It's Too Cliché...Right? Ch. 06

"Which is?"

For the slightest of moments, I wondered if I was really going to talk about this with Evan. I mean, sure the guy was cool, but we were still quite new to this whole friend thing. In the end, though, I cracked and ended up telling him anyway.

Sighing, I started to explain, albeit with an excessive amount of hand gesturing. I guess I did that when I was nervous. "Guys that want a serious relationship, I find I'm not really attracted to, and guys I'm attracted to, aren't looking for a long-term relationship, just a quick fling. Basically, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place." I left out how the only guy so far that filled that mold was Evan, but I guess that was a given. Then again, I didn't even know if Evan was a relationship kind of person. For all I knew, he was a one night stand kind of guy too.

"Isn't that a teenage boy's dream, though? To be able to have sex without the baggage of a relationship?" To be honest, I wasn't thrilled with his words. Did that mean that was what he thought too?

"I guess, but that just isn't really my style," I said. "That's not saying that I don't occasionally hook up with guys, but it isn't what I'm looking for right now. I want someone that I can be attracted to, both physically and emotionally."

"You're a romantic, aren't you?" Evan smiled, chuckling to himself.

"Maybe, I don't know," I said. This conversation was starting to get a little too personal for my liking, so I decided to divert it to him. "What about you? No girls that catch your eye?"

"I guess there are, but I'm not really looking for a relationship. I prefer to be by myself anyway," he said.

"Doesn't it get lonely, though? I mean, I don't mean to be rude, but even a few friends is better than no friends, right?"

Evan simply shrugged his shoulders, and I knew that the conversation was over then. It was pretty obvious that Evan had his reasons that he wasn't telling me. He had mentioned that he had fake friends back in Florida so that might explain his need to put up these walls, but then again people usually had at least one person to confide in.

The rest of the ride was quiet, Evan opting to turn the radio on to fill the silence. My mind was focused on the rumble of tires across the asphalt, though, the vibrations lulling me into a sort of trance. Next thing I knew, we were pulling up into the garage of a posh apartment building. I raised an eyebrow, turning to Evan. I had assumed we were going to some hotel, or maybe an office building.

"This is the home of one of the board members," Evan said, answering my unspoken question.

I nodded, watching as we drove past rows of expensive cars. This was definitely an apartment for the rich, just judging by the variety of expensive cars in the garage. Everything felt so...out of my element.

By the time we were standing in front of an apartment, I was full on feeling like I shouldn't be there. Regret started to fill me as I wondered why I had agreed to Mr. Trevorrow's weird request. As much as I could tell myself that I was here for Evan's sake, I knew deep down that I only accepted so I could spend more time with said boy.

"I'm starting to regret my choice," I voiced, just as Evan was about to ring the bell. He stopped, his hand hovering over the button.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I don't think I'll fit in. I don't know how to act..." I trailed off, unsure of the word to use?

"Rich?" Evan added, to which I nodded with a blush. "You'll be fine. Just act like you normally do and you'll be okay."

I took a deep breath, before nodding.

"Besides, you got yourself into this, and you're supposed to ensure I have fun tonight," Evan smirked, finally connecting his finger to the little plastic button, causing a bell to ring. It was a few seconds later when a guy opened it. Dressed in a shirt and vest, it was immediately clear that the man was a server, probably hired to assist with the extravagant party. "Trevorrow," Evan said, the man nodding before moving aside for us to enter. I followed behind Evan as we entered, still feeling a little on edge, unlike Evan who was as cool as a cucumber.

People were all around the luxurious penthouse, all of them chatting amongst themselves in their little groups. Most of the men were older, probably around Mr. Trevorrow's age, and next to them stood their beautiful dates. All dress to the nines, everyone looked immaculate in their neatly pressed suits and flowing dresses. Wine and champagne glasses sat in their hands, the light smell of alcohol wafting from the open bar in one corner, a bartender behind expertly making drinks.

"Evan!" A voice called from across the room. It took me a moment to place the source of the voice, but eventually I saw the man walking over, a grin plastered onto his face.

"Bill," Evan said, a small smile on his face although probably out of politeness than fondness.

