Don't Stand So Close To Me

Lust for Life

Wednesdays were always a struggle for Eddie. Playing The Hideout the night before always took it out of him, not to mention all the gear lugging around, which often fell to him because he had the van.

Sure, he hadn't helped himself at all last night by getting high, drinking and god knows what else with some piece of strange in the back of his van until sunrise. He must have had about three hours of sleep, if that, and all he could do this morning was throw himself in the shower and hope for the best.

As he leaned his head against the steering wheel in the school parking lot, his head was absolutely pounding. No, it was bigger than that. It was pulsating, expanding with the universe. He reached into the glove compartment for some painkillers, found two mismatched ones, and crunched them in his mouth, regretfully, as the jaw motion only added to the head pain.

He rustles in the glove compartment again and finds a pair of ear muffs and a pair of scratched sunglasses. He puts them on, snuggles back against the steering wheel, and shuts his eyes.

Then a thudding all along the side of the van and the window nearest him, "Jesus H...CHRIST!!" Eddie's exclamation starts quietly but finally erupts loud enough for the rest of Corroded Coffin to hear it, causing them to fall about laughing.

"Eddie! Eddieeeeeee. Wake up, Eddie. It's time for school," Gareth sings out in a high-pitched voice.

"Fucks sake", Eddie grumbles to himself, grabs his bag, and opens the door, with little care for anyone in the way of it, "Alright, you fucking pricks, I'm up, Jesus!"

"What happened to Eddie "I'll sleep when I'm dead" Munson? you know the one after the show last night?" Jeff laughs, "Your new look is totally rad, by the way."

"Oh, Ha Ha, very funny. I need these, ok, to protect me from all you bitches making all sorts of fucking noise, alright, and all the bullshit behind those doors. I can tell you firmly that current me is Eddie "Needs a smoke, some food, and a nap", Munson", Eddie says with a pout, making the band laugh more.

One of them thrusts a packet into his hands, and another shoves a joint into his mouth, "Two out of three ain't bad, right, buddy?"

Eddie opens the packet, and it's a little stack of pancakes. He smiles crookedly at his friends, "You guys, I mean, you're all still a bunch of pricks, but you're my pricks, you know", he says, extending an arm around Jeff, resting the pancakes on his shoulder.

"Eddie, none of us, in any way ever want to be your prick. Mostly we feel sorry for the one you have," Jeff says in disgust, wiping the pancake butter from his shoulder.

Eddie opens his jaw wide and takes a bite through the entire stack. Then, still chewing, he says, "You guys wish you were my prick. It sees more action than the three of you put together." He laughs at his own joke, then immediately stops because it hurts and takes a hit.

"Eddie, if in...I dunno two years...you wake up completely dickless...just know I fully support its decision to pack its bags and crawl away from you in the night. Wholeheartedly." Gareth says with a tone of disgust.

"Eh, what do you know about it. I'm enjoying my youth. Leave me alone." Eddie grumbles into the pancake stack as he leans against the van.

"Hey, hey, shut up, alright, Clara's here!" Paul says.

"What we can't talk about cocks, now Clara's here? That's pretty sexist of you all. You should be ashamed," Eddie says with a pancake-filed grin loud enough for Clara to hear.

"Why are you talking about that kind of thing this early?" Clara says, her head bowed, reading the advanced D&D rules, then she looks up, "Well, at least that answers that. You look like shit. Jesus!"