The entire plane was in complete harmony. No kids yelling, no old folks' complaining about the food, no drunk morons who decide to spontaneously pinch a flight attendants' ass. Complete harmony. Except for…
"Why does airplane food always taste like… something found on or/and in Ed's room?" Eddy McGee.
"Dude, I don't like it anymore than you but you don't hear me complainin'." His girlfriend, his pregnant girlfriend that is, was sitting on his right facing the window.
"You should be; it's really relieving." Eddy smirked but groaned when he looked back down at the plate of half-warm potatoes along with soggy meatloaf.
"If I would, I'd blame you for this dude! We could've taken the train but-"
"Get run over by a train Nazz, then we can have this discussion." Nazz showed Eddy her tongue and turned away from him.
"It's the commute that causes all the commotion honey, it's not me." A man was sitting behind them in trench coat and hat, talking on his cell phone.
"Take it easy Nazz, Floyd's a great cook. He taught me everything he knows!" Eddy shoved a thumb into his chest, glowing of confidence.
"If that is true, I'm eating out six days a week." She turned around and flashed him a smile.
"Hey!"
"Dude, we all remember the great Vomit Wars of '07."
"I just got some bad ingredients!"
"Double-D used the same ingredients for his dish!"
"They were Rolf's! That bastard sabotaged my ingredients!"
"Yeah, why would Rolf do that?"
"He's got it in for us Eds'!"
"Dude, Double-D still used the same ingredients for his dish!"
"That's not an excuse! It was a complicated meal!"
"It was hamburgers and fries dude!"
"Which is very difficult if you start from scratch! WITH POISONED INGREDIENTS!"
"THEN HOW COME THAT ONLY THE ONE'S BRAVE ENOUGH TO EAT YOU HAMBURGERS GOT SICK?"
"HEY! SHOVEL CHIN SHOVED HIS HAND DOWN HIS THROAT THAT DAY JUST TO SCREW WITH ME! I SAW IT!"
"HEY! SHUT THE HELL UP BACK THERE!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP DUMBASSES!"
"VOTES FOR WOMEN, STEP IN TIME! VOTES FOR WOMEN, STEP IN TIME!" What started out as a playful, teasing conversation ended in a, still playful and teasing, yelling match between the couple which obviously disturbed the fellow travelers.
"Sorry 'bout that!" Eddy shouted apologetically. Nazz's cheeks turned dark red from the unwanted attention and went back to looking out the window while her boyfriend sank back down in his seat, muttering.
"Stupid, of all the gosh forsaken…" His mutterings soon became faded and Nazz turned her head to see that her boyfriend was sound asleep in his seat. She smiled at the sight.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon be landing at John F Kennedy International Airport. Please fasten your seatbelt for the landing. We thank you for flying with American Airlines and hope to see you again soon." The stewardess disappeared into the cockpit after the announcement.
"Eddy?" She poked his side softly. He, on the other hand, shot up like a rocket and started to wave his arms around.
"Who, what, where, when, why, how?" Eddy McGee looked around him in panic and calmed down a little only when he saw his girlfriend next to him with a raised eyebrow. "Holy shit Nazz, you scared the crap outta me!"
"Okay…" She rolled her eyes at his foolish behaviour. "Dude, we'll be landing in like 20 minutes."
"So? 20 minutes, that's like… 19 minutes of good sleep!" The young man smiled while the young woman facepalmed. That's right, facepalmed.
"Oh, you will never change…" She managed to laugh and sigh at the same time. Silence fell upon them after a while. Nazz sank deeper into her seat, almost manically rubbing the lump that in 7 months would turn out to be a baby. Eddy on the other hand, who couldn't go back to sleep, couldn't stop going back in his head over in his head about everything. Everything.
"Hey Eddy?" Said adolescent froze at the voice. The voice he never thought would address him again. Not after senior year in junior high…
"Yeah?" Nonchalance Eddy, very nice. Just like Double-D would've said.
"Are you like busy right now?"
"So there we are, in the middle of nowhere in a field with sunflowers and me and Lumpy's messing around when Sockhead comes up with this great thing called a 'Sextant!'" They were sitting at a table at the local Peach Creek café that had replaced the old Café Fondue located on the main street. Laughing at the story Eddy had just told, Nazz extracted her hand and placed it in Eddy's.
"Classic dude!" She seemed unfazed by her own gesture but Eddy clearly started sweating. Grinning nervously, he clearly forgot how to act… Human.
"Right?" Extending his arms, he managed to punch a waiter in the stomach who was carrying a tray with several plates, glasses and additional silverware. The dirty dishes rained down on the floor where they were transformed into small porcelain particles.
"Let's haul ass!"
It was two years later. The moon was full. It was a full moon.
"Whadda you know? A full moon!" Less than a moment later, his comment was drowned when her mouth connected with his. That very night, they gave themselves to each other.
"Are you alright Nazz?"He was standing outside a restroom booth at the Peach Creek Popcorn Corner, their local movie theater which allows many hours of fun for the entire family! Please pay us a visit! Please, we desperately need it! PLEASE!
"Yeah, I'm fine dud-" Then the sound of a soon to be 17 year old girl throwing up was heard throughout the restroom.
"I... Uhm... You are pregnant Nazz." She looked at him stunned. His smile faded when she didn't respond. "Na-"The next thing he knew, he was on the floor in an awkward position, rubbing his cheek.
