Soft (Kleinsen)

"Yep, Thanks To Me"

The next day after school, Evan followed Jared to his car. They were heading to Zoe's house, not one word was said during the ride. When they arrived, Evan felt his heart beat faster. His palms became sweaty and his breathing was heavy.

Both males opened the door and stepped out. They walked to the front step. Jared knocked on the door, his feet rocked back and forth. Larry Murphy opened the door and cracked a smile when he saw the boys.

"Come in, come in!" Mr. Murphy moved out of the way so they could come inside.

Inside, they saw Mrs. Murphy cooking. "Oh hello Evan!" She smiled. "Are you going to have dinner with us today?"

Evan glanced at Jared. "Um, actually, w-we just came to..talk."

The women scrunched up her eyebrows, looking concerned. "About what?"

Now, Jared stepped in. "My friend here, needs to tell you the truth."

"Connor and I.. weren't friends." The boy looked at the floor. His cheeks flooded with color. "We barely knew each other."

Cynthia's eyes watered. "No.. You were his best friend. He said it in the letter!"

"I wrote that letter," he stated. "Connor took it from me when we were in the computer lab."

Evan witnessed her cry and yell. She was in pain. Who wouldn't be? Finding out that your son didn't have any friends had to be the saddest thing.

The boys left, Evan was letting out hot tears. Jared felt bad for him. He drove him home.

"Hey Ev," whispered Jared. "If you want, I could stay with until you feel better.."

The male smiled through his tears and nodded. "Thank you."

He turned off his car and walked with him into his house.

It was a small place that his mom had rented out. The living room and kitchen were connected, two bedrooms were by the living room and one bathroom beside the kitchen. A strange arrangements, yes, but it was all they could afford.

"Do you want anything? Chips? A drink?" Asked Evan, wiping his tears away.

"I'm good," said Jared as he walked over to the couch and jumped on it.

Evan followed and turned on the television. He sat next to the other boy and flipped through channel.

At one point, Jared stopped him. "This is a really good movie," he had exclaimed. Evan had never seen it, but it was about a man who seemed to be insane and murdered people for no particular reason.

Evan fell asleep towards the end of the movie. He had unconsciously snuggled next to Jared.

The boy noticed this, he blushed at the closeness. He took off his glasses and placed them in a small table. He placed his arm around him. No homo though, he thought.

To his surprise, Evan was quite comfortable. So much that he found himself dozing off to sleep as well.

The next morning, Evan cracked open his eyes. His side felt warm and there was an arm hanging off his shoulder. He blinked and turned his head to see Jared asleep and holding him.

Embarrassed, Evan moved Jared's arm and stood up quickly. He checked the time. 7:38.

School had already started and his mom had gone to work. Evan shrugged it off. Maybe he wouldn't go to school today..

He went to his bedroom for some clothes and into the bathroom to take a shower.

Jared woke up a bit later. He groaned due to the lack of comfort. He found his glasses and put them on. After a few moments, he realized he was in Evan's house.

He heard the bathroom door open and then shut. Jared turned around to find Evan with a new blue shirt and grey sweatpants. His hair was midway between wet and dry. He looked refreshed.

"Good morning," Evan had greeted with a grin. He sounded awfully calm.

"Morning," Jared had murmured, although he was sure the other couldn't hear it.

Evan made his way into the kitchen, rufflng his own hair on the way. "What would you like for breakfast? Nothing too hard though, cereal, scrambled eggs, or we could go to the nearby deli for something."

Jared thought for a while only to settle on cereal. He made his way into the square table with only two chairs.

They sat across each other, eating in uncomfortable silence.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Jared glanced at Evan with concern. "After yesterday, how do you feel?"

He took a while to respond, trying to use the right words. "Kind of good.. It feels great not to lie about something that big. That would've been too much work to keep it up." Evan let a small smile paint onto his lips. "Thanks to you of course."

Jared chuckled, "Yep, thanks to me."