Chapter II

I suppose it’s bad enough that I don’t even know how to find the derivative of a function. After all those days of merely copying Evan’s homework, one might’ve thought that I’d have learned something by now. I mean, it’s bad enough that I’m actually trying to learn something when I’m copying his work, but the fact that nothing’s getting into my head is quite discouraging.

So when Evan tries explaining the usage in derivatives and integrals in finding converging series and their sum, I completely blank out.

“Maclaurin series?” I mouth in disbelief. “Taylor series? I’m so confused….” And of course, Evan sighs deeply and tries once more to explain it to me. And of course, none of it actually gets processed in my head. Sometimes I wonder why I even put Evan through this, knowing that I won’t get it whether he tries helping me or not.

“It’s more rote memorization than anything,” he says slowly, glancing between me and the book. “I mean, Maclaurin series are just Taylor series centered at zero and stuff, so….” He frowns when he sees my still-confused face. “Er, lemme try to think of another way to explain this….”

“Hey….” I hold up a hand before he can open his mouth to say anything else. “I don’t really feel like studying, anyway. Don’t worry about explaining this stuff today; I’ll figure it out some other time.” Evan looks at me with a worried expression, and at first I match it with a mockingly worried gaze of my own. This only lasts for so long though, and eventually he turns away.

“You sure?”

“It’s my birthday!” I remind him. Yes, it’s still my birthday. And I’m so damn happy it feels like it’s lasting forever, because that just means I can use the birthday-excuse all the longer. “I feel like relaxing, doing stuff other than school. Take my mind off confusing crap like this.”

Evan nods. “If you say so.”

I do say so, actually.

“Anyway,” I continue, getting off the bed on which Evan and I had been previously laying. “Now that that’s settled, let’s go do something.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now!” Of course, we were all still going to the rink tomorrow, which was supposedly a birthday celebration in my honor a day late, but… that would be tomorrow… a day too late to celebrate. My birthday is today, damnit!

“You want me to drive?”

“You’re the one with the car.” I’m not sure if I should be worried that Evan’s been spewing out stupid questions lately. I suppose I should be, yet at the same time it wasn’t the worst that could occur. It was definitely better than being an arrogant prick who could brag about his comprehensibility of Calculus… and it was definitely better than having him extremely quiet, as he had been earlier today….

“Where to then?”

I nudge him in the side. “Stop being so formal, Mr. Chauffeur. We’ll worry about getting out of the house and skipping out on dinner first, okay?” To this Evan merely shrugs, but it’s a good enough response for me. So with this assurance I quickly get dressed for our newly-planned outing.

“Oh, I need to get you your half-birthday gift too!” I exclaim, adding it into my mental to-do list. Eventually I’ll transfer it to a real list, or maybe onto the back of my hand, because I know I’m going to forget where in my head I placed that list. But right now I can’t, because I’m searching for clothes to wear and am thus preoccupied.

“You really don’t have to,” he murmurs, and I only just hear him. Barely.

“You sure? I thought you wanted me to.”

“Doesn’t matter….”

I turn around and glare at him. “You know what, fine. I’ll make up your mind for you…. I’m getting you a present, whether you like it or not.”

“Last I checked that wasn’t you making up my mind—that was you making up yours.”

…damn, he’s right. But I won’t let him know this.

“Fine, you win…. whatever.” I find a decent shirt in my closet—a loose-fitting, light blue tee—and without thinking I toss it onto my bed. It’s my general routine in the morning whenever I change, putting my clothes on the bed, and I don’t really put much thought into the action anymore.

Of course, this time Evan’s on my bed, so I end up flinging it at his face.

“Sure, Grayson, I’ll hold your clothes for you while you change.” I know he’s being sarcastic, but I pay no heed to him. Instead, I fling a pair of jeans in his direction (quite purposefully this time, though), and it makes a much louder impact when it hits him.

“Thank you,” I say in advance before peeling off my shirt. It’s a little on the filthy side, since I had worn it the entire day. But then again, I suppose that is why I’m changing it to begin with…. “Toss over the shirt, please.”

It soars through the air and lands two feet short of me.

