Just Stay (2 page)

"Crazy in a good way," he adds suddenly, and Seb looks at him. "My mom read me
Tell-tale heart
when I was a kid."

He makes a low whistling noise.

"Scared the shit outta me."

Seb makes a face and hesitantly sits down beside him.

"Yeah, I can imagine," he says. "Sounds like a cool mom, though."

Evan chuckles and looks at the mug in his hands.

"Yeah," he says, smiling. "She was."

And just like that, the whole atmosphere changes, suddenly somber, and Seb swallows hard.

Was
. She
was
. Is he supposed to ask about it? Offer his condolences or something? Or maybe not say anything at all? He has only known this guy for roughly five minutes, after all.

The silence drags on for a few more seconds, before Evan suddenly clears his throat.

"Whoa," he says, as though realizing the change in atmosphere. "That's, uh..."

He clears his throat again and looks up, looks around the room.

"I should go," he finally says, handing his mug to Seb. "Thanks for the water. And the safe house."

He flashes a crooked grin and Seb takes the mug from him. Evan nods slightly, before getting up from the bed. Seb looks down; he barely touched the water.

"Uh, yeah," he says, getting up as well. Evan is already over by the door. "No worries."

Evan unlocks the door and opens it, peering out into the hallway. It's empty.

"Alright," he says, pulling back and turning to Seb. "The coast is clear."

He seems to hesitate for a moment, before he claps his hand on Seb's lean shoulder. Seb just looks at him, TARDIS mug clutched in his hands, and Evan lets his hand linger for a while, before pulling away. He flashes another grin, and Seb weakly smiles back, as Evan backs out of the room.

"See you around, Seb," he says. And just like that, he's gone, closing the door behind him and walking down the hallway outside. Seb can hear his steps disappear as he leaves the floor, and for several seconds, he just stands there, staring. Then, he reanimates and looked around his room. It looks exactly the same as five minutes ago, cluttered and dimly lit, clothes scattered all over the place and school books open on the desk.

He clutches his mug a bit tighter. Everything looks exactly the same.

So why does something feel different?

Chapter 2

Heat wave

It's still unbelievably hot outside. No one around here is really used to this kind of heat, Seb included, and as he makes his way to a lecture on English 19th century literature, he actually huffs in pure annoyance.

It's in the middle of the day, and it seems that most students are completely exhausted, either from the heat or from partying too hard. Because seriously, several of them have been partying for the last three days. Seb thought that everyone might settle down after that first night, but they haven't. And that night was bad enough.

Although, maybe not all bad. It was interesting, at least.

Seb hasn't seen Evan since then. He hasn't seen that random guy again since he barged into his dorm room in the middle of the night, not once.

Then again, he's probably busy sleeping it off or hooking up with some girl. Or both. Seb doesn't really care. It's mostly the fact that, well, he doesn't have that many friends, and so a new person is kind of a big deal, at least for a little while. Not that he's sure he'd want to be friends with Evan, anyway. He didn't really strike Seb as the brainy type.

Although, he apparently
is
a fan of Edgar Allan Poe; Seb has barely met anyone outside the courses he takes that's even properly familiar with him.

It's a rather big campus, and Seb's lecture is to be held on the opposite side of it, from his dorm. Which means that he has to cross pretty much the entire college to get there, and which means that he has to be out in this heat for most of the way.

He's taking the route around another dorm building near his, hands in his pockets and a worn, brown messenger bag slung over his right shoulder. He feels uncharacteristically tired, both due to his lack of sleep, studying for exams, and the weather, and he pulls his fingers through his messy hair, eyes directed at the ground.

He's wearing his headphones around his neck, because it's frankly too warm to bear the synthetic material of them pressing against his ears and head at the moment, and he rubs the bridge of his nose tiredly. That's when he glances at the watch on his wrist and realizes that he's running late.

"Shit, really?" he mutters to himself angrily, before hurrying his steps into a half-run. As he goes, he hears something behind him and looks over his shoulder, but it turns out to be nothing, and he turns to look straight ahead again.

He doesn't have time to stop before literally running straight into another person.

