AN 1: Just a quick thank you for the confidence boost you all gave me. I haven't tried to write anything in almost 10 years, so I was a bit unsure. Story related notes at the bottom, and enjoy.

Chapter 2

It was Monday morning, and Eddie is anxious. He had obsessed all day yesterday about what "See you Monday" meant, and is feeling ridiculous because of it. But he couldn't help it. Did she just mean that they would literally see each other, because they had some classes together? He had repeatedly decided that that was exactly what she meant. But he kept coming back to the fact that she had undoubtedly phrased it as a question. The inflection was clear and he had been paying very close attention. They would definitely see each other, so didn't that imply she was asking about whether they'd talk?

With a frustrated groan, he walks through the door to the school. He feels like an idiot. He's trying to analyze the use of a very common phrase, after all. And all because of a girl he'd most likely get over sooner or later. Eddie is well-read, so he knows romantic feelings in teenagers are supposed to be fleeting. It doesn't feel that way, but his intellectual side is trying desperately to override his teenage hormones. So, for now, he lets himself be convinced that his feelings would fade.

But they haven't faded yet, so it doesn't help him. He's outside his homeroom now, one of the classes he shares with Alexis. He peeks inside, and is flooded with relief when he sees she's not there yet. If she had been, he would've had to walk right past her to get to his seat. Now he doesn't have to deal with whether he should say hi, and risk embarrassing himself, or silently walk past her and risk hurting her feelings. Once again, on an intellectual level, he knew he was being an idiot. One of the reasons he liked her so much was that she was a very kind and friendly person. So if he were to say hi, there was no way she'd do anything except happily return the greeting. But logic and emotions aren't friends, so the anxiety was still there.

Eddie quickly makes his way to his seat, and proceeds to discretely keep watch. After a few minutes, Alexis makes her way in with a couple of her friends. She looks towards his seat and he feels his anxiety skyrocket. She says something to the others and then makes a beeline for him. He forces himself to remember that he had kept his cool before, and could therefore do it again, doing his best to ignore the differences of this situation. Such as the people surrounding him.

Alexis stops in front of his desk. "Hey, Eddie, how was the rest of your weekend?" she asks, like them talking is a regular thing.

"Uh, it was good. Didn't do too much. Yours?" he managed to get out, trying not to pay attention to Alexis' friends watching them.

"It was good. I learned something that you might find interesting," she said, trying to draw him into a real conversation, and maybe help him shake off some of the discomfort he was feeling.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?", Eddie asked, curiosity piqued.

Alexis smiled at him. " Ask me nicely."

Eddie saw that smile and suddenly forgot about the audience, like the first time they spoke. He grinned back, and drew on his skills as a writer to make a reply. "Please, oh mistress of mystery, keeper of secrets, reveal your truths to me."

Alexis snorted, and then started full on laughing. She calmed herself after a moment and shook her head at him. "Wow, you're ridiculous. But you did as I asked so I guess I'll tell you. My dad's basing the main character in his next book on your sister. And he's gonna follow her around at her job for research."

"Oh man, that's cool. Not sure how happy Kate's gonna be about it, though. How'd he pull that off, anyway?"

"Dad's friends with the mayor. He said he'd be making the call this morning." The teacher enters the room, signaling that the bell is going to go off soon, so Alexis decides she better do what she came over here for. "So anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with my friends and I?"

Eddie was caught off guard. She wants him to hang out with her and her friends? Why? They'd only had one conversation, two if you count the current one, but he was getting the impression this was planned. "Um, I don't know."

"Please?"

He didn't really want to, he knew it would be awkward, but he couldn't stomach the idea of disappointing her. He didn't know why it mattered so much to her, but the look on her face said it did. "I guess I can."

"Great", she says with a smile that made him momentarily forget his reluctance. I should get to my seat. Find us in the cafeteria."

"Sure."

As she walks away, he is very aware of people paying attention to him. He is used to being ignored, and even finds a certain comfort in it. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. One of the most popular girls in their grade had just went out of her way to talk to him, a guy who didn't really talk to anyone. They were bound to be curious.

The bell rang and class started. Eddie tries to pay attention but he has too much on his mind. He was suddenly on speaking terms with the girl he liked and he didn't even have anything to do with it. And she had him agreeing to things he'd generally try to avoid. He thinks he might be in trouble. He just doesn't know what kind.

As class ends, Alexis is still riding high on her success. Eddie was reluctant, but she ultimately got him to agree. She was confident that her friends would like him and that it wouldn't be horrible like he seemed to think it would be.

As she walked out with Paige and Taylor, she waves at Eddie. He nods back. Her friends notice.

As soon as they put a little distance between them and the classroom, they start in on her. "Okay, spill," Paige demands.

"About?" Alexis asks. She knows what she's talking about, but decides to be difficult.

"Come on, Alexis," Taylor says, "what's up with you and Eddie Beckett?"

"Yeah," Paige adds, "you've never talked to him before, and suddenly you're starting a conversation with him. And it seemed pretty friendly. I don't think I've ever seen him smile before."

