Maybe He's Perfect. [Eddie Munson]

Chapter 6: Apology

March 20th, 1986

Getting in his van and slamming the door, Eddie's eyes began to tear up. "Fuck." He laid his head on the steering wheel. "Why the hell am I crying? Why do I care if he's not some stupid... fag." he muttered to himself.

"Eddie?" a familiar voice said. He looked up, and it was Nick. Eddie hadn't realized his window was down.

"What do you want?" Eddie hissed while wiping his tears away. Nick hesitated for a moment. "Can you come out of the car? Or, can I come sit in the passengers seat?" Eddie sighed. "Fine. Come sit, Loverboy."

Nick got in the seat carefully. With a pause Nick said,"Dont call me that." "Call you what?" He looked over nervously. "Loverboy. Please don't call me that." Eddie rolled his eyes. "Why? It's true."

Nick was unconsciously picking some skin off his thumb at this point. "Its not. I haven't done anything with a girl since I was 17." Eddie looked at him, puzzled. "Aren't you 17 or 18? You're a senior, right?"

Nick smiled nervously. "I'm 19. I failed a grade." "WHAT?" Eddie roared. "It was 5th grade, so no one really knows." With a smug smile, Eddie said "Well, now I know." Nick laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

After a long awkward silence, Nick cleared his throat. "Hey so, I'm sorry." Eddie looked away. "About what? You didn't do anything wrong." Nick started to pick at his thumb even more. Eddie reached over and grabbed his hand. "Stop that. It'll get infected."

Nicks face completely flushed. "S. sorry. It's just something I do when I'm nervous." "It's fine, Nick. I'm not mad at you. I forgive you. Still though, you didn't do anything really wrong."

Nick sighed in relief. "Thank you, Eddie. But, I did do something wrong. The word. I said. It's not a nice word. Especially to people... People, like." Eddie tilted his head in somewhat agitation. "Filthy queers? Is that what you want to say?" Nick wore a wide eyed, upset expression.

"No, Eddie. I wouldn't.." He swallowed dryly. "I, I, was going to say,"

"People like, me. I think."