Young Writers Society

James felt a strange, almost giddy sense of happiness as he parked back near the plaza. Evaline had taken most of the little souveniers and snacks that they'd gotten at the market, but he had a small paper bag on the seat with carrots to give to Elliot, the next time he saw him. Stuck in the side of the bag was a small print that Evaline had bought for him, simply because it had a horse and a cowboy on it, standing in a desert landscape.

It was cute, though. He liked it.

James picked up the bag, locked up his car, and headed back into the building. By now, it was starting to get late, and he knew that he wasn't going to get a lot of sleep before his early morning classes. It was a small price to pay, though, and worth it since he didn't get to see Evaline in person very often.

Once he made it out of the stairwell and into the hall, he already knew that Carter had had a party while he was out. He saw a few people lingering in the hall, and a group walk out of the apartment, giving him strange glances as he approached the door. He bit back any snarky remarks. What? It's not like I live here or anything.

He waited for them to move out of the doorway before he pushed his way in, knowing that the door was unlocked, and the room smelled like booze and greasy food. It looked like the party was ending, because the music had faded faintly in the background and it looked like everyone had just cleared out.

Normally, James might be grateful to come home to an "empty" apartment. But the whole living room was trashed. Again.

James caught sight of Carter lying limply on the couch, and he cut straight into the kitchen, putting the carrots away in the fridge and taking the print out. He stopped by the front door and locked it, and then went to his room.

He set the print of the top of his dresser to hang up later, and then he scanned his room. He checked his closet, and under his bed, and then gave the bathroom and the spare room the same treatment. It looked like someone threw up in the toilet and missed. Partially. But otherwise, aside from the mess of crushed cans, empty bottles, plates, wrappers, and trash all over the place, there was no one left. It was just Carter, who looked to be sleeping.

Whatever lingering feelings James had from hanging out with Evaline started to fade as he took a deep breath, accepting that his long day was about to be longer.

He went to the kitchen and pulled out a big, black trash bag, and started in the kitchen, cleaning up. He found someone's necklace, which he set aside on the counter. He didn't know if anyone would come back for it. Sometimes people did, and sometimes they didn't.

After clearing the kitchen, he went to the spare room - intentionally avoiding disturbing Carter so as not to wake him yet. Not until he was almost done.

He cleared out the spare room, tidied it up again, and tip-toed around the living room to get all of the rest of the trash. By the time he was done, the trash bag was practically full to the brim, and he tied it up, setting it by the door and saving it for the morning.

He still had to clean up the puke in the bathroom.

He sighed, looking at Carter, who was still fast asleep on the couch. For a moment, he thought about trying to wake him and force him to clean up the vomit himself. He imagined how it might play out. Carter would wake up, say a lot of cutting words, and try to wrestle him to the ground, laughing. James would push him off, and try to scold him like a weary parent, and Carter would never listen.

It was pitiful, when he put it like that. Embarassing, actually.

He turned into the bathroom and cleaned it up himself. When he was done, he went ahead and poked his head into Carter's room, just to be sure.

James thanked god that it was empty.

He paused for a moment, standing in the hall. He decided to let Carter sleep on the couch for the night, since he was already there, and instead went in to his own room to get ready.

He took off his shoes, put on a t-shirt and simple plaid pajama pants, and went into the bathroom, trying to wind down calmly.

He took a minute to wash his face, floss, and brush his teeth. He ran his hand through his hair and pursed his lips, deciding against showering, mostly because he was too tired. At worst... he could wear a hat? He almost never did, but he'd packed his day so full that he hadn't really had time to slow down until now. He'd worked all morning, come home, gotten ready to meet Evaline, and then spent the rest of the day with her.

James sighed and pulled out his phone, idly flipping through scheduling and homework apps before he landed on instagram. He forgot he even had it on his phone, honestly.

When it opened up, he didn't really expect to see any notifications, but he saw he had a few comments, and... a new follow.

eve.of.evaline

James squinted. He'd already taken one contact out, and now his vision was half-blurry, but he knew well enough that it had to be Evaline, obviously. But when was this? Today?

2 months ago

Oh.

James laughed, barely, in the back of his throat. This was what he got for never checking social media, huh. Two months ago... that was soon after he'd met her, right? Had it only been that long?

He noticed that she liked one of his selfies of him and Elliot. And that selfie... went a little far back. So that meant she'd had to have been scrolling through his feed for at least a minute. He could feel his cheeks starting to burn as he tried not to think too hard about what Evaline might've thought of all of the other posts on his feed, or why she liked that one in particular, or if it was just a mistake.

She did follow him, though. So it had to be intentional, right?

He went to her profile and followed her back. He noticed that she only followed 200 or so people, but had over 5k followers. In her description she had a link to another account that had her art portfolio called @evalinesart.

He paused in looking at her account to take out his other contact, and then leaned on the doorframe as he started scrolling.

Her most recent post was an ad for the art show that she sent him already, but he noticed that the last photo before that was posted a year ago. And there weren't a lot of posts to see either. There were maybe 30 or so pictures, and he could categorize them under scenic snapshots of sunsets and cityscapes or modeling shots in different outfits. Apparently, Evaline did modeling on the side. Among the photos of her, there was only one candid of her smiling.

He briefly checked her tagged photos, and saw that they all looked to be ones with her and friends. He saw some with Elias in them, which made sense. He swiped away and looked at her art account, which was what he ended up spending more time on. It looked like she posted weekly - normally digital sketches of people in various poses and with different expressions, but further back there was some traditional art. The most recent post was a rough animation of a woman ballet dancing, which he thought was pretty impressive. He watched the animation play on loop for a minute, losing track of time.

Then the bathroom door abruptly opened, and Carter stood still in the doorway for a moment, staring at him. James quickly turned his phone display off and tucked it away as he turned around.

Carter didn't say anything as he pushed James to the side and made a bee-line for the toilet. James was a step ahead of him and quickly flipped up the lid, and he watched as Carter barely made it into the bowl.

"... I'll get you some water," James said distantly as he left Carter to go into the kitchen, grabbing him a glass. When he came back, Carter was holding the sides of the toilet and staring down into it with half-lidded eyes.

James offered him the glass.

"Here," he said.

Carter abruptly reached out and took it, downing it in one breathless, several-gulp chug. When he ripped it away he let out a groan and he got to his feet.

"Thank you," Carter grumbled, and then he wordlessly stepped forward, leaning into James's chest.

"Uh-huh," James said, hesitantly pushing Carter's shoulders away. Carter responded by quickly wrapping his arms around James's waist tightly.

"You missed..." Carter said into James's shirt. "You missed a spot."

James glanced over at the toilet. The spot of puke Carter was referring to was Carter's. Not whoever had thrown up before. James blinked slowly.

"You missed the toilet," he replied, unamused.

"Awh, fuck," Carter muttered, still not letting James go and putting all of his weight on him. "Oh, shit."

"What, do you need to puke again?" James asked tiredly. "Let go of me before you do."

Carter seemed to try to stand up again on his own, and he started to let go of James, but then grabbed James's arm instead, a little too firmly.

"I can puke on you if I want," Carter said, his words slurred. "And you would say sorry too. You'd apologize. You always do."

James yanked his arm away, or at least, he tried to, but Carter seemed to be holding on with a death grip.

"Carter, I think you need to go to bed," James said, keeping his voice calm.

"Yeah, yeah, I always need to go to bed," Carter said with a wry laugh. "You're just mad you don't have balls."

Carter reached to jab James in the stomach, but James blocked it with his arm. Carter tried again, poking harder and faster this time, right in James's ribs. James decided to divert his attention to Carter's grip on his wrist, which was still unrelenting. He pulled away harder, finally ripping his hand through Carter's, and he backed out of the bathroom, speeding towards his bedroom.

"ALWAYS RUNNING AWAY LIKE A PUSSY ASS BITCH!" Carter shouted after him.

James glanced over his shoulder in time to see Carter marching towards him. He quickly opened his bedroom door and slammed it in Carter's face. He could hear Carter's fists pounding against the door repeatedly as he held the door shut, pushing back against it.

"Carter, go to bed," he barked through the door.

"You're always trying to push me away, James. You think I don't know that?" Carter hissed back, still pushing against the door. James knew locking it would only stop Carter for a minute at best, since he was always making duplicate keys somehow without James knowing.

"I know you're embarassed to be seen with me," Carter continued. "Always a bitter bitch and never saying it. If you hate me so much why can't you just say it to my fucking face! I know you're always talking behind my back. I thought I could trust you, but turns out you're just like everybody else. Just another backstabber, only interested in being friends with me for the money. Everybody's always in it for the fucking money. They don't even give a shit about me if I live or die."

James could feel the pressure on his door decrease, but Carter's voice was still close, like Carter was leaning on it. He could hear Carter's voice waver, like the beginnings of a sob.

"You're my only real friend, James," he said. "You can't just shut me out. Please don't shut me out. I need you."

James pursed his lips tightly as he could hear Carter start to cry through the thin door. He heard Carter slide down it, and James took in a deep breath before he opened the door, and Carter fell over at his feet.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Carter said through tears, and James felt his heart twist with pain as he knelt down beside him, putting his hand on Carter's back, patting him.

"Listen," James said softly. "Carter."

Carter sniffed loudly, and James paused.

"I'm not leaving you, okay?" James said. "I'm just... tired today is all. I think we both are."

Carter nodded and sniffed again, going in for a hug. James sighed and returned the hug stiffly.

"Okay," James said quietly. "Now let's actually get you to bed."

Elias and James were sitting on the couch in the living room, both with their computers on, and a few books lying open on the table to various bookmarked pages. Elias had come over for some tutoring. He needed help with one of Professor Morrigan's recent assignments to write an essay on the latest book that they read, which James was quickly discovering Elias didn't read, even if he was pretending like he did. He later found out that he was only able to follow along because he avidly used SparkNotes on all the chapters, and watched the movie.

James himself didn't like to cut corners with assignments, but he knew that at this rate, it would be impossible for Elias to read the entirety of Pride and Prejudice in the two nights before the assignment was due, so he settled for the SparkNotes version Elias knew to catch him up to speed. James had learned that to keep Elias's attention, that he had to make the story relatable and entertaining, which meant putting it into language Elias would understand, even if the story itself was set in a completely different era and culture. Eventually, James was able to fill in the gaps and help Elias grasp an understanding of the basic themes in the story, which was good.

They'd gotten started on an outline.

"Okay, so in this assignment, Morrigan wants you to pick one of the characters and analyze their characterization and their role in the story - like how their decisions might advance the plot," James started to explain. "Which character interests you most? Or which one do you feel you understand the most?"

Elias leaned forward with his arm propping up his head as his hand squishd against his cheek. He looked bored.

"I like Darcy," he said. "Dude seems popular."

"Popular, but not very well-liked," James added. "But okay. Sure, we can talk about him."

"The ladies like him though," Elias countered.

"This is true," James said. "Though it's nuanced, at least, for Elizabeth, at first. She's convinced for a good portion of the story that he's not interested in her, which affects the way she views him."

"Wasn't he also not interested in her?" Elias asked. "Since she's rude and not lady-like and stuff?"

"That was the general impression that she gave him, yes," James said. "Though many people like to argue that he was interested in her from the start but didn't know how to show it because he lacks social skills."

Elias groaned. "Why do we have to read rom coms?" he grumbled. "Morri should've assigned us a less lame book."

"Complaining won't make the homework assignment go away, you know," James said patiently.

"When is this due again?" he asked.

"Tomorrow," James lied. They had two days, but he would rather get this done now.

"So we have a whole extra day," Elias said with a grin.

"You're submitting it online, so it has to be in before the cutoff time, or it won't be accepted," James said. "Come on, you can finish this. We'll get this done, and then you can take a big long break if you want. Let's just flesh out this outline, and then we'll grab a snack, and come back to it. Okay?"

Elias hummed. "Well, okay," he said. "Have you finished yours already?"

"I finished mine a week ago," James said.

"Can I read it?" Elias said with another grin. "Maybe it'll give me ideas."

"Tell you what," James said with a knowing smile. "You can read it as soon as you're done with yours."

That sent Elias another into groan as he slumped back to the couch defeatedly. "Carter's in this class too, right?" he asked out of the blue. "Is he here?"

"You don't need to--"

"CARTER!" Elias yelled anyways before James could finish.

James sighed as he heard Carter's bedroom door open, and he walked out of the hall, leaning on the wall looking into the living room.

"You called?" Carter asked.

"You finish your rom com paper yet?" Elias asked as he sat up straight again.

"Yeah, I wrote it in like, thirty minutes," Carter said dismissively.

"Sick," Elias said with a grin. "Can I read it?"

"As long as you--" Carter started to say.

"Elias. You can write this paper yourself," James cut in.

"I'm just using it for inspiration," he said innocently.

"Yeah, James," Carter said as he pulled out his phone. "Lighten up a little. It's not like he's stealing the declaration of independence."

James blinked at Carter with dead-eyes.

"Did you seriously make a National Treasure reference?" he muttered.

"Shh," Carter said, still typing on his phone. "Okay, Elias. I sent it to you. Check your email."

"Thanks man!" Elias said as he pulled out his phone and tapped away. "Got it. Thanks."

"Carter," James said in a tone that he knew Carter would understand without elaboration.

Carter only looked up and met James's eyes with a teasing gaze and a smug grin.

"Who're you writing your paper on?" Carter asked Elias.

"Pffft," Elias cut in, not even hearing Carter's question as he was still laser-focused on his phone. "You wrote the paper about Elizabeth? Not surprised you picked her."

"I identify with her sass," Carter said, laying his hand on his chest.

"You probably picked her because the actor in the movie is hot," Elias said with a teasing smile.

"Are we talking the BBC version or the--" Carter started.

"There are TWO VERSIONS?" Elias said in disbelief.

"One's a six-part series, one's a movie," Carter elaborated.

"Bro, can we watch the entire series in two days?" Elias asked with a glint in his eyes.

James sighed and facepalmed, running his hand through his hair.

"I don't know," Carter said. "Each episode is like, an hour or something. I don't know. I watched it one summer with this chick I was dating like two years ago. It's been a minute."

Elias let out a snarky "hah!" with the lingering grin.

"You go on dates?" he teased. "Crazy."

"What, and you've never been on a date with Mel?" Carter retorted.

Meanwhile, James was trying to figure out if there was any possible way to get Elias's focus back. Why did Elias ask for help if he didn't want to do the work? James was tired.

Elias just didn't really want to work on this paper. He knew he'd have to do it eventually, but it was nice to have a break and a conversation not about a boring book. For now.

"Uh, yeah, obviously I have," he said. "I didn't think you actually took ladies out, though."

"Of course I have," Carter said. "What, you think all I do is hook up all the time?"

"Yeah," Elias said like it was obvious. "I've known you since we were freshmen and you only ever talked about Tinder girls."

"Yeah, well this was a summer fling. We were only serious for a minute, but it was nice. Shame you didn't meet her," Carter said with a small shrug as he finally stepped out of the hall and walked over, sitting on the floor across from them and the coffee table.

"Aww," Elias cooed. "It's kinda nice to hear you all soft."

Carter smiled.

"What can I say? I'm a complex man," Carter said.

At that moment, Elias felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He recognize the vibration pattern to be a text, and he immediately pulled it out to read it. It was from James.

Please don't get him started on this girl for the love of god

Elias slowly looked up to meet James's gaze, and he looked neutral, but like he was quietly trying to communicate the same message with his eyes.

Well, if James was uncomfortable with this topic - even if it was just annoying to him - he wasn't going to push it.

"Yeah, yeah, so complicated," Elias repeated back nonchalantly as he put his phone back in his pocket, not completely sure if that was the word Carter used. "As complicated as this book, am I right?"

"Please," Carter said with a wave of his hand. "The book is easy."

"So you actually read the book and didn't just google it," Elias commented.

"I read it a long time ago," Carter said. "I googled it to refresh my memory."

"You read a rom com book for fun?" he asked with a brow raised.

"Nah, it was for an assignment in highschool," Carter said.

"Oh," Elias said. "And here I thought you read soft books for fun."

"You know that's not what I do for fun," Carter said with a slight laugh. "But James?" Carter pointed at him. "That guy reads for fun."

"Yeah, I know," Elias said. "That's why he's my English tutor."

"Fair enough," Carter said with a small nod as he started getting to his feet. "I'm gonna grab a drink. You want anything?"

Elias glanced back at James again, and he noticed that he looked tense, like he was uncomfortable with this entire situation.

"Nah," he said after a pause. "I'm good. I should get back to this assignment. Thanks, though."

"Sure, man," Carter said as he disappeared into the kitchen.

"So anyways, now I'm inspired," Elias said to James. "From reading another paper and having a break."

James looked at Elias and smiled softly with a nod.

"Alright. Let's get to work, then."

Even as a (super) senior, Elias had to attend the boring monthly chapter meetings for the fraternity. He was only half-paying attention as he stood at the back of the room with Carter, Thad, and Chad, whispering side comments whenever one of them (mostly Elias) had a funny quip. The meeting lasted about an hour that was mostly geared towards the freshmen and sophomores since they did most of the grunt work for philanthropy week, fundraising, and event planning. Really, Elias only cared about the hang-outs the upperclassmen stayed for afterwards. He only really got to see all the boys during this time since their schedule was blocked out anyways with the mandatory meeting, so it was nice to see everyone again.

By the time the meeting was over, they already began to order pizzas and set up the atmosphere for a kickback. With fall already here, the sun was setting faster, and it was a little chilly outside, but it was the perfect night for a bonfire anyways.

A few hours passed as they drank beers and they chatted, some of the guys bringing their partners along so that the boys could all meet them. A couple people left, but for the most part, mostly everyone stayed for the bonfire.

Elias was off to the side with a beer in hand, chatting with Carter, Chad, and Thad. The 'addeuses then left to grab more 'za, leaving Elias alone with Carter.

"Hey man, how many drinks have you already had?" he asked Carter as he noticed him chug his beer and then toss it in the pile of cans nearby.

"What?" Carter asked, looking over at him. "Not that many, man. I'm fine."

