Darkness in the Neon Lights (H2OVanoss)

Chapter 10

Frustrated with myself, I throw myself onto my couch and groan loudly, "Why do I suck so much?!"

"Evan, I'm not going to tell you this again," Ohm says as he walks over to me. "Stop saying you suck; you don't suck."

"Though you might want to change that by the time you get a boyfriend," Smitty  laughs, causing Ohm to turn to him and yell at him.

I simply groan again, wanting to bash my head against the wall with how annoyed I am with myself.

"Come on, Evan. I know it's frustrating-"

"It's not just that," I say, pushing myself up and turning off the music, which had been playing in the background. "Yeah, I'm annoyed that I can't even get pass the start of giving Smitty a fucking lap dance, but I'm still pissed about this," I say as I lift up my shirt, showing the now purple bruise on my hip. "I'm such an idiot for not paying better attention to those guys at the party. And now, I can't even go to work until it's healed."

"It's not your fault, Evan. Everyone gets grabbed at the club."

"Yeah," Smitty jumps in. "Even I've had a couple guys try to reach over to grab my ass while I was getting someone a drink. It happens."

"But no one else has a bruise on them."

"That doesn't mean it hasn't happened in the past. I can't tell you how many times I've been grabbed so hard that I've been bruised on my arms, legs, and waist. It happens, Evan. It's nothing to be upset over."

I sigh and rub my hands over my face. "Well why do I feel like I'm being punished for this."

"It's not a punishment, Evan. You're just getting some time off. Something that you honestly needed before this happened."

"And it's only until you heal. It's okay to kick back and relax for a week or whatever," Smitty adds in.

"He's right, Evan," Ohm says as he now sits next to me and starts rubbing my back. "Besides, you know you can use this time to, I don't know, look into going to school online like we talked about."

I roll my eyes and push Ohm off of me. Over the past couple of months, he's been trying to talk me into taking online classes so I could finish up high school. Something that hasn't really sparked any interest for me, but, like Brock, he won't drop it.

"I just want to work," I say, annoyed by the mention of going back to high school. Something that before, everyone told me I didn't need to do.

"I'm just saying, it's an option. I went back to high school after Panda started helping me out, and it could give you more to do when you aren't working or doing this."

"But I would much rather practice this than go back to school. I have a better future with this, and you guys told me before that I didn't need to go back to school to do this."

Ohm opens his mouth to say something, but I quickly turn the music back on and jump in front of Smitty. "Look, let's just drop this and get back to practice."

He then sighs and stands up. "Alright. From the to-" before he can finish his sentence, my phone starts ringing.

A bit confused, I walk over to my stereo, pull my phone off of the aux cord, and check to see who's calling me. My eyes widen when I see Jonathan's name on my screen. I forgot he was going to call me today!

Putting my phone behind my back, I start walking towards my bedroom as I smile to Ohm and Smitty. "I've- uh- got to take this. Give me a minute," I then quickly say before I rush into my room and lock the door.

I then answer the call and bring my phone up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey; did I catch you at a bad time?"