I Missed You- Kleinsen (deh)

Evan

A/N the chapter name is the POV cuz I'm lazy

Edit: that moment when you're writing the last chapter and you realize there was a typo the first goddamned paragraph u g h

Why does America have to be so stupidly prideful about America? Every year when the Fourth of July rolls around everyone's covered from head to toe in full American flags and spending all their money on fireworks. And that's exactly why I hate this holiday. Fireworks, in general, give me loads of anxiety, from the sound they make to the drunk assholes lighting them. I swear someone's going to get their face blown off from trying to light a firework through their nose or something. Yet here I am, in the passenger seat of moms car on our way to a Fourth of July party.

I plan on just hiding in a corner by myself for the whole night, firework show included. I don't doubt that I'll end up locking myself in the bathroom so I won't have to be surrounded by people.

"Now you better not plan on hiding in a corner or locking yourself in the bathroom the whole night." Damnnit "These are my friends, you've met most of them before. I want you to engage in some social interaction tonight."

"Just because I've met them before doesn't mean I'll have the confidence to actually talk to them long enough for a whole conversation," I say back, nervously messing with the seem of my shirt.

"Oh come on. You talk to random people all the time at work. At least you know these people."

"Mom I work at Pottery Barn that's different."

"Whatever," She rolls her eyes. "Hey, Jared's going to be there. You'll have him to talk to." I look up from my shirt seem.

"You know what happened with Jared. We haven't talked since we got in that fight- like a year ago. He'll probably ignore the fact that I'm even there." The only person I've managed to make up with from the Connor Project bull shit was Zoe. Which was a miracle in itself, I lied about so many things. I wish I would have told the Murphy's the truth right there in the principal's office when it all started. But of course, I didn't. I just agreed to go to dinner with them, making them think everything they thought about the note was true. Why do I have to be so stupid?

"Evan, listen," Mom says, breaking me out of my trance. "You have the whole day to make up with him. If you and Zoe could make up through a short visit to that orchard, you can manage to talk to Jared by the end of the night."

"What if he doesn't want to be friends again? What if he's still mad at me?" I ask. It's been so long, perhaps he made a lot of new, better friends and completely pushed me away from his mind. Just ignoring each other's existence would probably be easier for both of us.

"It's been around a year! That boy has had plenty of time to get over what you did. If he doesn't want to make up with you, then he isn't worth it. Besides, it's not going to happen. Trust me, I may not know Jared as much as you do, but I do know him well enough to know that it will all end smoothly. Okay?" She grabbed my hand and smiled. I smiled back.

"Okay."

~Time skip brought to you by Mike Faist's gorgeous hair~

We arrived at Mom's friend's house and I instantly regretted coming. There were so many people out in the back, some people were talking and eating on the porch, some were playing around in the yard, and others were splashing around in the pool. Too much people. Too many noises.

"Heidi! Evan! Good to see you!" The owner of the house greeted when we walked through the gate. His name was Matt, I remember him from all the other times Mom has brought me over here. He was really the only person that tried to talk to me besides saying hi like everyone else. I don't know if it was just because he was the host of the parties and that was kind of his job, or that he actually cared enough, but either way, it still made me feel better. He hugged mom and held out his hand for me to shake. It took it, hoping that my hands weren't sweaty and that my handshake was firm enough. If it wasn't, he didn't seem to mind as he held on a little longer and gave me a big, warm smile. "Haven't seen you in a while, I'm glad to have you back over."