Elias tried to think of how many drinks he had drank. He thought reeeeal hard, trying to count with his fingers.



Yeah, he couldn't remember.

"Bro, I think 'not that many' is like, twelve for you," he said instead.

"I'm just built different," Carter joked.

"Yeah," Elias said. "Built of beer."

Carter then patted his stomach firmly. "That's what these abs are built on."

"You gotta do pushups right now to work off the beer, man," Elias said.

"HA!" Carter laughed loudly. "Bet."

"If you do fifty I'll personally get you another beer," Elias said with a smirk.

Carter gave Elias a playful shove in the shoulder before he hopped on the floor and started doing push-ups, over and over. Elias yelled out each one, and by the time he reached the thirties, a few other guys circled around and yelled out with him. By the time he reached fifty, Elias yelled for him to keep going as encouragement, which Carter did. The boys were all cheering him on, yelling out each number, and drawing a bigger crowd as he neared a hundred.

"Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... ONE HUNDRED!" Elias and the guys shouted.

Carter collapsed and rolled onto his back with a laugh.



That didn't stop the guys from jumping up and down, cheering Carter's name as they surrounded him and pulled him up so they could all bro-fist him and pat him on the back.

"Damn, Carter!" Elias said with a laugh as he playfully shoved his shoulder. "Such a show off!"

Carter laughed as he gave another guy a fist-bump.

"You started it," Carter said, shoving him back.

"How many can you even do?" Elias asked as the crowd started to dissipate.

Carter plopped back down on the outdoor couch, stretching out his arms in front of him.

"I don't know," he said nonchalantly. "A lot, I guess."

Elias quickly walked over to the nearby cooler and pulled out two beers, one for him and one for Carter. He then headed back over to Carter, jumping to the seat next to him before offering one of the beers.

"Yeah, I think you've earned this," he said with a smirk.

Carter smiled big and took the beer, clinking it against Elias's before he popped it open.

"Hell yeah," Carter said before he took a long drink, and Elias took the first sip with him as well.

"What a night," Elias said after a refreshing "ah" from the cool beer. "Nice to have parties back at the ol' frat house instead of your place."

"Yeah, it is kinda nice," Carter said, leaning back into the couch and kicking up one of his legs up over his knee.

For a second, they both gazed out to the bonfire in front of them where the boys all gathered around, chatting amongst themselves. Elias spaced out in that second but then snapped back to reality when Carter spoke again.

"So how's Mel doing? Haven't seen her in a while," Carter asked.

"Oh, you know," Elias said, pausing to take another sip. "The usual. She's usually busy at work, but she's over at my place in the evenings when I'm not hanging out with you or Jerica."

"Fair, fair," Carter hummed. "She doesn't live too far from here, right? I feel like sometimes I get her and that Evaline chick confused. Not that they look the same or anything, but..."

Elias glanced at him, smirking. "I don't even remember. Have you met Evaline? They're totally different people. I don't know how you'd even confuse them."

"I just forget who's close and who's not," Carter said with a shrug. "I think Evaline came to a party of mine like a month ago or something. She stayed for a minute and then ditched."

Elias scratched the side of his head, squinting as he thought reeeeal hard about this again. He couldn't even really remember how many beers Carter drank today, nevertheless what happened a month ago. Hell, did he even have homework due today? Time was becoming a social construct at this point.

It was a little easier to remember Evaline's visit considering that she didn't even go to HPU, though. But the details were fuzzy. Was that the same day he got Nugget? Hmmm.

"Sounds about right," he said with a shrug. "She doesn't like parties. Especially loud parties like yours, hah."

"Maybe I'll have a chill party one day," Carter mused. "Just to switch things up."

"Maybe," Elias said. "But she goes to Prestige University, so she's only here every month or so."

"That's a lot for someone who doesn't even go here," Carter said with a raised brow.



"I know right?" Elias said with a breathy laugh. "She's got some kind of art sponsorship thing here, so yeah. But I'd like to think she comes back to visit me."

Carter hummed. He knew that Evaline and James were friends, but it was unclear at the moment if it was just a friendship or something more. James was being especially tight-lipped about it, so Carter didn't have any information from him. He'd done a little bit of research on his own, noting that they followed each other on instagram. While they normally might've meant nothing becauase he knew James was almost never on social media, he also knew that it meant something because James went out of his way to follow her back, when he didn't have to.

Carter had a gut feeling more was going on. James often left the apartment unannounced, but Carter noticed when he left without his backpack and then would be gone for several hours on end.

Clearly he was going to meet with someone, and it wasn't for homework.

"She sounds like a chill friend," Carter commented idly.

"She's pretty chill," he agreed, but it looked like he was hiding back thougts for once. "Maybe you could meet her sometime. She comes back next month, I think. Around Halloween, if you wanna throw your chill party then."

Carter hummed. That actually wasn't a bad idea.

"Well, if you'd paid any attention during the meeting, we're actually planning a big house party here for halloween," he said. "I'm the main person in charge of putting it together, so maybe you could help me set the vibes. Obviously I'd want it to still be fun, but maybe we can do a little half-and-half. Like, calm on the inside, crazy in the backyard."

Elias looked like he was deep in thought (or as deep as he could be while in this state) as he took another long sip.

"Everyone's gotta wear a constume," he said with a grin. "No constume, no entrance. And you have to show your invitation that I'll design up with my legit Photoshop skills."

"I like it already," Carter said with a grin. "Costumes required for admittance. Because if you can't dress up on halloween, you're a party pooper."

"Exactly, you get it," Elias said with a small laugh. "I wonder what I'll dress up as. Maybe a dinosaur... or maybe a sexy nurse."

"What do you think I should dress up as?" Carter asked curiously, looking over at Elias with a grin.

Elias looked him up and down like he was deeply analyzing him. "A knight in shining armor, since apparently you go on dates," he said with with a smirk.

Carter snorted, and took another drink of his beer.

"Okay, okay, I can dig it," he said. "What about all our other friends? Because they're obviously being invited too."

"Uhhh," Elias began as he seemed to grab for names. "I bet you a buck that Mel would go as a sexy angel. Bo would probably dress up as the rat from Ratatouille since he's a cook, let's be real. Jerica would refuse to dress up and be a frat boy to blend in. I dunno if you know Daniel, but I guarantee he'd dress up as a chicken."

"Technically, for her, dressing as a typical fratboy would be considered a costume," Carter countered, pointing the tip of his bottle at Elias. "But if everyone else is dressed up as other things, I don't think she'd blend in."

Elias nodded slowly, squinting at the fire again. "Huh," he said. "You're right."

"What about Rek?" Carter offered. "You think Jerica would be able to drag him here?"

Elias smirked. "Probably. She drags him everywhere. I should bring my old banana costume in case he tries showing up without a costume. That way I can force him to dress up."

"I don't know," Carter mused. "Jerica might force him to dress up as something. But a banana suit is a good, solid backup."

Elias hummed. "He should totally dress up as Mozart. Wig and everything. Embrace the pianist side of him."

Carter laughed. "God, that'd be hilarious."

"I should send him some Mozart songs to plant the seed in his brain," Elias mused and then took a sip of the beer again.

"Do it," Carter encouraged, and then synched his sip with Elias.

"So," Carter continued. "Okay. What about Evaline? You said she'd be coming too, right?"

"Ehhhhhh," Elias said with a high-pitched voice. "Probs not. She'd see the words 'frat party' and throw away the invitation."

"You're the one making the invitations, Elias," Carter reminded him. "You can leave out the word frat and just put the frathouse address. You gotta big brain this, man."

He tapped his head.



Elias rubbed his chin like he was actualyl considering it. "Huh," he said. "That is a big brain move. But still, she doesn't like parties, so I dunno."

"Maybe if James went, she'd come," Carter said, taking another sip and looking away.



Elias shot him a look.



"You know about them too?" he said with a smirk before taking another sip.

"I've had my suspicions," Carter said smoothly. "Why? What have you heard?"

"Nothing much, really," he said casually. "Except that the first time she came to visit, she told me and Mel that she hung out with him all day." He squinted again, thinking hard. "Actually, now that you mention it, I think that only happened because she ditched your party. Huh. Small world."

"Huh," Carter hummed, repressing a smile.

He was right. He was right. He knew it.

"Is that so?" he mused. "You know what, maybe if we tell each of them that the other one is going, it'll be incentive."

"Man," Elias said with a grin. "You're really big braining all this, aren't cha?"

"I have to use my big brain sometimes," Carter said. "Gotta use it for party planning. And like, actually getting James out to a social event. Which would be a miracle."

"Heh," Elias said as he took a sip. "Good luck getting him to even dress up. I don't even think I can convince Evaline to dress up either. Why can't they accidentally dress like frat boys too?"

Carter hummed in thought and pursed his lips.

"I mean... we could also just be like 'hey, you have to dress up for the party. C'mon, Evaline's gonna do it too, and so will everyone else there,'" Carter said.

You know, like peer pressure. Standard stuff.

"That sounds like peer pressure," Elias said as if he read his mind.

"It's not like we're forcing them to come," Carter said with a shrug. "It's just a little extra motivation."

"Ehhh, I don't know," Elias said, although a bit less uncertain. "We could just have a separate smaller party if you want to meet her. I don't want to stress either of them out, you know?"

Carter clicked his tongue and looked over to Elias with a sigh.

"Look, it's obvious that they like each other, and I don't know if James has -- I'm just tryna help a brother out, you know?" he said with a small smile.

It looked like the argument was working.

"And I'm tryna help a sista out," he said. "Ev seems like she could loosen up. I just don't know if a big ass party would help with that. Maybe."

Carter shrugged, giving Elias a "fair enough" sort of expression.

"Maybe I could ask Mel to help convince her," he thought out loud. "Would you be able to convince James, though?"

"James and I have known each other for a long time," Carter said. "I think I'll be able to figure something out."

"Oh yeah," Elias said, interest suddenly piqued. "How'd you guys meet, anyways? He's like your total opposite."

Carter took another drink, this time, emptying the bottle. He tossed it into the grass alongside the others and then turned his attention back to Elias.

"Oh, we've known each other since we were kids, really," Carter said. "I think it was... sixth grade? Ages ago. Back in elementary school."

Elias followed his lead in chugging his drink, tipping the can up until it was empty and then throwing it in the same pile.

"That's funny," he said as he wiped his frothy mouth. "Evaline and I have known each other that long too, and we're also opposites. Weird."

"How'd you and Evaline meet?" Carter asked.

"Uhhh," Elias began as he tried to search his memory again. "Honestly, we've known each other for even longer. I think we were paired together in school, and it just kinda stuck. What about you and James?"

Carter looked up into the sky in thought, humming.

He could remember the day pretty clearly in his head. James was the quiet, shy kid, and Carter was the one with all of the friends. Maybe that never really changed that much. But there was one day when Carter walked off the field to get a ball that had gone astray, and he'd run into James, who was hiding behind the fence and a bunch of bushes, crying.

It felt weird to say. Even though things were much different in the present, Carter didn't really want to talk to Elias about why James had been crying that day.

"I don't know," he said with a small smile. "We just kind of hit it off one day, and that was it."

After they'd become friends, though, James had become a bit more outgoing. At least, for a short while.

"I feel that," Elias said with a nod. "Glad you guys are still friends now, though. That's a long friendship right there."

"I'm glad you and Evaline are too," he said. "It's really nice to have friends where you have a lot of history."

Elias looked up at him and smiled, but it was a sad smile. He wondered if he was going to say his thoughts, but he didn't have to wonder anymore when he spoke again.

"Yeah, we're still friends," he said. "But I think we're only friends because we have a lot of history. You know?"

Carter could feel a pang of sadness in his own heart, but he knew that his wasn't as pure-hearted as Elias's. He knew he was bitter, but he mirrored the same sad smile.

"Yeah, I get that. I get that a lot," he said softly.

"You and James are the same way?" Elias asked, looking back at him curiously.

Carter looked off to the side.

"A little bit," he said. "Yeah."

Elias patted his shoulder. "It sucks, man," he said. "But hey, at least you're both happily living together. That's something."

Carter laughed a little and looked back to Elias. Happily living together.

"Yeah," he said. "At least we have that."

The calm music James had playing in his headphones wasn't exactly helping.

Over and over again, he hit the punching bag. He knew why he had so much pent-up tension, and he just wanted to get it out. He couldn't get Carter's stupid, drunken words out of his head. Sometimes, he didn't even know what Carter meant by them, but they just kept chipping away at him slowly. Every once in a while, James would think that today would be the day Carter would push him to the limits of his patience, but then he'd feel pity, and guilty, and he knew Carter was right.

He would always apologize. For everything. Even if it wasn't his fault.

James hit the bag hard, and the punching bag swung back a little too far. He had to catch it as it swung back and brace for it to bring it to a stop.

He held the punching bag in place for a moment, breathing hard.

The classical piano droning in his ears was getting annoying. He ripped a headphone out of one ear and pulled out his phone, pausing the song, and scrolling through different playlists trying to find something else. He'd thought that maybe if he listened to something opposite of what he was feeling that maybe he'd calm down, but it didn't seem to matter. There was this giant knot of anxiety in his chest, and he couldn't seem to punch it away.

He paused for a moment, fixing the wrap around one of his hands where it'd shifted around his knuckles. With a deep sigh, he picked a song and shoved his headphone back in. He started kicking and punching again.





Jerica's ego was still bruised from the lifting competition with Daniel and Bo. Sure, both of them were too nice to rub her nose in it like she deserved. But they'd both beaten her by a solid two hundred pounds and... hmph. She wasn't even going to think about it. But she also wasn't going to go back to that stupid gym where she might run into one of them doing stupid workouts.

So she looked up a random gym that seemed like it was reasonably far enough away she wouldn't have to deal with any of the dudebros she knew, while close enough the Uber wouldn't cost too, too much. She paid the entry fee and then hesitated at the doorway, looking at what sort of equipment she had to work out.

There were rowing machines, weights, leg machines, James, boxing bags-- wait. Her gaze snapped back to him. James? Why was James here? If it'd been probably anyone else she'd have been annoyed that she'd paid an Uber fee to get here to still have to deal with someone she knew. But James could stay. She liked him.

She wandered towards him and raised her eyebrows. For someone as mild as he was, he was going after the punching bag hard. Someone must have ticked him off... or something. It didn't seem possible to actually upset him. Maybe he just didn't have much time to work out with all his studying and stuff so he just crammed a lot in whenever he did come.

It still didn't explain why he was here instead of just at the gym. Maybe he was avoiding the jocks too. She didn't know. But she was going to find out. He completely ignored her as she approached, which was ideal. If he was anyone else, she'd have decided to scare him. But he was too nice for that. And also she didn't know if he punched when he got scared, and she didn't feel like risking her jaw to find out.

So, instead, she came in at an angle so that she appeared behind his punching bag. She punched it from the opposite direction and stepped beside it with a grin. But, then half a second later, her brain processed how badly it'd hurt. "Oh, shit! That's heavy!"

She shook her hand, trying to make it stop smarting.



James's eyes went wide the moment he felt a punch on the other side of the bag, and he saw Jerica's head pop out from behind it. A wave of panic hit him, and he grabbed the punching bag to stop it from swinging, trying desperately to think of how to react, or respond, or anything.

He ripped his headphones out and swung them over his shoulder with a nervous laugh.

"Jerica!" he said a little too cheerily. "Hi. Uh. Hello. You're..."

He cleared his throat.

"Here?"

"Right?" she answered, still shaking her hand but turning her gaze on him and grinning. "I was surprised to see you, too. Whatcha doing here?"

"Oh," James said, with his voice rising a little in pitch. "Just uh, working out a little. You know. Exercise."

"Well, gyms do be da place to get that," Jerica agreed, still grinning. She sobered a bit, looking at him with a question on her face, but then shook it away and brightened again. "Why are you here tho? Are you trying to avoid Dan--" she cleared her throat, "the like jocks n stuff, too?"

"Oh, yeah," James said a little too quickly. "I'm not-- I don't really like running into people I know at-- I mean--"

Why was this a disaster? He could save this. He just needed to get over his initial shock.

"Yes," he said. "It's mostly to avoid all of the jocks and stuff."

"Valid." She nodded for a moment, then hesitated. "Wait, I'm the jock here aren't I? Heh."

"You're an exception," James said. "On the list of jocks I like to avoid, I mean."

She grinned again. "Yeah, you too! I wasn't mad to see you here. Do you... like... come here a lot then?"

James nodded.

"Pretty regularly, yes," he said, then paused. "This is my first time seeing you here, though."

"Oh, uh, yeah, this is my first time here. I'm, uh..." she cleared her throat and glanced around, the nonchalant demeanor faltering ever so slightly. She stepped a little closer and lowered her voice a bit, though it wasn't a whisper by any means. "Yeah, I definitely challenged Bo and Daniel to a lifting competition and got my asssss kicked. So. Yeah. New gym!"

James looked at Jerica with a raised brow and leaned a little on the punching bag with one arm.

"Benchpress or deadlift?" he asked, also keeping his voice low.

"Bench," she muttered, glancing away and face flushing a bit. Then she shrugged it off. "But, like, it was just my... yeah, that's a lie. My shoulder's fine. And I knew I couldn't beat Bo but like..." She flushed a bit more, still not looking directly at him. "It's just like... yeahhhh."

"Benching isn't a good measure of overall strength anyways," James said a little more gently. "We all know you're great at what you do, Jerica. You don't have to prove yourself all the time." He reached over and lightly patted her shoulder, but quickly pulled away. "You know that, right?"

"Heh, yeah, well... that's good. 'Cause, I, uh... yeah." She shrugged, forcing a smile even though it was very obviously forced. "What about you, big man? I didn't know you boxed."

James decided to let this slide. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Clearly, she still felt inferior for not being able to bench as much as two big guys. He didn't think logic would help what was clearly a deeper issue, so he begrudgingly let her flip the spotlight to him again.

"I have for a while," he said. "My dad used to box for a long time, and he taught me when I was a kid. Now, well... it's just what feels right."

"That's cool!" She brightened again, grinning at him.

