Believe It Or Not (An Eddie Munson Story)

Envy

I pull out of the school parking lot and head towards Star Court, my fingers tapping anxiously against the steering wheel. My stomach is in knots over the fact that I kept my meeting with Steve from Eddie, but I try to tell myself that Harrington would have had a good reason to request my secrecy.

I park outside the mall and head to the food court, fidgeting with my car keys in my hands. I spot Steve sitting alone at a booth and I wave, sheepishly causing him to smile. As I approach, he stands, his hands falling into his pockets.

"Hey," he greets me with a small smile. "Thanks for showing up. I know I wasn't very informative on the phone."

"It's alright," I wave him off. "You've helped me out of a few binds so the least I can do is hear you out."

"Do you want to grab something to eat?" He asks, gesturing to the food stalls surrounding us. I nod and we decide on Chinese, getting in line for some food. Once they hand over our trays we sit back in our booth, picking at our plates.

"So, I'm sure you want me to get to the point," Steve huffs after a moment and I nod, my chopsticks clacking against one another as I plop some rice in my mouth. 

"I was hoping you could help me speak to and secure a date with Chrissy Cunningham." Steve says in a rush and my chewing slows, surprised by his request.

"You like Chrissy?" I ask, waving my chopsticks at him.

"Well, yea," he says, sheepishly. His cheeks are slightly pink and he looks down at his tray, pushing some chicken around on his plate. "After I broke up with Nancy I was in a really dark place. I was going on a lot of blind dates, just trying to forget about her and to feel something.

One night, I took out Chrissy's older sister, Cora, and we didn't really hit it off. The night ended early and I wound up dropping her off at her house and I sat in their driveway for a while, just pondering all my recent dates. I was in a really low spot and Chrissy eventually came out of the house and knocked on my car window. She was really sweet and asked if I was alright. She stood outside and talked to me for a long time, just about random stuff, but it was the first nice and normal conversation with a girl I had had in a long time. She made me laugh and I couldn't stop thinking about her.

Before I could do anything about my newfound crush, I realized that she was practically dating Jason. They hadn't made anything official yet, but they were inseparable.

I debated on telling my friends about my feelings, just wanting to get it out of my system, but Dustin had let it slip that Eddie also had a crush on Chrissy and I didn't know what to do. I didn't want things to become weird between us, what with us pining after the same girl. So, I kept it all to myself. But now, Chrissy is single, and Eddie has moved on and I can't keep my feelings to myself anymore. I didn't want you to tell Eddie or Robin because I don't want to have to explain all of this to them yet, not until I can work up the courage to make something of my feelings."

A mixture of emotion swirls through me at all of the information he has thrown my way. I had never even thought of the possibility of Steve and Chrissy before, probably because I had never seen them in the same setting. Thinking on it though, they could make a fairly decent pair. I do my best to try to focus on the prospect, but my mind keeps circling back onto one key component of his speech making my heart clench in my chest.

"Eddie used to like Chrissy?" I ask quietly, looking down at my food.

"I think it was merely an infatuation rather than an actual crush," Steve tries to reassure me. "It was nothing like what he feels towards you. He simply thought she was pretty, but they never talked other than in passing and nothing ever came from it."