"I was wondering when you'd get here. Your father's been here for almost an hour," he laughed, slapping Evan on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I had to prep my guest," he said, motioning to me.

The older man turned to me as if just noticing my presence. His hair was already graying, thick glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, slightly magnifying his brown eyes. "Hello," he said, extending a hand. I returned the handshake and a polite greeting. "I must say, this is the first time Evan's brought someone along."

"My dad invited him on my behalf," Evan jumped in.

The man laughed, his voice booming. "That does sound like something your father would do. Well, whatever the case, I hope you two have a good time."

He was soon off, greeting a new couple that had walked through the door. "C'mon, let's go find my dad," Evan said, pulling me lightly by the arm. I had the urge to link our arms by the elbow, like so many other couples around us, but I had to remember that Evan and I weren't a couple.

We walked around the place for a while, searching for any sign of Eric. Every few steps, someone would stop Evan, giving him a warm hello. I guess being the CEO's son meant everyone knew you.

Eventually, we saw Eric, Claire by his side, standing by the grand piano that decorated the large room. As we made our way over, Claire's gaze fell on us, before whispering to Eric who turned to us not a second later. Eric smiled when he saw Evan, and it morphed into a grin when he noticed me, as if ecstatic that I had actually shown up. Maybe he thought I would have flaked?

"Boys, I'm so glad you could make it," Eric said, moving to give Evan a single arm hug, a glass of wine nestled in his other hand.

"I had to be here, remember?" Evan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was directing it more to Brad anyway," Eric said, sending me a wink.

"We'll talk about you inviting him and not telling me later," Evan grumbled.

"Hey, the night is still young. Maybe you will end up thanking me instead." Claire smiled at this, wrapping her arm around Eric's.

"You boys look dashing," she said.

"Thanks," I replied, but Evan just gave a curt nod.

"Well, you boys should go enjoy yourself," Eric muttered, ushering us away.

Shaking his head, Evan pulled me away, heading towards a quieter part of the apartment, probably to avoid as much socializing as possible. We passed a waiter on the way, a tray of assorted beverages balanced in his palm. Swiftly, Evan plucked a champagne flute off the tray, it's golden contents bubbling ever so slightly.

"Are you allowed to drink that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My dad doesn't really care that I drink, as long as it's on the down low, so no speaking of this to anyone," Evan said, a finger to his lips.

"You're driving, though," I countered, not really caring if he was underage drinking, but more that he was our ride.

"It's just one champagne."

"Still, one champagne or not, it's still alcohol in your system. I'm guessing you haven't even eaten anything, which only makes it worse."

"Geez, who knew you were such a killjoy. Any teenager would jump at the opportunity to have a little buzz. I thought you were supposed to help me have a good time tonight, not be my nanny," Evan said, poking me in the chest lightly.

I was about to retort when a waiter interrupted. "Excuse me sir, but would you like anything to drink?" I looked from the young waiter, who couldn't have been much older than me, to the tray of beverages balanced expertly in his hands.

I turned back to Evan to see him watching me while he sipped on his champagne. I sighed, turning back to the waiter. "I don't suppose you have anything non-alcoholic, do you? It seems I'm the designated driver for the night."

"Of course, sir. Might I interest you in our non-alcoholic mojito?" he said, picking up a glass from his tray and holding it out to me.

"Yes, please. Thank you," I said, taking the glass into my hand. With a smile, the waiter was off, ready to tend to other needy guests. I turned back to Evan who was still watching me, nonchalantly sipping his bubbly. "At least one of us is being responsible," I quipped, bringing the green colored beverage to my lips, feeling the cooling sensation as cold liquid ran down my parched throat.

"Live a little, Brad. C'mon, show me what a good time is like," he said, pushing me along as we got into the party.

For the first hour or so, Evan had basically pulled me from one corner of the house to another, in hopes of finding a relatively secluded spot. Of course, at every turn, we were greeted by a warm smile or an animated hello. I watched as Evan interacted with these people, putting on a warm enough expression on his face to be polite. However, after the end of each of these conversations, the smile would instantly fall from his face.

