ғɪɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ - 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐬

021. evan

On the outside always looking in...

A face stared back at Evan from the glass. Exasperated with his own reflection, the poor boy frantically swatted at his hair with his left hand, his casted arm resting idly on the bathroom counter. When his hair refused to cooperate, Evan searched the shelves above the toilet with frenetic eyes.

Shower gel, rubbing alcohol, vaseline, toilet paper, cotton swabs—where the hell was the hair gel!? Evan quickly gave up on the shelves, scanning the bathroom counter as a soft, continuous "uhhhh" fell from his lips.

He caught sight of the faucet. In a swift, desperate motion, he turned the sink valve. The water came rushing out. Careful not to get his cast wet, Evan caught some of the liquid in his palm and repeatedly applied it to his head. He prayed that his disobedient locks would stay down at least temporarily.

Evan's phone chimed. He threw his head back and groaned.

"I'm here," the text read.

Pocketing his phone, Evan trudged downstairs towards his front door.

When Evan got home, he didn't expect to have to do any more socializing besides answering the door for the pizza guy. So of course, he got comfy lying depressingly in the darkness of his room. Nooo, Alana "Can-I-Come-Over-To-Your-House-To-Work-On-Our-Project" Beck had to intrude on his oasis. Of course, he could have politely declined and he could have rescheduled for another time, but Evan's entire body became uncomfortably warm, and he didn't want Alana to be upset with him.

Evan's feet anchored him to the first floor. The front door was in view, and Evan's heart sank deeper with each step he took closer to it. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of it and his hand was curled around the doorknob.

Deep breath, Evan. He opened the door.

"Hel—"

Alana barged in with her humongous backpack, accidentally bumping Evan back into the wall.

"Hi Evan! Thanks for having me over!" Alana greeted, chipper as usual and not noticing her project partner's alarmed state. "If we could start now, that would be great! I have some more notes for you to look over, as well as an outline for our presentation script."

Alana finally turned around to face Evan, clapping her hands together. "Well, let's get a move on!"

"Uh..." Evan managed to get out. He cleared his throat. "Y-yeah... yeah. Um, you can just follow me..." He ran a hand through his hair, only realizing a second too late what he had done. Catching a sight of his reflection in a hallway mirror, Evan died a little inside. His Alfalfa hair once again stuck up in various unflattering places.

Evan felt the anticipation radiating off of Alana, so he walked a little faster than he usually would have to his room. Once inside, he picked his laptop off of his desk and placed it onto his bed.

"You can... sit there... I guess..." Evan mumbled, his voice fading softer with each word.

Alana hummed happily, setting her backpack beside Evan's desk chair and taking a seat. Evan stood awkwardly for a few seconds before finally sitting down on his bed, criss-crossing his legs.

"Okay, so I think it's a good idea to go over our outline. Here's a printed copy of what I typed out," Alana handed Evan a neat paper with bold headings and complete sentence bullet points.

Alana babbled on, "We start off with the pre-presentation: We meet at the library at seven a.m. sharp. This gives us around an hour to practice and set up before the presentation. It also allows us to make any changes..."