Impossible to Hate You ~ Part 11
Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!Reader
Summary: You and Eddie coexist through the summer of '94.
A/N: Sorry it's been an entire year since an update! I had a baby! Hope you enjoy revisiting our idiots in love. Smut is on the horizon, I promise.
Divider was created by the lovely and talented @hellfire--cult❤️
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
“I’m so so so sooo sorry-”
“Yeah, you’d better be! We were looking everywhere for you guys, where did you go?”
“Well, we started out at Jupiter with you guys, obviously. Then we started arguing about something, I can’t remember what it was, but it was too loud in there so we went outside and things got heated in a bad way, then heated in a good way, and then we were kissing-”
“You were what? I thought he drove you up a wall!”
“Well, he did… until I experienced how good he is at making out against one.”
You could practically hear Kate twirling the cord of her phone around her finger as she recounted the events of the night before. You and Eddie had searched for Kate and Gareth after the show at Jupiter House ended and waited for over an hour before ultimately deciding that they must have found their own entertainment for the evening. Kate obviously knew the way back to your apartment, so you both figured they would turn up at home eventually. After waking up and still seeing no sign of them, you were incredibly relieved to hear Kate’s voice when you’d answered the phone.
Kate was still talking when you heard the sound of the shower shutting off. “Eddie, they’re okay! I have Kate on the phone right now.”
The bathroom door burst open, revealing a sight you most definitely were not mentally prepared for: Eddie, clad only in a bath towel tied low enough that you could see his pelvic bones, his skin still glistening from the shower and his hair falling in heavy, wet coils to his shoulders. You could see tattoos that you’d been unaware of until now, and you had the dreadful feeling that now that you’d seen them, you wouldn’t be able to get them out of your head. You wouldn’t be able to get any of this out of your head.
“Is Gareth there?” he asked, holding out his hand for the phone.
You sputtered something that sounded like a combination of ‘yes’ and ‘sure’ and wound up sounding like “yerr”. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice as he grabbed the phone from your hand. His hand was still wet, which meant that now your hand was wet. From his shower water. The same water that was currently dripping from his slick black curls down into the valley between his shoulderblades…
Whoa! Nope! Don’t go there, brain!
You preoccupied yourself with the dirty dishes in the sink while Eddie ripped Gareth a new one through the phone.
Moon-silver light flooded your bedroom, giving your popcorn a strangely colorless hue even though it was practically doused in butter. You stuffed a few kernels in your mouth as Casablanca played on the small screen of your TV. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman smiled merrily at each other while driving through the streets of Paris, and even though you knew how short-lived their romance would be, you still watched with rapt attention as if for the first time.
Across the apartment, Eddie watched the same scene on his own TV for what was the first time. Every emotion he felt while he watched Rick’s face fall at the sight of Ilsa’s vague breakup letter was evident in his own expression, free to fully feel in the safety of his own room.
“Well I definitely don’t like her.” Eddie said when the scene broke to commercial, his voice loud enough to carry through his own open door and into yours.
You swallowed your popcorn. “You need to keep watching, she had her reasons.”
Eddie made a face. “And those reasons are good enough to justify leaving him in the rain at the train station in the middle of Nazi occupied France?”
“Well he’s about to escape Nazi occupied France. If anything, she knows he’s about to be safe.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know why.”
You shrugged and plucked an extra-buttery piece of popcorn from your bowl. “If you talk through the whole movie, you’ll never know either.”
You could hear Eddie’s sigh from across the apartment, then the sound of the floorboards creaking as he padded barefoot into the kitchen, undoubtedly to grab a snack.
“I’m just saying,” Eddie continued, opening the fridge to grab a half-eaten log of chocolate chip cookie dough. “She could’ve at least made the letter a little less vague. To tell her he isn’t even allowed to ask why he can never see her again? It’s disrespectful at that point.” He opened the silverware drawer without looking, grabbing a spoon and shutting the drawer with his hip.
It was incredible how quickly a person could memorize the little things about a home- like the location of a spoon or the exact direction in which to point a TV antenna. In only two short months, Eddie had made a home here. There were now traces of him in the living room, in the kitchen. A leather jacket, carelessly tossed, now sat draped over a throw pillow on the couch. Icarus now had a favorite spot in Eddie’s bedroom (curled up into a ball on top of Eddie’s pillow). Eddie’s favorite cereal was now always in stock. You’d even fallen back into humming along with his old metal tapes that he would play while he sketched flash pieces in his bedroom.
