Freshmen Dorms

Ashlee's eyes widened, she gulped lightly wondering if it was really so terrible what Evelyn was going to tell her, she wondered what Evelyn had to tell her that sounded so terrible, maybe it was true? But she didn't know that.

"Ev, I promise I won't say anything, not even to Luke." Ashlee vowed.

***

[[The Spanish Bastard from The Gym]]

Jacob had returned from the gym, he didn't really feel like going to work but Eric had called him telling them that Kelsey, hadn't shown up (what a shocker) and they were swamped, so he promised he'd be in as soon as he got done with class.

Although he didn't have classes on Wednesdays he told everyone at work that he had classes everyday to try and get the better schedule at work, so he could party on the weekend. He knew that was kind of screwed up, but Eric and Danny were just like work friends, not his best friends so he didn't really feel to bad about screwing them over every once in awhile.

Nova barked at his leg, and Jake looked down at him, "Nova, sentarse."

Nova responded, by placing his little rump down on the carpet and Jake grinned devilishly, Evelyn got to name him, so there was nothing wrong with Jake training the dog, and he wanted to train the little guy in Spanish just like he had with his dog Amigo.

Jake reached down and ruffled his head, "Ah buen chico!

He went to the cabinet and grabbed him a treat, Nova still sitting watching Jake eying the treat, Jake decided to see if his training was still working.

"Nova, venir." Jake called to him, Nova got up and trotted over to him yipping, Jake smiled, sitting down on the floor he handed Nova a treat, "Good boy."

He glanced down at his phone and figured he should get ready for work.

Seth entered the suite to see Nova acting - like a dog.

He leaned against the wall and watched his roommate screw up Nova's language skills. "You bastard," he said, grinning. "Red's gonna kill you. And knowing her, she'd do it with a designer knife."

***

Evelyn hesitated again, a voice telling her she could always stop here. But she needed someone beside Jake to know what the hell was really going on.

She knitted her fingers together and swallowed. "Okay, so...here's what actually happened. Wait, no..." She paused and bit her lip. "I'll..I'll start from where it all began. The night I ran into James, um, last Tuesday, or Monday, I don't remember. I, um....Alexis and I were out celebrating because, well, whatever, that's not important. We were out, we had a bit of a fall-out, nothing major, we made up. But she'd told me James was, um, in town to visit Luke for the weekend. And so, I was on my own and I met Jake, or rather, he found me, and it was raining that day and we kind of got into a fight, because honestly...." She bit her lip and her stomach lurched. "Jake and I aren't....aren't together. At all. We ne-never were. We, um...he was pissing me off. We had a fight in the middle of the damn street, that's how much we hated each other." She exhaled and wondered why she had used the past tense.

"Jake found Nova that night. But then we ran into James and um, see, Jake owed me. He and Seth kind of climbed in our suite window, I mentioned it, I think. And...I can't remember why he owed me so big. But he did, whatever. So when we ran into James and Lucas that night, I, um...." Evelyn felt another lurch in her stomach. She went on a tangent again. "James and I talked a couple hours before then. He informed me that I'd never get another guy like him, I'd be single for the rest of my life because I rejected him, yada, yada. And, God, I wanted out of that cycle. I wanted to show him I wasn't as pathetic as he seemed to assume i was. Because I know, Ash, Luke told me, what he's been doing while I've been in Seattle."

She swiveled in her chair away from Ashlee and swallowed, feeling her insides contract sickeningly. "And so I got Jake to lie for me. And it was.....it should have ended. But something always kept getting in the way. And then Jake's ex came back and so we figured it would help him shut her up. And honestly, Jake's a player. He isn't the commuting type. I owe him so much for this." She rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache begin. God knew how she'd pay off this debt. "I don't even know why he's still playing along."

She wondered briefly what advantage Jake was still getting out of it. "But Seth knows, and Alexis found out and she hated me for doing that to James, and I can't blame her. But she doesn't get why. Jake does, because he's been there. I didn't need James influencing me, not again."

