A Little Bit of Light (Tree Bros)

Still

I woke up at 11:34. I felt a myriad of buzzes as my phone flashed at me messages from that boy. Why was he awake this late, I thought to myself, but I didn't care. I read them all through, still trying to adjust to the brightness of my phone.

I<3Trees: omg help
I<3Trees: I can't sleep because I'm having a panic attack and I can't breathe and everything is getting dark and my mom's still at work and you're the only person that I know that could calm me down please help
I<3Trees: and I know that you're probably not awake and I know that you probably hate me now for waking you up but this is really really bad

Was I the only person that this kid knew? I felt absolutely terrible. I responded as fast as I could with,

HotTopic: omg I'm so sorry. Do you need me to call you? We could meet up somewhere too. My parents really don't care, and it's fine if you don't want to. Do you know what triggered the panic attack?? You don't have to think about it if it scared you too much.

It didn't take him long to respond.

I<3Trees: yeah I'd like to meet up somewhere and I don't really know what started it I just got really scared really fast

I wondered where I could possibly take him that could calm him down. Then I remembered the abandoned orchard my family used to go to when Zoe and I were kids.

HotTopic: yeah I know this orchard that's totally abandoned but it's super serene. It's a great place to just unwind.

I gave him the address for the orchard and took Zoe's car there. I had been sitting under a tree looking at the stars for a few minutes until I saw a dark red Honda minivan pull up next to my car. I saw Evan for the first time. He was dirty blonde and standing at roughly 5'9", and was wearing a blue striped polo and khakis. He sat down next me, and asked me,
"Are y-you C-Connor? I mean, t-there's n-n-no one else h-here, but st-still."
I flashed a smile at him.
"Yeah, that's me. I'm Connor." I looked down at my hand and saw that my string was attached to him. I flushed a little thinking that this would be a person I would never have to let go of. I was so sick of saying goodbye to everything good in my life, and here was the one good thing left standing in front of me.
I better not fuck this up.
"D-do you see it? T-the s-string?" He asked me, interrupting what had felt like eons of silence.
"Yeah, I do. It just kinda appeared for me? Like I had never had it until I started talking to you. Strange, right?" I chuckled a little under my breath. I'd forgotten the last time I had laughed, even if it was that small.
Evan thought I couldn't tell, but he flushed and changed the subject, though it wasn't the smoothest transition.
"UHM, well , THE SKY! Yes, the sky. It's, uh, really pretty like this? At night, I mean."
He was trying so hard, it was kinda cute.
"Yeah, it is. I kinda really liked constellations as a middle schooler? I know a lot about them. I always thought it was really fascinating how distant stars could be, yet you could still see them."
"Could you tell me a little about them?"
For someone who had just had a panic attack, he seemed to jolt right up, no stuttering in the last sentence. I looked up to the stars to tell him about certain constellations, but they weren't nearly as bright as his eyes.
"Wow, that's really cool!" He said, after I had spend a little time telling him about the constellation Orion. He turned to face me, but not before looking at his watch.
"Shoot, it's 12:25. My mom's shift ends at one, and she'd hate me forever if she found out I sneaked out. I really need to go, but I appreciated this. Like, a lot. What I'm trying to say is, thank you?"
I noticed how his hair hitting the moonlight had a certain mystical aura to it.
Calm your gay ass down, Murphy, he probably thinks you're weird.
"Uh, yeah!" I said, trying my best not to stare, "We should do this more often, I really enjoyed it."
"See you later, then?" He flashed me a real and genuine smile, though it had been a little nervous.
"Yeah, see you later, soulmate."
I couldn't see his face since he darted back into his car, but I was positive he was blushing.