The impact is surprisingly startling, and the other guy actually almost falls over, Seb straightening and trying to stay on his feet.

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" Seb exclaims. He manages to remain standing, even though he practically slammed into this guy, and he adjusts the shoulder strap of his bag. He picks up a bundle the guy dropped on the ground, and straightens. "My bad, I just―"

"I'll take that," the guy says, and Seb looks up from the bundle in his hands―and right into the eyes of none other than Evan Matthews.

"Wha―" he sputters, thoroughly surprised, and Evan just looks at him for a few moments, as though trying to remember where he has seen him before. And then, his entire face becomes more animated.

"Oh! Seb, right?" he says, sounding almost excited, and Seb just nods lamely, mouth half-open. "Man, great timing!"

Seb just keeps standing there, staring.

"Why?" he finally asks, and Evan takes the bundle from his hands. Seb sees now that it's a worn, dark brown leather jacket, and Evan holds something else out to Seb and presses it into his hands.

"Here, hold this," he says, putting on his jacket, and Seb just stares.
What the hell is happening?

"I don't―" he starts, but is cut off by the sound of something breaking. He looks up; it sounded like it came from the open window Evan apparently just climbed out of. And sure enough, it's followed by an angry cry that is undoubtedly female.

"Evan!" she shouts, and Evan gets the same look on his face that a child gets when getting caught doing something hilarious but forbidden, a mischievous, wide smile on his face. "I swear to god!"

"What the hell's that about?" Seb asks, turning to Evan, who keeps his eyes on the window.

"Nah, it's fine," he says dismissively. "It's just―"

His voice cuts off when he hears the sound of another voice from the window, a male one this time, and his expression changes from amused mischief to slightly amused panic. The voice quickly rises into a shout, and Evan starts.

"Shit," he says, backing away. "We gotta go."

"What?" Seb exclaims. "We?
We
don't
gotta
do anything!"

"Dude, just run!" Evan says, and Seb gapes at him.

"I've got class!" he retorts, but Evan just keeps backing away, before turning around and breaking into a run.

"Your funeral!" he yells over his shoulder, and Seb looks up when he hears the angry voice of the other guy, whom he assumes is the girl's boyfriend, in the open window. He pokes his head out, and his gaze immediately falls on Seb.

"Hey!" he shouts, and that's enough for Seb to curse under his breath and start running, Evan already having a bit of a head start.

They both run and run, and it's not until they've rounded the corner of the building and reached part of the green area that spreads across campus that they actually stop running. Seb nearly falls over from the exhaustion, leaning against a maple tree for support., and for shade, because it really is annoyingly hot outside.

"Shit, man," Evan says, panting, leaning over with his hands on his knees. "Shit. That was close."

Seb actually rolls his eyes.

"Why does that sound familiar," he mutters, and Evan glances at him.

"What?" he asks, but Seb just shakes his head.

"Nothing," he says. "I'm just trying to catch my breath."

He's leaning over now, too, his head spinning. It's so hot outside, and he has never been much of a runner, anyway. He doesn't even notice he's falling over until Evan catches him by the arm to keep him standing.

"Whoa, dude," he says, and Seb blinks. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Seb mutters, vaguely embarrassed. "It's just... really hot."

"I hear ya," Evan says, releasing Seb when he's sure he can stand on his own, and shrugging out of his undoubtedly too warm leather jacket. He lets out a deep huff, before turning to Seb again, who is still leaning against the tree for support. "You sure you're okay?"

Seb nods and straightens, uncomfortably aware of how his shirt is sticking slightly to his back, all of a sudden. He looks up at Evan, whose eyes are shining, despite his clear exhaustion, and forehead sweaty from the heat and exertion. He looks at Seb, and smiles.

"Come on," he says, cocking his head. "I'll buy you a beer."

Seb processes that for a moment, before frowning.

"I've got class," he says, but Evan just shrugs.

"So?" he says, and Seb just looks at him.

"It's in the middle of the day," he tries instead, and Evan shrugs again. Seb looks at him for a while longer, and Evan finally exhales.

