#isbth

SAM EVANS

If you ask Sam Evans about his favorite movies, he’ll probably ramble about Avatar or Star Wars or The Avengers or Indiana Jones for as long as you’ll allow him to talk about the franchises that captivate his imagination again and again. These are the kinds of stories he wants to bring into the world with his own art someday. He probably won’t admit that a lot of what he hopes for in life, at least when it comes to a relationship, can be directly linked to most of the cliches you’d find while watching a cheesy romantic comedy. 

Yeah, okay, it’s totally not bad ass to be able to quote chick flicks, but Sam couldn’t help that he had always been the kind of guy that gravitated toward the idea of true love. He believed in soulmates without any sense of irony, and he believed that fate would eventually lead you to that one person you were meant to find in some way that would make it impossible for you to not just know all at once that you belonged together. Forever. He always found himself getting ridiculously caught up and invested in stories with happy endings.

Sam wanted them to be real but not for the characters onscreen. No, Sam wanted his own love story to be filled with passion and excitement, so he had one big regret in life and that regret boiled down to one of the biggest romantic comedy cliches of all time.

He had fallen in love with his best friend, but he didn’t have the guts to say anything.

Until, you know, now. 

Today would be the day that Sam finally confessed he developed feelings for Blaine Anderson back in college when they started sleeping together, convinced they could beat the system by choosing to opt out of a relationship. They wanted to hang out and they definitely wanted sex but dating? Well, dating only ever got them hurt, and that made dating really, really unappealing. At least that’s what Sam thought in the beginning. 

By the time he realized he wanted more, Blaine had already accepted an internship in London of all fucking places, and Sam couldn’t just blurt out that he wanted to give things a shot. Nobody can survive long distance, right? I mean, you need to be pretty serious to make it through something like that, and serious was the exact definition of what they had insisted they didn’t want again and again.

In a moment of panic, Sam made a mistake. That mistake pulled him and Blaine apart.

Well, until now, remember?

See, Sam knows Blaine is in the city he calls home now, and he knows he can find a way to track him down, to make sure they finally talk about everything that’s been eating away at Sam for years. Blaine just needs to hear that Sam is finally ready to make it work, to get past all his supposed hang-ups about dating a guy, and then BLAM! It’ll be, “Sayonara, Kurt Hummel!” There’s nothing more cliche than telling someone you love them at the most unexpected time and Sam’s been practicing what to say to Blaine for so long that he can’t imagine this being one of those stories he tells with a lump in his throat.

Blaine Anderson is the one that got away and Sam's so sure that’s about to change.

That’s why there’s a bounce in his step as he rounds the corner, heading down the street that will lead him to Sebastian’s building a couple blocks down. Tina flat out refused to cooperate when Sam tried to fish for information about Blaine’s visit and Sebastian is, truth be told, one of the few guys he ever spends time with regularly. Hell, they might even be best friends if they didn’t seem so put off by each other half the time. But, hey, you can’t expect for things to go well if you don’t bring along a wingman! What awesome movie doesn’t have that sarcastic asshole best bro to provide running commentary on how ridiculous everything is?

He also figured the cover of taking Wally on a walk would make any scenario where he stalked his way into running into Blaine “by chance” a lot more believable. That made Sebastian the best possible candidate for tagging along on his adventure.

Not to mention Dani, Brittany and Santana, his roommates and bandmates, all looked at him like he was completely pathetic for even considering trying to speak to Blaine again, especially by trying to force some fake moment of serendipity rather than call him like a normal person.

Whatever. There’s nothing romantic about telling someone how you feel with an iPhone pressed against your ear. 

Sam rolled up the sleeves of his blue plaid shirt as he got closer to his destination and then stopped once he saw a car parked in front of the building, the one he recognized as being how Sebastian got around New York. He rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose before reaching into the pocket of his jeans to pull out his phone to text Sebastian that he had made it, even if he strongly suspected the guy might already be waiting inside the blessing that was air-conditioning in the backseat. 

YO! i’m here and you’re ridiculous!!!!!

It was terrifying how quickly the driver stepped out of the car to open a door for him after he tapped send on his message. He climbed in to see Sebastian sitting with Wally in his lap, curled up with his head on Sebastian’s knee. 

“About yesterday—“

Lynette sighed, knowing he wouldn’t drop the subject. He always chased after her. Why would he stop now, especially when she hadn’t clarified things fully the previous night? She couldn’t come to terms with it herself. She was merely doing what she thought was right. She was still in love with him, that was certain, but it was obvious that this was only hurting Brody’s reputation further. He was good at hiding that fact, but Lyn saw through it. She saw the different sides, the jabbing stares, rude comments, betrayals, and of course, Jeff’s point of view. She knew what they said about Brody, and he had to be fairly dim if he didn’t know either, but it was taking a much harder toll on Lynette than she cared to admit. She knew what needed to be done, as much as it pained the pair of them. “I meant what I said, Brody.”

“No, you didn’t. You wouldn’t be here if you meant it. And besides, you’re confusing as hell when you are scared to tell the truth, Lyn. You know me; you can be honest with me, Lynette. Besides, you’re the not the one everyone hates right now, that’s my territory.” Brody smirked solemnly and approached her cautiously. Things had been foggy last night. He assumed Lynette was attempting to break things off with him, whatever these things were. They definitely weren’t official in any sense, mainly because they’d been seeing each other in secret ever since the aftermath hit. Ultimately, they both knew this wasn’t going to work, not in this way at least, and Lynette seemed to voice that realization before Brody did. Of course that’s how it was. He would never leave her. He would never be the one to hurt her intentionally, and leave her broken. He couldn’t bare that, not after he’d loved her for so long. It had to be Lynette. Of course it did. That was inevitable, and he knew that. However, it didn’t mean he accepted it.

