The Sight (bxb)

Chapter 51 - The Talk - Part 2

For a brief moment, he regretted not choosing to stay at North Hallson. Of course, he knew right away that it was a stupid idea, because otherwise he wouldn't have met his friends, who were angry with him now, but he was determined to win them back in time, whatever the cost.

"You're lost in thought again." Ryan's comment brought him out of his mind where he was stuck for a moment.

"Sorry," he immediately responded, but Ryan just chuckled.

"I didn't say I mind," he said.

"It's so stupid how easy it is to talk to you." Evan's response wasn't as sweet as the whole situation.

"Thanks?" Ryan grimaced as if he didn't know whether to take it as a compliment and his expression made Evan laugh. It didn't take long for the boy across from him to join him.

The silence that followed was no longer like the previous one, awkward and with expectations that were difficult to fulfil. No, this was different. Relaxed and one that left no doubt that they enjoyed each other's presence.

"I'm glad you finally confirmed my friend request," Ryan said after a moment, moving a little closer to Evan. The gap between them narrowed, but there was still a space between them that separated their friendship from a relationship.

"Should I at least pretend I didn't ignore it on purpose for weeks?" Evan said with mock seriousness, earning himself a gentle nudge on the shoulder. The corners of both of their mouths twitched.

"I guess that means we've only officially been friends for 2 days." When Evan thought about it like that, even though it was a joke, there was something true about it. Until now, the relationship between them had been unidentifiable and had too many gaps to be called a true friendship.

"What about your friends at home?" Evan asked, changing the subject. Mostly they always talked about him, and it was only now that Evan began to realize how little he knew about him, despite being his soul mate.

"What about them?" Ryan was obviously taken aback by the question.

"We never talked about them. You moved here for a year and I'm sure you left behind a host of friends and admirers." He was exaggerating on purpose, but it wouldn't surprise him if he was right. It was hard not to like Ryan.

"I don't have that many friends." Ryan shrugged, as if leaving friends was normal. "Most are wolves, so they understand anyway."

"What about your best friend? You know mine." Evan asked him another question, though he still couldn't tell if Ryan was uncomfortable with the subject or just really had nothing to say.

"I don't think I have one best friend," he said after a moment's thought. "I have my soccer teammates, but we are not that close. I have classmates with whom I have the most lessons and also hang out outside of school, but they are not wolves, so there are also topics that we cannot talk about much. And then there are my pack mates. Lia, Emma, and Tommy are the ones I tend to go running with in our second form. I also hang out with other wolves sometimes, like Bradley or Cora, but I don't text them when we can't see each other." He ended up saying more than they both probably expected, and Evan was more than happy. He was finally finding out more about him and, as he assumed, he was popular, although he probably didn't realize it that much.

"So Michael," Evan evaluated for him.

"Yeah," he agreed, though he didn't look particularly happy with the answer, and Evan didn't understand why until Ryan added his own question, "Is it weird?"

"Not at all," he answered him honestly. If he were to be completely honest, he would tell him that he envied him. He would give anything to have his cousin by his side and still be able to say that he is his best friend. Not that Angie wasn't enough for him, but he and Riley had a special relationship that he didn't have with anyone else in their family.

"Thanks, E." He earned a sincere smile for his answer. Evan blinked in surprise at the nickname. He wasn't sure, but he doubted Ryan had ever called him that before.

"You called me E," he blurted out. He was used to being called that by Angie, who later passed it on to their entire group of friends, and it stuck but hearing it from Ryan's mouth was strange. Especially when it was Kieran who called him that most often.

"Yeah," Ryan blushed, "I heard Angie call you that," he admitted. Due to his own panic, Evan didn't even realize how simple the answer was. Ryan and Angie spent time together, as Ryan spent time with Evan, and Ryan always paid attention when someone spoke.

"Oh," he said involuntarily. "I'm just not used to being called that in North Hallson," he said, Ryan's expression making it clear he had guessed the message hidden between the lines.

"Well, I can still call you Lightwood." Ryan immediately turned the situation around and Evan automatically returned his smile.

"Should I call you Bane then?" he asked him, momentarily forgetting his promise not to give mixed signals. If anything screamed flirting, it was calling yourself the names of your favourite characters who were married.

"You can. But get ready for me to steal your hoodie one day." Ryan obviously didn't mind his comment, in fact, he seemed pleased. Evan immediately knew which one he meant, remembering their meeting at the Rock Pop Diner. At the time, he was excited that Ryan knew his favourite series and still hadn't found a suitable opportunity to ask him if he had ever seen it through his eyes too.

"I don't know about stealing, but we can definitely trade them someday," Evan suggested, though he couldn't have imagined it at the time. Wearing a hoodie that smelled like his mate was too much.

"But I have to warn you that I don't have a black hoodie, and I honestly can't imagine you in anything colourful," Ryan chuckled, and Evan had to agree. He couldn't even remember ever wearing anything that wasn't black. It was his comfort colour, and he simply had no plans to give it up.

Evan's hand passed over the ground beside him, and his mind was distracted for a moment. He got back into his thoughts and, not on purpose, ignored the boy at his side again.

"Want to see something?" Ryan suddenly stood up, and Evan raised his head to look at him in surprise. The boy towering over him automatically offered his hand, and Evan grabbed it, letting himself be pulled to a standing position. He had no idea what the raven-haired boy might want to show him, especially in a place where there was almost nothing left.

In the end, it turned out that what Ryan wanted to share with him was only a few steps away from them. He squatted down, and Evan followed suit, although at first, he had no idea what he was looking at. Ryan ran his hand over the dusty ground, and Evan, looking at the movement after a while, saw exactly what at first seemed to be overlooked. Names were etched into the concrete in front of him.

"Once, Michael and I saw on TV how people carved their initials into a tree. We felt sorry for the trees, so we decided to carve our names here," he explained, and Evan recognized the individual letters that made up the cousins' names with his eyes.

Evan could clearly picture the two little boys struggling with each letter, and the thought brought a small smile to his face.

"Here." He turned his gaze to Ryan, not understanding, then noticed the key in his hand as he handed it to him.

"Are you sure?" He knew it was something special for him and Michael, and he didn't want to ruin it. After all, they had only known each other for a short time, and he and Michael were still in their testing phase of friendship.

"Come on, I want to see you struggle with it," Ryan laughed, making light of the situation. Evan took the key from him and placed it on the ground, trying to make the first line. He quickly discovered that it wasn't as simple as it looked, especially when he wanted to create letters as deep as the two of them had done. He therefore decided to engrave his signature, which adorned all his works, instead of his name.

Ryan's eyes followed his every move as he formed an upside-down capital E, and for a brief moment, Evan thought something flashed through his eyes that he couldn't identify. However, Ryan didn't say anything out loud, so Evan also decided to remain silent and continued to create his eternal signature.