#i wish all bare faced people a very choke on your own lungs you lumpy bowls of diarrhea

[i-am-a-hog]

Existing in bavaria rn lets you immediately know the worth of people based on whether they continue to wear a mask on public transport or not, now that it's no longer mandatory.

[90sgrungestory]

Chapter 4: Eddie's POV

A/N: This chapter’s a little longer and I’m too tired to come up with a longer author’s note, so please enjoy and leave feedback!

                Eddie is bored.

                He’s been sitting on this hard, lumpy couch for forty minutes, because somehow, they’re still waiting for Stone. Jeff finally called him, but Eddie still is ready to go home, and extremely pissed at the guitarist. He silently wishes he was actually the leader of the band and not a newbie so he could chew him out, but oh well.

                As soon as Eddie sees Stone walk in he feels horribly guilty for being mad at him – Stone looks like a zombie. He barely seems to notice everyone staring, just blankly walks over and picks up his guitar, seemingly waiting for instruction. No one else moves and after a moment Stone seems to notice.

                “Are we practicing?” he murmurs, glancing around hesitantly and then quickly back down. Jeff frowns.

                “Stone, you okay?” he asks softly, touching Stone’s arm. Stone jumps slightly, looking at his hand, and then nods uncertainly. Jeff still looks concerned, but turns back to the band. “Okay, let’s get started,” he says, and Eddie finally, finally gets off the couch.

                They play a couple of songs, and it’s painfully obvious that Stone is operating entirely on autopilot, making frequent mistakes and not even seeming to notice. At one point, Eddie is going over a drum part with Matt when Stone starts noodling around on his guitar. Eddie doesn’t notice much or recognize the song, but Jeff makes a funny noise and when Eddie looks over his face is completely white.

                “Stoney, what the fuck are you doing?” he says shakily, and when Stone doesn’t react Jeff suddenly grabs Stone’s guitar and rips it off of him, causing Mike to yell out an angry “Jeff!” in shock. Stone crosses his arms tightly, staring at the floor, as Jeff stands in front of him, fuming. He lunges forward suddenly and Eddie jumps, thinking he’s going to punch Stone, but then he pulls Stone into a tight hug instead and Eddie looks around in confusion, wondering what he missed. Mike seems sad, but Matt looks equally baffled. Eddie glances back at Stone and Jeff and realizes Stone is crying, a couple of tears trickling down his cheeks as he sniffles. Jeff’s eyes are red too and Eddie is starting to get frustrated. He quietly scoots closer to Mike.

                “Are they okay?” he whispers, and Mike jumps. “That song was a Mother Love Bone song,” he whispers back, and Eddie winces. “Should we do anything?” he asks quietly, and Mike shakes his head.

                “I miss him,” Stone says suddenly, making Eddie startle, and Jeff utters a soft, “me, too.” He glances back at the others. “I think we’re probably done for today,” he mutters, and Eddie nearly sprints out, feeling a little sick. He hates seeing people cry.

                It suddenly occurs to Eddie that Jeff was his ride and he nearly cries himself at the thought of having to pay for a taxi back to his apartment. He paces in the parking lot for a minute, gripping his hair and fighting back tears, before he decides to just start walking home; he thinks for a second he could call Beth, but there’s no phone inside the warehouse and she’s at work anyway.

                It takes Eddie almost two hours to walk the ten-minute drive back to his apartment, and by the time he gets back he’s sweaty and exhausted. So of course Beth calls him the second he gets inside and sinks down on the couch. Eddie almost doesn’t answer, but then he thinks of everything she’s done for him and reluctantly picks up with a mechanical “hello?”

                “Eddie! You will not believe this! Okay, so you know how I was telling you about that thing the other day –”

                “Beth, what do you want?” Eddie snaps, and immediately feels tears well up in his eyes at the guilt. “Sorry,” he mutters, not waiting for her reaction, “just a bad day.”

                There’s a brief pause, and Eddie wonders if she’s mad at him. Then, Beth says, “I’m coming over,” and hangs up.

                Eddie groans out loud, dropping the phone on the floor, and curls up on the couch, tugging up a blanket and hugging his cat close. He flips on the TV and stares at it blankly, vowing not to move again until he absolutely has to. Unfortunately, that doesn’t take long. The doorbell rings about two minutes after he’s finally settled in, and he just yells out, “come in” because he doesn’t feel like getting up. Beth rushes in immediately and sits down next to him, rubbing his back.

                “Hey, what happened?” she asks gently, and Eddie hesitates, realizing how stupid it would sound to say that he’s this pissy because he had to walk home. He releases Bruce and sits up a little, but still doesn’t talk. Beth gives him a look.

