A Life Worth Living «tree bros»

5. out for coffee that i dont even drink

"Come on, Hansen," Connor chuckled as he strutted out of the school doors, but Evan was shrinking back, walking behind Connor.

Evan kept quiet but picked up his pace.

Evan was just, scared, yeah. That was it. Scared. Scared because Connor has met lashed out since they met and he knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time. It was irrational as far as Evan knew. But he was also scared if he saw anyone from school, especially if they pointed fingers and mumbled behind their hands to their friend. Two freaks, they probably thought they were gay. They though Jared and Evan were gay, but Jared stuck up for Evan and himself. He wasn't sure if Connor would stick up for him or completely lash out at the others, because it was a thin line and Connor Murphy's vision must've been blurred, because never once had he acknowledged that line.

Evan got pulled into reality when the small bells chimed as Connor pushed the door open for Evan.

The café was small; a hole in the wall, really. Not many people were there. Three groups of inconsistent numbers of people, all chatting and typing away on laptops, drinking teas and coffees and eating a number of different baked goods.

Evan took a deep breath. He could smell the freshly baked pastries, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and even a hint of tea leaves. He wasn't one for coffee--it was too bitter to him. Not very appealing. Tea? He has had tea here and there, mostly when he was sick. Always the same thing. Green tea that was oversteeped with loads of honey in it. And lemon. He was a sucker for lemon.

"What do you want?" Connor asked, eyeing the menu hanging up above the counter.

"Uh," Evan stammered out, face turning a little pink being put on the spot. He looked at the menu, seeing green tea on there, and under sweeteners was honey. "Green tea with Honey instead of sugar?" (It really just sounded like "uhh, yeah uh, ah, greENtea with, uh, honey? Honey, honey instead of SuGar .")

"Green tea with honey?" Connor repeated, making sure it was the right order.

Evan nodded quickly, hands darting for the hem of his shirt and the cuticles of his nails, finding anything to pick at.

Connor's eyes fell of his fidgeting hands, and after a quick hesitation, he stuck his hand out.

Evan looked at it for a moment.

"If you ever feel like messing up your hands, squeeze my hand," Connor stated, eyes looking at Evan's scuffed hands. "You're already bleeding." His voice melted with kindness, making Evan smile a small ghost of a smirk.

But reality hit Evan once again.

"I-oh! Oh gosh I am im so sorry-just--shit no I'm so-sorry you don-don't need to do that--shit I'm sorry," Evan scrambled to find words, face going red and hands tingling.

Connor grabbed a hold of Evan's rather sweaty and awkwardly warm hand in his own considerably dry, cold hand.

That made Evan jump, shoulders tending and hand squeezing Connor's tight. All that was going through his head was nononmyhandsaresosweatypleasedontmentionhowabnormallysweatymyhandsareohgodhesprobablygrossedout--

"Yeah one green tea with honey instead of sugar and one medium blueberry coffee, make it black," Connor stated their orders to the employee working there. She copied the order into the register and read off the total. Connor threw a five dollar bill on the table and told her 'don't bother with the change' because that was actually Zoe's money.

It wasn't much of a wait before their order was called back to them, cups placed on the counter.

Evan squeezed Connor's hand harder. He didn't know why, but he didn't quite mind touching his hand. It was comforting, mostly because Connor glossed his thumb across Evan's knuckle each time he squeezed. Sometimes he even squeezed back.