November 2024
Buck was still asleep on Eddie's couch the morning after he broke up with Tommy. They hadn't really spoken about it when Buck came round. A moment of silence encapsulated the air and Buck had simply stated,
"Tommy broke up with me." Another beat, then Eddie was up out of his seat heading to the kitchen to grab the bottle of Whiskey he kept for occasions where beer just wouldn't cut it. Nothing else was said that night. They switched from beers to Whiskey and continued to drink in silence.
Eddie hadn't known what to say. He didn't want to pry into what had happened when the wound was still so raw. Buck needed time to sit with his emotions, or drink them away in this case. They would talk about it eventually, and Eddie would decide then whether or not he needed to take a baseball bat to Tommy's car. Last night though, last night Buck had just needed somebody to drink with. Eddie could be that for him.
Buck was still asleep on the couch when Eddie got up. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water and an aspirin. He had an awful case of cottonmouth, so water was a must. Habitually he filled a second glass and grabbed the aspirin bottle as he walked back into the living room, placing both down on the little table by the couch ready for Buck when he woke up. Eddie sat himself down in the arm chair and pulled out his phone, going through his notifications to see if his mother had messaged him about Christopher.
Checking his messages for updates on Christopher had become a daily ritual over the past six months. At first he checked to see if Christopher had decided to come home yet. He stopped hoping for that message after the two month mark. Now he just waits for each update his mother sends him.
'Christopher went to the lake today. He loves the water.' A text from his mother sent three months ago read.
'We're throwing Christopher a birthday party later today. You should try FaceTiming him.' That one had come on Christopher's birthday. Eddie had sent him a happy birthday text earlier that morning. Eddie won't admit the way his heart skipped a beat when the little message notification pinged, or the way it sank when he saw the text was in fact from his mother not from Christopher. He should have known he wouldn't get a response from his son.
The sound of Buck stirring pulled Eddie from his thoughts. Eddie couldn't help but smile fondly over at his best friend. Buck had never been a morning person.
"There's water and aspirin on the table behind you." Eddie told him matter of factly.
"You're too good to me." Buck mumbled. Voice heavy with sleep.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Eddie brushed him off. He watched as Buck sat up and reached for the water and pills, watched the way he threw the pills back and guzzled down the water like a man deprived. Eddie took the glass from him and refilled it.
"Thank you." Buck smiled and then smacked his lips together as though he'd tasted something bad. "Dry mouth." He grimaced, necking the second glass the way he had the first. "Tommy broke up with me."
"Yeah. You mentioned that last night. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No?" Eddie just looked at Buck inquisitively. He knew that sometimes Buck would say something with the intention to carry on but would stop himself before he could. Sometimes he just needed that extra push to say what he actually wanted to. "I mean. I do. I want to rant and shout and; I don't know man, cry maybe?"
"But?" Eddie offered up. With anyone else this stop and start conversation would feel like pulling teeth, but Eddie knew that Buck sometimes needed to slow down and let his brain catch up and figure out what he actually wanted to say before he let the words out.
"But, I don't even really know what happened, or how I've ended up here. I don't really know where to start if I'm being honest."
"Why don't you start at the beginning. You said you and Tommy were going to the movies last night."
"But see, that isn't even really the start. I think this started on our anniversary date."
"So, start there then."
Eddie wasn't really sure what to say at the end of Buck's rant. He, like Buck, wasn't sure how he'd ended up there either. Sure Buck could be a bit impulsive at times, and maybe asking someone to move in after only six months together was a bit soon, but that shouldn't be a reason to end things right? Tommy should have just told him it was too soon and they could have moved past it. And what was all that about 'your first can't be your last'? Eddie couldn't wrap his head around that one. Yeah, it's unconventional, but just because it isn't the norm doesn't automatically make it impossible. You hear all the time about high school sweethearts who spend their whole lives together. Wasn't that the dream? Eddie thought Tommy was ridiculous to give Buck up just on the grounds that Buck had never dated another man, so surely his first relationship wasn't going to work. Especially when as far as Buck had told him, they'd never even so much as had an argument the whole time they were together. Maybe Tommy just wasn't ready for the relationship to become that serious, so cut it off all together. If that was the case then Tommy was just stupid and self sabotaging. From the sounds of it their relationship had been perfect. Why would he sabotage it now? Eddie couldn't wrap his mind about it. That wasn't the point though. Eddie wasn't there to help Buck understand why Tommy had just thrown everything away, he was there to support his best friend, and support him he would.