“Give her a chance to explain.” you said. “People deserve the benefit of the doubt.”
Eddie paused, his spoon freezing halfway through the chocolate chip cookie dough log. “They do, huh?”
There was a pause on your end, and the silence spoke volumes. “Yeah.” you said, your voice high and soft, “they do.”
And you did think that. You had always thought that, even now.
You couldn’t see the kitchen from your bedroom, but you saw the glow of the refrigerator flash across the wooden floor as Eddie put the cookie dough away. You heard his bare feet padding back to his room, his mouth undoubtedly savoring his spoonful of cookie dough while he struggled to come up with a response.
He never made one, though. The next time he spoke up was to say that Ilsa was lucky that Rick was such a nice guy, and that he didn’t think she deserved him.
A little bell rang upon your entry into The Ink Shop. The wooden floors were worn and slightly sticky from years of cheap cleaner, and the sparse overhead lighting did very little to brighten up blazing red walls. Funnily enough, however, it all added a certain charm to the place, lending the tattoo parlor a lived-in hominess that made you sigh as you inhaled the strange combination of incense and disinfectant.
A receptionist with very intricate eye makeup and a lip ring looked up at you with a bored expression, one of her sharply drawn eyebrows raised in a question.
You pulled Eddie’s notebook out of your canvas tote to show her as you explained, “I’m dropping this off for Eddie?” Your words pulled up at the end of the sentence, hoping she’ll point you in the right direction.
Wordlessly, she jerked a thumb at the doorway to your right. “Third on your left.” she sighed, going back to a drawing in her notebook that she’d been working on when you’d walked in. You nodded your thanks, making your way down the dimly lit hallway. Framed flash sheets of everything from elaborate dragons and tigers to tribal patterns and Chinese letters lined the walls, and there was so much for you to look at that you forgot to count how many doorways you passed as you made your way down the hall. Luckily for you, however, the telltale sound of metal music led you directly to your destination.
Unluckily for you, however, Eddie wasn’t alone.
“I’m telling you, an eyebrow piercing would look so hot on you, Eddie.”
The saccharine voice coming from the studio room made you stop dead in your tracks. You pressed yourself against the wall beside the doorway, hoping no one in the room had seen you yet. It definitely occurred to you that hiding and eavesdropping on whatever conversation was going on in Eddie’s workplace was inappropriate to say the least, but all you could think about was the fact that there was a decidedly female-sounding voice in there that was basically calling Eddie hot.
You didn’t like the ugly feeling that had bubbled up into your chest when you’d heard that.
You heard Eddie’s low chuckle in response, and it made your heart skip a beat at first- he used to chuckle like that in high school with you.
“Yeah? You’re not just saying that because it’s been slow today and you’re bored?”
His voice didn’t sound as flirty as hers… but it was there. The underlying tone of someone who knew he was being flirted with and wasn’t shutting it down by any means.
“Well, it is slow and I am bored.” she replied, “But I said what I said. A little bit of metal in your face can take a guy from hot to seriously sexy.”
“Oh totally. A good-looking guy can catch my eye, but when you add a couple piercings? I just melt. And don’t even get me started about when he opens his mouth to laugh and I see a tongue piercing-”
That was when you walked decidedly into the room with Eddie’s sketchbook held aloft. “Brought it!” you interrupted, a little louder than was necessary.
Was it petty? Absolutely. Did you have any right to get in the way of Eddie’s love life? None whatsoever.
That didn’t change the fact that hearing another woman talk to Eddie- your Eddie- that way made you want to flip a table.
Eddie’s eyes widened a bit at your abrupt entrance, but his face quickly brightened into the smile he always wore when you were around. He greeted you by name, thanking you for bringing him the sketchbook on such short notice.
“I’ve got a client coming in less than an hour and I doubt they would have trusted me to get started without showing them the mock-up sketch first.”
You smiled and shrugged, shoving your hands into the pockets of your jeans. “I’m glad I was home when you called, then.” You glanced sidelong at the woman who’d been picturing Eddie with a tongue piercing only moments ago.
