I did reconsider, multiple times, and agreed that going to the park would be a bad idea. I didn't particularly hate the guy, but I wasn't dying to make his acquaintance either. Besides, whatever he was doing that day seemed really shady, and all logic in my brain knew I shouldn't get involved.
Now I just needed someone to explain to me why I was still waiting behind the park after school.
I had half the mind to turn back, but inexplicably, I stayed put, waiting for him even though it had been fifteen minutes since I'd reached already.
Curiosity would really be the end of me, huh?
I idly scrolled through my phone for the next five minutes, getting just slightly more frustrated by the minute. I breathed out a sigh, my eyes searching the area for the umpteenth time. The weather was oddly pleasant that early in the afternoon, almost like a spring's day in the middle of autumn. A few kids were strewn about, running around playing tag. An old couple seemed to be chatting as they made the rounds, and an odd group of friends were laughing on the benches. It was such a picture perfect scene.
So when a moment later I spotted Evan nonchalantly walking towards me, I had to say, he singlehandedly ruined the image. I wasn't impressed.
"Hi-"
"You're twenty minutes late," I cut him off, more bugged that he didn't seem to care about being late than the fact that he was.
"I said after school, we didn't settle on a time, did we?"
Arrogant fucking prick.
"School ended half an hour ago," I grumbled, shooting him a look.
"Exactly," he smiled almost condescendingly, "It's after school."
I suppressed the urge to scream. Strangling the guy wouldn't do me any good, right? It's a bad idea, right?
"Anyway," he quickly started, sensing my thirst for blood, "So, what happened yesterday was... I'm actually part of this school play and I convinced my friend to act with me. Last night we were just trying to get a better feel for the scene outside, you know?" he smiled, his grey eyes twinkling like he expected me to believe his bullshit.
"You're telling me that was practice for a play?" I repeated slowly, wholly unconvinced.
He stupidly didn't catch onto it, happily nodding, "yup!"
"You're lying."
His expression dropped, and I caught him visibly swallow. "Well...the real truth is really embarrassing and you can't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay..." I was pretty confident I could keep a secret. Just as long as it wasn't anything harming someone else, I wasn't going to gossip.
"So..." he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.
Is it that difficult to say? Maybe I shouldn't have forced him to tell me. Just as I was about to stop him, he spoke.
"I'mActuallyGayAndThatWasMyBoyfriend," he mumbled so quickly, I almost didn't catch it with his accent.
"Oh," I breathed, surprised. That was really personal, maybe this was a bad idea…
No, wait.
"That doesn't explain anything," I suddenly realized, "why did that guy have a knife? And what was with the weird robotic responses? None of that makes sense!"
"Well, this is harder to say, but he's really into…uh…" his eyes darted around awkwardly, and he ended up giving me a tight lipped smile before continuing, "he's really into role-play, you see."
I wanted to gag. Someone burn my brain for the mental image that followed, please, I can't take it.
"Evan," I said calmly. Or tried to. Pretty sure I was actually seething. "You're telling me that 40-year old man is your role-play loving boyfriend?"
He visibly cringed as I said it out loud. "Uh…yeah?"
"Stop fucking with me if you want me to keep it a secret," I snapped, at my wit's end.
He seemed pretty fed-up too. "It's personal, okay? Why do I have to tell you anything, anyway?!"
"I need to know if I have to report it to the cops," I only told him half the truth, "that man had a knife!"
"It's just a knife," Evan grumbled, knowing he wasn't going to win this.
"He had it pointed at you."
He sighed, "okay, listen. This is not something I can just say, alright. You'll have to come with me if you really want to know."
"What, so you can kill me?"
He looked at me like I was crazy, "you watch too many crime shows."
I puckered my lips in annoyance, feeling the need to correct him, "crime novels, actually."
I wondered why I even bothered when he replied with a, "yeah sure, whatever. Just follow me."
And you can call me stupid, but I actually did.