I had commented that he really needed to lighten up, seeing that most of the people who had struck a conversation with him were genuinely nice people. Sure, some of them were more...enthusiastic than others, but they all meant well. All I got in response was a simple shrug and, "Try doing this for five years."

I figured that maybe I wasn't being fair to Evan. Maybe he had a point too. After all, familiarity breeds contempt, right? At least he wasn't straight up rude to their faces.

True to his words, Evan had stuck to the single glass of champagne, his one and only drink for the duration of our time together. There was a different side to Evan here. He played the confident aristocrat, so unlike the quiet nerd in school, and even the comfortable teenager he became at home. I was beginning to learn that Evan had many faces, and I only got to see little glimpses of each of them, which begged the question; Who was the real Evan Trevorrow?

Around an hour and a half into the party and a whole lot of hors d'oeuvres, Evan and I had somehow managed to find a quiet balcony overlooking the city. The sun had long set and the city lights shone brightly, illuminating the area below him.

"Enjoying the party so far?" Evan asked, stopping beside me as he leaned over the rail, gazing out to the city.

"It doesn't seem as bad as you've made it out to be," I replied, stepping beside him and doing to same.

"It's all new to you now. Give it a few years and you'd probably be as sick of this as I am."

"There's going to be more of this in the coming years?" I asked, partly joking but not really either. I mean, okay we could become friends and all, but did Evan really think about this all in the future? Not to mention things like college and all, we'd probably be moving to very different states.

It seemed that my question also made Evan think for a moment, his brows creasing as his thoughts consumed him. I left him to his thoughts, not really wanting to delve into the implications of what he had meant by that.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" an unfamiliar voice said from behind us.

I turned, seeing a man who couldn't have been much older than us, but definitely not our age either. He was handsome, devilishly so, kinda like those old-school spy kind of handsome. His black hair was neatly combed to the side, shiny with pomade I assumed, a light beard peppering his jawline. Intense blue eyes stared back at me, as if looking into my soul, as cliché as that sounds. An impressive physique was evident through the suit he wore, his body filling out every space of the outfit with what looked like muscle.

"Um...yeah, I guess," I choked out.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Blue Harrington," he said, extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you," I replied, returning the handshake. It seemed appropriate, his name, seeing that his eyes were the deepest blue I'd ever seen before. The thought that perhaps his parents had named him that because of this feature passed through my mind, but it was fleeting, however, my attention pulled to a whole other thing. I may have imagined it, but I swear that his hand lingered a second longer than necessary. Couple that with the way his eyes were staring into mine, I could have sworn that this hunk of a man was flirting with me.

"And you are?" he spoke again, his voice like butter.

"Not interested." For a moment, I wondered why I had said that, seeing that I was clearly feeling some attraction to this guy, only to realize that it wasn't me who had spoken this but Evan.

"Evan, I didn't even see you there," Blue exclaimed even though it was abundantly clear by his tone that he had known of Evan's presence since the get go. Me, on the other hand, had seriously forgotten about him. Hmm, that was curious, to say the least, for me to literally forget all about Evan the second this guy came into the picture.

"Sure, you didn't," Evan deadpanned. "What do you want Blue?"

"Want? I don't want anything. I just saw this handsome man here," he stopped, sending a wink at me before continuing, "and thought maybe I could talk to him."

If I wasn't sure before, I was sure now. Blue had been flirting, no doubt about it.

"He's not interested," Evan replied on my behalf, and I was slightly taken aback by it. Who was he that he could think to decide for me? The memory of the time at the school pool filled me as I remembered I had basically done the same when I had thought Jake was asking Evan out.

"I think that's for him to decide?" Blue replied, still completely calm, even though I could feel the agitation start bubbling from Evan.

Evan turned to me as if telling me to agree with him. I looked from him, back to Blue, a little unsure about what to do myself. I admit, Evan probably knew these people more than I did and if he thinks it's a bad idea for me to talk to this guy, I should heed his advice, right? But then again, here was a guy that was clearly interested in me, and for once in a long time, I realized that I was slightly interested in return. I needed to set the boundaries with Evan sooner or later after all. He was straight, and I wasn't going anywhere with him. Maybe this Blue guy was just the person to help me get over Evan once and for all.