“We aren’t okay, Brody. Nothing about us feels right anymore. We’re hiding in secret, living a lie and just pretending things are okay instead of facing the truth. We’re walking on eggshells, Brody. I can’t do that anymore. I can’t do this. It’s not fair to you. We are only lying to ourselves believing that we can make this work. Maybe we could’ve before if I wasn’t with Jeff, or even months later after everything had died down, but not now. I can’t keep up this act.”

“Oh it’s an act now? What, you just felt so devoted to your character; you thought it would be okay to drag it out just a little bit longer? Do you know how hard this was for me?! Letting you in after everyone found out what I’d be hiding for years! Years, Lynette! This wasn’t just some silly crush! This was a part of my life, and you feel bad because you can’t play ‘this act’ anymore? Is that all I was to you? A dress rehearsal of ‘dating Brody’ and you realize you don’t like the real thing? ” Brody snapped at her, taking her wrist in his grasp and yanking her hand off his chest. He was overreacting, and he knew that, but she really had to choice that phrase? He had a good idea of what she actually meant, but wasn’t in a clear mindset to acknowledge that fact right now. She shouldn’t be attempting to protect him, he could protect himself. She shouldn’t be blaming herself; it was his fault all of this happened in the first place. It broke him more to know that was likely how she saw things, breaking up to salvage some of his reputation and honour so he could piece himself back together. Sighing at the sight of her facial expression, he tried to redeem himself, “I’m sorry…I know you didn’t mean that, and I overreacted. I didn’t—“

Lynette shook her head and stepped away from the boy. He let go of her wrist and she let her hand fall to her side, her wrist slightly stinging from the tightness of Brody’s grip. “It’s fine. You told me to be honest, and that’s what you just did. If that’s how you feel, I can’t get mad about it. But don’t you see? This is not us. We aren’t like this! Phantom just ended not that long ago…we rushed into this because we felt like we should, that it was a good thing. Maybe it is? But I think we need time to decide that. We’re chasing after something that could just be heated stage emotions, or what we could have had before Phantom even happened. I think I still feel guilty that you’ve loved me for so long and I blocked out my feelings for you because I thought that could never happen. And then I dated Jeff. I think I still regret assuming we couldn’t be together, that I’m trying to make sure we can now. But, we can’t keep doing this…not this way…It shouldn’t be this hard.”  Cursing internally as her waterline started brimming with tears, she looked away biting her lip and choking back a sob. She hadn’t meant to hurt Brody this much, but it was as if her brain wouldn’t shut off the loop of how much his life had been damaged because of her. This was the only way she could think of stopping their hurt, their pain, their anguish.  

Brody enveloped the fragile girl in a hug. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling slow and steady. Fearing that he’d start crying too, he swallowed before answering. “If you’re not happy anymore, you know that’s what matters most to me.” A shaky sigh escaped his lips, and the tightness in his chest only intensified. The love of his life was breaking up with him and crying in his arms and all he cared about was comforting her.

No matter how horrible he felt, Brody would never put his feelings above her own. Lynette was worth everything. He felt it was his job to protect her, to look out for her even if she didn’t need him. He would always be in the shadows doing everything he could to keep things in her best interest. It was part of the reasoning he didn’t put up a fight when she started seeing Jeff. He just wanted her to be happy. That was all he ever wanted for her. As hard as it was to admit, if she wasn’t happy with him, he had to accept that.

“I love you, Brody. I honestly have fallen in love with you over these past few months, with the history we have and everything, but it’ll never measure up to what you feel for me. And that’s why I have to let you go.” Lyn confessed, and broke away from his embrace, lightly lacing her fingers with his. “You understand, don’t you?” She sniffed, trying to fake a small smile of reassurance so that he wouldn’t blame himself.

“I do…Even if I don’t agree I understand where you’re coming from. I love you, and will always love you. This doesn’t have to be forever. Summer’s coming, and—“ Brody attempted to rekindle any sense of hope between the pair of them, not wanting to side with her statement completely, but was unfortunately cut off by his ex’s solemn stubbornness.

“I wish I could hold onto that, I really do. But I can’t make any promises to you. I can’t give you any further false hope…I’ll see you around, okay? Goodbye, Brody.” Lynette sighed, and slid her fingers away from his, stepping away and starting to walk away from the boy she’d probably damaged even more.

Brody wasn’t able to muster up a retaliating argument, so instead he let his actions do the talking. Scaring himself a little with his uncharacteristic behaviour, he took her by the arm and spun Lyn around to face him again. Cupping her face with one hand, the other slipped around her lower back, pulling her in close as he caught her eye and shifted his gaze to her lips, leaning in softly. Fortunately, his actions were reciprocated and Lynette kissed him back, grazing his jawbone with her fingertips, as she attempted not to cling to him like she truly wanted to, and not let go. She promised herself she had to do this for him, and needed to stick to her word. But matters of the heart can never be fully resolved when your emotions control you rather than your brain.