Just Stay (3 page)

"Alright, well that settles it," he says. "You're going."

"No, Evan, really," Seb starts, but is interrupted.

"Yes, Seb, really," Evan mimics. "If you haven't been to a party like that, you're missing out on the whole college deal."

He looks at him pointedly, eyebrows raised.

"Don't make me drag you there," he warns, and Seb sighs. He can't believe the words that come out of his mouth.

"Fine," he says. "Alright."

Evan smiles then, in that cocky way of his, and Seb gets the feeling that he's used to getting what he wants. Then again, judging from the seemingly constant trail of girls he leaves behind, this isn't surprising.

"I'll come get you," he then adds, to Seb's surprise. "Can't have you getting lost, now can we?"

Seb smiles weakly, taking another sip of his beer, wondering what the hell he just got himself into.

Chapter 3

Party

Seb didn't think that his room could possibly be more littered with clothes than it already is.

He was wrong.

His mother has always claimed that his disorganized nature is the result of the
organized chaos in his head
that comes with being a writer and a creative person, but Seb isn't too sure he likes it much anyway. Especially not now, when he's tearing through all his clothes to find something good to wear for tonight.

After spending the better part of two hours at that bar, Evan and Seb parted ways, Evan making Seb promise once again that he would come to that stupid party tonight. And Seb promised. Kind of against his better judgment, sure, but there's just something about Evan that makes him hard to say no to. And besides, it can't hurt. Seb really needs to get out of his comfort zone.

At least, that was his logic then. Now, he's just a little bit frantic.

It's almost nine p.m. when he finally finds a shirt that isn't
too
geeky―his shirts all tend to have prints like
Vote NO on Daleks,
or
Space―the final frontier,
and other moderately embarrassing pop culture references. It's a simple t-shirt, dark grey and deliberately worn-looking, with lighter grey, widely spaced stripes.

About as interesting as my personality
, Seb thinks to himself as he pulls it on, but it will do. He has never been much for vanity, anyway, and he's not sure why he's bothering with it now. His dark hair is a lost cause, as usual, all messy and unkempt, kind of like he just got out of bed.

He's just buttoning up his jeans, when there is a knock at the door.

Seb freezes, before taking a deep breath.
Relax
, he tells himself.
It's not a big deal. It's just a party.

Then again, being rather socially awkward in larger groups of people, there is no such thing as
just
a party.

He makes his way over to the door and opens it, half-expecting to see Evan. Instead, he's met by a ridiculously tall guy with chestnut brown hair that's just long enough to fall into his eyes and touch his shoulders, and Seb vaguely wonders if he's the type to do that hair-flippy thing to get it out of the way.

"Hey," the guy says, with just a little hesitation. "You're Sebastian, right?"

Seb nods.

"Seb," he says. "Yeah."

"Seb, right." The guy smiles sincerely. "I'm Jake."

He holds out his hand and Seb takes it.
Jake
. That name rings a bell. Jake seems to notice Seb's confusion and elaborates.

"I'm Evan's brother," he explains. "He's running a bit late and asked me to come get you for the party, seeing as how we live in the same dorm."

Seb's eyes widen slightly in realization. Right, Jake is the one Evan was looking for that night, when he showed up here, banging on the door, completely wasted.

"Right," Seb says hesitantly, shaking Jake's hand. "Great."

Jake's smile widens slightly as he releases his grip, a sincere smile that's difficult not to trust. Seb remembers Evan referring to Jake as his
little
brother, though. He finds that hard to believe, considering how damn big he is.

A door closes somewhere further down the hall, and within moments, someone else shows up at Jake's side. The pretty blonde kisses him on the cheek, before turning to Seb.

"Hi," she says. "I'm Sophie."

Seb gives her a small, awkward wave, and she smiles at him. Her smile is sincere, too, and it's obvious from the way she takes Jake's hand and from the way he looks at her adoringly, that they're a couple.

"Seb," Seb says. "Hi."

Jake glances at them both, before clearing his throat slightly.

"So," he says. "You good to go?"

"Uh, yeah," Seb says, reanimating. "I'll just..."

