Freshmen Dorms

Jake's eyes smoldered at Evelyn's icy glare "Listen, I'm not stupid. I know you have it, whenever you're done with your little hissy fit towards me just give it back to me. Or you can just keep it if you want the thing so damn bad, I'll just order another one." Jake said frustrated, he knew that they were both being bitches so she can stand there and be all dumb and say that he had lost it elsewhere but he had faintly remembered her trying to steal it from him two nights ago.

"They're not usually this bad," Seth said conversationally to Ashlee; they were both watching the scene with the air of spectators at a tennis match. "They usually get along real well. But they just sometimes kinda...I dunno. They're both whiny bitches," he finished thoughtfully.

Evelyn gritted her teeth. "I have an iPhone," she informed Jake, like this settled the matter. "I don't need a pathetic BB. And have fun looking up all your contacts all over again, Sal."

Ashlee nodded at Seth, agreeing although she still didn't know much about Jake but she figured she'd take Seth's word for it, "Yeah I totally agree, it actually kind of reminds me of high school when James and Ev first met."

Jake rolled his eyes, "Right you don't need my phone, its why you kept trying to reach down my pants to get it on Saturday night, so what you can hook up with all my friends? Is that it? Hey how about I tell you the password so you can get started?" Jake said coldly, he was really sick of her and was close to just letting her have the damn thing and getting himself a new one.

Seth winced. Knowing the redhead, that would hit a nerve.

He glanced at Ashlee in surprise. "Oh, right, you mentioned hanging with James. You're uh....sorry, I can't remember your name," he said apologetically, half-worried his roommate was about to get murdered in public.

Evelyn's jaw had dropped. Her stomach lurched sickeningly as she stared up at Jake, for a moment too disgusted to actually say anything. Was that seriously what this dirtbag thought?

Her momentary lapse didn't last long. Heat rushed to her cheeks and when she spoke, she had to fight down the tremble of anger in her voice. "Of course, that's what you'd think," she said in a deathly soft tone. "Was I supposed to swoon at your feet yesterday? Is that why you're assuming I'm a skank? Because I'm sorry I didn't welcome it from you." Her clenched fists were shaking and she could only blame all the confusion he and James had dumped on her that weekend. "I'm sorry, if I held you back from getting laid, Jake, but you need to remember I'm not one of your hoes." Her voice was still as soft as before, but it wavered at the end because she was definitely losing control of her anger.

She turned around, grabbing Ashlee's arm. "Let's go," she said quietly.

Seth glanced up, jaw dropping. What the fuck?! He didn't really understand...but she must be joking. He shot Jake a dismayed look.

Ashlee's jaw dropped, and she was being pulled along by Evelyn and she figured she could acquaint herself better with Seth, when his roommate and her best friend weren't getting ready to kill each other.

"No of course you're not a hoe! Right the all righteous bitch Evelyn isn't a hoe! I'm sorry. She's just confused about her feelings for the jackass that hurt her, here I'll make it easy for you Red! All that shit I said to you yesterday was a fucking lie! ! So I hope I never have to see you again, but hey you know since you've been here my luck has just been incriedbly shitty so I'll probably see you all the fucking time!" Jake shouted at her, he was so livid right now.

Before she could since Seth seemed to practically be in such shock about what Evelyn was saying he might as well tell him, "Oh and Seth I fucking lied I was with Red all fucking day yesterday and you know what? I kissed her! Worst mistake of my god damn life!"

Jake stormed past the three of them, and stopped once again and looked back at her, "Hey you know maybe James has a good idea? Hating you and stuff? I don't blame him for being so messed up." His voice laced with anger, was incredibly calm, after that final statement he walked past a few people who had obviously caught his speech, ignoring their gazes he shoved out past the lobby slamming out the doors and walking out onto campus.

Seth was rarely ever confused as badly as he was right then. He opened his mouth to call after Jake, thought better of it, and closed it.