James attempted a small smile, but he still felt a little awkward.

"Thanks," he said.

"I bet we'd have a good fight." She playfully pretended to hit him, but her hand stopped right before it actually hit him. "J-K, you're too nice. I bet you wouldn't even hit me. And you're too nice so I wouldn't hit you either. It'd be a disaster, really."

"I don't think that could even be called a fight," James said with a slight smirk. "But you're right. I wouldn't hit you."

"Alas," she said, then adopted a ridiculous accent. "The world may never know."

"Shame," James said, his smirk growing. "Or maybe not such a shame. I think I prefer not knowing."

"True tho," she agreed, grinning at him again, then holding out her hands to weigh her words. "Lose. Or beat up James. That's a lose-lose, yo."

"I'm glad we're in agreement," James said with a weak laugh.

"So you just like..." Jerica playfully hit the bag, but much more gently than she had the first time. "Go to town? Or do you like... you know. Punch people n stuff?"

"I haven't been in a ring in..." James started to say, but then realized he was admitting to actually boxing. Which was different from just punching a bag of sand. He laughed again, quickly. "It's been a while. I don't really box anymore. But-- this isn't all I do," he said, patting the punching bag. "I do like, normal workouts as well."

"Do you lift?" she asked.

"Uh... sometimes?" James said slowly. "Nothing like what you guys do, really. I'm not trying to uh... get... big."

"Fair," Jerica said with a nod. "It's kinda boring, honestly. I didn't do much of it -- well I mean, I kinda did, but not like now -- until I had to beat the team. Gotta hold your own, you know? Or... well... at least beat some of them, you know?"

"Understandable," James said, glancing around the gym. It was pretty empty, at the moment, aside from two people on the rowing machines.

"So," he started, before Jerica could reply. "I don't want to uh, keep you from your workout."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Jerica took a step away, giving a playful grin. "You show dis bag who's boss. I'll go do uh... not this. This hurts my hand."

James laughed a little.

"That's why we use gloves, you know," he said.

"Hah, look at you with your big brain, big-braining." She slapped his back and walked off, clearly having no idea which direction she was going. James decided to let her figure it out and hesitantly turned back to the punching bag.

The festering anger and anxiety had fizzled out after talking to Jerica, but maybe that was for the best. His hands were starting to feel it too, even if they were wrapped pretty thickly. In Jerica's words, he had "gone to town" on the punching bag.

He probably needed to take a break.

Rek sat in the center of his couch and sighed, letting his head fall back. The couch. Where Jerica was supposed to be. And wasn't. He'd thought it would make him feel better to have her nearby where he could make sure she was safe. But he'd learned quickly that having her on campus made him more anxious, because now instead of just fearing she wasn't making good choices, he knew she wasn't.

He stood up and cracked his back, considering just going to bed. It wasn't like Jerica hadn't passed out in Carter and James' apartment plenty of times this semester already. She'd be fine. She was safe there.

... she was there.

... right?

He sighed deeply, knowing fully well he wasn't going to sleep now that planted that seed of doubt in his own head. What if she'd left with someone? What if she was in danger? He needed to make sure she was safe, if nothing else. And she hadn't even opened any of the several messages he'd sent her before now.

It was already a bit past midnight, but he silently went in the hall and hoped he wouldn't be disturbing them if he came over. He knocked gently. At first, there was no reply. Rek tried the door, but it was locked. James must be home. He knocked again, a little bit louder, biting his lip in hopes that he was right that Jerica was there and that he wasn't bothering them for nothing.

After a few seconds' delay, he could hear heavy footsteps approach the door, and Carter opened it. Carter almost looked like he was half asleep, but Rek had seen Carter drunk enough times to know that that was, in fact, what his face looked like when he wasn't sober. His long hair was up in a messy bun on top of his head, and he was wearing sweats and a black tshirt that said "nice" on it in plain white font.

Carter looked up at him.

"Cousin collection services?" Carter asked.

Apparently, Carter also knew the sleepy-annoyed-face Rek made when he was coming to get Jerica. He sighed. "Yeah. She here?"

"Dead asleep on the couch, bro," Carter said, pulling the door further open and backing away so Rek could walk in.

Rek felt a weight drop of his shoulders and he let out a sigh of relief as he stepped inside. "Thank gods. I wasn't sure if she was here or not."

"It's a good guess," Carter said, closing the door behind them. He gestured to Jerica who was sprawled mostly-on-the-couch. She had both of her arms under her head and was laying face-down on the couch, her left leg more on the ground than it was the couch. It didn't look comfy. But she didn't look like she cared.

"Might take more than a few pokes to wake her, though," Carter commented.

"Yeah." Rek sighed and stepped forward. "Sorry about... her."

"I'm used to it," Carter said dismissively as he plopped down on the other end of the huge couch. It looked like he had another drink on the table, and he picked it up, taking a sip.

Rek glanced at him, then turned back towards Jerica. Carter seemed... fine. But he would never understand why Jerica liked hanging out with him as much as she did. Still, he felt marginally guilty for snapping at Carter way back on the first day of Morri's class, so he made an effort to be extra-polite to make up for it.

Rek sat down on the couch right above Jerica's head and put his hand on her shoulder, but glanced back at Carter, deciding to take a jab at small talk. "Looks like you guys... had... fun?"

Carter nodded and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "We watched The Wolf of Wall Street and took a drink every time they said fuck. It was hilarious."

"Ah. I've never seen it, but, uh..." He shook Jerica's shoulder slightly. "I take it they say 'fuck' a lot in it?"

"Yeaaaaah," Carter said. "They curse a lot."

Carter laughed a little, but it was a sleepy sort of laugh.

Rek had been dubbed plenty of things throughout high school as he desperately tried to keep Jerica alive. 'Mother hen', 'Mommy', 'Big bubby' -- they were obnoxious, but he didn't particularly care. He'd rather be mommy than wake up and hear that Jerica got hurt because he didn't keep an eye on her. But he had to force down the urge to tell Carter to go to bed. Instead, he smiled thinly. "I'm glad it was fun."

"Yeah, man," Carter drawled. "You should've been here. A shame."

"That's alright," Rek answered, forcing a smile. Maybe this whole small-talk-thing wasn't worth it. He couldn't quite gauge how drunk Carter was, but he knew damn well Jerica wasn't going to be remembering any of this. "I'm not as much fun as she is."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," Carter said quickly. "Don't give me that. You have fun in different ways. With pianos and shit." Oh, fuck you. Rek blinked, forcing himself to keep his face impassive as Carter rattled on. "I just don't know how to play a damn thing anymore. Which is fine 'cause I don't fuckin' care about impressing my family anymore but you..."

Carter pointed his bottle at him.

"You're actually good. I'll give you that. And I'd know 'cause I hear you through our walls all the time."

"Oh, uh..." Rek felt himself flush, not quite sure how to respond to that one. It seemed like Carter had gone from mocking Rek, to mocking himself, to then... complimenting Rek? But it also made him uncomfy to be reminded of the fact that he couldn't stop the noise from traveling. "Thanks. And, uh, sorry if it's uh... you know, if it's annoying, just like pound on the wall and I'll stop."

"Yeah, like I care," Carter said with a loose laugh before taking another chug of his drink. He tossed it aside. Presumably, it was empty. "I don't care. Make noise. I'm not bothered by it."

"Ah, yeah." There was certainly enough noise coming out of this apartment at any given moment for Rek to believe that. He felt sorry for James. It seemed that Carter and Jerica would be more compatible roommates, and him and James. But, then, the world wasn't ready for Carter and Jerica to be roommates. Next door neighbors was bad enough.

"So, like, are you gonna wake her up or are you just gonna sit there and hold her head?" Carter asked, looking at Jerica.

Rek glanced at him, another little prick of annoyance rising up in him. Well, I was trying to be nice, but then, I suppose you don't know much about that. He kicked himself mentally. Stop that. He's not that bad. "Ah, yeah, ha-ha, I'll get her now."

None too soon. He was remembering why he didn't attempt small talk with Carter.

He leaned over Jerica and shook her a bit harder. "Hey, Jer. Wake up."

She groaned and buried her face deeper in her elbow.

"Jer, c'mon," he insisted, shaking her a bit harder. "It's time to go home."

"Your mom's home," she slurred.

"She really won't let the 'your mom' jokes die, huh," Carter mumbled.

"Unlike our actual moms." The instant it was out of Rek's mouth he regretted it. His eyes went wide and he looked back at Jerica.

"Shit, man," Carter said. "Sorry."

"Hey, yeah, no, it's fine." Rek cringed and cleared his throat, giving Carter a tight smile. "I uh, didn't meant to-- yeah, uh. It's fine."

He shook Jerica again, harder this time. Annoyed. Why had he said that? He never mentioned it. It wasn't like self-pity was going to bring either of them back, and, for someone who made as many 'your mom' jokes as Jerica, she was surprisingly sensitive about the topic. But, she needed to wake up. Now. This was exactly the sort of situation Rek wanted to run away from, not have to deal with.

"Maybe, uh," Carter suggested. "Give her a push. Like. Off the couch."

Rek wasn't going to take that advice... yet. But it probably wouldn't help even if he did. She could sleep anywhere when she was passed out. That would just make her that much harder to get gathered up. At least like this he had a chance that he could get her on her feet to stumble back home. She was all solid muscle and surprisingly heavy to have to carry.

"Jerica." He shook her harder, this time pushing with both hands so that it lifted her a few inches off the couch. He let go, letting her fall back face-first towards the cushion in hopes that it would wake her up. But she only murmured and snuggled deeper.

"For fucks' sake," he murmured under his breath, then put both of his hands under her shoulders and lifted her up to a sitting position... mostly. It was awkward. And he was holding the entirety of the weight. "Jerica!"

Her eyes fluttered open and looked confused for a long moment, before she grinned stupidly. "Rek-y." She blinked far-too-long, then threw her arm forward and tackled him back against the couch, hugging him tightly. She murmured sleepily, "Get rekt..."

He sighed.

"Told you, you should've tried just shoving her off," Carter said.

"Yeah... maybe I should have," Rek agreed tiredly. She had him pinned at an awkward angle. There wasn't going to be any getting her up without it being awkward for the two of them, and he wasn't even sure how he was going to manage it then. Jerica had managed to get all of their limbs tangled up in the 0.5 second she'd been awake.

"Y' want me to, like..." Carter trailed off, staring at the two of them with half-lidded eyes.

"Ah, no," Rek said quickly. He wasn't quite sure what Carter had in mind, but he was sure that he didn't want him to do it to Jerica. "Thanks though."

"Your funeral," Carter said as he leaned back into the couch, digging between two of the cushions. Rek had a feeling he was searching for a hidden drink or snack somewhere. Rek watched him for a long moment, feeling even more tired. If he was feeling more charitable, maybe he would have helped Carter look.

As it was, he hooked both of his arms under Jerica's and stood up. But he didn't manage to catch his balance before she shifted her weight, and dragged them both back down to the couch. He sighed loudly. "For fucks' sake, Jerica! Wake up!"

"Damn," Carter said. But when Rek glanced over, he realized Carter's comment was to himself, because he apparently couldn't find anything. Carter then looked over at Rek and Jerica, but it almost looked like he was looking past them. As if he was wondering if there was a drink hidden in their occupied portion of the couch.

At that moment, Rek could hear a door open down the small apartment hall. After a few seconds, James appeared at the edge of the living-room, looking like he'd just woken up. His eyes were tired, and his hair was sticking up, and he was clearly wearing pajamas.

"Did I wake you?" Rek felt a stab of guilt. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," James said in a low, rough voice. His eyes fell to Rek and Jerica on the couch.

"Do you need help?" James asked.

"I already offered," Carter said before Rek could reply. "He said no."

James glanced up at Carter, and for a moment Rek caught a hint of annoyance in his eyes. There was a strange, unspoken tension that seemed to rise in the room. Rek watched in silence, putting the pieces together. He'd heard some shouting the night before, but tried not to think about it too hard. 'Always running away like a pussy ass bitch!' He'd kind of assumed it was... some sort of... a... party-thing. He didn't understand most of the things that happened at parties.

It'd been followed by lots of pounding on a door or a wall or something. He'd been trying not to listen too terribly hard. He'd been mostly-asleep when it was happening and had decided it wasn't any of his business. But it was hard to keep his nose out of it now. It was like an elephant in the room, and Rek wasn't quite sure how to pretend like it wasn't there. Instead, he shifted his weight slightly, trying to get a better grasp on Jerica.

"Uh, sorry," Rek decided to say as the silence stretched beyond what was comfortable. "I'm just... sorry."

"Yeah, James," Carter said. "Go back to bed."

James's eyes flicked to Carter, but then landed on Rek again.

"Are you sure you don't want help?" James asked again.

"Uh, I mean..." Rek would have liked to pretend that he didn't need help. But he definitely did. Jerica weighed as much as he did and was dead-weight at the moment. And he didn't want to dump her onto the floor unless there wasn't another option. "Since you're up..."

James nodded and wordlessly nodded and walked up to them, standing at the side of the couch.

"We can carry her," he said, hesitantly extending a hand to Jerica's back. "How do you want to do this?"

"Doesn't really matter," Rek muttered, getting his arm out from under her so that he could rub his face. "She's not going to remember any of this anyway. We just gotta get her off me."

"Okay," James said quietly before he reached down and brought his arms under Jerica's, pulling her weight up off of Rek.

She grumbled loudly and weakly waved her arm like she was trying to get away, but there was no actual effort behind it. "I don't..like... man-handled."

"Just until you can use your own legs, Jerica," James said as he dragged her off of Rek.

Jerica inhaled sharply and there was a vague sense of excitement to her murmuring as she went "Oh... you're... good."

Rek stood up and slipped his arm around Jerica's back, thankful for the help. Her eyes were closed and she was swaying, but at least supporting her own weight now... heavily leaning on him. But up.

James gently pulled away.

"You're good?" James asked.

"No, you," Jerica murmured, voice barely different from her discontented murmuring.

Rek noticed Carter was on his feet, briefly hovering behind James before he started for the front door. He tightened his grasp on Jerica, pulling her a bit closer, and looked at James. "Thank you. And I am sorry."

"It's okay, Rek," James said, still sounding tired. "Just get her home."

"You make it sound like she's not welcome here," Carter said from the door, making eye contact with James.

"No," James said wearily. "It's just time for her to go home."

"Agreed!" Rek said quickly. He wasn't sure what was going on between them. But it wasn't any of his business. And it also wasn't his problem. Conflict made him so anxious and it was so late and he was tired and James was tired and Carter was drunk, and... no. "It's more than past time that she goes home."

"But if she wanted to stay, she knows she could," Carter added.

"Of course," Rek answered, hoping to soothe the tension. "You've both been exceedingly hospitable and patient with her."

Carter stared blankly at Rek for a moment before he burst into too-loud laughter and opened the front door.

"Yeah, yeah," he said through laughs.

Jerica roused a bit at the laughter, inhaling loudly. "Where... am... we?"

James wordlessly put his hand on Rek's shoulder and looked at him, then the door.

"We're going home, Jer-Bear," Rek murmured, taking a step forward and hoping she followed, still keeping his arm around her back. "You've had a lot of fun with Carter and James. Time to--"

"James!" she slurred happily, eyes fluttering open. "He's good." She blinked towards him. "Oh he's here... you're... you're good."

She pulled away from Rek's arm suddenly and threw herself into James. She hugged him for a long moment then inhaled sharply again. "Oh nooooo... No hug Jame--" she staggered away from him. "Sorry... no hug... sorry."

Rek caught her weight before she could topple over, wrapping his arm around her again. At that moment, James seemed to step in and came alongside Jerica, putting his arm around her from the opposite side. He looked to Rek, like he was going to help her, at least, to the door.

Rek gratefully took the help and stepped forward, glancing towards Carter uneasily. He was probably being paranoid. Carter hadn't actually done anything for Rek to dislike him for... aside from the piano jabs. But that was what he got for going back to the party just then when he clearly should have just gone back to his room. But, still.

Jerica thought that not-funny things were hysterical when she was drunk, and he didn't know if Carter had any drunk antics up his sleeve or not. Didn't know him well enough to anticipate what he might or might do as they walked past.

"Thanks," he murmured as they walked towards the door. He was directing it at James, but then looked back at Carter, deciding leaving him out of the center of attention was a risky move since, again, he didn't know how to placate this flavor of drunk. "Both of you. I -- we -- appreciate kindness to her. She loves you guys a lot."

That much was true.

Jerica, for all her dickhead energy and dudebro vibes, was actually fairly deep and open with Rek. Behind closed doors, of course. Never when she had an audience. But she'd talked about them plenty when it was just her and Rek in their apartment. Carter was cool and fun and threw good parties and had lots of beers. He heard that. Weekly... More than weekly, actually, considering how often Carter and Jerica chose to get shitfaced together.

But it was James that she rambled the most about drunk. It wasn't even a, crush or whatever. Those were easy to pick up on. She more just had genuine admiration for James. James was so nice. And so smart. And so nice. And doesn't like hugs. And is so nice. And buys food. And is nice. He rolled his eyes a bit, thinking of how many times she'd gone on that exact same ramble when she came home drunk.

"And is impressed," Rek murmured, glancing down at James' arm before looking back at his face. She'd come home from the gym rambling about how James boxed and how freaking cool that was. "I hear you are a man of many talents."

Carter let out another loud laugh with a snort. James only looked at Rek with an expression that was hard to read. They made it just out the doorway, and Carter was holding the door open. James slowly pulled away and gave Rek a brief questioning look as if to ask if he had it from there.

"Thanks!" Rek said, pulling Jerica a bit further down the hall. "Good night."

She inhaled sharply again -- her tell-tale kind-of-waking-up -- and her head tipped back as she looked towards the doorway. "Nite...nite... James... Cart-y."

"Goodnight," he heard James say.

"Nite-nite," Carter said back.

Rek turned away and fumbled for his key. He didn't mean to eaves drop, but it was kind of hard not to, since Carter hadn't managed to get their door all the way closed yet.

