Freshmen Dorms

"No fucking kidding. Actually I think on Sunday I'm getting out of here, go see my rents or something. I'm starting to lose my fucking mind here." Jake told Seth, as they trekked up the stairs.

He just wanted to leave, he couldn't believe how everything always managed to go to shit in a matter of minutes. Jake figured though if he could before going back to Brooklyn to possibly arrange seeing Evelyn and talking to her.

***

"Fuck I wanna go back and find him I'm just so...ugh!" James let out a frustrated groan and he was glad that Joel and Taylor felt the same way.

Luke had sunk into a seat and was massaging his forehead. "What kind of....ugh. If he's really that unstable, shouldn't he be reigning in his temper? He should know Evelyn has a short fuse He shook his head and looked up at James.

"We'll just have to make sure he stays the hell away from those girls then. Knowing Ev, she'd rebel or some stupid shit. She seems pretty friendly with both Seth and Jake."

***

"Yeah, do that," Seth said, as they emerged onto the fifth floor at a run. Seth shook his head and pulled out his keys, ready to unlock the suite. "Seriously, Jake....just do us all a favor. Spare us the drama and stay away from her. I TOLD you she was trouble."

"Oh you best believe I'm not letting her within inches of them." James vowed. No way in hell.

***

Jake let out an exaspereated sigh, running a tired hand through his hair, "I'm gonna stay away Seth, this has just gotten too out of hand." Jake said, although he had no intention of ending this until he spoke to Evelyn again.

Evelyn hadn't realized how worn-out she was. She fell fast asleep on her bed, fully clothed with her boots on and her pillow wet.

***

"How?" Luke asked, half-joking. He sighed. "She probably won't want a bodyguard." He glanced at Joel and jokingly said, "We should have Joel tag around with her and I can keep an eye on Alexis since she's in most of my classes."

***

Seth pushed open their suite door, shrugging. He headed for his room. "Hope so, Jake."

Ashton nodded at them from the couch where he was watching TV. "'Sup, Jake? You look like hell," he commented absently.

Taylor's face lit up and he grinned a devious grin as he stood up and nudged Joel's side.

"I think that's actually a brilliant idea, Luke. I mean, he's probably one of the few people who can be up and personal with her without her getting TOO annoyed with him or anything. He's practically a bodygaurd in disguise." Taylor nodded at his own words and reached up to rub his chin in a sagely manner. "I think this idea is MARVELOUS."

Joel blinked and felt a blush creep across his cheeks as he took a step away from Taylor.

"You..you guys are funny." He forced a laugh.

Luke decided doing this in front of James was a bad idea so he let it drop for now. He flashed Joel a grin as he returned to his room though.

Joel cleared his throat and forced a slight chuckle.

"Ahm...actually, you know...I think I should go do my homework now. Yup. That sounds about...yeah." Joel stooped down and grabbed up his things before quickly going to his room before Taylor could further embarrass him.

Luke hadn't really been joking when he'd suggested this idea. Joel was one of the few males Evelyn tolerated near her for indefinite periods of time without wanting to strangle them. Knowing Evelyn, she'd no doubt ignore anything Luke had said to her earlier.

And if it couldn't be James, Luke would really rather it be Joel.

Luke glanced out his bedroom door and saw Joel walk by to get to his room. Luke slipped out of his and followed.

He knocked on Joel's door. "Hey, have a minute?"

***

Nova clambered up onto Evelyn's desk chair from her tilted binder and then dove on top of her bed. He waddled over to her face, paws sinking into her duvet, and slobbered on her cheek, whining anxiously.

"Oh you know typical Friday, played some pool with Seth, got into a fight. No big deal." Jake informed Ashton coolly, like nothing had happened. Jake went into his room and plopped down onto his bed.

How did shit always seem to get so bad for them?

Ashton stared after Jake, bewildered. If Seth's furious expression had been anything to tip him off, this wasn't the usual Seth-Jake-get-into-fights-in-stupid-places.

Seth was never angry. In the two years Ashton had known him anyways.

Ashton got up and glanced uncertainly down the hall at Jake's door before padding over to Seth's open one (and tripping over the cat along the way).

"What happened?" he asked lowly. Seth was sitting in his desk chair, swiveling around aimlessly in it. He glanced up at him, brushing his hair out of his eyes, which had darkened to an almost navy. "Those fuckers up on the seventh floor decided Jake was a psycho. James tried to kick his ass. He got lucky. No big."

"Wait, what? James?!" Ashton asked, bewildered.

Seth nodded stiffly. "He turned out to be one judgmental bastard. He just heard Ashlee blurt out something like, "Jake almost punched Evelyn" and he and Luke flipped their shit to Hoboken and started ganging up on Jake. Like, god damn it, it's not like he tears off his shirt and goes green and muscly on a regular basis. That was just one incident and it was majorly Evelyn's fault. But Jake got one hell of a throwdown from James for it. James was pissed. I mean, I get it, he has a right to be mad but hear the guy out, you know? But whatever, we'll just keep Jake far away from dainty queen Evelyn and it'll all be fine," Seth finished angrily, not realizing his voice was probably carrying clearly through the wall. He glared at Ashton. "This is just fucked up. It's not Jake's fault he's bipolar. Why discriminate against him for that?"