He snuck a glance at Evelyn, who had frozen halfway through Jake's tirade in her move toward the exit. She had hardly budged when Jake shoved past her, and for a second, when he made that reference to James hating her, Seth thought she looked like she was going to cry.

But next instant - and it kinda reminded him weirdly of sci-fi - it was like a mask had slipped over her face, rendering her expression coolly neutral.

"You know what?" she said to Ashlee. "I'm gonna get a coffee. I think my head might explode if I have to stay under the same roof as him."

Seth opened his mouth in automatic defense of Jake and then realized he didn't know what to say.

What had Jake said? A whole load of shit about whatever he'd said to Evelyn being a lie? And then he'd turned around and admitted he'd been with her the whole day and wished he hadn't? That definitely made zero sense in Seth's mind.

Ashlee was rendered speechless, she wasn't exactly sure what to do, she gave Seth a quick glance who looked like he was trying to figure out a really difficult puzzle, she turned to him and said, "Um well... maybe we'll see each other under better circumstances?"

She walked slowly over towards Evelyn, adjusting the strap on her bag, "So um... do you want to explain this to me or?" She asked this carefully. Ashlee was clueless again, and this whole argument was just one big mess to her, she figured Evelyn was going to tell her eventually or never, but now that it was out there she wondered if Jake's and Evelyn's relationship might have turned into something more?

Seth debated going after Jake - scratch that, Jake had done enough damn avoidance. He nodded at Ashlee and headed out of the room. He'd seen Jake vanish out the front and figured he could catch up if he walked quickly enough. He spotted Jake's dark hair and tall frame from a distance and stuck two fingers in his mouth, blasting three short whistles.

"Oy, Salazar!"

[[Seth and Jake at AC]]

***

Evelyn bit her lip and then decided she was sick of bottling it all up past this point. Obviously, she and Jake were on completely different pages. He thought she was some easy slut; she knew he was just getting bored due to severe lack of feminine attention and had taken it out on the nearest female who happened to be around on Sunday - her. It made sense. He was a manwhore, after all and this was what he did. And once he'd realized he wasn't getting any, he'd decided she was worth dirt.

And she'd sworn she wouldn't get mixed up in this shit after James. She wished, again, that she'd listened to Alexis.

"I'll tell you. Upstairs," she said, noticing the stares they were attracting. Luckily, Izak and his cousin had left sometime previously.

Evelyn turned and led the way out to the lobby, pressing the elevator button with shaking fingers.

Ashlee nodded and decided that Evelyn's news didn't really need to be further broad casted at this point so she just followed her to go to her dorm, the both of them waiting for the elevator to come.

Evelyn crossed her arms and silently waited for the crappy elevator to come down. When it did, they entered and it took its time going up. She didn't say anything until they reached the fifth floor and entered her suite. She led the way to the living area and sat down on the couch, pulling off her shoes and tilting her head back to rest against a cushion behind her.

"So, um...you know how I said that Jake and I faked the whole thing? Well, I don't know if Lucas told you but um...James showed up here last Saturday. He was supposed to meet Tiffany. Remember her?"

Ashlee nodded, "Yes I do remember you telling me that, what happened?" She asked sitting on the couch next to Evelyn.

Evelyn bit her lip. The truth was so amazingly...stupid. She felt half ashamed even saying it. "Jake and I got into an argument, nothing serious, we seem to have them all the time, and we got over it, and basically, it was us just ending the whole fake thing, you know? And then, I dunno," she shifted a bit uncomfortably, feeling her face warm. She bit her lip, looking over at Ashlee uncertainly. "He was being annoying, mussing up my hair and, uh, then we were just basically wrapping it up and uh, he decided to annoy me by hugging me. You know, I don't really do hugs unless I really tolerate someone, and Jake just annoys me most of the time. But basically...just when he hugged me, the elevator doors opened, and we were in that hall, and James showed up. Because my luck is just lovely like that. And he went all, "Get a room," even though there was nothing but a freaking hug going on."

