1991

1991 Part 41

"What? That I can't keep my hands off you? Fuck no!" Eddie grins lasciviously reaching for me again.

"We haven't even left the parking spot Eddie! I thought you wanted to get to know me?" I whine.

"I do want to get to know you, it's all I want." Eddie looks out the window towards the house. "No one saw us, Sam."

"It doesn't matter that no one saw, I know." I fix him with my most serious look. "I think we should do this, the whole month-long thing."

"But a minute ago you said..."

"I know what I said, I just think we should give it a shot." Kev being right has bothered me, a lot. How can Eddie and me even think about being together if we can't even have one night of conversation. If we can't then it's surely a good sign this is all going to end badly.

Eddie looks unsure. I sigh heavily.

"Would it help if I got rid of the socks?" I ask, moving to peel one off. Eddie looks like he's had an electric shock.

"No! No, Sam, taking them off will not help!" he blushes, "just leave them where they are and I'll keep my eyes chin level and up only." He grabs my hand. "You sure about this?"

I look into his azure eyes and smile, "absolutely."

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The little place that Eddie knows turns out to be the most gorgeous, cosy restaurant with tiny candles on the tables and lanterns strung in the trees above, which bob and swing in the breeze. We choose a table outside.

"You're from San Diego?" I smile, sipping my glass of red wine.

"Not really, but for a while yeah, originally I'm from Chicago, I mean that's where I was born." The way Eddie speaks is measured, not slow exactly but as though he's really considering every word, plus his tone is incredible, I could listen to him talk for hours.

He doesn't offer too much up front, but it's a relaxed conversation, there's no uncomfortable pauses or anything. Plus, I discover that I love to watch him speak, all his nuances and expressions, the way he holds his wine glass delicately by the stem. He catches me staring and glances at me over the rim.

"What made you leave? Chicago I mean?" I quiz him, distracting myself from his heavy gaze.

Eddie looks down for a second, "a couple of reasons, I moved to California with my stepdad, my mom stayed in Chicago..." he doesn't seem too keen to continue so I try to help him out.

"My parents too," I tell him, pre-empting what I think he was about to say, "divorced." I take a sip. Eddie looks up at me with interest.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, my dad's an asshole," I say bluntly, tearing apart a piece of bread, "not the nicest guy, messed my mom around, abusive...you know the whole bit."

"I'm sorry," he murmurs with a look of genuine concern on his face, like he's actually feeling my pain.

"It's not so bad," I smile gently, "my mom's fine now, better than fine in fact, she's living her best life."

"She's batshit crazy though," I laugh. "What about you, are you happy here? It must be weird being the new kid."

"It's not so bad now, the others have been cool about it, especially Chris," Eddie answers, affection in his voice.

I smile thinking of tall, dark and handsome Chris who flipped me over his shoulder and carried me back to Eddie. "Chris looks out for you?"

"I guess he does, yeah," Eddie chuckles, "the others too, Mike is the kindest guy and Jeff and me kinda bonded over art and things like that."