Apologies
Evan knew he shouldn’t feel bad about what he did to Barty. But it was now Friday afternoon and he hadn’t seen Barty since Monday at the beach. He knew that Barty had a tendency to be erratic and self-destructive. But he wasn’t going to cave. He wasn’t going to be the one to apologize.
“Hey! Rosier!” Evan heard someone calling him and then jogging to catch up with him.
“Oh, Regulus, is everything alright?” Regulus Black was mostly friends with Barty but occasionally they would all hangout.
“Barty hasn’t been here at all after Monday. Do you know if something has happened? I tried calling his house but no one ever answered.”
“Yeah, well, actually something kinda happened between us after school on Monday. I think he might have gone a bit manic after that. He’s avoiding me.”
“Well you should go check on him. Barty can be an awful person at times, but he’s your best friend, you should know that.”
“Yeah I’ll go by his house tomorrow.”
“Ok good. Well I’ve gotta go, I’m helping Sirius move into his new apartment.”
“Oh ok, have fun I guess.”
When Evan went home from school that day he thought about Barty the whole time. He thought about how Barty had reacted. How he had reacted himself. There was nothing to do but actually do something about the situation. He wasn't going over to Barty's today. He would go later. Tomorrow. He was going over to see Layla right now. He wanted to spend time with his girlfriend, not with Barty. There was no reason to be this worked up about it, right? He was overreacting. Barty was probably fine, just sitting at home. What if he wasn't? What if he's been drinking himself half to death? Evan knew that Barty wasn’t one to cope in healthy ways. He took a deep breath. It was not the time to dwell on Barty.
Evan decided to call Layla. She picked up on the third ring.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey, babe. It's me. Can I come over?"
"Yeah, of course. I’ll just be here waiting for you, then." Layla seemed a tad overenthusiastic. Evan didn’t even know why he seemed to notice that. He loved Layla. Well, he had told Barty that he loved Layla, but not Layla herself.
He left his house and walked the 10 blocks to Layla’s. Evan used the front door this time, instead of Layla’s bedroom window.
“You look so pretty darling.” Layla really did look gorgeous. She was a goddess. He loved her, didn’t he? He had told Barty that he did, and he really did mean it at that time. But now everything was so weird between them. Why was he thinking about Barty again? Layla was right in front of him. He just needed to focus on the moment. And in this moment he was with his girlfriend.
“I always wanna look good for you.” She closed the distance between them and looked up at Evan with her big doe eyes. He felt a bit overwhelmed at everything, maybe he just needed a break. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and his lighter. “Out the window, I don’t want my room to smell like smoke” she made a face of disgust as she remarked.
Evan went over to the window to light his cigarette and blow smoke into the warm evening air. “You sure you don’t want one?” Evan knew the answer, it was always the same. But things felt different right now and he needed to feel some sort of normalcy. Perhaps he should just leave. Evan knew how the night would go. He’d finish smoking, he and Layla would talk for a bit, and then they’d end up having sex and he would have to sneak out her window again because by that time Layla’s parents would be home.
“Yeah I’m su-”
“I think I’m just gonna go home.” Layla was cut off by Evan’s final decision. He would just go home.
“Oh um ok. I’m sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean to.”
Evan knew he should reassure her that she hadn’t done anything wrong. But he was irritated for all the wrong reasons and he couldn’t shake the feeling off of him. So he just left.
Back in his own bedroom, Evan flopped down onto his bed and stared at the ceiling for probably 3 hours. Time seemed to whiz by and slow down simultaneously. As his eyelids became heavy, he gave way to the drowsiness that pulled him under the spell of sleep.
Sunlight plagued his vision as he attempted to blink away the sleep from his eyes. He felt disoriented, more so than usual that is. As he took in his own condition he was laying on top of the covers and still in his clothes from last night. May as well get the day started. Evan wandered down to the kitchen to get a glass of water and greet his parents. But as he passed their bedroom, he saw they were still asleep. It was fine, he could see them later. He knew what he had to do today. He had to see Barty. He had to apologize. He had to make sure that Barty hadn't spiraled into complete mania.
It was 8 am when he left his house to go see Barty. He got there and rang the doorbell, and none other than Bartemius Crouch Sr. opened the door. Shit. Barty’s dad was one of the coldest people Evan had ever met. He was cruel and, though Evan hadn’t personally seen it he knew from Barty’s stories, violent. “Is Barty here?”
“Yes. You can go upstairs. Try to not make any noise.”
“Ok. Thank you sir.” Evan slipped past him and went upstairs as quickly as he possibly could. Barty was sitting at the edge of his bed like he had been waiting for Evan. He sat down next to Barty. He didn’t know how to start the conversation.
“What are you doing here Evan?”
“I came to apologize.” Evan blurted. Barty looked at him expectantly, and he realized that he should probably actually apologize. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have gotten violent. I know I was a dick, but honestly so were you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry that I said that.” Barty said it with petulance, like he didn’t really mean it. But Evan just wanted his best friend back and so if Barty could accept his apology, then he could accept his.
“So we’re all good then.”
“Yes Barty, we're fine.”
“Good”
“Did you miss me?”
“No.”
“I know you did.” Evan said with a wide smile plastered to his face.