Dancing in September

Chapter 3

Evan is rocking back and forth, hyperventilating, sobbing uncontrollably, "My life is over! I'm doomed!"

"Shhhhhh." I whisper soothingly, "It's all gonna be okay." I honestly seriously doubt that everything is going to be okay, but I don't tell him that. That would just make him pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Shut up! How do you know?" He lets out in one interval between fits of sobbing.

I hate it when people ask me that. I'm not a psychic! I don't know that! I just say it to make you feel better, not because there's any evidence to support my claim. I sigh. "I don't know that everything is going to be okay, alright?"

That got him going. "Exactly. You have no idea how the situation you indirectly caused is gonna play out. Thanks." It's amazing how much sentence he can get in off so little air.

"This is not my-"

"Fault? Is that what you were gonna say? Cuz I fail to see how this is not your fault," he interrupts angrily.

"Well, if I hadn't punched him in the face he woulda leaked it anyway, so yeah, it is technically my fault but I didn't cause anything that wouldn't have happened anyway. I know you're upset that-"

The Apple text message noise plays on Evan's phone, "EVAN, UR GAY?!" The message reads.

He squeaks in stressed agony, "Why is Seth doing this?" He whines.

"Because he's a jerk. He wants to be popular so he'll sell out anyone to seem cool so he can be one of them."

His phone rings again, "Ev you like Baxter? Sure he's hot n'all but you're g*y???" They censored the word gay, probably because they think it's some sort of cuss word.

The text messages started to income faster until he was getting one at least every second. He was popular so he has a lot of people in his contacts - not to mention that people could ask someone else for his number. It's very possible that everyone - excluding me of course - texted him, all wondering the same thing. He was called a faggot repeatedly; some were on his side, some weren't.

Then my brother walked into the room. "So it's true then?" He says when he sees the sobbing mess that is Evan.

"Tristan, I need to talk to you elsewhere..." I say gently. My actions, however, are anything but gentle. I grab him by the shoulder, turn him, shove him out the door, and slap him across the face outside my room. "What were you thinking? Can't you see that he's going through a lot right now?!" I shout possibly loud enough for Evan to hear me anyway.

"Perhaps if you would've let me actually say something instead of ushering me out of the room the moment I opened my mouth," he says as he pushes past me. I try and follow him in, "No. You're staying out here for now."

I quickly text Evan. There's a good possibility that he turned his phone off or on Do Not Disturb but I still try. "Hey, I need you to call me and put the phone on speaker on the bed."

Almost immediately I get a call from him. I hear Tristan in the middle of a sentence, "...this is happening to you." I think he expected Evan to respond based off the pause; when he didn't respond, he kept going, "I know Seth. I knew he was a jerk and that he didn't care about hurting people but this is a new low. Even for him." Another pause. Perhaps Evan is nodding which I wouldn't be able to hear over the phone. Or hear at all really. What I do hear is a quiet sob. I wish he would let me come in. "Evan, I know it's hard, and I know it's scary but being upset isn't going to help anything. It's just time wasted." I suddenly understand why he didn't want me in there. He could tell him what he needed to hear. What he might not want to hear without the risk of losing a friendship.