"Man of fucking many talents, huh. What are you, the main character?" Carter said, his voice hushed, but far more venomous than Rek had ever heard it.

"Funny," James replied in monotone. Then the door shut.

Rek bit his lip and glanced back down the hall. Something wasn't right there. But then Jerica slipped in his grasp a bit, and his focus was fully on her again as he dragged her inside and got her to the couch, then, finally got to go to bed. It was about time.

Evaline sighed, stepping into the building that Lordshire's office was in. She was glad that James had showed her around and pointed this specific building out to her, but even if he didn't, she'd have come earlier and better prepared.

Not that she wasn't.

She was 10 minutes early before the 9am meeting, and she waited outside his door, not wanting to come in too early and disturb him if he was busy. She was dressed in loosely-fitted business casual clothes, and she did feel out of place walking around campus without a backpack, so she opted to not wander around while she waited.

Her leg bounced up and down as she tried to keep her mind busy scouring social media. She had met Lordshire before, and she wondered if he remembered her. That was well over a month ago, and she had no idea if it was a coincidence that his name came up for this specific project, but still...

The man was a bit crazy. She knew that. And Evaline couldn't help but feel nervous.

She looked down at the time on her phone. One minute remaining.

Taking a deep breath in and out, she stood up and walked over to the door with his nameplate, giving it a firm knock.

"Evaline is that you? Come in! The door is open!" Lordy's voice sounded from inside.

Hesitating, she opened the door and bashfully walked inside, taking in the details of his small office. There was already a giant easel and canvas set up and it seemed everything had been moved away, leaving a white sheet hanging from what seemed to be the ceiling.

"Well is it Evaline or not?" Lordy shouted without being seen.

Evaline gawked, not sure what exactly she had walked in to. She turned towards the direction of Lordy's voice but didn't see him.

"Yes, that's me," she said. "...Dr. Lordshire, I assume?"

"Perfect! But for today you can call me..." The white sheet dropped to the floor revealing Lordy wearing nothing except for a leapord print cowl over his special areas, "CAVEMAN LORDSHIRE!"

For a second, Evaline just stared, head completely empty.

She was used to drawing nudity. That wasn't a problem. Models would come in -- professionally -- and they'd stay still while she and the other artists drew and painted. But this? What the hell was this?

"I..." She cleared her throat and started again, looking away. "Um... I'll just... okay."

She needed a second to recover from this.

"Oh make yourself comfortable, I'm not expecting you to get it right on the first attempt, that would be irrational of me." Lordy pointed to the corner of the room next to where Evaline stood, "I have a bunch of paint and cookies and booze over there, feel free to help yourself."

Lordy turned away to face the wall as he practiced various poses, muttering to himself.

Evaline's head felt like a slow sludge, and she couldn't think straight. Was this... real? Or a prank? Was any of this real? Just, what the hell was even going on right now.

"W-wait," she said as she tightly closed her eyes, trying to think. "Isn't this painting supposed to be a simple portrait to be hung up in the library?"

Lordy turned back to face her, "Well yes, I thought this was as simple as it got. No need to worry about wrinkles and details, you know? Unless..." Lordy pointed to the leapord print, "You want me to take this off?"

Evaline felt a nervous laugh escape her throat as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "No," she said as firmly as possible, but it still came out sounding panicked. "No, that's okay. Please keep it on."

"Well alright then," Lordy clapped his hands together, "Feel free to let me know when you're ready!"

"I -- just --" She dropped her hands to nervously laugh at him again, trying to hold eye contact with him, but failing since he was just... well... dressed like a caveman. "I'm just trying to understand," she said as calmly as possible, which wasn't much. "What am I doing, then...?"

"Okay so here was my vision," Lordy struck a superman pose, "You draw me like, but the background will be a bunch of dinosaurs. BUT not living, they have to be dead- like I beat them. So I'm sort of the super caveman, you know?"

This had to be an elaborate prank.

Evaline laughed again, this time more loudly, but still without mirth. "You're joking. Right?"

"Not feeling that one?" Lordy tapped his chin, "Okay, well a backup idea me here like this," Lordy popped a squat and held his hands in front of him, "And we imagine there's this fire in front of me. And in the back there's a whole bunch of other cavepeople standing in awe. So in essence, we're saying I discovered fire. You following?"

Evaline was not following.

"No -- I mean, yes. I mean!" She smiled out of desperation and waved her hands around her. "Did you just... make this all up? Like I said, I was under the impression that this was just a portrait. A normal portrait. Not... this. And I just -- you do know I'm getting graded on this, right?"

"Well," Lordy smiled at her, "Welcome to HPU, my dear. If you want a good grade you better hurry up and grab your paintbrushes then, shouldn't you?"

"I'm not actually -- I'm from Prestige University," she said, feeling the stubbornness return because she couldn't imagine the embarrassment of having this under her portfolio. "I don't get to make up what to draw. It's all for a class. And I was never told that I was going to... you know... so I'm just... wondering. Is this maybe... I don't know... something else? Not for me?"

"Not for yo-" Lordy scoffed, "Do you have any idea how many artists would FLING themselves at the opportunity to draw me? You are in quite a position right now. You show anyone this commission and they'll be drooling over the fact that I even let you close to me."

Evaline stared at him, starting to feel a little more desperate, especially since she already knew that Lordshire was insane, and he certainly wasn't joking.

"I -- I don't think so," she said stubbornly. "This wasn't on my syllabus. I'm supposed to draw you sitting - fully clothed, with a suit - so it can be hung up in the library. No one ever told me about this... caveman... idea."

"Well, I am so incredibly sorry for the lack of information darling but the show must go on. I don't have all day you know? There is a perfectly bland space in the front of the library just WAITING for this portrait to be hung. So CHOP-CHOP, the show must go on!" Lordy struck a pose and held his breath.

Evaline gawked at him, blinking a few times as she stared at his ridicuous pose, but then furiously shook her head. She felt lightheaded as it seemed that all the blood rushed to her face from the embarrassment.

"But -- but the canvas," she protested, pointing at the giant canvas across the room. "You can't possibly think I can do this in a day. From the size of that, this could take weeks. It would take one week, at minimum, if all I did was paint and sleep."

Lordy looked between her and the canvas, "Perhaps you're right." He tapped his finger to his chin, "How long did you say you were in town for?"

"I leave in two days!" Evaline shouted with a desperate, forced smile, hoping that he would understand.

"So what I'm hearing is you don't like me?" Lordy asked, folding his hands.

"N-No," she quickly said, backtracking and waving her hands out in front of her. "No. No, I'm just saying that I have limited time and money. I still have classes to attend, and my stipend only lasts for two days."

Lordy scrunched his eyebrows, "I never understood why these schools treat their future creatives like trash that missed the garbage can. Here!" He walked over to one of his drawers at the side of the room and pulled out a small pouch, tossing it to Evaline. "There's cash in there and a key to a room on the first floor of the plaza. Usually I only let people that like me stay there, but for this I'll make an exception."

Evaline stared at the pouch in her hands, not believing where this conversation was going. This didn't even feel real. The pouch felt heavy in her hands, too, like there was more money in there than he was saying.

"Isn't this... bribery?" she asked quietly with a weak laugh at the back of her throat.

"Yes but I can turn it into a threat it you don't accept it."

Evaline slowly looked up at him to gauge his expression. He stared back with his eyes narrowed. She forced a laugh, clutching the pouch in her hands tighter.

"Ha. Hah hah," she nervously laughed, not sure if he was serious or not. "You... wouldn't... actually, though... Right...?"

"Now then," Lordy clapped his hands together, "All I'm really concerned about at the moment is you finishing the part of the painting with me in it. You can complete the rest at your leisure back at the apartment. I don't really care how long it takes as long as I have it by the end of the semester. Sound good?"

Evaline opened her mouth to protest, but somehow, she knew that Lordshire was wearing thin on patience since all she had done so far was complain and dismiss this ridiculous project. She also realized that he was giving her an out. With this extension, she could ask her professor if this was truly the path she was supposd to take. That way, she could eliminate any possibility that this was all some elaborate joke, and her grade wouldn't tank.

Plus, he gave her a place to stay... as sketchy as that sounded.

"Is this, um..." she began before she trailed off, holding the key in her hands. "Is this the only key?"

"The only one I know of, unless you're gonna copy it without me knowing?" He looked at her, "I'm joking. Yes, that's the only key."

Evaline tensed at the joke, but then relaxed a bit before hesitantly putting the pouch and the key in her bag. All of this felt so wrong, and her skin crawled since she felt so dirty. Dirty that she essentially accepted a bribery (not that she really had a choice), and dirty because she was about to succub and painfully paint Lordshire with his exposed skinny, pale limbs posing for hours on end, wearing nothing but a loincloth.

She made a mental note to not sign her name on the painting when she finished.

"I... okay then," she said in defeat. "I guess... I'll paint you."

"Excellent!" Once more, Lordy struck an awkward pose and grinned happily, staring straight at Evaline, "Feel free to take all the time you need, I have the stamina of an Olympic athlete."

Somehow, she didn't doubt that.

With a shaky breath, Evaline walked over to the canvas and started to pick out her paintbrushes before dalloping the first paints on to the pallete. She stared at Lordshire for about a minute, taking in his features to prepare before she made the first brushstroke, and feeling incredibly awkward and creeped out that he was staring at her back the entire time, unblinking like some sort of demon.

This was going to be a very long week.

Two weeks had passed since Evaline last saw James. It had been an... interesting two weeks, to say the least. When she was painting Lordshire, she kept herself under the radar, not telling James or even Mel and Elias of the traumatizing experience until after she already left. It took two intense days of painting Lordy nonstop on the giant easel, and she only took brief breaks to relax, or whenever she felt her hand cramping up.

By the time she finished, Lordshire called his TA to help her take it to the plaza, and she knew he was judging her hardcore. She judged herself for it, and she was just glad that they were able to walk across the campus with a tarp on the painting, and that she didn't pass anyone she knew. She was also glad that she didn't pass anyone she knew while she was in the plaza, although that wasn't particularly difficult since she was able to slink in and out at hours people were inside.

That was over now, though, and she had plenty of time to finish the background later. She found out that the syllabus did indeed change last minute to reflect the bizarre changes, but she was over being shocked at this point. She was just looking forward to finishing the project and moving on.

Evaline was also looking forward to the weekend.

She checked her phone, listening to a voice memo that that James sent her saying he was stuck in traffic, but would be at her place in about twenty minutes. She just finished her last studio assignment for the week, and now she had nothing else due until Tuesday. That gave her ample of time to relax and unwind this weekend, even when she was still a little stressed since she was part of the annual art show.

Evaline quickly finished cleaning up around her, waved goodbye to her classmates, and then briskly walked away to catch the university bus in time so that she could get to her studio in ten minutes, leaving her ten more minutes to get ready before James arrived.

And that was exactly what she did. When she unlocked her door, she quickly walked in and let the door slam behind her as she raced in her room, changing out of her paint-stained clothes and into something more presentable. Or at least, something nicer, especially since she told him they were going to go to an art museum today. She already picked out an outfit the night before, and she quickly changed into that before combing through her hair and even spraying dry shampoo since she hadn't had time to wash her hair.



By the time all was said and done, she got a text from James saying he arrived and heading to her doorstep. She took a deep breath and opened the door when he knocked, pausing before opening it so she didn't seem too eagar.



James smiled, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder and holding a small dufflebag in his other hand.

"I made it," he announced.

"I see that," she said with a smile as she opened the door wider and then stepped out of the way, motioning for him to come in. "Come in. Thanks for making it."

"And all it took was two hours," James said as he walked in, dropping his bags by the door as he scanned her studio apartment, taking it all in. He nodded slightly. "I like your place."



"Oh. Thanks," Evaline said as she closed the door behind her and then walked past him, giving him the quick tour of his apartment.

There wasn't a lot to show, since it was only a studio, but she pointed out the obvious: the bathroom, kitchen, the small linen closet, and the living area that also served as her room. There was also a smal balcony with a sliding glass door that overlooked a parking lot, but also the city off to the side. She had also already set up an air mattress for him that took over most of the free space in the living room, complete with covers, blankets, and pillows.

"Well, that's about it," she said when she finished. "You can rate my place on Yelp with five stars when you leave."

"I'll have to make a Yelp account first," James said. "But I'll leave a lengthy review about the quality of the blankets and the smell of the furniture that no one will read because it's too much information."

Evaline let out a small laugh. "I expect nothing less from an English major," she said.

"So..." James said, looking around the apartment curiously. "Where's your cat?"

"Oh right," she said with a smile, looking around for Ellie, who was nowhere to be seen. She walked to her bed and then kneeled down to look under it, and there she was, hiding in a box that she used to store items. She was always there if she couldn't find her.

She pulled the box out and then picked Ellie up, cradling the purring tabby before kicking the box back under her bed.

"Lucky for you, she's not that shy, and she doesn't seem to mind being held," she said as she petted her head and then walked over to James so he could touch her.

James was smiling wide as he reached out to pet Ellie's head.

"Oh, look at you," he said in a baby-talk voice to the cat. "What a pretty kitty."

"Want to hold her?" Evaline asked with a smile, already offering Ellie for him to take.

James took Ellie and held her in his arms, cradling her like a baby as he pet her fur.

"I don't even care if I get cat hair all over me," he said.

Evaline laughed, reaching out to pet the side of Ellie's head as she purred from delight.

"And you're wearing all black, too," she said. "But don't worry, I have a lint roller you can use, so we don't have to go out with fur all over us."

James bounced Ellie a little in his arms and danced his fingers out in front of her, and she pawed at his hand playfully.

"Perfect," James said.

"Speaking of," she began after a brief pause, pulling her hand away. "I reserved two tickets to the art museum. We can leave whenever you want." She paused for a moment. "But I also know you had a long drive, so we can relax for a minute. Are you hungry?"

James hummed. "I could eat," he said. "If you have any snacks."

"Lucky for you, I went grocery shopping the other day," Evaline said with a smile as she sauntered to the kitchen and took out a few snacks.

She took out a container that had blocks of cheese that she cut up, along with slices of summer sausage and crackers. This was for James, of course, but she also took out a container of hummus and vegetables for herself.

"I felt a little weird shopping in the dairy and meat aisle," she admitted with a small laugh as she opened everything up for him. "But, hopefully this suffices."

She saw James's eyes light up as he happily reached over with his free hand, still holding Ellie in one arm, and took a chunk of cheese.

"This is perfect," he said, plopping it into his mouth.



After about an hour, they both brushed up the cat hair on their clothes and then left to go to the art museum. She didn't have a car, and it would take a lot longer to get to the museum by bus, not to mention being a hassle since James didn't have a pass.

She did have a Vespa, but she didn't know if James would be comfortable riding it with her.



"It's be a little longer to take the bus, and it's a tad inconvenient since you don't have a pass," she said as she locked her front door then faced him. "We could also split a Lyft or Uber. Or..." She trailed off, wondering if James already wanted to do any of the options she already presented.

James looked to her with his eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Or...?" he asked.

"Well, I do have a moped," she offered. "A Vespa. But we don't have to use it if you're not comfortable with it. I don't mind either way."

"I wouldn't mind," James said. "I didn't know you had a Vespa."

"I guess you'll be learning a lot of things about me that you wouldn't have otherwise known unless you visited," she said with a smile as she started to walk around the back of the building, towards the parking lot.

James followed after her, glancing at her with a smile as a small silence passed between the two of them.

"How long have you had it?" he asked.

"I've had a bike since undergrad," she said as she glanced back at him. "A few years ago. But I sold it when I graduated and bought this one when I moved here at the beginning of summer. It was easier than lugging it across the country."

"That makes sense," James said with a nod. "I imagine it's not very good for long distance travel, which is why you take the bus."

She nodded. "Yeah. Not great for interstate speeds, but it's good enough for city travel."

At that point, they reached the silvery-blue Vespa, and she jingled her keys for a second before taking out two helmets from the compartment, one for her and one for him. It felt like it had been a while since she even had the opportunity to give the second helmet for someone else to use.

"It's pretty easy," she said with a smile. "Just hold on."



She drove through the streets, taking the right turns until the buildings seemed to shorter, more sprawled out, and gradually turning to brick. They reached a long building with a big field in front of it with statues, and Evaline parked the bike before they walked to the front and submitted their tickets.

It seemed that James didn't really mind where they go first, but she knew he was taking a class about Russian history, so she stopped by that section first and stood in front of one painting, examining it with him.



"This one is by a Russian painter," Evaline said with her arms crossed as she examined the painting. "Karl Bryullov. But it doesn't take place in Russia. Instead, he painted the last day of Pompeii."

James hummed, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked at the painting with a critical gaze.

"I only know that because I read the nametag," Evaline said with a smirk.

"Naturally," James said with a small smirk of his own. He looked like he was studying the painting closely.

"But, a lot of art students like to pretend that they know more than they really do," she said with a shrug. "For instance, many of the people portrayed in the painting were painted with their expressions first so he could match the eerie expression of fear that the background displays. All because Mount Vesuvius erupted."

"Yes," James said thoughtfully. "He definitely captured the chaos and despair in the haunting, blood-red clouds and the helpless flailing of everyone's limbs."

Evaline nodded, repressing the amused smirk. "That's right," she agreed. "Many people died that day. Some were captured by the stone's ash, frozen for an eternity. To show the despair, the artist used his own blood to paint the skies."

"Doesn't blood turn brown, though, when it oxidizes?" James asked, putting his hand on his chin.

"Shhh, James," she said in a false serious voice. "Let the painting capture the despair."

"Oh, right," James mumbled. "Sorry."

"And see in that upper right hand corner there?" she continued, pointing to where the skies separated from the red clouds. "A speck of hope. It's probably Zeus himself reaching down and providing light to the people."

"Too bad they all died soon after," James said solemnly.

"Yes," she said, mimicking his tone. "Zeus wasn't very benevolent."

"That's a massive understatement," James said with a small smirk. "But yes."

They repeated this back-and-forth exchange for many paintings across the Russian section, and Evaline found herself having an amusing time with their dry humor exchange. She knew some of the more famous paintings from her art history class, but for every other painting, she made things up on the spot, and James seemed to add on to it.

