Fix You ~Completed~

Act Seventy-Eight

Of course, Coraline hovered over me during breakfast, asking all the right questions and rubbing my shoulder just enough times to make my whole body burn bright with the heat of a thousand suns. Ever since I rolled up my sleeves for her and explained in gory details exactly why Gale had such a hatred for my deceased ex, she'd become a little more attached than she already was.

Georgie, who'd come over for breakfast, noticed and was incredibly confused. "Okay," he muttered, eyeing me, "why is Mom babying you even more than she babied Eddie when he cracked his head open?"

"You cracked your head open?" I squeaked towards the boy sitting beside me at the kitchen table, chowing down on pancakes. We'd been seated for nearly thirty minutes by then and I still had only taken two bites out of the (insanely fantastic) pancakes their mom had served up.

Eddie threw Georgie an eye roll. "He's being dramatic," he chuckled. "I was sitting on a horse when I was, like, eight and it threw me off. I had a concussion but I didn't crack my head open."

"Georgie, stop trying to give the poor boy a heart-attack!" Coraline tsked playfully as she walked past us to refill her eldest son's coffee cup. Augustus had left early for work but left a parting gift of a giant bag of Doritos for us to take on the road. Ed had awesome parents.

I rubbed my neck, realizing I probably did sound like I was having a heart-attack when Georgie had said that. How did they expect me not to, though, when Georgie was revealing Eddie split his freaking head open?

But he didn't, like he said, and he was okay. That still scared me. Concussions are serious.

"Sorry, Clem," Georgie giggled, leaning over to offer me a fist-bump truce. I stared awkwardly at his fist for three seconds before following his lead and lightly tapping our knuckles together. "You are so gentle! Here, do it like this."

I snatched my hand away when he went for my wrist.

"Hey, Gale just texted. Said they're on their way over," Eddie announced, bringing us away from any awkwardness that might settle in after that weird moment Georgie and I had. Thank goodness for Gale. "Clem, are you done eating already?"

I nodded, which was a bad move because he sent me a worried look. "Not hungry yet, Eddie," I insisted. My stomach felt hollow but food wasn't what it wanted. I didn't know what it did want exactly.

"Are you sure?"

Hesitantly, I stabbed the pancake with a fork, forcing down a few more bites to make Eddie happy. With a smile, he leaned over and kissed my cheek.

Ed's brother threw him a glare. "Eddie, if he says he's not hungry, he's not hungry. You shouldn't make someone eat if they don't want to."

"I just want to make sure Clem's getting his calories," Eddie explained, his voice light and loving. It wasn't as though he was subtly hinting I possibly had an ED or anything.

Coraline returned to her seat across from us, right next to Georgie. "It's very important to get fuel, especially in the mornings," she agreed with Eddie, gesturing to the food set out for us. "Why do you think, in most countries, it's customary for breakfast to be the largest meal of the day?"

"Ironic, then, how in the U.S. it's typically the smallest. Most people skip it totally," Georgie nodded along with his mother. He, himself, admitted to not being a breakfast eater. Instead, he just sipped coffee all morning.

Eddie allowed me to get away with eating one of the three pancakes Coraline had given me. The other two I offered to Gale when he came running through the door and flung himself onto Eddie's lap like a child. "Sorry, am I stealing your seat, Clem?" he teased, taking my pancakes with no question. He wasn't as pushy about it as Eddie was; if I said I didn't wanna eat, he let me get away with it. Gale wasn't as much as a mom friend.

"Dude," I chuckled, shaking my head. Ed looked ready to burst into flames he was blushing so hard. I took it as an opportunity to get even, "You and your blush!"

His smile was so wide it looked painful. "Clemmy, I swear to all the Greek gods you apparently believe in..."

Gale went through the two pancakes with ease and complimented Coraline on her stellar cooking. "Next time we come down, you guys should bake with Clem. He loves to bake. It's literally one of the only hobbies he has," Gale informed the brunette woman, still in Eddie's lap.

"Oh, you do?" Coraline beamed. "You should have said something! Yes, next time you boys come visit you and I can bake cookies or a cake. What do you like best, sweetheart?"

I guess my brain wasn't totally functioning, because I responded with: "Anything but angel food cake."

None of them got why. None of them knew what angel food cake symbolized for me.

They all nodded, probably assuming I just didn't like it.

No one knew it was Kyla's favorite. No one knew that was my part of my Christmas present to him every year since the eighth grade.

I'd never make angel food cake again. If Kyla wasn't there to enjoy it, what was the effing point?

"Okay. Do you like red velvet cake? Or monster cookies? Ooh, have you ever made cake pops?"

We decided upon cake pops since I didn't even know what they were and apparently that was complete malarkey. (Eddie remembered me using that word before. He grinned at me when I realized.)

It startled me how much Ed remembered the little things. He never forgot anything I told him, no matter how insignificant the details were. It was strange in such an impressive way. Then again, that about sums up my best friends perfectly.

Coraline and Aria were both crying a little when they bid us goodbye. Georgie gave his brother a literal bro-hug and ruffled Gale and I's hair. Joel handed us each two Hershey hugs and said, "There. Enjoy your goodbye hugs."

I was still laughing about that when we were fifty miles down the road.

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Crap is gonna hit the fan tomorrow in the point-five chapter. Prepare yourselves.
- The Creators