Chapter Text
Currently, Evan was stuck in the back seat of his mother's beat up minivan.
They were headed for a two-week long camping trip; they being Evan, his mother, and Jared who was sitting glamorously in the front seat. Although Connor, Zoe, and Alana were all going to be there. The expenses were paid by Cynthia, which actually allowed Evan to go.
"Hey hun?" Heidi spoke up, glancing at the mirror.
Evan looked up, turning his phone down and sat it on the seat. "Ye- Yeah?"
"Jared's trying to talk to you," she muttered.
"Oh." He turned his attention to Jared, who was gripping the seat and looking backwards.
"Alana just texted me, she says they're almost there." He showed his phone, showing a few texts between the two. Evan couldn't make out much of any, but he could recognize his and Connor's name in a few messages.
"Huh? But wasn't she going with her folks? They go every year, right?"
Jared shrugged dismissively. "She said like her mom got sick or something so she couldn't go."
"Oh that's not good!" Heidi gasped. "Is she okay?"
Jared looked over his Heidi, waving his hand. "Yeah yeah she's fine, I mean Alana's still goin'."
Heidi hummed, "Well alright. Maybe I should send her something."
"Uh, no, no mom, it's fine," Evan spoke up. "Waiy you never answered my question; she's riding with Zoe and Connor?" He stared at Jared.
Jared stayed silent for a moment, simply staring back at Evan. His face was blank, emotionless, almost mockingly so. "Yes."
Evan nodded, "Yeah okay thanks." He faked a smile.
"Kids, we're about ten minutes away," Heidi reported.
"Thanks Mrs. Hansen." Jared drew out his words, putting on a wide, smug grin.
Heidi laughed, playfully taking a hand off the wheel and swatting at the boy next to her. "Don't ever call me that!"
"Okay," Jared sighed, a smile still on his face.
"Yeah Jared, that felt weird," Evan chuckled.
"Hey, you know what else is weird? The fact that you and Connor have just gotten so close recently but claim there's nothing going on! Huh! Who would've thought!"
"Shut up, Jared!" Evan huffed, his face definitely turning bright red. "'Cause there isn't anything going on!"
"Yeah sure but you really wish there was, huh?" Jared raised his eyebrows with a smug, stupid grin.
"No!"
Heidi glanced in the mirror. "Kids! No fighting in the car!" She took a small look at Jared before looking back at the road. "And sit in your seat." She lightly hit his shoulder, forcing him forwards.
He rolled his eyes, but didn't complain.
Evan pulled out his phone, turning it up. Of course, it didn't turn on. It had died about 20 minutes ago, but he didn't want to bother his mother— who was using the phone charger— and take it.
Suddenly, Jared threw his own phone onto Evan's lap. Startled, Evan jumped, dropping his phone. It did safely fall onto the ground, but still fear clouded his mind. He didn't want it to be scratched!
"Hey, lover boy is mad at you," Jared said dismissively, not even looking back at Evan.
Glancing down, he noticed Connor's contact was pulled up. There were a few messages, mainly Connor being the one to type though.
He read through those he could see. Connor was asking Jared why Evan wasn't responding, and Jared was bullying him for it.
He began to type.
Jared: Hey this is evan
Connor: Hi evan
Connor: Why wrent you responding
Connor: :(
Jared: Im sorry my phone died
Connor: I thoight so
Connor: How far away are you
Jared: I think like 5
Connor: Oh alright
Connor: Excuted to see you <3
Evan looked down at the screen. He shook his head, putting away his thoughts. Connor was just in a happy mood, the heart didn't mean anything. He knew better than to assume. He knew better than to think of the best timeline when he could be living in the worst.
Jared: Yep!
He hesitated for a moment before typing again.
Jared: <3
"You done smiling at my phone? I want it back." Jared waved his hand blindly at the backseat, trying to grab his phone.
Wordlessly, Evan handed Jared his phone.
But once Jared saw their texts, he audibly gagged and groaned. "Dude you guys, hearts? Fuck, get a room!"
"Oh come on Jared! Quit it!"
"Me? I'm not the one sending love confessions on my friend's phone!"
He could tell Heidi's attention was caught at the last sentence.
"Evan?" she asked, amused.
"It's nothing, mom." He stared down, his face flushing as embarrassment washed over him. "Jared's just..." he didn't finish his thought, so Jared took it upon himself to.