"So, yes-yesterday, I went over to Jake's to tell him he'd been acting like a moron at Tuesday's party. And I ended up hanging with him. I mean, he isn't a jerk all the time. Just when he's surrounded by his doucehbag friends, mostly." And when his bipolarity kicks in, she added silently. But Ashlee didn't need to know that.

She realized that "hanging" sounded like it was headed in the wrong direction. So she went on quickly. "Well, he stole my phone and took a stupid picture of me, I chased him, um, he dropped my phone while it was on video mode, and kind of fell on me because he was trying to throw me off and then I told him to get his bulk off me. But I guess when he went to pick up my phone, since he has a Blackberry, he has no clue how the touch screen works. The phone was still recording the floor - that's why it was so dark. So he....he sent it to James accidentally since James is at the top of my message contacts list. And um....James took it the wrong way. He..."

Evelyn paused because her voice was wavering. "He called me, told me I was a whore and that he..." She swallowed again, to get past the lump in her throat. Her eyes began to sting when James' words echoed in her head. She pushed the feeling away. "He said he wished he'd let me die back in Ash Creek when I almost got run over that time, he said he hoped I was miserable for the rest of my life.....he s-said a-a lot. And then he hung up, told Alexis, she believed him without proof, because Luke says James broke his phone, throwing it against the wall." She wished James hurting didn't affect her. "And when I ran into him when I was with Jake later, he called me a whore again, and insinuated that I'd keep on doing this and, um."

She paused again to collect her thoughts. She'd never told anyone all of this. Jake was probably the only one who knew the truth but even he didn't know why. "I wanted James to move on. He wasn't budging, even though I know he didn't want this sick cycle anymore than I did. And I figured, okay, this will make him hate me so much he'll want nothing to do with me. And I think I was right." She repressed the feeling that some part of her wished it hadn't worked. "Because unless he does, Ash, we'll be stuck. And no one will win. Because we'll never fix this. There's too much gone wrong. This is the only way I can help him. And hope it helps me after he's done with it all."

Jake smirked, he didn't really care. Evelyn had been bugging him, and its not like he couldn't train Nova in English still, he was still a puppy.

Jake got up wiping his hands on his pants, "Oh well, she can learn. I have to go to work."

Jake walked past Seth into his room, to change into his uniform.

***

Ashlee listened to Evelyn finish her long story, and she was just stunned.

She couldn't believe she was so oblivious to all of this, and that this was going on.

Ashlee sat silently, she knew Evelyn would never have sex, no matter how drunk or high she was.

Although she didn't really like that Jake was kind of like James in the sense of being a player, but they weren't even really dating, it was all just some weird ploy to help her and James move on from each other.

This just seemed like one big sloppy mess, and Ashlee really hoped it was ending soon because enough people had been dragged through the war that is JEv.

Ashlee let out a long sigh, staring at Evelyn, "You and James couldn't just throw crap at each other,say its over and listen to emo music like normal humans?"

Seth snorted. Evelyn wouldn't take it so lightly. Whatever. Not his headache.

He leaned down and scratched his cat behind the ears as he emerged from under Seth's bed. "Hey, can you get me a frap when you come home?" he called to Jake with a grin. "And are you leaving the mutt here? Give it to Red. I want to be able to go out."

***

Evelyn felt her lips twitch. trust Ashlee to say just what she wanted to hear. She laughed and stood up, walking over to Ashlee and bending down to give her a tight hug. "Thanks for that. There's too much stress in all of this."

Jake emerged from his room throwing his work shirt on over his head, slinging his apron over his arm.

"Yeah I'll bring you one, just text me before I leave I get off at seven." He informed Seth.

Jake looked down at Nova, who was chasing his tail, he figured he could leave Nova here, but him and Lucifer would probably just fight, plus Nova needed to be walked.

Then again, Nova is trained now and Evelyn needed to see his new tricks.

Jake scooped up Nova, his brown eyes twinkling, "Yeah I'll drop him off. See ya Seth!" Jake said leaving their room.

***

Ashlee returned the tight hug back to Evelyn, its her friend and it was time they all stopped being so damn dramatic.