“You missed.” I suppose while Evan reluctantly gets up to hand me my shirt properly I’ll go over the basic configuration of my wardrobe. Most of the shirts in my closet are loose-fitting, blue, white or pink in color. Never grey, of course, and never anything else. Green’s too nature-y and red is too bloody and brown is too… well, you get the point. And they’re always loose-fitting, of course, because tight shirts make me itch and are generally rather uncomfortable. Besides, I look damn nice in either shirt, either way.

…at least, that’s what everyone tells me at school. That includes the creepy-stalker woman, who might actually be a man. But don’t take that the wrong way. It’s not like my opinion is influenced by a stalker or anything….

But anyway, back to Evan waving my shirt in front of my face….

“Happy?” he hisses before returning to the bed, pretty much collapsing on it. Indeed, Evan, I am happy, thanks for asking.

…but to continue discussing my wardrobe, my closet consists entirely of those shirts and jeans of different brands. Yes, blue jeans are the only types of pants I wear…. Okay fine, I do own a white pair of khakis, but I only use those when I need a formal event. And if I ever needed to wear formal stuff, I would always go to that store in the mall to rent out a white tux or something.

Other than that… that’s pretty much it.

“Put the damn shirt on,” Evan snaps, though he isn’t exactly looking at me as he speaks. Interestingly enough, he’s instead looking at the bare wall to my right… his left.

Perhaps I should mention that my room isn’t really decorated. It’s got one large Zelda poster on one wall, some religious poster on the next wall, and… well, that’s it. The other two walls are untouched and still as white as always.

“Please?” he adds, and it’s only because of his tone that I actually comply. Though I’m not sure why he wants me clothed so badly… it’s not like he hasn’t seen any of this before. I guess I would’ve put it on eventually, granted that we’re headed out of here in about… well, now really.

As soon as I put my jeans on.

Evan turns away disgusted as I pull my pants down to make room for the new pair. But of course, I know he’s only kidding. After all, once or twice he’s even admitted I look good in these jeans.

…on second thought, that might’ve just been him mimicking the stalker-woman-man person. But you get the point.

Once I’m finally dressed, I drag Evan out of my bed and force him into the bathroom. He gives me this odd expression as I lock the door behind me—but then again, I guess anyone would. However, I pay no heed to his visual expressions and get straight to business.

“Operation we’re-getting-out-of-here,” I state simply, hoisting myself onto the sink counter. Evan only nods in acknowledgement. “Goal: to get out of the house to have some fun. Obstacle: selfish parents who want me at home. Catalyst—”

“I didn’t know you knew the term,” Evan interjects, smirking deviously at me. What, does he think I’m stupid?

“I’m not stupid!”

“Didn’t say you were.”

I merely glare at him for several moments (he begins snickering) before continuing. “Catalyst: the jerk of a best friend I call Evan. Method of accomplishment….”

“You don’t know,” Evan pretty much summarizes for me, to which I unfortunately nod in agreement. “So we’re coming up with ideas, then?”

“Indeed.” He bows his head and furrows his brow as he begins thinking of, presumably, how to get out of here. It’s easy for him, of course, because he’s just a guest in the house, and my parents are all for having guests over. But it’s a lot harder for me to get out than it is for people to come in….

My parents are those weird breed of parents, whose logic doesn’t really make sense to you but always ends up right. Except I know it couldn’t possibly be right. According to them, every friend of Lavender’s is also my friend. And Lavender is that type of person who always brings her friends over when she can. And of course, since her friends aren’t exactly my friends too, my parents make the assumption that I’m antisocial and have no friends… even if I do bring Evan over on occasion.

But the worst thing is, they never yell at her when she doesn’t talk to Evan! It’s favoritism, I tell you! That’s why they gave her the better name!

But anyway, back to thinking of a master scheme to escape the house….

“Here,” Evan begins, turning to his left. I’m not sure if I should be worried that Evan likes staring at boring walls. “You can escape through this window. Once you’re out, I’ll just leave the house the normal way.”

I glare at him for several moments. Is he serious? After all this time that’s the only thing he came up with? That’s completely….