"Telling the truth," he sang out, finishing Evan's sentence, although it wasn't anything Evan was thinking of saying.
"That's not what I was going to say!"
"Oh, be quiet, man." Jared barked out a laugh, his smile wide.
Evan stared out the window, trying to ignore Jared. Instead thinking about the future, the near future. For maybe the first time in a long time, he was excited to do something— well, something that wasn’t hiding in his room and getting out of something. Maybe it was all because Connor was going to be there, maybe it all got better when he was around Connor. But he knew that if he told Jared, he’d take it further than Evan intended and probably buy Evan a ring to propose to Connor. And he was fine keeping it to himself, it was kinda embarrassing after all.
He wondered if Connor felt the same, excited to be here because of Evan. Oh but that was silly, Evan didn’t mean that much to him. After all, Evan was probably annoying.
He was to everyone else, and Connor would be no different.
He'd learned early on that loving someone was a silly fate. Jared made sure any crush he had was properly clowned on. Whether it was with a boy from their 3rd grade class, or a random girl he knew, or Connor Murphy. Especially if it was Connor Murphy.
“Oh, deer!” Heidi suddenly yelped, snapping him out of his head.
Looking up, he saw a deer and her fawn running into the woods, probably having just crossed the road.
“Hey, Heidi?” Jared spoke up, a smile creeping on his face.
Evan knew he was going to say something that would not become a fun conversation. After all, it all became that if you talk to Jared.
“Yeah, hun?” She spares a glance in his direction.
“Are you supportive of gay people?”
Evan did not expect that, to say the least. But it honestly wasn't the worst thing he's said to his mother.
“Uh, of course?”
“Oh well what if Evan brought a boy home?” Jared smiled at her, batting his eyelashes. “Just curious.” He looked up at her expectedly.
Heidi took a look in the mirror, chuckling at Evan's very startled expression. “Of course, he's always welcome to have people over.” She smiled politely.
“What if his name rhymed with Jonnor Jurphy?” A wicked smile fell onto Jared's face.
Evan's gaze floated from straight ahead, slowly going right and staring daggers at Jared's head. What is he doing? Oh well that's obvious, but why? Why now? When did this seem necessary?
“Um,” she laughed. “Well, of course! I don't discriminate.” Evan felt she even threw in a wink, but he couldn't tell.
“Mom, don't fuel him,” he muttered, internally cringing at the entire situation.
Jared scoffed. “Shut up, gay boy. We got all we need from you.” He dismissably waved his hand.
It was strange, honestly. Yes, Jared did bully Evan about his tiny crush on Connor. It wasn't like Evan was writing full love letters to Connor confessing his never dying love. But Jared seemed to think that was how it was. He was convinced there was something going on. Something he didn't know yet.
But this was a little excessive. This was probably nearly the seventh time he'd said Evan liked Connor in just that hour. And for a nearly three hour car ride, Evan was confident that his mother thought the two were dating.
He wondered if that was ever the case for Connor too. If Zoe would ever bully him about Evan. Although it wouldn't be the same, obviously, Connor didn't like Evan. But would Zoe still joke?
He thought back to when he met Connor's parents, the first out of three times he's met them.
It was after school, just about two months after they first became friends. That was also the first time he actually met Zoe. He remembered seeing the giant house for the first time. How it felt like he was meeting royalty, but really it was just the Murphys. Although it was very intimidating like meeting royalty because, well, they were Connor's family! What if he messed it up? Said something wrong? Would he talk too much? Or too little? What if they thought he was weird? What if he creeped them out?
But it ended fine. Dinner went well, and he went home after dark. Surprisingly, Connor wasn't a horrible night driver. Although the bar wasn't that high, he wasn't all that good of a driver anyways. But they didn't hit anything— or anyone— so he called it a success.
“Hey, quit daydreaming about your boyfriend, we're here,” Jared snapped, throwing him out of his head.
Evan looked up, seeing they had stopped.
Heidi was already out of the car, walking to the back and opening the trunk.
He glanced around, taking in the situation. He could see just outside sat the cabins, three placed not too far apart. There was a lake just beyond some trees, and a giant center where it was cleared out with a fire pit.
He opened the door, stepping out. But as he looked up from the ground, his eyes met another.
“Hey Evan!” Connor grinned, walking over to him.
Under the sun, Connor's hair looked angelic. Sure maybe he was exaggerating it, but it was practically glowing.
He wasn't going to last a day.