Stupid stupid stupid was all Edd thought as he raced through the tiled hallways to the men's bathroom, his face burning. That was a stupid thing to do. Why did he have to blow up right there, in front of everyone? Edd reached the bathroom and took a quick glance around. There was a single boy there, using a urinal. Ignoring him, Edd stood in front of the mirror, gripping the sink with his bony fingers and staring at himself. All he saw was a sixteen year-old kid with a fiery red face who couldn't control himself.
Good lord, why was his face blushing so much and why did it feel so hot? Edd's hands went for the faucet handle and clumsily turned it. He cupped them together underneath the falling water, which slowly pooled in his hands. When it felt right, Edd splashed the cool, refreshing liquid over his face. It calmed him down slightly, and Edd repeated the gesture several times before he felt in control and like himself again.
Reaching into his bookbag and pulling out a napkin, Edd began to dry himself off. That was a bad start, he inwardly winced. Quite bad. Everyone would whisper about this for days and throw sidelong glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking. It would pass with time for most of them, but that wasn't what was bothering Edd. No, he was more concerned about his friends and acquaintances. This was a bad way to come out, the only worse way he could think of is if he was caught with his limbs entangled with another boy's, their faces locked together. Their views could be negatively colored by this and- oh good lord, what if they thought he was gay?
Edd's mind went blank and his hand went into a fist, and even though he still had the napkin in his hand, Edd could feel his fingers biting into his palm. He would have to do damage control on this, it was absolutely necessary. He'd have to talk with Eddy and try to make sure that he didn't go around telling everyone that he was a fag, or however he would crudely put it. Then he'd have to try to talk with Nazz. Everyone always talked to her about everything, and if anyone were to spread rumors about him, Nazz would know. After that, Edd supposed he'd just have to be open about his sexuality and his remorse about the outburst, he assumed.
Releasing a long drawn out breath that he didn't even know he was holding, Edd pocketed his napkin and took a step to leave but saw the other boy was still here. He was staring quizzically at Edd, an unspoken question being raised with his eyes. Raising his hands, Edd tried on a shaky smile and said, his voice less calm and steady than he would have liked "I'm fine. No need to worry. I just had a sudden surprise and was shocked out of my wits. Really, I'm fine."
The boy continued to stare, his dark green eyes boring into Edd. He opened his mouth, as if he were going to say something and then they boy snapped his jaw closed and nodded. He walked out of the bathroom, with Edd following him behind.
He stopped in front of the cafeteria's wide open double doors. Edd knew what he had to do, knew how to deal with this and that he should begin fixing this immediately. But Edd didn't want to, at least right now. So instead of walking into the cafeteria, where Edd could began setting things back to what he called 'normal,' Edd walked to the library and began to search it's crowded shelves for a book. Scanning the spines' titles, his eyes momentarily stopped on a plain looking book. Pulling it out, he looked at the cover. Ordinary People by Judith Guest it said. It was yellowish, as if the book had been forgotten and left to age in a corner. There were four people on the cover, but only three of them had a border around them, as if someone had taken a photo. Edd turned the book over and felt an instant connection with this book as he read the caption.
"They are ordinary people, after all. For a time they had entered the world of the newspaper statistic; a world where any measure you took to feel better was temporary, at best, but that is over. This is permanent. It must be."
Edd took a seat, and opened the book as he began to read the first page.
A/N: Let me get this out of the way. Edd is gonna like boys in my fanfics. Deal with it.
And I know I said this was going to be a collection of one-shots, but last chapter just led to this one so nicely. I hadn't even planned it, but when thinking about what I should write next, this just came to my mind and I knew I had to do it.
Again, reviews are appreciated very much. Thanks for reading!