Even now, Eddy never fully understood why Edd came over every night that month before Winter Break. The first night, Edd woke him up ten after midnight, lightly knocking on his door, whispering his name. Eddy, furious from being awoken from his beauty sleep, opened his door and grabbed whatever he could throw. Wordlessly, he ripped Edd's bag from his hands and threw it into the depths of his backyard. The bag opened and exploded, sending clothes and paper like shrapnel. Edd screamed and cried about 'wrinkled homework' and 'grass stains' and off he went mumbling about if Eddy didn't want him to be there, he could have said so politely. Eddy hadn't the patience to deal with his whining and shut the door, nestling back in his soft comfortable bed. But the rustling of Edd and his folding clothing and smoothing papers kept awake. His sheer presence aggravated him to the core. After ten blood boiling minutes, he ripped his door open and told that 'stupid Sockhead' to get in here. Edd smiled and reached to give his best friend a hug, but froze in mid-embrace seeing the, for a lack of a better word, pissed-off look on his face, Edd settled on a handshake and one-thousand 'thank-you's'.
Edd spent every night at Eddy's house after that. After school, the three Eds separated in the middle of the Cul-De-Sac, Ed going to run a bath of hot gravy, Edd to his homework, Eddy neglecting his homework. Eddy would sit in his room, playing Tom Jones records-despite it annoying his mother-and playing the occasional video game. He waited. It was like clockwork with Edd; he always came at 7:15. After Eddy had filled up with his mom's crappy dinner and was now dining on a snack in the sanctity of his room, the window opened; a breeze moving the curtains. Edd was scared to knock on the door after Eddy's temper tantrum, and kindly asked him to leave the window open. Eddy threw a fit about that, but after Edd half-jokingly threatened to break his window open if need be, he sucked it up. He didn't want to be grounded because of Sockhead. He checked the electric alarm clock on his nightstand. 7:10. He flipped through the pages of a magazine, not really paying attention to it; focusing more on the rustle of the grass outside, waiting to hear Edd's light footsteps.
At night, Edd slept on the floor with the aid of a pillow and a winter comforter Eddy's mother kept up in the attic. Edd slept there without a word and Eddy theorized that Edd would sleep in a cat's shitbox if Eddy told him too. But, Edd did complain, in the subtle way Edd complains, that his back hurt. At school lunch, Eddy told him if it hurt him so bad than he should just sleep at home. Edd's face dropped at that and he didn't mention it again, just walked around with a small limp.
Eventually, Eddy allowed Edd to sleep in his bed. It was large enough for them to sleep at opposite ends. He didn't care if it was 'queer' or 'gay'. Edd wasn't going to sleep at home any time soon, and he was sick of seeing him and his dramatic limping.
However, they never stayed at opposite ends of the bed. Eddy always woke up with Edd just inches from him. His breathe whistling through his giant gap, his sleep cap nearly off his head, hair sticking to his face from sleeping sweat. Eddy, fuming, would always push him away from him with his feet, nearly toppling Edd off the bed. Eddy would then get up, stomping all the way, and slammed the bathroom door. Edd would awake, rubbing his eyes. He just shrugged, chalking it up to Eddy not wanting to go to school.
Edd, once in a while, would wake Eddy up in the middle of the night with groaning. At first, Eddy thought he was just having a sex dream and didn't know whether to laugh or kick him off the bed in disgust. But, Edd's face was always wrinkled in horror throughout these dreams, his teeth gritted tightly together. He would whine 'stop' before Eddy shook him awake.