“Genius!” I exclaim, and before he has a chance to prepare himself I hug-tackle him in the midriff. Yes, hug-tackle, because I don’t exactly knock him to the ground, but I’m not exactly embracing him either. But I do have my arms around him, and I do knock him back a few steps, so….

The actual problem, however, was actually getting me through the window. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not fat or anything; I’m quite lanky, to be honest. However, given how the window opens, it’s very hard to just slip through and safely land on the ground on the other side… especially since we were on the second floor.

“Ouchy!” I howl once I hit the ground, though I’m quickly silenced by Evan’s shushes. And though I’m hurting as if my very own bones were on fire, I keep quiet until he gets outside.

Granted that process might take a while—and it does. I wonder what my parents could possibly be doing to him… hopefully they weren’t forcing Lavender to spend time with him. Or, worse yet, they could be forcing him to hang out with Lavender….

“Let’s go.” Before I realize it, I’m being pulled off the ground and hauled into the passenger seat of Evan’s lovely blue car. Molestation crosses my mind for several seconds, but then I realize it’s just Evan taking me to… wherever it was we were going.

“Where are we going?” Evan asks aloud before I point a finger in his direction, accusingly. “Me?”

“Not genius!” I yell in his face, pouting. “Not genius, now my bones feel like they’ve broken.”

“But they haven’t,” Evan says, now smiling, and he even pats my leg for good measure. I don’t wince. “See, all’s fine.”

I pout for a few more seconds before relenting. “Fine, whatever. I’m not suffering in pain. I’m just experiencing an insufferable tingling feeling. Totally not the same thing.”

“Where are we going?” Evan repeats, and I merely shrug. “You mean you don’t know?”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Just… anywhere that’ll keep me amused, I guess.”

“Grocery store?”

I shake my head. “Nah.”

“Bookstore?”

I glare at him very evilly; I suppose if I weren’t in pain I would’ve kicked him. “Of all places….”

“You know I’m kidding….” A pause. “How about I just take you to the mall? You can decide what you really wanna do, there.”

More silence.

“…you know I was kidding, right? I mean… before…?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” I sigh. “To the mall, then, Mr. Chauffeur!” Evan merely grumbles before starting the engine. As it turned out, though, going to the mall had been a good idea. I mean, there’s so much stuff there you can amuse yourself with—the possibilities are endless! I mean, you could perpetually toss coins into the wishing wells (or you could just admire the fountains in itself, which were very pretty and always changing in color), or you could ride the kiddy rides in the middle of the walkways. And sure they were too large for high school students to be riding, but that had been the entire point of it.

The mall seemed to amuse me more than Evan, though. But that was okay—it was my birthday, after all. And besides, he wasn’t being too sad about it; he was just not as easily amused as I was. Besides, I’m sure he didn’t mind, since he loves me much so, anyway.

He doesn’t even mind when I drag him into the nearest clothing department store and insist on getting him a single outfit for his half-birthday. Okay, fine, he does complain some, but it’s nothing to do with him not wanting to be there…. It was more that he didn’t want me buying him stuff, that’s all.

“Just pick something and try it on,” I encourage him, and reluctantly he nods and leaves. Satisfied with my convincing abilities, I sit myself down and wait for him to return with clothes to try on.

Evan’s sense of style is… interesting, I suppose. It’s like a blend of all types of styles, except not really. He never goes shopping for himself; he wears just about anything and everything people will put in his hands to wear. Occasionally he will make judgments of his own; but for the most part he kinda just wears what he’s told to wear.

At least he doesn’t wear grey too often, though. But whether he doesn’t wear it because of me… I’m not sure.

But anyway, back to the clothes Evan’s waving in front of my face….

“I said to try it on,” I say simply, and he merely grunts before trudging into the fitting room.

He comes out wearing a very nice-fitting blue t-shirt, and I swear it makes his eyes look ever bluer. He’s also got a pair of cargo shorts on, and I suddenly find it very amusing how something so crinkled and wrinkled is actually considered stylish. But then, so are holes in jeans.

Evan should choose his own clothing more often, I think.

“You look… nice,” I mutter quietly. He nods stiffly, probably just as awkwardly as I had made my compliment. But then again, what exactly am I supposed to say? Mess up even one word and Evan will probably think I have some sort of gay crush on him or something, even though we already love each other as it is.