Evelyn paused. "Thing is, James and I had had a huge argument on Friday. I ran into him on campus, it had to happen at some point. And um....you remember that money he lent me in senior year? When he left it in that envelope? I wanted to give it back but he said he didn't need reminding of me. I said I didn't want to owe him anything. He said he wanted to assume my debt was off. And it ended ugly, we both walked off pissed and well...you might have seen our lovely Facebook tributes to each other.

"And you know what the really stupid thing is? I was so freaking pissed the next day when he showed up in that hallway, I..I actually kissed Jake. At first, it was solely because I was kind of trying to...mo-mock James, because I doubt it'd affect him, honestly." Before Ashlee could say anything, Evelyn hurried on. "Yeah, I know, that was kind of low, but then thing is, I knew it wouldn't really hurt him or anything. So I can't really work out what I was trying to do at all. But then James...punched Jake. And they sort of got into..into it." Evelyn massaged her eyes with her palms, smearing her liner over her eyelids. "And Tiff came out and the guards came and kicked James out and he..." She skipped over some of the details, not feeling them necessary. "He pushed Jake down the stairs when Jake tried to walk away. Sprained his wrist, or something, I can't remember, I was kind of in shock. And then....um....well, Jake and I got into a fight again, yeah, we seem to do this often. And it got ugly, and he felt like he was being used and I kinda let slip that that hadn't been my intention. And he suddenly freaked out - not that I blame him. I was sick that day, I sounded delirious."

Evelyn paused for breath. "Thing is, weird as this may seem, but in some crazy other life, Jake and I might have been friends. I mean, we get along really easily. I feel like I don't have to...have to be what I try to be in front of James or other guys, probably because I never felt like I had to impress Jake at all. I never really cared what he thought of me, and so I didn't realize I was letting my guard down. At all. He was just that random guy who was helping me out."

She felt her voice begin to shake when she remembered talking to James about this the night before. She'd never had to be a siren in front of Jake, and it had made her feel much better for it. But it had just hurt doubly more when he'd said all those things to her, because she'd never put up a slutty-tease front in front of him. She wished she had - at least then what he said would be deserved.

Evelyn's throat was hurting from talking so much but she felt relieved after releasing all this. "I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd seen that happening, but I guess I didn't learn from what happened with James. Alexis warned me. It was like she knew this would happen. And Seth did too. I didn't listen. When Seth and Jake and a bunch of their friends came over Saturday night, all trashed, I figured they were too annoying to stay around sober. They actually busted in our door.

"Alexis and I decided to let our guards down because we were both pissed and stressed - and like last time at Danny's friend's place, we made a huge mistake. We got totally trashed on jungle juice, Alexis and Seth hooked up, uh...I'm not sure what I did, but um...I think I spent most of my time with an equally drunk Jake so it probably wasn't good. What makes it worse is that Jake and Seth had brought these five sluts along with them but while I remember Seth and the other boys hanging with them, Jake didn't at all - he actually complained about them to me, I remember that.

"So I'm just wondering where he was if he wasn't slobbering all over those girls. Hopefully, not with me. But um..."

Evelyn paused, unnerved. She really hoped Ashlee wouldn't laugh at this but...it was definitely amusing to an extent.

"Alexis stole Seth's keycard. He wanted to hook up with some stank so he used Jake's room, and stole Jake's keycard. I remember Jake coming back, sometime about 3 AM. I puked twice already so I was pretty awake then. He told me he had nowhere to sleep since their couch was soaked in alcohol and everyoen else had already crashed and Jake wanted to use oru couch. I figured it was okay but...but...and here is where i think Fate really hates me.