A Tuesday night came and the clock clicked to 7:25. Eddy sat flipping through the channels on his crappy television set, with a disgusting scowl on his face. 'If Sockhead is going to be late, he should at least freakin' call!' He settled on a channel broadcasting scantily clothed models trotting down a runway. He figured semi-naked woman would ease his aggravated mind; but it did nothing. He twiddled his thumbs, fighting the urge to run over to Edd's house and grab up his stupid friend. But, why did he care? He got the full use of his bed if Edd didn't sleep over! He checked the clock, 7:26. He hated, hated, to admit it, but he didn't like being alone. Before the sudden sleepovers, Edd barely spent any time with Eddy; spending his school nights studying till his eyes physically hurt. And Ed was always grounded for this and that these days. He was bored out of his skull most nights. Eddy preferred Edd's company, even though he spent the entire time buried ass-deep in a textbook, telling Eddy to hush or turn down the television. He just silently appreciated the presence of another person, despite how annoying he was. It was better than the alternative, he guessed.
7:27. Eddy got up and threw his shoes on and marched out the door, fists clenched. Edd was always going on about being on-time and polite, what a jerk! He stomped out of his backyard and into the road of Rathink Ave and instantly regretted not grabbing a jacket. He was freezing his nips off! Kevin and Nazz where outside and instantly started laughing and whispering when Eddy stood in the middle of the road. He chose to ignore it, despite how hard it was, and looked down at Edd's house. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed a white sedan sitting in the driveway. His pop was home? No wonder why he was late; probably making Edd re-clean everything.
He groaned, making way to his house. Suddenly, the sock-headed teen came into view. His head was hung low, a familiar bag in his hand. Once Edd got in earshot range, Eddy completely lost it, yelling about being a 'hipnocrip' and he shoulda just stayed home. Edd argued that he had extra homework from his Advanced Placement English class and started his chores late. Kevin chortled and mentioned something about 'kissing and making up', to which Eddy stormed off into his backyard, Edd silently following.
That night, with Eddy faced towards his moon-lit window, he broke the silence that had plagued both of them since Edd's arrival and casually asked how long his pop had been coming home early. Edd only replied, 'a while'. Then he asked why he was over so often. He never got a straight answer and never bothered to ask again.
Later that night, Edd had another bad dream, kicking and whining in his sleep like a dog.
The semester came and went, winter break was a great welcome; for most. Edd came out of the semester with straight-A's and a big grin in his face. His friends in tow, grumbling and staring at the bright red F's on their cards. Ed cried, tears smearing his dirty face, that he was too spend Christmas with his mustached Aunt. Santa wouldn't know where he was and he wouldn't get no presents! Eddy told him to can-it, cursing loudly for the whole Cul-de-Sac to hear about how grounded he was going to get. Edd offered a sympathetic smile and nothing else.
That night, Eddy tried to call Edd many times, it going directly to voicemail. Edd's pitchy voice reciting a typical voicemail message. The first few messages he left were polite enough, in case his parents wanted to listen to them, but he left a few rude ones soon thereafter-one where he accidentally curses. He sat at the edge of his bed, his heart racing, his head hurting from how irritated he was. What a shitty day! It was supposed to be the first day of Winter break, why couldn't he go out and enjoy it? He ran his hand through his hair and gritted his teeth. The clock read 7:13. Sockhead would be there any minute.
He heard the familiar rustle of the snow and Edd struggling to open the window. He groaned and opened his door. There stood Edd who shot him a mildly confused look. Eddy explained that he was grounded for the entire break. He sighed, expecting a stern lecture about how he should study harder and he wouldn't be grounded. But, Edd just mumbled something that Eddy didn't catch and didn't care to hear.
He did notice, however, how distraught Edd looked. Like he found out his cat was killed and stuffed in his mailbox. Edd gave a soft 'thank you anyway' and walked past Eddy. Eddy wanted to say something, anything, but didn't. It wasn't his fault he was grounded, why should he apologize? He spotted a black bag underneath the window. He instantly grabbed it, marveled at how heavy it was, and went after Edd.
"Yo, Sockhead. You forgot your crap." Edd froze, turned around and took it off Eddy's hands.
"Thank you, Eddy." He gave a gentle smile. Eddy fished for something else to say, but before he even could offer an ounce of conversation, Edd gave a quick 'goodbye' and walked off, dismally, to his house, where the white sedan sat in the driveway.