I groan and rub my eyes, trying to adjust to the light in the room. I'm still curled up on the armchair from last night, but, as I move to sit up better,I notice Eddie sitting on the floor fast asleep with his back against my chair. He has his guitar on his lap...but he just does not look comfortable.
"Eddie." I say gently as I try to untangle myself from the blankets. He doesn't move at all, so I shake his shoulder a bit once I finally free my arms.
"Eddie, wake up." I tell him, trying my best not to scare him. His eyes snap open and he tilts his head back in order to look at me.
"Oh...hey, Shanny." He greets me tiredly.
"What happened? How come you slept out here on the floor?" I ask, causing him to look at me in confusion.
"You mean you don't remember?" Eddie questions me, which I shake my head in response. "I went to head to my room, but you asked me to stay. So I came and sat here for a while. I thought you woke up, but I guess you were sleep talking. But then you asked for music, so I got my guitar and played for a while. You didn't talk again after that, but I figured it would be best for me to just sleep out here in case you needed me."
"Thank you." I say softly. He smiles and shrugs as he goes to stretch a bit.
"No problem. You're my best friend...and you've gone over the top for me when I was home sick with the flu last year, so I kinda owed you for that." He replies. I roll my eyes and push him playfully.
"You didn't owe me for anything. I took care of you because Uncle Wayne and Wren were avoiding you like you had the plague. No one likes to be alone when they're not feeling well, so I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you were bored and had no way of getting food or water. You could barely move without being in pain or vomiting...which was really fucking gross by the way. I will never be able to unsee that shit." I huff. He grins as me as he goes to stand up.
"Hey, I apologized over a hundred times by now for throwing up in the Iron Maiden shoulder bag that you got for your birthday. I'mstill saving up to get you a new one." Eddie tells me before heading back to his room to hang his guitar up.
"I don't need a new one! The book bag you made for me is good enough. It's already a little worn even though you literally just gave it to me last Christmas, but it's still one of my favorite presents that I got. Sure I had to get Robin to put a few stitches on the Metallica patch cause the hot glue you used didn't really like the fabric of the bag, but nothing else has started to peel off or anything." I reply, but he doesn't respond, which causes me to frown and look back through the open door to his room. "Eddie?"
"What the...piece of shit! WHY!?" Eddie shrieks. I try my hardest to untangle the rest of my body from the blankets, but I end up falling off of the chair in the process.
"Fucking bitch!" Eddie shouts.
"Eddie!? Are you okay!?" I call as I squirm around frantically.
"Um...NO! DO I SOUND OKAY TO YOU!?" He screeches. I finally wrestle my way out of the blankets and jump to my feet, immediately running into Eddie's room to see what's wrong.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" He cries as I turn to see him trying to get his comb out of his hair.
"What did I say about using a thin-toothed comb!?" I exclaim as I rush over to help him. Eddie squeezes his eyes shut as he lets me deal with the situation. I sigh and go to grab a better brush out of my book bag.
"You need to brush your hair out more often...then this won't happen. And I know you don't want to ruin the rocker look, but you can't let your hair get all knotted up like this." I tell my best friend as I make my way back over to him. "I'm sorry if it hurts. I'm going to be as gentle as I possibly can."
It takes a decent amount of time to get out all of the knots...with Eddie yelping every few seconds and me apologizing for hurting him every time. He lets out a sigh of relief as he follows me out of his room.
"Thanks. It happens once a week, and W ends up taking chunks of hair out cause she's in a hurry. Maybe I should just go over to your house to get it done." Eddie laughs as I put my brush back in my book bag.
"If that's what you want to do, then yeah. Come over to my house whenever you want to get the knots out of your hair." I reply, causing him to smile brightly at me. "We have about two hours until school starts, so we should probably go to my house. I need to get ready and then I'll get us some food to eat before we go to hell."
"Sounds good to me." Eddie says as he leads me out to his bike. I get on behind him and he peddles away from his house. Of course, as we turn onto the street I live on, Steve's car is in the driveway.
"We can sneak in through your bedroom window if you want to avoid your brother." Eddie offers as we stop in front of my house.
