FireFly

Chapter Four

Jared Kleinman was a family friend.

Their mothers got along so that meant that they had to.

This was the case, until a couple of months ago when the boys realised that the only way they were going to make it through High School was if they had each other's backs.

And this is why Evan decided to ask Jared for his opinion on Connor.

Evan had been rather... unnerved by the string of texts that Connor had sent the previous night. His hands were shaking so much that he couldn't reply after that.

Jared was round his house, Heidi was working and Evan needed the company, so the two boys were sitting on the sofa in the living room, watching tv but not really paying attention.

"H-Hey Jared," Evan began, hesitantly.

"Yeah, man?" Jared replies, tossing a cornel of popcorn up in the air before catching it in his mouth. "Holy crap! Did you see that? That was impressive!"

"V-Very," The blonde boy laughed nervously. "So, um, you know I've been working at the Orchard?"

Jared nodded, "Are you about to talk to me about trees?"

"No!" Evan said defensively, "I met this b-boy there, and we got t-talking, um, we exchanged n-numbers-"

"Oh Evan!" He laughed, "You kinky fucker! If you want a low down on the birds and the bees, you're gonna have to ask your mother, I'm not doing that."

"No, Jared! Would you just listen to me?" Evan asked frustratedly, Jared hummed and Evan continued, "R-Right. As I was s-saying, we exchanged numbers and he t-texted me. B-But it got a bit, um, heated I guess?"

"Whoa what?" Jared said, not smirking anymore, "This guy tried to get in an argument with you?"

"Not really," Evan explained, "I think it was more of a m-misunderstanding."

"What's his name?"

"Just a boy from school, you probably don't know him."

"Does he have a name?"

"Um-"

"Name, Evan."

Evan cringed and averted his eyes, fiddling with the threading on the arm rest, "Connor Murphy."

Silence.

Evan looked up at Jared's facial expression and had it been any other circumstance he would've laughed. An eyebrow was raised, his eyes darting back and forth between Evan and Evan's phone, mouth hanging open and arms frozen from where they were running through his hair.

"...The freaky dude with the long hair?"

Evan sighed, "Jared-"

"I know, I know." Jared put his hands up in surrender, "I'm sorry. But...Connor Murphy?"

"Y-Yes?"

"THE Connor Murphy?"

"I think we've established it's Connor Murphy."

Jared was silent for a while, then he snapped his attention back to Evan and narrowed his eyes. "And you said you two had an argument?"

Evan nodded and pulled up his phone to show Jared the messages.

He watched his friend read the messages, lips mouthing the words and frown getting increasingly deeper.

"Dude," He whistled when he was done, "That's... you need to stay away from him."

"But do you think I did s-something wrong?" Evan asked, worriedly.

Jared shook his head, "No way! That was completely uncalled for!"

"What should I do? I haven't replied to him." Evan muttered the last part under his breath.

"Dude. Just give up on this one, he's a loose canon. I mean, he threw a printer at Mrs G in third grade for Christ sake."

"He was so nice," He tried to argue. Because Connor had been! He was nice to him in the real world, when they first met. Why was it different over text? Why did was Connor's mood shifts so unpredictable?

"Evan, seriously." And that got Evan's attention because he knew it was bad when Jared Kleinman got serious, "This has got all the foundations for a toxic relationship. He is dangerous, he has no regard for how other people feel, you need to stay away before you get hurt."

Evan sighed. He knew Jared was right, of course Jared was right. Surprisingly.

He nodded and told Jared that he was going to cut all ties with Connor Murphy, that seemed to satisfy Jared since he dropped the subject and the boys went back to watching some cooking show.

___________________________

Evan thought it was over.

He hadn't spoken to Connor in three days, hadn't ran into him anywhere. That seemed to be that.

What he hadn't anticipated, was Connor showing up at the Orchard, a week after his conversation with Jared, waiting for him.

Connor stood right in front of the gate, blocking Evan's way. He still wore that same, black hoodie even in the sweltering heat and his long, brown hair was tied up in a loose bun.

Evan hated to admit that Connor looked good with his hair like that.

He walked up to the taller boy, stopping just in front of him and for a short while the two of them just stared at each other.

"I came to apologise." Connor explained.

"Okay." Evan replied, shortly. He didn't want to be rude but he didn't really want to get into it with Connor right now, he was already running late for his afternoon shift.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, eyelids fluttering shut in what Evan presumed was humiliation, "I'm seriously fucked up and that's not an excuse, but I don't know what happened and you're the first person to actually listen to me and I don't want to stop talking to you." Connor opened his blue/brown eyes after his confession that he had said all in one breath and stared intently at Evan.

Evan bit his lip. He was so torn, one on hand he knew Connor suffered from some kind of mental illness, so he should just give him the benefit of the doubt and give him a second chance, right? It was only a silly little text, and they had really only known each other for a day so misunderstands were bound to happen! It wasn't as if they were dating or anything, Evan had no real reason to be upset with Connor.

On the other hand, he had promised Jared that he'd try to distance himself from Connor. He didn't want to disappoint his only friend. They were about to go in for their final year of High School, Evan couldn't afford any drama this year for the sake of his grades.

But then he made eye contact with Connor. There was something hiding behind those blue/brown irises, an untold story that the blonde boy was itching to read.

Heidi was a strong believer that everything happened for a reason. Evan used to think that was stupid, but over the years he guessed he'd learned to maintain a similar outlook.

And so something, something that was far beyond Evan's force of control, made him say;

"It's okay."

Connor frowned, clearly this was not the reaction he had prepared himself for, "No it's not, Hansen."

"Yes it is," Evan nodded, "S-Stop it, I forgive y-you."

"But," Connor shrugged weakly and grimaced, kicking at the ground with his worn out leather boots, "You shouldn't."

"Connor... I need to get to w-work." He explained, "I f-forgive you what more d-do you want?"

"Let me make it up to you," The long haired boy replied quickly.

"How?" Evan questioned.

Connor flashed him a crooked smile before deciding, "I'm taking you out for ice cream."

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I'm British and we don't have grades, so I hope I got the third grade thing right :)

Iris
Xoxo