Streets of Manhattan

"So you guys just drop her completely? Do you even see what this has ended up too?" Connor said, forcing himself to stay calm as he followed her. "... Did you even know she was stressing before all this? Her dad had a bad stroke."

James shrugged feeling his stomach churn in knots, he kind of hadn't been all that nice to either Evelyn or Jake before this whole situation, so he didn't know maybe Jake had been a decent guy but he kept trying to piss him off.

"I don't know, he probably could be decent, I'll admit I haven't been too um friendly." James cringed, biting his lip.

Jake stared blankly at Seth, and nodded his head slowly, "Right yeah... that's where we are."

Seth ran a hand through his hair and then just gave up and patted Jake's shoulder. "I'm going to kill your girlfriend," he enunciated clearly to the Spaniard. "This is one concussion too many. You could be comatized if you get hit too much." He pulled a face. "Is that a word?"

Luke grinned at James. "So did you call those girls up? You know that whole idea of moving on. Really moving on."

***

Evelyn gritted her teeth. God, this guy was thick. She picked up a glass bottle of some kind of liquid painkiller and then turned to glance at Connor. "Of course I don't see what's happening. I'm just blind like that."

Smiling sweetly at him, she opened her fingers - and let the bottle drop to the floor. She took a step back as she did this, and when the bottle hit and smashed over the tiles, spreading dark liquid over Connor's jeans legs, was already walking into the next aisle.

A manager appeared by Connor. "You're paying for that, young man."

Evelyn picked out a couple of candy bars for the others, figuring they were probably hungry, and then headed up to checkout, whistling.

"She dropped it."Connor rolled his eyes and turned his back to the guy. Was this redheaded french good for nothing but a rebound bitch really gonna play this game? He went over to the checkout, staring at the things there. He spotted an Air-Head and grabbed it, stepping behind Evelyn like he was looking at it before very carefully slipping it between her skirt and the back bound of her skirt.

"Comatose." Ashlee corrected him.

"Oh my god... toast sounds delicious!" Jake said, rubbing his stomach, "I'm hungry I left my parents house when they were making dinner." He pouted.

James tapped his fingers on the railing, "You know the funny thing is I was gonna call one of them today, but this happened? I guess I'll call them some other time."

Luke sighed, glancing inside at Brett. "Well, I think you should do it. If not for your own sake, then for both of you, you know? I mean, clearly you're still managing to piss her off." He raised an eyebrow, recalling Evelyn's FB Wall.

Seth rolled his eyes at Jake, feeling a bit like a dad with an ADHD kid.

"We'll get dinner after we find Alexis," he said.

***

Evelyn felt warmth touch the small of her back. She shuddered, repulsed. What the hell? Was some loser trying to feel her up in the middle of a freaking store?

Something clattered to the floor.

Oh my God. She spun quickly and swung her fist out at whoever-it-was' face. "Get away from me, perverted shithead!"

Connor stepped back quickly, throwing his arms up to catch her fist. He flinched at that even. "Jesus, all I did was touch your back! I was hoping the alarm would go off when you walked out." Connor gave a smirk and stepped back farther from her. "You ain't my type, Red."

"Yeah I know, honestly I was just harassing her for the hell of it, I'll call one of those girls this week and I'm gonna try moving on though, like for real." James promised hoping that maybe saying out loud for the millionth time would mean something.

Jake furrowed his eyebrows together in frustration, and he looked at Seth, "Can you believe that bastard? Its like, he screwed with me and Rachel and now... Alexis. What the hell? Its like why would he need to bring her up. That guy deserves to rot in hell, who let him out?"

"Thank God for that," Evelyn sneered at Connor, pulling the hem of her shirt lower. She placed her grocery basket down on the checkout aisle, emptying it, pulled out the pouch she had in her jacket pocket, and swiped Seth's credit card, signing his name. Luckily the cashier didn't read it, but handed her the bag of grocery.

She pocketed the card, keeping her mouth shut.

***

Seth nodded placatingly at Jake, patting his shoulder. He glanced at Ashlee and mouthed, "Christ!"

"He was trying to rile you," he said soothingly to Jake. "Rachel and him probably just hooked up, one-night thing. She was a slut. You deserve better."

Luke sighed to himself. James already sounded in denial. But he just said, "I hope we find Lex soon. This guy creeps me out. He started taking low digs at Jake about this Rachel girl. And then at Evelyn too. How did he even know Jake was with Ev?"

Connor smirked to himself, crossing his arms as he waited. "You want me to carry that, sweetcheeks?"

"Yeah I wanna find her too, dude the guy is just as big a scum bag as those two said. Its weird, I didn't think there was anyone worse." James chuckled to himself.

"Man, fuck her!I can't believe I still let her get to me! Its been almost two god damn years. I swear if I wasn't like this once we find Alexis, I'd kill Brett I swear I would." Jake said clenching his hands into fists.

