Treebros Fanfiction

3

(Evan POV) 

Zoe Murphy walks through the door, looking thoroughly upset.

"Take me home," she demands of her parents, who look shocked that she even knows that they're here.

"What's wrong?" Larry asks, rising to her aid immediately. I may only be an outsider to this family, but this gesture alone maps out their entire family dynamic to me. It's very clear that Larry always sides with Zoe, and that Cynthia always sides with Connor.

"Everyone knows what Connor did, and they won't stop talking about it." She glances briefly at me, returns her gaze to Larry, then does a double take and looks at me again. "Why is he here?" 

"Sweetheart, this is Evan," Cynthia explains to her. "He's Connor's friend. He.. he saved your brother's life, Zoe." 

Well, that's a heavy thing to accredit me with. 

"Friend?" Zoe mimics doubtfully.

"Yes, look: he wrote his note to Evan, and..." Cynthia looks me over, and her eyes light up at some newfound discovery. "And he's signed Evan's cast!" 

Zoe does not look convinced. 

"Oh, Evan, tell her."

And here's where the stupid comes in. 

This whole family has their eyes on me, expecting any kind of confirmation that their son isn't as bad as they think he is. How am I supposed to deny them that? So...

"Yeah," I shrug, trying to be as casual as I can. "Connor and I are friends." 

If he denies it, then I'm done for.

"I saw him push you at school yesterday," Zoe continues to doubt, and she has good reason. I'm lying to her.

"W-well, he did that because," I struggle to provide a reason for why he would do that. I don't think there was a real reason anyway; he just did it. "He did that because, um, because he doesn't want people t-to know that we're friends." 

"So he's embarrassed of you." It's not a question. Zoe is just assuming it. Obviously, it can't be true because I'm not actually his friend, so how could he be embarrassed to have me around?

"No! N-no, it's not like that. He, um, he thought that people would, like, mess with me if they knew we were friends, s-so he's actually protecting me by- by pushing me at school." 

"Whatever." She lets it go, and I almost sigh in relief. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes we can," Larry agrees, sounding all to ready to get out of this situation. Cynthia only offers a small smile and picks up her purse.

"Thank you," she says to me. "Will you come visit Connor while he's in the hospital? I think he'd like that." 

No no no no no no no no- 

"Yeah," I find myself saying. "Yeah, I'll g-go see him after school." 

Why would I say that? 

------- 

I'm still regretting all of my life choices leading up to this point as I stand outside the hospital. I could've just not come. I could have said I was busy. I could have told the truth. And to make matters worse? 

This is the hospital my mom works at.

So let's just hope I don't run into her. And if I do, then my train of lies will continue.

"Ex-excuse me?" I clear my throat softly to get the attention of the lady at the desk. I've seen her a hundred times and I still don't know her name.

"Evan!" She greets fondly. Evidently she knows mine, which just makes me feel worse. "Here to see your mom?"

"Mm, no, um, to see a patient, actually. C-Connor Murphy." 

She directs me to the room and, despite being a little concerned about the hospital's lax security policy, I thank her.

Connor is sitting upright in bed, wearing normal clothes, and looking at something on his phone. There's a distinct clicking noise as he aggressively taps his fingernails together. The clicking noise ceases altogether the moment he notices I'm standing here. It's quiet for just long enough that I begin to wonder if I should introduce myself.

"I don't have your letter," he says eventually. 

"No," I agree. "No, I know. Um, I mean, I have it." 

For some reason, I get the urge to explain how I ended up with something that belonged to me in the first place.

"The, um, the paramedics, they thought it was y-your suicide note, so they gave it to your p-parents, and now, uh, now your parents think that I'm your friend, because they think you addressed your suicide note to me, and s-so they thought I would want it. I mean, I do want it, but not for the reason they think." 

"Why are you here, then?" With the way he's looking at me, I can really see the family resemblance. It's the same look Zoe was giving me eight hours ago. 

"W-well, I may have told them that I am your friend."

"That's hilarious, why would you do that?" The look on his face tells me that he finds it anything but hilarious. "Oh, wait, I know. Because there was Zoe." 

Alright, well there's no reason for him to make me feel worse than I already do.

"No, actually, it was because there was your mom." That just makes it sound like a really bad 'your mom' joke. "I d-didn't want to disappoint her! Sh-she just seemed so happy that you had a friend- well, I'm sure that you have friends, I didn't m-mean to imply that you don't- but I c-couldn't let her down like that." 

"Sure you could. I do it all the time." 

"Well, I'm not a bad person." 

"Yeah, you are. You're lying to my family because you have a weird crush on my little sister." 

"That is not the reason!" I turn toward the door, intent on leaving.

"Will you come back to see me again?" Connor asks just before I can leave.

"No."

"Aww, but I thought we were friends." The sadistic grin he flashes at me just propels me out the door faster. 

(Two updates? Who am I all of a sudden?)