Back In Time

Chapter 8

"His parents think you were lovers. You realize that, right?" Zoe asked, smirking as she looked at Evan on her computer screen.

Evan sighed, glancing back at her. "Wh-what? Why would they think that?"

Zoe laughed. "Uh, you were best friends, but he wouldn't let you talk to him at school? And when you did, he kicked your ass? That's like- the exact formula for secret gay high school lovers."

"That's disgusting," Jared said, rolling his eyes.

Connor chuckled. "Yeah, it's gross the first couple of times you hear it. You start getting used to it."

"You got used to it?" Jared asked, glaring at him.

"I mean, yea?"

"Oh my god!" Evan yelled, accidentally saying that out loud, but I guess it fit as a response to what Zoe said as well.

"What did you do? Just start talking and never stop? Like always?" Zoe questioned, crossing her arms.

"I tried to stop!" Evan started. "But I got nervous, and I couldn't stop talking, and they didn't want me to stop, so I felt bad if I did!"

Zoe just sighed. "So what else did you completely fuck up?"

"Nothing, seriously." Evan stopped, pretending to consider something even though he already knew he'd mention it. "I mean... I told them we wrote emails."

"Emails."

"Yeah, I told them that Jared and I- well, Jared had a secret email account," Evan said, picking at his cast since he was still pretty nervous to admit that to Zoe.

"Oh, right. One of those secret email accounts, yeah. For sending pictures of your penises to each other!" Zoe yelled, causing Connor to sigh.

"Was original-Jared that pushy with it?"

"Wait, in your timeline Jared is Zoe?" Jared asked, his eyes widening with shock.

Yeah, he was that pushy. And yes, Jared, Jared is Zoe.

"Well geez, fuck you too, universe," Jared mumbled.

"I said that earlier," Connor whispered.

Jared just rolled his eyes. "Great."

Evan just coughed into his elbow before continuing. "Yeah, so I said he had this secret account, and we would send emails to each other."

"I mean, honestly? Could you be any worse at this?" Zoe asked, obviously disappointed in Evan's response.

"They're going to want to see our emails," Evan said, less shocked this time than last. It was more of a statement, like he knew all along.

"No duh," Zoe replied, glaring at him.

"What am I going to do?" Evan asked, pretending like he didn't already know Zoe would offer.

"I can do emails." And cue her response.

"How?"

"It's easy." Zoe smirked. "You make up an account, backdate the emails... there's a reason I was the only CIT with key card access to the computer cluster this summer. I have skills."

"You would do that?"

Zoe scoffed. "For two grand."

"Two thousand dollars?!" Evan yelled.

"Five hundred."

Evan sighed. "I can give you twenty."

"Fine." Zoe rolled her eyes. "But you're a dick."

Larry walked into the room right after, causing Evan to immediately shut his computer. Larry just smiled, holding a stack of papers. "Hey, sport. I have some very exciting news. Look what I found online today! College scholarship essay contests. Have you heard of these?"

"I remember the first day I woke up after I died- I saw Heidi printing all those out. I never understood why she did it," Connor shrugged.

Jared glanced over at Connor with confusion. "Heidi? Why was Heidi..."

We'll talk about it later, Jared.

"I think so," Evan said, looking up at Larry.

"There's millions of these you can do! I spent my entire lunch break researching these for you. Some for three thousand, some for five thousand..."

Evan nodded a bit hesitantly, still a bit thrown off that Larry was indeed his father right now. It didn't settle well.

It didn't settle well at all.

"Wow."

"College is going to be great for you," Larry rested his hand on Evan's shoulder. "How many times in life do you just get to... start over again?"

Connor couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my god, you have to deal with physical contact now?"

Jared shook his head. "That sounds so fucking wrong, Connor."

Connor just rolled his eyes.

"No, I- I know," Evan replied.

Larry took his hand off of Evan, backing up a bit. "You've got... so many wonderful things lying ahead of you, Evan. Once high school is over, you're going to do great in college. Really." He sighed a little. "I just... thought these were a neat idea."

"No no, they are, uh. For sure," Evan said, smiling a bit.

"You've always been an amazing writer." Larry smiled back at him. "And you're going to need all the help you can get for college."

Larry sighed a little, sitting down in a nearby chair. "Look, I uh. Got an email today, about a kid from your school who killed himself?"

Jared frowned. "Oh, great. I'm a celebrity."

"Jared Kleinman?" Larry asked, looking over at Evan. "I had no idea."

"Oh, yeah, well, I didn't really know him," Evan shrugged, glancing back at him, picking with his cast a little.

"You know... that if you ever need something I'm here for you, right? I know it might seem like I'm always busy with work or class, but..."

"It's fine," Evan sighed, really wanting this conversation to get over with. It was so hard to accept a talk like this from Larry of all people.

"Well, I'm here. And if I'm not here, I'm just a text or a phone call away," Larry said.

"Thanks."

Larry looked around for a bit, and after a few moments of silence, he caught onto something. "It says 'Jared.'"

"Oh, yeah, no-"

Larry frowned. "You said you didn't know him."

"No, no I didn't! This is just..." Evan shook his head. "This is a different Jared."

"Wonderful cover up, Evan. Watch him look up all the Jared's in your school, and find out that Kleinman is the only one there," Connor said, rolling his eyes.

Connor, Larry's not a lawyer anymore. He doesn't have the time to do that.

"But Cynthia's a lawyer?" Jared replied, more as in a question because he was kind of confused.

Connor shrugged. "We'll explain the parent shit later."

"Oh, thank god. I was so worried," Larry sighed, standing up from his seat. "Hey, why not I bag my shift on Tuesday and have a Taco Tuesday? We could start brainstorming those essay questions together."

"That would be great," Evan said, faking a smile because he already knew Larry would forget.

"Well... I'll see you later. Love you," Larry said, walking over to the door.

"Oh shit," Connor mumbled.

"Love you too," Evan whispered, and the second Larry left the room, he felt like he was going to puke. "Is it my turn to say 'fuck you too, universe?'"

Connor nodded. "Looks like it."