Treebros Fanfiction

16

(Evan POV) 

It's a little cold for ice cream, I think, but this place has kind of become our spot over the last two months. Not that Connor would ever admit something like that; the idea of becoming emotionally attached to a person sickens him. But he knows it's true, nonetheless. 

He pokes at his coffee flavored ice cream with little interest, dead eyes glued to the table. I don't bring up the fading bruises on his face, or the fact that he hasn't been to school in almost two weeks. He invited me here, but hasn't said a word.

"Remember when I told you about my boyfriend?" he asks, finally breaking his streak of silence. "And you said he was a pedophile?" 

I would be worried about having this conversation in such a public place, but no one else is here. Turns out, most sensible people don't go out for ice cream when it's less than thirty degrees outside. Luckily for us, we are not sensible people.

"Yeah, I remember." 

"I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean, I always knew that. I'm not stupid, I know that I shouldn't be dating a grown man. But nobody had said that to me before you did, and it kinda shook me up." He laughs, but it's that weird, fake, hollow laugh. 

I wonder if something's wrong with him.  He's oddly calm today. And super chatty all of a sudden. 

"So...?" I don't want to just straight-up ask if he's going to break up with his boyfriend. That's rude. 

"So I dumped him. And then he beat me up and left me on the side of the road. He's been calling me a lot since then."

"Are you... answering those phone calls?"

He shakes his head. "I want to. I really want to." 

"Mm-mm," I say, trying to commandeer his love life. "N-nope, no you don't." 

His phone lights up and we both stare at it. 

"He does this every hour," Connor explains tiredly. 

I don't know what kind of demon possesses me to do this, but before he can decline the call, grab his phone and answer it.

"Connor, baby, thank God!" I hear Sam sigh in relief. "I was worried something happened to you- you haven't picked up the phone in days-" 

"What do you want?" I demand, shocking myself with how assertive I'm being. 

There's a long pause on the other end. 

"Who the fuck are you?" he eventually asks. 

"I'm Evan- who the fuck are you?" I already know who he is; I just want to match his energy.

"You listen to me, Evan," the man seethes. "You put Connor on the phone right fuckin' now-" 

"No," I interrupt. "I'm not gonna do that. Leave him alone or I'll call the cops."

I hang up and hand the phone back to Connor, who looks properly flabbergasted. Wait, no, not flabbergasted. Scared. 

"Why'd you do that?" he asks, sounding quite small. "Why?" 

"I- I don't know," I admit. 

Why did I do that? I think I was trying to establish some kind of dominance over Sam, though he could probably kick my ass in three seconds if he wanted to. And he probably wants to now. 

Connor tucks his arms around himself, eyes drifting off into some faraway corner of the room as he tries to steady his breathing. "Now he's gonna think I replaced him, and he's gonna come hurt me-"

"He's not-" I reach over the sticky table and try to grab his hands. "Connor. He- he's not going to hurt you. No one's gonna l-let that happen. You hear me?" 

He nods, diggings his nails into his biceps as he retreats further into himself. Something is definitely wrong. 

"Hey." I tap on the table to keep his attention. "I'm not gonna let that happen." 

He manages to pry one hand away from himself and rests it on the table, allowing me to hold it. 

"Do you need to go home?" I ask quietly. 

"No, I wanna stay here." He pulls his hand away and starts eating the ice cream he's mostly been staring at. 

We sit in silence for a little while, looking out the window as we eat. 

"I saw a psychiatrist a few days ago." 

"Hey, that's great!" I congratulate, knowing that getting that kind of appointment can be hell. "How- how was that? Wh-what happened?" 

"I was, um... I was in a weird mood that day-" He seems ashamed of this, for some reason. "So it was supposed to go a lot better than it did. I wasn't talking real well, and I really embarrassed Larry. John- that's the doctor- wants me to come back again when I'm not... like that." 

"Wh-what, um, what do you mean? Like what?" 

He fidgets with the zipper on his hoodie, unable to meet my eye. "Sometimes I get really paranoid and delusional. I kinda forget how to tell what's real and not real, and I stop recognizing things I should recognize. And then I start thinking that everything's out to get me. I was like that when I saw John." 

That sounds terrifying. I don't know if I'd be able to handle that kind of experience. Honestly, the more I hang around Connor and the more I learn about him, the more I understand why he wanted to die. His life sucks. 

My mom always likes to say that money can't buy happiness, and usually I'm inclined to disagree with her. Usually, I'm like 'yeah, sure mom, money can't buy happiness directly, but it can buy things like food and a college education.' 

But the Murphys are crazy rich, and Connor's still a trainwreck. 

"Anyway." He stirs his ice cream around, letting it turn into a mushy soup. "Now, he's gonna try to diagnose me with something, and then he's gonna tell us what kind of treatment would be good." 

"How do you deal with all that?" I utter, still stuck on the part where he told me about being paranoid and delusional. 

"I've been fucked in the head my whole life." He shrugs as if it's no big deal. "I just made it worse by adding drugs into the mix." 

Unfortunately, I already know all about the drugs. I've seen the track marks on his arms, asked plenty of questions about them. I don't know why I keep asking- the answers always make me feel a little sick to my stomach. 

"I wanna stop using," he confesses quietly. "I'm going to stop. I'm gonna get sober, and I'm gonna stay sober." 

I just look at him, speechless. I just find it a little hard to believe that he's going to quit when, barely three weeks ago, he got mad at me for suggesting he even try to quit. 

"Wh-why now?" I ask. "What happened?" 

He gives this a moment's thought, eyebrows furrowing together. 

"You did." 

(Woaaah two updates in two days AND I managed to update on of my other stories??)