Nowhere Else I'd Rather Be • Tree Bros

Just Chillin' In The Auditorium

Evan looked around, fully expecting to see his friend. It amazed him to find that she was not there.

"Alright, guess I'm alone," He mumbled to himself

He walked up to the front row seats and placed down his bag. He unzipped it and pulled out paper and a pencil; if he was gonna be alone, he might as well do something useful.

"...believing that we belong...," He thought aloud, writing it down.

He had made a bit of progress with Dr. Sherman. They went a little back and forth, trying to figure out an idea to cope with Evan's anxiety. The letters, of course, were Evan's first go at a coping device, but Dr. Sherman was wondering why Evan wouldn't give it a go with songwriting.

•••

Dr. Sherman let out a sigh. "Evan, look, I understand that you're not used to sharing your emotions, but these letters... I need a bit more from them that 'It's cold today.'. "

Evan swallowed, how did he know this would happen?

"Well, uh, I didn't really have- have anything to talk about..."

Dr. Sherman took a deep breath. "What other things should we try? Let's just toss ideas, okay?"

Evan nodded, wanting to at least please someone.

"Well, what do you like?"

"Uh, I really liked doing my internship over the summer, that- that was fun."

Dr. Sherman nodded. "Well, do you think you could grow something? To calm yourself?"

"I..." Evan couldn't answer. A plant? How could he take care of a plant when he couldn't even take care of himself? He'd just say no and keep going with ideas.

"Yeah, that sounds... Nice."

Or not. Jesus, Evan really couldn't go without trying to please everyone, could he?

Dr. Sherman nodded in a happy, we-have-progress way. "I was also wondering... Have you ever tried to take up songwriting?"

"Me? No. I have no sense of music or rhythm, no."

"Well, some girl came in the other day... She told me that you like going to your school theatre club."

"Oh, uh, s-so, uh, I don't actually participate..."

"Well, just think about it, maybe you'll convince yourself."

And that's how Evan ended up with a lavender plant and a notebook to try and write lyrics in.

•••

He instantly got the strongest feeling to procrastinate his writing. Putting his stuff away, he sighed. He zipped his bag up but left it sitting on the seat.

He turned around to look at the stage. The microphone was there, silently trying to lure him over.

He walked over and climbed the stage instead of using the stairs. He stood in front of the microphone on the stand. He picked it off its stand and sat down on the stage with it.