When they finished, James asked if she wanted to visit a certain section, so she led him to the Impressionists area.



"I admire how serene this painting is," she commented, arms crossed again as she stood in front of him to imagine it. "You can tell the artist was trying to capture a peaceful, summer day."

"This is what things look like when I don't wear glasses," James said with an understanding nod.

Evaline tore her gaze away to face him for a second, raising a brow. "You are wearing glasses for a change," she said. "Maybe you can take them off for some paintings and be able to come up with some brilliant analyses that us perfect-sight people wouldn't think of."

James pursed his lips and nodded, before he took off his glasses and then squinted at the painting.

"Maybe impressionists were just visually impaired," he theorized. "They painted things to look blurry because that's what they saw."

Evaline hummed. "Maybe I can falsify my sight by painting something while wearing your glasses and then become the next big Impressionist artist," she mused.

"It might damage your eyes, but people do crazier things for the sake of art," James commented.

"That's right," she said while glancing over at a nearby Vincent Van Gogh painting. "Like cut off your ear."

"I don't know if I could ever make it as an artist, though," James said. "I like having ears too much."

"An admirable thing to want," she said with a nod. "Good thing you're not an artist, then. Just a historian and writer."

"You may not see my work in an art museum, but maybe I'll make a cameo in a documentary one day," James said with a small smile.

"Oh yeah?" Evaline said while mirroring the smile. "And what documentary would that be?"

"Something about how major movements in our culture have brought us where we are today," he said with a shrug. "I don't know."



Several hours passed since they entered the art museum, and she knew that they barely even saw half of it. They were so preoccupied analyzing each painting and bouncing goofy commentary back and forth that the museum closed before they could even finish. She did figure that they'd be there until the museum closed, but she didn't think they'd spend so much time on only half the section. Still, it was enjoyable, and she wouldn't change a thing.

She led James back to the Vespa and didn't tell him where she was going next, instead deciding to surprise him. He didn't have a lot of time to ask, either, since they couldn't talk while riding. After some time, she finally pulled up to a homey restaurant with outdoor seating. It had a similar environment as the first restaurant he took her to the first day, and it was also vegan-friendly too, of course.

James seemed pleasantly surprised that she had already submitted reservations, and they both entered the restaurant and decided to sit outside next to a heat lamp for warmth. The evening seemed to go by fast as they ordered food, chatted, and then ate, enjoying the atmosphere and each other's conversations. They ended up talking a lot about the museum that sparked other topics relevant to their lives, like how she had to make a painting in undergrad that was inspired by at artist they examined today.

By the time they finished and they paid their own bills, they went back to her apartment, and continued their friendly conversations with one another then.

It was a nice way to spend a Friday.

James slept well through the night, waking up to Ellie stepping on his bed and attempting to sit on his face. He rolled over and sat up before she could stick her butt in his face again, and he picked her up off the bed. Ellie let out a little "a," like she was trying to tell him she was hungry or something. It was then that he heard Evaline over in the kitchen, opening cabinets and getting things out.

James scooped Ellie up in his arms as he slipped out of bed and got to his feet, greeting Evaline with a good morning before they both started getting ready for the day. James made sure to eat the non-vegan food Evaline offered since he knew she wouldn't eat it after he left, and they fed Ellie too, who happily nibbled on her cat food while James and Evaline started getting dressed and ready.

The two of them got ready to go and gave each other mutual compliments that they looked nice when they stepped out and saw each other.



Evaline had to leave early for the show to set up, so she left James with a spare pair of keys as he hung back at the apartment working on some homework until it was about time to leave. He sat on Evaline's couch with Ellie in his lap and a book in his hands, trying to get ahead on reading. He was almost done with a chapter when he checked his watch. He'd need to leave in about 15 minutes if he wanted to get there on time, but he wanted to get there a little early with some buffer time, so he figured he'd start getting ready. He gently set Ellie of to the side of the couch, ignoring her whiny meowing protests now that he was no longer giving her attention.

He put his book away in his backpack and found the lint roller, ridding himself of all the cat hair for the third time that morning. In the middle of getting the hair up off his pants, he heard a knock at the door.

Maybe Evaline was expecting a package.

James glanced back at Ellie to make sure she wasn't going to run for the door. She seemed preoccupied with the leg of the couch, which she was pawing at.

He held the lint roller in one hand and opened the door with the other.

It was Elias, and he was waving with a grin and a small bouquet of flowers, but then his grin faltered when they stared at each other.

"Uhhhh," Elias drew out in confusion. "Why the hell are you in Evaline's apartment?"

James stared back at him, looking Elias up and down. He had a backpack on and he looked like he was dressed up nicer than James had ever seen him - presumably for the art show. James knew Elias was coming, but he thought Elias would've communicated with Evaline. She didn't seem to know he was coming.

It was then that James realized Elias had meant it to be a surprise. That explained the flowers. The lack of announcement.

"I came to visit her for the weekend," James said. "Planned this trip two weeks ago. Evaline had to go to the show early to set up. I'm assuming you're here to see her."

"Innnnteresting," Elias said instead, repressing a grin. "I didn't know you guys were seeing each other."

James blinked slowly.

"I'm just visiting," he said steadily, meeting Elias's eyes for a second before quickly changing the topic. "What about you? I was going to leave for the show in a minute. Do you need a ride over?"

"I'm actually visiting," Elias said as he finger-quoted in the air with both hands. "And also to support her for her art and stuff. I didn't realize she'd leave already, but if you're heading over there too, sure, let's ride together."

"Sure," James said, glancing behind him, and then back at Elias.

"Did you, uh..." James started to ask, looking at Elias's backpack with a questioning expression. Evaline didn't seem to be expecting him, but Elias looked like he'd come with an overnight bag.

Elias darted his eyes between him and the room behind him. "Are you going to let me in so I can put my stuff down?" he asked.

James quickly backed away from the door, holding it open for Elias to come in.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"All good!" Elias said with a smile as he walked right in, throwing his backpack to the floor. He walked ahead and placed the bouquet on the table, but didn't immediately let go of it.

"Do you think it'd be obnoxious if I gave her the flowers during the show so that she'd have to carry it around all day?" he asked curiously, looking over his shoulder at James.

"Maybe put it up a little higher," James said, not directly answering. "On the counter. So the cat doesn't play with it."

"Cat?" Elias said instead, interest piqued as he left the flowers on the table. "Ev got a cat? Where?"

James didn't feel like getting more hair on himself, so he simply pointed to Ellie. Her head and paws were sticking out from under the couch as she was kneading the carpet.

Elias seemed to follow his finger until his eyes landed on paws sticking out under the couch, and he immediately jogged up to it, kneeling down and reaching under to pet her.

"I can't believe she has a cat," he said with a laugh as he tried to peel her away from the carpet. Ellie seemed disgruntled, her claws sticking on the carpet and not letting go despite him pulling her away. "Just let me pet you," Elias mumbled as he continued to pull her away, one inch at a time.

As Elias harassed Ellie, James finished lint-rolling his pants and grabbed the flowers off the table, setting them on the counter so they were out of Ellie's reach.

"If you're coming back here, you'll likely get more chances to pet her," James said. "I think she's just not in the mood."

"Oh. Right. Smart," Elias said with a nod, then let Ellie go so she could scurry back under the couch. He got back up to his feet and then brushed the cat hair off his khakis, but luckily it seemed to blend in.

James offered him the lint-roller anyway.

"Nah," Elias simply said as he walked to the fridge, presumably to get a snack. He reached in for a moment but then looked back over his shoulder with another silly grin on his face. "She has meat and cheesesticks in her fridge," he commented.

"Those are mine," James said simply, refusing to take the bait.

"Uh huh," he said with a smirk and then grabbed a cheesestick and closed the fridge. "Ready to go?"

James pulled his keys out of his pocket and spun them on his finger for a moment before catching them in his hand.

"Been ready," he said, walking ahead of Elias to the door.

Elias quickly followed him and they stepped out of the apartment. He spoke again while James locked up.

"So, you're staying for the weekend, huh," he mused.

"Yep," James said as he started walking briskly towards the parking lot.

"And you've both been planning it for two weeks?" Elias continued, catching up to him as he walked by his side.



"Yep," James said again, walking up to his car and unlocking it with a beep.

"So you're pretty close to her, huh?" Elias said, walking around the passenger side.

James watched Elias as he opened the car door and got in, waiting as Elias did the same before answering.

"We're good friends, yes," James said as he buckled up and turned the car on.

"That's funny," he continued casually as he buckled up himself. "She never invited me or Mel for a whole weekend before."

James knew exactly what Elias was getting at, and he couldn't help but be nervous. Nervous that this would leak out if he said too much. He knew Elias hung out with Carter all the time.

"Maybe she never invited you because you never asked," he said nonchalantly as he pulled out his phone and plugged the art show's address in his phone and let google maps do the hard work of navigating a new city. He stuck his phone in the cup-holder by the driver's seat, where he could glance at it when needed.

"Ohhhhhhhh," Elias drew out with a nod like this all made sense. "So you asked to visit. I see, I see."

"Mmhmm," James said as he pulled out of parking spot and stared driving out to the street.

Elias seemed to be revelling in light of this new information.

"You guys met on the first day of school, right?" he asked, but didn't give him any time to answer. "That's what she told me."

"That's correct," James said, hoping that the entirety of their fifteen minute drive wasn't going to be all about him and Evaline.

"She said you guys hung out all evening," Elias went on, continuing to think out loud.

"Yeah," James said casually. "We like to hang out when we can."

Elias hummed for a moment, letting a brief silence fill the air. But it only lasted for a few seconds.

"So, you probably see her whenever she visits HPU, right?" he continued.

James glanced at Elias.

"Usually," he said, leaving it vague.

"I don't know if she'll have a lot of time to see you the next time she comes, though," he said nonchalantly, shrugging. "'Cause she already has plans. And also, because she has to finish that really weird painting. Have you heard of that? So weird."

"She's told me a little bit about it," James said. "I feel bad that she's having to work with Lordshire. It sounds like he's made things very awkward on more than one occasion."

Eliass nodded again. "Hm. Oh yeah. There was that one time he almost gave her a concussion."

"Among other things," James muttered, mostly to himself.

"But anyways, yeah," Elias went on. "She'll be pretty busy. That sucks."

"Well I hope you two have fun doing whatever it is you have planned," James said.

"A Halloween party!" Elias announced loudly with a grin. "That's what we're planning. Or at least, what I'm planning. And she said she'd go, so you should totally come too. It'd be fun."

James glanced over at Elias, his eyes flicking over to him a few times, between Elias and the road. He squinted at him in confusion and disbelief.

"A party?" he asked.

"Yeah," Elias said like it was obvious. "It's how people socialize."

James scoffed. "I know what a party is, Elias," he said tiredly. "I'm-- I'm just-- Where? Why? Is it just you and-- oh, nevermind. It doesn't matter."

He just couldn't imagine Evaline wanting to go to a party very much.

Elias seemed pleased nonetheless. "Why?" he teased. "Would you go if it was small and Evaline was there?"

"If I was even invited," James said, still giving Elias furtive, suspicious glance. "Maybe. I don't know any of the details yet. I'd have to be not working, for one."

"Cool cool cool," Elias muttered as he got out his phone and seemed to make a note. Or maybe send a text. Or maybe just look at his notifications. It was hard to tell, what with Elias's short attention span. It could've been anything.

"I'll give you the deets later after I design the wicked invitation," he said with a grin after a few seconds, putting his phone back in his pocket.

"So this is a party you're throwing," James said like a question, giving Elias another look.

"Pffft," Elias scoffed as he dimissed his claim by a wave of his hand. "Nah. It's..." He faltered for a second. "BBBBBBbooooooo," he drew out. "Bo's throwing the party. Yeah. He's making cookies shaped like bats and pumpkins. Also you know Bo, dude's a good host."

James wasn't sure what Elias was lying about, but there was something off. He just didn't know exactly what.

"Yeah," he said neutrally. "He is."

"And we've got a biiiiiig space," Elias continued eagerly. "It'll be really chill."

"Sounds like it," James said, glancing down at his phone to make sure he didn't miss the next turn.

"So, does that mean you'll come, then?" he asked.

"Date. Time. Day of the week," James said.

"October 31st is Halloween," Elias said, then paused to take out his phone. "That's, uh... oh, nice, it's on a Saturday, how convenient. And it'll be, uh... night."

"I work Saturdays," James said.

"That's funny," Elias said innocently, putting his phone away again. "Today's Saturday, isn't it?"

James pressed his lips into a line and shot Elias a small glare.

"I'll think about it," he muttered.

Elias smiled victoriously. "Okay, but one thing, though," he said. "It'd be cute if you kept it a surprise from Evaline. Imagine you guys meeting there without even knowing you'd be there. That's like Cinderella."

James couldn't help it. He laughed as he pulled down a street that led to the building where the show would be.

"Elias, what are you even trying to do?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" he said with a little laugh of his own. "I'm just trying to get my two friends to meet at a party."

"Elias, I have a no-party streak going," James said. "Aside from the ones I unwillingly pass through in my--"

"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaames," he groaned, interrupting him. "Why are you such a party pooper."

James smirked, glancing at Elias.

"Okay, but why do I need to keep it a secret?" James asked. "If it's just a little 'halloween party.'" With his hands on top of the wheel, he did air quotes.

"Because," Elias said slowly, like he was stalling. "Iiiit's... her... birthday. Yeah, born on Halloween. Spooky surprise party."

"And if I asked her when her birthday was--"

"That would make it so obvious, bro!" Elias cut in. "Have you never had a surprise birthday party before?"

"I actually haven't," he said.

"You know, that makes a lot of sense," Elias mumbled.

"So, fine," James said, deciding to entertain the thought, though reluctantly. "I come as a surprise. Is that all?"

"Oh, yeah," Elias said casually. "You also need a costume. Wanna borrow my banana costume?"

James shot Elias another glare.

"A costume," he drawled.

"Yeah," Elias said with two quick nods. "It's like an outfit when you dress up as--"

"Elias," James interrupted. "I'm not wearing a costume."

"Aw, come on," Elias said, now shooting him puppy dog eyes. It seemed that he had now resorted to begging.

"I refuse to dress as any fruit or vegetable. I'll look ridiculous," James retorted.

Elias hummed for a second. "What about a horse? I got an extra horse mask."

"Elias, I swear," James groaned.

"Or maybe a cowboy?" he continued to think out loud.

James was ready with another complaint, but that made him pause. He glanced at Elias, his glare faltering for a second.

That was, at least, a cost-effective option. He essentially already dressed like a "cowboy" for work, just not as cheesy as the tacky costumes in halloween stores.

"Ohohoho," Elias said with a grin as he seemed to detect him mulling this over. "Need a cowboy hat? I think Mel has one you can use. It's pink, though."

"No," James shot back.

He... had one. But he wasn't going to admit to that.

"What about cowboy boots? You got that?" Elias said.

"I will figure something out," he said stiffly."

"And maybe a bandana."

"I'm good, Elias," James said firmly.

"So that means you're coming then?" he said with a grin.

"Get me an invitation first and then I'll give you a hard yes or no," James grumbled as he pulled up to the University Art Center and pulled into a parking spot.

Elias looked pleased. "Sweet," he said, and was distracted by his phone again, tapping away.

James sighed as he got out of the car, closing the door behind him.

"Say," Elias continued after a hesitation as he also got out of the car and closed the door before putting his phone in his pocket. "Do you think Evaline would dress up as a cowgirl?"

James locked up the car, and it beeped. He started walking towards the Art Center, forcing Elias to follow.

"I don't know what she'd want to dress up as," James said, unable to hide the small amount of annoyance slipping into his voice.

"But if you had to guess," Elias went on anyways, already by his side. "What do you think it'd be?"

James let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"I don't know," he muttered, seeing a banner hanging over the Art Center's entrance, titling the event. There were some streamers and posters outside as well.

"Ya know, for a creative dude, you're not very creative sometimes," Elias commented.

"Thanks," James said sarcastically as he made his way to the front door, pulling it open for Elias and waving his hand for Elias to go in first.

"Thank you," Elias said with a dramatic wave of his hand as he entered.

James sighed and followed after.

Elias and James walked around the Art Center for a bit, but it was very crowded and busy, so finding Evaline turned out to be more of an ordeal than he'd expected. It didn't help that Elias kept dragging them around to random student's art booths, and he couldn't help but notice it was always a booth with attractive women around Elias's age. He sighed as Elias was drawn to one particular abstract art piece that had a girl with big, brown eyes and long curly hair that reached her middle-back.



James couldn't help but notice that Mel and the girl Elias was drawn to had similar features. Evidently, Elias had a type. James hung back behind Elias, scanning the crowd for Evaline as he idly overheard their conversation.

"Hmm, this is quite the masterpiece," Elias said, his eyes drawn to her nametag around her neck. "...Julie."

"Oh, thank you," Julie said with a smile.

Elias nodded aggressively. "Yeah. The colors and the lines are..." He then brought his hand to his mouth for a chefs kiss. "Exquisite."

"It's one of my top abstract pieces," Julie continued, looking pleased. "Are you an art student yourself?"

"Oh yeah," Elias lied. "Do lots of art. With my partner over here." He then nudged James. "Art partner," he corrected. "We do art."

James turned to look at Julie distractedly, giving Elias a brief stare of annoyance that he was dragged into this fabricated backstory just so Elias could chat up an art student he thought was cute.

"What do you think about this masterpiece, Davie?" Elias said in a low voice.

"David," James corrected, even though that wasn't even his name. "And I think it's very expressive."

He didn't feel like putting more effort into the compliment.

"Come on, you can do better than that," Elias said with a light elbow nudge, then turned back to Julie. "Man's a great art critic. He keeps me on my toes."

James took in a slow breath.

"Julie, right?" he asked. "What was your goal with this piece?"

Julie nodded, still smiling, albeit a little confused with this whole interaction. Rightfully so.