"Seth called James a while before this, to come over. James and Jake had a nasty meeting where Jake knocked my bedroom door into James' face. Miraculously, no one was killed." Evelyn drew a breath. Had all this really happened in one weekend? "I went to get an ice pack for James, turns out, I got delayed, forgot, since i was so drunk, but James was fast asleep on my bed when I got there. So I had planned to sleep on the couch. You see the problem? It gets worse.

"See, Alexis hates Jake. She hates anything to do with Seth but she's always loathed Jake ever since she smacked him over the head with a pool cue. Long story. She refused to share her bed and was all for me kicking Jake out. But then thing is, Jake's well, he used to be, a really nice guy. I felt bad for him - wish I hadn't now. The couch was a futon so we figured we'd share. It was awkward as hell for me, but he was now all grumpy so we avoided anymore fights." Evelyn heaved a breath.

"Next morning I wake up to find him hollering at me about his phone. And, after I told him I didn't have it, and he left, he showed up again whining about his phone. Major thing about him - he can whine worse than anyone I know. But then, I don't know, it's always been weird talking to him because he never seems to remember to be angry. I guess he can't hold grudges or something. I don't know. Somehow, one second he's hollering at me about hiding his phone because I admit, I did want it to take out a few incriminating photos of me and Alexis. Next moment, he's all chummy and hell, even kinda flirty. But uh...I don't know what happened. I was getting ready to go out and meet Carrie, my friend from Seattle, at Rockefeller, and Jake was just like lazing around being his smart aleck self. I don't even know why he stayed. And Nova, the puppy, had followed him over too. But Jake had kinda started hanging around, so I guess it wasn't too strange for me. But then out of nowhere, when he's wondering if eyeliner hurts, he just goes," Evelyn swallowed and her voice definitely wobbled a little, "just tells me I'm, uh....beautiful and then he just kisses me. And it wasn't like it was the first time but neither of us were drunk or hungover or trying to fool James...and that just made me realize that maybe Jake might be looking for um...I don't know, compensation? He's a manwhore, Ash. I guess he got frustrated and I just happened to be the only girl nearby."

Evelyn stared up at her ceiling. "After that, he made an excuse about feeding Nova and left. I haven't...talked to him since. I think it's a good thing, honestly. I don't want to get attached to some jerk wanting physical attention. And I feel...I feel so stupid now. I shouldn't have let my guard down. I don't know why, it was just so easy around him. Maybe because I was so focused on James, I never noticed Jake was getting too close."

She was proud of the fact that she'd managed to say all this without a single tear. Her insides felt sick, churning like mad - she didn't want to admit that Jake had hurt her because that meant admitting she felt something more than she should for him - but her face was calm.

Ashlee listened to all of this, she was so shocked that all of this drama could occur in a single weekend and after his little display in front of her and Evelyn and his friend Seth. Ashlee took a moment to just let all of this sink in, she then looked Evelyn in the eye, "First of all I'm really annoyed now that I don't live in the dorms because it sounds like you're having way more fun then I am."

Ashlee took a deep breath and was afraid to say this but she figured she might as well anyway,"I had a feeling he was gonna like you."

Evelyn had not been prepared for this. "...what?" she asked, baffled as she looked over at Ashlee. She had kind of expected something else.

Ashlee bit her lip, she felt the need to laugh at Evelyn's expression but she figured this was neither the time nor place, "Well Ev, I mean... it just tends to happen with you and guys. Like for example I have to flirt to get a guy to notice me, but you, you don't even have to try. Its just that tends to happen. Even if you can't stand the guy, even after you spend some time with them you kind of learn to tolerate them, and then you kind of find their annoying habits funny or something like that... I think you kind of liked him because you said he treated you like a person which was nice for a change as opposed to being something pretty to look at."

Ashlee tugged at the sleeve of her shirt, "Its just as much as you want things to not be complicated and fake. Did you honestly expect to kiss him three times, and not for any feelings or strings to attach? Even when you hook up with someone for one night emotions get involved."

