Jared typed quickly onto the keyboard.  The laptop front of him casting its dim light onto his face. He looked to his digital alarm clock with tired eyes. 2:00AM Flashed onto his face, the red text reflecting onto his tortious shell glasses. Jared groaned in annoyance, mentally cursing himself for waiting this long to get that damned essay finished. At this point, he was about halfway done with 3 hours of straight writing under his belt. He felt his eyelids fall slightly, struggling to stay conscious as he finished a sentence. Jared fought to stay awake, but slowly succumbed to the darkness that is unconsciousness.

~

A buzz awoke him, he groaned lightly, scrunching his eyes shut and trying to cling to that small fragment of sleep and cling onto it. He began to fall asleep again, before the phone buzzed again due to him not checking out the notification. Jared turned his head on the desk and picked up his phone. The bright light cast onto his face, and he squinted at the pain in his eyes. He lifted his head slightly, adjusting his glasses that had gone askew as he slept. He read over the message and felt himself pale. Every repressed memory, all the emotions, and the pain, It all came rushing back in just a few moments.

The simple message, that single word, invoked years worth of tears and regret. He read it over again, not wanting to believe what his eyes had read.

Evan Hansen

2:27 AM

"Hey"

Alana slams her hands down on the table. "HE WHAT?!" Jared shushed her, and only then did Alana notice the stares caused by her outburst. She sheepishly sat back down onto her chair, scooting closer to Jared and whispering. "He what?" Jared unlocked his phone, staring at the message that stayed there since the night before. "I don't know, Alana, he sent the message at like 3 in the morning." Jared whisper shouted. Alana sighed. "So you're telling me after four years of nothing he just off on a whim decided to text you 'Hey'?" Jared ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "I guess so!" Alana rested her chin on her hands, which had been propped up by her elbows on the table.

"So?" Alana questioner. "So what?!" Jared said. "So what are you gonna do?" Jared shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the question. "Al, I don't fuckin know that's why I asked you!" Jared adjusted his askew glasses for about the 10th time that day. "Well, do you wanna talk to him?" "What?" Alana sighed disappointedly. "Let me put it this way; This guy made an elaborate story about how he was bffs with a kid who killed himself not even a week before,-" Jared looked down at his lap. Zoe had told Alana everything about a year ago, and she was still pissed about it. "-used you, The Murphys, and I, to get what he wanted, decided make this big 'project' in said dead kids memory, then told the truth and faced no social consequences while the Murphy's got all the backlash. He didn't have the balls to even apologize for four years, and then randomly at like 3 in the morning he texts you."

Jared looked up at Alana. Alana took a sip of her coffee. "He's flown under the radar for years, Jared. Are you ready to give this guy a piece of your mind for all the suffering he's caused you?" She finished her thought, looking him dead in the eyes. Jared thought it over. Alana was right, but then again Alana is always right. Jared let out a sigh. He remained quiet for a moment or two before saying matter-of-factly "Yes." Alana smiled. "Good choice." She pushed his cellphone he's laid on the table toward him. Jared met her eyes that hid behind her glasses. Underneath the smirk she wore, he noticed how worried she was. Jared knew that look anywhere, seeing as for most of middle school and all of high school he'd worn it. Jared picked up the phone, and contemplated his reply.

The bright screen didn't shine as much as it did the night before. It was morning now, of course. He didn't want to come off too aggressive, but not too kind. "Hey." The text read, almost taunting him. Like it knew how scared he was, how nervous he felt. Jared pushed the thoughts away and typed down his response. "Hi." Jared typed down. Alana leaned on the table, eager to see Evans response. "Alana he's not going to respond so fa-" Jared was cut off by his phone pinging. "How have you been?" Evan responded. Alana has moved so she stood behind him. Her and Jared exchanged a look. "That was fast..he must really be into this." Alana commented. Jared snorted. "No shit."

"Good. Hbu?" That was a dirty lie. That whole thing left Jared with trust issues, a broken heart, and some intense guilt. Probably not as guilty as Evan probably feels. Jared thought. Alana licked her lips nervously as Evan responded mere seconds later. "Good too." Jared was going to start typing before Evan added something. "I'm skipping the pleasantries and I'm just getting right to it. Jared we have things we need to talk out, if you're still in town maybe we could meet up sometime to talk things out?" Evan added. Jared was frankly surprised. Evan has never been so straightforward in the past, but then again, The Connor Project really did change Evan. He looked at Alana, who just nodded. Jared turned back to the screen and started typing. "Yeah, I am. If we could meet here at around 5 tomorrow that would be great." Jared texted, sending Evan the address to the coffee shop. Evan once again responded very quickly.

"Great. Thank you. I'll see you then." It read. Jared said goodbye and closed his phone. Alana pat him on the back. "Try not to rip Ev a new face hole, Kay?" She tried to joke. Jared laughed. "I make no promises." "What about ripping someone a new face hole?" A new (challenger) voice appeared. They turned to be greeted by the likes of Zoe Murphy, who hugged her girlfriend from behind. "Well you remember Evan? Like Evan Hansen?" Alana asked, Zoe groaned, seemingly repulsed by just the memory. "God how could I not. What about him?"

"Well he texted me last night, so I had a crisis and called Alana like any logical person would do and now we're gonna meet up at 5 tomorrow so I can rip his heart out and shove it down his esophagus like I'm Scorpion from Mortal Kombat." Jared said cheekily. Zoe's eyes widened. "Don't yell." He rushed out. Jared huffs. "It's a long story. Now I have a night of Netflix binging to watch while my roommate Rich complains out loud to his not-boyfriend Jake about dumb shit over the phone at 4 am, so you two can go on your date and make out. Remember, use belts not ropes unless you want carpet burn on your wrists." Zoe smacked Jared across the head for that. "Haha- ow-"

"Shut up, Kleinman." Zoe said. "Never, Murphy." Jared quipped. The trio laughed as Jared paid for the drinks. Alana and Zoe got into Zoe's car, waving one last time before driving off. Jared waved back, before his smirk fell. He leaned against the brick pillar, the sun of midday shining brightly onto the brunette. Jared opened his phone again, scrolling through the brief, but adrenaline inducing conversation between him and Evan. He chuckled, once again running a hand through his hair as he said to himself one thing;

"Well, I'll be damned."