Getting A Life

Here's my first story! Please be kind.


*Thoughts*
:texting:


Beer, parties, sex, and the occasional minute of actual studying. Such is the typical way of college. As excited as he is about embarking on this new journey of his life, Evan was also terrified and annoyed. As a 23 year old attending college for the first time, he has been stuck with orientation exercises such as discussion groups about potential peer pressure with drinking. He's been able to drink for 2 years! Why couldn't he just skip that exercise? And now he's just been informed that as a first year he also has to take the alcohol awareness course. Evan barely ever drinks anyway, why are they wasting his time?

Now this might all sound like whining, but Evan is actually excited to go to college. He had to postpone it for a few years due to some personal reasons, but finally he made it! Although he did opt out of staying in the dorms knowing he'd probably be constantly bombarded with requests to go on beer-runs. Also, he's hoping to find someone special that he can maybe bring back to his apartment someday. You never know, right?

As he walked around the campus, he was glad he made the decision to go to school in Vermont. It seems cozy, with lots of nature and a laid-back feel to it. A lot more soothing than some of the city campuses he visited with his little brother. Boston might work fine for Sam, but it is definitely not right for Evan.

Thinking about Sam made Evan homesick for a moment. His brother, now 18 years old, is also probably walking around on his own campus in the middle of a major city. They had never been so far apart for such a long time, but it's time for them to live their own lives.

*I'll just give him a call later...or should I wait? I don't want to annoy him.* Evan sighed at his own thoughts as he ran a hand through his black hair, messing it up more than it already was.

At that moment his phone received a text from Sam :hey! call me later!: Evan smiled, his brother probably knew he wanted to talk.


Later that night he finally decided to call.

"Hey Sam, how's everything going? Are you unpacked? Do you like your roommate? I'm sorry I couldn't go with you! Did you eat yet?" Evan said, not giving Sam a chance to answer.

"Geez dude," Sam laughed, "I don't even remember the first question! But yea, my roommate is cool even if our room is kinda small, and we just got back from the dining hall. That is some nasty-ass food!"

He sighed, "And stop worrying, ok? I know your move-in day was the same as mine. You deserve this chance too, especially after everything."

Evan sunk down into his thrift-store couch, "I know, but I can't help but worry."

"I'm more worried about you! You're 23 dude, you're finally on your own, with your own place. Now you can get a nice girlfriend, get a nice life, and maintain a nice place for me to crash at during the summer" Sam said with a smirk. It's all true, his brother needs to take this chance to have an actual life.

Evan, meanwhile, was grimacing. He's pretty sure he's not the straightest person in the world, but never had a chance to explore so he never felt the need to tell his brother. But what better time to find out than at college?

Unfortunately, "It might be harder to find someone than you think. All of the other freshman are 18, a little too young for me, and I'm too shy to bust into other people's already established groups!"

"It'll happen dude. Trust me on this, you're a wicked awesome guy!"

"Wicked? Really? You've only been there 12 hours and you're adapting Boston slang? Just don't forget about the existence of the letter 'r' ok? You're smarter than that!" Evan said with a fond smile. Really, wicked? They used to make fun of that.

"Just messing with ya! So tell me about your campus!"

They talked for a bit longer before Sam got called away to a dorm meeting. As Evan was getting ready for bed he analyzed his appearance. In his eyes he's always been a bit scrawny, thin as well as short at a meager 5'7", his hair is an uncontrollable black mop, and his eyes are a bit freakish with one being blue and the other brown. At least he has a decent tan, he wouldn't want to be pale and sickly on top of everything else! He finds it all too easy to understand why he's a 23 year old virgin, no matter what Sam may say otherwise he is simply a tiny, freaky-eyed, disheveled, shy wuss. Maybe he'll just live with his cat, Nessie, and try his best to be content.

*Sam means well, but he just doesn't get it. I'll just have to live vicariously through his life.* Evan thought with a wry smile as he settled down to sleep. Just because he was finally out of Utah doesn't mean his life is going to be any different. He's accepted that long ago.


******************************************************************************


The next morning he woke up early and set out to work. He was lucky to have found a cafe where he can work a morning shift before classes, as well as a Saturday shift. He'll probably be exhausted, but he won't be broke.

As he walked in, the other opener (and the manager) Shirley greeted him as she opened the door.
"Hey kid, listen, I have some paperwork to deal with and I want to get it out of the way before the rush starts, can you handle set up and the first half-hour or so of customers?"

