Evan ran out of the Murphy's, his breath uncontrollable. Tears ran down his eyes as he tried to find a solution, tried to find something he could hold onto.
He wasn't sure how he was going to get home. It was late, and the buses had probably stopped running. He couldn't call his mother, she was busy at work. And Zoe, Jared, and Alana - the closest people that he could ever call a friend - had been pushed out of his life. He had pushed them out of his life.
Zoe. God. Of course, he never deserved her. She was funny, and smart, and beautiful, and he was someone too scared to talk to anyone. He didn't want to check, but he knew Zoe was staring at him from her house. He knew Zoe would never forgive him.
Zoe never should have been in his life anyway. If he had only had the guts to tell the truth, if he wasn't so afraid of the confrontation, if he wasn't so much of a coward, maybe things would be different. Maybe Zoe wouldn't have had her heart broken by him.
But then maybe he wouldn't have ever met Zoe. She had truly made him feel different, like he actually mattered for once. She made him feel important, and worthy, and not like everyone hated him.
But now everyone did. Everyone that mattered anyway. He could get all the praise from online, but nothing would matter, if he didn't get those feelings from Zoe.
As he stood on the sidewalk, wondering what to do and where to go, he noticed headlights far off in the distance. He stared at the car, unmoving, until the car came close enough for Evan to see who was inside.
His mother.
At that moment, any strength left inside of him vanished. He broke down on the sidewalk, waiting for his mother to hate him, waiting for her to leave him there, forever.
He waited for Zoe to come outside, and yell at him to get away from her. He waited for Jared to arrive, and berate him with whatever insults he could find. He waited for Alana to come, and expose his secrets.
But none of that happened. He felt a hand on his shoulder, the soothing touch of his mother's hand that he had never realized until now that he was dying for. At that moment, the only thing he could hear was his mother's voice.
"I love you."