"Well, I created this piece when I was in-between homes," Julie started to explain. "I was moving across the country, and processing what it's like to dig up roots from somewhere you have a lot of history, and plant roots somewhere new. I wanted the viewer to feel a sense of sentimentality, grief, but also hints of hope at something new and beautiful that could come of it. The strokes in the middle are meant to resemble letters, but they're unclear because my path was unclear. Like an unfinished, uncertain story."

James was glad that he asked, because the story behind the piece was personal and valuable, and he didn't want to tear apart something that Julie clearly held close to her heart, even if he didn't know her at all. He felt bad that he'd been dragged into this when Julie seemed like a genuinely nice person, and Elias was just trying to butter her up for... well, James didn't even know.

For fun?

And why was he using James to do it? James was exasperated beyond being able to find an explanation.

"Wow," Elias breathed out when Julie finished. "That was a beautiful source of inspiration, Julie. I can see the elements incorporated throughout the painting."

James could tell Elias was using all of his mental energy to fake understanding. James had a feeling Elias couldn't see any of that in her painting. James could, in a sense. He could see how someone would express those feelings in that way.

"Oh, thank you," Julie said with a smile, then turned back to James. "Did that answer your question?"

He nodded. "Yes," James said. "Thank you so much for sharing. You've definitely achieved your goal."

Before Elias could say more, James tugged on his sleeve. Hard.

"I think we need to get going now, though," he said to Julie politely. "We have to meet a friend. Isn't that right, Elias?"

"That's right, Davie," Elias said with a wave of his hand. "We have so many other pieces to critique."

Julie just looked even more confused, but she forced a smile and a small wave back. "It was nice meeting you," she said as they walked off.

James started to speed-walk through the crowd, letting Elias catch up with his long legs.

"Bro, you're a genius," Elias said as he effortlessly caught up to his side. "You really are an art critic, huh."

"I let her do all the work," James said. "All I did was ask a question."

"You seem to always know how to get shy girls to talk," Elias mused.

James didn't dignify that with a response as he continued to scan the crowd, finally spotting Evaline, who seemed to be talking to an older couple examining her work. He turned and made a beeline for her booth.

"Slow down, man," Elias said as he speed-walked up to him.

James did slow down, but not because Elias told him to. It was mostly so that he didn't look like he was in a rush walking up to the booth when Evaline inevitably saw him. As they walked up, he could see she had a collection of assorted sketches of people hung up around her booth. All of them were detailed and realistic, and there were some painted portraits of people as well. It looked like she experimented with different techniques for lighting and shading, using different colors as undertones to create a certain mood.

On the lower side of the booth, there were paintings of stills of various inanimate objects, along with a very warm-toned sunset.

In the center of the booth there was a table with a screen display playing a video, with soft music in the background.



James and Elias walked through the booth and started looking at things while Evaline continued to talk to others, but she did send them a few glances of acknoledgement. It seemed like she was still busy at the moment, though, so James waited until she was free, and instead broswed her pieces, looking at them more closely.

He noticed that Elias was drawn to the hand-drawn video of a person dancing, and he was watching it all the way through.

"I think she had been working on that for a few months," he said quietly to not disturb Evaline's conversation.

James joined Elias at his side, watching it play as well. From what he knew of hand-drawn animation, a few months was still impressive for the runtime the video seemed to take up when only one person was working on it.

When the video came to an end and faded to black before looping to the start again, James glanced back at Evaline, noticing that she was finally approaching them. He turned to her attention with a smile.

"You made it," she said with a smile, and then her eyes drifted up to Elias, who was giving her an awkward wave. "And... you came with Elias," she said like she was trying to piece an a timeline together.

"Hey Ev," Elias said casually, patting James's shoulder. "Yep. Me and James are here to support you and your arts."

"Elias stopped by your apartment earlier," James explained. Leaving the and didn't expect to see me instead of you as an implied take-away.

"Yeah, thought I'd surprise you," Elias said with a shrug. "Was surprised to see James, though. I didn't know you guys hung out."

Evaline narrowed her eyes at him and tightly pressed her lips together, looking dismayed. He spoke again before either of them could say anything, though.

"But anyway, we're here to support our girl. I think your art is the best out of everyone's here," he said.

"You didn't even really see my art," Evaline countered.

"Yeah, but I can tell it's better."

"I'd love to hear the stories behind some of these pieces," James interrupted. "If you have time."

"I've got plenty of time," she said to James, ignoring Elias for now as she walked over to her booth to point out some of the paintings.

She spent a minute or two talking about some of the origin stories behind her pieces. It turned out, many of the sketches were from her people-watching in a park, and she'd choose people who seemed to stick around the same location with a certain energy she wanted to capture. She'd go through some of their stories of why she picked them, but in all the stories, she'd always show the people her final sketch. She liked to see their expression light up afterward, and a few times, some people were moved to tears. She always gave the original copy away in those instances though, so she didn't have anything to show for it.

James and Evaline talked for a few minutes, and James noticed that Elias was watching them from a distance, giving them space and not trying to join their conversation. James didn't mean to leave Elias out -- it would just be a lot easier to not do so if Elias could talk to either of them without bringing up their friendship and dropping hints all the time. It was tiring.

"That about sums up the sketches," Evaline finished up. "I know it's not as particularly exciting as what some of the other students may say, but sometimes, art doesn't have an exciting origin."

James offered Evaline a small smile.

"I don't think it always has to have a long, deeply involved story. It's more than enough reason to just make things because you want to," he said.

"Something tells me you understand because you've done the same before," she said with a small smile of her own. "Writing may not be visual art, but it's still art nonetheless."

"I'm glad you think so," he said, his smile growing a little bigger. "I guess that means I don't have to pretend to be an artist, then. I already am one."

"Hm. I suppose you're right," she said with a pleased smile. "You fit right in."

James grinned proudly.

"Yeah," he said, sparing a quick glance in Elias's direction. Elias had wandered over to a nearby table with free hor'derves and champagne and he was currently abusing the 'free' element of it by taking what looked like a lot more than the culinary students running the table expected.

"Huh," he said softly, his gaze stuck on Elias for a moment.

"He insisted on coming," Evaline explained, like there was a needed justification on why Elias was attending an art show when he clearly knew nothing about art. "I just didn't realize he'd show up to my apartment first. Sorry."

James gave Evaline a look of understanding.

"Don't apologize. It's okay. I'm glad he came to support you," he said. "This is important."

"Oh. Thanks," she said softly, then glanced at Elias again. "Although, this is pretty much it. I did say I could just send pictures instead," she added.

"But having someone here in person makes a difference," James said. "As opposed to just through a screen."

"That is true," Evaline said with a smile, fixing her attention back to him. "It's a whole new experience having someone in front of you rather than just communicating through screens."

"That it is," James said with a warm smile.

"So," she said a brief pause, glancing at her booth behind her. "Since you're here, and you have my attention... Did you want to know about anything else?"

"Actually, yes," James said. "I want to know about this animation that you slaved hours and hours on."

"Oh, hah, yeah, that," Evaline said as her eyes drifted to the screen where it replayed the video. "That was actually my application to an animation school. I'm thinking about transferring, but... we'll see. It's kind of a new career path."

"I think that's exciting," James commented. "The movement in the animation is really natural and fluid. You've done a really great job."

"Thank you," she said with a small smile. "I focused more on the fluidity since it's two people dancing. Each frame didn't take that long to sketch, but stacking thousands and thousands of them took a lot longer than I realized."

"That sounds absolutely mind-numbing," James said. "But clearly, it paid off."

"Well, not yet," she said. "I only finished a few weeks ago. Right now it's my most time-intensive piece on my portfolio, though. And it seems that people like to watch it, so... I guess it did pay off, a little bit, for that aspect."

James smiled.

"Are you proud of your work?" he asked gently.

"I'd... say so," Evaline replied after a brief hesitation. "It is nice to look back on it and know that I finished it."

James nodded.

"Well, I'm proud of you too," he said.

Evaline smiled and paused for a moment, watching him. "I'd say I am too, but I don't think I've ever seen any of your works," she said. "How unfair."

James looked off to the side innocently and shrugged.

"Oh, there's plenty of time for that in the future," he said with a small playful smile. "But today's your day."

Evaline checked her watch. "It will be in two hours until this closes," she said. "Can you babysit Elias for that long?"

James laughed.

"I think I can manage it," he said, stepping back and looking back into the crowd. The culinary students were shooing Elias away from the table, but it looked like he'd sneakily stolen away a glass of champagne before he scurried off. "I should... probably go," he said with another small laugh. "But I'll come back here in two hours?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I'll be here."

"Alright," James said, hurrying off to Elias before he stole more food from another snack table.

The next two hours weren't as stressful as he thought they'd be. Eventually, Elias stopped talking about James and Evaline and they were able to talk about other topics. Elias made a lot of silly comments to James about people's art pieces (but quietly, so they didn't overhear him making fun of them) and James had to try not to laugh. Occasionally, Elias would make jokes that were clearly referencing things James didn't get, but a few of them he thought were funny.

Elias made a few more stops at some booths with free food samples, but James was there to make sure he took portions in moderation, and with respect to the people who made it.

When the crowd started thinning out, James checked his watch, and saw that the show was set to end in ten minutes. James dragged Elias away from a booth where he'd started chatting up another girl and they found their way back to Evaline's booth with five minutes to spare. She saw them walking up and wrapped up a conversation with someone lingering by her booth, and then they helped her pack up and tear down before they headed out.

They were back at her apartment, and after ordering food to Evaline's apartment and having dinner, they started setting up the living room for when they'd eventually sleep. They'd all gotten changed out of their nice clothes into pajamas and sweats, and the three of them stood in the kitchen, looking at the air mattress and Evaline's bed, as if everyone was thinking the same thing.

Who was going to sleep where?

Evaline's couch was too small for even a short person to lay down on, and Evaline didn't have another mattress or sleeping mat.

Evaline opened her mouth to say something, but Elias (of course) beat her to it.

"The mattress isn't that small," Elias commented. "James and I could share it."

"I'll just sleep on the floor," James said, not really wanting to be that close to anybody while he slept.

Elias looked at him like he was crazy. "Bro, that sounds like it'd hurt your back."

"It's like camping, but inside," James defended.

"But you don't even have a sleeping bag."

"Blankets are just sleeping bags without zippers," James retorted.

"There's like, only two blankets," Elias continued.

"I have more," Evaline corrected.

"Still," Elias went on anyways. "Feels wrong. You're the host, Ev, so why you letting your guests sleep on the floor."

Evaline already started to move to the linen closet. "I'm not going to force James to sleep with you, Elias," she said.

"Well, when you put it that way..."

James rolled his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Elias, just let it go," he said wearily.

"Okay, okay," he said innocently with his hands up. "I'll try not to say 'I told you so' when you wake up with arthritus."

"You don't get arthritis from sleeping on the floor," James said, giving Elias a 'done' look.

"Are you sure?" Elias egged on. "I'm a nurse. I know what arthritis is."

James looked to Elias, meeting his eyes as he interlocked his fingers and stretched out his hands, cracking his fingers, and then his knuckles.

"Arthritis, here I come," he said dryly.

Elias scrunched his face. "You need to go see a chiropractor or something, dude," he mumbled.

Evaline then walked back to the room with a stack of blankets, wordlessly handing it over to James to take. She then walked back to her bed and handed him one of her pillows.

"I hope this is comfortable enough for you," she said. "Do you want anything else?"

"No, I'll be fine," James said with a thankful nod as he walked over beside the air-mattress and started to set down the pillow and blankets.

Evaline nodded and then sat on the foot of her bed since Elias's air mattress was flushed with the other side of it. Elias looked between her and James, turning his head back and forth.

"So this is comfortable," he said idly. "Just me sleeping between two pals."

James adjusted the blankets on the floor for a moment before sitting down on them. Ellie seemed to assume the blankets were for her as well, and she came and sat down right in the middle of them. James picked her up so he could stretch his legs out, and she meowed, but then he placed her back down but on his lap. She seemed content enough with that.

"What's better than this? Friends being pals," James said.



Elias squinted at him. "Did you just reference a vine?" he asked.

"I can and I did," James replied, glancing at Elias with a slight smirk.

"Huh," he hummed. "You're more of a meme master than I thought you were."

"I think you're the master," James said. "I just know a few."

Elias didn't reply to that since he became distracted by his phone again for a second as he glanced at his notifications.

"Hey, you know who we're missing for this to be a true sleepover?" he randomly asked, directing the question more at Evaline. "Mel. Sucks she didn't make it. She got you the flowers, though."



"Yeah," Evaline agreed as she watched him tug his backpack across the bed to fish something out. "We are missing her energy, but I don't think there'd be room for--"

"Voila!" Elias interrupted, revealing three face masks that he showed off in his hands for the both of them to see. "She gave me these so that she'd be here in spirit, because if she were here, she'd have us all do face masks."

James was currently occupied with petting the cat, but he did look over to see the reveal.

"That's very sweet of her," James said.

"So you'll do it?" Elias asked as he whipped around and leaned closer to him with the masks in his face.

"Y...yes?" James said, leaning away.

"And you too?" Elias asked again as he whipped around to the other side to Evaline.

"Uh... I guess," she said, staring at the masks in his hands.

"Cool," Elias said with a smile, already getting up to his feet and standing on the middle of the air mattress. "Our pores are about to become invisible."



Elias handed them the facemasks and James stopped petting Ellie so he could open his. He shook off the cat cat hair so his hands were free and clean.

"Here you go," he said as he handed James a face mask with potato packaging. "You get the potato one because you're like a potato."

"I'm flattered," James said flatly as he took the sheet face-mask, opening the top of the package.

"What does that even mean?" Evaline murmured, mostly to herself.

Elias ignored her question and then handed her a face mask with cactus and aloe packaging. "And you get this one because you're a cactus aloe plant."

"...Huh," she simply said, more of a question really, as she took the mask and inspected it.

"And I get the avocado one," Elias announced to himself. "Because I like avocado toast."

James just rolled his eyes as he took the mask out, and each of them patted it onto their faces. James had to rip his in half because of his beard, which made it awkward to just have the rest of it hanging off his face, but he managed it just fine.

They all ended up lying down as they waited for the 20 minutes to pass before they were supposed to take them off.

"So this is even more comfy," Elias said. "Just me layin' down between two pals while wearing face masks."

"Do you do face masks often?" James asked.

"Only whenever Mel wants to do it," he said.

"So, often," Evaline answered.

"Is once a week often?"

"I think that counts as often," James said. "That explains why your skin is so clear, I guess. Invisible pores."

Elias chuckled. "You've noticed?" he said to James. "Thanks. It's all the exfoliation. Maybe you can join us the next time we do it. Sometimes Mel brings extra for Bo to try, so yeah."

James hummed.

"I have my own routine, but maybe just text me next time you do it. I might be free," he said non-commitally.

Evaline suddenly let out a quiet laugh.

"What?" Elias said as he turned to her, smirking.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just..." She let out another airy laugh. "I feel like I'm in a strange crossover event."

"What do you mean?" Elias asked, interest piqued.

"I don't know. I guess it's kind of funny to imagine James spending time with you and Mel," she said. "I mean, not that it's funny-funny. It's just... ironic, I guess."

Elias hummed. "I guess," he said with a shrug. "But this is probably a bigger crossover episode, to be honest. When's the next time I'll sleep over with you and James again?"

"Probably never," Evaline said a little too quickly, and Elias only huffed in response.

"If this is a crossover episode," James said, cutting through the awkward tension. "What kind of shows are we all coming from?"

Elias let out a long "hmmm."

"You'd be one of the cowboy spaceboys from Firefly, probably," he said. "Evaline would be from that one British show about the time travelling alien. I forgot what it's called."

"...Doctor Who?" Evaline guessed, sounding more appalled than anything.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Elias said.

"You think Evaline would be the Doctor?" James asked with a similar tone.

Elias hummed. "You're right. I should be the Doctor since I'm basically a doctor already."

"Why not something like... I don't know," James said. "House. Or Grey's Anatomy."

"Nah," Elias said dismissively. "British shows are better. But what show do you think I'd be from, then?"

"Teletubbies," Evaline deadpanned, and Elias shot her a glare.

James snorted, but tried to suppress his laugh.

"If we're doing kid shows, I'd definitely be Spongebob," Elias continued. "And you both would be Squidward."

"We can't both be Squidward," James said.

"Fine," Elias said. "What character would you be then?"

James sighed, staring up at the ceiling in thought.

"I don't know, I haven't seen Spongebob in years, and I never really watched it much, anyways. But, I don't know..." James said in thought. "Maybe Sandy?."

"Or, consider," Elias prefaced. "I'll be Patrick. Evaline is Sandy. And then you're Spongebob because you... uh... absorb information like a sponge, and that's how you're so smart."

James laughed.

"I feel like Carter's more likely to be the Spongebob to your Patrick than me," James said. "Or Bo, even. Since he actually cooks, and Spongebob works in a restaurant."

"Huh, you're right," Elias continued, sounding like he was overthinking this now. "Maybe you can be Gary then."

"Isn't that the snail?" James asked.

"Yep. And he meows."

James lifted Ellie up into the air above him, and she let out a confused meow.

"Sure," James said. "I'll be Gary."

The three of them kept talking T.V. shows and who would best fit different roles, and eventually they took off the facemasks, brushed their teeth, and after a few more goofy conversations (thanks to Elias), eventually Elias announced he was tired and all of them agreed. They went to bed, and soon all of them were fast asleep.

Ellie curled up in the nook of James's arm, and when he woke up, Ellie was perched on his shoulder, licking his face.

"Yeah, okay, I get it," James muttered faintly as he swatted her away. Ellie was persistent though, so James decided to finally get up and pushed her off.

It looked like he was the first to wake up. Elias still looked dead asleep, and Evaline was turned away from him, towards the wall, still curled up in bed. James went to the bathroom with Ellie trailing after him, and when he came back out Evaline was waking up, and Elias looked like he was reluctantly rolling out of bed.

They all got ready slowly, exchanging brief words with one another as they all were waking up. Evaline made some tea for everyone and eventually, they were all dressed and had eaten some breakfast. Including the cat.

