Beauty & The Freak || Eddie Munson

Chapter 27

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Eddie sat quietly behind me, his face nuzzled into my neck as I stared into the mirror. We were supposed to be leaving for our graduation rehearsal. I felt terrible when I thought of everyone seeing me with a bruised face. The swelling and initial redness had faded into purple and black bruises.

How we made it to his night was beyond me... but we did it. In just a few days, we'd both be getting our diploma. If I could force myself to go. The panic grew worse when Eddie showed up.

Mom and dad seemed to be oblivious to them, but Eddie... he just knew. It was like he was following the feelings. Maybe he could tell by the way I pulled at my shirt. Or the way I blinked my eyes a thousand times a second. Maybe it was the way my knee bounced as I tried to focus on him.

Singing into his touch, I wrapped my hands around his arms that were holding me back against him. I needed to finish getting ready so we could leave before we were late. Robin was supposed to be meeting us there, and we had plans to meet up with Steve afterwards.

"Thank you." Eddie kissed the side of my neck.

"For what?" I leaned into the mirror and slowly applied the rest of my eyeshadow.

"For helping me graduate. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it this time."

"Eddie, you have very good determination. I believe you would have and could have done it without me."

"I don't believe I would have. You might have given me a reason to make it to graduation."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think I would have pushed myself until you came along and offered to help me."

"Actually, you offered me to help you... remember? You sat boldly at my kitchen table and told me dad that I had offered to tutor you on Tuesday's." I remembered.

"Do you remember that first tutoring session? I was pretty proud of myself for getting you to sneak out and come to my show. No one has actually ever done that for me."

"No one's ever snuck out for you?" I raised a brow, eying him through the mirror.

"Nope," he said. "You look fine. Can we go now?"

"Don't lie to me. Do I really look okay?"

"Eden." Eddie turned my head to force me to look at him. "You look amazing. If anyone else has something to say, they can talk to me."

I batted my eyes at him, puffing out my lower lip.

"Don't give me that look. We can't miss going to this. Remember, Higgins said if we don't show up, then we can't actually work. We both worked hard to get here."

"You're right." I smiled. "And I'm so very proud of you. Promise me you'll come running if I panic again?"

"I'm at your beck and call, babe."

"I guess we can go now."

"Would it make you feel better if I let you drive?"

"Do you want to die before graduation? Because that is what will happen if you let me drive."

"You're right. I was just trying to make you feel better." Eddie leaned in and pecked my nose.

"Jerk." I pushed on his arm before pushing myself up off the ground.

Eddie followed suit, grabbing my hand and stringing me along. Mom and dad were out at church, while Eddie and I stayed back home for this rehearsal.

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