"No problem Ev, its why I'm here. I'm the comic relief." Ashlee smiled.

***

Jake strolled up to Evelyn's door whistling, Nova in his arms, his tongue hanging out.

Jake knocked on her door loudly, "Ohh mi amor open up I have a surprise for you!" Jake shouted obnoxiosuly, laughing to himself as well.

Alexis groaned, getting up from her spot in the living room and went over to the door. "Who else."She grumbled and opened the door, seeing the Spanish Bastard with Nova. "... Oi, EVELYN, SATAN'S HERE."She called loudly, before turning and going back for the living room.

Evelyn shot a puzzled glance at the door. Who?

She straightened up. "Hang on, Ash, I'll go check this out."

She headed out of her room, leaving the door open and passed Alexis as she went to the door, shooting her a puzzled glance. She glanced at the door - and cringed.

"It's you," she said unenthusiastically. Jake's snide commentary about Antonio still irked her. She leaned over and kissed Nova's head as he hung in Jake's arms. "What now? We already have a douchebag here."

Jake grinned fully, waving at Alexis and Connor as he stood in the doorway, he looked down at Evelyn who looked particularly disgruntled today and it made him laugh a little.

"Hola, Roja! I noticed you seemed particularly down today, and since you love me so much I decided to grace you with my presence, but sadly for you I must make it short because I have been called into work, so as a reminder of how lovely I am, I bring to you Nova." Jake said handing Nova over to Evelyn.

Evelyn blinked up at the tall Spaniard. Pretentious bastard, was the first thought that hit her mind. She suddenly decided she'd get even with him for his sneering attitude and for almost breaking her ankle the previous night.

But for now...

She took Nova from him carefully, hugging the dog to her, and flashed Jake a brilliant smile. "Merci. I'm sure I'll get over the loss somehow. I have a date to plan. So au revior."

Jake grinned, thinking he'd tease her one last time before heading off to work, "Oh right! Your date with Tony the Tiger and Ash Squared! I'm sure that will he a fun filled evening, I would love to stay and chat, but unlike you basking in your laziness I'm needed at trabajo!"

Evelyn rolled her eyes, mood still foul after reliving and recaping everything she'd said to Ashlee. "Don't call me that. And he seems decent. Unlike some guys I know." She sent Nova down on the floor and watched him run over to sniff at Alexis' shoes.

Jake arched his eyebrow he wasn't sure what she thought he was calling her, he had simply said that he needed to go to work, "Umm calm down Roja, trabajo means work. If I wanted to insult you, you would be able to tell." He said smirking, then going on to talk about Antonio's decency.

"Oh yeah he's decent, his longest relationship was like two weeks." Jake pointed out, "But he's a cool dude, real fun, very casual and stuff when it comes to his dates."

"I meant Roja," she replied, frowning up at him. She absorbed his comment on Antonio. "That's exactly what i wanted, so it's all good. I'm not really ready to fall into something serious. And he sounded way too vague when he asked me too. Like, he was all "hang out, whatever". Seriously."

Jake remembered Antonio always being like that, never really liked to label dates, he always just wanted to be comfortable and have fun because he knew the minute someone labeled something as a "date" that things just got awkward and he didn't blame him for his approach.


Jake shrugged, "He's not vague, he just hates the whole label thing, he thinks its stupid. Like if he goes out with someone he doesn't like the whole awkward/pressure thing of when someone says they're on a date, but as much as I'd love to talk about your love life, I need to get going, so hasta luego Roja. Jacob winked at her turning around and walking down the hall.

[[The Spanish Bastard to his place of employment, Starbucks]]

Evelyn rolled her eyes at his back and closed the door, checking the clock to see she had less than an hour left to go before work.

She came back to the main living space to see Connor and Alexis in conversation, and scooped up Nova, carrying him with her back to her room.

"I have to get going. Work starts at two and it takes me a while to get to Wall Street. I have to get coffee on the way so I don't die of boredom." She set Nova on the floor and brushed her hair out, retying it again. She peered out into the living room. "Lex, watch Nova for me!"