Ashton bit his lip, nodding, although he could see why James and Luke might have freaked out. Then again, from what he'd seen, Evelyn did rile Jake up. Horribly easily. "Didn't they end their whatever?" he asked curiously. Seth nodded.

"They were still civil though..." He paused and flipped up the screen of hsi laptop and logged onto his Facebook. "Actually....c'mere Ash, see this?" He flicked to Evelyn's profile page. "Jake just added her like yesterday and now....." He pointed as he scrolled down the page.

Ashton raised a dark eyebrow. "He's really, uh....welcoming?"

Seth snorted. "He can't seem to stay the fuck off her page, you mean? And she's not exactly discouraging him. What the fuck is with him? You wanna get over a girl, you don't hang around her and her Facebook wall the whole time."

***

Lucifer padded after Jake and followed him in, seating himself on Nova's basket smugly.

Jacob expelled a frustrated sigh running his hands through his dark hair, he could hear Seth yelling to Ashton, and he felt like crap. He didn't want for this to blow up like it did but too late.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and lay down staring at the ceiling he heard small footsteps approaching and sat up.

Jake looked down at Lucifer as he made himself at home in Nova's basket.

"Oy! Comfy your highness?" Jake retorted tossing a pillow at the silvery feline. He knew it would probably Lucifer but he didn't really care.

Lucifer hissed at Jake and then purred almost mockingly, like he sensed Jake's mood and was poking fun of him. He stayed where he was, batting the pillow away and narrowing golden eyes at Jake.

***

"Agh, Nova," Evelyn snapped, harsher than she intended as she batted Nova out of her face. Her face was all wet because Nova had in some misguided affection decided to cheer her up by drooling all over it. Evelyn sat up and the puppy widened hisi brown eyes at her. She turned away from him hastily, massaging her forehead as she bustled around for a tissue. She gave up and walked to the bathroom, washing her face off and then returning to flop down on her bed. She glanced at her phone.

Roughly three in the afternoon. Evelyn closed her eyes, hoping to drift off again, and Nova snuggled down beside her. A cool breeze from the window tickled nose nose and he sat up again, padding onto her back and nudging his nose into the back of her head impatiently.

***

"So, I called my friend over, well, not really MY friend. More like COnnor's," Seth was telling Ashton in a soft voice. "For Saturday." His grin widened devilishly. "Jake will love it, trust me on that."

Ashton frowned. "I somehow think not..."

"Be positive, bitch," Seth said, waving a hand, now back to his previous happy mood. "Jake's hung around with the demon queen too long."

Jake threw his hands up in the air, he had a bad enough day and he didn't need Satan in cat form making it any worse. He went to his drawer to grab something and to his amazement he was surprised he still even had cigarettes. He thought if anything he had gotten rid of them or smoked them on a drinking binge with the guys.

Jake opened his window and sat on the window sill, one leg bent and the other dangling over the edge, he lit up his cigarette and took a long drag, coughing a bit since it had been awhile since he last smoked one, he rest his arm over his knee, and let the embers fall off the tip and get carried away by the cool autumn breeze.

Seth checked the time, figuring he could get started on lunch or something so they could go out later that night.

He headed to the kitchen and Ashton returned to his room, frowning to himself. He really, somehow, didn't think Seth's stupid scheme would work.

***

Nova sniffed the faint traces of nicotine in the air and barked again, displeased. He nudged Evelyn's head harder and she groaned and finally rolled over.

Nova fell off her back and tumbled to the floor with a thud.

"Oh, shit!" She sprang up and scrambled off the bed to pick him up. "Are you all right, boy?" Nova whined and then wagged his tail, so she took it as a yes.

Evelyn picked him up and then crinkled her nose. "Ew, what the hell?" She strode to the window and peered out, puzzled. Clearly someone was leaning out their window smoking or something. Not uncommon. Just annoying. Since it was downwind, it was obviously from theboys' end. She sighed, ducking back in, and slid down her window, hoping to open it later so she left it unlocked, and then pulled out her bag, deciding to get started on her work since she had a major midterm coming up.

Joel had just tossed his things down on his bed when he threw a glance over his shoulder to the door to find Luke standing there. He stood upright and nodded before flopping down onto his bed, placing his hands behind him to hold him up.

"Yeah, what do you need?" Joel asked, pushing at his bottom lip with his tongue a bit.

Luke had already had several similar conversations as the one he had in mind, with Joel before. He shot Joel a meaningful look as he walked in and took over his desk chair.

