I like you, girlfriend. You got spunk



It all started with one word.

Girlfriend.

"Why's your girlfriend wearing a sock on her head?"

"Girlfriend?"

Once back at the cul-de-sac, none of the kids mentioned what Eddy's brother had said, but it was in the back of their minds. Eddy's brother had been so mean, but those words weren't flung with malice, instead curiously posed as an honest question.

Double D was, not shockingly, worried.

Though Eddward may have worried most of the time, this was a different worry. This planted itself in his gut and slowly grew, feeding off his acids and becoming a sharp tug on his stomach. He constantly felt deep and hollow. He felt heavy and like his stomach were ripping apart. Eventually it was too much for the poor boy to handle, and he locked himself inside his room for a week and a half before Eddy could kick in the door.

Eddward was laying on his bed, facing the door without the slightest hint of surprise. He almost looked as if he hadn't yet realized that his door was now broken. He looked dazed and wasted away. Eddward looked dead, and for several excruciating seconds Eddy held a shocked mask over his broken face. But Eddward spoke calmly and Eddy finally felt his heart begin beating again.

"You could have knocked."

Eddy was too focused on getting oxygen to his alveoli to really hear his friend, but soon it sunk in.

He almost yelled, but refrained, "I did knock, for a full hour."

Eddward's expression failed to change, as he replied "Sorry. I guess I didn't hear you."
"And the screaming? You didn't hear that?"
"Guess not."

Eddy shifted his weight from one leg to the other nervously, his right hand finding a home on his left elbow. He bit his bottom lip, and looked around Double D's room. Things were thrown across the floor, and it was only now that Eddy realized Double D was in bed, in his clothes.

"Sockhead, we need to talk."

Double D sat up for the first time in three days, and looked brokenly towards his best friend. "Eddy, I-"

"I love you."

Double D felt a tear slip and slide across his cheekbone, and through the hollow of his cheek. He felt it touch the mandible and dance there, before plunging to its death. He felt his breathing slow and he felt his hear speed up. He felt a heat filling the hole in his stomach and killing the thorned plant of worry. He felt his eyes become clear, and he felt Eddy's arms around his waist.

As they exited Double D's house, the cul-de-sac didn't pause. There was no hum of whispers as everyone stared. In fact, nothing changed. School continued as usual, Eddward's grades returned to the definition of perfection the day after he returned to the building, and no one said anything about two of the Ed's holding hands. The third Ed didn't notice anything different anyway.

At graduation, Eddward was valedictorian, and his speech was not expected
"For years you all tortured me and my friends, for years I was the butt of your jokes. But now we're all free, and we're moving on. 'It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.' Lewis B. Smedes."
As they met each other in the lobby, Eddy smiled and with a laugh, held his best friend captured in his words.

"I like you, girlfriend. You've got spunk."