Girl Crush

Chapter 27

 Black Sabbath's, "Children of the Grave" blared loudly from Eddie's speakers as his fingers drummed along to the beat on the steering wheel. His hair whipped back and forth as he swung his head, his lips pooched out in an adorable little pout. He appeared to have taken to playing really loud music to drown out the silence that the car rides had become for the last few days. Dani sat, slouched in the passenger seat, her eyes focused on the view out the window and trying not to watch the gorgeous man next to her.

Things had been a bit awkward between them since their confrontation in the cafeteria. When Eddie tried to talk about it, Dani had brushed it off, saying it was just due to her headache and trying to get over Steve. She was trying to hold onto that excuse for as long as she possibly could because she had nothing else. Eddie had tried to talk about it again the next day but after she gave the same reason, he finally appeared to let it go. But she knew he really hadn't. Now it was Wednesday and he hadn't even tried to ask about it but their conversations had been stilted, barely any back and forth, one word answers to any questions.

School was even worse. He still sat next to her in English, but she tried to focus on the teacher and her work. She kept her head bent over her notebook, furiously scribbling down everything the teacher said whether it was important or not. Anything to look too busy to talk to him. At lunch yesterday and today, she had sat quietly, forcing down a few bites of the awful food to keep her mouth full and to look occupied.

Dustin and Mike had cornered her after lunch today, demanding to know what was going on. She'd told them the same story, breakup with Steve had her a bit down and she was still dealing with headaches from the concussion. Dustin looked skeptical but he had let it go for now. However, knowing that kid, it was only a matter of time before he was demanding more of an explanation. He was like Eddie in that way, pushy and stubborn.

Dani wished with all her heart that she could go back to Dani from a year ago. She wanted to go back to Dani that felt at ease with Eddie, the Dani that loved him but wasn't in love with him, the Dani that wasn't constantly bitchy because she couldn't get past all of the jealousy and hurt. But that Dani was long gone; she was never going to find her again and she feared their friendship was reaching its breaking point.

She wanted to stop. She had tried so hard to stop. It wasn't Eddie's fault. He had no idea why she kept snapping at him. She couldn't really be mad at him for something he didn't even realize he was doing but she couldn't control how she felt. Dani kept telling herself to get over it, to snap out of it, to move on. It was never going to happen and she was going to lose him altogether if she kept this up. How long was he going to deal with her constant mood swings? Hell, she didn't even like herself very much anymore so why would he?

Eddie pulled into her drive and she reached into the back,

grabbing her backpack. She muttered a thanks and a goodbye, relieved that she was done having to hide for the day. She began to step out but his hand grabbed onto hers, pulling her back into the van.

"Hey, you want to hang out tonight?" he asked. "I could just stay here or we can go to my trailer if you want."

"I can't," she answered, shaking her head.

"Dani, you haven't been able to hang out since last week. You missed my show last night. I know you've been dealing with the Steve thing and I am trying to give you space but I miss you. I thought we could maybe grab a pizza and play some board games with my uncle or something."

"I'm sorry. I really can't tonight. I have plans," she insisted, shaking her head. Yes, she'd made up a lot of shit over the last few days but she genuinely had a reason this time.

"What plans?" he asked, twisting to face her, his head resting against the seat.

Shit. She should have seen that coming. She couldn't tell him the truth, that she was going to play at an open mic night. He would want to come to support her and then she would not be able to play her original song. She would have to do a cover of something and she was actually beginning to look forward to putting her own work out there. She was desperately clinging to the hope that if she sent all her pain into the world, she could finally let it go, let others have it, and find her way back to just being Eddie's friend.