Christmas Hope in Hershey

Buck and Eddie Are Honest, But Only One of Them is Happy About It

The parade is bright and loud, as almost the whole town watches the firetrucks slowly drive down the closed streets, with Santa waving from the cherry picker arm.

Buck, Eddie, Chris, and Chastity all have a perfect view as they wave to the 118 driving in a smaller car, decorated in holiday decorations.

Occasionally, Santa tosses down a necklace to a lucky passerby, and even when he passes, more cars keep coming.

Once the last car passes, Eddie asks them, “Hey, who’s hungry? I could make us all something!”

Chris shakes his head, “Sorry, we can’t. I’m taking Chastity to the movies.”

Eddie’s bummed to hear that, but he’s still happy for his son, and just says, “Okay, go. Have fun.”, with a smile.

But Chris points at Buck, “But you can still make something for Buck, can’t you?”

Buck offers, “Or I could just buy something somewhere.”

Chris laughs at the idea, “Why would you do that? My dad’s one of the few that will admit he knows how to cook.”

Eddie has to agree, “Yeah, come on. Who needs takeout when you got me?”, and when Buck looks like he’s going to offer to buy takeout again, Eddie insists, “Buck, please. I’d love to cook for you.”

Seeing he’s got no real reason to say no, Buck sighs in fake exasperation, and goes over to talk to Chris, giving Eddie a moment alone with Chastity.

“I’m only gonna say this once, okay?” He tells her, and when she nods, he says, “Please don’t hurt my kid, okay?”

Chastity nods seriously, “I won’t, Mr. Diaz.”

Eddie nods in relief, “Good. And bring him straight home after the move.”

When she nods again, they both walk over to meet up with their dates.

“I’m going over to his house for dinner!” Buck tells Maddie the next morning.

“You are? That’s amazing! I don’t think either of us saw this going this well.”

Buck tells her, “I know I know, I’m going to tell him. Tonight. No more excuses.”

As Eddie starts setting the table, he keeps mixing the plate and glasses around, then starts messing with the chairs.

Does he want to sit across from him? Next to him? Or would that just make them accidentally bump into each other too much? Or would sitting across just make him feel like they’re staring each other down.

But he doesn’t have a lot of time to think about it, as the doorbell rings, and after looking at his phone, yep, Buck’s right on time, again.

Eddie leaves the table set so they’re sitting next to each other as he goes to answer the door, checking himself out in the mirror and smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in his shirt before he finally reaches out to open the door.

“Hello!” Eddie greets as he opens the door wider to let Buck in.

Buck greets back, “Hey!”, as he pulls off his jacket and gloves.

“Chilly out there, huh?” Eddie remarks, just to have something to say, offering a hand and saying, “I can take your jacket for you.”

Buck’s agreeable to that, handing it over, “Sure.”, and revealing a much nicer outfit underneath.