FAKE

PART II: JASON

V: call

Evelyn picks up quickly, I feel a sense of dread. What could be so urgent?

"So, Jason isn't doing well."
I don't understand what she means by doing well. Why wouldn't Jason be doing well?

"What do you mean?"

Evelyn doesn't answer me for a couple of seconds and she finally says, "he doesn't want to talk to anyone at the moment."

Why not? Did I say something that hurt him?

"Why?" I ask.

"He keeps telling me 'nothing' but I don't buy it. There's something up with him. It's bothering him."

"I'm going to get him on the call. Let me call you back when I get home."

I drive home and in the dark night with the pale moo, I'm left thinking about why Jason feels so hurt. What is it? I just want to know.

When I arrive home, my parents are already sleeping so I quietly head upstairs to my room and slowly close the door. I take my phone out of my purse and dial Jason on my phone. I grab my laptop and FaceTime Evelyn.

Jason picks up after a few rings and his voice sounds like he's been crying for a long time.

Evelyn looks at me worried through the camera.

"Jason are you ok?" I ask finally.

"No. You wouldn't.. uh, understand."

I feel he's upset that he still likes Andrew.

"Look I know you still like him but that doesn't affect our friendship. I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?"

"You can't do anything. It's not our friendship. I just don't think that I can ever see Andrew again."

Evelyn broke the silence.

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Damn."

I can feel the hurt in Jason's words. What could've happened in the past 24 hours that would've caused as much anger or sadness inside him.

"I just want to know what's up."

"No. You don't want to know."

"I do."

"I..." he breaks and starts crying.

I don't know what to do to help Jason.

There's really nothing I can do. Evelyn paces around her room and I put my head on my hairdresser. Jason continues weeping into his pillow. I feel so bad for him.

"Jason. It's fine. Do you want me to come over? Can Evelyn come over too?"

He pauses and then finally speaks again.

"Yeah." He says, hanging up.

"Evelyn, you coming?"

"I'll be ready in a second."

I grab my stuff and hop into my car again. The night seems to be darker than ever and it's incredibly hard to see where I'm driving. I finally arrive at Jason's place and his house is a light shade of green that looks like it's glowing. I walk up the stairs to his house and he opens the door. He's wearing a plain black t shirt and his eyes are red from crying. His green eyes are melted and his hair is a mess. I grab him by the shoulders and hug him. I tell him he means so much to me and that I love him.

His parents are divorced and he's living with his dad right now. His dad's never home so I can't imagine sleeping alone in the big giant ass house every night. I'd be too scared. Yeah my parents are almost never home but they do come home to sleep so at least I don't feel terrified and alone at two in the morning. Evelyn arrives a few minutes later and we all go upstairs. Jason's room has blue painted walls and there's posters of almost every pop artist you could think of. His room is in the corner of the hallway and it's pretty big. I walk over and sit on his bed, examining more of his room. He has a desk with his laptop on it. There's papers scattered all over the desk. There's a Burger King wrapper, a drink on the edge, and his phone sits right next to it facing down.

"What's wrong?"

"Can you guys stay the night. I don't feel safe. I'm scared. I'm sad. I'm sorry."

"For?"

He smiles and says, "for sounding like a little whiny girl."

I pat him on the back and tell him that I can stay over. Evelyn tells him she can too.

We all go downstairs and fill up glasses with chocolate milk.

"Now, finally tell us, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I just feel lonely. Andrew has been my only guy friend for so long. I've never even admitted to myself that I'd like him. But then yesterday I did realize."

"I'm sorry that question was brought up in the game," I say, sincerely.

"No no. You're good. I don't know what got into me. I was just seriously devastated that I admitted those feelings when I've repressed them for so long."

"I understand you," Evelyn says and I nod my head in agreement.

"It's ok Jason. We love you and you'll find an amazing man for you," I tell him to comfort his feelings.

"That means a lot to me, Jane. I love all of you so much. I don't know what I would do without you guys."

"I love you," Evelyn smiles.

We head upstairs and set up the blankets on the floor to sleep on. Jason offered if we wanted to sleep on the bed but we said no. He deserves to have a comfortable sleep. We're just here to provide him comfort and safety. That's what friends are for. Real friends.

I get up and plug my phone in with an extra charger I keep in my purse. I need it just in case Andrew calls me later.

Evelyn turns the tv on and starts watching some reality tv show with some women ripping their hair out. Both Evelyn and Jason start laughing.

I'm glad we can make him feel better and forget about that problem. I'm glad I got closure on what happened and it's nothing bad. I don't know what my brain was thinking. I fall asleep peacefully.