Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment, It's A Laugh Productions and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.

Author's Note: If you are an Eddie fan, I've got a little more of him in the next two chapters. If you recall, he is going out on a date with Gina, one of the girls from Raven and Chelsea's dorm. Let's see how things shake out.


The L Word

Chapter 4

Lose Yourself

Eddie is maneuvering his black 2001 Nissan Pathfinder down the highway to Cal-Berkley for his date with Gina. He is about 15 minutes from campus. He checks his watch. It's 6:35. His date is still almost an hour away but he figured he would get some face time with Raven and Chelsea beforehand.

(Eddie's thoughts)

All right, man. Just relax and be yourself. You're Big E. Remember that. Man, is she fine or what? And she was diggin' me! Okay. Dinner and a movie, some light conversation, a get-to-know-you type of thing.

I hope Rae and Chels are cool with this. More Rae than Chels. She acts like she can't stand the girl. I wonder if she had a bad vision about Gina and didn't tell me. (pauses)

But her visions have been wrong before. (pauses) Forget it. I can't worry about that. I've got a date to get ready for. I need some music to get me ready.

Eddie starts thumbing through his portable CD case. Let's see here… That's it!

The opening notes begin pulsing through the Bose speakers. Eddie straightens up in his seat, readying himself to get pumped up. Eddie begins to speak along with Eminem's Lose Yourself.

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
Theres vomit on his sweater already, moms spaghetti
Hes nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words wont come out
Hes chokin, how everybodys jokin now
The clocks run out, times up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes rabbit, he choked
Hes so mad, but he wont give up that
Is he? no
He wont have it , he knows his whole back citys ropes
It dont matter, hes dope
He knows that, but hes broke
Hes so stacked that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, thats when its
Back to the lab again yo
This whole rap sh
He better go capture this moment and hope it dont pass him

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, Yo…

Raven and Chelsea were in their room putting the finishing touches on their room when there was a knock at the door.

"Eddie must be early. I got it Chels." Raven said to Chelsea as she made her way to the door. When she opened the door she was greeted by the warm but nervous smile of Gina Melendez.

"Hi Raven. Do you and Chelsea have a minute?" Gina gingerly asked.

Raven looked at Gina and recognized the look of nervous anticipation. In that instant she felt for her beautiful but sometimes irritating neighbor.

"Sure Gina. Come on in." Raven said. "Hey Chels!" Raven called out to Chelsea who was picking up in the bathroom. "We've got company! Gina's here!"

"Hi Gina!" Chelsea called out.

"Hi Chelsea!" Gina said before turning to Raven. "I just wanted to talk to y'all about Eddie."

"Have a seat." Raven pulled out her desk chair for Gina. Raven sat on the edge of her bed. Just then Chelsea walked in the room. "Gina wanted to talk to us about Eddie." Raven said to Chelsea as she sat down about a foot from Raven on the edge of the bed.

"What's on your mind Gina?" Chelsea asked.

"I know that Eddie is your best friend and… you… well don't like me very much." Gina began.

Raven felt a tug on her heart strings. It was obvious to Gina that Raven was standoffish towards her. I didn't mean to hurt…

"It's not that we don't like you." Raven interrupted then paused to look at Chelsea. "I can't speak for Chelsea but I haven't taken the time to get to know you. I'm sorry if I made you feel like that."

"Sometimes I just take the reporter thing too far and that can really grate on people. At least that's what Katie tells me." Gina admitted, referring to her best friend. "Look I just wanted to try to get things straight with us before Eddie and I go out. It can be tough when a friend goes out with somebody you don't like."

"You and I are cool Gina." Chelsea said with classic Chelsea glee.

"Yeah… me too." Raven added with a smile.

"Whew! That's a load off my mind." Gina exhaled. "Now I can just be nervous about the date."

"Nervous? Girl, it's just Eddie." Raven said, trying to calm Gina.

"I just don't wanna mess this up. The last couple of dates I've been on have been disasters." Gina admitted.

"You'll be fine. Eddie's a sweetheart. He's into hip-hop and… well you know how to talk. Just talk to him. He REALLY likes what he's seen of you." Raven said.

"And the way you look tonight, you have nothing to worry about." Chelsea chimed in. Raven nodded in agreement. Gina had on a pair of dark blue denim Juicy Coutour jeans, black silk blouse and black kitten heels, all of which accentuated her petite, yet curvy 5-foot tall frame. Her jet black hair was silky and straight. Her complexion was silky smooth and about a shade lighter than Raven's with warm olive undertones.

"Thank you Chelsea. That means a lot coming from y'all. You were the most attractive girls on the floor last year." Gina said.

"Thank you!" Raven and Chelsea said in unison.

"You two make a great couple." Gina said.

The smiles instantly disappeared from their faces. They turned to look at each other, not believing what they just heard.

"What… did you… just say?" Raven asked incredulously.

"I said that the two of you make a great couple." Gina repeated herself with a warm matter-of-fact tone.

"What gave you the idea that we were a couple?" Chelsea said. While Raven and Chelsea were proud of each other, they weren't quite ready to share the news with the rest of the dorm.

"I believe Paul Newman said in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, 'Not everybody makes as much noise about love as you do.'" Gina said. "We're the only three on the hall right now. I was going to the lounge and I heard things… But I wasn't spying I swear."

"We were watching a movie!" Raven said in an attempt to cover their tracks. Gina simply shook her head signaling to the roommates that their cover was blown.

"You are so fucking loud!" Raven spun and lightly slapped Chelsea on the arm.