"So...um...if you're planning to go ahead with what you kind of, sort of want to do, now would be a good time. I mean, the formal's coming up. If you ask in public, like I said before, there's less chance of it going wrong. And you can even add on the as friends" thing to the invitation if it makes you feel better but....I say you man up," he finished, smiling a little smugly to taunt Joel. If not James, then Joel, definitely.

Joel let out a harsh sigh and adjusted him so his back was hunched and his arms rested on his legs. He hung his head all the while shaking it somewhat.

"And we're back to this subject?" He asked, glancing up.

Luke smirked now. "Yes we are. Think about it. She gets along with you. Right now, she probably thinks I'm a douchebag. So she won't want me around, and definitely not James. We want ot watch out for her too, so this is like killing two birds with one stone. Gives you a legit reason to be around her."

"But you guys..." Joel shook his head and reached up to run a hand through his hair, pulling a face. "You guys make it sound all so easy, but its really not for me. I mean, what if she gets embarrassed or mad and doesn't want to talk to me afterwards or something like that?" He looked up and Luke, his nose scrunched somewhat and his lips pursed. He was always terrible at the whole 'asking out' or whatever, and whlie he wanted to keep an eye on Evelyn and make sure that Jake kid didn't come near her and everything, it was still RIDICULOUSLY hard for him.

"You just have to ask her out ONCE, and then see how it goes. So if it doesn't work out, you know you tried. Or would you rather be looking back ten years from now and wondering about the what ifs?" Luke asked him, raising an eyebrow. "I get that it's hard but hell, you have a better chance because she wouldn't WANT to hurt you. That's your weapon right there. Once she gives it a chance, try it and if it doesn't work, then okay, whatever."

Jake had tossed his cigarette butt, out the window and closed his window he was starting to get cold and he didn't feel like brooding like some sulky emo teenage girl. He walked out of his room and into the kitchen where he saw Seth, and Jake sat himself on top of the counter, "What's for lunch?" He asked.

Seth flipped a burger and it landed with a splat, spraying oil everywhere. He jerked back and said, "Frozen burgers and fries. Sound good?" He smirked at Jake and then frowned. "Damn, I want a smoke. I haven't had one for a while." He could smell a brief stench on Jake but to him, it wasn't exactly disgusting.

"What do you wanna do tonight? I mean, we have that party tomorrow so I guess we can hold off on the liquor tonight."

"Burgers are good, and yeah I guess we can just chill tonight. Kind of rest up for whatever insanity you have planned for tomorrow night which I know you have. Oh do you want a cig, I got some in my room I hardly ever smoke them so you can take as many as you want." Jake offered to Seth, yanking out his phone and wiping the screen with his finger.

Seth shrugged. "Probably not in here. I'll go open a window or something later." He pulled the burgers off the stove and began assembling them. He handed Jake one on a plate, left hte other tow on the counter and carried his out ot the table.

Lucifer hissed furiously as he walked over. Seth sighed. "No, dude, you're not eating all this oily shit. I have to return you during the summer."

***


Evelyn: What did you do?

James: We fought

Evelyn: WHY?
oh my God, you're an idiot.

James: I'm an idiot? Says the girl hanging around psychos with anger issues
Not to mention he said himself he has a short temper and you're no peacemaker yourseelf

Evelyn: ....you and Luke overreacted. I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't be hanging around him if he was about to morph into the Hulk.
And you don't have hte right to tell him not to hang around me. Tell Luke that.

James: We're just protecting you, I have temper issues too damnit but never once have I hit you like that or almost hit you!

Evelyn: He wasn't ALMOST hitting me. That's what you don't get. He never aimed at me in the first place.
You know what, whatever. You're a douche anyways, so why bother explaining?

James: Bother explaining what?
That your two friends that care about you want you to be safe? Instead you hang out with someone who coould lose their head just like that

Evelyn: Forget I said anything.

Fine.

Evelyn shut her laptop screen so she wouldn't keep glaring at James' chat window any longer. Sure, he thought he was doing the right thing.

He was being a pompous, judgmental idiot. Neither he, nor Luke, had any right to tell her who she should or shouldn't hang out with. The only reason she was complying with Luke's wishes (at least until his back was turned) was because she didn't want to upset. him. She'd given up giving a shit what James thought.

She ran a frustrated hand through her hair, fingers tangling in her messy half-combed mane. Nova yipped at her cheerfully and she flashed him a slight smile, feeling worn-out and completely aggravated.

"What do I do, boy?" she asked him. Nova woofed at her, tilting his head. "Oh, great, I'm talking to a dog."

She sighed and resumed working.

Jake sat on the counter scarfing down his hamburger, his head was still hurting. Stupid James, stupid everyone! Why did everyone always aim for his god damn head?!

Jake slid off the counter holding onto his plate, he grabbed a Tylenol and popped the two pills to relieve his headache, and went to join Seth at the table, he laughed down at Lucifer, "Dude Luce is probably gonna end up following you back since he gets such joy torturing me."