Girl Crush

Chapter 11

 Eddie pulled up to Dani's house, placing the van in park. She knew he wanted everything to go back to normal, but nothing was normal anymore. They had gone through the motions, laying in the back of the van and talking but everything just felt a bit forced. It was like they didn't know how to be around each other anymore. That gutted her because she used to feel like she was most herself around Eddie. Now, she was wearing a mask, guarding her innermost self from him all the time. Now she had to try to be his best friend when it used to be as natural as the sun rising each morning.

"Your boyfriend's here," he said softly, pointing out the window.

"What?" Dani looked out the window to see Steve sitting on the front steps of her house, elbows on his knees, his eyes focused on the ground. "Shit. I can't believe he even wants to see me after last night."

"Of course he wants to see you Dani," Eddie commented, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "He won the lottery when he got you. It was one stupid night. You got drunk. Harrington has definitely been there. No man in his right mind would just let you get away without a fight."

Dani spun to look at him, her brows furrowed in confusion. Why would he say that? Jesus, he made her feel like she was losing her mind. Everything was so confusing. No, it was probably just her own messed up brain creating something out of nothing, just like in the pool. She was sure it was nothing. He had Chrissy, beautiful and perfect Chrissy. He was probably just trying to make her feel better after the horrific drunken mess she had made last night but she really wished he would stop saying shit like that. He was trying to be her friend but right now that line was way too blurry for her.

"You better go talk to him," he said and as she reached for the door, he placed his hand on her shoulder and she glanced back at him. "I'll pick you up for school tomorrow? I mean, unless you want your boyfriend to do it."

"No, you can pick me up," she said, managing a smile through the gnawing anxiety she felt. When did her life become such a complete disaster?

"Okay. Good." He smiled and her heart skipped a beat. "I'll see you in the morning then."

"Yeah, see you in the morning," she mumbled, getting out of the car quickly.

As she approached the house, Steve rose from the step and walked out to greet her. Dani looked at that sweet smile and wondered if she was being completely unfair to him. He was such a good guy and he had been so amazing to her. God, she wanted to be able to give all of herself to him. Maybe she could. She liked him so much and maybe this was how she got back to normal. Letting Eddie be happy with Chrissy and allowing herself to be happy with Steve. It wasn't as if that would be hard. He made it easy to smile.

"Hey," Steve said, running his hand through his hair and gesturing toward where Eddie had taken off. "So, you crashed at Eddie's last night?"

"Oh, yeah. I was completely out of it. I woke up there this morning," she admitted, biting her lower lip gently. "I'm really sorry about last night. I don't know what got into me, but there's no excuse."

"Dani, I've been there. We've all had a stupid drunken night. I don't care about that. But I got the impression that something might be going on with you and Eddie," Steve said, placing his hands in his front pockets.

"What?" she asked, shaking her head. "No."

"Are you sure? Because it really seemed like you were quite upset about him and Chrissy."

Dani sighed, "Maybe I was. Eddie and I have been off for the last week. We haven't been talking. I caught him with Chrissy in the woods and I was so angry at him for not telling me and being such a hypocrite. When I saw the two of them at the party, I don't know. I got so angry and I just lost it a bit and the alcohol definitely didn't help anything."