"Me? I'm fucking loud? That's you! Your voice carries!" Chelsea shot back and included a slap of her own.

"Look! It's okay. It's no big deal. It is what it is." Gina said. "If it makes you feel better, I won't tell a soul, not even Katie or my priest during confession."

The young women looked at Gina and decided that she was cooler than they gave her credit for. They were about to thank Gina for her discretion when she spoke up again.

"I'm gonna go back to my room now. I have a couple of things to do before I go." Gina said as she got up and started toward the door. "But… thank you. Your accepting me does mean a lot."

"You can stop by anytime." Raven said.

"That's what friends do." Chelsea said.

Gina smiled. "I'll see you later. Wish me luck!"

"Luck!" Chelsea and Raven exclaimed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Chelsea added. They all laughed as Gina closed the door.

"You and your damned whipped cream! Come here!" Raven said as she began chasing Chelsea around the small room. Chelsea was laughing hysterically. About 10 seconds into the chase, Chelsea's room phone rang.

"Hello?"

"It's Ed. I'm outside. Let me in."

"Shouldn't you call your date to let you in?" Chelsea teased.

"Chels… I will huff and puff and blow this whole building down."

"Out of breath mints, huh?" Chelsea poured more gasoline on the fire.

"JUST LET ME IN PLEASE!"

"I'm coming down." Chelsea said laughing as she hung up the phone. "He wants at her bad!" Chelsea said to Raven as she left the room to let Eddie into the building.

After several minutes, Eddie and Chelsea returned to the room. Eddie walked over to Raven for a hug.

"Mmm! Don't you look and smell sharp!" Raven commented on Eddie's black denim jeans, matching jacket and butter-colored Timberland boots. Eddie polished off his outfit with some Cristobal by Balenciaga cologne.

"You think she'll like it?" Eddie asked with slight nervousness.

"She'll love it. Let me smell your breath." Raven said.

"Come on Rae!" Eddie said.

"Come on nothing! Let me smell your breath. You don't want the girl droppin' dead before you get there!" Raven said.

"Where are y'all going anyway?" Chelsea inquired.

"Dinner and a movie." Eddie replied.

"Okay, breath's good!" Raven gave her seal of approval.

"You've kissed me before Rae. You know it's all good." Eddie dropped his voice, switching to his mack vibe.

"I have a girlfriend now. What does that say about your kissing technique?" Raven cut Eddie to the quick. Chelsea let out an "Oooh!" as Eddie rolled his eyes. "I'm just playin'! I'm just playin'! You're ready! Go get her!"

"Just be yourself. You'll be fine." Chelsea said.

"Okay. Is there anything else I need to know before I go?" Eddie wanted to make sure he was fully prepared for anything.

"Oh yeah! She knows about me and Rae." Chelsea said. Eddie had a pained expression on his face. "And she's cool with it." Chelsea added.

"That's a relief!" Eddie was glad that awkward conversation piece was off the table. "Okay, here I go!" Eddie went to the door and cracked it open looking back into the room as Raven walked over to Chelsea and put an arm around her waist.

"Aww, look Chels! Our little man is going out on a date! Ain't that sweet?" Raven cooed.

"They grow up so fast!" Chelsea said to Raven. "Just don't let little Eddie grow too fast tonight! Okay?" Chelsea added as the two women burst out in laughter.

"Yeah. That sudden blood loss from your brain could make you light-headed."

Eddie froze as he looked at Raven and Chelsea realizing neither one of them had delivered that line. The voice came from the other side of the door. Eddie slowly opened the door. It was Gina.

"I heard your voice and I thought I would come say hi." Gina said.

"You'll have to excuse these two. They didn't get enough oxygen as babies and it still affect their brains from time-to-time." Eddie said.

"No harm, no foul." Gina said. "You smell great. Cristobal, right?"

"Very keen nose. Yeah it is." Eddie replied. She knows her colognes. Is that a good or bad thing? "You look great. Are you ready?"

"Thank you so do you. And yes I am."

"Ladies. I will talk to you later." Eddie turned and offered his arm to Gina to take. Gina took Eddie's arm and they started toward the elevator.

"Bye Big E!" Chelsea and Raven said in unison as the snickered.

Raven closed the door to the room. "He is so sprung."

"Don't you know it." Chelsea replied.

"He's got it almost as bad as you do for me." Raven deadpanned.

Chelsea walked over to Raven nose-to-nose, smiling at her. "Yeah, I got it bad for you." Chelsea pressed herself up to Raven. "You know what I want to do right now?"

"What?"

"I want us to go out to your truck…" Chelsea planted a soft kiss on Raven's cheek when she said this.

"Mmm-hmm." Raven's interest was piqued.

"And take a nice drive someplace quiet…" Chelsea purred.

"I like that." Raven's temperature was beginning to rise.

"And get something to eat cause I'm starving!" Chelsea delivered with comedic brilliance as she spun away from a dumbstruck Raven. She grabbed her keys off the desk and went back over to Raven who was still standing in the same spot realizing that Chelsea had foiled her again. "Who's got it bad now?" Chelsea said as she headed for the door.

As she headed out the door, Raven mumbled to herself singing, "Sometimes you act like a nut, sometimes you cain't. Chelsea D. is nuts, Rae ain't! Because…"


Sometimes you feel like a nut! Sometimes you don't! Almond Joy's got nuts, Mounds don't!... - Remember that commercial? If you don't, you're too young! But anyway, that was Chapter 4. Eddie is off on his date with Gina. How does it turn out? Is Gina on her way to becoming an honorary Amigo? Chapter 5 is next!