He trails off and goes back inside, quickly putting on his worn Converse sneakers and double-checking that he has his cell phone and keys with him, before exiting the room and closing the door behind him. Jake and Sophie are waiting patiently, and the three of them set off down the hallway and out through the building's front door.

This was a bad idea
. The thought grows stronger and stronger in Seb's head, the further away they get from the dorm.
A fucking terrible idea.

Why the hell did he agree to this? He doesn't like parties. Hell, he barely even likes
people
. So why is he currently on his way to a place where the two intersect in the most horrible way, with two strangers, no less? On his way to meet up with
another
stranger. Because that's what Evan is, really. They really don't know each other.

Jake and Sophie are easy to talk to, though. They are both really nice, and seem to be doing their best to make Seb feel at ease. They don't even ask how Seb knows Evan, which he's kind of grateful for. He's not even sure how he would have answered that, anyway.

Jake is studying to be a lawyer, Sophie is studying to be a nurse, and all the way to the dorm where the party is, Seb is content with listening to them talk about their respective courses and such. Especially considering that
writer
feels kind of tame in comparison to such ambitious and/or noble careers.

Eventually, they reach their destination, and if nothing else, they would have heard it from miles away. The entire building in front of them seems to be crawling with people, just like the lawn outside, and Seb swallows hard. What is he
doing
here?

It's when the sound of a loud whistle penetrates the rest of the noise that Jake turns around, and after a few moments of scanning the area with his eyes, he smiles and raises his hand in a wave. Seb follows his line of sight, and there he is; Evan. He's making his way toward them, and as soon as he reaches them, he smiles and pulls Jake into a hug.

"Jakey," he says, patting his much taller brother's back, before pulling away. Then he turns to Sophie, who smiles at him in the way family does with a particularly charming and obnoxious member. He kisses her on the cheek. "Hi, Sophie."

"Glad you could make it," she says with some sarcasm, but Evan just shrugs. And then he turns to Seb, who's just standing there, suddenly petrified. He saw Evan just a few hours ago, and they had beers together and talked and hung out, and Evan was so weirdly nice to him, simply because he
helped him out
. And here he is, and suddenly, Seb just wants to run away from all this anxiety and awkwardness. It is surreal.

"Hey, Seb," Evan says, grinning, but before Seb can respond, he has pulled him into a hug and patted him on the back. Seb is so surprised that he doesn't really know what to do, and he barely has time to hug him back before Evan pulls away.

"I was worried you might not show," Evan says, cocking his eyebrows pointedly, and Seb opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Then Evan just throws his arm over his shoulders and tugs him to his side.

"This guy," he says to Jake and Sophie, pointing at the very startled and uncomfortable Seb, "saved my ass. Twice."

"Well, not really," Seb mutters. "I mean, I―"

"Don't be modest, Seb," Evan says, before releasing him and stepping away. He starts moving toward the house, backwards, arms stretched wide. "Alright, I'm here. Let's do this."

The whole experience turns out to be about as unpleasant as Seb expected.

There are people
everywhere
, drunk people, noisy people, and they keep shoving and shouting, as Seb makes his way through the house. Jake and Sophie immediately spot someone they know and go off to talk to them, but Evan, surprisingly, sticks by Seb's side pretty much the whole time. He introduces him to people, gets him drinks, and is just generally nice to him. He's pretty much the only reason Seb hasn't left yet.

He actually likes Evan. He's a bit loud and boisterous, and yes, maybe a bit obnoxious, but he seems like a good guy. And Seb is glad to have made a new friend.

It's a few hours after they arrive that Seb emerges from the bathroom only to find that Evan has vanished. Jake and Sophie left a little while ago, already. He looks up and down the hall, which is, if possible, even more crowded than before, and sighs.

Great. Maybe Evan has finally gotten sick of him and his awkwardness and actually abandoned him. He supposes he can't blame him. Still, though, it makes him feel rather disappointed, and he tries not to think about it.

It's the sound of approaching voices that makes Seb look up again.

"Come on," some guy says, coming closer. "Why not?"

