These Broken Parts

The Talk

Connor and Evan sat silently at lunch the next day, both feeling too embarrassed to speak.

"Lovers quarrel?" Jared asked, plopping his tray down and sitting.

Connor and Evan glanced at each other, then away.

"Okay, but seriously..?" Jared looked from one to the other.

"It's..." Evan cleared his throat. "No, not fighting. Just..." He blushed bright red.

"Dudes..." Jared actually looked concerned, glancing from one boy to the other.

Connor exchanged a look with Evan, shrugged, and went back to playing with his food.

"W-well.." Evan began, quickly filling Jared in on the night before. When he was done, Jared stared at them in stunned silence.

"You made him hide in the CLOSET? Oh my god," Jared finally said, whooping with laughter.

"It's not funny! It.. it was..." Evan blushed deeper, burying his face in his hands.

Jared wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "It was definitely funny. Oh man," he chuckled.

Connor glared at him, ready to smack him.

"Let's go, Ev," Connor said, standing abruptly. "I can't do this today."

Evan nodded in agreement, and followed Connor, Jared's laughter following them out. They snuck out of the school building and made their way to the orchard. Connor sat against their tree, Evan lying with his head in Connor's lap. Connor lit a joint, blowing the smoke up and away from Evan.

"You know my mom's gonna kill me if she finds out I skipped school, on top of everything else.." Evan said with a sigh. "But I couldn't stand to be there anymore, either.

Connor grabbed Evan's hand, squeezing. "Just tell her you had a panic attack, she won't bug out then."

"Probably not." Evan fell silent for a while, then glanced up at Connor. "You know, her catching us aside, last night was... amazing."

Connor smiled down at Evan, bringing the hand he was holding to his lips and kissing it. He took another drag from his joint, then leaned back and closed his eyes.

~*~*~

When Evan got home, Heidi was sitting on the couch, staring stony faced at the door. Shit, the school must have called her... He approached cautiously, fingers nervously playing with the hem of his shirt.

"Hi...?"

Heidi didn't say a word, just beckoned him to come closer.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

He'd never heard his mom sound so deadly calm...

"I-I... don't think so?" His voice was too high, too nervous. How could she know? How could the school have called her so quickly?

Heidi pursed her lips. She held her hand out to her son, palm up. A condom wrapper.

"Really?"

Evan felt his entire face heat up. "Y-you went in m-my room..?"

"I went to get your laundry. Don't make me the bad guy here. I asked you if we needed to have this conversation when I caught you and Connor outside a few weeks ago. You said no. Last night, you told me nothing happened, just kissing."

Evan slowly sank into the chair across from his mother. "I-I-I-"

Heidi held a hand up. "I get it, Evan, you're a teenager. I was a teenager once, too, you know. I know how awkward this is. I just wish... Well, at least you were safe."