The Sound

Part 10 - Eddie

I couldn't even focus on Michael Myers stabbing babysitters – I was so overtly aware of how close Jules was to me, jumping at the different scares of the movie.

"Holy shit!" she yelped, grabbing my forearm. I felt my body light up at her touch and my heart was pounding in my ears. She grasped onto my arm harder as Michael started breaking down a closet door. I turned to her, trying to play it cool.

"Haven't you seen this before?" I asked, my voice shaking. I tried to play it off like I was laughing. She weakly smiled at me.

"Yeah, but Michael still scares me," she answered, bashful and embarrassed. I smiled wider at her, desperately hoping she wouldn't let go of my arm.

"Michael's too slow – he'd never catch up to me," I quipped, hoping I could distract my flip-flopping stomach by making her laugh. She raised an eyebrow, finally dropping my arm. I missed her touch on me, even though it made my head foggy.

"Eddie, he's a serial killer. I think he'd find a way to catch you."

"Absolutely not – I'm too fast for him," I insisted, smirking. She rolled her eyes, and I could tell she was going to start on one of her tirades. She turned on the couch, positioning her legs up on the couch, one of her knees touching my leg. I felt my mouth dry and tried to pay attention to her.

"Eddie, he managed to catch and kill a football player, who I think would be faster than you. And you would trip over those damn boots you always wear! And he's a sociopath – even if you could outrun him, he'd devise some kind of trap," she lectured, very serious and insistent. She crossed her arms. "But there's no way those clunky things wouldn't get in your way."

She gestured at my feet, trying to drive her point home. I placed them on the coffee table, taking a beat as I tried to focus. Her knee was still pressed into my leg, making my head feel hazy.

"I like my boots," I replied. I glanced at her and saw her eyes widen.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that, I like your boots too!" She was back-tracking, suddenly embarrassed and nervous. It was cute. She continued to apologize, anxious. I started laughing and set my hand on her knee.

"Jules, it's fine. I know what you meant." I surprised myself by touching her so openly, and she seemed to be surprised as well. I pulled away from her quickly and crossed my arms. "But I still think I'd be able to get away from him."

She laughed at me, turning back to the TV. Her knee was no longer pressed to my leg, and my stomach calmed a bit. I continued to watch her, getting lost in my thoughts. I smiled as she gasped at the screen again.

I turned back to the TV, unbelieving that I was in Jules Mullin's house, and that she had invited me in. If you had told seventh grade Eddie where we currently were, he might have passed out. I glanced around the living room, taking in all of the strange knick-knacks and pictures of Jules and her father.

I thought back to the nickname her dad had apparently given me – I needed to make note how close the two of them were. I had already made a terrible impression on him, and I hadn't even met him. If I continued to let Mean Eddie win, there would be no way to come back from that. Steve, of course, got a nicer nickname when he called and asked her out like the nice guy he was. He probably even would have brought flowers.

But she didn't want to see him tonight. She wanted to come to my concert and spend time with me – the asshole.

It probably meant nothing, but it had taken everything in me not to leap with joy when I found out she had turned down a night with Steve to be with me. And, again, it was probably just because she was being nice and had said she would come to the show, but she could have brought him. But she didn't.

And maybe that meant I had a sliver of a chance.

She flipped the TV off, turning to me.

"I think I need to get to bed – I open The Sound tomorrow," she explained, smiling shyly. I nodded, standing from the couch. She followed me to the front door, chattering again.

"Thank you, again, for inviting me tonight, you guys were so great, and you're so talented, we really should talk to Alan about you guys performing at The Sound –"

I opened the door and turned to her. She stopped, clasping her hands together nervously. I smirked down at her, leaning close to her face. I watched her lips – her lip color had faded over the evening from the beers and floats we shared. She flushed - did I make her nervous?

"Thanks for coming out to the show tonight. And for the root beer floats," I felt a surge of Mean Eddie come through as I leaned back. "You aren't totally fucking lame to hang out with."

What was wrong with me?

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Just when I think you can be a normal human, you bring me right back to reality," she was teasing, but I could sense a nugget of truth. I looked down at my feet, internally cringing at myself.

"At least I'm consistent," I remarked, making her laugh. It always made my heart catch when she did that, especially if I had been the one to cause it. I tapped on the door with my palms before heading towards my van.

"Thanks for hanging out, Eddie!" Jules called. I turned on my heel, waving at her. She was so enthusiastic, practically hopping in place. I stopped, beaming at how adorable she was.

"Thanks for having me, Jules. I'm glad we're friends," I wanted to show her some shred of humanity, wanted to give her a new story to tell her father.

Before she could react, I stomped to my van, not wanting to make my pounding heart even worse.