"Because I said so," comes the reply. It's a girl speaking, this time, and she's making her way past Seb, when she catches his eye. The eye-contact is brief, before she suddenly grabs him and kisses him on the mouth.

Seb doesn't even have time to react, doesn't even manage to widen his eyes in surprise, before the girl has pulled away again.

"There you are," she says, smiling. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

She gives Seb a pointed look that begs him to play along, but he can't muster a single word. She keeps talking, though, saving him the trouble.

"Would you mind telling this asshole that it's not okay to hit on your girlfriend?" she asks, nodding toward the guy that just stopped dead right next to them, but Seb still can't say anything. He doesn't have to, though, because the guy just shakes his head, giving up.

"Whatever," he mutters and walks away. And Seb relaxes as the girl exhales with relief, pulling her hands off of him.

"Sorry about that," she says. "I improvised."

Seb blinks. The girl is pretty, with long, auburn hair and big, blue eyes, and she smiles at his vacant expression.

"Hey, do I know you?" she says, and Seb frowns, racking his brain. Yes. He recognizes her. He has seen her at a couple of lectures, always sitting in the back of the hall.

"Maybe," he says. "I'm Seb."

Her face lights up as she remembers.

"Seb, right!" she says. "I knew I'd seen you before. I'm Clara."

Seb laughs nervously, seeing as how they have already crossed whatever personal space line that would normally be there.

"Hey," he says, and she smiles. She has a really nice smile.

"Well, nice meeting you," she says. "Thanks for the help. I'll see you around."

She gives him a small wave and walks off, leaving Seb just standing there, dumbstruck.

Well, that's new
. He doesn't have much time to think about it, though, before he hears a surprisingly familiar chuckle right next to him.

"Dude," Evan says, sounding impressed and drawing out the one syllable of the word. "Not bad."

Seb looks up at him, absently noticing how Evan is a couple of inches taller than him. He's smiling, making small crinkles appear at the corners of his eyes.

"I really didn't do anything," Seb says self-consciously, but Evan doesn't seem to care.

"Sure you didn't," he says, draping a heavy arm over Seb's shoulders. "Well, maybe you don't have to, with a face like yours."

Seb glances down, shocked to find that he's suddenly actually
blushing
.
Shit
. He doesn't blush. He never blushes. And if nothing else, shouldn't a kiss from a random girl make him blush harder than a compliment from Evan?

"Thanks?" he says, hesitance and sarcasm lacing the word, and Evan laughs.

"It's true, man," he says, and Seb looks up at him again, hoping the flush has faded from his face. Evan is wearing the sincere, open expression of a happy drunk. "Have you looked in the mirror?"

Seb really doesn't know how to respond to that. As far as he knows, he's average-looking, at best, and if nothing else, he wasn't aware that guys could say things like that to each other. And he really doesn't know what to make of the warm, fuzzy feeling he gets as Evan says it.

Evan just looks at him for a few moments, before shaking his head.

"I need some air," he practically slurs, his eyes suddenly a bit glazed over, and he removes his arm from Seb's shoulders.

Seb doesn't move for a second, as Evan brushes past him, but then he finds himself following him.

The house has a rather big yard, and it's crawling with people. A lot of them seem to have stripped down to their underwear, actually running through a sprinkler, laughing with drunk amusement. Seb supposes he can't really blame them; even though it's in the middle of the night by now, it's still pretty hot outside, and the sprinkler probably provides a nice way of cooling off. But still, it's borderline ridiculous.

He follows after the suddenly stumbling Evan as he makes his way past all the people, all the way to the corner of the yard, where Evan actually falls to his knees. And where he proceeds to throw up in the bushes.

Seb stops dead, unsure of how to act. He isn't used to this, he
really
isn't, and he suddenly feels kind of stupid for following Evan out here in the first place.

"Evan?" Seb turns around at the sound of girl's voice, and a lightly dressed, high-heeled blonde struts up to them. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

She doesn't even seem to notice Seb, who's standing right next to Evan, and Seb rolls his eyes, despite the whole situation. He can't help it; he's sarcastic and exasperated by nature. At least when it comes to people.