Winged Cupid Painted Blind Chapter 4 - Cupid is a Knavish Lad
A/N- Going to try and round out the night in this chapter, hopefully, If not this one then the next one, just depends if I can get there or not. Nat belongs to C2ndy2c1d Warnings: Language, descriptions of drug use
They walked down the strip, Kevin was silent at first contemplating what he could do to cheer up the dork. What Lee had done had obviously rattled Edd, whether it was her dismissal of him, or the names she had called him, Kevin wasn't sure. But he was sure the boy didn't deserve such treatment, he was a person just like everyone else and deserved to be treated as such. "You know, you shouldn't let them bother you this much."
"I know, I just feel bad that I made you miss the party." Edd said trying to apologize to the jock.
Kevin put a reassuring smile on his face, "don't worry about it," clapping the boy on the back, "it would have just been another mind numbing experience of teenagers trying to act grown up."
"If you say so," Edd tried to place a smile on his face, "It probably would have still been fun though." Even if he would have been accosted by Marie all night, the thought of a being invited to a party, even though fleeting, had excited him.
"There are plenty of fun things for us to do," Kevin motions with his right hand as though he was presenting the work to him, "We just have to go out there and find it." Continuing down the road, Kevin regaled Edd with a tale of one of his friends drunken attempts to get laid, "So there I am smoking a joint in the living room, and here comes Amber running in screaming 'he pissed on me'." Mocking the expression on her face, he gets Edd to laugh a little. "There's the face I've been looking for," He looks Edd in the eye and smiles broadly, "See that wasn't so hard."
Trying to control his laughter Edd spoke between giggles, "That poor guy has probably never lived it down."
"Nope, we still tease him about it, but he just rolls with the punches," Nudging Edd in the shoulder with his own, "which is what you need to do more, let that sass out, show them they can't get to you."Before Edd could give his response, they both heard someone yelling in their direction from the parking lot to their left. Looking in the direction the call was coming from, they see a teal hair boy hanging out his car window waving his arm at them. Kevin motions for Edd to follow him, as they approached the boy pulled himself out of the driver's seat to perch himself on the window seal. "Hey Nat what's up?" Kevin says as he bumps fists with the boy.
"Hey man what you doing walking around the strip?" Nat said motioning with his head to the road, "Thought you were going skating tonight."
"Yeah, it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be." Kevin says plainly, falling back into his popular persona.
"Who's your friend?" Nat said looking around Kevin to Edd.
"Oh, that's Edd, he's cool." Kevin stepped to the side so Nat could get a better look at him.
"Oh yeah I know you," Nat pointed at him shacking his forefinger a few times, "Your that band geek." Nat turned back to Kevin, "You and your charity cases."
Was that all Edd was to Kevin, a charity case? Or was he just a good deed to make Kevin feel better about himself, or atonement for his sins of bullying people in his past. "Stop it Nat, you're going to make him feel bad," turning to Edd, "Don't listen to him." Kevin's expression was apologetic, but then a smirk danced across his lip, "By the way Edd, Nat here is the guy I've been telling you about." He leaned in and whispered 'he pissed on me' in Edd's ear, Edd covered his mouth to hide his smile.
Nat knew deep down what Kevin had told him, "Only good things I hope."
"Nothing but." Edd responded hiding his smile again behind his hand.
A smile crossed Nat's face, glad the boy was going to show some tact and not bring it up. "If Kevin says your cool that's good enough for me." Nat drops back into the car and motions for them "Get in boys." Both Edd and Kevin simultaneously say shotgun, "I don't care who the fuck rides in the front, just get the hell in the car." Edd takes the back seat allowing Kevin to have the front. "Where to boy's, the night is young and there is booty that needs claimed." Nat let out a small howl at the end if his statement as he started the engine.