Ashlee cringed to herself this sounded so familiar to her, she looked back at James and Luke and instead looked away from the other boys, she wondered what the hell was taking Evelyn so long.

"Worse than Candice?" Luke quipped, grinning slightly.

Seth nodded at Jake to humor him. "I know, I know, but we can't go vigilante. We don't exactly have stellar records, and honestly, I don't plan on going to jail. We're not minors anymore, Sal."

***

Evelyn snorted as she picked up the bag and walked past Connor, shoving open the store's exit door. "I think I can handle it but if I collapse, you can help me." She trudged back down the street.

"Ooh, all high and mighty with independence."Connor rolled his eyes and kept his arms crossed as he followed her. He decided to give her a break and went quiet as his thoughts went back to his "little sister figure"...

"....Do you think he was telling the truth or bullshitting?"He asked quietly, his voice wavering.

Evelyn glanced back over her shoulder at him, caught off guard by the change in topic and tone. "Bullshitting," she said simply. She glanced back at the ground ahead of her, humming a soft tune to herself.

"I-I really hope so." Connor mumbled, before gnawing at his bottom lip. His stomach twisting and turning. "We've got to get him to tell us where she is."

"He probably won't until he realizes he has no out," she answered, switching the bag from one hand to the other. "Right now, he gets his release from tormenting Jake." She glanced at Connor. "You're a judgmental tool, you know that?"

Connor sighed and just simply nodded, reaching up and pinched the skin on the bridge of his nose. "I apologize."He mumbled, just wanting to stop fighting. "I'm stressed about Alexis and I took it out on you."

She shrugged, kicking a shard of glass out of her way. No doubt it had been from a beer bottle. As they turned the corner onto the street where they'd been searching, the stink of beer grew worse. Evelyn crinkled her nose.

This was one habit of James' she loved, aside from his ability to say no to a cigarette - something she apparently hadn't been able to do that afternoon. He couldn't drink around her, unlike most guys. He'd throw up in seconds. She grinned to herself at the memory of the one time he had drunk. It hadn't ended pretty.

"She'll be okay," she said, tuning back into reality. "Alexis is tougher than most girls I know." She frowned. Aside from Alex's dad - which Evelyn hadn't heard about - and the whole James issue, had something else been bothering her roommate too? "What exactly did she tell you?" she asked Connor. "Apart from about me and her dad's stroke, I mean."

"Um- Luke's been avoiding her. Kinda blew off their date and has been hanging with Ashlee more. Hardly even talks to her or some kinda romance drama like that?" Connor said, not quite understanding himself. He bit down on his bottom lip again, thinking. "Like- she called him and all he kept doing was trying to hang up and when he met up with me and she was there, he was with Ashlee and didn't even speak to Alexis except for ... once, I think? She kinda had that.. wounded look."

Evelyn stopped walking and swung around to stare up at him, confused. What the hell? Where had that come from? Last she'd checked, Luke and Alexis had been getting along fine.

"Wait, that's just ridiculous. I know what I said was cold but it wasn't going to mean anything because Luke sees Ashlee as his sister." At least, she thought he did. Luke was harder to read than one might expect. "I mean, Lex told me about her soccer date with him and they were really giddy about it." She could recall the time she and Alexis had sat on the torn-out couch in their living room and squealed over details. It seemed like eons ago. Before James had walked back into her life and messed it up.

"He wouldn't just up and ignore her for no reason. He doesn't do that. There has to be a very good explanation."

"Yeah but I mean- how would you feel if you liked a guy, he blew off your date and hung out with his ex more?" Connor said, making sure he got the word 'ex' in there, knowing where Alexis was coming from when she had told him that. "She kinda.. lost her two best friends, ya know?"

Evelyn wondered if she or Ashlee were one of the friends Connor thought Alexis lost. She shook her head, and her ponytail flicked over her cheek. "Maybe something happened that he didn't tell her about. He wouldn't just stop liking her..." She trailed off as nostalgia hit her.

Wouldn't he? He'd done just that to Ashlee when Tiffany had come along.

Luke is one promiscuous bastard, Evelyn deduced. She'd always known that he tended to have a wandering eye. It was just one flaw about him his nice-guy personality never overrode.

"I dunno. I just know she was stressed over it all and wounded. Her ego was flushed from her core..." Connor said, his thoughts trailing off again and swallowed hard, thinking if Brett had done something to her...

"How much farther away are we? I wanna go look for her..."

"Brett won't tell us, so maybe it might be a good idea to take another look aorund," she replied, adding, "See, we were in that house, third from the left."

She started walking slowly. "Do you want to go ahead and check out the other places? I'll tell the guys and they'll come help."

"Okay, yeah. Thanks."Connor nodded, patting her shoulder gently before heading into the one Luke and Ashlee had been in.