I SAID I WAS TRYING.

“If I knew all it took to get you to fall in love with me was a failed attempt to dance, I would’ve done it a long time ago,” he teased. “Sounds disgusting. I can’t speak for your other classes, but Doc Ock cancelled class for the sixth time this semester because she needed to visit her boyfriend. Also, we did an egg drop for some reason,” he said, referring to their shared oceanography class with the professor who was obsessed with octopuses. 

Pink glitter stuck to her cheek, leftover remnants from her party makeup the night before, Freya was just escaping a bad date. She had cackled like a child as the man had attempted to go home with her from the bar, prancing off like an escaped deer as he slid his arm around her waist, pulling away and shaking her head. “Sorry. I think I see one of my friends over there. Text you later,” she had told him, heading back towards the bar booths, Freya quickly sitting in a random booth and huffing, brushing locks of blonde hair out of her face. “I told that guy we’re friends. Help me out? I can’t talk to him for another minute. He started saying all the things he wanted to do to me and my eyes glazed over. Like someone replaced my brain with a fat head of lettuce,” she complained, her now former date still eyeing the blonde suspiciously as he looked at his phone, waiting for his Uber to arrive. “Just keep talking until he leaves. He’s kind of obsessed with me. Thought he was going to yank out a lock of my hair and clone me at one point.”

“walk with me?” she whispered to the closest person she could find after barely escaping her math professor’s eye. “apparently the 88 I thought I had gotten on an exam was actually a 33, so just trying to avoid an unnecessary pep talk. don’t think anyone has the bandwidth for that nowadays.” 

“Just a minor plague? Should I be worried about catching it?” he teased, putting his laptop away so he could focus on their conversation. “Yeah, I’m surprised anyone’s immune system can handle this much bullshit.”

he made a face, scrunching his nose before shaking his head. “if you’re still sick, then why aren’t you laying in bed and trying to get better? wouldn’t that be the smartest move?”

the grin on evan’s lips widened slightly when she moved her hands from her face to her ears and he quickly moved forward, grabbing both of them and pulling them down. he didn’t really care whether she was contagious or not. he had just been messing with her. “ and then, when two people like each other - they go back to one of their places and –, ” he said but stopped as he looked at the girl in front of him. staring at her, evan swallowed and he furrowed his eyebrows a little. dropping his hands from her ears, he wrapped them around her and hugged her. he hugged her tightly. with everything going on right now, evan needed that. “ i’m glad you’re back, britt. ”

                    AFTER HEARING THE question at hand, arlos head titled to one side, brows raised in disbelief and wondering how they ever got to this part of the conversation. it left him wanting to rewind and actually listen to brittany. “hm, good question. my first pick would be aquaman, i feel like he could belt a few good notes and he’d draw in the fans. next would be tony stark, he’s awesome, should definitely be part of the band and he could make us all cool suits and we’d fly around the stage and stuff. the genie from aladdin would be my third and eggsy unwin would be my last if only for the kickass suit he wears.” he explains with an achieved expression settling across his face. “how about you? lets hear your pick.”

“Feel free to do just that. Not with me, with the band. I think the only fans that fall in love with me are the type that fawn over random background characters in movies. It’s the guitarist everyone’s crazy about. God, no. I would have to learn to dance and that’s not my thing. The plague? Is that why I didn’t see you for months?” he asked, exaggerating the amount of time she’d been gone.

“I didn’t say it cause I don’t think you can take a hint. I said it cause I’m not that desperate for you to go away. Where’d you disappear to, anyways?”

“Start watching the food network and get a couple cookbooks. It’s not that hard to figure out. I mean, you may burn a few things, but eventually you get the hang of it,” she suggested. “I make some killer wings and chili and burgers. You’ll have to try them sometime when you’re feeling better.”

“We both know you wouldn’t leave even if I asked you to,” he teased. “But I guess if you want to talk to me, I have to indulge you.”

“You’ll be the first to hear the full version, if I ever finish it,” he said with a half smile, playing around with his necklace like he often did when asked questions like that. “It’s written for my band and our lovely fans. I had another one in the works, but I wanted our first single to be something people could connect to us.”

“You just looked really pitiful and cute when you’re sick,” Gemma joked with a soft laugh. “It’s not that hard. It just takes a bit of time,” she explained as they walked.

“It’s not that hard,” she said with a soft laugh. “C’mon. Let’s go to my place and I’ll cook for you there,” she said, heading in the direction of the Zeta house. “I promise I won’t add anything too spicy. It will be bland soup that will hopefully help you get over this whatever.”

the grin on evan’s lips widened as he watched brittany cover her face. “ oh, i am most definitely going to mention it to your mom, ” he said smugly. “ you? a perfect angel? ha! come on, britt, you and i both know that’s just bullshit, ” he said and laughed softly as she said she was considering becoming a nun. what’s sex? “ weeeeeell, let me tell you, ” he said and smirked, “ when two people enjoy each other’s company, sometimes… ” he said and laughed, snorting at the words coming from his own lips.

“Hey, Carrie Underwood is a treasure. Any good country girl knows to go after a boy’s truck if you want to make him pay for something,” she stated before smiling at the other. “Want me to make you some from scratch? I could throw in some less intense peppers to help clear things out. Or just leave out the spices all together if you’re a chicken.”