"I'm sorry Double-D..."
"I suppose I deserved that slap though." He sat up, leaning on his elbows. "I forgot how hard you can slap when you're mad. Though, I did deserve it the first time too." She started giggling.
"You were gonna use me as a bait for some non-existing alien!"
"Admit it, you were frightened!"
"Was not!" She pushed his head which made the entire young man fall over with a yelp. The female started laughing and was soon joined by her friend. Of course, Eddy did not at this point in the story know that Double-D had taken a blood test to see if Nazz was pregnant. We're just throwing it in here to show you the highlights of the entire story.
It had been his last night as a resident of Peach Creek. The place for the best memories of his life. He was sitting by the lake with one of his good- scratch that, best friend.
"Eddy? May I ask what you're doing?"
"I'm panicking, that's what I am!" Eddy turned around and threw out his arms. "I knocked her up Double-D! We'd been secretly dating for seven months and I knocked her up the first time we did it!" Double-D did not face his friend; the hat-wearing Ed still observed the theatre of fire that unfurled itself upon the lake.
"I know Eddy, I know."
"How the heck do you know?"
"Because this may come as a surprise to you Eddy but Nazz and I have always been good friends. We talk, ever so occasionally and she accidentally told me a few weeks ago."
"Oh." Eddy sat down again, placing his forehead against his palms."Great then."
"So Eddy, where are you really going?"
"To Uncle Floyd in New York. He's gonna let us stay there for a while, gonna help us raise the kid."
"That sounds…"
"Don't worry Double-D, I already got accepted to a business school up there, gonna focus on economics and stuff like that."
"Well, it has been your primary target so far, economy." The two friends shared a small laugh. They soon became quiet and the silence placed itself upon them once again as they continued to observe the lake.
"Double-D?"
"Yes Eddy?"
"When you said that thing about how this is our last summer as kids before, you meant this whole thing with me and Nazz huh?" Double-D smiled slightly, Eddy had started to catch up over the years.
"Yes. Yes I was Eddy." A short pause.
"I think you're right."
"I beg your pardon?" Double-D turned his head and looked at his friend, over the years; he had never heard Eddy admit that someone else was right.
"This is our last summer as the kids we grew up being." The sun showered Eddy with its rays, making him raise his arm to shield his eyes from the warming light.
'Where the heck's Double-D? He said he'd be here!' They were standing by his dad's company car, shoveling luggage into it.
"Well, that's the last bag." Mr. McGee (let's call him Mr. McGee for simplicity reasons) stated the obvious, wiping sweat his forehead. "I'm just gonna say good bye to your mom Eddy, wait here." He walked back to the house Eddy could no longer call home.
"Dude, you'd think that Double-D or somebody would be here to see us off." She had no idea how right she had been.
"You'd think…"
The last glimpse of hope disappeared the mere moment the plane's engines started. Reaching over Nazz to look out the window, he didn't see his hat wearing friend standing by the gate. No running towards the gate. No building his own aero plane to fly up by his side. Nothing.
"What you looking at dude?" Nazz observed him curiously.
"Nothing babe. Nothing at all."
"I miss Peach Creek dude." Nazz's complaint made Eddy lose his trail of thoughts and brought him back to the present. He realized that people around them was starting to stand up and gather their material possessions.
"Me too Nazz. Me too…" He didn't miss Peach Creek as much as his two best friends though.
"Jikes…" The first impression of the John F Kennedy Airport knocked the air out of Eddy.
"I know, right?" Nazz nudged Eddy's ribs to get him moving again, the small pause had formed a line behind the couple.
"Oh, yeah right." Grabbing his backpack, he felt his pocket vibrate. Looking at his girlfriend slightly in front of him, he pulled out his cell phone; it was probably his mom or dad, checking how their flight had been.
Call me when you land! From Double-D.
Double-D? Why the heck would he text him now? He had abandoned that morning for the love of God! All those years of friendship and he can't even rely on him to come see them off! Good riddance if anything!
"Dude, hurry up!" Of course, he hadn't told Nazz that Double-D was supposed to meet them at his dad's car. It was probably for the best, seeing how he hadn't shown up anyway. He had been abandoned by his best friend. He had a pregnant girlfriend. He was in a city he had never visited before. How many times he repeated the scenarios in his head, it didn't add up.
It still felt like he was a young boy at the age of 13, scamming the allowances out of his fellow neighbours. In his eyes, he was still sitting on the sidewalk next to Ed and Double-D, thinking of another way to get some money for some candy. Drooling over the girl of his dreams. Walking around like he owned the street (which he technically did). Calling over his friend in the middle of the night 'cause he couldn't sleep and then the three of them would fall asleep ten minutes into some lame B-Sci-Fi-flick Ed picked out.
'It's time to put all that behind me.' But did he really want to? Forget about his childhood, leave his friends behind, flush the endless unsuccessful scams down the drain, the dreams of a brighter future together? Hardly.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed that he had automatically grabbed his bags off of the carousel. Looking around him, he saw that he had been lost in his thoughts for a good five minutes. Not wanting to share his thoughts with Nazz, he held in the sigh he had planned to let out and proceeded to wait along with his girlfriend for her luggage. Looking around him in boredom, he saw something that made his jaw visit hell. Or someone, if you want. 'Could it really be…?'
"Hello Eddy."