(No homo, of course.)

“The two should come out to less than fifty dollars,” Evan says, peeling off his shirt as he reaches for his other one. “That still okay with you?”

“Yeah, of course.” I mean, even if it were extremely expensive of an outfit, I’d probably still buy it for him. After all, it was just another opportunity to see more of the color blue… the pretty kind of blue. “Get changed so we can get out of here. I’m sure you’re dying to leave.”

“How’d you guess,” he mutters sarcastically, and he heads back to finish changing behind closed doors. It’s not long before he’s out, and we quickly pay for the two articles of clothing before leaving the store.

We only linger around the mall for a few minutes longer before I grow tired of it and petition to leave. Evan complies, being as he didn’t like being there in the first place, but sometimes I want to think he’s doing it because it’s my birthday, and not because it’s his own selfish reason. But of course… not so.

“Thanks for making my birthday not boring!” I exclaim loudly, and I think he winces at the volume of my voice. I do not speak that loudly!

“No problem,” he whispers before speeding away from the parking lot. Okay, perhaps speeding isn’t the word, per se, but you get the idea. “So uh… do you still want help with… well, you know.”

“Calculus?” I offer, and he nods.

“Yeah, that… and Physics.”

“Yeah…. I dunno, not really. Maybe sometime this weekend.” He nods his head lightly, and the conversation ends there. It’s too silent for my liking—it’s almost like earlier today, how it was almost like Evan had been mute for several half-hours (but not an hour), except it’s not as awkward. Probably just because the radio’s on and some chick’s voice is drowning out the silence, but still….

“Let’s talk about something else,” I find myself almost pleading.

Evan shrugs. “Okay. Like what, then?”

“Like….” My mind’s blank. “How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Evan asks aloud, though it eventually hits him. “Oh, tomorrow… ice skating.”

I nod profusely. “Think it’s gonna be any fun?”

I feel the car coming to a stop, even though we’re not at my house yet. I regard it as a traffic light and drop the matter.

“I guess,” he replies. “I mean, I don’t really skate that well, so it’s probably gonna be more painful that fun every time I fall.”

I chuckle quietly to myself, though it goes unappreciated by Evan. “Yeah, that’ll probably suck. But it’ll be fun, still. Besides, I’ll help you get used to it and stuff.”

“You aren’t any better!”

“Are too!”

“Remember the last time we went?” Evan challenges, and it takes a moment for me to recall the event. Holding onto the side of the rink… feeling daring… letting go… being toppled over by six speed-skaters….

“That was just that one time!” I protest, but Evan only laughs and continues facing the road. “Seriously…!”

“Whatever.” He lets out a sigh. “Anyway, here’s your house. Whenever you feel like leaving.”

I gape. “We’re here, already?”

Evan only nods. “For the past two minutes or so.”

“But, but…!” I look outside. Sure enough, there’s my house. “But I seriously thought that, that….”

I swear that house had not been there when I last checked our surroundings.

But anyway, back to my departure from Evan’s car….

“I don’t wanna leave,” I mutter, pouting at him. “Can’t I sleep at your house or something?”

He bites his lip and turns his head away. I pout harder.

“Damnit Grayson, don’t gimme that look.” But of course, I keep doing it. After all, dog-pouting is really the only way you can get people to do things for you. I mean, seriously, when was the last time you pouted at someone and didn’t get what you wanted?

“Fine,” Evan mumbles before turning up the engine. Ha, it works! “But just to warn you, my sister’s sleeping at the house for the week.”

“Oh.” Evan’s sister is, to put it lightly, odd. She has strange fantasies which I usually don’t like delving into much, and she has the oddest sense of fashion. She wears black and white for the most part (note that if you combine these two colors, you get grey), and her hair is always dyed and fashioned in some random manner. Most of the time, she’s a hideous sight to behold.

She also has this insanely odd crush on me, which I don’t like bringing up half the time. Sometimes it’s worse than that stalker’s… well no, I take that back.

Of course, I don’t tell Evan any of this, because she’s his sister. And I’m pretty sure Evan does his best to keep to himself about how he feels about Lavender.

