That much anticipated Friday evening had finally arrived, and Edd felt as if he may vomit. He had never been so nervous for a date. But he also had never waited so long for any other date. Especially one he never thought he'd get a chance to go on.
Edd was still in shock.
He was going on an actual date with Kevin Barr.
Never in his teen fantasies could he imagine this day to be reality.
But here he was tearing through his closet for the perfect outfit.
Shirts and pants were being tossed about the room. He typically liked to keep his space tidy, but he was too anxious to be bothered placing the items back in their proper place. He had already tried on several outfits and nothing felt good enough. It didn't help that he had no idea where they were going.
When asking for clues earlier in the week, Kevin had only texted "bring a ski mask and a pair of flip flops ;P"
Edd rolled his eyes and thought outloud to himself "How could this man still be so childish?"
He finally settled on a nice tailored pair of white mid thigh shorts, a light heather blue polo, his old black beanie, and white low top Converse.
Just as he was adjusting his beanie in the mirror, his phone began to ring.
The screen lit up with Kevin's name and Edd's anxiety kicked into high gear.
He answered his phone perhaps a little too eagerly "Kevin! Yes, hello! Salutations!" He cringed at himself and silently cursed to be 'more chill.'
"Hey dude, I'm outside your apartment, but I'm having a tough time finding a parking spot on this street."
"Curses. Yes, I should have told you...finding street parking is always quite difficult in this area. You should be alright to idle with your hazard lights on and I will be out momentarily." Edd was rushing around looking for his wallet and keys, turning off the lights in each room as he made his way through his apartment.
"Oh, I was gonna come to your door..." Kevin sounded disappointed.
"That's quite alright, Kevin. I will be right out to meet you!" Edd absently said as he was slipping his wallet into his back pocket. "See you soon!"
Kevin smiled and took in a deep breath, "I'll be right outside." He hung up.
"Well, Albert" Edd knelt down to the sleeping cat on his couch "Wish me luck!" He softly pet Albert's head and then jogged out his front door.
And there was Kevin, leaning against the passenger side of his black 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible. Edd lost his breath at the sight of his enchanting date. His mind went fuzzy and his knees went weak taking in the charcoal gray chino shorts and olive green short sleeve Henley t-shirt that seemed to highlight Kevin's body in all the right ways.
Kevin looked over at the flustered man on the porch and smiled "Hey!" He anxiously waved. "You coming?"
Edd shook himself back to reality "oh, yes yes! Let me just lock my door."
He quickly turned to lock his front door and scurried down his porch steps to Kevin's car, where the former jock was holding the passenger door open with a dazzling big smile on his face. "You look really nice, Edd."
Edd blushed again. He thought that may be occurring quite often if he would be spending time with Kevin.
"Thank you, Kevin. You look quite sharp, yourself." Edd said as he took his seat on the passenger side.
Kevin chuckled as he shut the door for Edd and jogged around to hop over his closed door into the driver's seat.
"You ready?" Kevin said with a cheeky smile.
Edd felt his heart flutter, he had been ready for this date since he was 14. He confidently looked into Kevin's eyes, "Absolutely."
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"Alright, close your eyes." Kevin couldn't hide his giddiness, but wanted to seem mysterious.
"Close my eyes? Kevin this seems a little-"
"Dude, I left my blindfold at home, so ya gotta just close your eyes." Kevin started slowing down. It was silly, but he didn't want to ruin the surprise for any part of their date.
It took a moment to sink in before Edd realized the possible sexual implications of Kevin's statement. Another blush. Good Lord, he needed to figure out how to control this constant blushing.
"Who's to say Kevin even intended anything sexual? He may not even partake in such kinks. Although I wouldn't mind it if he did enjoy such activities and tied me up on my bed..."
Edd quickly shut his eyes and buried his face in his hands, hiding his blush from already thinking about taking Kevin to bed.
He could feel the car making a righthand turn and quickly decreasing speed, presumably they had arrived at their destination. "Umm, Kevin...when may I-" Edd started to question.
"Not yet! Almost! Just trust me?" Kevin interrupted.
Edd huffed, but smiled underneath the cover of his hands.
Finally, the car slowed to a stop and Edd could hear the engine cut.
Sheepishly, Kevin said "Okay....open your eyessss.... now!"
Edd slowly uncovered his face and blinked his eyes open to see Kevin beaming with excitement, full jazz hands directing him to look through the windshield at the 'And Mini More!' mini golf course. He blinked a few times and slightly raised his eyebrows, unsure if he was excited or embarrassed about his lack of athletic ability.
