Step Into the Sun

4

Tuesday rolled around and, as expected, Connor was still a tad sore. He cringed as he got out of bed and tried not to walk funnily towards the fridge.

His food supply was bigger than usual after the kind older man had paid him so generously almost a week ago.

Grabbing the frying pan from the cabinet, he put it on the stove to let it heat up while he cracked two eggs into a bowl and scrambled them together. When the pan was hot enough, Connor dumped the eggs in, letting them sizzle before breaking them up with a spatula.

He tried not to let his usual existential fear set in quite yet as he cooked his breakfast. It was too early to think about anything, in his opinion, seeing as Connor wasn't a morning person at all.

When his food was ready, he took the plate back to his makeshift bed and sat down carefully, staring across the room as he ate with the muted sounds of construction resonating in his apartment.

The thin curtains did almost nothing to block out any light, so he always managed to wake up too early for his liking.

After breakfast, Connor changed into a pair of unintentionally ripped jeans and his usual dark grey jacket over a black shirt. He took a ten dollar bill out of the little box where he kept all his savings, then grabbed the pack of cigarettes from beside it. Then he decided to also bring the pocket-sized journal he kept his thoughts in, along with a pen and a pencil.

Tucking the assorted items into his messenger bag, he headed out of the apartment and into the city.

Meanwhile, Evan was already in class, waiting as his professor explained how to use their laptops to complete the vocabulary test online.

"... and click 'submit' when you're totally done, then you're free to leave," he finished, clapping his hands together. "Any questions?"

Evan turned to his computer and took a deep breath in attempt to calm his nerves before starting.

"You may begin."

Luckily, Jared had kept his promise and helped Evan study for the past two days between class and their movie night with the Zoe and Alana. He knew he had all the words and their definitions memorised, but his anxiety was relentless.

After close to forty minutes, he finished the test and submitted it after checking all of his answers. He leaned back in the lecture hall chair and sighed in relief, taking a moment to try to calm himself again.

Taking a look around, he realised about half of the people who had shown up were already gone. Either he was a slow test-taker or they all bullshitted their way through it.

He gathered his things, sliding his laptop into his backpack, then left the classroom with a wave to his professor.

Jared was still asleep when Evan got back. He didn't have class until noon.

Evan opened the curtains and pulled Jared's comforter off of him, tapping his cheek gently.

"Wake up, stupid," he called to a groaning Jared as he crossed the room to his own bed to unload his backpack.

"It's too early," Jared protested.

"It's almost eleven and you definitely need to shower before class or people will start to avoid you," Evan argued, setting his laptop on his desk.

He opened it up as Jared whined some more and clicked his way to the word document he'd been working on for a few months now.

It was hard to focus while Jared stumbled around and blabbed to himself, but Evan began typing away. Eventually, Jared left the dorm, hopefully to shower before class, leaving Evan alone for a bit to think in the comforting silence as he pieced together his story.