It's Too Cliché...Right? Ch. 08

"You sure about this?" Evan asked, hand tightly gripping the strap of his bag. It was the next day in school and somehow, I had managed to convince Evan to join my group at lunch. I mean, I was sure the library was fascinating and all, but friends are better, right? At that moment, we were standing in the hallway leading to the cafeteria, not a single student in sight.

"It's going to be fine," I said, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. "It's just lunch with my friends."

"But what if they don't like me?" he asked.

"Really? I think that's the least of your problems right now." That was true of course because knowing my friends, just the fact that Evan was sitting with us would transform them into matchmakers. They would, no doubt, be going to lengths to ask Evan questions all the while shooting me knowing smirks.

"Meaning?" he asked, wary of the answer I was going to give. Well, he deserved to know what exactly he was walking into, right? Besides, if we were going to keep up with this charade, he needed to know everything so as to not get caught off guard, lest he react in some way that exposes him.

"Okay, so this was before all this happened mind you, so you can't really get mad at me," I said, motioning my hand between the two of us.

"Mad? What did you do Brad?" he asked, eyes going wide.

"It's nothing extremely bad...but they kind of know I have a major crush on you," I said.

"What?" he exclaimed, looking about as panicked as could be.

"Calm down, they don't know about what happened between us, so it shouldn't be too awkward," I tried, obviously leaving out the part that Tim knew.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one going to sit with a bunch of strangers giving you weird looks all lunch."

"Well, they'll definitely be giving me weird looks too, just saying," I countered, but Evan just rolled his eyes at me. "Besides, they're not strangers."

"They are to me. What if they figure out what happened between us?"

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" I said, giving him a forlorn expression.

"I'm just...not ready for that yet," he said, giving me a sad look in return. It was then that I realized how big a jerk I was being. This was new to him, and trying to push him out of the closet wasn't helping. Being president of the GSA made me doing that all the more unforgivable.

"No, I'm sorry. You're right, you need to deal with this at your own pace."

"I just need time." I nodded at him, knowing all too well that I was wrong to try and force him out of the closet.

"I know. I'm sorry. You don't have to sit with us if you don't feel comfortable doing that," I said.

Evan looked at me for a while, his eyes searching mine for answers to the questions that were obviously plaguing his mind. He sighed, dropping his head in the process. "I'll sit with you guys," he muttered, just barely audible.

"What?" I asked, not really sure if I had heard him right."

"I'll sit with you," he repeated, louder this time. I couldn't even help the smile that crept onto my face.

"You really don't have to if you don't want," I said, giving him one last chance to retract his statement.

"As long as you're there, I guess I can deal," he said and I gave him the 'aww' expression.

"For that, I'll try to make sure the guys are less obnoxious."

"You know you can't do that."

"I know, but it made you feel better that I said it, right?" I said, giving him a cheeky smile, transforming into a grin when I saw his own lips curling up at the sides. "C'mon, it'll seem weird if we take too long," I said, walking towards the cafeteria.

"Wait," Evan said, grabbing onto my elbow. I turned to face him, seeing him dart his eyes down one side of the hallway to the other. When he deemed the coast clear, he quickly placed a kiss on my lips. I was shocked because I hadn't expected Evan to do something as risky as kissing me in public, especially when he was so worried about sitting with my friends just because they knew of my crush on him only seconds before.

When he pulled away, I gave him a sideways smile. "What was that for?"

"Just wanted to," he said, walking in the direction of the cafeteria. I shook my head, smiling at his sweetness before running to catch up with him. I didn't acknowledge him, though, just matching his steps next to him.

Walking into the cafeteria with Evan, cliché dictates that every pair of eyes fell on us, watching the peculiar pair enter the lunch room together for the very first time. In reality, it was a lot less climactic. The chatter of students didn't stop, no one even really noticing that we had entered, most of them already deep in conversation with their friends.

Darting my eyes over to my table, I noticed that even the occupants of it were oblivious to my entrance. "See, no one even notices us," I said, turning to Evan.

"For now," he stated, pulling me to get our food.