She was pretty, in a pixie-like sort of way. Young, petite and sprightly with short pink hair, and she almost seemed to sparkle since the light was glinting off piercings on several parts of her body. She had piercings decorating her ears, her eyebrows, her nose, and in her belly button, which was shown off by the cropped Black Sabbath shirt she wore. Her full bottom lip was pierced as well, and she toyed with the silver lip ring with her tongue before asking, “So, you two live together?” she asked, her tone acidic in contrast to how sweet it had sounded earlier.
You could embrace the assumption she was on the verge of making. It would be so easy to nod your head, to smile and say ‘Uh-huh! Two months now!’ and let her think he was spoken for.
He wasn’t, though. Eddie Munson was a free man, free to flirt with whomever he wanted, and who were you to get in the way of that? You had absolutely no right to be jealous.
“Just for the time being.” you said, trying to come across passively about the subject. “He’s subletting a room in my apartment. Right, roomie?” You looked back at Eddie, expecting to see him nodding in agreement, grateful that you hadn’t ruined his chances with Piercing Girl.
What you saw, however, were lips pressed together into a solemn line and eyes coldly avoiding yours. “Yeah,” he confirmed, and it sounded like a bit of his usual mirth had disappeared from his voice. “Just crashing there for a bit.”
“Well then,” Piercing Girl said, the lilting flirtation lighting up her voice once more, “I’ll leave you two to talk about…whatever roommates talk about.” Her eyes flicked to you as her lips curled into a grin that, in your opinion, looked a little too smug. “Will I see you tonight? You never come out for drinks with the rest of us.” Her lip ring glinted as she pouted at him.
Every fiber of your being wanted to glance at him, silently question him with your eyes and hopefully convey to him that you would very much like it if he did not see her tonight, but you kept your eyes on a flash sheet you were pretending to look at on the wall.
Eddie gave her a noncommittal nod and a half smile. “Yeah, I’ll try and make it out tonight.”
That seemed to pacify Piercing Girl, who regarded you with a once-over before making a show of looking unimpressed with what she saw. “Nice to meet you.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
You mirrored the look. “Same to you.”
The stereo was the only sound in the room after she left. You ached for a reason to say something- anything- so you asked about the music.
“I like this song, who sings it?”
Eddie looked at you reproachfully. “Come on, I taught you better than that. You’re telling me you don’t recognize that voice?”
You did, but you couldn’t quite place it. You pressed your lips into an apologetic smile, shrugging. Eddie sighed, walking over to the stereo and picking up a CD case that sat on the table beside it and handing it to you. On the cover of the case a set of angel wings sprang from a woman’s back, the tips of the wings ignited in red-orange flame. Across the top of the image were the words Black Sabbath.
“That came out earlier this year,” Eddie explained. “I know you seemed to like Ozzy back in the day, so if you want to borrow that you’re welcome to it.”
He hoped you would. Eddie so hoped that you would smile and nod and that he would come home to hear you blasting Back to Eden from your bedroom, because then he would have something to bond over with you again. He would have a thing to share with you, a new connection between the you and him that had spent a decade becoming different people than you both were in high school. All of the things that you’d both shared way back then had grown sour with age, no thanks to him.
His heart sank when you handed the CD case back to him. “I don’t really listen to that stuff anymore.” You said quietly. “Thanks, though.”
You muttered something about needing to get home, that Icarus needed to be fed soon. “You should go out tonight.” you added on your way out. “Buy that girl a drink or something, she seemed pretty into you.”
It was the last thing he’d wanted to hear you say, but he pretended otherwise with a half-hearted chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve been getting that impression.”
You shrugged, giving him an encouraging smile over your shoulder. Be an adult about this, you thought, you want him to be happy. “You should go for it, she seems like your type.”
You didn’t wait for his response, didn’t want to hear him confirm that yes, she was his type and that she probably recognizes Black Sabbath within the first few seconds of every song they’ve released, and even though he wasn’t yours and you weren’t even sure that you wanted him to be yours, that hurt to think about.
Eddie had still been holding on to his foolish hope- that maybe he hadn’t fucked up beyond repair, that it might be possible for the two of you to rekindle what had felt so right and so perfect on that night so long ago, when he’d held you close and softly sung White Christmas in your ear.