We spend the four minute drive to his house listening to a song and a half. Or more precisely, a song, a second of another song, and half of a third song.

And then we’re there: a decently-sized house, neither too large nor too small. From where we are I can make out his bedroom window, and for some reason there’s already a light on there. They also happen to have a small fountain in front of their front door, though I don’t like it very much. Every time I’d leave his house I’d always seem to think it was raining, even though it really hadn’t been.

And of course, when it actually was raining, I’d never know.

But anyway, back to following Evan into his house….

“Hi mom, hi dad,” Evan mutters rather quickly, casting his greetings one way then the other. His father doesn’t reply, his head much too buried in the paper in front of him to care. But Mrs. Weiss?—well….

“Evan Gregory Weiss! At last you’re home, you have no idea how much we’ve been worried sick about you!” For a moment I look at Evan, who seems completely unfazed by his mother’s frantic frenzy. Then I turn to Mr. Weiss, who seems to not care, either.

“Sorry mom, I—”

“We give you a cell phone for a reason, Evan!—to call us when you change your plans! You could at least send a text or something, but no—you’d rather have your mother worried sick!”

“Mom, sorry, I was at—”

“If you aren’t even going to use your phone then we might as well take it away! I swear, keep tempting me like this and I’ll take you right off our plan!”

“Mom, I was with Grayson.” He turns and shows me off to his mother. “I was helping him with his homework.”

She scoffs before stabbing her knife into the slab of meat in front of her. Poor pig… or cow… or….

“You could’ve done that over the phone,” she hisses before turning to me. “Hello, Grayson, pleasure to see you here. Evan’s not having a bad influence on you now, is he?”

“Not at all, ma’am,” I practically squeak, which earns a rather surprising chuckle from Mr. Weiss.

“That’s nice.” She ignores my existence once more and turns to Evan. “Don’t stay up too late, then. Is he bringing himself home or should I expect his mother to pick him up?”

Evan bites his lip. “Actually, ma… he’s sleeping over for the night.”

Uh oh….

“What? Evan, honestly, have I not taught you anything? You need to pre-approve these things with me, you hear? This house simply isn’t fit for such guests! Your sister is taking the guest room, if you didn’t remember! Where exactly do you expect Grayson to sleep, then?”

“He can sleep with me!”

“Sleep with you? Sleep with you? That’s absolutely—!” but a deep clearing of someone’s throat cuts her off, and as if in a trance all of our heads turn to Mr. Weiss.

“If you want my opinion,” he begins, and for a split moment I brace myself for some wise saying to come out of his mouth, something more profound than what his wife’s been letting loose the past few minutes.

“Yes, I’d like it,” Mrs. Weiss says quietly, eying him carefully.

It’s not for a while until Mr. Weiss speaks. “Just let him do what he wants. He’s almost eighteen. Besides, it’ll save us all the yelling.” There’s this intense moment between the two of them thereafter, and I swear I almost see the sparks flying. In fact, I probably would’ve seen them, if it hadn’t been for Evan’s tugging at my shoulder and him urging me to hasten up the stairs before we got involved in something nasty.

“Not the happiest bunch of people,” Evan tells me quietly, tiptoeing to his room. “Though you already knew that.”

“Why are we talking quietly and tiptoeing again?” I ask, though the answer decides to leap out at me.

“I knew you’d come with him!” And alas, the hideous Vana Weiss is hugging me, staring yet smiling at me with a most peculiar gaze. Perhaps the only comforting thought is that she has a very nice grip in her hug, but besides that….

Today she has a white top that reveals her navel, and she has Capris that sit just a little lower than where they should. I suppose someone in the world would find that extremely attractive, but not me. On the contrary, I find it repulsing. I almost want to just rip off that silver…thing… off her navel and tug down her shirt to cover up that… hideousness!

And her hair happens to be split into black and white colors today. Her right side is bleached whitish blonde and snipped to a boy’s haircut. The left is dyed jet-black and tied into a ponytail in the side. It’s… a terrible combination.

But anyway, back to dealing with Evan’s sister….