                “I don’t know,” he mumbles finally, giving in, and Beth sighs.

                “Eddie, come on,” she says, shaking his shoulder lightly. “Is it money still? Because I’ve been asking around, and I think I can get you a job at that new restaurant, the head chef is friends with my boss.”

                “It’s not that – I mean, yeah, it is, but not right now,” Eddie says miserably. “I just don’t feel well, okay?”

                “Eddie,” Beth says kindly. “I know you. If I don’t drag you out of this funk, you will mope forever.”

                “Go away,” Eddie says, but his lips quirk up despite himself. Beth giggles.

                “Here,” she says, smiling at him, “I brought you a bunch of musicals and gummy worms. What do you want to watch first?”

                Eddie smiles as he accepts the bag of gummy worms. “Did you bring the Sound of Music?”

                Five hours, two pizzas, one six-pack and a big bag of gummy worms later, Eddie feels significantly better, although he does partly blame that on the beer. Beth is asleep under a blanket on the floor, and Eddie is stretched out on the couch, nibbling on the last gummy worm and watching the ending credits of Singing in the Rain. The phone rings loudly and Eddie sighs a little; his night has gone so well that he doesn’t want it to be tainted, and nobody would call him at midnight just to chat.

                “Hello?” he asks cautiously, and nearly faints at the voice that greets him.

                “Hello, Eddie,” his mother says, and Eddie frantically kicks Beth until she wakes up with an irritated grunt. “What the fuck, Eddie –”

                “Shhh!” Eddie hisses, gesturing frantically, and she shuts up as Eddie puts the phone on speaker. He needs the support.

                “What do you want, Mom?” he asks, so Beth knows who he’s talking to, and her eyes widen.

                “Eddie, unfortunately I didn’t call to chat,” his mother says, sounding a little sad. “Your father’s in the hospital, and you need to come see him. He’s not doing well.”

                “Maybe because he’s dead,” Eddie snaps, and hears his mother sigh. “Oh, wait, did you mean my stepfather? Because I think you misspoke.”

                “Eddie, please don’t be cruel to me,” his mother says, and Eddie laughs.

                “Oh, I’m being cruel to you? That’s funny,” Eddie says icily. “And I’m not visiting him anyway.”

                “He didn’t do anything to you, Eddie,” his mother sighs. “Do you really want his death on your hands?”

                “What?” Eddie nearly chokes. “So if I don’t go visit him, all of a sudden it’s my fault he’s dying?”

                “I did not say that, Edward,” his mother says sharply. “Do you have no empathy for a sick man?”

                “At least you got one thing right, he’s definitely sick,” Eddie spits, and Beth high-fives him, nodding vigorously. Eddie’s mother sighs again.

                “I can see I’m not getting through to you,” she says, and Eddie snorts. “I don’t know what we ever did to you to make you hate us like this…”

                “You don’t know what you did –?” Eddie pulls the phone away from his ear in his disbelief. After a minute of listening to his mother’s tinny voice he finally just hangs up and tosses the phone on the floor, rubbing his face tiredly. Beth watches him in concern.

                “Still okay?” she asks cautiously, and Eddie nods.

                “I hate her,” he says, unable to think of anything else to say. Beth reaches over and squeezes his hand. “At least you have me,” she says jokingly, and Eddie smiles weakly.

                “Hey, do you mind if I spend the night?” she asks, settling back down under her blanket. “I basically just ran over because Chelsea blocked my car in again, and I don’t really want to walk home this late.”

                “Yeah, of course, just take the bed,” Eddie says quickly. Beth shakes her head.

                “Don’t be an idiot, Eddie, I’m not taking your bed,” she says calmly, scooting closer. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

                “No, you won’t,” Eddie says with a tiny smile, feeling himself relax slightly. Beth can always make him feel better. “I’m a gentleman, remember?”

                “So am I,” Beth giggles. “And I can easily out-gentleman you.”

                “Oh, sure,” Eddie smirks. “You’re talking to the guy who holds doors open for dogs.”

                “You have no proof,” Beth says, grinning at him. “But, if you were a real gentleman, you’d probably get me more beer…”

                “How can I refuse a fellow gentleman?” Eddie heads into the kitchen and digs through the fridge until he finds some animal beer in the back. He brings them back and Beth pretends to gag.

                “You’re going to make a gentleman drink that shit?” she laughs, and Eddie rolls his eyes.

                “There is nothing wrong with animal beer,” he says, pretending to be offended. “Many broke college students drink this.”