"I..." I muttered, still slightly unsure as I looked between the other two men. "I think I can take care of myself," I finally said to Evan. I guess, in the heat of the moment, instincts helped me decide. Sure, I didn't know about this Blue guy, but if he turned out to be some creep, I think I could handle him. I've handled plenty of creeps from Grindr before. What I knew, however, was that I needed to get over Evan so I didn't see any harm in finding out about this guy more.

Evan obviously didn't like my answer, because his brow furrowed in frustration. He glared at me a second before he huffed and walked away, leaving Blue and me alone on the balcony. "I'm sorry if I had overstepped some bounds?"

"No, it's fine," I sighed. "I seriously don't know what his problem is."

"So, you two aren't together then? Based on that just now, I thought I had crossed into boyfriend territory."

"No, we aren't together like that. Evan's not even gay," I said.

"So I've heard," Blue chuckled. "And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you gay?" he asked.

"That depends," I played, a smirk making its way onto my face.

"On?"

"Whether or not you are too?"

"Somebody knows how to play the game," Blue smiled, a look akin to admiration mixed with surprise crossing his features.

"I'm guessing the guys you go after aren't usually so confident?" I said, knowing that I was kinda implying that I had confidence, but seeing Blue, I had a feeling that he'd like the whole proud peacock shtick.

"They're usually the timid mouse, but I've got to say the confidence thing works on you," he said.

"Maybe we'll both get to learn what works on each other?" I replied, openly and blatantly flirting now.

"I'd like that."

We had spent the next hour talking to one another, throwing some flirts in now and then. For the most part, we had talked about ourselves. I learnt that Blue was the son of the CFO of the company. He had just graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor in Business Management with plans of starting his own little company with a few friends of his. At the age of 23, he was slightly older than guys I usually went out with but I felt that I was jumping the gun a little at that, and decided not to think about it. We were, after all, only just getting to know each other.

I on the other hand had told him how I came to know Evan and hence my presence at the party. I had, however, left out any mention about my crush on him, seeing that that wasn't something you tell a potential love interest. Blue, however, seemed really curious to know more about my personal life, rather than my affiliation with Evan.

"Here," Blue said, holding out a small white card to me. I took it, looking at the little rectangular paper seeing his name and info printed on its surface.

"A business card?" I laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"It's the easiest way to give you my number, right?" he replied,

"And why would I need your number?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"It's my job to play hard to get, not yours."

I was about to reply something snarky when Evan, quite loudly, made his way back onto the balcony. "We're leaving," he said, immediately wrapping his fingers around my arm and pulling me back and away from Blue.

"Hey," I exclaimed, trying to maintain my footing as I was pulled backward.

"We're leaving now," Evan repeated, not even giving me time to compose myself.

"Call me," I heard Blue say. I could only give him a small smile before he was out of sight.

Halfway through the house, I finally managed to pull myself free from Evan's grip. "What the hell is your problem?" I whisper shouted, not wanting to draw attention to us.

Evan just kept quiet and walked ahead. Somehow, I knew even without him saying, that if I didn't follow, I'd have to find a ride home myself, so I grudgingly trudged after him. By the time I caught up with him, we were already out of the apartment heading towards the elevator.

"Hey, I'm talking to you," I said, grabbing his shoulder and turning him around. Evan fixed me with a glare but said nothing else. It was then that I smelt the alcohol on him. "You're drunk," I said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not drunk," he countered, but his sentences slurred slightly more than usual.

"So much for one glass of champagne," I shot, to which Evan rolled his eyes at me, before turning and heading for the elevator.

The ride down to the garage was quiet, me letting Evan sulk in his moody self. I really didn't get what his problem was. I had talked to Blue for a whole hour and he seemed like a nice guy, so whatever his beef was with the dude, I really couldn't care less.

Upon reaching the car, I noticed Evan pulling out the car keys from his pocket and tossing them in my direction. I just barely managed to catch them before he was stumbling into the passenger seat. "You say you're not drunk but you know not to drive," I muttered as I got into the driver's side.