Just Stay (4 page)

Evan is still on his knees, palms to the ground, where he's holding himself up, and he doesn't answer the girl. Instead, he just shakes his head, in a way that Seb interprets as frustrated and tired. And he can't help himself.

"He's fine," he says, turning to the girl, who suddenly eyes him up and down as though he just appeared out of thin air. "He just needs some air, that's all."

The girl looks at him, as though a bit confused, then back at Evan, then back at Seb.

"Oh," she says. "Okay. Well, when he snaps out of it, give him this, would you?"

She hands Seb a small piece of paper, before smiling and walking away. Seb shakes his head as she struts off, before he looks down at the note she gave him.

Come see me. xoxo ―- Jenny.
There's a phone number written below the message, and Seb rolls his eyes again. Seriously.

Evan coughs loudly and Seb turns to him, quickly dropping into a crouch.

"You okay?" he asks, and Evan groans uncomfortably.

"Shit," he mumbles. "Better now."

"Great," Seb says, glancing at the note in his hand. "'Cause Jenny apparently wants you to come see her, reinforced by x's and o's."

Evan looks up then, his attention seized, and Seb holds out the note to him. Evan takes it, sits up properly and looks over at the house. Then he looks back at the note, clearly deliberating. It's obvious that he's itching to find this Jenny, and Seb feels the oddest, sinking sensation in his stomach at the thought of it. But then, to his surprise, Evan actually crumples up the note and tosses it away somewhere in the bushes. Seb raises his eyebrows.

"You're not gonna call her?" he asks, weirdly hopeful, and Evan shakes his head.

"Nah," he says, sounding drunk and exhausted. He looks around, and sighs. "I wanna go."

Seb frowns.

"Go?" he asks, and Evan groans again.

"Yeah," he says. "Where's Jake?"

"Uh," Seb replies, looking around, "I think he and Sophie left about half-an-hour ago."

Evan makes a face. He looks oddly displeased and tired, and Seb sighs heavily.

"Come on," he says, placing his hand on Evan's shoulder. "Let's go."

Evan looks up at him, oddly surprised.

"What?" he says, and Seb gets up from the ground, holding out his hand.

"I'll take you home," he says, and Evan looks at his hand for a moment, before taking it and pulling himself up. His hand is warm and calloused, and Seb grips it firmly until Evan is standing up properly. He's still swaying a bit, but Seb figures it's good enough, and lets go of him.

"You good?" he asks, and Evan nods lamely, before they both start making their way across the yard.

Along the way, several girls―
Jenny
included―try to get Evan's attention, but it's as though they're nothing more than annoying flies, and he barely even spares them a glance.

The girls, as well as a few other people, are visibly surprised at his lack of enthusiasm, but still let him and Seb pass them by, Seb feeling weirdly self-conscious. It seems that when he's with Evan, he attracts attention in a way he isn't used to; people generally don't even look twice at him, after all.

They make their way out of the house and across the front lawn, and soon enough, they're walking along the paved walkway that zigzags across the entire campus. Seb has his hands in his pockets, Evan half-stumbling along next to him. Seb hasn't had that much to drink, and is stone cold sober compared to Evan, so he can't help but watch Evan struggle to stay focused, as they walk.

Then, he realizes something.

"Hey," he says. "Where do you live?"

Evan exhales with a huff and looks around. It's dark, except for the streetlights that are evenly placed along the walkway.

"There," he says, half-pointing in a seemingly random direction, and Seb follows his gaze.

"I'm pretty sure that's a tree, Evan," he says, and Evan narrows his eyes.

"So it is," he says, and Seb sighs.

"I'm gonna need more to work with, here," he says, but Evan isn't being very cooperative. Instead, he almost falls over, and Seb catches him, placing one hand firmly against his chest and the other on his shoulder. He sighs. This isn't going very well. At this rate, Evan is just going to end up passed out on the ground somewhere.

Seb looks over at his own dorm building; it's pretty close by, and he supposes that it's better than leaving his new friend out here.

"Come on," he says, supporting Evan as they start walking again, towards his dorm, this time. "Let's get you inside."

