Release Me

Chapter 12

The next week flew by.

I'd been back to my regular shifts at the record store, spending my free time either baking pumpkin pies for Chris — which he seemed to put back at an alarming rate — or watching shitty old horror movies with Stone. Thankfully there had been no more ex-boyfriend-related nightmares, and the whole incident with Joanne had been forgotten, by me at least. Stone still grumbled every now and then, flip-flopping between mumbling insults about her and apologizing for letting the whole thing happen.

What had certainly not been forgotten by me though, was the shamefully obvious absence of Eddie from my bed every night. He'd only slept there for a matter of hours, and had only done just that: sleep. Yet I couldn't help but notice that the bed seemed so much bigger and colder without him in it, even now, several days later.

I missed him, was the realization I had come to. We had spent a decent amount of time together since I arrived back in Seattle, and now that I hadn't seen him for almost a week, I was actually full-on missing him. I even caught myself sitting on my bed for an embarrassingly long time, just staring at his flannel shirt that hung off the back of my chair. I silently wished he'd turn up at the door one day, looking to jam or hang out with Stone, just so that I could see him, maybe say hi, and then scurry off to my room to scream into a pillow like the smitten adolescent I was slowly becoming.

I had to keep telling myself to pull it together, something that was very much put to the test when I had walked into a café to meet Stevie and discuss our plans for Halloween, only to see that she had brought company.

Naturally, Jeff was with her. I wasn't really surprised; they were now officially a couple and Stevie had even moved in with him, having taken my advice to report her boss and quit her job. They were currently sat opposite me, leaning into each other cutely and hogging all the pizza.

However Jeff had brought Eddie, who was sat to my right, our knees and elbows almost touching given the small size of the metal diner table we were sat at. Jeff's excuse had been that he felt bad leaving Eddie at home alone. Of course that wasn't true; Jeff most likely didn't want to be alone with Stevie and I as we babbled about Halloween costumes and themed bars, and Stevie most likely agreed that Eddie come along so that him and I could spend time together.

I tried not to make it obvious that Eddie's presence was making my insides flop around like a fish out of water, and spent most of the conversation using my Oreo milkshake as a point of distraction.

"Ok so that's decided—we're going to the themed night at The Central... Now all that's left to decide is costumes." Stevie was taking serious notes in her pocket notebook under the header 'HALLOWƎƎN'. "I was thinking Bill and Ted. You know, because you have dark hair, I have light hair..."

I shook my head. "I'm not tall enough to be Ted."

She hummed before nodding in agreement, striking that option from her list. "What about... the Breakfast Club? You'd be Allison, I'd be Claire, and we find three guys to go as the others!"

I scoffed lightly. "Good luck finding any guy who wouldn't want to go as Bender."

Stevie looked at Jeff and Eddie.

"She has a point," Eddie said.

Jeff nodded. "Yep, Bender is the hottest."

Stevie growled, crossing 'Breakfast Club' off her list.

"Do you two always go with matching costumes?" Eddie asked.

I hummed around my milkshake straw.

"Three years running," Stevie grinned.