“It’s been almost forever!” she exclaims, letting go of me. “Oh, I miss going to school every day and seeing your amazingly-adorably cute face!”

…I remain silence, only because I don’t know of anything better to do.

“And you, my brother!” She gives him a hug of his own, and I feel slightly more relaxed when I see his awkwardly uncomfortable facial expression, too. “How’s life with… the ‘rents?”

“You can’t hear them?” he says simply, and immediately their voices cue in from downstairs. Quite angrily….

“Let’s head to my room,” Vana suggests, and we all comply. We quickly hasten to the furthest room from the stairs and practically throw ourselves within it, closing the door shut behind us. We’re in a really decent room, minus the wallpaper; in actuality it’s a really empty room, with just a bunch of suitcases against the wall.

“Oh, that reminds me,” I say a little too quickly, turning to Vana. “Why are you staying in the guestroom? Don’t you have a room of your own here?”

She gives me a quizzical look. “What are you talking about? This is my room!”

Evan gives me a curious glare before switching the subject. “You like college then, Vana?”

She gives an enthusiastic nod. “Oh yeah, it’s awesome! All my classes are bearable, and I don’t have to take any of that useless crap that we did in high school. Plus our marching band is amazing, and it really fills up my time.”

“What do you play?” I ask her, just for the sake of being friendly.

She pouts at me. “You don’t remember?”

I shake my head.

“Flute, of course! How do you not know that, Grayson? I remember lots of stuff about your life; the least you could do is repay the favor!”

When I don’t respond to her, she moves on. “But yeah, college is great. Oh hey, Evan, that reminds me!—my roommate this year is friends with this freshman kid, and he’s so adorably cute. I think you’d like him.”

To this Evan turns a bright red, but I merely ignore the both of them, figuring they’re talking about something I’m not a part of. Unless, of course, Vana’s going off on one of her strange fantasies again….

“I… I dunno what you’re talking about, Vana.”

“He’s only a bit older than you; I think it’d be awfully cute! You’re about his height, and I could totally see the both of you—”

“Shut up, Vana.”

…remember how I said Vana has some strange fantasies?—those fantasies, sadly, would be her desires to pair off straight boys and imagine them having… well, sexual encounters. And perhaps it’s just me who finds it weird that she includes her brother in her fantasies, but… maybe it is just me.

But anyway, back to Vana’s strange fantasies….

“Just meet him, at least!” Vana exclaims, shaking her brother lightly. “Come on, it’ll be fun! I could make it a double date!”

“I’m not interested in guys,” Evan reminds her, glaring at her as if she should’ve known that. Except, she really should’ve, and perhaps she’s just too into her fantasy to remember.

“And even if he were,” I pipe in, adding to his defense, “I’m sure Evan wouldn’t go for this whoever it is you’re talking about. Evan loves me too much.”

Vana raises an eyebrow. “Does he, now?”

Evan only glares at me. I suppose that really wasn’t to his defense at all….

Vana only smirks wickedly after my proclamation, and I can practically hear myself gulp down nervousness as she opens her mouth to speak. “You know now that I think about it, the two of you would be so hot together!”

…is she serious…?

…she is? But, but… she’s supposed to have this super-amazing crush on me! Why’s she pairing me off in her fantasies, now?

…oh no!

“Vana, seriously….”

“Think about it, though!” Vana exclaims excitedly, ignoring Evan’s seething face. “My brother, lying in a bed surrounded by blue candles, dimly lit, with nothing on except a pink tie. And he’s holding a strawberry seductively with his mouth, licking it every so often….” She turns to me. “Come on, Grayson, I know even you would like that!”

“I….” Okay fine, I would find that rather… stimulating. But not because it’s Evan! Just because… I like strawberries… and the color blue… and ties….

Unlike my scary stalker, Vana actually knows her stuff.

“If you really want the final touch, you could always get some white—”

“Mom and dad should be done yelling now,” Evan interjects in a rather loud voice, grabbing me by the sleeve. “Come on, Grayson, let’s go to mine.”

I almost feel bad for him when his face turns an even deeper red, once he realizes what he’s said. But just to comfort him, I don’t comment on it (though Vana does), and I follow him to his room per his orders.

