𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 - A Dear Evan Hansen Fanfiction

Chapter Two - Interview

That taxi ride had to have been the worst car ride Evan had ever been on. The service was great, meaning the driver didn't speak to him the entire ride, and he played music that was tolerable to the human ear. No girls were moaning into the radio and no men were rapping about only three things; weed, sex and being toxic boyfriends to their girlfriends.

What was bad was the anxiety that coursed its way through Evan's body with each pump of his racing heart as he watched Connor from out of the tinted window. He looked in awful condition, even from afar. His black jacket looked like it swallowed his skinny, frail body whole and his skin was pale as the moonlight. Watching him walk off without any knowledge of Evan's plan made him want to roll down the window and scream, begging for him to keep himself safe while he wasn't nearby.

But obviously that wasn't an option. Doing such an action would have revealed his intentions and definitely confused Connor, and he didn't need any more stress than he had already.

Question was, what was Connor doing here? He was known to be a local Youtuber in a different town, and now here he was in Denver. How did he get here without someone recognizing him from the news and calling animal control on him to be funny? People were getting more and more ruthless and desperate to cause attention to anything they could. Nobody was surprised when someone would storm into a previously calm, peaceful restaurant, phone pointing at innocent people demanding a manager for an unknown reason.

So it wouldn't exactly come as a surprise if someone took Connor's weakness and changed it into something about themselves. Famous influencers film giving the homeless these magical presents, but for what? For views and likes, and comments that tell them what they want to hear.

"You're such a good person for giving that homeless man a Tesla and his own mansion!"

It's all for views, all of it. Nobody was real anymore.

The vent going on in Evan's head was rudely interrupted by the realization that the buildings out the window had stopped moving, and he was back at his college dorm building. "Oh." He sat up, climbing out of the car and handing the money to the driver through the window. "Thank you, sir!" He smiled, rushing into the building and checking himself in.

After stumbling past countless couples in the hallway, Evan finally barged through the doorway to the dorm, panting breathlessly. "Jared? Jare?" He called out, shutting the door and taking his shoes off.

Jared came running down the hallway, a shirt halfway on his shoulders. "Yeah? I'm here! What's going on?" He stopped in front of Evan, doing a quick up and down look to see if he was injured. "Are you okay? What happened?" He asked, sincerity and worry in his eyes.

"You won't believe what just happened to me." Evan said, putting his hands on Jared's shoulders, his hands shaking against the fabric. His eyes were wide and his pupils shook from how fast he was examining Jared's expression.

"What? What is it, tell me!" Jared demanded, wanting to know why his friend was in such a panic.

"I just saw Connor in front of my coffee shop. He was- he was really skinny and seemed like he was in a hurry when I talked to him, and-"

"Wait," Jared interrupted, sticking a finger up to pause Evan's ramble. "You saw and spoke to Connor Murphy, the man we just so happened to see on the news less than 48 hours ago?"

Evan gulped and nodded. "I wanted to see if he was just- okay! I mean, after seeing- he looked so alone and- I panicked!" His hands were moving just as fast as his mouth was. The substantial difference between the two were that his hands moved smoothly, unlike his mouth, that stuttered endlessly like a broken highschool faucet.