Once we both had our trays of food, today a weird meatloaf kind of thing, we walked to my group of peers still talking amicably to one another. It was only when I was a couple of yards away did Melissa finally catch sight of me.

I smiled at her, but her eyes were focused on the boy walking just behind me, immediately nudging Mitch with her elbow. In the middle of a conversation, he gave an annoyed expression before brushing her hand away. This didn't deter Melissa, though, continuing poking Mitch in the side with her elbow.

"What?!" he shouted, agitation reaching a point where he couldn't ignore his sister anymore. Melissa didn't say anything, her eyes never leaving the pair of us still approaching. This brought the attention of everyone at the table to us, Brian and Sam even turning in their seats to look.

Even I could feel the pressure of their stunned expressions, I could only imagine what Evan was feeling. "Hey guys," I greeted. "Mind if Evan joins us?"

There was a second of silence from everyone, staring at me as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing or hearing. I didn't get why they were so shocked, though, seeing that they knew I had gone to a party with Evan. I mean, if I could go to a party with him, I sure as hell could have lunch with him, right?

Tim was the first to recover, obviously because he already knew of the situation I was in. "Of course," he said, his voice seemingly knocking everyone out of their trance.

"Yeah, the more the merrier," Brian added, quickly plastering a friendly smile on his face.

I smiled and nodded, motioning for the empty seat for Evan with my head. He kept his head down as he proceeded to sit down in the spot I pointed out, me following behind and taking the place beside him. As I sat down, I winced a little at the sore feeling in my lower back and ass.

"Oh, my god!" Jake suddenly shouted, causing not only our table to turn to him with shocked attention, but a lot of students from other tables.

"What the hell Jake?" Sam scolded, holding her chest as she recovered from her shock.

"Sorry," he apologized, noticing the attention his outburst had attracted. Soon, though, the other students lost interest and returned to their own thing, but everyone at our table was still focused on him. "You..." he started but trailed off, looking around him before lowering his voice. Leaning towards the center of the table, everyone else except Evan copied, bringing their heads together. "You bottomed last night."

I could almost feel Evan tense up beside me. Okay, just keep it cool, I tried mentally telling him, hoping I could somehow communicate my thoughts to him telepathically. "I'm sorry?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Don't play dumb with me Pearson, I saw the look on your face when you sat down just now," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at me.

My eyes darted from one pair of eyes to another, everyone staring at me expectantly other than Evan. Geez dude, could you please make it less obvious. Luckily for me, the rest were too preoccupied with me that they didn't seem to notice Evan, at least not yet. "Okay, so what if I did?" I said, playing it off like it wasn't that much of a big deal.

"Dude, really?" Brian now asking, a smirk on his face as if I had just made some spectacular accomplishment.

"So, is someone back on the market now?" Melissa added.

"It was just a hookup, it wasn't a big deal," waving off the comments. "So, what's up with you guys?" I asked, trying my hardest to divert the topic to anything other than me, the discomfort from Evan almost palpable now. I managed a sideways glance to see him poking at his food, seemingly oblivious to our conversation.

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this that easily," Sam interjected, making me groan in annoyance.

"Dude, you bottomed?" Jake emphasized once again.

"Damn it, Jake, yes, I did," I scolded, really wanting this to stop. I saw Tim's cheeks flush as he realized that I hadn't actually topped the day before as he had expected, a little flash of horror appearing on his face for just a second before he quickly recovered.

"Whoa, it must have been one hell of a guy for you to do that," Jake continued as if trying to embarrass me further. "Hell, you didn't even let me top you."

By now, Evan had moved from quiet discomfort to all out fidgeting in his seat. 'Stop moving!' I shouted in my head to him. I almost wanted to face palm at the horrible way he was squirming. 'Dude, you've kept secrets for so long and you're having a problem with this one?' I chastised. Of course, all my silent scolding was for shit, because Evan only grew more nervous and fidgety with each passing second.

"Guys, can we drop the subject please?" I pleaded.

"Yeah, I don't want to hear about Brad in bed," Tim jumped in, trying his best to give me support in my time of need. I gave him a fleeting thankful look, but apparently, his words fell on deaf ears because the guys didn't care.