The three of them sat around the living room with empty plates and mugs for a moment before Elias broke the silence.

"So, uh, what are your guys' plans for the rest of the day?" Elias asked casually after he finished the last of his tea.

James glanced at Evaline.

"I think, uh..." he trailed off, looking at Evaline for an answer.

"We'll leave the apartment at some point," Evaline answered, keeping it vague.

"Sounds like you both have plans, huh," Elias mused. "Since you've been planning this for a while."

"Planning requires time, you know. You can't just show up last minute and expect to be involved," she said bluntly.

"Hey, no problems from me," Elias said with a small smile. "I should probably leave anyways. I got a paper due by midnight. Right, James?"

They did not, in fact, have a paper due at midnight. But James knew that Elias was using it as an excuse to leave because he felt like he was intruding.

"If you haven't started it yet, it might take you all evening," James said.

Elias nodded and got up on his feet, stacking the plates to take back to the kitchen.

"Yeah," he said. "What am I going to do without my tutor to help?"

"I'm sure if you asked Carter, he'd help you," James said.

Elias scoffed as he walked over to the kitchen to put everything away.

"The last time I asked Carter for help, he pulled up Sparknotes right in front of me and read it word-for-word. He doesn't even dumb it down like you do," he said.

James nodded slightly. That sounded about right.

"Ah," he said. "Well... if you're really struggling, just text me."

At this point, they were both committed to the lie, but knew it was all just so Elias could leave anyway.

"Will do," Elias said with a grin, then picked up his backpack, which was already ready to go. "Do you need help putting anything away? I figure James would use the air mattress so his back won't crack anymore."

"We've got it," Evaline said, already getting up to meet him as he started to head for the door. James got up to his feet as well, hovering a small distance away.

Elias stopped, though, so he could hug her before they got too far.

"Sorry if coming last minute ruined your plans," he said with a sincerely apologetic smile. "I'm glad I came to see your art, though. It's way different in person than in pictures. It's my daily reminder of how talented you are."

Evaline smiled and pulled away, loosely crossing her arms as she watched him put on his shoes.

"That's okay," she said. "And thanks. I didn't expect yesterday to go the way it did, but... it wasn't too bad."

Elias grinned as he hopped on one foot as he tried to put on his last shoe standing up, and he playfully shoved her arm lightly.

"Saying 'it wasn't too bad' is like a mega compliment from you," he said. "So I'll take it."

Elias then turned to James near the doorway, giving him an exaggerated yet sloppy salute.

"See ya later, future cowboy," he said with a smirk.

"Okay, Patrick," James said with a smirk of his own.

Elias scoffed and then opened the door. "Alrighty, I'm off now. Have fun, you two!" he said, giving them a little wave as they both repeated their goodbyes, and then he was off.

Evaline stepped forward to lock the door after he left, then turned to James.

"Future cowboy?" she said with a smirk. "It seems you've left your legacy."

"I don't know, I think it fits," James said with a silly grin and a shrug.

"I can see it," she said with a smile. "I think it's because you have Elliot."

"Although, horses can't survive in space," James commented.

"Not unless they have a space suit like astronauts," she countered.

"I guess I'll just have to invent one," James said, smirking.

"Guess so," she said with a smirk of her own.

For a few moments, they stood there in silence in front of the door, and Evaline sighed and spoke up again.

"Sorry if Elias threw you off guard," she said. "He did for me too. He didn't tell me he'd stay overnight."

James glanced at the door.

"It was unexpected, but I don't think it was bad by any means," James said. "I actually knew he was planning on going to your show, but I didn't know he was going to stay the night."

"Oh," Evaline said quietly, looking like she was mulling this over. "I didn't realize you both discussed this ahead of time. He seemed surprised to see you in general."

James faltered.

"Well... I didn't exactly tell him I was coming, either," James admitted.

"So... you overheard him say he was coming?" Evaline deduced.

"Yes," James said. "He mentioned it to Carter. I don't try to overhear things, but the walls are thin, and you know. I live there."

"That's fine, I know you didn't mean to," she said with a smile. "I was just piecing it together. It's fine, really."

James nodded with a small relieved smile.

"So," she continued, changing topics. "I wanted to give you a tour now and show off all the places that Yelp wouldn't be able to show you. Do you want to leave now, or do you want to wait for a bit? I don't mind."

"I wouldn't mind waiting for a little bit," James said. "It's still pretty early, and... well, this is technically a vacation day... you're supposed to move slow, right?"

Evaline let out a breathy laugh as she began to walk back to the apartment.

"You really are treating this weekend as a vacation," she mused. "I'm glad you are, though. You needed one."

"After a day of doing hardly any work, I think I agree," James said, following after her. "It's been nice, actually."

Evaline glanced around the room until her eyes landed on Ellie curled up on the middle of her bed, and she walked up to the bed to sit beside her and give her some pets while she slept.

"When was the last time you had a vacation?" she asked.

James paused as he stood by her bed and he looked up at the ceiling, squinting in thought. He had to think.

"Uh..." he trailed off, filtering through weeks and months and days.

"Didn't you study abroad in Germany and Italy?" she asked when he took too long to answer.

"Does it count as vacation if I was still doing school?" James asked.

Evaline paused in petting as she gave him a surprised look, then resumed to giving Ellie her affection and attention.

"Surely you did some traveling for leisure while you were there," she said.

"A little," James said. "But I guess I just..."

He pursed his lips, looking down at the floor. He had a tendency to keep himself busy even when he didn't have to.

"I guess it could count as vacation," he decided to say. "That would make it two years ago."

Evaline hummed in thought. "You don't sound very certain," she observed. "Did you have fun, at least?"

"I'd say so," James said as he looked down at Ellie, and decided to sit down on the other side of the bed, reaching over to pet Ellie as well. "What about you? When was the last time you went on vacation?"

Evaline was quiet for a moment as she seemed to think this over while they both idly pet Ellie.

"I went to Niagara Falls last year," she said. "I guess you could count that as a vacation too."

"Oh, how was that? I've never been," James asked.

"Overhyped," she said plainly. "I've been there a few times, and it's a tourist trap, really." She then glanced up at him. "Oh. You probably don't know this, but I'm actually from Canada. I'm already naturalized, but still. I've seen all the sights there already."

James's eyebrows went up and he smiled slightly with curiosity.

"Where in Canada are you from?" he asked.

"Quebec," she answered, mirroring his smile.

"So that's how you know French," he said. "That's awesome. Did you grow up there?"

Evaline let out a breathy laugh, slowing her pets until she drew her hand away.

"Kind of," she said. "I came to the US for school, and would go back every summer. I like to joke that some people go to Florida during the winter, but I go back to Canada during the summer."

"So you went to a boarding school?" James asked.

Evaline looked up at him again, then forced a smile. It was hard to tell if it was timid or sad.

"Yeah," she said. "Basically. It put me on the path to citizenship, though. So I guess I can't complain too much."

"It sounds like it wasn't a great experience for you though," James said more gently. "I imagine it would've been difficult being away from family and moving back and forth so often."

There was a bit of a long pause before Evaline spoke again.

"Not really," she admitted. "I actually didn't really want to go back in the summers. I didn't mind school at the time."

James nodded slightly.

"Were you close with your family?" he asked softly. He felt he already deduced the answer, but he didn't want to assume.

"I was closer to them back then than I am now," she said, not directly answering his question.

She leaned forward so that her elbows were on her knees as she squinted at the wall of pictures in front of them, talking again before he could respond.

"I was actually married at eighteen," she said out of the blue. "Green card marriage. I didn't really know him. I think boarding school was just some sort of grand plan for me so that they could set me up with someone else's citizenship."

James was quiet for a moment, letting the sobriety of the implications sink in. He knew she couldn't be married anymore, unless things were painfully complicated.

"Was it arranged?" he asked quietly.

Evaline loudly breathed out of her nose as she set her elbow on her knee to cup her face.

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like I was auctioned off," she said blankly.

"I didn't mean it like that," James said softly. "I was just trying to get an idea of... what happened. If you wanted to share."

"Oh. Sorry. I know," Evaline said as she glanced at him, then rubbed her face out of frustration. "I mean... I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to fight it at the time, because he helped me get into UCLA. But it was difficult to be under the eye of immigration sometimes. I had to pretend, but..."

She shook her head, sighing.

"It's fine. It was supposed to last five years, but I broke it off early. Two years ago. So it's over now. At least, that part is."

James let a small silence pass.

"Is there another part?" he asked gently.

"Yeah," she said heavily, sighing again. "I only broke it off because I was stupid enough to fall in love with someone else, and he was going to help me through it, and he did, and we were going to going to graduate and get our Master's together at Prestige, but then he went somewhere else, and now I'm stuck here in a too-expensive studio that we were going to share together, and I've lost all touch with my family and university connections, and I have no idea what I'm doing."

She spilled that all at once, then buried her head in her hands as she became more and more frustrated.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I know you're not my therapist. You don't have to answer to any of that."

James was quiet again for a moment.

"It's okay," James said softly. "You get to tell friends this stuff too, you know. I'm sorry that the last few years have been so difficult. Having to start from scratch in a new place is hard enough in itself, without the added emotional turmoil of everything else you've had going on."

Evaline let out a deep breath as she lifted her head up to stare blankly and unfocused in front of her.

"I guess," she said. "I almost think starting from scratch is good. I just want to go somewhere where I can leave this entire mess and history behind."

"After you graduate?" James asked.

Evaline paused. "Or sooner," she said quietly. "The animation school I applied to is in Paris. I know I'm a finalist. I'd transfer there if I get in."

James nodded slowly. If she tranferred soon, then their friendship would be even longer distance.

"You didn't tell me you were a finalist," he said with a slight smile. "I would've made a bigger deal out of your animation if you'd told me that."

Evaline glanced at him, offering a faint, appreciative smile.

"You're the first person I told," she said. "I didn't want to say anything until I know the final decision."

"Well, thank you for telling me," James said softly. "I'll be sure to cheer you on quietly, until you decide to make it public knowledge."

Evaline nodded as she dropped her hands back on her elbows, fideting with them as she watched.

"Thanks," she said softly. "You'll be the first to know before I make it public knowledge... if at all."

James smiled.

"I'm honored."

"But -- enough about me," she said quickly, sitting up straight. "I didn't mean to just... spill my life story on you. But, um, I wouldn't mind hearing more about yourself instead... if that's okay."

James laughed quietly in the back of his throat and gave Ellie a quick scratch behind the ears.

"Sure," he said. "I'm not exactly sure where to start, but, I guess, uh, I was born in Arizona. I lived there for ten years with my parents and my little sister, and life was pretty uneventful."

He paused, glancing up at Evaline.

"Surely life wasn't that uneventful," she said with a small smile. "At least, no big events have to happen for you to enjoy life."

"I did enjoy life," James said, though it felt strange to word it that way, especially in the past-tense. "My parents were loving and caring, and I was very close with my little sister - and I still am."

"Larrel, right?" Evaline said after a short pause. "I remember drawing her for you when we first met."

James let out a faint laugh.

"Yeah, you did," he said. "She really liked the drawing, by the way. She said you're really good."

"I'm glad," she said with a smile. "You two seem to share a special sibling bond."

James grinned slightly.

"Yeah, we do," he said, reaching over to pet Ellie again as an idle distraction.

"So, you lived in Arizona for ten years," Evaline continued when there was a short silence. "Did you move somewhere else?"

James nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "We ended up moving to Michigan after... well, my father died. He was hit by a drunk driver. They ended up walking away from it. A lot changed for us after that, and we ended up moving closer to my mother's parents, who lived in Grand Rapids."

Evaline was quiet for a moment, watching him attentively with her brows brought together in sympathy.

"I'm sorry to hear about your father, James," she said softly. "That's so awful."

"Thanks, Evaline," James said quietly, briefly looking up to meet her eyes. "At the end of the day, though, it ended up bringing us closer together. It was hard, but... we got through it. My mother ended up getting remarried a few years later. That's an entirely different mixed bag of emotions, but it's better now. We've worked some of it out. When she married I got a step-brother, and we're not super close, but he's a good guy. His name's Petrus, and he's two years younger than me. He's actually going to a trade school to become an underwater welder. It's pretty cool."

Evaline nodded slowly, letting a brief silence pass.

"That is pretty cool," she agreed. "That sounds very difficult, too."

"It's a pretty high-risk, high-pay line of work," James said. "But he seems to enjoy it."

"It's definitely not for the faint-of-heart," she said. "He may not have pursued university like you, but he's still smart in different ways."

"Yeah," James agreed with a slight smile. Ellie rolled over for a moment and James lifted his hand, transitioning to patting her belly, which, surprisingly, she seemed to tolerate.

"I ended up going to HPU because I got the presidential scholarship. Not quite a full-ride, but it was the best option I had," he said. "So, here I am. All the way over in North Carolina."

"Full ride or not, that's still very impressive," Evaline said. "And I'm glad you're here. You've probably missed the warmer weather."

"In Michigan?" James said with a scoff.

"From Arizona, silly," she said with a smile.

"Oh," James said, smiling and averting his eyes, feeling a little embarassed. "Well... yes. I do, sometimes. I think that's one of my favorite places I've lived."

"I knew your life there wasn't uneventful," she said with a more sincere smile.

James smiled back up at her warmly.

"I guess not."

It was Saturday. James had disappeared Friday morning without a word, and Carter had assumed that he'd gone off to work like he always did. He normally brought a spare change of clothes for work, and would occasionally tote homework to work with him, so Carter thought nothing of it. James was a workaholic anyway, so Carter didn't blink an eye.

It wasn't until Friday night came and went with no signs of James at all that Carter had begun to get worried. James wasn't always the best communicatior with him specifically, but he would normally at least give him a heads' up when he was going on a longer trip or something.

Was James testing him? Or was this something more serious? Carter hadn't seen or heard anything about James leaving for a day or two. He doubted that James was kidnapped or the victim of some freak one-off accident or murder. Hell, he would've seen it in the news...

Well, he didn't want to hear about it that way.

It wasn't until he got a text on Saturday morning that his worries were alleviated. And consequently, his curiosity was piqued.

Elias wrote:ayooo convinced james to come to party 😎

Elias was with James. Why was Elias with James? And wasn't Elias out of town to visit Evaline?

Carter paused what he was doing. He was watching Narcos while working on an assignment with his computer screen split into fourths between a google doc, Netflix, and two articles he was skimming. He closed all of the tabs and pulled up the messaging app, staring at his screen.

This was interesting. James had gone to visit Evaline for the weekend without even a whisper of it to anyone else. This was elaborate, for him. Carter knew James liked to be tight-lipped because he was getting needlessly paranoid, but maybe he could work with this.

Elias had convinced James to come to the party, and James likely didn't know of Carter's involvement in it yet. That was probably for the best.

What he needed to do was work to regain James's trust again. If he could worm his way through James's defenses again, then he could be more subtle this time. James would be suspicious at first, sure, but Carter could do simple things like be a better roommate and friend. All for show, of course, but he could keep it up until the Halloween party.

Carter wrote:oh shoot bro, yes 🔥🔥🔥
are you with him rn???

Elias wrote:yea man! best way to do it is in person

Carter wrote:r u 2 havin fun hangin at prestige

Elias wrote:we're not at prestige we're in the city
gotta go james is walking away fast

Carter wrote:walk safe

Elias wrote:thanks bro

Carter sighed. He tapped his laptop as he looked out the window to the balcony.

So, James had a "secret girlfriend." It was ridiculous, but fine. He'd figure out a way to get details... and maybe throw a wrench in it.

Drama pending.



Elias came by the apartment on Sunday afternoon, and Carter let him in with a big hug.

"Heeeeeey," Carter greeted. "You made it back. I thought you were going to stay longer?"

"Nah," Elias said as he pulled away and patted his back before he helped himself to his couch, slinging his backpack to the spot next to him. "I now have homework," he said with air quotes and a grin.

Carter raised his brows as he closed the front door and then sped over to the couch, jumping on it beside Elias.

"Are the air quotes because you don't plan on doing it, or because that was your fake excuse to leave?" Carter asked.

Elias stared at him for a second and then took out his phone, tapping away. "Wait, do we actually have homework, though...?" he murmured.

"Not for the classes we're in," Carter said. "I don't know about your other classes."

Elias tossed his phone aside with a grin. "That's a no. My profs are way more sane and don't assign homework on weekends. Can't say the same for Lordy and Morri, though."

"Well, the gods have had mercy on us this weekend," Carter said. "So looks like you're free to chill, man."

"Yeah," Elias said as he casually rested his legs on the table. "Want to get some beers and play Fornite?"

Carter chuckled.

"Sure," he said as he got to his feet and walked into the kitchen, calling out to Elias. "How was it, though? With James and Evaline?"

"Hmm?" Elias said distractedly as he was already on his phone, waiting for Carter to return.

Carter came back with a six-pack and set it on the coffee table, tearing out a can and handing it to Elias.

"I asked how it was with James and Evaline," Carter repeated.

"Oh," Elias said as he grabbed the can and opened the tab. "It was fine. I didn't even know James would be there. It was pretty cool that the three of us got to hang out, though."

Carter didn't know James would be there either, but for the sake of simplicity, he was pretending like he did. Because he knew it would be weird to explain why James would even bother to keep something like that from him.

"I'm glad," Carter said with a nod.

Elias took a sip of the beer. "Oh, but I convinced James to come to the party. Uh, Bo's gonna have to be the main host now, though. And probably caterer. I should probably talk to him."

Carter looked over to Elias with a raised brow.

"Bo..." he said. "Huh. Okay. He'd probably be cool with that. Bo's pretty laid-back. Why Bo, though?"

Elias let out a nervous laugh. "Yeeeeah," he said before taking another sip. "I had to make that up on the spot since I felt like James wouldn't come if I told him our frat was throwing it. I kinda feel bad, but..."

"Ooooooh," Carter said. "Don't worry about it. Bo's basically an honorary fratboy."

Elias snorted. "True. He probs won't mind. I guess I wouldn't be too upset if James steps one foot in the house and decides to leave, 'cause I just wanna see him dressed like a cowboy."

