Lost & Insecure

Twelve - Be Here Now.

Eddie was rambling away as he walked down the hallway on Friday morning with Dana. He was in the middle of telling his dramatized version of something that happened to him a few days prior when he noticed Dana wasn't listening to him. "And then I went swimming with a purple giraffe," he said attempting to get her attention back.

"What?" Dana apologetically looked up at him. Eddie shot Dana a look and she slummed down slightly. "Sorry, Ed. I'll pay attention next time?" She gave him a small smile. Before he could react, Dana's phone buzzed and Eddie saw a small smirk appear of Dana's face.

"Who are you smiling at?" He asked, curious and slightly annoyed. "Katie?" His eyebrow rose.

Dana immediately looked up at him. "Katie? No. It's no one. Just a friend of mine."

"You smirk at just friends' texts like that?" Eddie tilted his head as he interrogated Dana.

"I'm sorry, am I not allowed to enjoy a casual conversation anymore?" She shook her head in annoyance, but decided to humor him and continue the conversation. "I'm texting my friend, Marissa." Dana outstretched the word friend as much as she could, pronouncing nearly every letter. Eddie forced his eyebrow even further upward causing Dana to roll her eyes at him and continue walking.

Eddie relaxed his eyebrow and caught back up with Dana. "She cute?" Dana nodded. "She a senior?" Dana shook her head no. "She swing her bat the same way you do?" Dana stopped and made a face at Eddie. He innocently shrugged. "What?"

"'Swing her bat'? What are you, like seven?"

"So you don't know?"

"She's really hard to read."

Eddie laughed at his cousin and smothered her in a hug. Dana jokingly tried to push him off of her, but it was no use. Jesse walked by and grunted as he saw them. "Get a room." He mumbled, disgusted.

"Get a life!" Eddie called after him.

Jesse stopped walking and turned around to face Eddie. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Eddie angered.

Jesse got in Eddie's face, but as he was about to say something a voice scolded him from down the hallway. "Jesse Cornelius Kowalski!"

"That's not my middle name, and you know that!" Jesse squeaked back, whipping his head around to face the voice. Marissa stood at the end of the hallway with a mischievous smile on her face. Marissa shot him a look that told him to knock it off. Jesse grunted again and walked away, and Marissa smiled at Dana before following her brother.

"What? Who? What?" Eddie looked at Dana, unable to form an actual sentence.

"That's Marissa," Dana smiled, "Jesse's little sister."

"Way to go, D." Eddie lightly slapped Dana on her back in a joking manner. Dana shook her head at him, and they continued to head to class.

Dana pulled into her driveway with Eddie after school. They both got out of the car and walked into the house, celebrating the fact that it was Friday. Not too long after they entered the house there was a knock on the door. Dana answered, seeing Katie standing there. "Are you stalking me?" She joked.

"Can we talk?" Katie asked without skipping a beat.

"Ah, three words I should have really learned to hate by now." Dana forced a half smile on her face and stepped aside for Katie to walk in. "So what's up?" Dana asked, closing the front door behind Katie.