"Fine, if you don't want a beer, I'll get you something else," he says, and Seb sighs, his breath finally evening out.
That's not really the issue,
he wants to say, but he refrains.

"Why?" he asks instead, and Evan quirks a smile.

"You kidding?" he says. "That's twice now you've helped me out. I owe you."

Seb just keeps looking at him, unsure how to act.

"You helped me," Evan repeats, clearly amused at Seb's reaction. "I appreciate that. Speaking of which."

He holds out his hand and nods toward Seb's closed fist, and it takes a few moments before Seb realizes that he's still clutching whatever Evan handed to him earlier. He holds it out; it's a cell phone, and he puts it in Evan's hand. Evan gives him another nod.

"Thanks," he says, pocketing it. "Now, come on."

This time, Seb doesn't question it. Instead, he just forgets all about his lecture and goes along with Evan, and he has no idea why.

An hour or so later, Seb and Evan are sitting in a pub on the edge of campus, by the bar. Evan stayed true to his word and bought Seb a beer, which Seb was actually in the mood for, even though he really doesn't drink that often, and they have both finished about half of their bottles by now.

"So, wait," Evan says, holding a hand up. "You just basically study old stories and poetry?"

Seb resists the urge to roll his eyes and sigh.

"When you put it that way, it sounds lame," he says instead, taking a sip from his beer. "But I suppose that is one way to put it."

Evan nods slowly.

"Right," he says, mirroring Seb and lifting his own bottle to his lips, drinking from it. "Sounds way smarter than what I do, though."

"And what do you do?"

"Music."

Seb feels his eyebrows rise in slight surprise. Then again, he's not sure why he would be surprised. What was he expecting Evan to be studying, anyway?

"Really?" he says, and Evan nods.

"Yeah," he says, looking down at his bottle and fiddling with label a bit with his thumb. "It's pretty useless, I guess, but... I don't know. It makes me happy."

"Then it's not useless."

Evan looks at Seb then, sincere surprise in his eyes, as though he's not used to people actually backing up his career choice.

"I guess," he says. "But I'm not the only ass with a guitar, trying to make it. I guess I could have just skipped the whole college thing and kept trying, but I wanted to do more, you know. Like, I wanted to do
only
that, and I wanted to do it
professionally.
So I applied here, and by some miracle, I got in. The music program here is really damn good, I can't believe they picked me."

A small smile spreads across his face, as he looks down at his bottle again. Seb can't help but smile, himself, when he sees it. Something about Evan's smile is just... He barely even knows the guy, but seeing him smile like that makes him feel weirdly content.

Maybe some people just have that effect on you
, he thinks.

"What about you?" Evan asks, looking up at him. "Why do you study literature?"

Seb opens his mouth to come up with a good reply, but just ends up half-shrugging.

"For pretty much the exact same reasons you just said," he explains. "Only, I want to be a writer. And, apart from writing, it helps to study what other people have written. Basically."

Evan smiles crookedly at that.

"I get it," he says. And it looks as though he really does.

Neither of them says a word for a little while then. The bar is pretty much empty apart from them, the bartender, and a few lone drinkers, mellow music drifting smoothly from the speakers.

Seb wonders for a second why the place is so empty, before realizing that it's three o'clock in the afternoon. And here he is, ditching class, having a beer with Evan Matthews, a guy he didn't even know existed a few days ago.
Normal
isn't exactly the first word that comes to mind.

"Hey," Evan says, nudging Seb softly with his elbow. "Big party tonight, on campus. Some friends of mine are throwing it, the whole dorm. You coming?"

Seb groans inwardly, but exhibits nothing but a small shrug.

"I don't think so," he says. "Not really my thing."

"Come on, their parties are always off the hook," Evan says. "Trust me."

"If you say so," Seb murmurs, taking a sip of his beer, but Evan catches his words.

"What, you've never been?" he asks, his tone slightly joking. Until he realizes that Seb, in fact, hasn't been. "Seriously?"

Seb just gives him a non-committal eyebrow raise, and Evan exhales pointedly, as though disbelieving.