"And don't think we missed you laughing at something he said," Taylor throws in.

Alexis sighs. "I ran into him over the weekend," she says, deciding not to say where. "He's actually pretty nice. And funny."

"And cute," Paige says with a smirk.

Alexis rolls her eyes. "It's not like that. I just want to get to know him. Which is why I asked him to have lunch with us."

"Really? Does he know it's all girls?" Taylor replies.

"Um, he didn't ask. And I didn't really consider it. Do you guys mind?"

"I'm fine with it," Paige says.

"Me too," Taylor agrees. "But will he be?"

"I'll give him the chance to back out when I see him at lunch. I hope he doesn't."

"Of course you do," Paige says with a knowing grin.

"Shut up," Alexis groans, giving her a little shove. "Anyway, I gotta get to my next class. See you guys at lunch."

"Bye," both her friends say as she walks away.

They're blowing things out of proportion, Alexis thinks to herself as she makes her way to her next class, especially Paige. She barely knows him, after all. She's just trying to be friendly. Besides, her dad's gonna be working with Eddie's sister, so it makes sense that they get to know each other. She wonders if she should have said that, but is smart enough to realize that offering excuses probably wouldn't help. She knew that quote.

As she arrives at her next class, she wonders if she should be worried about what Paige and Taylor will say at lunch, But she decides that they might tease her in private, but they wouldn't embarrass her like that. She greets some of her other friends and puts it out of her mind for the moment.

Eddie is extremely concerned that he's making a horrible mistake as he slowly makes his way to the cafeteria. He's having visions of somehow revealing his feelings for Alexis to her and her friends that he can't quite convince himself aren't prophetic.

He keeps almost turning around, but he also keeps remembering that he told Alexis that he'd be there. So, almost unwillingly, it's one foot after another.

As he gets close to the cafeteria, he notices Alexis standing there, apparently waiting for him. She sees him approaching and waves.

"Hey," she says as soon as he walks up, "I wanted to catch you before you got to our table because there's something I didn't think about this morning. All the people I eat with are girls. I wanted to give you the chance to back out if that's too weird for you."

Eddie already knows this, of course, but it never occurred to him as a problem. He's tempted to take the out, but it feels wrong when he doesn't have an issue with it. He tends to be more comfortable with women than men, and he's aware of it. He warmed up to Laney much quicker than he did Ryan and Esposito. "I don't have a problem with it, if no one else does."

"Okay, good. And they're all fine with it. Should we go?"

"Uh, yeah. Let's go."

As they make their way into the cafeteria, Alexis can tell that Eddie is nervous, so she tries to reassure him. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. You can talk to me without a problem."

"I tend to be better one-on-one. And, uh, you make it easy," Eddie replies, instantly wanting to hit himself for that last bit. He silently begs that she doesn't read into it.

"Thanks," she says with a smile. She points, "There they are. Come on." She grabs his hand and drags him along.

Eddie does his best not to freak out. She's just friendly, he thinks. Don't read into it, don't read into it. He thinks this to himself all the way to the table.

Alexis' friend Paige sees them first. "Hey guys. I see you're already at the hand-holding stage." She smirks at them as they quickly drop each other's hands. Her other friends all laugh as they blush.

"I was just leading him here," Alexis defends.

"Yeah, I don't think I was moving fast enough for her," Eddie adds with a small smile.

Alexis shoots him a grateful look. "Anyway, girls, this is Eddie Beckett. Eddie, this is Paige, Taylor, and Lauren."

"Hey," he says as they take a seat.

Eddie can tell everyone's focus is on him, and it makes him uncomfortable. He stares down at the table in an effort to avoid eye contact. He misses the concerned look Alexis gives him.

"So," Taylor starts, "Alexis told us she ran into you this weekend, but she didn't mention where."

He shoots a look at Alexis and he can tell that not mentioning it was intentional, so he tries to be vague. "It was at my sister's work."

"And where's that?" Lauren want to know.

"Um-"

Alexis decides to let him off the hook from trying to protect her. "A police station. She's a detective."

"Why were you at a police station? Getting into trouble?" Paige asks, a grin wide across her face.

Eddie jumps in before Alexis can respond, suddenly realizing how to save her from embarrassment. "Her dad is going to be working with my sister for a while. She came in with her grandmother to pick him up."

Alexis can't help but grin at his cleverness, since he didn't actually say anything untrue. "Yeah. He's gonna be following her around for research for his next book."

"Oh, that's cool," Lauren says. "So your sister's a detective? Is she a lot older than you?"

"Yeah. There's a fourteen year difference."

"Oh, wow, that's a lot.. Do you see her much?" Taylor puts in.

This was getting into uncomfortable territory for Eddie. When he tells people he lives with his sister, they tend to assume that both of their parents are dead. And letting people think his dad is dead would be terrible, so he has to correct them. But then they want to know why he lives with his sister when his dad is around. It's not a fun tale to tell, and he knows it's not something he should be spreading around.