His room is almost just as undecorated as Vana’s is, though that’s probably because he actually lives there more than she does. There are a few posters with bands plastered on them, but otherwise there’s pretty much nothing else one the walls. There’s a desk and some drawers and a bed—only one, though, which means one of us is going to have to sleep on the floor… unless we share it. But after having just come from Vana’s room, I don’t think that option’s very likely….

“Don’t mind if we share the bed, do you?” Evan asks, kicking around some clothes on the floor. “You get one half and I get the other? I mean, I’d sleep on the floor and let you have it, but my floor isn’t the most clean of places….”

I shrug. “Whatever’s fine, I guess. Don’t you care that Vana—?”

“I don’t care; she’ll do it whether we sleep together or not.” His face suddenly twists into convulsion once he realizes what he’s said. “Not like that….”

“I know.” For the next few moments I merely watch him as he winds down for bed. I’m not sure why I’m watching him do things like him changing clothes, but it’s probably just out of nothing better to do. The only thing I really look at is his bony shoulders, which for some reason I have a strange liking for… very shield-like, very useful in certain situations….

“So what’d you wanna do?” Evan asks suddenly, flopping onto the bed next to me. Apparently, when he sleeps, he doesn’t wear a shirt… which makes sense, I suppose, granted the weather at this time of the year; at least he’s wearing pants. “Or do you wanna just sleep?”

“I… I dunno… whatever.” He looks at me curiously, raising an eyebrow at my response. “But I definitely need some clothes to sleep in,” I add, to which he nods and heads into his closet.

He comes out with a light-blue shirt and penguin-patterned pajamas. “You don’t mind the color, do you?” he asks quietly, as if scared I’ll chop his head off. “I dunno if you like penguins too much….”

“They’re fine,” I reply quickly, smiling before taking my clothes off. It takes only a minute to put them on, and when I’ve changed I find my way back to the bed. “This is my side, then?”

“Guess so.” He shrugs before climbing into the other half of his bed. There’s a silence for a while, the only noises being the occasional beats from Vana’s music in the room across, and the two of us stare at the ceiling above us. Even after Evan goes to turn off the light, there really isn’t much to talk about. My mind’s so burnt out I can barely think in coherent sentences, and every time I think of ice skating I end up worrying about my next calculus test, and before I can finish that I’m off wondering—

“You have clothes to wear for tomorrow at school, right?”

I blink. “Hm?”

A small pause. “Tomorrow… school… Friday…. Do you have something to wear…?”

“Oh….” I stop to think of the matter… while trying to not think of Calculus tests instead. “I guess I could wear the same clothes, but that’d be kinda… eh. Plus if we’re going to the ice rink afterward…. Yeah, I think I’ll need clothes.” In the darkness I swear I can start seeing some strawberry-shaped patterns in the ceiling. “Er… could I borrow some?”

“Hm?—oh yeah, sure, of course. I asked for a reason, you know?”

“Yeah.” Sleep, come soon… sleep, come soon… sleep, come soon…. “Oh, by the way….”

“Yeah?”

“They’re really adorable looking and stuff, but their color coordination sucks just as badly as your sister’s.”

There’s an incredibly long silence between us after my statement, and for a moment I wonder if he’s fallen asleep. But eventually he does answer me. “…what?”

“Penguins,” I reply quietly. “You were wondering earlier.”

“Ah, right….” A pause. “Well, I’m a bit tired, so let’s try sleeping, okay?”

“Fine.”

Another pause.

“Night, Grayson.”

“Goodnight, Eva—hold on, wait!”

“Wha?”

“Did you lock the door?”

“…no, why?”

“Well… I dunno, Vana might come in, and….”

Within moments Evan jumps off the bed and hastens to lock the door. No surprise there…. “Maybe one day I’ll let her indulge in her sick fantasy,” he mumbles, climbing into bed. “But definitely not tonight… too tired for that….”

He falls asleep before greeting me a goodnight again. And in the wake of his snores, there’s only one thing I can really think about.

Crap, it’s no longer my birthday!

Hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. This chapter is a little shorter than the last, but I hope it's still decently good. Don't forget to leave a review!

-Zak