But after hearing you confirm to him that you’ve more than moved on, you’re encouraging him to move on, and smiling while you do it… well, Eddie now knew where you stood.
“You’re moving in together?” you asked Kate incredulously. “You’ve only been official for two months, Kate, don’t you think that’s a little bit fast?”
You were both sitting in a quaint little coffeehouse that you used to frequent when the two of you still lived together. At first, you’d assumed that Kate had suggested this place for nostalgia’s sake, but now you understood that she’d been hoping the comforting atmosphere would soften your reaction to the news that Gareth would be moving in with her as soon as next month.
Kate smiled, unable to contain her obvious joy about sharing the news with you. Shrugging, she replied, “It is, I know, but it just makes sense! His cousin has been dropping hints that he may be overstaying his welcome on their couch, and being long distance has been honestly so hard. He basically has nothing keeping him in Chicago right now, so moving in with me just makes sense!” She reached across the little table you were sitting at and gave your hand a squeeze. “Please be happy for me.”
Your eyebrows knitted together with worry, but you gave her a reassuring smile nonetheless and returned her hand squeeze. “Of course I’m happy for you. You’re right, it does make sense- he doesn’t want to take advantage of his cousin’s generosity, and if he tried to find his own apartment here, who knows how long it would take and how much money he’d need to spend.”
“That’s exactly what I said!” Kate exclaimed, nodding her head eagerly.
You busied yourself with pulling the spent tea bag out of your steaming cup of oolong and began drizzling honey into the ceramic mug.
“However,” you began cautiously, “as your best friend, it would be my duty to voice my concerns if I had any and I happen to have one-”
“You’re worried we’re going to rip each other’s heads off?” Kate was raising an eyebrow that matched her wry smile.
You sighed in relief, thankful that she said it before you had to. “Yes! Oh my god, Kate, the two of you can hardly go an hour in the same room without arguing. How on earth are you going to manage living together without killing each other?”
“Simple.” Kate shrugged, and her wry smile morphed into a devilish smirk. “We’ll find other ways to take out our frustration with each other.”
“Ew.” You grimaced. “Was putting it that way really necessary?”
Kate laughed and sipped her coffee. “No, but your face was funny after saying it so I regret nothing. And seriously, Gare and I have talked about this. We know that… heated discussions are a potential problem for us, so we’re going into this fully prepared to listen to each other, practice healthy communication skills, compromise when necessary- all of it. We’ve thought this through, I promise.”
You stared her down sidelong, skeptically appraising her for any signs of doubt, but you came up empty- Kate seemed completely sincere and confident that she was making the right decision.
Stirring a little vortex of honey and tea in your mug, you removed your spoon and held up your cup for a toast. “To you and Gareth, then. May cohabitating make your relationship even stronger and bring you closer together in more ways than just physically!”
Kate clinked her coffee mug against yours. “Mostly physically though, I need that man bad…”
“Down, girl.” You rolled your eyes as Kate cackled into her coffee. “You should’ve gotten that coffee iced, I think you’re getting a little too hot over there.”
One month later, Kate and Gareth’s one-bedroom apartment was packed to full capacity. Once Gareth had officially moved all of his things from his cousin’s house, Kate had immediately begun planning a “home-warming” party.
“Because it isn’t a house,” she’d said matter-of-factly, “it’s an apartment. But that doesn’t make it any less of a home!” When you’d brought up the fact that she’d already been living there for several months, she’d sighed and said that until Gareth moved in, it just hadn’t felt like home yet.
Hence, the home-warming party.
Theirs was a standard-sized one-bed apartment for New York City, which meant that five people was pretty much the cap that could fit in the living room before it started to feel cramped in there. You had only been expecting four at first, until you arrived to see Eddie sitting in an armchair with Piercing Girl curled up in his lap.
Eddie had done exactly what you’d encouraged him to do- he’d gone out to drinks with his coworkers last month and bought a drink for the cute pink-haired girl that did the piercings at the Ink Shop. It wasn’t until the earliest hours of the morning that he’d gotten home that night. You didn’t ask him how things had gone the following morning, but you’d gotten your answer when he came home a few nights later with a pair of little silver studs in his eyebrow.