Supporting him is a bit harder than he thought, because
damn
, this guy is heavy. He's all muscle, though, at least judging from the firmness of his chest, back and shoulders, where Seb has strategically placed his hands. He's trying not to find it too weird just how acutely he notices that.

The dorm building is surprisingly quiet when they enter it, and Seb supposes that everyone is either at that party, or asleep. Either way, he's annoyed at the fact that the elevator is still broken (he can't really remember the last time it was actually working), because it means they have to take the stairs―and practically dragging a drunk Evan up three flights is a challenge.

"Alright," Seb mutters to himself as they reach his room. "Here we go."

He manages to unlock and open the door rather smoothly, and help Evan inside, and after a brief look around the room, Evan's face actually lights up a bit.

"Hey, I know this place," he slurs, smiling weakly. "I've been here."

"Yeah," Seb says tiredly. "Safe house, remember?"

Evan snaps his fingers and points at him.

"Right," he says. "The one with the poster."

Seb frowns, before realizing that he's referring to his
The Raven
-poster. And then he frowns incredulously instead, because how the
hell
would Evan remember that? Especially considering the fact that he wasn't exactly sober that night, either.

"Yeah," Seb says, as he drops his keys onto his desk, Evan still leaning against him. "That's the one."

The door is closed now, leaving them in darkness, and in lack of anything else, Seb hauls Evan over to his bed, where he practically dumps him on top of the covers. He feels incredibly light as the weight is lifted off of him, and he flicks on the lamp on his bedside table. He sees Evan's face right next to it, resting against his pillows.

"Thanks, man," Evan mutters, and Seb just looks at him.

"It's fine," he says, making a move to leave, but is surprised to feel Evan grabbing his wrist. Seb looks down at it; the grip is surprisingly soft.

"No," Evan says, looking up at Seb, green eyes glazed over. "No one's ever looked after me like this. Thank you. I mean it."

Seb is taken aback by the sincere and utter honesty in his expression, and freezes for a moment, before nodding.

"You're welcome," he musters, and Evan smiles weakly and gives his wrist a gentle squeeze, before releasing it. Then he sighs deeply, happily, and closes his eyes.

For a moment, Seb just stands there, but then the distinct sound of soft snoring and heavy breathing comes from Evan, and he rolls his eyes. But then he looks back at him. And he actually smiles.

Chapter 4

Tell-tale heart

It's a combination of being poked in the arm repeatedly, and sunlight on his face, that wakes Seb up the next morning.

He shifts, annoyed at the poking, and he groans tiredly in protest. But the poking continues, and he raises his hand to swat away whatever it is, only to be startled by the sudden feel of a hand against his fingers. His eyes fly open and he looks to his right.

"Hey, man," Evan mumbles almost incoherently, slowly retrieving his hand. "You got any painkillers?"

Seb just stares at him for several seconds.
What the hell?

"Uh..." he says, before looking around, trying to get his bearings.

He's in his dorm room, but for some reason, Evan is lying in his bed, and Seb is slumped in the armchair nearby, right next to the nightstand. It's just close enough to the bed for Evan to reach him and poke him in the arm, so at least he knows what woke him up. And then it hits him.

Evan is in his bed.

"Dude," Evan says tiredly. "You okay?"

In his
bed
.

"Yeah," Seb says, clearing his throat.

Evan Matthews is
in his bed.

"I'm good," he continues. "Guess I'm just not really awake yet."

He exhales tiredly and rubs his eyes, before looking at the watch that's still on his wrist; it's just past eleven a.m.. He hasn't even changed clothes since last night. He vaguely remembers sitting down after Evan fell asleep, with the intention of getting up again five minutes later and get a glass of water or something. So much for that.

"Hey," Evan says, poking him in the arm again, and Seb looks at him.

"Don't poke me," he says with tired humor, and Evan quirks an equally tired smile.

"Why not?" he says, poking him again, this time prodding all over his arm. "How else am I supposed to get your attention?"

"Dude, I'm serious," Seb warns, but his growing smile says otherwise, and Evan keeps poking, until he hits a spot by Seb's ribs that makes him squirm.
Damn it
. He hopes Evan didn't notice, but he did.

"Oh," he says, eyebrows raised conspiringly. "Ticklish, are we?"

