Love to Hate You

Drop the Hate

"It's still weird that you and Eddie are spending time together not at each other's throats," Robin commented. I shrugged and closed my locker, walking to our next classes together.

"Kind of nice to avoid the bullying for once," I replied. She snorted and nudged me with her shoulder.

"Well, I miss sitting with my best friend at lunch," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"It was one lunch. And you and Vickie sat together, practically in each other's laps!"

Robin flushed and smiled, clutching her books closer to her.

"You noticed that?" she asked. I laughed and nodded.

"Yes, Rob – it's cute how into each other you are. You can use some one-on-one lunches with each other," I insisted. While I was happy for Robin, it was nice not being the third wheel again. Lunch had been fun with Eddie – he had good questions about the book when he wasn't making fun of Jay Gatsby or Steve. I hoped this would help him.

"Well, all I'm saying is that if you and Eddie's sudden friendship means that you aren't as funny as you used to be, I will be very disappointed."

I rolled my eyes and shoved her.

"We aren't friends. He's still awful – he's just not as awful as he used to be," I repeated.

I noticed Eddie sauntering through the hallway, his nerds in tow. He glanced at me, his eyes crinkling and face filling with the shit-eating grin he seemed to only save for me. I kept a straight face and raised an eyebrow. He said something to the nerds, stopping them, and trotted over to me. I stopped as he ran in front of me.

"Hey, Icky," Eddie greeted, leaning against the lockers. I sighed and he looked at Robin. "And lo and behold, the band geek!"

"I have a name, you freak," Robin spat. Eddie scrunched his nose into a condescending expression and my stomach flipped.

"I'm sure you do, pumpkin – I still prefer 'band geek'," he responded. I tried not to smile, and he noticed, his smirk breaking into a real grin.

"What do you want, Eddie?" I asked, trying to sound exacerbated. He ran his tongue along the inside of his mouth and sucked in a quick breath between his teeth.

"Are we archiving this afternoon?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Not today – I think I'll need to shower for two weeks straight if I have to spend anymore one-on-one time with you without a break," I quipped. I felt strange – this kind of back and forth was normal with us, but I felt like I was putting on a show for Robin. His eyes flashed and his smile grew.

"We can't have that – don't want you to miss your date with Boring-ton," he replied. I felt the color drain from my face. I had told Robin about Steve asking me out, but not that we had something planned. She was going to be furious.

"Date? Who the fuck is 'Boring-ton'?" Robin snapped. Eddie noticed my sudden change and cleared his throat.

"Oh, I'm just being an ass – I saw Icky and Steve talking before school the other day, so I've been giving her a hard time," he said quickly. I felt Robin's stare and tried to smile.

"Catch you later, Munson," I croaked, stepping around him. I felt Robin underfoot, and she was angry.

"You told Eddie Munson about your date with Steve? I didn't even know you guys had one planned, and you told Eddie Munson?" she hissed. I refused to look at her. I felt my face burning and she grabbed my shoulder and spun me to her. She looked so hurt.

"Robin, I'm sorry, I just forgot –"

"And why are you letting him talk about Steve like that?"

"I'm not, I told him to stop—"