In the morning, the three of them, separately, picked up the pieces of the night before. Well, at least, mostly-separate. Evan hadn't given it the effort it deserved. Whatever it was that had been bothering him, kept bothering him. The whole night, and he couldn't explain one bit of it. He let out a long breath and shook his head. He wasn't even hung over, which told him more than he wanted to hear about how distracted he'd been.
Still, it was a Friday. There was always Saturday to really get himself fucked up. Colin, meanwhile, hadn't done any better for himself. Evan shuffled out of his room, towards the kitchen. It was only a coincidence that it happened to walk him right past the couch, where Colin had his teeth grit together tight and his hand pressed so hard into his chest that Evan knew it was going to leave a mark.
He slipped his slippers on as he moved onto the tile floor, dropped a serving spoon full of coffee grounds into the machine, and hit the button to start it perc'ing. He tried to be quiet, but the noise must have been enough to wake Colin up, because he had his eyes open when Evan came back around.
"You're welcome to some of the coffee in the pot," he said. He said it most mornings; the occasional morning, he didn't make any coffee at all.
"No thanks," Colin said. "I don't drink the stuff."
He said that most mornings, too.
Evan shuffled into the bathroom, pulled off his shirt from the night before, and stretched tall. Pulled his toothbrush out of the holder and started in on his teeth. He had the shower running a moment later, spat the toothpaste out of his mouth, and stepped inside.
It wasn't much of a routine; he'd heard of people who went for 3-mile runs every day before the sun was up. Evan woke whenever he woke, made coffee, brushed his teeth, and showered.
Still, it gave him time to think. Maybe the people who needed to run, needed more time to think than he did. Today was a running day, he groused to himself as he finished up, turned the shower off, and stepped out.
He'd spent the whole time trying to get himself out of the funk that he'd slipped into the night before. And it hadn't helped one iota. He clicked his teeth together, and slipped into some fresh clothes.
"Yo, Evan." He froze as he stepped out the door, one leg still planted in the only bathroom in the apartment. Which, for one bedroom, was plenty. For a bedroom and a couch, it could get frustrating.
"Something up?" Evan's eyebrows were practically at his hairline.
"What was up with you last night? You were acting weird all night."
"I wasn't acting weird," he countered. He moved back towards the kitchen, got his kitchen slippers on, and poured a cup of coffee into a mug shaped like a frog. He poured a little too much sugar in, stirred with a knife, and carried it back out into the room.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not lying."
"What happened with that girl?"
Evan decided that his eyebrows had been raised prematurely, and lifted one back up. "Girl?"
"That one you were talking to. Looked like you had your eye on her."
"You don't win them all," Evan said. "She wasn't there to get picked up, so I didn't bother trying."
Colin's lips twisted into a smile. "So you're saying there are girls who would resist your charms?"
Evan opened his mouth to respond. Obviously there were. But that wasn't something he was desperate to go around advertising if he could help it.
"I mean… sure," he said. "There are some girls I wouldn't go that far out of my way for."
"Yeah? You paid out twenty bucks just to talk to her."
Evan didn't bother to correct him, but after the tip it had been closer to thirty. "What's your point?"
"I think you're beat. I think you can't get her."
"Of course I could have gotten her. Maybe not last night, but eventually, if I wanted her, I'd have her."
"Fine," Colin said. "Get her."
"I don't see why I would. I didn't pursue it last night, why would I pursue it now?"
"I could make it interesting."
"What, like a bet?"
"Don't be silly," Colin said. "Of course a bet. Now, what do you say?"
"What are you offering?"
Colin's jaw set in a hard, almost cruel smile.
"If you win, then I'll have Dad talk to Senator Burke about giving you a job."
Evan's lips pursed. Burke was a big up-and-comer. There was a lot to like about a possible connection.
"Nah," Evan said finally. He hoped he wasn't betraying the fact that he was already salivating at the deal. The secret to negotiating, he told himself in his father's voice, was to be willing to walk away.
"And I'll pay your student loans. One hundred percent."
That was too much. Evan almost said so. "And if I lose? I mean, pretending that's even on the map."
"If you lose, you have to forego sex for a month. And if I bring someone home, you clear out of here, the whole month."
"That's all?"
"No," he said. "Not all. You wear a dress."
"Okay?" Evan shook his head, a confused smile apparent across it. "I mean, that's a little weird, but I can get over it."
"To the Rose Bowl."
Evan's eyes rolled, but he couldn't quite banish the thought from his head. It was a bet, and the stakes were high. He could win a lot, but he could also lose a fair bit. That photo, when it came out in the future, put a hard cap on his political aspirations.
Still, it was an intriguing idea. Too intriguing to pass up, he had to admit.
"What? You scared?"
"Not everybody's going to be living on a trust fund the rest of their life, Colin," Evan said. "So yeah, I'm scared of plenty."
"Chickening out?"
"I'm scared of getting cancer. Hit by a bus. I'm scared of showing up to a test without having studied in my underwear. But a little bet like this? Not even a little."
Evan held his hand out. "Call it a bet."
Colin's hand slapped against his, but his fingers clapped shut around Evan's hand. "It's a bet, then. Time frame?"
"I don't know, what's fair?"
"A month," Colin said. "Thirty."
"For what?"
"Sex," Colin said.
"Then I guess I'd better get started," Evan said. He was starting to doubt. After all, he didn't even have the girl's name.
Not that he was panicked. Not yet, anyway.