Chapter 38: Pretty cute when you smile

Sam composed himself, despite his failure. He smirked back confidently at Evan. His eyes glinted as if he had finally figured something out, something that made so much sense he felt smug at realizing it. Evan waited to see what this pretty little idiot thought he knew now.

"So what... Are you interested in Leo and that's why you hit me?" Sam threw out the words snarkily trying to get a handle on the situation.

Even stared at Sam incredulously. 'Was he kidding? That's what he had just come up with? His brilliant idea. Out of every scenario he could have come up with.'

Evan shook his hair out. 'This pretty little idiot.' He leaned back against the wall nonchalantly, chuckling at Sam.

"Hey, Idiot if I liked Leo that way, I wouldn't have punched you for kissing the competition. I would have rewarded you." Evan slapped his leg lazily to keep his hands busy and leaned forward.

'Damn, this kid was cute! He almost couldn't wait to see what other idiot idea Sam had up his sleeve.'

'Before he really couldn't see how Max had "somehow" ended up kissing this dummy in the middle of some field somewhere. But it all kinda made sense now.' Evan sighed with relief. 'Thank god. It was just his own horrible, distrusting imagination.'

'It woulda been hella annoying to deal with a love triangle, especially with a lifelong friend... Those rarely ended up with the new person winning the guy. And besides love, triangles were for dramatic TV shows and even there they had gotten kinda old.'

Sam leaned back on his heels. "Huh, you're right."

Evan turned and pushed off from the wall. He started away from Sam shaking his head and smiling while walking.

✥✥✥

Sam watched him go with intense interest. He observed him, fascinated now.

Evan walked with his head down and his hands in his pockets. He wore a bright yellow T-shirt under a half-zipped up red and black dual color sweater that said All Night across the front of it in bold writing.

A small bit of it was tucked into the front of his gray faded, ripped up jeans. The rest of the sweater hung down, hiding his waistband under the oversized sweater. His sleek white trendy backpack hung off one shoulder, its long strap dangling behind him freely. Part of a small silver necklace glinted in the sunlight from under his sweater and he could tell Sam had matched it to the four rings he wore on his fingers. Although most people wouldn't see the necklace, anyway.

Looking at him, he was a little disheveled. But his style wasn't bad... Well, it was on point, he just maybe didn't need to leave his clothes in the dryer for so long. Actually, with a bit of encouragement, Evan would be rather stunning. Sam thought.

"Wait... If Iiiii don't like Max, and Youuuu don't like Leo... Then the only obstacles between them are their own shyness... And thick-headedness." Sam said, working it out.

Evan turned to glare and raised a judgmental eyebrow at Sam. Sam smiled sheepishly, realizing he had just called Leo, Evan's best friend thick-headed.

"On, Max's part, Max's the dummy." Sam amended quickly while holding up his hands in mock surrender.

Evan smirked and shook his head. His hair rustled lightly with the movement. He turned back around and kept walking.

"You know I think this is the most I have ever seen you smile... I thought you were made of stone. I have only ever seen you angry before." Sam instigated conversing cheerfully in the silence while following closely beside Evan down the hall.

"That's because I am always having to deal with problems when you are around," Evan chided, insinuating Sam as the cause. He looked to the side staring at Sam and stopped walking.

Sam frowned a little, annoyed at both Evan's insult and his abrupt stop. 'I almost smacked into you, some warning next time...' He watched Evan's face closely before deciding Evan must clearly be joking around now.

Evan's face held amusement, and most of the angry mask he normally wore was gone. Instead, it was replaced with a gentle, charming smile, it was very sexy to look at, the way his mouth corners turned upwards, and the relaxed lilt to his lips, his eyes and eyebrows it mellowed out his rather striking features, making them look much softer.

"Huh, yeah I suppose that's true... Odd. I can't figure why." Sam said playfully, smiling back at his handsome young junior. 'He could go along with this kinda teasing. It was right up his alley, this kinda flirting... Practically a favorite thing... No, actually it was a favorite and frankly, it was extremely attractive.'

Evan snorted. "Because you are trouble. Everywhere you go trouble follows. But I'd smile more if you just kept being as stupid as you are right now."

Sam stopped tilting his head and scowled at Evan, 'Maybe not... He is a jerk, an outright jerk!' Sam balled his fists, then glared up at Evan only to see Evan's eyes twinkling and his mouth struggling not to grin.

The tension in Sam's body melted away and he relaxed. 'Evan, you are an enigma... an infuriating enigma.' Sam let out a happy smile and shook out his hair. He stroked it gently out of habit.

Evan smiled happily for a moment before his hand reached out. It stopped and fell back to his side, immediately before it had even had a chance to reach him. Sam watched with interest.

Evan turned and continued walking scoffing to himself. Sam raised his eyebrows. 'He's leaving now? After all of that?... But we didn't even resolve anything... He just punched me and then found out I didn't like Max... and then he complimented me.'

'What the hell! He can't leave!'

He jogged until he caught up with Evan, then matched his pace.

"You know you're pretty cute when you smile." He said walking sideways a little ways behind him so he could stare at Evan.