You were trying very hard to appear nonchalant about the whole thing, but your traitorous heart couldn’t help but flood your person with loathing the moment you saw her so much as look at him. Your small form of rebellion was that even though you were sure you’d heard Eddie mention her name at least once, you refused to commit it to memory. To you, she was Piercing Girl.
“I swear I didn’t know he was bringing her.” Kate told you after pulling you aside into the kitchen. “He only mentioned it to Gareth earlier today, and I only just found out when she showed up with him on our doorstep. If you want to go home, I can tell them you were feeling sick-”
You waved the idea off. “Please, he’s an adult, if he wants to bring his girlfriend to social events, he has every right to do so.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone would blame you if-”
“Oh my god, Kate,” You cut her off, smiling and laughing into the words. “We were in high school, and technically we never even dated. We went on one date. It’s fine, I promise! He’s moved on, I’ve moved on-”
“You’ve moved on?” Kate raised an interested eyebrow. “With who?”
You smiled, happy to change the subject. “Do you remember that guy from work I told you about a while back?”
“The guy who moved to another department?”
You nodded. “Well that department just got relocated to our same floor, so we’ve been seeing a lot more of each other lately, and he asked for my number last week-”
Kate looked ecstatic, and she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Gareth, peaking his head into the kitchen.
“Are you two gonna stay in the kitchen all night, or would you do us the honor of continuing this conversation in the living room? I’m starting to feel like a third wheel in my own home.”
You both complied, following Gareth into the living room. You made an effort to sit as far away from Eddie and Piercing Girl as possible, keeping your eyes on Kate as you continued telling her about Paul from work.
“He took me out for coffee on Saturday, and Kate, I had such a nice time. He’s sweet, he listens to whatever I have to say- he just seems so stable. I feel like that’s so rare nowadays.”
Kate smiled widely, grabbing a bottle of wine from a bar cart in the corner and pouring a couple of glasses for the two of you. “Paul sounds so great, I can’t wait to meet him!” She handed you a glass before glancing at Eddie and Piercing Girl, who were still tangled together in an armchair on the other side of the living room. “Would you like anything, Valerie?”
Valerie. So that’s her name. You were almost disappointed that you knew it now. Knowing her name made her seem more real. Something closer to permanent.
You allowed yourself to look at her now. She was scrunching her nose up at the wine, asking if they “have anything a little sweeter”. Your eyes flicked over to Eddie, and they found him staring right back at you.
As soon as you’d made eye contact you were breaking it, cheeks heating as you lifted your glass to your lips and taking a healthy swig. You didn’t know why he’d been looking at you like that… there’d been so much intensity in his gaze, and you were absolutely clueless as to why it’d been there.
You struck up a conversation with Gareth in an effort to brush that gaze off. You asked him how he was settling in, what kind of job he would be searching for now that he was moved in, etc. The five of you all made pleasant small talk within your own individual conversations, and it was about an hour and a half later when Eddie and Piercing Girl -Valerie- were standing up to leave.
“I have a thing in the morning, so I can’t stay out too late.” she’d said, excusing herself from the party as Eddie offered to walk her out. It hadn’t taken more than a second after the door closed for Kate to drop her polite smile and roll her eyes.
“Oh my god, is she, like, twelve?” Kate scoffed.
“Be nice.” Gareth warned her, but there was a glint of mirth in his eyes when he said it.
Kate shrugged, looking offended. “I was being nice! But good God, Gare, why did Eddie keep her out so late, isn’t it past her bedtime?” You snorted, unable to keep your laughter under wraps any longer.
“Maybe that’s why she had to leave early,” you said, “she didn’t want to miss the bus tomorrow morning.”
Kate was laughing too now, and Gareth seemed resigned to the fact that defending Eddie’s choice in bedfellows was a lost cause. “She’s twenty, you two, being young isn’t a crime-”
“TWENTY??” Kate gasped. “I’ll tell you what’s a crime, Gareth, it’s serving alcohol to twenty-year-olds! God, I knew she was young, but not that young, Gare, why didn’t you tell me?!”
And then they were at it- this was a common occurrence with these two, and you knew from experience that once Kate and Gareth started arguing, the best course of action was to get out before they started trying to get bystanders to take sides. You excused yourself about ten minutes into their argument, eager to flee the scene, and passed Eddie in the hallway on your way out of their apartment. He looked at you, confused.