Seb doesn't have time to deny it, before Evan makes another experimental prod against his ribs and stomach, and Seb flinches again. Evan's face stretches in a triumphant grin.

"What do you know," he says, and suddenly, Seb is a flailing mess, trying to shield himself from Evan's persistent, tickling prods.

"No, no, no," he says, an involuntary laugh bubbling up in his throat, as he tries to shy away from the touch. "Seriously, stop it."

"I can't hear you," Evan says calmly, a smile on his face. "A painkiller might help."

Seb grabs Evan's hand and tries to pry it away, but it's pretty much hopeless.

"Alright," he says, relenting. "Fine!"

Evan pulls his hand away and raises it in a disarming gesture of surrender, while Seb finds himself frozen with his hands up defensively, in some hilarious imitation of a ninja.

"Just hang on a second," he says, unfreezing, his eyes narrowed and focused on Evan as he slowly gets up from the chair. He points at him. "No shenanigans."

Evan chuckles, his eyes hooded from sleep and exhaustion. And a monster of a hangover, most likely.

"Shenanigans?" he says. "Who says that?"

Seb shrugs, and Evan sighs.

"Fine," he says. "No
shenanigans.
"

Seb nods, satisfied, and makes his way over to the bathroom. He gets a painkiller from the cupboard and pours some water into a random glass he has standing there, before bringing it out to Evan. He has barely moved, happily sprawled all over Seb's bed.

My bed.

Seb swallows.

"Here you go," he says, setting the glass and the pill down on the bedside table. "Enjoy."

Evan puts the pill in his mouth and swallows it down with a big gulp of water. Then he closes his eyes and makes a pleased sound.

"Mmm," he hums. "Tastes like blackmail."

Seb scoffs, but can't help but smile, and Evan opens his eyes again and looks up at him. And he smiles right back.

"Thanks," he says, and Seb sits down in the armchair again.

"Don't mention it," he says, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He's vaguely reminded of how Evan thanked him last night. When he grabbed his wrist and looked at him like that, so sincere.

"No one's ever looked after me like this. Thank you. I mean it."

Shit
, Seb almost forgot about that for a moment. At the time, it didn't feel that weird. But now, in the light of day and lack of alcohol, he suddenly realizes how weird it actually was. He doesn't know Evan that well at all, but he has a feeling that it was out of character for him, all the same.

It makes him slightly uncomfortable. But he also can't help but remember how it felt when Evan squeezed his wrist gently like that, that tired, grateful smile on his face.

"Question," Evan says, and Seb looks at him. He's lying on his back now. "How did I get here?"

Seb is honestly surprised at the sudden, sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Evan doesn't remember. Well, of course he doesn't. He was way too drunk for that. Still, though; why does it bother Seb that he doesn't remember?

"Well," Seb says, not showing how he suddenly feels. "You got shitfaced, and it was either bring you here or leave you on the ground somewhere to sleep it off."

Evan looks at him then, surprised.

"Thanks," he says, before the surprised expression falters. Then he frowns a bit, thinking. "Why didn't you take me to my place?"

"Because you seemed to think you lived in a tree," Seb explains, earning an amused smile from Evan. "And I don't know where you actually do live."

"Oh," Evan says, glancing away, as though he hadn't considered that. Then he looks back at Seb. "You should come over sometime."

Seb notices how he actually clenches his fist then, but Evan doesn't seem to.

"I mean," Evan elaborates, "I've been here twice, already. Seems fair."

Seb nods slowly.

"Yeah," he says. "Sure."

Neither of them says anything for a few moments, they just look at each other, and Seb feels oddly frozen. It's like he can't look away, like Evan's eyes are keeping him in place. Keeping him anchored.

The stare is broken, though, when Evan clears his throat and sits up heavily. He flinches, as though someone just hit him in the head.

"Fuck, this hangover's gonna kill me," he mutters, and Seb looks at him as he squeezes his eyes shut.

"You'll be fine," he says, surprised to hear that his own voice is devoid of any sarcasm or awkwardness, and Evan looks over at him. He looks like he's about to say something, but instead, he just smiles. Then he gets up and makes his way over to the bathroom, locking the door behind him as he enters. And Seb exhales slowly, as though relaxing from a kind of tension he wasn't aware of. He can't imagine why.