THE FREAKS ~ Eddie Munson

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Last Unicorn

Veronica POV

I took a deep breath and hurried into work, slipping on my uniform vest as I walked through the door. Steve and Robin both looked up at me, Steve giving me a friendly nod as I looked around at the empty store.

"Nice of you to join us for work today, Veronica." Robin remarked, picking up a box of cassettes and setting them on the counter.

"Yeah, yeah. Doesn't seem like you guys really needed me here anyways. There are tumbleweeds in here." I replied sarcastically, walking behind the counter and grabbing the second box of cassettes for her. In the corner of my eye, I noticed a Black Sabbath cassette in the box i'd picked up. My body went tense at the thought of Eddie, my eyes squeezing shut for a moment before I got myself together.

"Don't worry, V. You're not the only one late. Keith decided to go AWOL today too." Steve joked, walking between Robin and I and unloading the cassettes neatly onto the counter.

"I didn't mean to go AWOL, Steve." I began with a laugh. "I was trying to find Eddie, but I couldn't because he wasn't in his usual spots." I explained, stacking the cassettes with him.

After school I had went to go find Eddie. I had to explain myself, explain why the entire school thinks i'm fucking Steve. It was ridiculous how fast rumors could spread...I really need to learn how to keep things to myself.

"Why'd you need to find Eddie?" Robin asked curiously, dumping out the cassettes onto the counter and knocking over Steve and I's work. Steve to threw his hands up and give her a 'what the fuck' glare.

"Sorry." She mumbled with a sympathetic smile.

I hesitated before answering Robin, wondering if Eddie would get embarrassed if I tell Steve about his jealousy. I knew it probably wasn't a good idea to flat out admit that he was jealous, so I decided vaguely explaining the situation was probably best.

"I don't know...there's just this rumor going around that-"

Ding.

All three of our heads snapped towards the door as Eddie walked in, noticing our stares and immediately looking down before walking to the first shelf of movies. Robin looked over at me with a smirk, Steve crossing his arms curiously and watching Eddie as he kept glancing our way.

"I think we found him." Robin whispered, nodding over to Eddie.

I gave her a blushy smile before walking towards the end of the counter, Eddie looking up and making direct eye contact with me. I raised an eyebrow at him, his cheeks turning pink.

"Eddie? What are you doing here?" I asked with a small laugh, being nobody else was in the store except for us four. He looked up almost excitedly as I spoke to him, his eyes opening wider than usual and a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He slowly walked out from behind the shelf, walking closer to me after blindly grabbing a random movie from off of the shelf.

"Just uhh...coming to get a movie," He began, placing the movie on the counter in front of me and sliding it closer to me with his fingertips. "This one please."

I slid my tongue across the inside of my cheek, a smirk on my lips as I picked up the movie he'd set on the counter. I looked at it for a moment, moving the box side to side so the glitter on top of it would shine.

"The Last Unicorn?" I asked, humor in my voice. Eddie immediately looked down at the box I was holding, pursing his lips with a laugh before looking back up at me.

"Yeah...its a top tier movie." he joked, us both laughing together for a moment.

I looked at his smile a lot longer than i'd like to admit, admiring the way his teeth shined as his surprisingly soft lips sat perfectly against them. I was snapped out of it by him looking down at his feet, the smile still on his face.