Title: Because He's Her Lobster
Rating: PG
Pairings/Characters: Evan/Cappie friendship, Casey/Cappie
Warnings/Spoilers: Contains spoiler's for "At World's End."
Summary: After Cappie rejects Casey, Evan gives some insight into their relationship.
Author's Note: I have no idea WHERE it came from, but this ficlet contains references to the infamous Friend's line, "He's her lobster." I'm just going to assume you all know what I'm talking about.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Greek or Friends, and this work is purely my imagination.
*********
Because He's Her Lobster
Evan knows the moment he steps into Doc's and spots Cappie hunched over at the bar that something's up. It's something major, because the bartender had called him from Cappie's phone, telling him that Cappie was cut off, too poor to get a cab, and too drunk to find the way to the door, let alone walk home.
Doc's is off campus, about a fifteen minute drive from Cyprus Rhodes, and therefore completely unknown to everyone but Evan and Cappie, who discovered the place their freshman year in their quest to uncover every bar within a fifteen minute drive from Cyprus Rhodes that took fake ids.
When they patched up their friendship, they began meeting at Doc's once a week, to catch up on lost time and forget about everything related to Cyprus Rhodes.
From the look Cappie gives Evan as he sits down next to him at the bar, it's clear that the something major has to deal with Casey, because Evan has seen the look before.
Evan orders a beer and a water for Cappie. He doesn't' say anything else, simply waits for Cappie to start talking. After a few minutes, Cappie finally does.
"She wants me back," Cappie says, his voice scratchy and full of disbelief.
It's not that surprising. Evan spent the majority of his time with Casey waiting for the day when she would want Cappie back.
"I hope you don't expect me to congratulate you," Evan jokes, but he knows there's more to the story. Because lord knows, things with Cappie and Casey are never simple.
Cappie lets out a bitter laugh. "I turned her down."
This doesn't surprise Evan either. In part, because he's already heard snippets of what happened from Calvin, but mostly because he knows Cappie and Casey better than anyone.
"'Come on," Evan says, footing the bill. "Let's get you out of here."
******
Thirty minutes later, they're in a hotel room on the outskirts of Cyprus Rhodes. Chips, sweets, and soda cover their beds and it's just like camp again, only instead of watching Mighty Ducks for Friday Night Flicks they've got on some x-rated porno their barely paying attention to.
"I'm an idiot," Cappie says as he stuffs a handful of peanuts into his mouth. "I should call Casey right now and beg for her forgiveness-"
"No!" Evan says quickly, forcefully, shaking his head vehemently. "You did the right thing. I can't believe you did it… but you… you did the right thing."
"But I love Casey," Cappie frowns. He looks up, squinting his eyes at him. "You're not trying to get her back, are you? Because I thought you and Rebecca had a thing going on, and man do we need to stop sleeping with the same girls."
"No! I mean, yes. I mean… you are Casey's lobster," Evan says fervently.
Cappie makes a face. "I don't like fish."
Evan takes a deep breath, and tries again. "You and Casey are meant for each other."
Cappie is silent for a moment or two, playing with an unraveled piece of the floral comforter on his bed. "I used to think that," he admits quietly, not looking up. "But I… Casey is… I don't deserve her."
His confession is so honest, so real, that it startles Evan for a moment, and he almost feels bad for all those times he thought that himself, not so long ago. But the thing is this. Cappie has never had a problem going after things he doesn't deserve, and so Evan knows Cappie's holding something back.
"Bull shit," Evan says harshly. Cappie finally looks up, a little shocked.
"You didn't turn Casey down because you don't deserve her," Evan continues, because now he's on a roll. And sometimes, the only way to get through to Cappie is to call his bluff. "You turned Casey down because you don't think you can handle her leaving you again."
Cappie blinks. "I.. no. I don't deserve her. You know I don't deserve her."
Evan rolls his eyes. Self-pity has never really been what Cappie is good at. "Casey thinks you deserve her," he points out. "Even after she left you the first time, she never stopped caring about you."
"But she left me," Cappie tells him, shaking his head. "She left me because I didn't treat her the way I should've... if we get back together, I could make the same mistakes all over again."
"'Come on, Cap. You're not that much of an idiot."
"But I will make a mistake. I'll forget her birthday, or I won't make it to one of her Zeta Beta things… and she could leave-"
Cappie stops in mid-sentence, and his eyes grow wide. He glares at Evan. "Damnit," he says, admitting defeat.
"You did the right thing," Evan tells him again. "You and Casey need to be apart right now."
"She hates me," Cappie says glumly. "We're going to be apart forever."
Evan can't help but laugh. "You and Casey? Give me a break. You guys will be together again by the end of the month."
Cappie looks at him quizzically. "How do you know?"
Evan pushes the contents of the mini bar off his bed and falls backwards, his head hitting the pillow. "Because," he says simply, his eyes drifting shut. "You are Casey's lobster."
finis.
****