“The children are fighting.” you explained, and Eddie nodded in immediate understanding.
“Guess we’re going home then.” he sighed, falling into step with you as you resumed your stride down the hall toward the stairs.
Silence between the two of you fell as you both made your way out of the building, and Eddie was fighting for his life to keep it that way. He couldn’t stop replaying what he’d heard you telling Kate earlier when he’d caught the tail end of your conversation as you’d both entered the living room.
‘He just seems so stable. I feel like that’s so rare nowadays.’
Stable. So that was what you were interested in now, Eddie thought bitterly. There had been a time when you’d been into him, but Eddie wasn’t exactly the first thing that came to mind when one thought of the word stable and he knew it. Evidently, he wasn’t the kind of guy you wanted anymore- you wanted someone reliable, someone stable. That stupid shred of hope he’d been holding onto was long gone now. What a joke. Who was he kidding- the most reliable thing about Eddie was that he would always, certainly, without a doubt fuck things up.
“So who’s this guy at work?” Eddie asked against his better judgement as you both exited the apartment building. Hot as the air had been that day, the night air was refreshingly cool against his face as it played with the curls that brushed his collarbone.
You were taken aback by the question for a moment, glancing at him with a raised eyebrow as if to say Since when do we talk about each other’s love lives?
“Um,” you started, keeping your eyes on the sidewalk ahead of you. “His name is Paul. He works in accounting, and we got coffee the other day. He’s nice.”
Eddie waited for you to elaborate, then laughed softly through his nose when you didn’t. “That’s it? That’s all there is to know about Paul?”
He could tell you were rolling your eyes- he didn’t need to see it, because he knew what you sounded like when you did. “Well, I’m only just starting to get to know him, aren’t I? I’m sure there are plenty of interesting things about him that I’ll learn as we see more of each other.”
“I don’t know…” Eddie mused. There was an edge to his voice that made you bristle. “I feel like a guy named Paul probably doesn’t get much more interesting than that.”
Now you looked at him, your eyes fiery in a way he was ashamed to admit thrilled him to see. He loved seeing you get like this- impassioned, vibrant and protective.
“Eddie, don’t be mean. You don’t even know him!”
“Well neither do you, according to that very bland description!”
You were approaching the stairs leading down to the subway, and you started down the steps ahead of him without hesitation, continuing the conversation loudly over your shoulder. “What names would make your list for interesting people, then? Valerie?”
Did he detect a vaguely jealous tone in your voice? Eddie was grinning widely now, the salt in your voice feeding the hungry beast in his chest regardless of whether it was right or not. The idea of you being jealous of Valerie drove him wild in a way that he was liking very much.
Eddie shrugged, following you closely as you marched through the late-night crowd and pointedly avoided eye contact. “Oh Val’s very interesting.”
“Is she?” you sniffed. “What is it that interests you, her determination to set off every metal detector within a mile of her? Or does she just bring out a different side of you? Does she make you feel young again?”
Eddie scoffed, “That’s a little agist of you, roomie. Also, weren’t you the one who told me to buy her a drink in the first place?”
“Yeah, well that was before I knew she was too young to order one for herself!”
The conversation hung in the air as the two of you stepped into the subway car and found a spot to stand. As the doors began to shut, Eddie muttered, “I’d rather she be young than boring.”
You knew he was talking about Paul… but you couldn’t help but let his words punch you in the gut when it felt like he was talking about you. Who were you when compared to someone like Valerie- with her piercings and pink hair and her twenties only beginning, unhindered by the jaded realities that you’d become all too familiar with in the eight years since you were her age?
Of course he wanted someone like her. Someone exciting.
“You might be right, okay?” You bit out, looking up at Eddie. You were both standing around the same silver pole, his hand holding on to it a few inches above where your hand was currently gripping that same pole hard enough to turn your knuckles white. “Paul may not be the most interesting person. He might have been raised by a boring family in a boring suburban town and played some lame sport in high school and majored in accounting at some lame college- but he’s nice to me, Eddie. He listens when I talk, and he likes me, and I’m sorry if it makes me boring too, but right now that’s enough for me.”
