Freshmen Dorms

"Don't do that people will think you're homeless, besides so much for you being physically fit. Then again I did call off work." Jake grinned, and realized there was room on the bench so he sat next to her.

"Did anyone ever tell you how charming you are?" Evelyn asked sarcastically, nudging his shoulder with hers. She covered her mouth to hold off a yawn and dropped her head onto his shoulder. It occurred to her that she would now have to face Ashlee after this.

We're so screwed. She exhaled, frustrated. She didn't know if she should tell Ashlee.

"My mom tells me all the time." Jake yawned, even though he hadn't done much besides lift Evelyn out of an elevator, he was still tired. He hated having to wake up early in the morning.

Jake closed his eyes momentarily, and thought that if Seth had found out about what had happened besides being stuck in an elevator with Evelyn he was so screwed. Damn... I forgot about this

Evelyn stifled a smile at his words. There was a peaceful pause before she blurted out what was on her mind. "What're we going to do....about, well, everyone?" She turned her head, resting her chin against his forearm so she could look up at him. "I mean...is it back to the old standby or what?"

Nova ruffled through leaves at their feet, ignorant of the serious mood.

"I don't know but you read my mind. I was just thinking about what we're going to do or say? I mean do you wanna at least try this time minus my flaking the whole secret thing? Or do you wanna just face everyone and gauge their reactions?" The thing was both sounded like horrible options.

They let it out that the both of them wanted to date or try a relationship and their friends would flip their shit halfway to China, but keeping a secret meant that they had to behave normally around their friends, and this time it meant that Jake wouldn't tell Seth because he knows him and the the twins would sit there and talk him out of it again.

Which when they both had to pretend to be dating each other, it was very difficult to seem single around best friends who know you better than you know yourself. Either way this was going to be hard since neither parties accepted Evelyn or Jake dating the other, since everyone was pro James, or hated Jake, or they hated Evelyn. It was always a lose-lose situation with them.

Evelyn had been going over the consequences of both situations. She turned and rested her head on Jake's shoulder again, watching Nova paw at the earth like he was trying to dig a trench nearby.

"So," she began slowly, "We're screwed either way. I mean, if I say anything, I'm going to be either hearing, "Jake's a dirtbag", "Jake's a creep", "Jake's a player" from every corner of the galaxy and if I'm really lucky, it'll be something like "what about James?". But if we don't tell then..."

Evelyn straightened up and turned her body around on the bench to face Jake, looking up at him somberly. "That day I went to Sevilla with my friends, um...they were kind of trying to set me up with my friend, Joel. It...." She hesitated and then confessed "It gave off a very double-date vibe even though I don't think about him that way at ALL. And I didn't want to piss you off because you were already mad at me...so I didn't tell you. But Carrie and Taylor didn't know I wasn't available. I hadn't told them...it was just really uncomfortable....I mean, I don't think Joel would ever have asked me out but if he came under their influence and did...how would I have turned him down? The whole, bitchy, "I don't see you that way" line?"

Jake lowered his head so he could face her better, he knew that her being there that their friends would definitely set something up or attempt to set something up. Even if he the attentions were friendly, it wouldn't make him happy knowing that his girlfriend would have to go out with some guy she didn't even like because she had to keep up appearances.

But then again if he didn't tell Seth or the guys, he knew the twins wouldn't catch on too quickly, but Seth wouldn't notice right away but after a week or so he would start to notice that something was off if Jake hadn't been hooking up with girls at parties or anything, and he knew no girl would ever let their boyfriend hook up with skanks.

He knew her criticisms she was getting from her friends he was getting similar ones from his, "Listen I know what you're saying the guys keep saying you're a bitch or a tease... and that James has a better chance getting you. And as for this Joel guy.... didn't you tell me he dated Alexis? Couldn't you tell him it would just be awkward for you, and also deliver the "I don't see you more than a friend" line? I know its harsh sounding but... letting the guy think you have feelings for him was is just as bad." Jake told her, he remembered vaguely meeting Joel, and then nicknaming him Grimace after he found out he had purple hair.

"Besides why would you date Joel, you two would look like a bunch of Skittles waltzing around campus." Jake snorted attempting to make light of their current shitty situation.

Evelyn felt a grin tug at her lips at this image. She'd never really considered that. Yeah, her hair would probably clash with his.

She reached over and caught Jake's hand, twining her fingers through his as she mused. "I like the whole "Alexis is my roommate" line better. Honestly, I've already given him the "I don't see you that way" line. I kind of thought he'd gotten over whatever it was he thought he felt. He and Alexis were pretty serious."

