· N E R D ·

t h i r t e e n

Evan sat on the couch and held his face in his hands. He kept thinking back to several weeks ago when Jonathan and he got back from Luke's New Years party.

"So what did I do earlier?"

"I'm... not sure..."

"What do you mean? I clearly had to have done something for you to say, 'Don't do that here.'"

"I know, but... You sounded really confused."

"I was."

"Then... Well, they are our friends..."

"Evan, I'm really lost here. What are you talking about?"

"Someone grabbed my butt during the countdown and I thought it was you, but clearly it wasn't. I mean, everyone was—"

"WHAT?!"

"Jonathan, it's fine. They're friends, plus half of them were drunk—"

"That doesn't excuse anything, you nerd! It was unexpected and unwanted, which is sexual harassment, mind you. It doesn't matter if they're friends and/or drunk! I thought you of all people would know that and take it seriously!"

Jonathan had a point when he said that and Evan knew it. Considering he had been sexually harassed before, it should have clicked in his mind that was what it was. But Evan didn't want to think of his friends that way. They wouldn't do it seriously, would they? No, it was just how they all messed around...

To stop himself from thinking about it, Evan was going to work on his manuscript for Creative Writing, but a sudden and determined knock on the door made him stop. He wasn't expecting anybody and Jonathan wasn't due back for another hour. Even if he came back early, he had a key to the door.

Jonathan's best friend was the last person Evan had expected to see, yet here he was.

"Luke?"

"Hey, Evan."

"What are you doing here?"

"Jon wanted to hang out so he told me to come over and just wait for him. He said he'd be here soon."

"Oh..."

"I can wait out here if you want. I did kinda show up unexpectedly. Sorry."

Throwing all of his common sense out of the window, Evan opened the door wider to allow Luke inside. "No, no, it's fine. You can come in. I was just a little uninformed."

Luke walked in and Evan shut the door behind him. "It was a last minute decision; don't be upset with Jon. He's been having a rough day at work so I offered to hang out with him and play some video games."

"Oh. Well that was thoughtful of you, Luke. You're a good friend."

He grinned. "Thanks."

Evan pushed his glasses up and looked towards his laptop sitting on the table that had his manuscript still pulled up on Google Drive. "I have to work on a project for one of my classes, but you can sit on the couch and watch T.V. or something."

"Okay, thanks. Do you mind if I get some water from the kitchen?"

"Not at all; go ahead."

"Thanks."

With that, they went their separate ways. Evan sat in front of his laptop with his back facing the kitchen; Luke found and grabbed water from the fridge plus something from one of the cupboards.

When he came up behind Evan, he asked, "What is your project on?"

"I'm writing a manuscript for my Creative Writing class." Evan noticed Luke had one hand behind his back as he drank his water, but it looked like he was scratching his back, so thought nothing of it. "It's a medieval fantasy about the Kingdom of Camelot."

"That sounds cool. I'm not one for fantasy books, but I'd love to read it someday."

Evan smiled in response as he continued to type. The last thing he remembered seeing was the word 'depart' before he fell forward, unconscious, with a striking pain in the back of his head.

Luke set the pan on the counter and put the lid back on his water bottle. "Well, I guess the movies don't do it completely wrong," he murmured to himself.

He grabbed Evan's hair, pulling his head up, and examined his sleeping face. He then took the pastel pink frames off of his face and put them in the pocket of his shirt.

What a beautiful nerd, he thought as he picked up Evan's entire body.

It was time to execute the plan.