He seriously considers just saying that he sees her a lot, but he knows at least Alexis will eventually find out due to her dad shadowing his sister. He really doesn't want her to think he's a liar. Besides, he's a pretty honest guy and he would feel like he was doing his sister a disservice. "Quite a bit. I live with her."

Everyone goes quiet for a moment as the implications of that sink in. Before anyone else can say anything, Alexis steps in. "Alright, that's enough of the interrogation. Lauren, how was your weekend?"

A wave of gratitude goes through Eddie as Lauren answers. The rest of lunch passes with Eddie mostly listening to the conversation, only occasionally adding a comment of his own. It was enough, however, to show a bit of his wit and feel like a part of the group.

Lunch break is almost over and people have started to exit the cafeteria. "Well, we should probably get going," Alexis says, and everyone nods in agreement.

As they walk out together, Alexis speaks up again. "That was fun. You wanna make this a regular thing, Eddie?"

Before he can say anything, Lauren chimes in. "C'mon, Eddie, be our friend." Taylor nods in agreement at this.

"You could do worse than several pretty girls, you know," Paige adds, once again with a smirk. The rest of the girls roll their eyes at this, while Eddie blushes slightly.

"Um, yeah sure. That'd be great."

"Awesome. Alright, I gotta go this way. See you last period, Eddie!" Alexis says as they split up.

As Eddie continues on his own, he considers how much better that went then he expected.

"Hey, Eddie!" he hears from behind him as he makes his way to his last period class. He turns around to see Alexis approaching. He stops to let her catch up.

"Hey," she says again as she reaches him. "You ready for that quiz today?"

"Yeah, I think so. Hey, uh, thanks for the save earlier. My housing situation is kind of a sensitive topic."

Alexis smiles warmly at him. "No problem. Besides, I think I owed you one."

Eddie realizes what she's talking about and grins. "Yeah, you wouldn't want your friends to know they're hanging out with the daughter of a criminal. They might get nervous."

She laughs and shoves him. "Shut up. Stop calling my dad a criminal."

"Public menace?" he replies with a laugh of his own.

She rolls her eyes. "No. He's not Spider-Man and you're not J. Jonah Jameson."

Eddie's eyes widen, and he thinks his crush just deepened a little. "Wow. Good reference."

Alexis grins. "You can blame my dad for that. He's a big nerd and it may have rubbed off a little." She smirks suddenly and adds, "He'd probably be upset that I said he wasn't Spider-Man."

"I for one am glad I'm not Jameson. It's gotta take skill to yell all the time and not destroy your vocal cords," Eddie says.

"He probably drinks a lot of tea and honey," Alexis theorizes.

They both laugh before Eddie says, "Man, this conversation took a strange turn."

"Yeah, it did," Alexis agrees, still sporting a smile.

They arrive at their classroom and walk in together. They get a few looks, but Eddie figures he's going to have to get used to more attention if he's going to hang out with Alexis and them, so he tries to ignore it.

The bell rings, so Eddies starts to head to his seat. Alexis grabs him by the arm to stop him. "I'll talk to you after class, okay?"

"Yeah sure."

Eddie gets through the quiz without difficulty, and then spends the rest of class trying not to look at Alexis while wondering if there's something specific she wants to talk about. He isn't quite successful with the not looking, but he isn't staring so he calls it a win. He gets nowhere with the wondering.

After class, Alexis is waiting by the door. "Hey," Eddie says, "what's up?"

"I wanted to make sure you were really okay with hanging out with a bunch of girls," she says as they start walking.

"You guys are fun. That's all I care about."

"Are you sure?"

"Paige wasn't wrong, you know."

"About what?"

"I could do worse than several pretty girls," Eddie answers with a grin.

Alexis chuckles. "You're repeating that like you didn't blush when she said it."

Eddie laughs in return. "I feel like she made making me blush her goal for today."

"She's just like that."

They arrive at an intersection, and Eddie points down a hallway. "My locker's this way. See you tomorrow?"

"Wait," Alexis says, "do you have a phone?"

"Uh, yeah, my sister's pretty paranoid, so she got me one."

"Give me your number."

"Uh, sure," he says, and does as she asked.

She texts him a quick It's Alexis, and says, "Good, now we can stay in contact. See you tomorrow!" With that, she walks away.

Eddie stands there stunned for a moment, then starts making his way to his locker. As he does, he thinks about what a strange day he's had.

AN 2: First of all, the only name of one of Alexis' friends I could remember was Paige, so I made the other 2 up. If anyone knows more, I'd be happy to edit them in. Second, the Kate and Eddie interactions seem to be popular, so I'm sorry for the lack this chapter. I was going to put one in at the end, but it felt like I'd just be jamming it in there. They'll make their triumphant return next chapter, don't worry. Last, there's no schedule. This coming out at almost the same time it did last week (it's like 4 hours short of a week exactly) is a coincidence. I'm putting chapters out as I finish them, though I'm hoping to have a 2 week max between updates.

Edit: Have fixed the names.