Page 20 of In the Danger Zone
According to Evan it wasn’t that serious.
Evan.
He had come to my rescue twice now. Heseemednice. That was the appearance he showed everyone. But there was no way anyone who was friends with Asher was a nice guy. It was a trap. I wasn’t sure ofhowit was a trap, but I just knew that it had to be one. Maybe Asher wanted me to fall for Evan or something, only for it all to be a joke.
But I had to be smarter than that.
Evan was cute. He was more than cute. He was stupidly handsome. Tall and broad with the brightest smile I had ever seen. His eyes were a vibrant blue. They would have been easy to get lost in. But I wasn’t going to fall for that.
Focus. I had to focus. I eyed the textbook before me, finally getting ready to get stuck into the readings. My old, horrifyingly slow laptop had frozen for a good minute straight. The refund still hadn’t come through yet, and according to the administration office it could take up to another month.
So, I decided to just focus on my readings and handwrite some notes instead. But that was when I heard someone clear their throat. Looking up, I was met with those eyes I had just been thinking about.
Evan stood in front of the table, looking as handsome as ever in nothing but a plain t-shirt and some jeans. It wasn’t fair that he looked so good in such a simple outfit.
“What do you want?” I asked, voice low. “I’m b-busy.”
“You’re studying,” he said with a smile. “I don’t wanna disrupt that or anything.”
“Well, that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“Right. Look, can we talk? Properly?”
My hands gripped the book tight in my hands. “We have n-nothing to talk about.”
“What about Asher?”
“What about him?”
Evan pulled out a chair, taking a seat without my permission. “I didn’t know he was such an asshole.”
“Well, that’s old n-news. And did I say that you could sit down?”
“Look, I know that you don’t like me because I’m friends with him and he treats you badly. I don’t know what happened with the two of you, but I can see that he’s okay with being a huge asshole to you…”
My eyes stayed focused on Evan. On the serious look on his face. He was lying. But he was a good actor, because he did manage to sound somewhat genuine. Too bad for Evan, though, because I wasn’t going to just fall down to my knees because he looked at me with his gorgeous eyes.
Wait, they weren’t gorgeous.
They were a nice colour. Not a big deal.
“I don’t know what you want m-me to say,” I whispered. “Or what you want this conversation to b-be about exactly. I went to school with A-Asher. I’ve known him for a long time.”
Evan nodded. “I met Asher when we were kids at camp. We kept in touch since we had so much in common when it comes to hockey. We were both defensemen. We were the same age. Both of us wanted to play in the NHL when we got older. Both were super focused.”
“That’s really n-nice.” My voice was dripping with sarcasm. I remembered young Asher. Little kid Asher. He tormented me back then as well. The guy had been born ready to make my life hell.
“But I guess you had a different experience with him…”
My eyes shut. “I don’t wanna talk about m-my past with you.”
“You think I’m a bad guy because of who my friend is.”
“Good friend, right?” I kept my eyes shut. “N-Not just a friend. B-But a good friend.”
Evan cleared his throat. “Yeah, probably one of my best friends if I’m being honest…”
I finally opened my eyes back up. “If I can’t trust A-Asher, what m-makes you think I can trust you?”
