Stress Reliever //// {TreeBros}

deux

Before Evan knew it he was was standing in the middle of Lush in the mall with Jared freaking over various bath bombs. It was awkward to say the least. He never expected to be here today.

He shuffled his feet tensely as Jared shoved a blue one into his face as he explained what made this particular one so special. Evan tried his best not to roll his eyes. "Aren't most of these the same except the color?"

Jared slapped a hand on his chest and gasped, obviously offended. "I can't believe I let you ride in my car."

Evan backed up a couple steps, turning his head to watch anything but Jared being an extremely offended gay. "I just don't...don't see the point in them. Or baths in general. You're just kind of...sitting in your own filth," he avoided Jared's eyes as he had a small rant.

"Yeah, I don't like baths either," Jared turned around after a second and looked through the items.

Evan furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. "Wait...you don't like baths but you like bath bombs?" Evan watched as Jared shrugged.

"Yeah. They taste good." Jared nonchalantly stated. Evan head tilted quickly.

"You eat them?!"

Jared shrugged again like this was something everyone did.

"Jared, bath salts can kill you!" Evan was shocked.

"If they haven't by now they won't in the future," Jared came up with a handful of different bath bombs. Evan shook his head quickly.

"No, put those back. You can't eat them!"

Jared smiled and pushed past him, making his way to the cash register. If only his parents knew what he was spending his money on. Evan went and followed Jared, standing behind him as he handed the cashier a 50.

Evan's eyes widened at the amount but chose not to voice it. He didn't want to bring any more attention onto himself than needed. Jared picked up a bag full of bombs and walked with Evan following close behind.

"Where to next?" Jared asked, stopping in front of the store. Evan looked around for a second before something caught his eye. Barns and Noble.

"Uh, how about Barns and Noble?"

Jared laughed. "That's so lame. Pick a place that's not for nerds."

Evan shrunk into himself, regretting even mentioning it.

"I'll just pick, you obviously can't step out of the nerd circle." Jared started walking forwards, Evan followed reluctantly. Evan's phone buzzed in his pocket, shocking him. Hardly anyone ever texted him. It wouldn't be his mom because she always calls.

He fished it out his phone and looked to see who it was. '1 message from Connor Murphy.' Huh, that was odd. Connor never talked to him anymore.

He opened the notification and seen 'are you busy right now?' Displayed across his phone.

He wasn't really busy but he couldn't never fully convince Jared to let him leave. He typed back a reply. 'Kinda? I'm stuck with Jared in the mall. Not sure what excuse to use.'

He looked to where Jared was taking them. A big sign above them read Spencer's. He'd only been here a couple times, it was alright as long as you stayed in the front of the store.

But, with his luck, he was being pulled to the back of the store where a variety of dildos sat proudly on the wall. Evan closed his eyes for a second as he took in a deep breath. His phone buzzed again and relief flooded him. He took his phone out of his pocket and walked back up to the front of the store, standing awkwardly by Rick and Morty Monopoly.

'Just say your mom called with an emergency.'

Evan thought about it for a moment. It would probably work if he made it sound true. Jared was really easy in catching him in a lie. He typed back a simple 'K' before walking up to Jared.

"Mom just told me there was an emergency, I need to get back home. " Evan made sure his voice sounded believable enough to fool him.

Jared nodded slowly, "Do you want me to drive you or..."

Evan thought for a second. "No. I'll let you have your day. I'll just walk." The mall wasn't but three miles from his house anyways. The perks of living in the middle of the city.

"You sure you wanna walk that far? Cause I can be nice you know?"

Evan just shook his head. "No, I'm sure." And with that he gave Jared a quick goodbye and started walking out of the store. He pulled his phone out and decided to text Connor.

'K I'm free.'

He sighed. He hated lying to people, but he didn't know how much longer he could get by. It's not that he didn't like Jared because that's not it at all. They've always had a bond between them, but sometimes he could just be a bit...much.

And he hated just leaving him here alone. He knew that if he was the one having his friend walk off he'd feel sad and alone. He felt guilt growing in his chest at the thought of Jared going through the rest of the day by himself.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't leave Jared like that. He was practically his only friend. He opened up his messages and typed again.

'He didn't believe it. I'm sorry.'

It was a long shot to lie again but he did. He turned around and walked back to Spencer's. He went to the store and seen Jared up at the cashier buying Louise's bunny ears from Bob's Burgers. He walked up and stood by him, not saying a word.

Jared quickly payed for his things and walked away from the cash register. "What are you doing? I thought your mom had an emergency?"

Evan just decided to lie again. He seemed to have a pretty good streak of it. "She called when I got out of the store and said it was fine."

Jared nodded and smiled. "Well, when you were gone I found these. Which I've been looking for for forever," he dramatically said the last word as he put on the pink hat.

Evan looked at him and smiled. "It suits you."

I've rewritten this chapter three times. And at first I was going to make Evan go with Connor but then I started feeling guilty for making him ditch??? Idk, I ended up feeling guilty and decided Connor can come in later in the story.