                “Oh, that makes sense, considering you’re a college student,” Beth says sarcastically, taking the beer. Eddie shrugs.

                “I’m college-age, so it still counts,” he says lightly, opening his own beer. Beth snorts.

                “Hardly,” she says. “I’m taking the couch,” and Eddie figures there’s no point in arguing. Beth is incredibly stubborn.

                “Fine,” he says, smiling at her, and drinks his beer.

                The next morning, Eddie wakes up with a raging headache and the feeling that something is very wrong. It takes him less than ten seconds to realize what it is – Beth is laying in bed next to him.

                Naked.

                “Oh, God,” Eddie whispers, yanking the sheets back. They’re both completely, totally naked, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. He half-considers dressing Beth while she’s still asleep and pretending nothing happens, but even the thought feels a little rapey so he just gets dressed and leaves her to figure it out on her own, like the coward he is.

                Eddie sits on the couch for twenty minutes, trying to figure out what to do, before he hears Beth stirring in the bedroom and panics. He jumps up, nearly faints in a bout of sudden dizziness, and then regains his bearings and bolts, literally jogging down the street in his white T-shirt and flannel pajama pants.

                He makes it a couple of blocks before he has to stop to throw up, and he remembers too late why he hates animal beer. A car pulls up next to him and the window rolls down, and Eddie identifies it as Stone’s car, but it’s an unfamiliar voice that calls, “Need a ride?”

                Eddie whips around, wiping his mouth, and sees Chris leaning out the window. He pauses for a second, and nods, climbing in the passenger’s seat without a word. Chris glances at him, frowning a little as he pulls out.

                “Where’re you headed? Also, are you going to throw up in Stone’s car? Because if you do he’ll probably kill me.”

                “Nah, I’m just a little hungover,” Eddie mumbles. “Animal beer,” he adds, and Chris nods in understanding. “Also I think I had sex with my best friend,” he says suddenly, and Chris’s eyes widen.

                “Oh. Is that bad?”

                “Yes. I mean, I think so,” Eddie mumbles, suddenly embarrassed. “I think we might be kind of dating anyway, but we’ve never really talked about it or anything.”

                “Ah,” Chris says. “I guess I’ve never had that problem.” Eddie glances over and sees that Chris’s eyes are red and puffy, and he looks wiped out.

                “What are you up to?” he asks hesitantly, hoping it isn’t too invasive, and Chris shrugs.

                “Just driving around, I guess. Stone’s acting a little weird, I think he might be mad at me, but he won’t let me go home either, so I’m just avoiding him for a little while. Did you want to go anywhere specific?” His tone makes it clear he’s not going to say anymore about it, and Eddie figures he should just stop asking questions.

                “Uh, no, not really. I’m just avoiding the friend,” he says with a weak smile. “You don’t have to keep driving me around though, you can just drop me off wherever.”

                “No, it’s fine,” Chris says, and turns on the radio. “Just let me know if you see anywhere you want me to stop at.” Eddie nods and settles down, trying to relax and not ask anything rude or invasive. He can only handle the silence for about five minutes before he blurts, “Wow, it’s nice out today.”

                “Yeah,” Chris agrees after a moment, not even glancing at him. Eddie stares out the window. He can’t help but feel like Chris hates him, but then he feels a little dramatic – after all, Chris did pick him up and offer to drive him around for an indefinite amount of time, and he had thought that Chris liked him when they first met. He vows to stay silent until Chris says something, and the next time he sees a coffee shop or maybe a bar, he’ll get out.

                “I’m sorry,” Chris says suddenly, and Eddie jumps. “I know I’m being a little cold.”

                “No, no, it’s fine,” Eddie says quickly. Chris shakes his head.

                “I’m being an ass,” he says with a slight smile, and Eddie laughs weakly. “It’s fine,” he says again, and this time Chris just smiles and nods slightly.

                “You should talk to your friend,” he says suddenly. “I mean, it’s up to you, obviously. But it’s usually better to just deal with it right away.”

                “Yeah, maybe,” Eddie says hesitantly. “But I don’t really have any friends here aside from this person, and I just don’t really want to mess it up.”

                “What about the band?” Chris asks, and Eddie hesitates before answering.

                “They’re… nice,” he says slowly. “But they’re all really close friends, and I just don’t really… fit in, I guess.”

                Chris glances at him and then grins. “Okay,” he says, “I’ll introduce you to some people, and then you’ll work things out with your friend. Deal?”

                Eddie’s wondering why Chris is being so nice, but then he decides he shouldn’t question it. “Deal,” he says, and smiles back.