Small Town - John Mellencamp
☀︎
I turned to Eddie, who was still fuming. It had been hours since the incident, and he had been upset since.
I lightly touched Eddie's shoulder, a concerned look on my face.
We were all at Bill's house, sitting inside of his room.
"Hey Eddie?" I muttered into Eddie's ear.
I was sitting close to him.
Everyone was fairly spread out in the room, a large, group conversation happening. Eddie and I were both leaning against Bill's closet door.
He had been sitting in silence for about an hour, an aggravated look on his face.
Eddie turned to me, responding in a whisper, "do people say that stuff to you a lot?" He sounded like he had been thinking about this for hours.
I shook my head, "not often. About once or twice a month maybe. It's not a big deal. Nobody ever follows through. And if they try to follow through, I always get away from them first."
Eddie clenched his fists, anger in his eyes.
"Eddie," I began in a soothing voice. I didn't understand why he was behind so defensive, but I didn't mind it. Freddie usually took care of douche bags for me, so I didn't have anything to worry about. But this was a side of Eddie I hadn't seen before.
He turned his face so he was looking at me. His eyes softened slightly, but they grew hard once again, his knuckles white from clenching his fists.
"Eddie," I repeated, moving my hands so they were over his clenched fists. I could feel them shaking with rage. I intertwined my fingers with his, calming him down. He unclenched his fists and accepted my hand into his.
"It's okay. You don't need to worry. I'm fine. I'm not quite sure why you're so defensive about this, but I assure you I'm fine."
Eddie's eyes softened once more. "Can you tell me whenever it happens? I want to go punch the shit out of anyone who talks about you like that."
I shook my head, "that's unnecessary."
Eddie shook his in response, "no. It's not."
"Like I said before, I'm used to it. It's not a big deal."
Eddie nodded once, drawing his attention back to the big conversation.
"Bullshit!" Richie shouted.
"You did not kiss Wendy Hall last night, Stan. I want fucking proof."
I raised my hand, "I saw it happen, Richie."
Ritchie's jaw dropped, "holy shit! Stan's getting some action!"
I laughed at this. I shifted my eyes slightly to the left to see Eddie was looking right at me, a goofy grin on his face.
I decided to ignore Eddie's staring and keep talking.
"And she called him hot."
Richie continued to gush of Stan making out with Wendy, and I continued to laugh along.
Bill's bedroom door swung open, "honey I'm home!"
An African American boy I had never seen before was standing in the doorway. I had seen him around before. I didn't know his name, though. He was homeschooled. Derry was a very small town. People knew people, but I didn't really have any chances to get to know him.
A big smile cracked out on Richie's face, "darling! I've missed you!"
The boy smiled brightly at this, closing the door behind himself.
He looked over at Beverly, his jaw dropping. Whoever he was he must have been a part of this friend group. He probably wasn't told when Beverly came back, as this was the first time they'd hung out outside of school since her arrival a year ago.
I'm shocked they hadn't told the boy Bev had came home.
Beverly got up from her spot next to Bill and ran towards the boy, a bright smile on her face. She threw her arms around him.
"Mike," she breathed out, holding him out an arms length away.
The boy was named Mike, I guess.
"Hey Beverly," he said with a smile.
"You've grown so much since I saw you last! Look how tall you are!"
Mike nodded, "same goes for you, Bev! How long have you been in Derry?"
Bev looked at the ground, "about a year."
Mike's eyes boggled, "why didn't you assholes tell me she was home!?"
The boys all looked down at their feet, shrugging and mumbling responses.
"Because her and Bill were playing the silent game and none of us were allowed to talk about her."
Stan reached over and smacked Richie on the back of the head, "beep beep Richie."
Richie's eyes widened, "oh shit. Was I not supposed to say that? It's the truth, though!"
Beverly and Bill made eye contact, both of them blushing intensely. Eddie laughed, "way to go, Bitchie! You successfully turned them both into tomatoes!"
Richie scrunched up his nose, "you aren't allowed to call me that! It's only okay when Brandy says it!" Richie pointed to me and everyone's eyes followed.
Mike pointed at me, "aren't you really popular?"
I shrugged, "not really."
"Bullshit," Stan coughed the word and I stuck out my tongue at him.
Mike flashed his pretty smile at me, "hi, Brandy. I'm Mike."
I send him a dazzling smile in return, "it's nice to meet you Mike."
Mike furrowed his eyebrows, pointing to me and Eddie's intertwined hands.
I had forgotten we were even holding hands.
They had been resting so comfortably in my lap, his warm palm against mine. I liked his hand in mine. It felt nice.
"So are you Eddie's girlfriend, then? Didn't Stan just say you were popular?"
Eddie and I quickly pulled our hands apart. Great. Now my hand would be cold. I placed it under my butt to keep it warm.
Me and Eddie both shook our heads, "we aren't together," we said simultaneously.
Mike nodded, stunned by our aggression towards the matter. Why did everyone think Eddie and I were dating? We didn't act like a couple at all. We were very honestly just friends. And besides, I had only really started hanging out with him a few days ago. I couldn't like him yet.
'Yet," I thought to myself.
I pushed the intrusive thought out of my head and smiled at Eddie, shooting him some finger guns, "just friends."
Eddie nodded, "yeah. Friends."
We fist bumped and changed changed the subject, turning it away from the two of us.
"Me and Brandy are just good friends. It's settled. Now, are Beverly and Bill just friends? A little birdy told me you two were getting ice cream together yesterday.
Bill and Bev made eye contact, and Beverly began frantically explaining.
Within her flustered words, I slipped my hand back into Eddie's.
He looked down at me, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
I looked back up at him.
"My hands are cold."
☀︎
A/N:
As of last chapter, this book Officially has more parts than Best Friend. I'm very excited about this. I'm probably going to take Best Friend down tbh. I like the name Evie and want to put it in a gOod story later. This'll probably be another double update day so pOst uP and be ready :)))