Too serious. It had turned Alexis into some weird mushy girl. "I say we just hide it. I mean....they're going to give us hell when they do find out. Why make it come sooner than it has to? But hiding it is only temporary." She squeezed his fingers before looking up at him for an opinion. "Ashlee is going to kill me."

Jake figured they really had no other choice but to hide and ride it out until someone found out, this time it had to really be secret or at least to their best of the ability to keep a secret, he squeezed her hand back, "You know sometimes you think you're over someone but all it takes is someone to drill it in your head or keep bugging you about it for you to realize that maybe your feelings for a certain someone never went away. And taking it by the fact that your friend Carrie and his friend Taylor were harassing you both on Sunday, Grimace-- I mean Joel, probably realized that maybe his feelings for you never went away. " He had to watch that damn nickname around Evelyn. Then again knowing that he had to be cautious about it would just make him forget Joel's name even more.

"Yeah and I'm sure the second Seth finds out, things will get intense at the dorms or he'll try and throw an intervention or funeral or something." Jake thought of Seth's over dramatic antics.

"Don't underestimate Ashlee," Evelyn reminded him, glad she had on arm warmers because it was getting kind of cold. She huddled into Jake's side and continued, "When I called her after we got out of the shaft, the first thing she asked me was whether my having James' phone meant we'd made out." She cringed and then threw Jake a serious glance. "I told her there was no chance. You'd do well to remember that too."

"What?" Jake raised an eyebrow smirking down at her, "No chances in making out? Is it because you're insecure. Cause trust me you're not bad for a girl with little experience. But you know what they say. Practice does make perfect." Jake grinned broadly.

Evelyn was confused at first and then she groaned and bashed her forehead into Jake's arm. "Idiote. I meant, me making out with James! And just for that snide comment, yeah, there's not much chance of me kissing you anytime soon either!"

Jake winced slightly, and ruffled Evelyn's hair, "Oh come on! You don't have to make out with James, but you can always make out with me! Its one of the best past times. Besides we both come from very romantic, passionate cultures. Well... you half do." Jake added cheekily.

"Just for that, I'm wishing I had gone over to James in the elevator," Evelyn said shortly, sitting up and scooting away from him angrily to the other end of the bench. "At least he doesn't keep poking fun at my weaknesses every few seconds." And he's one hell of a kisser, she added mentally, and then felt guilty. She had no wish to get near James but it was still hard to throw off everything he'd once made her feel.

Jake lay across the bench resting his head in her lap he peered up at her, widening his brown eyes at her, "Aw come on, I'm only kidding no need for you to get all testy. Besides I volunteered myself to get rescued last because I would have felt real bad if that cable in the elevator did snap and you did die." Jake admitted to her, it was true that if anything did happen he wanted to make sure she had at least gotten off to safety.

She stared down at him, caught off-guard and admittedly touched. Evelyn was silent for a moment, looking away from him so she didn't get trapped in his very Nova-like move. Damn brown eyes. If blue eyes were too pretty to trust, brown were too trusty to really read.

Evelyn heaved a sigh and lifted a hand, absently brushing away the short hair off Jake's forehead. She shook gloomy thought of James out of her head, because they just brought her down. He brought her down. "Why were you helping James?" she asked, shifting her fingers to run them through Jake's hair.

Jake sighed, and he sat silently for a moment before going on, "Cause... I still thought that you and James were supposed to be together, you know? So I figured he had been striking out with you that he needed a chance, and I tried to help him. Although honestly enough I don't think he tried to help me in the past when we hated each other, but I kind of felt bad. But obviously it didn't work, and after he came up with that whole crazy idea and sure I helped a little there, I realized... this isn't gonna work and she's just gonna end up pushing both of us away. Then I realized I liked you, that I wasn't going to make you chose that way although I did want to know, cause believe it or not Evelyn, sometimes you can kiss someone and just have no feelings for them whatsoever. Like whatever spark or crap you felt with that person, it can be gone and its just like its nothing, void, dull. So I guess in a sense the both of us wanted to know, if you had went through with it. Is with who did you feel that spark or whatever with." Jake confessed, although this could have probably been handled or conducted without having to have tied Evelyn to a rouge elevator.

Jake snorted, "I guess karma got me back, my apron is still in that damn rusted out crappy box."

"You guys are idiots," Evelyn remarked, somewhat amused now. "I can't believe you had the nerve to tie me up! I mean, yeah, I know your heads are permanently in the gutter but, really....take out your sexual fantasies elsewhere."