"Oh, my god, so who was it?" Sam asked.

"It was a Grindr hookup, right?" Brian added.

"He must have been big from the way you winced just now," Jake smirked. At his statement, though, Evan coughed, apparently choking on his saliva as his eyes started watering.

There was a second of silence as everyone turned their attention to him, making sure he was alright. This only made me more nervous, though, because Evan was apparently not very good at this whole secret thing.

"You okay? Mitch asked, Evan nodding but couldn't hide the blush that formed on his cheek.

Trying to bring the attention back to me and off of Evan, I quickly said, "It was just some random guy on Grindr." Jake looked from me, back to Evan, his eyes widening just seconds after. Oh, fuck no.

"No way," he said, awe in his voice.

"Jake, just shut up," I growled.

"You two slept together?" he continued, not even caring about my threat.

Everything became silent. Well, okay not everything, seeing that the rest of the school went on like nothing happened, but our table went silent. Hanging jaws stared back at us, Tim pinching the bridge of his nose, Evan looking like he was about to have a panic attack while I just rested my head down on the table, shaking my head back and forth.

"Ho-ly shit," Sam muttered, finally breaking the silence.

"Guys, just please drop this," I pleaded, raising my head and giving my best puppy dog eyes I could muster.

"But—" Sam tried, but I quickly cut her off.

"No buts."

"Except yours getting fucked," Brian whispered, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. This caused Jake to choke back a laugh, and I gave them a look them just screamed 'really?'.

I turned to Evan to see him a lot paler than I remembered him looking earlier in the day, and I didn't know if I should say anything to him. God, I should have just listened when he said he didn't want to sit with us. That way, he didn't need to go through all this. When he looked about ready to pass out, I figured I better make sure he's fine.

"You okay, man?" I asked, patting him on the shoulder.

He shrugged my hand off, though, quite coldly I might add before speaking for the first time. "Would you guys excuse me?" he asked, immediately getting up without an answer.

"Evan," I called out, but he was already walking away.

I turned back to the guys and gave them a glare. "Did we say something wrong?" Jake asked.

"He wasn't ready to come out yet, assholes," I spat, getting up and going after Evan. I knew this was the end. There was no way that Evan would want this...relationship going on when one day into it and he was already discovered. I couldn't think about that now, though, because Evan was all that mattered then, not me or my feelings.

Bursting out the cafeteria door, I caught sight of Evan disappearing into the bathroom. Thanking god that I at least knew where he went, I followed pushing open the door tentatively. The room was empty except for Evan, who was slumped against the sink, head dropped in defeat.

"Evan?" I attempted, walking over slowly to him so as to not spook him as if I was approaching a wild animal or something.

"Just leave me alone," he said. I could tell he wasn't crying or anything, which I took as a good enough sign.

"I will, okay? I just need to make sure you're okay," I said, walking the last few steps up to him.

"I knew I shouldn't have sat with them," he said, more to himself than to me, but I couldn't help but feel slightly responsible. They were my friends, and I kind of pressured Evan into sitting with us. Sure, the final decision was all him, but I still played a huge role in it.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have pressured you into sitting with us," I apologized, Evan finally turning his gaze to meet mine through the mirror. He didn't deny what I said, though, just staring at me, making me feel like this thing between us could really be over. "Don't worry about the guys, they won't tell a soul. I'll make sure of it," I said giving him a sorry look once more before turning to leave.

He didn't stop me, didn't call out my name, which only further enforced to me that this was truly over. Assuming anything was wrong of me, though because I knew we needed to talk about this, just to make it official and all, but it wasn't the time. I needed to give Evan his space for the time being.

I was just about to exit when the bathroom door opened and in walked Jake and Brian. A frustrated look appeared on my face at the sight of them, really not in the mood to deal with them now either. "Not now. Just go," I said, trying to push them out the door.

"No wait," Brian said, shoving me aside as he walked halfway up to Evan. "Look, man, we're sorry if we made you feel uncomfortable, we didn't know that you're not..." he trailed off, and I almost groaned. He wasn't making this any better.

