Spotlights

Stars in Our Eyes

"Michael Mell, I swear to god if you throw one more fucking turtle shell at me-" Evan started, sinking back in his seat. The two boys sat on Evan's couch, focusing intently on the glowing screen before them. He groaned as he lost once again to the boy sitting next to him. He'd been a fool to challenge Michael in this game. 

Not to mention Evan possessed zero hand eye coordination, so video games weren't exactly a frequent activity of his. He looked over to see the boy in the red hoodie smiling up at the ceiling, somewhere off in his own world. Michael began quietly humming a tune to a song, one Evan didn't recognize. He envied Michal's ability to be so calm all the time. Seeming to go on without a care in the world except  7/11 slushies, kicking ass in Apocalypses of the Damned, and Jeremy.  

Oblivious to Evan's thought process, Michael groaned, stretching his limbs before rising from the couch. 

"So when's your date supposed to get here?" he asked, and Evan glanced over to the clock. When he saw the time, all the anxiety and nervousness that had temporarily disappeared in Michael's presence came back in waves, and Evan let out a weak smile as he mumbled out, "Right now." 

As if on queue, there was a gentle knock at the door. Connor was here and Evan wanted to bury himself in a hole and never come out, but he also wanted to dance and sing. Mixed feelings of fear and unending giddiness flooded through him, debating whether he should run to the door or escape to his room. In the end, Evan did neither. He simply stood in the middle of the room. 

"You want me to get that?" Michael asked, motioning to the door. Evan shook his head, simultaneously bringing himself out of his daze. 

"N-no, I need to do this. I want to do this." he said, and took a deep breath before walking over to the door. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, Evan could feel his body moving through the air, and as he took a shaky breath and held firmly onto the cool, brass metal of the doorknob, everything just... went away. 

Every feeling of anxiety, every thought in his head screaming at him that he was not good enough for Connor, was gone. The entire room faded away until all that was left was the door in front of him. The door to something new, something exciting, something wonderful. And on the other side of that door, stood the person who would give it all to him. 

Without a second thought, Evan turned the knob and opened the door, a smile immediately gracing his face at the sight of Connor standing there, hands in his pockets and face flushed from the lingering cold. 

"H-hey." Evan breathed out, his gaze not leaving Connor's. 

"Hey." 

The taller boy let the smallest smirk onto his face, and throughout their short exchange of only two words, thousands of others passed between them, none needing to be spoken. Connor was the first to break the stare, moving his eyes up and down Evan's body, causing the boy to blush madly. 

"Well, at least I'm not the only one underdressed." Connor said, smiling before leaning against the side of the door. He was underdressed, sure, but Connor looked nothing short of amazing. Evan opened his mouth to tell him so, but was cut off by a voice coming from behind him. 

"Ah, so this is Connor." Michael said, coming up and rustling Evan's hair, "You did good, Ev. You did good." 

Connor's eyes flicked to Michael, a scowl marking his beautiful face as his eyes darkened. 

"Who's this?" he asked, and Evan realized the emotion in Connor's eyes was not anger but jealousy.   

"O-oh! Um, Michael. He's a f-family friend. More specifically my mom's boyfriend's son's best friend." Evan winced at the explanation, thinking it sounded like a terribly made up excuse. He was about to make the stupid decision to keep talking when Michael saved him.