Just Another Lie, Right? [Kleinsen]

•9•

Evan knocked on the Murphys door and was greeted by Zoe.

"Hey Evy!" She said, giving Evan a little kiss on the head. It would've been kinda cute if Evan didn't just tell me what he told me.

"Are you gonna acknowledge my existence?" I asked teasingly.

Zoe shook her head slowly. "Do I... know you?"

I gave her a thumbs up. "You do now!"

"Mom! Evan's here with some weird friend." Zoe called.

Mrs. Murphy came down and gave Evan a hug. "Hi Evan! How are you!" Her gaze turned to me. "Jared!" She gave me a hug, too. Her hugs were very tight, and left me feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Jared." Zoe repeated, her tone reflecting disgust.

"Come in, come in!" Mrs. Murphy said, leading us into the house.

I know I've been here before, but it still rattled me how big the house was. I wish my house was this big.

Mrs. Murphy led us into the dining room and sat us down at a rather big table. I was seated at the end of the table, beside Evan and Mr. Murphy. Evan was beside Zoe and Mrs. Murphy was at the other end of the table, facing me.

"The lasagna is in the oven right now." She said. She turned to Evan, "So, I heard that Jared was involved too?"

Evan swallowed and nodded. "He wasn't at the orchard the day Connor and I went, but yeah, he frequently came to Al A Mode with us."

I realized I had no idea what Al A Mode was. Maybe on the walk he should've caught me up with the stories.

But I knew it would be awkward if I didn't contribute to the conversation at all. "Yep." I said. "Of course, I was mainly a third wheel."

"You were not." Evan hissed. Of course I knew this was all pretend, but part of me felt like Evan genuinely wanted to say that.

"I mean you and Connor did most of the talking!" I said, my voice escalating.

"You could've still said something!" He responded, his voice escalating a little, too.

"I did! That doesn't mean you two cared!" I yelled. Even though this was partly a lie, I felt like I was spilling out stuff that's been held inside me for a while.

"How do you know?" He yelled.

"Because you barely ever talk to me now!" I shouted. Silence fell upon the table.

Zoe let out a small laugh, desperate to break the silence, "And I thought my parents fought about nothing."

"This isn't nothing." I heard Evan mumbled to Zoe.

"Well then." Said Mrs. Murphy.

"They don't really sound like friends..." Mumbled Mr. Murphy.

"It's been a while, I guess." I say, trying to rebuild the tone of the conversation.

"So Jared, how did you view Connor?" Mrs. Murphy asked, driving the subject away from Evan.

"He was an interesting kid." I said. "He had dark humor, but it always made us laugh, and that was the point of it. He showed us some books but kept claiming he didn't like them. Sometimes he'd start arguments," I laughed quietly, "a lot like the one Evan and I just had. In the end though, we'd all be crying and hugging each other."

An imagine of Connor, Evan, and I crying in a group hug almost made me sad that Connor was gone. Almost.

Evan nodded and smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. He has a cute smile.

"Maybe arguing just makes Jared and I remember the past." He said.

I don't know what he meant by that at first, but then I remembered we're lying.

The oven timer beeped and Mrs. Murphy got the lasagna out. She put some on some plates and handed them to us.

I dug in. Mrs. Murphy was a freaking awesome cook.

"Jared can you recall a specific moment with Connor. And Evan, of course." Mrs. Murphy said.

I nodded. "It was during sophomore year, I think." I started, knowing the mess I was about to dig myself in to.

"The three or us went to Ellison Park together. My mom drove us there and we had a picnic lunch near the pond. I remember a duck coming by and almost tearing half of Evan's sandwich up."

I looked at Evan, and he smiled. He remembers it too. Of course, Connor wasn't really there, but it really did happen. My mom wanted so desperately for Evan and I to get closer again, like we were at the beginning of middle school. She thought that if we were alone in the park for a day, we'd suddenly be best friends again. It didn't work, obviously, but I loved it. It was great.

"Connor couldn't stop laughing when the duck fell over. The sandwich was too much for it." I paused and smiled, trying to recall the rest of the day. "We went hiking. I didn't want to, but Evan insisted. He's always been big on trees. We even went on the steep trail, which was a mistake, by the way. Connor tripped three times, and I barely made it without passing out. Evan was fine, though."

Lies. I actually tripped 8 tines, falling flat on my face. And I did faint. Only for a few seconds, but still.

I continued, "Once we got to the top, we sat there and watched over the highway, counting the oddly colored cars we saw. I still remember how many there were. 19."

Evan nodded. He still remembered too.

"We climbed back down and went straight to the kids' area. Connor begged to go back. He didn't want to be that one tall kid in the kids' area, but we went anyway. We built a boss sand castle! All the kids were trying to outdo it. They couldn't. I'm surprised we didn't walk home bearing a blue ribbon!"

I sighed, reminiscing. I wish I did start hanging out with Evan more, like my mom wanted me to.

"My mom drove Connor home and dropped me off at Evan's. She had a business meeting the next day, so she had to leave late. I slept over there."

I beamed, indicating the story's end.

After dinner, Evan and I waved goodbye before you walking back home.

Evan tried to mimic my teasing tone when he said, "They think we were lovers!"

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Published: 6/16/19
Word Count: 1066