𝓣𝓻𝓾𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓞𝓯 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 {Eddie Munson}

84) 𝓽𝓸𝓸 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭.

{next day,}

-Ariella POV-
"She's not awake yet. Stop calling asshole." Was the first thing I heard as I woke up. " Max, who was that?" I asked, raising my head off of my pillow. She turned around from beside me and looked at me.

" That asshole you're half-dating." She mumbled, " He was like ' Oh is Ariel there? Is she okay? She looked upset.' No shit dipshit, I was going to tell him it was because of him, but that's not really my position to tell him that." Max mocked Eddie causing me to laugh, but I realized how rude I really was yesterday, I felt bad.

"I should really call him back and apologize-" I stammered as I tried to get up to walk to the other side of the bed, " Ariel no. You have to treat him how he treats you. Make him feel how he made you feel. If he's going to basically ignore your existence, you have to ignore him."

She's not wrong, " But he doesn't always treat me like this." I stated, " You won't always treat him like this. He needs to learn. Has he never had a girlfriend before?" Max questions me.

" No. He hasn't. Don't say anything, but before he met me he was a virgin. He hadn't even hooked up with anyone. I wasn't his first kiss, but I just about his first everything after that. I was the first person he's had sex with, and I'm the-"

" Okay! I get it! Too much information, Ari. Other than recently he's been treating you well right?" She asked, " I mean yeah. He's been really sweet. He got us ice cream a few days ago, we split it too. The first time when he was ignoring me, he said he was jealous of Billy and I, but this time I don't know why he was acting weird. We're still kinda sneaking around, but his other friends know that we're-" Max gave me an unimpressed look.

"I think I know that's going on here. He might just be confused about how to act. You guys aren't dating, but you're definitely more than friends. If he thinks you guys are still sneaking around that's probably why he's acting that way. " Max explained, while she leaned back against the headboard of my bed.

" But he doesn't do this around his other friends. " I added, " How long has he known this other girl? He probably doesn't feel comfortable telling her that you guys are sneaking around. He has a shitty way of handling the situation, but I honestly do think he's just confused." Max assured me. Am I the one confusing him? I did kinda tell him the other day when I was with Patrick that we were still sneaking around?

" But how do I know that he's not just trying to appear single to her. Around Steve he's not avoiding me. Around Billy he's all over me! Oh my god!"

" First, ew, Billy. And because of how Billy Is, He's probably just trying to show you off to Billy . But he's honestly just being an asshole about it. He needs to man the hell up and talk to you. Don't stress about it. He's a boy. Boys are complete dumbasses." Max explained.

"Can we go eat breakfast, or Lunch. It's already 12?" Max asked and agreed.

{A few hours later, 3:25. PM}

"I'm so bored—." I stated I leaned over the arm of my couch. " Me too. Wanna go to the mall? No but we did that yesterday." Max replied. "Yeah you're right. Face mask?"

" We did that this morning," Max added before taking a drink out of her bottle of water. "Yeah, you're right. I wish we had something to do. I would call Chrissy to get us into something, but she's with Jason."

" Boys ruin everything." Max said out of fake misery. Suddenly the doorbell interrupted my thoughts, " I guess I'll get it." I got up off of the couch and went to the door.

There stood Eddie with a small bouquet of petunias, red and purple. I looked over my shoulder to Max. She has her skateboard tucked under her arm, and she walked up to the door.

"I'll see you later, tell him exactly what you told me." Max said as she placed a hand on my shoulder and left. I watched as she skated away down the street.

"Hey." Eddie greeted with a soft smile. " I felt really guilty for the way I treated you yesterday. I didn't mean to upset you the way I did. I didn't mean to upset you at all. I honestly thought we were still sneaking around, but I shouldn't have taken it that far. You were trying to hug me and I just ignored you. I just knew if you were any closer I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off of you." Eddie stated.

"I feel bad too. I shouldn't have reacted like that. But I still have one question, how come around your other friends like Gareth and Jeff, you don't act like that, but it's only around Jess? My friends too. At the pool about a week ago when Chrissy was there you weren't even trying not to get caught..." I explained with hurt, maybe a little but of jealousy.

"Can I ask you the same thing, with out sounding like a dick? What about Patrick McKinney?" Eddie questioned softly, shifting his weight. I let him inside so we could sit down.

"Im sorry I upset you, I-" I interrupted him with my burning question. " How come you only do it around Jess?" I asked again, trying to keep myself calm.

" I didn't realize I was only doing around her. I don't know if she'll go around telling everyone. And Jeff and Gareth, I know they don't care who I'm with. Well, Chrissy, she's your best friend. I know she's not one to judge." Eddie tried to explain.

I wasn't getting what he was saying. " Ariel, sweetheart, you know how I feel about you. I promise I didn't mean to hurt you. I just really don't want to fuck up what I have here with you. If you want to stop sneaking around and playing this game, just tell me." Eddie told me leaned over as he spoke to me.

I think I'm the one confused now. I- what? "Here," he handed me the small possibility homemade bouquet of flowers.

"I'm sorry I overreacted like that. I wasn't trying to draw attention to myself. I was just hurt because— when- when you have a certain relationship with someone and you felt special because of certain things, and then you see those things happen to another person right in front of your damn face. It can really hurt. It feels like getting punched in the stomach." I explained, taking Max's prior advice and telling him what I told her. I felt a little bad expressing my feelings to him, I didn't want to make every little thing about me.

His eyes said nothing but confusion. He moved to sit beside me on the couch. He was so close our thighs were touching.

-Eddie POV
" What makes you think that way?" I stammered while hesitantly grabbing her hand. I didn't realize how badly I missed her touch.

" Im sorry, Eddie. I-you do all the same things with her, that we do." Ariel explained, hanging her head low.  I immediately felt even more guilty for how badly I hurt her.

" It made me feel special when you gave me that ring. I felt special when we'd share ice cream. I feel special when you hold my hand. I felt special because I thought I was the only one you were doing those things with..."Her voice was soft and her tone was sweet. I could tell she was hurt.

"You are the only one I'm doing these things with. I wasn't holding her hand, we weren't sharing a pretzel, and I let her barrow the ring. Do you accept my apology? I really didn't mean to hurt you, baby."I asked her while I again grabbed her hand and softly rubbed her knuckles.

She didn't answer, she instead grabbed my face and kissed me, brushing her tongue against my lips before she pulled away. " You're just too kind, Ed." She whispered running her fingers against the petals of the flowers. "I'll only forgive, if you forgive me."

"Always, my love."