She walked back out, picking up her bag. "I'll catch you later, Ash."

[[Evelyn to Wall Street, then [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]]]

[[FFed to next day because James is a prick]]


After a hassled morning, Evelyn was sincerely glad Connor was really as focused on class as Alexis had promised. Her mood was fraying between aggravated at every single male in her life at NYU and relief that she and Alexis were on civil terms.

Of course, pissing off Jake was a bonus.

"Heel, Nova!"

The dog kept wandering away to sniff at people's shoes. Evelyn gritted her teeth. She tugged a little on his leash. "Nova!"

He barked in acknowledgment, gave her a happy glance and kept meandering. The redhead gritted her teeth, wondering where all his learned commands went.

She and Nova were out after her class, on the quad, and enjoying a stroll. Evelyn had opted not to return him to Jake's - she felt sure the Spaniard would strangle her after yesterday - and the puppy was a great mood-lifter.

She was grinding her teeth, wondering if she needed to reteach Nova when he began barking excitedly. She followed his nose to a lean male standing four feet away, amusement in his dimpled smile.

Evelyn' s frustration at Nova changed targets and hit the blond boy. "Why didn't you call back after I left a message last night?"

Luke stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking uncomfortable. He was empty-handed, so clearly had been here for either social or non-educational reasons.

"I was hanging with Ja - a few guys. Pool," he said evasively. Evelyn made up her mind on the spot, fueled more by Luke's slip-up than her annoyance.

She pointed over at the Freshmen dorm building. "You're accompanying me."

Luke looked confused and then his dark eyes grew wary. "Why?"

Evelyn answered by seizing the front of his jacket and yanked him along forcefully behind her as she walked Nova back to her suite.

"Hey!" he spluttered, not making any move to resist, save for digging his feet into the asphalt. She ignored this. There was too much drama going on. She would fix this crap to even out the screwed up playing field.

***

Luke swore silently. He felt like he knew where this was going. But he'd thought Evelyn and Alexis were in an awkward/not-talking stage? How did girls work?

But he wasn't in the mood for the possible interrogation Evelyn would probably give him. Or her smart mouth. He was on campus for a damned social call.

When he resisted though, Evelyn turned, a dangerous glint in her green eyes. Luke wondered how a girl almost a foot smaller than him could make him wish he hadn't left his apartment. He grimaced down at her. "Can we not - ?"

Her hand clamped over his mouth hard enough to break his incisors and she leaned over, eyes flashing. "I have anger and I'm not afraid to use it. Don't you think it's about time we closed this chapter of our soap-opera?"

He bit his lip - but then realized she didn't need an answer. She was already tugging him on, and he felt just as low as the puppy trotting by him. Only, Nova looked happy and wasn't glaring at the back of Evelyn's head like he was.

Evelyn hid Nova in her rolled up jacket and led the way upstairs. She unlocked the suite door while Luke prayed her roommate had a sudden, inexplicable attack of food craving and had run off to 7-Eleven.

No such luck. Evelyn strolled right in, put Nova down and rolled up her jacket,, and knocked on Alexis' dorm-room door. "Hey, come check this out."

[[Forgot this. xD]]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Alexis put her laptop to the side on her bed before getting up and pulling her jeans up as she slipped down some. They were her old blue jeans, with holes in the jeans and ripped hemming at the bottom but they were loose, comfy and good enough for lazying around in. She had a white tank with a red over-sized hoodie over it she either stole from Joel and never gave back, or Luke before their big fall out, or Connor. She was almost always stealing them and never giving them back.

"If Nova's doing a handstand, then I need my camera." Alexis joked as she opened the door before pausing, then frowned.

Evelyn grinned and grabbed Alexis' wrist, dragging her out into the living room where Luke had resigned himself to the couch. "That can be arranged, if you go along with this." She bit her lip, throwing Luke a slightly wary glance when he lifted his dark-blond head to shoot Alexis a stunningly icy stare.