"Yea, of course! It was slow when you were training me, so it shouldn't be so bad, right?"

She gave him a relieved smile, "Here's hoping! Just holler if you need help."

With that she disappeared to the back room as Evan began organizing the pastry case and got the coffee to start brewing.

At 6:33 (hey, so he was running a little late. 3 minutes isn't bad!) he unlocked the front door and turned the sign to say "open." Slowly an army of caffeine deprived, hungry zombies wandered into the store, and Evan tried not to be too cheerful as he rang up their orders. He learned from interacting with Sam to never be happy at someone before they've had their coffee!

After about 15 minutes the crowd started getting to be a little too much for him to handle, especially since one of the nearby offices apparently scheduled an early meeting and sent someone to pick up 9 cappuccinos. Why doesn't anyone understand that if they want a drink done quickly to not order the one that takes the longest amount of time to make! As he was preparing to yell for Shirley, one of the customers in line started getting a bit too upset.

"Hey! Dumbass! What the hell's the hold up here? All ya gotta do is pour some freakin coffee into a freakin cup! Are your freaky eyes blind or are you just stupid?!" Yelled the very rotund business man, spittle starting to fly toward the end of his polite request for faster service.

"I'm sorry sir," Evan began, "but these drinks do take some time, but I was just going to have someone come and assist me so that th..."

"Well!" The rotund man interrupted, "Go get someone to help you then! Clearly you need all the help you can get!"

Evan backed away a bit, flustered as this man started walking closer as he yelled. Another business man stepped forward, but Evan, with his eyes lowered didn't notice.

"Excuse me sir," said business man #2, "I understand you haven't had your coffee yet, but perhaps you should calm down."

Evan's eyes shot up as he heard someone defending him. Business man #2 stood tall, if a little sleepy-eyed, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and the strongest jaw-line Evan had ever seen. *Yup* Evan thought, *I'm gay. At least for this guy!*

"Obviously this man is working hard, and he clearly just finished a very large order," handsome man continued, "did you only notice one person leaving, and not the fact that he had 9 large drinks that he had to carry out in a box? And if anything, you sir must be the one who is blind," at this he looked over to Evan, "if you think his eyes are anything other than lovely."

Evan blushed red, and ducked his head out as Shirley finally made her way out to the front unnoticed.

"'Lovely'? What are you, some kind of fag?! How dare some fag tell me not to yell at his fag boyfriend!" Rotund man yelled, spittle flying with each word.

Shirley had heard enough. "Sir, I must ask you to leave. You are no longer welcome at this establishment, and if you don't leave shortly I will call the police to escort you out. If you go now, you may still have time to spew your ignorance at employees at a different cafe."

The man glared, and stormed out as Shirley called, "Have a nice day!"

She turned to the handsome man, "Jake! Thanks for sticking up for Evan, he's new and seems kind of shy still."

"I can hear you Shirley," Evan said as he blushed deeper.

Jake smiled at Evan. "Nice to meet you Evan. I'm sorry about that, sometimes people seem to think they rule the world."

Shirley clapped her hands and faced the rest of the line, "Sorry for the early-morning drama! How about a free medium coffee to get you all on your way to work?" The patient line-waiters all smiled and thanked her as they walked by to get their coffees. Many placed the money they were planning to spend into the tip jar for the little cutie who seemed to be having a bad morning.

Once the rush ended, Evan took the time to go around the cafe and clean up a bit. He spotted Jake sitting at a table with a laptop and walked over, "Thanks, you know, for that...for helping with...the um..jerk..."

Jake smiled up at him, then stood up and smiled down at him.

"Hey no problem! I worked some retail jobs before, so I know how it feels when people take their grumpiness out on you."

"Well, thanks again...I didn't mean to interrupt your work, I just wanted to,"

"I know, to thank me. Don't worry about it! I don't want anyone yelling at someone for such a silly reason, especially someone as adorable as you," He said with a wink, watching Evan's blush get deeper.

Evan, to his own embarrassment, stammered a reply, "o-ok, w-well I'm just gonna, I gotta go you know, make coffee!" And he walked away quickly as Jake chuckled and sat back down.


This was going to be a long shift.




AN: Sorry, no offense to anyone from Boston! I lived there for a while and it's fun to tease people about their accents!