"Oh...so you're sure?" he asked.

"Yeah totally, Tim's already made plans tonight and what not."

"Well, okay then."

"Since that's settled," I laughed. "We should get back to the problem at hand. Where are we gonna finish this?" Seeing that I had suggested my house and how that turned out to be a bust, I figured that Evan would offer his instead. I mean, it was the logical thing to do, right? I wasn't going to ask him, though, knowing that if he wanted to invite me there, he would.

"How about we try the public library," Evan suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. Okay, so maybe he didn't want me at his house.

"Sure," I said. "Just let me grab something from my locker."

Once again, I found myself leading the way as we made our way over to my locker. Evan had again returned to his quiet self, but I wasn't going to force conversation for the sake of conversation. Besides, the silence was a comfortable one, maybe because Evan was always so quiet it seemed like silence was the status quo.

Reaching the little metal box, I entered my code into the locker, popping it open. Reaching in, I grabbed the only thing I really needed to get. My skateboard stood upright at the side, just barely fitting into the tiny confines of the locker. I may have needed to move some book around but it was my primary means of transport, one that I owned at least.

"You skate?" Evan asked, staring at the wooden board that sat in my hand.

"Not anything fancy. I can't even do an ollie," I chuckled. "It's just faster than walking and smaller than a bike. Problems associated with not having a car. Hashtag poor kid problems."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" I chuckled. "It's not your fault I don't have a car."

"It's just, I didn't want to seem like I was—"

"You weren't" I jumped in. "Dude, it's no big deal. I mean, I know my family's not the richest around but who cares."

"Right," he said. As if unsure of what to say anymore, he quickly turned and headed for the school exit. I followed not saying anything else.

Reaching the white Honda that was probably nearing the end of its life expectancy, I watched as Evan inserted the key into the lock. The remote didn't even work anymore. "You're feeling bad about me not having a car when you're driving that?" I joked, earning a small laugh for Evan.

"I know right. It's just that this has sentimental value."

"Hey, falling apart or not, it still gets you places," I said.

"That it does," he replied, hopping into the driver's seat. I followed suit, getting into the passenger side. I watched as Evan slid the key into the ignition, turning it only to have the car sputtering a few times but not starting. "Takes some effort," Evan chuckled, turning the key once again. Once again, the engine sputtered, but this time followed by the rumbling of the engine starting up.

"She lives," I cried out, emulating Dr. Frankenstein in all those old movies. This caused Evan to laugh which kind of made me happy. It was nice to make him smile, as cheesy as that sounds.

Shaking his head, Evan drove out of the parking lot, leaving behind the school. It was only then that I saw Brian's car still sitting there. A sudden feeling of guilt filled me up as I realized I had forgotten all about my friends just because of Evan. It was as if Evan comes up and I forget all about the important people in my life. It wasn't even for a romantic relationship, not saying that that would have made it better, but it was like I was putting Evan's friendship before all the friendships that I already had.

I tried putting this from my thoughts, but I couldn't help continuously seeing the car in my mind, sitting there in the school parking lot. Quickly, I took out my phone and texted Brian. "Hey, I've headed off with Evan. School library's closed," I typed before hitting send.

Almost immediately a reply came. "No worries. See you. By the way, Tim is hanging with Sam and me today so don't worry about him."

"Thanks, man."

I put my phone down as I stared out the window. It only made me feel more like shit that Brian had thought about Tim too. He really was a good friend and I had seriously forgotten about him.

"You okay?" I heard from my left. I turned to face Evan who although had his eyes on the road, had his face pulled into a look of concern.

"Yeah, just thinking about something," I replied vaguely.

Evan didn't pursue this, going quiet again as he continued to drive. The rest of the journey went like that, in the comfortable silence that surrounded us. In a way, the quiet was peaceful, putting my crazy thoughts to rest. I was calm, so much so that next thing I knew, we were pulling into the public library parking.

I looked ahead, seeing a gathering of people in front of the library entrance, a sinking feeling bubbling in my stomach. Off to the side, a large truck sat parked next to the congregation, big bold words painting the side of it. Septic services.

"That doesn't look good," I muttered, staring at the scene in front of me.

"C'mon, let's check it out," Evan said, turning off the engine and getting out of the car. Leaving my belongings in the vehicle, I too stepped out, closing the door behind me. Evan locked it before making his way over to the entrance, me following at his heels.

As we neared the gathering of people, the sounds of chatter got gradually louder. Stinks. Dirty. Smelly. These were some of the words I picked out among the clamor of animated speech.

"Can I help you boys," an elderly woman stepped up, stopping our advancement. I looked down at the name tag pinned to her sweater, seeing her name and the title of librarian just under it.

"Oh, yes. We were just wondering what happened here?" I asked.

"I hope you boys weren't planning on using the library today," she said apologetically.

"We were actually," Evan said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. It seems we have something of a sewerage problem today. Overflowed from one of the toilets," she said.

"That sounds...unfortunate," Evan cringed.

"Oh, it is. I swear I can still smell that horrible odor on my clothes. I may need to burn them later," she laughed. before continuing. "I'm sorry but due to safety reasons the library is closed until we have this sorted out. So sorry."

"No, it's okay," I said. "I hope everything works out for you guys. Sounds like a sticky situation you've got here."

"Thank you, sweetie, but if you ask me, it's more a clumpy situation than a sticky one," she laughed. "Okay, that was a bad joke."

I smiled before turning and heading back to the car. Once there, I stopped and turned to Evan. "It seems nothing is working for us today."

"You can say that again," he grumbled. "What are the odds really?"

"Whatever they are, we still need to figure out someplace to do this," I said.

"I mean, we could try the Starbucks in town?" he suggested again, and once again not the logical choice of his place.

"Starbucks? We were better off in the noisy school classroom," I pointed out. Looking down at my watch, I noted that we had already wasted an hour. I really didn't want to suggest his house, seeing that he was pretty adamant on avoiding even suggesting it, but we were getting a little bit desperate now...weren't we? Ah, screw it. "How about your place?"

"Uh...my place?" he said, his voice conveying his trepidation.

"I mean I won't even be suggesting it if we weren't desperate. I really don't want to impose, but we're kind of on a time crunch. We still have quite a lot to do and all this jumping around is kinda wasting time," I rationalized.

"Um...fuck," he muttered to himself. Wow, he must really not want me to even know where he lived. I mean, did he live in a bad situation? Oh, my god, what if his parents abused him? That would explain the anti-social behavior. Or maybe he lived in squalor? "Fine, we'll go to my place."

I suddenly felt really bad for kinda forcing this on him. "It's really okay if you're not cool with this. We can just find somewhere else to—"

"No," he interjected. "You're right. We've wasted enough time. Just...please don't tell anyone."

I almost wanted to ask, tell anyone what but decided against it. Instead I replied with a simple, "Of course. This stays between you and me."

"Okay, let's go then," he sighed, getting into his car. I stood there for a moment. What if I found out something that I didn't have any business finding out about? Oh, what have I gotten myself into?

All I knew was that only one thing was certain. I was going to Evan's house.