Nowhere Else I'd Rather Be • Tree Bros

Fill In

Evan was back on the bus, making it to school. He was wringing his wrist, thinking through his routine. He ran his fingers through his hair with one hand and while biting his nails on the other.

He sat there, watching the shoes of the people who walked in at every bus stop. There was chatter and laughs that clouded his mind as he tried to think. What would people say now that he had a large CONNOR written over his arm? It's not like either of them had the best reputation, Connor especially.

Surely people would avoid him.

He brought a hand down to his lap, tapping it rhythmically against it. He felt nervous, it wasn't new, but he could definitely live without it.

Taking deep breaths he regulated himself and took notice of the outside view from the window. His stop was up, his school now in view. He stepped up quickly as the bus came to a halt and dashed out the doors, lifting a hand toward the bus driver as a small thank you.

He walked up to the school swiftly, taking in all the people he'd never gotten used to. He walked in, the crowded halls suffocating him. He started to speed walk through, trying to find a quiet spot to sit.

After walking into all his familiar spots being used and filled by random students, he sighed. He changed course and beelined for the auditorium again.

He took in the big, red, double doors. It'd been two days but... His weekend had been so long it ran the slightest twinge of nostalgic type feelings through him. He shook his head, pushing into the room.

Looking around inside, he recognized Christine's book bag set on the stage with papers and pencils scattered around. Evan looked around, half expecting her to jump out from the sidelines.

"Christine..?" Evan called, a hint of worry in his tone as she hadn't shown herself just yet.

Rustling was heard and a large thump from behind the curtains. "Just a minute!"

Evan felt a sense of relief hearing her, walking up toward the stage to wait for her to appear. He glanced at her papers, math homework, English corrections, and just work scattered around.

Jogging up from behind the curtain was Christine, a smile plastered on her face, sweat beads lightly formed on her forehead. "Hey, Ev!"

"Chris! I was hoping I'd find you... What're... What're you doing?"

Christine swoops herself into a sitting position on the stage, looking down at Evan. She waves her hand over her homework, "This was a lot. I thought I could probably use some activity to get everything flowing, that's how that works, right? Well, anyway... Zoe's house? How was it? Don't spare any deets! Ah! Get it? Deetz?"

Evan blushed and chuckled at the sudden on-the-spot prompting, the pun following.

"Well, I... Um. That's English, right? I can help you with that, I mean Mrs. McLemore assigned the same thing last year. She... Your... It's easy, honestly."

"Evan, c'mon," she groaned, "You always avoid anything I ask you! It couldn't have been that bad."

Evan sighed, clear disappointment in his face that his little distraction didn't succeed. It's not like they usually did, but he couldn't say he never tried.

He thought for a bit, trying to gather his thoughts on the day he spent at Zoe's. He counted back everything, trying to piece together a story in his head that might skip over Connor at all.

"Well, uh... It was alright, Zoe was pretty nice. Jared... He, um... You know, he kind of had me in a headlock-type situation for a little. We played games, ate a little... I mentioned I was nearly failing history... Zoe's friend Alana helped me study for the test this week. Nothing too big, I guess, Chris."

She raised her brows in an I-can't-believe-you way. Her arm shot out, grabbing onto his cast and pulling it toward her face.

"Connor, huh? What's with thaaat?" Christine hums out, slightly teasing him.

"Oh! My, uh... Connor, yeah. He, well, he signed my cast."

"Obviously, you dork. What is the story? What's the word, the haps?"

Evan laughed awkwardly, sort of avoidant.

"Well.. I mean, he called me a friend or something? I don't know if he was serious..? Or maybe he was just joking and was using this to make fun of me?" Evan took a moment to think about his words, "I guess I'm not too sure how... I mean who'd he would do that with, I don't see him with people, I, uh..."

Christine rolled her eyes playfully and laughed at his overthinking, his words rapidly falling from his mouth, branching into new thoughts before he could finish his first.

She ruffled his hair as she was still above him on the stage. "You got a frie-end," she giggled in sing-song.

Evan looked up, wide eyes and furrowed brows framing his expression. He didn't entirely take in the playfulness of her teasing, the tone of her words being lost between his thoughts.

"Um. I don't know. I just.. I.. I guess? I don't.. Sure," Evan muttered, still a bit confused by this idea of being friends with Connor Murphy. "Hey, yeah, uhm... Have you spoke to Jared? By any, by any chance?"

Christine looked a bit confused, not only by Evan's question but his defensive manner that he displayed with his tone. She looked down, her brows knitting together in thought. She bit her lip, chewing on the skin.

"Can't say I have, Ev, what's up?"

"Euhm.. He just, he's just been pretty distant? And he's never been a feelings guy, but I don't, I don't know? Just been.. Just something."

Evan started thinking about his weekend again. The moment that Jared and the group came back to the Murphy house... Jared had been acting weird, and not usual Jared weird, just, defensive and genuinely mean-spirited.

He looked back up at Christine. "When, or... If you see him, could you check on him? You've never really been his favorite of my friends, but you're a better people reader than I've ever been... You know? I mean, he's always been mean and distant but... He's doing a lot more now? Does that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't, I should... I'm talking a lot, huh, sorry, gosh, I didn't mean to, or I mean..."

"Ev, I can check on him. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Chris."

The morning bell finally rang, time for class.

"Gotta talk all about Connor at lunch, though, promise?" Christine held up a pinkie at Evan, he latched onto it with his own.

"Yeah.. Promise."