"No...I shouldn't be the one having to sneak around. He's the asshole here, not me." I reply. He nods slightly as we get off his bike. I walk up to the front door, not caring if I make a lot of noise as I go inside my house. Eddie follows me, clearly nervous about possibly bumping into Steve. But I know Steve is in the kitchen by now since I wasn't home.
"Hey...hey! Where were you last night?" Steve asks me as he walks out of the kitchen just as I'm halfway up the stairs. I scoff as I look down at him.
"You left me at school when you said you'd meet me at the front! You have a lot of nerve to ask where I was like I'm the one in the wrong!" I shout at him, which he just stares up at me with his mouth opening and closing like he's trying to figure out what to say. "Fuck you, Steve! I'm really tired of your bullshit!"
"Shannon Michelle Harrington!" Steve exclaims, his eyes wide in shock at my behavior. We've had stupid arguments before, but he's never seen me this angry at him. I flip him off, which he rolls his eyes before glancing at Eddie, who's standing on the stair behind me.
"Great, so I forgot about our agreement and you decided to whore yourself out to the freak." Steve huffs.
"Shannon-" Eddie begins, but I cut him off.
"What the fuck did you just say!?" I yell as I grab the railing and lean over it. My knuckles are turning white from how tight my grasp is.
"Nothing." Steve says quickly.
"You're fucking dead!" I hiss before sliding down the railing and jumping over the other side of it onto the floor. Steve runs back into the kitchen, which I take off after him.
"Shanny, wait!" Eddie callsas he hurries down the stairs.
"Shannon, we can talk about this!" Steve cries as he tries to stay on the opposite side of the island in our kitchen. I grab the bowl of apples and start throwing them at him as hard as I can.
"Put the apples down!" Eddie exclaims as he makes me put the bowl back on the island.
"Call Eddie a freak one more time!" I scream at Steve as Eddie puts his arms around my waist from behind in an attempt carry me away. "One more time and see what fucking happens to you!"
"So, this isn't because I said you were a whore?" Steve asks as he watches Eddie bring me back to the stairs. I let out a yell of anger as I try to break free from Eddie's hold on me, which sends my brother running back into the kitchen.
"I'm going to fucking kill you! If I see you at school, I'm going to crack your thick skull open with the door of my locker!" I shout at Steve as Eddie tries to drag me upstairs.
"Shanny, come on! You're going to make us both fall down the stairs!" Eddie cries as I continue to struggle against him. I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, allowing Eddie to get me to my room without anymore trouble. He lets go of me in order to close the door, which I throw my book bag onto my bed before moving to kick my dresser.
"Jesus Christ!" Eddie shouts as I start to limp around in a circle from hurting my foot. "Shannon, what the fuck!?"
"I'm fucking angry!" I exclaim as he rushes over to see if I really injured my foot or not.
"What does it matter if that douche thinks I'm a freak? I really don't care about his opinion." Eddie huffs as he takes my shoe off.
"Well, I care! I don't like when people say shit like that about you. Just cause they don't know you doesn't give them the right to make stupid ass comments about-" I begin, but he cuts me off.
"I've dealt with it my entire life, Shanny! It doesn't bother me anymore. I appreciate that you are willing to beat the shit out of your douchebagbrother for me, but I don't want you to get hurt over it. What made you think kicking a solid fucking piece of furniture that hard was a good idea?" Eddie scolds me.
"What, so I'm not allowed to be pissed off when people are mean to you for no reason?" I ask as he stands up. "I always kick that dresser. That's what I do when I'm trying to get the violence out of me."
"Hit me instead! At least if you do that you won't be at risk of breaking your damn foot!" Eddie exclaims.
"I'm not gonna hit you!"
"Hit me!"
"No!"
"Hit me, Shannon!"
"I'M NOT GOING TO FUCKING HITYOU, EDWARD MUNSON!"
"Why not!?"
"Because you're the last person on this planet that I'd want to hurt! Now drop it!"
"Are you angry enough at me to hit me now?"
"Eddie, I swear to fucking-"
"Sorry! Sorry..."