U.M. // H2OVanoss

Chapter 9

It was three days after Evan's latest breakdown, and the small group was hanging out in the library. He didn't voice his opinion on the location, but Evan was more than thankful to hang out in a quiet place since he was still trying to recover from what had happened.

"Alright bitches," Scott dug through his schoolbag. "Who needs a pen?"

Evan looked through his things briefly before sighing. "Me." He said, his voice quiet and deflated. Scott handed him a pen without a word. Evan took it with a small 'thanks' before going back to looking at nothing.

His friends had noticed his mood, but they didn't bring it up; they weren't that close yet and Craig didn't know if he was still mad at him.

John, who was sat next to Evan, was honestly getting sad just seeing how out of it Evan seemed. He gently nudged his elbow. "You okay?" He kept his voice low, not wanting to get the attention of the others who were deep in conversation.

Evan snapped out of his thoughts, turning to him. He tried to process his new friend's words for a few seconds, which resulted in him staring at him wordlessly before answering. "Yeah, sorry. I've just been having some trouble sleeping, nothing new."

"Oh." John answered, still feeling sad. Pretty boys like Evan shouldn't have those kind of problems. He wanted Evan to have a good life- even if John couldn't be the one to give it to him (he wasn't 100% sure Evan had a boyfriend, but he either way he didn't want to do anything that might make Evan uncomfortable, taking Craig's advice to heart since he had actually been friends with him). "Is it insomnia or something? They have clinics for that." He tried to be helpful, attempting to make small conversation.

Evan should his head, rubbing at one of his eyes. "I don't think so, it's only been a recent problem." Evan looked like he wanted to say more but he stopped himself before he could. John watched as it looked like Evan tried to plan out what to say in his head. "It's probably just the stress of going back to school after so long; it's finally getting to me."

"Why did you take a gap year in the first place?" Is what John wanted to say, but didn't.

"Don't stress out over it, Evan. Like you said, it's been a while, you need time to adjust. If you can't pick up on the routine again, don't worry about it, you will eventually." John determined that Evan's eyes were really pretty as he looked up at him once more, a soft smile on his lips.

"Thanks John. I really appreciate that."

Fuck, his smile was pretty, too.

———

"It's probably best if you move out." Her voice was firm as she looked at Tyler, carefully avoiding his gaze. "Your father and I have been talking about this since before you were released, we think it's for the best."

Tyler was dumbfounded. "But I'm your son." He said, the answer seeming so obvious. Why was he getting kicked out? Sure, maybe they didn't like him, no one really did, but kick him out?

He was family.

His mother pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep her composure. "Tyler, it's better for you if you find somewhere else to stay. You'll always be our son, nothing about that is changing, we still love you-"

"Bullshit." Tyler was honestly outraged. It had barely been a day since his release. A fucking day. Now, he was supposed to pull a place to live out of thin air? "If you loved me, you wouldn't be kicking me out like this."

"Tyler, I-"

His father interrupted. "Look, Tyler, me and your mother, well, we don't want you in the house right now. We're still trying to process everything that's happened-"

"You've had two years to process everything! I fucked up, I get it! But, you can't just throw me out like some unwanted animal!"

"I'm your father, don't speak to me like that. Trust me, we don't want to do this either, but it has to be done, so deal with it."

Tyler crumpled into the couch, trying to think of something to say to get out of this.

He had no where to go. No one would take him, because of his past.

"Then why even bring me home in the first place?" His voice was almost hollow; his last resort was to appeal to them by showing how broken he was. His parents were good people, they wouldn't leave their son when he was broken, would they?

Once again, his mother started talking again. "I wanted you to stay here, at first, but after seeing you today, after bringing you home and experiencing what it was like to have you back, I couldn't do it. Every time I thought how nice it would be to have you back, I kept thinking about why you weren't here, and what you did-"

"But, mom, I'm better now. I'm not gonna hurt anyone else. What I did was a mistake-"

"I read the report, Tyler. I read the report, the testimonies from your friends, and most importantly-" she paused, holding back a few tears, "I read your confession. Your final one, where you admitted to having an obsession, to being furious that he didn't love you, to breaking his heart just to satisfy your own desires. I read about everything you did to that boy, Tyler, and it wasn't some fucking mistake. It was deliberate assault."

Tyler looked at his mother, who still refused to meet his eyes. He would've reached for her hand, but he knew she would just flinch at his touch. "Mom, that's all over now. Really, I'm better."

"That's enough son. Your mother is clearly upset and we've made our point that our decision is final."

"But-"

"I will not have a rapist living in my house!" His mother snapped, bringing the room to complete silence.

Tyler never had someone call him that to his face before.