Evelyn felt a chill run down her back. She'd never seen him this hostile. "Luke" and "cold" didn't go together. His shielded eyes, nonetheless conveying his contempt, reminded her of....

She threw that off before it derailed her. There was a faint bruise on Luke's jaw that she'd failed to notice. She glanced at Alexis again and grinned this time. "Let's play Dr. Phil."

"Oh hell no. NOVA, help, please." Alexis whined slightly, turning to look for the dog that didn't even stand to her knee.

Nova's response was to gnaw happily on Evelyn's ankle boot lying near the door.

Evelyn cleared her throat. "Alexis? Sit down." She almost gestured to the couch and then pulled a chair from the table over across from Luke. She shoved Alexis onto it before standing midway between them.

"This is stupid," Luke commented, eyes on the window now. He looked like he wished he were out there in NYC traffic than in here.

Alexis pulled her legs up against her chest and rested her knee on them, giving Evelyn a "seriously?" kinda look as she blew hair out from tickling her face.

Evelyn ignored Alexis' look. "So how about simplicity here. I think Luke made his point clear. Most of it. Now thing is, we need to fix this. Luke, you can't say mad at her forever. It's unreasonable. Why drag out something from the past and twist it into this ugly mess?" She'd learned the hard way that that was too painful to go through again.

Luke exhaled, taking his sweet time and she resisted an urge to slap him. He finally said, "She keeps messing up Admit it, she's a judgmental bitch. Even James said so." He shot Evelyn a look that implied he'd deliberately brought his roommate up. If she was going to harass him, he'd even the score and Evelyn tried not to flinch.

She swallowed and glanced at Alexis. "You can defend yourself anytime now. No insults, just explanations."

"...Yeah, I am judgmental some-..most of the time but lately, so are you."Alexis replied lightly, gripping onto the ends of her sleeves as she glanced over at him. "You judged me that night at the party before I could explain, ya know..."

Luke frowned at her. "I judged Ev too when I found out. I'm sorry, Lyn, " he interjected to the redhead standing silently, "but when a girl's been through shit like you did, Alexis, and then I see her dressed like that on the street, I come to conclusions. It's human nature. You, you judged Ev without seeing that damned video. You judged her before that too, I hear -"

"Hold up," Evelyn said quietly, and she swallowed visibly again. Luke felt a stab of guilt. He shouldn't have brought James up. He was deliberately hitting her low to throw her off. And it partially worked. Which made him feel worse. He doubted that video had been real but he still wasn't sure whose side he was on.

"This isn't about me at all," Evelyn said. "If you're mad at her for something she did to me - you're a half-wit." She sounded more like herself again. "It's between me and her and you don't need to choose sides."

I'm not," he protested. "I just feel like her attitude to you solidified my view of her."

"You didn't think so last Tuesday," Evelyn snapped, finally releasing her Irish temper. She wanted to punch this boy. "Why now, all of a sudden? Why when she needed her friends after what...what happened last weekend?"

She shot Alexis an apologetic glance. Luke was still a moment and then said, "I just...I felt bad, but I felt like...if I showed up at the hospital, I'd be showing something other than what I sometimes felt but ignored."

"You've been listening to him," Evelyn blurted and then looked like she wished she'd shut up. She continued in true Evelyn style anyways. "Just because you had a few itches, you ditched her? So tell me, if I tell you exactly what I'm doing, which is worse than you realize, to James, would you ditch me too?"

Luke bit his lip. He was suddenly finding it suffocating in here. He glanced at Nova to buy time and then said to Alexis, "So, maybe I did judge. But you brought it on yourself. Ev's not the only one acting out. I'm just disgusted by all the things I'm understanding about your personality that I don't like."

Alexis was pretty sure all color from her face- and possibly the rest of her body- was gone. She swallowed visibly, and fidgeted with the ends of her sleeves.

"And you are starting to sound more and more like James." She retorted calmly as she could sum up, which was easier then what she was expecting. She swallowed hard again and gripped firmly onto the ends of her sleeves to stop her fidgeting as she stared at Luke. "You're... disgusted?"