"You're not into it, are you?" Kevin was second guessing his plans.
"No, no, no! It's adorable, I just...I'm not quite sure of my skill in this game, is all." Edd quickly backtracked. Cursing to himself, upset he seemed to be already ruining the date he had been waiting so long for.
"Dude, it's mini golf. Everyone's skill level is basically the same, unless you're a toddler." Kevin laughed out of relief. "Come on, it'll be fun! And I promise I'll go easy on you." Winking towards his flustered date.
They both got out of the car and awkwardly walked side by side to the ticket stand, Kevin with his hands tucked into his pockets and Edd safely clasping his hands in front of himself.
"Two tickets, please." Kevin said to the cashier, still smiling from excitement.
"That'll be $16.50" the teenage cashier mumbled out, clearly more engrossed in his phone than his job.
Kevin paid for the tickets and picked out two golf balls from the bucket on the desk, one lime green and one bright orange. He gestured Edd over to the putters to find the correct height for both of them and then led them out to the first hole.
"Before we start, should we make a wager on the winner?" Kevin said as he was leaning on his putter and tossing his green golf ball in the air.
Edd huffed and adjusted his glasses, "As competitive natured as I may be, I think we both know that with your athletic skills, you will be more inclined to win. So I don't see how a wager would be quite as fair."
"Hmmm," Kevin righted himself and got a sly look "well, let me see your form. Maybe I can give you a few pointers."
Edd rolled his eyes and placed his orange ball into the starting point, positioning himself and his putter for the first swing "Why Kevin, you said so yourself, everyone's skill level is the same unless you're a toddler." He took his hit and watched the ball fly down the green path, pass the hole, bounce off the stone ledge, and roll back towards his feet.
Kevin couldn't hold back his laughter as his date turned red from embarrassment and anger.
He walked up behind Edd and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't sweat it, dude. Just gotta be a little more gentle with the ball next time." He winked at Edd and then bent down to place his own ball in the starting spot, took his swing and watched the ball roll to a stop a foot from the hole.
Pleased with himself, Kevin stepped aside to let Edd position himself behind his own ball that had rolled back to the start. A look of determination on his face.
"Wait wait, your grip is all wrong. This should be a fair game, so let me help you with that." Kevin dropped his putter and came up behind Edd, without invitation. He pressed his body up against Edd's back and wrapped his arms around to help reposition his grip.
Edd stiffened up and flinched at Kevin's touch. "Ke-Kevin, what are you doing?"
Kevin placed his chin on Edd's shoulder to get a better look at the slightly taller man's putter. "Helping you play a better game."
Edd was starting to feel he may hyperventilate, his eyes darting around at the other families, couples, and teens on the course. "We are in public, Kevin. What if someone we know is here? What if one my student's see?" He started to peel himself away from Kevin's gentle hold and gripped his putter to his chest.
Kevin was clearly puzzled. "If they see us, then they'll just think we're on a date. No different than that couple over there, except we're not 16 and you're not a girl." He stepped closer to his panicked date. "Edd, it's okay. No one who knows you is here. And even so, it sounds like you were out up in Massachusetts and no one openly judged you when they saw you out on dates." He took one of Edd's hands off the putter he was holding. "You deserve to be yourself here. But, if it makes you uncomfortable, I won't touch you in public."
He squeezed Edd's hand and added "yet." with a wink and then dropped Edd's hand.
"Your turn!"
As the game went on, Edd actually became more focused and his true competitive spirit emerged. Finding that there was some sort of science to the game and working that to his advantage.
They reminisced about surface memories from their youth and caught up on general things they had done over the ten years since they last spent this much time together.
The game ended with a relatively close score, with Kevin still winning, but Edd getting the one shot hole-in-one into the Shark's mouth at the final hole.
They made their way back to Kevin's car, laughing and discussing the game.
"Kevin, this was a very lovely outing. Thank you for inviting me." Edd said as he buckled his seatbelt.
"Oh, it's not over yet." Kevin said as he started the engine.
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"Oh my goodness, Kevin. A drive-in? I thought they had closed down when we were teens?" Edd's eyes sparkled from the street lights that lined the entry road to the Peach Creek Drive-in.
"It did, but they reopened it two summers ago. People were feeling really nostalgic, so some rich guy bought the lot and it seems to be doing really well." Kevin smiled and looked at his handsome date. "I hope you're still into suspense. They're playing 'Shutter Island' tonight."