Carter looked over at Elias with a big smile.

"A cowboy?" he asked in disbelief. "Are you serious? You convinced him to dress up?"

"I offered my banana suit but he said he didn't want to dress up as a fruit or vegetable."

Carter laughed.

"Of course," he said. "He's too worried about not looking ridiculous, as usual. But I'm glad you were able to get him to come around."

"I am too," Elias said with a nod. "But, uh, you're gonna have to help me out with this one, bro. I haven't told Evaline yet so I gotta figure that one out. Also, James thinks it's her birthday... I think I dug myself too deep."

"That's... a lot to work with," Carter said. "Okay. Well. We can figure it out."

He squinted, imagining James showing up to a Halloween party with a birthday present.

It sounded hilarious, but he could see how this would potentially blow up in all of their faces. At least, with Evaline and James being upset about being lied to.

"Let's say, with Evaline, keep to the truth as much as you can. Now that we know James is going, maybe that'll be enough to drag her there," Carter said. "No reason to dig yourself deep with two people."

"Still," Elias said. "I feel kinda bad, especially since he thinks it'll be a small party. Maybe we can just throw a separate party or something. I don't wanna stress 'em out too much."

"The alternative is, we just tell them the truth and beg them to come," Carter said.

"We could do that," Elias murmured, actually taking that seriously. "I make a good begging face."

"You think it'd work on Evaline?" Carter asked.

Elias seemed like he was really thinking this one out.

"No," he said with a sigh. "My begging face doesn't really work with her."

"Okay," Carter said with a hum. "Well. Let's try this. I'll take care of making sure James comes without a doubt so that you can use that as the main selling point. How's that?"

Elias smiled and took another sip of the beer.

"Sure, okay," he said. "But, uh, should I tell him that it's actually a frat party? And that it's not actually her birthday?"

"Oh, I can let him know," Carter said. "I'll take the fall for that. Besides, I'm the one who suggested trying to trick him in the first place. I gotta own up to that. You just worry about Evaline. I'll take care of James."

"You don't have to do that," Elias said more seriously, sitting up straighter. "I know you guys said you're kind of drifting apart. I can just tell him myself, it's fine. I don't want you to get thrown under the bus, you know?"

Carter looked to Elias, matching his more attentive and serious posture.

"I appreciate you wanting to look out for me, Elias, but James is going to figure out that it's a frat party eventually, and I've had some time to rethink things," he said. "I think it'll be better for us in the long run if I just tell him the truth, you know? I don't know... maybe it'll help start to mend things. It'll be a rocky start, sure. But... if there's anything I know about James, it's that he appreciates honesty. Trust me on this."

Elias watched him for a second before relaxing his posture, fiddling with the can in his hand.

"Well... okay," he said. "You sure you know what you're doing? Do you need help?"

"I think I've got it," Carter said with a small, grateful smile. "But... thanks, Elias. You're a really good friend, you know."

Elias offered a genuine smile of his own. "Hey man, just looking out for my bros. Happy to help if you need it."

Carter smiled back.

That was what he wanted to hear.

"Thanks, man."

James and Evaline had a good time walking around her campus, and he enjoyed spending the remainder of his weekend with her. He felt like it brought them a little closer, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd ended up robbing Elias of his surprise trip to visit Evaline. In retrospect, he probably should've talked to Elias about his trip, or just planned it on a different weekend entirely. The two-hour drive back ended up leaving him with a mix of guilt and happiness. He had enjoyed his time with Evaline, but it felt like she almost didn't really want Elias around.

James knew they were old friends, but it seemed complicated.

Not that he was one to talk.

He knew, though, what he had to do, and he'd rather do it sooner than later. Before he got home, and before it felt too late.

He ended up pulling back into the plaza around 9am, and he knew that Elias didn't work Mondays, so he hoped that he was home. And awake. He got into the building, still with his backpack on and his dufflebag swung over his shoulder, and he walked straight to the end of the hall first, knocking on Bo and Elias's door.

He wasn't surprised when Bo opened it up first.

Bo looked like he was still waking up. He still had a sleepy look to his eyes, and James could tell he was in an oversized sleep shirt. It had a picture of a puppy on it.

That was it. Just a puppy.



James stared at the smiling puppy for half a second before he looked up at Bo.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you," James said.

"Hmm?" Bo said, still looking half-asleep. "Oh, bro. You good. You ok? What's up?"

"Oh, I'm fine," James said with a small, slightly nervous smile. "I was just wondering if Elias is here. Is he up yet?"

Bo squinted and looked back into the apartment, like he was thinking.

"I think he's in the bathroom," Bo said. "You want me to tell him you're here?"

"That would be great, thanks," James said with an earnest nod.

"Cool, cool," Bo said, pulling the door open and waving him in. James stepped in while Bo closed the door behind him, and he stood awkwardly in the doorway while Bo departed towards the hall. He could hear Bo's distant knock on a door and quiet mumbling he couldn't quite make out.

James stood uncomfortably in the doorway, not wanting to stay too long and take up too much of their time. He didn't want to intrude. But he did also dread going home.

He hadn't told Carter.

He should've. He really should've. He'd just chickened out last minute and decided not to.

But while he was gone... Carter didn't even send him a text. Was Carter even worried? Did he even care? This felt out of character for Carter. Normally he was far more nosy. It made him nervous, and he didn't know why.

Eventually Elias walked out of the bathroom and down the hall with wet hair and clothes he seemed to quickly change into since his shirt was put on backwards.

"Hey James!" he said with a smile and a wave as he approached, and then yawned. "What up?"

Ah. Yes.

He figured he should just get right to it.

"Hey. So, uh, Elias," James started. "I just wanted to apologize for this weekend. I know you really wanted to come and surprise Evaline, and you were there to see her and support her, and you weren't expecting for me to be there. I wasn't a good friend to you, letting you sit on the sidelines and be left out. I should've told you I was going to be there in the first place, and I should've been inclusive. You're a good guy, Elias, and you don't deserve to go home feeling like you're not wanted. I hope you know that. I enjoy your company. Even if I don't get all your jokes."

Elias's smile slowly faded as he stared at James for a second, looking more confused than upset.

"Wait, are you apologizing for going up to see Evaline at the same time as me?" he asked as he scratched the side of his head, seemingly still trying to absorb his words.

James tried to steel his nerves.

"Well, no. I mean yes. Sort of," he said. "I guess so."

Elias laughed, dropping his hand.

"You don't have to apologize for that," he said. "I dunno why you would. I thought it was kinda nice that we both showed up."

"But I know you felt pressured to go home early," James retorted, feeling the knot of guilt still twisting in his gut. "And I'm sorry. I didn't--"

"I don't know about pressured," Elias cut in like he was going to forget his thoughts if he didn't say it then and there. "I didn't really plan on staying more than one night since I figured Evaline wouldn't want me there the whole weekend anyways. I just thought of the homework thing since it was the easiest thing to say at the time. I didn't want to make things awk between you two, ya feel?"

Now James felt like he was the one who was slow to follow as he pieced together the nuances of what Elias had said. About Evaline not wanting him there long anyway, and him not wanting to make things awkward.

"I didn't mean to make things awkward," he ended up saying.

"Pfffft," Elias spat out playfully with a wave of his hand. "I'm not awkward. I think the both of you are kind of awkward. It's kinda cute though."

James felt heat rise to his cheeks and he looked away, furrowing his brows.

"So-- you're not upset or anything?" he said quickly.

"Of course not," Elias said with a sincere smile, but then sighed. "Look. Evaline and I have been friends for a long, long time, but -- I don't know, I guess we're just old friends, not best friends. I just like to check in every once in a while to make sure she's not lonely. But looks like I don't have to do that anymore with you around, eh? Eh?"

He playfully elbowed his arm with a waggly brow.

James could feel his face getting redder. This was not how he imagined this going.

"Okay," James said stiffly. "If you're--"

"And don't worry about me," Elias added before he could get too far. "I went into the city and bought a bunch of spices I couldn't get here so that Bo could cook with it. Also there's this really sick Mediterranean place I stopped by before I left. You should check it out sometime. Maybe with Evaline if you ever go back." He paused for a second. "Ya know, without me third wheeling, so you don't have to sleep on the floor and get arthritis."

At this point, James knew his face was beet red.

"...Thanks," he muttered quietly.

"No probs, bob," Elias said with a grin, and paused again just for a moment. "But seriously. Don't feel bad or worry about me. I thought it was fun, and plus I'm just glad she has someone who shares her sense of humor and actually makes her smile. I don't think she's that much of a meme master."

James nervously adjusted his backpack on his shoulder.

"You really mean it that you're not hurt? Or bothered?" he asked once more just to be sure.

"Totally. Trust me," he said with a smile. "Like I said, I mainly went down to keep her company, but I didn't know you were coming too. No complaints, though, other than the fact that we could've rode together. It was a boring drive."

"That's fair," James said quietly. "If ever we're both going that way again... I'll let you know."

"Sure thing," Elias said with a nod. "So, you think you'll go back sometime then?"

James averted his eyes to the side. His face still felt hot.

"Maybe," he said. "Depends. Speaking of going, I should probably get--"

"Wait wait wait," Elias interrupted. "I just want to make sure before you leave: are you bothered? Or upset? By me coming, or anything? I know I teased you, but I can lay off if it bugs you too much."

James was more nervous now than he was at the start of this conversation, and he didn't know how much of it showed.

"I'm just not-- Evaline and I haven't even talked about anything like that," he said. "Being more than friends."

Elias nodded slowly. "That's cool, bro," he said, then grinned and waggled his eyebrows again. "I've been told I make a great wingman if you need some help. Maybe we could go on a double date or something. See if she'd say yes. I dunno."

Well, now James's face was practically burning.

"That's nice of you, Elias, but I don't know if we're at that point. I think she-- yeah, I don't know. But... I'll keep that in mind."

He started to turn for the door.

Elias let out a breathy laugh, walking towards the door with him.

"That's cool too," he said. "If you just need help reading her or something, I could help with that too I guess. But - everything's cool, right? You're not bothered by anything?"

Did anxiety count as being bothered? Maybe James could excuse himself on a technicality. Or just lie.

"I'm okay," he said. "I think I just need a moment to sit down and, you know. Settle back in. Process. That sort of thing."

"Fair enough. You do that."

James nodded and headed for the door. "Right," he said. "I'll see you around, then."

Elias interrupted though, and James put his hand on the doorknob.

"Wait, question though," Elias said as he reached out and opened the door for him, pausing and looking deep in thought, lost in his own head before he could actually get the question out.

James looked at him expectantly.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Do we actually have a paper due today?" Elias asked. "I forget."

James was relieved. He smiled and let out a faint laugh through his nose.

"No. We don't, Elias," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"Cool," Elias said with a smile. "I'll see you later in class today, then."

"See you," James said with a wave as he walked out the door, back down the hall to his own apartment.

It wasn't a long walk, but it felt long.

James stood in front of the door, trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever berating he would get from Carter. Trying to think through his answers. His apologies. His explanations. It was hard to predict exactly how the conversation would go - especially if Carter wasn't entirely sober, which he rarely was, these days.

He decided to just get it overwith, finally opening the door and walking in. He glanced around the living room, seeing no signs of life. Carter could've still been asleep. That would be good. He would be lucky if that was the case.

James locked the door behind him as quietly as possible, and then silently walked down the hall to his bedroom. There was a faint squeak as he opened his bedroom door, and he scrunched up his face, mentally begging it to shut up as he closed the door behind him and set his bags down.

He made it.

Sort of.

Confrontation was still inevitable.

James hurried to start taking things out of his backpack that didn't need to be in there, and he threw all his dirty clothes into his laundry bin in the closet. Just as he started digging around his dufflebag for his glasses case, he heard a knock on his door.

Nervous, he hesitated before he got to his feet and opened the door.

He looked down at Carter, who was still in his pajamas. Carter's entire face lit up in what looked like relief.

"James! You're back!" Carter said.

James forced a tense smile.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm... sorry for not telling you. I went out of town for the weekend."

"I figured that was the case," Carter said. "Elias said you were down at the art show? The one he's been talking about all week for Evaline."

James blinked slowly. So, Elias told him. He'd figured that might happen, and yet, he still wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Yeah," he said again. "I went to see her art show. It was nice."

He still felt apprehensive, but Carter didn't seem phased. He didn't even seem curious in the conniving way he usually did.

"I'm glad you got a weekend off," Carter said. "It's been long overdue. I hope it was restful for you. Did you spend all morning driving back?"

"Uh, yes," James answered.

"You must be tired," Carter said. "Do you need help with uh... unpacking? Or laundry, or something?"

Of all things James had prepared for, it hadn't been this. He glanced back into this room, then back at Carter.

"No. I'm fine," he said stiffly.

"Positive?" Carter asked. "I'm already about to do a small load myself. You could throw some of your clothes in."

"Really, it's fine," James said again.

"Okay," Carter said with a shrug. He looked like he was turning to leave, but then paused and turned back to him.

"By the way," Carter said. "Did Elias mention the Halloween Party to you? He said you're coming?"

Carter said it with a look of confusion, like he was surprised. James, however, was connecting the dots. Elias had said it would be a small party, hosted by Bo. A birthday party for Evaline, with halloween costumes. But why would Carter be there? Evaline didn't even know him. A pit formed in his stomach.

"You mean..." he started. "The... frat... party?"

"Yeah, yeah," Carter continued, like James was supposed to have already known. "I think--" he paused, looking at James and studying him for a moment, before a look of realization crossed his features. "You know what. He probably didn't mention it was a frat party. I told him I really wanted you to come. He might've made something up to try to encourage you, or just left that part out. It was all in good intentions, though, I'm sure. He was probably doing it for me, you know. I was just..."

Carter trailed off, but James only stared at him, trying to decipher whose words he should believe.

A party in and of itself was supposed to be inconsequential. But Carter knew how James felt about parties.

"Listen," Carter said with a sigh. He turned to James and gave him a serious look. "I know you wouldn't want to go anyway, and I know you probably won't go now that you know it'll be a frat thing. And I know you hate all the drinking, and the noise, and the people... I get it. Like, not experientially, but I get it. You don't have to go. I just..."

James continued to stare at him, waiting for him to spit it out.

"I don't know," Carter said, leaning on the wall. "I just miss getting to hang out with you, James. Like old times."

James had to pause for a moment. He studied Carter, trying to guage his sincerity. Carter seemed earnest, and James hadn't seen him like this in a while. At least, not while sober.

It was weird seeing him like this sober. Did that mean he actually meant it? Or maybe his drunken thoughts were really a reflection of his real ones?

"I..." James hesitated. "Look. Carter..."

"You don't have to say yes," Carter interrupted. "I don't want you to go if you think you're going to hate it the whole time there. Really."

"It's not that I don't want to go..." James started weakly, already cringing a little at his own words.

Was Evaline even going to be there? Actually? How much of what Elias said had been a lie?

"You know how I am about drinking," James said. "I don't--"

"No one's going to make you drink, James," Carter said. "And if they do, I'll kick 'em out."

James let out a weak laugh.

"That's not-- I just, I'm not-- I'm not good in spaces like that, you know? I just feel... lost in the whole thing," James said, his voice growing quiet.

Carter looked up at him with what seemed to be empathy. James wanted to believe that was what it was. It felt real.

"That's okay," Carter said. "So, it's a no then. That's fine."

James couldn't help but feel his stomach squirm with guilt, and the tug of obligation.

"I mean--" James started again, taking in a deep breath. "I... I already basically said yes. To Elias."

Carter looked up at him with his eyebrows arched together, like he was asking if James was sure. Like he was still giving him an out. For some reason it just made James feel even more guilty.

"I can go," James blurted. "It'll be fine. I just need to..."

He flicked his eyes back into his room.

"Figure out a costume I guess," he mumbled.

Carter nodded, and instead of jumping with excitement, just seemed to accept it with a small, calm smile.

"If that's what you want," Carter said.

"Yeah, it's fine," James said. "I think I can survive one party."

Carter chuckled a little at that.

"You've already survived a thousand if you count all the ones I've thrown in the living room," Carter said with what looked like an apologetic smile.

James smiled back weakly.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he said.

There was a small, awkward pause that passed between the two of them.

"Hey," Carter said. "So, I feel like I owe it to you to take all of the chores for the month. You've put up with a lot of hell from me, and I know you do a lot of cleaning up when I'm too inebriated to even function. Let me take care of it this month, okay? I won't leave any more messes for you to feel pressured to clean up. I know you do it without complaint, but you really shouldn't put up with it. You deserve better."

James stared back at Carter again. He had no idea what prompted this.

Had someone talked to Carter about this? Hell, did Carter go to therapy? Or A.A.?

"Carter," James said slowly. "Are... are you okay?"

He gave Carter a long look, scanning him. Was Carter actually sober right now?

Carter seemed to scoff at the question.

"James, seriously," Carter said. "Look. While you were gone, I just... I had a minute. To, you know. Reflect. And I realized I've been a really shitty friend. And I'm sorry. Just let me make it up to you."

James didn't think this even felt real.

"O...okay," he said quietly. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Please," Carter said. "I'll be fine. Doing chores isn't going to kill me."

James nodded slightly, still feeling stunned and unsure. Carter looked up at him and sighed.

"Really, James," he said with a look of deep remorse. "I am sorry. And I do miss how things used to be. I know we can't just press delete and start over. But I hope I can be better."

He paused, swallowing.

"I really don't want to lose you," Carter said, and James understood without either of them explaining the weight behind his words.

If there was anything James didn't doubt, he didn't doubt that.

"I know," James said softly.

"Would it be okay to ask for a hug?" Carter asked.

James hesitated. Carter didn't normally ask for hugs.

"...Sure," James said.

Carter came in for the hug first, and James stiffly hugged back, still trying to filter through the strange mix of emotions in his chest. Sentiment, nostalgia, uncertainty, paranoia. Hope, fear. Maybe he was just being dramatic. Maybe Carter really was turning over a new leaf, and he needed to give him a chance.

Another chance.