The Drive-In

4

The speed at which Eddie moved back in his seat almost rivaled Steve's recoil from earlier.

"Shit, sorry, man. Guess I was just playing up the character" Eddie realizes he's making his voice sound a lot deeper than usual. He looks at Steve, expecting the worst. A slur, a look of disgust, an act of violence, maybe, but nothing happens. Steve simply nods at him and turns back to the movie.

Eddie honestly hadn't even realized he had put his arms around Steve. But he had definitely noticed how Steve's arms had felt around him.

That firm embrace of safety teamed with the verbal destruction of Jason Carver. Damn, if that hadn't made Eddie feel protected as fuck.

Nope. Eddie tells himself. No way. We are not going down this road again. Absolutely not! That was a phase, and that phase was over. Over!

Eddie gathers up his lunchbox quickly and takes down his hair, "So...um...yeah...thanks for saving my ass there, dude. Appreciate it."

Steve is still looking at the movie. Gods, Eddie's insides were in knots. Why wasn't he saying anything?

Eddie continues, "Look, erm, I was just scared of getting my head kicked in, dude, that's all. Here, look." Eddie grabs a small bag of weed out of his lunchbox and throws it at Steve, finally getting Steve to look at him. "On the house. You know, as a thank you," Eddie tries to give him that salesman smile and shrug.

Steve gives Eddie a sobering look of pity before picking up the baggy and tossing it back gently, "You don't need to buy my silence, Munson. I won't tell anyone."

"I wasn't...that's not..." Eddie huffs at his inability to form a sentence.

Steve dips his head to look at Eddie's face. "It's ok. I know...I mean... a few years ago, I met someone who was...you know...um...homosexual, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I promise I won't breathe a word of this to anyone"

Eddie's eyes search Steve's for a moment. Searches for a sign this was some kind of locker room joke between guys or something. But the laugh doesn't appear. He was serious. Steve thought that Eddie was...

Eddie clenches his fists and feels the anger rise in him. "I'm not fucking gay, alright?! I like girls! I was just terrified, alright?!" He gestures violently into the night, "That's why they were chasing me in the first place because I was hitting on a fucking woman, alright?" Eddie looks around frantically, "There...that one there," he points at the girl from earlier. Eddie pokes the glass so hard he's amazed his finger doesn't just go through it.

Steve gives him another pitying look.

Eddie wrinkles his nose in anger. "You know what, Harrington, if anyone in this car is fucking gay, it's you! All those years slapping other guys' asses are probably a major factor in why you didn't even notice how broad my shoulders were when you tried to ram your tongue in my ear!!"

Oh, that was it. Eddie had found it. Steve's eyes flare with annoyance, "Yeah, well, in my defense, you've got long hair, and your shoulders...your shoulders are not as broad as you think they are...could have been shoulder pads, alright?!"

"Shoulder pads?! That's fucking rich coming from the guy who must use more products in his hair than the entire cheer squad!!" Eddie barks back sharply, "Also, it's clearly not having the same effect on the girlies it did in high school. We all saw you flunk out with that group of girls at the food stalls, King Steeeeve! Post-high-school not treating you so well, is it?" Eddie mocks spitefully but almost instantly realizes it's a step too far when he looks at Steve's expression is one of pure hurt as his eyes cast down to the floor.

Why did he always take it too far?

"Get out, Munson," Steve says quietly, without even a hint of anger. Only sadness.