You’d held his eyes that whole time, your intensity and his matching each other with equal fervor, almost as if both were trying to sift through the words you’d both been saying out loud and get to the nuggets of truth that lay beneath it all. Now, however, yours dropped down and to the side, pretending to find something to look at on the wall as you punctuated your rant with a slightly quieter “...And I don’t need your approval.”
Eddie’s acidic grin was gone now, his lips instead pressed together in a grim, tight line. You weren’t sure if he noticed, but you were watching his reflection in the window. His eyes never met yours in the reflection, but they never left your face as you avoided his gaze. He felt instantly ashamed for ever taking any kind of pleasure in your jealousy- he had no right. He held no valid claim to your affections, your jealousy, your loyalty; he didn’t deserve anything from you. He was lucky you let him back into your life at all.
He was lucky to have whatever you gave him, and you were right- you didn’t need his approval.
“I’m sorry.” Eddie said softly. You turned to look back at him, keeping your expression guarded. He continued, “You don’t. You’re right- I don’t know Paul, but I don’t have to, it’s none of my business and it isn’t up to me to decide if he’s good enough for you. Even though-” a bit of intensity returned to his dark brown eyes. “-I don’t think anyone ever will be. Good enough for you, I mean. Nobody.”
Eddie always had a way of doing this- of making you so angry, and then suddenly doing or saying something so sweet that you just had to forgive him. Even after ten years, he was able to weasel himself back into your good graces.
So of course, now you were smiling up at him.
Eddie sighed, smiling back at you as if the relief that came from knowing you weren’t upset with him anymore was a weight lifted off his shoulders. “I want you to be happy.” he sighed. “Does Paul make you happy?”
You nodded. “It’s still really early, but I think he could, yeah. He seems… dependable. Something solid. The idea of something like that feels right to me.”
His heart was throwing itself against his ribcage like a stir-crazy gorilla at the zoo. It took everything he had to not throw himself at your feet and beg for a chance to be something solid for you, to be a dependable figure that could sew himself into whatever life you made for yourself and never leave. Let me be that for you, his heart cried out- all promises he would happily make but had little faith in himself to keep.
“Yeah,” Eddie said. “Yeah, Paul sounds like a nice guy.”
“Valerie seems nice too.” You amended, “I’m sorry I said what I did, it was rude of me to judge.”
“Trust me, I’m judging myself.” Eddie said, running a hand down his face as his eyebrows knit together. “I don’t even know what I’m doing with her, we’ve got nothing in common other than a workplace.”
“Oh no,” You did your best to sound sympathetic despite the fluttering feeling in your chest. “But wasn’t she wearing a Black Sabbath shirt that day when I dropped off your sketchbook? I thought she’d share your music taste, at least?”
Eddie snorted. “Pretty sure she picked that up from a thrift store because it ‘fit her vibe’.” He said the last part with air quotes, eliciting a conspiratorial laugh from you. “When I asked her about the shirt for the first time, she said she couldn’t remember if Black Sabbath was a band or a horror movie.”
You gasped, hardly containing your giggling now. “Eddie!”
“I know.” Eddie groaned, laughing ruefully along with you “I need to cut her loose. It’s just… I could tell she was into me, and I mean who doesn’t like to feel wanted, right? I guess I didn’t really think about it much further than that. Does that make me shallow?”
You looked at his sheepish grin and nudged him fondly with your elbow. “Nah. But you are if you keep dating her knowing she’s more interested than you are.”
“That’s fair.” Eddie nodded in agreement. “She deserves better than that.”
“So do you, though.” You reminded him. “You’re a good person, Eddie. I want you to be happy, too.”
You make me happy, he thought. He didn’t dare say it out loud, but he said it with his eyes as he gazed at you under the fluorescent lights.
“Okay then.” He said, “I promise to be happy-” With his left hand holding on to the pole, he lifted his right hand up and stuck out his pinky. “-if you promise to be happy.”
You grinned, feeling a familiar warmth spread through your chest as you hooked your own pinky with his. “I promise to be happy.”
And you both meant it- you were promising here and now not to get in the way of the other’s happiness. And if ‘happy’ for the other person meant cheering them on from the sidelines, watching them be happy with someone else, then that was what both of you would be willing to do.
Just two idiots on the subway making a pinky promise.
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