After paying for their tickets, Kevin found a parking spot near the back of the lot and tuned his car radio to the theaters station.
"Now, I wasn't really sure what kind of food you ate nowadays," Kevin had unbuckled his seat belt and was currently crawling over the front seat to grab a picnic basket he had placed on the floor of the back seat. Edd was trying not to stare as Kevin's butt was wiggling next to his face. "So I brought a few different options." Kevin joyfully placed the basket between them on the front seat.
He opened the basket to display a container of hand rolled sushi, a small plate of triangle cut sandwiches, a bowl of assorted fruits, and a sandwich bag of sea salted caramel chocolate chip cookies.
"Kevin, this is quite the impressive spread. How many places did you need to visit to gather all of this?" Edd was fingering through the basket.
"Oh, well I actually made it all." Kevin beamed, hoping to impress his date.
"You made this? You made the sushi?" Edd blinked up at Kevin, he never knew him as the culinary type.
"Yeah, I mean, all of this is pretty easy stuff. But yeah, after college I felt a little bit lost. I wasn't playing football anymore and trying to figure out where I was going in life and my own self identity. Ya know, normal early twenties shit. So anyway, I started cooking a lot and I actually found it really enjoyable." Kevin was running his hands over the steering wheel, avoiding looking into Edd's dazzling eyes.
Edd smiled and picked up a set of chopsticks "Well, it looks lovely, Kevin."
Now it was Kevin's turn to blush. He uncovered all of the containers and placed them up on the dashboard before motioning for Edd to begin eating. It only took one bite for Edd to unconsciously moan, "My goodness, Kevin. This is incredible!"
Kevin bit his lip at the moan and quickly looked away with a quiet "thanks."
The pair sat in silence eating as the film began.
They had both seen this film many times before, the first time being during one of their summer neighborhood backyard campouts in high school. So there was no need to pay much attention to the plot. But they both were still nervous, and not because of Leonardo DiCaprio's stellar performance. They both took quick glances to the side to see if the other one was looking at them, where their hands were placed, should they move closer. The suspense inside the car was just as intense as it was in the film.
Finally, after about an hour and a half of pure sexual tension, Kevin's hand inched it's way over to touch Edd's, which had been folded together in his lap.
Without looking, Kevin quietly asked "Is this alright?"
Edd couldn't help his shy smile. He simply replied "yes."
That permission was all Kevin needed to fully take Edd's hand into his own.
And that is how they remained until the film ended. Neither tried to make more of a move, but somehow, simply just holding hands on the bench space between them felt even more intimate than anything they had experienced before.
They drove home reminiscing about all the movies they had watched back in high school on Jimmy's outdoor projector. How Sarah had somehow convinced them to watch 'Mean Girls' atleast biweekly in the summer of 2009 and the entire neighborhood couldn't stop calling things "fetch" until Christmas time. Nazz introducing them to the classic films of the 50s the summer of 2010, how she admired the brains behind the beauty of the brand Marylin Monroe had created for herself. And of course, Ed's weird horror b-movies every year.
Before they knew it, Kevin was parked in front of Edd's city apartment. They sat in silence for a moment, neither wanting the evening to end.
They both began to speak at once-
"Thank you for the-" "I'm really glad we-"
They both let out an awkward laugh.
Edd gestured "Pardon me, please speak first."
Kevin, usually unshakeable in dating situations, was actually anxious, averting his eyes from his seemingly more confident date. "I was just going to say how glad I am that we did this. I feel like I never really got to show you who I am behind the tough dude facade. I don't really feel that I honestly apologized for how much of a dick I was to you in middle school...or even when I came in to yell at you about Katie's suspension. I don't know, man. This was just a really sweet night."
Kevin finally looked over at Edd, and despite his own blushing, still managed to give him a dazzling smile.
Edd looked down at his own knees, Kevin's perfect smile and sculpted face was too much for him in this moonlight.
He took a few moments to steady his breathing, the cool night air filling the space around them.
"Would you like to come inside for some tea? Or, umm I may have some decaffeinated coffee as well." He hoped he wasn't being too forward, but he just wanted more time with Kevin in his presence.