Evelyn bit her lip hard. "I don't get easily attached. I don't know,I was focusing so much on keeping James away, that...but see, that's just it. Jake doesn't like anyone. As he just proved. He doesn't do that, and I've always known that and now...I don't know. I feel like getting his BB melted down and sending it to him as an early Christmas gift, honestly." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. "The prick."

Ashlee snorted rolling her eyes, "Honestly you believe all of that? Its so obvious he likes you, and just like you he's afraid of confronting his feelings for it so he lashed out at you instead. Its so classic."

Evelyn groaned. This wasn't helping her any. "No, Ash. Believe me, I've seen him at it. Not that he's much of a flirt, too much reliance on Spanish, but still...and he's friends with Seth. And Seth is no saint but even he told me he's the one who flirts while Jake sleeps around. And I get that. And honestly, this is just karma for all the crap I put James through."

She swallowed painfully. "You know what's ironic? Almost every time James has made me cry here, it's been on Jake's shoulder."

"Okay Ev if he's such a man whore and if he knew that you two weren't going to have sex do you honestly think he would have helped you out at all? Would he have let you cry on his shoulder, which by the way that sounds really cute, but I'll shut up about that before you smack me. My thing is if sex was all he really wanted and you weren't giving it to him, if there were five hoes around willing to give it to him and he hung out with you the entire night, that's saying something." Ashlee pointed out to Evelyn remembering how she said there had been girls here and Jake pretty much ignored their existence.

"Did I mention he was drunk?" Evelyn pointed out. She leaned sideways, resting her head on a cushion over the armrest and wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't really care anyways, Ash. I'm not ready for this. Not after what James put me through. He was the sleeping-around type too. Yeah, I'm just gonna stay off the dating field for a while and focus on schoolwork. This drama isn't worth another heartbreak." She inhaled sharply. "I can't do this."

"That's fine, I'm not saying to marry the guy. I'm just saying he likes you and trust me if anything alcohol brings out a persons true nature from every experience I've ever seen, and if there was hoes you would have been the furthest thing from his mind, but you're right. You need to focus on other things its way too son for you to be dating anyone." Ashlee had agreed with Evelyn on that, and if Jake was a jerk then she didn't really want Evelyn getting with him and have him end up hurting her.

Evelyn nodded slowly, her mind already skipping over her confused thoughts. She heard Jake's cold voice in her head again and her blood boiled.

She sat up, smiling serenely at Ashlee. "You're right, I need to focus on other things." She picked up her bag which she'd dropped on the coffee-table and puled out Jake's Blackberry after some rummaging. She waved it at Ashlee and then flipped the phone over, taking out the memory card. "His phone numbers are all safe in this little guy here. And his SIM card's here." She took that out too. She placed both cards in a pocket in her bag and zipped it closed again, holding the phone in her lap. It was merely a pretty shell. "Now....how much metal juice do you think this thing's got if it's melted down enough?" She glanced up at Ashlee, the old devilish smile she hadn't worn in a while appearing on her face.

"I'm not getting involved in this, but so you know as a third party outsider on this situation. I legit dropped my iPhone in the fire and that thing was history. Honestly Ev I don't get why you just don't give it back to him, I know what he did was mean but the longer you hold onto his crap the more he'll just bug you." Ashlee never really understood why people did things like this but she knew Evelyn, she had to get her revenge for Jake being a douche to her.

"Not after what he said. He really needs to learn to reign his mouth in, that one," Evelyn said, examining the Blackberry in her hands thoughtfully without realizing Jake wasn't the only one who needed vocal control. "I'll mail it to him as an anonymous Christmas gift though, see if he likes what new shape it takes." She glanced up at Ashlee. "Yeah, it's a bitchy thing to do, but if he hits me low, I'm not going to take it without rebuttal. That's not me."

"Why can't you like egg the guys car or something like that? Phones are expensive especially Blackberry's and iPhones." Ashlee emphasized the last one more since she had lost her iPhone to roasting marshmallows.