Wait until the music's over

42. Cakes, mirrors and variables

"If that bitch dares doing something I'm gonna beat the shit out of her!" Meg is still dealing very diplomatically with the news about Violet I told her last night, as she's picking up the chairs and placing them upside down on the small tables in the corner.

"I don't think so, she won't do or say anything, she said she wanted to pull other strings... I guess she's just thinking about trying something to win Eddie's heart back or something like that" at least I really hope so, since anything she's gonna do was unwillingly prompted by me.

"Anyway, I doubt Eddie's got a crush on you, Meg" Grace says, sitting at the counter in front of me, as she's sipping her hot chocolate.

"Of course he hasn't, I know! But he's a friend and I'm sorry he's stalked by that psycho"

"Eddie can perfectly get by on his own, Meg, don't worry" I reassure her before walking up to the cash register so the last couple of customers can pay and leave.

Honestly I don't know if he can deal with it that well, by now he's only made a mess. The good thing is he's leaving for the tour with the guys in a few weeks and that means disappearing from Violet's touching range. That means also disappearing from my touching range too though and I'm not exactly happy about that.

Ok, I'm far less than happy about it.

I know I should disentangle myself from this fixation on Eddie, he's not my guardian angel, he can't always be around, at disposal, ready to come out whenever I need him, to suggest playing basketball or solve my problems. I think about how sad he seemed yesterday, as he talked about him not knowing if the guys are there for him or for Jeff or just because he's the singer of their band and they think they have to include him. The kind of worries you don't expect from someone like him. Worries with no basis by the way, because everybody loves him since he came here, I mean, you don't arrange a surprise birthday party for a guy just because he's in your band if you don't give a fuck about him, do you? He's got friends and he's got girls liking him, although unwanted, after just two shows he's already got fans, he was even invited to take part in a musical project in honor of their good friend who had passed away, and what does he do? He's still there wondering wether he's out of place or not.

"You're right. Another one who can't get by on his own instead is Stone. Please, Grace, do something!" Meg directly addresses our friend.

"Me? Why?" Grace seems to be totally unaware of what Meg's talking about and wipes off some chocolate from the corner of her lips with her finger, then putting it in her mouth.

"Well because you're the only one who can do it, since you managed to breach that armor of arrogance and sarcasm"

"Haha sure, I don't think I breached anything really"

"You did, Stone likes you" I retort nodding together with my roommate.

"You must understand we're talking about Stone, he doesn't show interest like other human beings"

"And he shows interest by running away from me?" she asks skeptically.

"Yes, because he only runs away when he's got too close" my blond friend states, before disappearing in the back of the restaurant and coming back after a while with a bucket full of water and a mop.

"And he's been getting closer lately" I insist.

"Unfortunately whenever he gets close, he makes me feel like a total idiot"

"That's normal, making other people feel stupid is his favorite sport activity" I explain.

"And it's the only one he practices actually" adds Meg.