"On the contrary, I dislike that whole bondage, tying up crap. I just like it when girls bite, especially since I love to. That's as kinky as I'm willing to get. I don't know if James is into that whole "Karma Sutra" hanging from the ceiling crap, but that is not for me." Jake informed Evelyn, yeah he knew he was probably somewhat flexible, but he wasn't gonna hang upside in a bucket of ice water just to have sex.

Evelyn pulled a face and yanked lightly on a strand of Jake's hair. "Oh God. Kind of reminds me of the whole True Blood fad. But the vamps seem to be less into erotica than the damned humans. No wonder I'm never going to like that show. I'm surrounded by horny college boys."

She paused. "And....it just occurred to me that I'm pretty much the only virgin i know. I mean, hell, Ashlee, Lucas, Alexis, everyone I used to hang with or do hang with has gone past second base. Which gives them an edge over me since they can poke fun at the poor virgin's expense." She grimaced. "It's a little...overbearing sometimes and I can't say James made it any better."

Jake realized he probably wasn't making her feel any better about being a virgin and he let out a deep breath, "Okay listen Red... Evelyn. Don't hate on the fact that you're a virgin alright? I mean most people end up regretting their first time anyway. I mean okay I only regret mine because my first time was with Rachel and she turned out to be a freaking psycho. But let's say if things had ended civilly between us, I wouldn't regret it so much. The thing is people poke fun at you because its just to cover up that their first time really sucked and honestly everyones first time freaking sucks. You're all awkward and weird and you don't know what you're doing and after you're done you're like "that was it?" Like its not a big deal, I mean for you it will be, because you end up losing it to whatever dude you end up marrying and its cause you love the guy. You won't lose your virginity to some jerk and it will be meaningful to you and crap. Ash, and Luke and your friends just poke fun at you cause they're you're friends. But I hate to break it to you. The first few times you actually have sex, its nothing like you see in those romance, cheesy films. Its awkward, weird, and you wanna cry and then sit in the shower and just scrub your skin raw cause you feel dirty. Its only after about oh god knows how many times it gets entertaining." Jacob laughed thinking back on his first few times he actually started having sex and he remembered how he was, and even now that he was "experienced" weird shit was still happening to him.

Evelyn blinked down at him a few times, and then bit her lip to stifle a grin. She'd been a bit afraid about going to this topic, especially with some guy she was supposedly "with". Most boys would be all "it's awesome - we should totally try it! You'll love it." She had barely realized she was blurting it out, really. And now she was glad she had.

She leaned down and pressed a small kiss to Jake's mouth before straightening up and saying, "Thanks. But I think you just scared me off of it permanently. And no, I'm not doing the whole wait-for-marriage thing. I'm not exactly the most religious thing. I'm doing the wait-for-right-guy thing. Marriage these days is kind of a joke in my opinion."

"Hey whatever you're doing or no matter how old you are eighteen or eighty. If we all knew what we were doing the first time that awkwardness wouldn't exist. But trust me it will be something you and that person laugh about. Like for instance the guy you're head over heels in love with happens to snort or something as he's coming around the mountain for lack of expression. You'll laugh so much trust me. Like this one girl, Jessica I had hooked up with her and I'll never forget her cause when I kissed her neck she let out the deepest, drag queen laugh I've ever heard in life." Jake shuddered at that memory, that nearly made him celibate.

"Remember, you have to have a good sense of humor going into that." Jake reminded her.

Evelyn was now disturbed, especially because she was imagining a drag queen laughing. She shook her head hastily. "Change topics, please. Before I'm permanently a nun. And it's not going to happen any time soon so I'm not even going to bother."

She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone with the hand not tangled in Jake's hair. She pressed the power button and to her relief, the Apple logo blinked into life. "Thank GOD!"

She lifted her phone up and punched in the pin where Jake wouldn't be able to read it. Her phone allowed her access to Facebook. Hell if he was hacking into her account again. "Wow, it's almost twelve. I seriously lost track of time. Knowing Ashlee, she'll call to demand answers any time soon." She cringed. "That'll be fun."

"Answers to what?"Jake asked sleepily, his eyes drooping, he was tired and he liked how Evelyn's finger sort of massaged his head.

***

Ashlee had gotten out of class, she had tried calling Evelyn after James had hung up on them but her phone kept going to voicemail.

Ashlee pulled her phone out of her bag and dialed Evelyn's number putting the phone to her ear as she walked out of the lecture hall, exiting the building the phone rang.