Kevin couldn't stop smiling. He knew Edd was literally just inviting him in for drinks and not the usually implied sex. Despite knowing one another almost their entire lives, it was too soon for that. And even with Kevin never having had any experience with a man, he just couldn't imagine Edd as the physical type. But just knowing his date didn't want the night to end either was sending Kevin into a giddy frenzy. "Nah, you don't have to worry about making drinks this late. But I'd like to see the place and talk to you a little longer, if that's cool with you?"
Edd gave Kevin that signature gap toothed smile, "That would be lovely."
They entered Edd's dark apartment together. As the lights were flicked on, Kevin noticed something strange. Although Edd had been living here for a year, the space seemed as though he had just moved in.
There was nothing hanging on the walls. Only the necessary furniture, appliances, and electronics. The only decorative item was a large potted cactus in the corner by the television that had the label 'Jim'. No magnets or photos displayed on the fridge.
The place was immaculately cleaned, but also depressingly empty. Like Edd could pack this all into his car within an hour and leave town.
It didn't feel warm like it's occupant. It felt cold and unwelcoming.
Kevin suddenly realized that his old friend never really returned. He imagined it must've felt like living in limbo- being forced to return to a life you wanted to escape after living a life you loved but had to leave. His heart broke as he occupied the empty space Edd had inhabited alone for too long.
"Albert, I'm home! We have company!" Edd was cheery in contrast to how Kevin felt.
"Oh, I didn't know you had a roommate." Kevin suddenly felt shy and uncomfortable as he looked around the connected kitchen and living room.
"Well, not quite a roommate, more of a... dependent companion, one would say." Edd chuckled as he walked towards his bedroom, leaving Kevin in the entrance way.
"Ahh, there you are. Come now, I have someone I'd like you to meet." Kevin could faintly hear Edd say to someone in his bedroom. He looked into the short hallway to see Edd smiling with a sleepy fat gray and white cat in his arms.
Kevin began to laugh, "oh my God, it's a cat! Here I was thinking you lived with some random guy, but it's just this little dude." He gave a quick pet to Albert's head, which was exactly the wake up call the cat needed to jump out of his guardian's arms and run back to the safety of the bedroom.
"Oh dear...my apologies, Kevin. Albert isn't always the most social creature, as you can see." He looked worriedly in the direction his cat had run.
Kevin let out a small chuckle, "I mean, he is a cat."
"I suppose" Edd pondered bringing his attention back to his date. "Can I get you something to drink?" He headed towards his fridge. "I'm alright, thanks. I just wanted to spend a little more time with you and see where the long lost boy wonder of Peach Creek was living these days." Kevin said as he leaned back on the kitchen counter next to where Edd was standing.
There was a brief moment of silence as the two stared at each other, that sexual tension from the car coming back again. Their eyes saying everything they had held back from each other since they were kids. Edd's hand never leaving the grip of the refrigerator handle, he bit his lip and unintentionally started to lean in towards Kevin.
Kevin nervously looked down at the floor, "I guess it is kind of late though, I don't want to keep you up." He pushed himself away from the counter and headed towards the front door.
Kevin felt his heart pounding, he wanted to kiss Edd, but didn't want to push it. He also had never kissed a man before. He had thought about doing it, but he just didn't find any worthy guys in town. It was way easier to take the lead when he was with a woman.
He didn't want to spoil this perfect night, so he argued with himself that it was better to leave before he ruined things. As he started to turn the doorknob, he quickly felt a hand spin him around. Before fully being aware of his current situation, Kevin found Edd's hands gently placed on the sides of his jawline and his lips an inch from his own. Without overthinking, Kevin closed the gap between them and let his hands find their place on the brunettes shoulders. Embracing in a long, but sweet kiss. There was a bit of underlying hunger to it, built up longing from years of unexplored interest. But it was gentle with care and restrained passion.
They pulled away just enough to look deep into each other's eyes with their foreheads still pressed together and hands lightly wrapped behind the other's necks, allowing that moment to swirl in the air around them.
Edd broke the silence with a gentle "I would enjoy doing this again."
"Same." Was all Kevin's brain allowed him to say.
Edd reached around Kevin to open the door, letting his slim body press against the redheads muscular build. "Have a wonderful evening, Kevin."
"Same." Kevin shook his head and mentally cursed at himself, "I mean, you too, Edd." as he backed out the door.
Edd watched his childhood crush walk down to his car, fully aglow from the kiss he had waited 14 years for.
With a sigh, he gently closed the door and slid his back down it until he was sitting on the floor hugging his knees to chest.
Edd smiled and thought to himself "this night was worth the wait."