"What the bumbling idiot is trying to say is, we're sorry. We joked around about something that isn't funny and we realized we were being asses," Jake said. "If you're worried about us saying anything, don't be. As a bi guy, I know how important this whole process is."

"Ditto from the best friend of a gay guy," Brian added.

"Brian, just shut up," Jake said, echoing my exact thoughts, before turning back to Evan. "We're just sorry, man."

I watched as Evan straightened out, standing to his full height, taking a deep breath in the process. He made his way over, stopping a couple of feet from us, looking at each of us. I noticed, however, that his eyes lingered a little longer on me, a flurry of emotions in his eyes that I couldn't make out, but the next words out of his mouth did cut me a little.

"I'm not gay," he said, before exiting the bathroom.

If I had any doubt that our relationship was over, I had none after that. Hearing the door close behind me, I let out a sigh, looking up to find Jake and Brian with sad looks on their faces. Immediately, a scowl returned to my face. "I hate you guys."

"We know and we are so sorry," Jake apologized.

"So, does that mean that you two aren't dating?" Brian asked and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him.

"What do you think?" I said, shaking my head as I exited and made my way back to our table. As I entered the cafeteria, the first thing I noticed was the absence of Evan's bag and tray, obviously already leaving with his stuff.

I sighed, dropping back into the seat. "I don't want to talk about it," I warned before anyone could even say anything. My threatening tone not even giving hints that I was joking, nobody spoke to me after that, even Jake or Brian who had returned a minute later, heads hung in shame.

As the rest of the day went by, nobody tried to even remotely broach the subject of Evan to me. From what I could tell, Evan had skipped the rest of the school day, finding him missing from one of the classes that we shared. I felt like shit, not because my short-lived relationship was probably over, but because I had so obviously hurt Evan. Some friend I was, right?

As the day went on, however, I had the nagging feeling in me that I had to try and fix this, not for me but for Evan. I needed to know what it was he needed me to do, and if that meant never seeing me again, I was going to respect that, which was why I was standing on his porch after school was over.

I had forced Brian to drop me off, just down the street from the twins' house, so as to retain at least some anonymity about Evan's house. Of course, I had issued him a verbal warning that he couldn't even mention the general area that Evan lived in, stating that he owed me one for ruining my relationship. He easily agreed.

So, standing in front of his front door, I waited for a few minutes, just trying to think about what I was going to say to him. I didn't even know if he wanted to see me, but I had to tie the loose ends, so with one final deep breath, I pressed his doorbell.

It didn't take too long for the door to open, Carla spotting me before a smile graced her features. "Oh Brad, it's so nice to see you again," she said.

"You too, Carla," I returned in greeting, before jumping right to the point. "Is Evan in?"

"Oh yes, he's in his room," she said, stepping aside for me to enter.

"Thanks, Carla," I said, quickly making my way towards his room.

As I climbed the stairs, I started feeling the nerves eating away at me. I sure hope he didn't kick me out without being able to explain my visit. A part of me was still hoping that Evan wanted to keep seeing me, but that was not likely to be the case.

Stopping in front of his bedroom, I could hear music blasting within, Radiohead's 'Creep' playing through the speakers. Okay, emo songs. This was going to be fun. I steadied myself and slowly pushed open the door, not even sure why I hadn't knocked.

I saw Evan laid across his bed, hands behind his head, eyes closed as his music played in the background. His expression didn't give any clue as to what he was thinking or feeling, but based on his choice of song, I was sure it wasn't good.

I was about to speak when Evan opened his mouth, not to speak, but to sing. As the words of the chorus, flowed from his lips, I was surprised that he had a pretty nice voice, definitely able to hold a tune.

"But I'm a creep," he sang. "I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here."

I just stood there, leaning against his door frame as I listened to him. I tried not to take too much meaning out of the lyrics because songs have different meanings for everyone, but I couldn't help but feel like maybe he was referring to his sexuality, whatever that may have been.

I was about to clear my throat, making my presence known when Evan continued onto the bridge of the song, belting out the tune, in full voice no less. My eyes went wide. Before, I could tell the guy could sing, but now I knew he could really sing. It was mesmerizing almost, listening to his voice.