Laughing at his friend's antics Kevin just points to the road, "I don't care man, just drive." Nat puts the vehicle in reverse and leaves the parking spot, exiting the lot they turned on to Peach Creek Dr. and began to lap the strip. Joined by his friend and his companion Nat's excitement for the evening had gone through the roof, anything was possible for the three teens, and Nat hung his head out the window and howled at the moon quickly joined by Kevin. Edd just sat back and laughed at their antics, happy to be included in something new and exciting, who knew what might come of this night. They made a few laps along with a few stops to flirt with girls or talk with friends, Kevin always keeping Edd by his side so the boy wouldn't feel like an outcast from the group, introducing him to the people he knew who would give him the polite what's up and then turn back to the conversation. Each group had their own thing going, from having a few beers they shared usually in a forty ounce bottle. Boy's n the Hood having just released last year meant all the little country boys were now trying to be gangsta, which to them meant baggy clothes, smoking pot and forty ounce of St. Ides. Edd could not help but laugh internally at these kids, for what did they know about it really other then what Hollywood manufactured for them or what they saw on MTV. But hey if they were offering to smoke some pot with him, who was he to refuse right, it would be rude not to even if some of it was dirt weed.
The night quickly started to wind down, hitting past midnight, the strip started to die down from where most of the teens had to return their parents cars or suffer their wrath. After taking a final lap and not seeing anyone left worth talking to, Nat drove the car out toward the country. Once outside the borders of the town Nat reaches into his pocket and pulled out a cellophane wrapper containing a small amount of pot, "Been saving this little bit just for us." He waved it back and forth for emphasis.
"Got any papers," Kevin asked and Nat pointed to the glove box, pulling out the owner's manual as well he hands them all to Edd, "You role it, Nat pull over I got to piss." Nat complied and Kevin exits the car while Edd hurried with his task of rolling the joint for them. Peaking upward to see Kevin standing in front of the car a few steps away facing away from them, the head lights being the only illumination on the dark country road and the reason he walked in front of the car.
Nat looked in the rear view mirror and spoke, "I know he's a very likeable guy, just don't get your hopes up."
Edd was a little confused, did Nat catch him looking at Kevin, or did his words have a different meaning, "I don't quite follow you."
Nat looked out the driver's side window into the darkness of the woods around them, "I'm just saying he's a very popular guy, don't think that just because you hang out tonight that you're best friends now." He turns to face Edd so the boy could hopefully see the seriousness of his face, "I mean his time is taken up by a lot of people and things he does, I just don't want you getting your hopes up and get hurt, ok."
Edd nods, if he was being honest with himself he had been waiting for the shoe to drop and get ditched by the jock, best to get confirmation now then later that a small part of him had been right and that this was just a onetime deal for the jock. Kevin opens the door and gets into the car, "You got that rolled yet?" Edd shook his head to signal he hadn't, not speaking afraid that his disappointment at what Nat had told him would be heard, thanking the gods that the night was so dark and his face couldn't be seen. Edd was telling himself this feeling in his gut was just regret at loosing someone who would have been a great friend, but if what Nat said was true did they really even have a chance to even be friends. They continued to drive around the countryside for an hour more, the conversation mainly being between the two upfront, Kevin trying a few times to include Edd in the conversation but only getting meek response and when he asked the dork if he was alright Edd would just blame the pot for his introverted behavior.
Around two thirty at night Nat had to call it an evening, having to help his parents the next day with some manual labor, he drops the two of them off at the skating rink and says his farewells. The boys not being allowed back into the building decided to take a walk on the golf course nearby, finding a tree that was sitting in a small row of trees they park themselves underneath it. Looking up at the night sky with its clouds rolling swiftly by Edd could see a few stars shining through the gaps in the clouds. Turning so his feet were facing the trunk of the tree he lays down upon the grass to look straight up at the sky, Kevin quickly follows lying down beside him. "Do you ever wonder how big it all is?"
"Everyday," Edd said taking in the beauty of the contrast of the fluffy clouds against the black of the night sky with its diamond like points of light scattered across the tapestry, "Compared to the magnitude of the universe, this planet would be but a grain of sand on a beach."
"If that really, we might be the atom within the grain of sand," Kevin replied, spotting the moon that was sinking in the west, "With how big the universe is, there has to be other life forms out there."
"But of course there is, whether it's a micro on some rock somewhere, or a thriving ecosystem, or little green men." Edd thinks for a minute about these possibilities, "I fear for us though if aliens ever land here."
"Why's that?" Kevin looked at the boy who was still looking at the stars.
Edd let out a sigh that the answer wasn't obvious, "Because you know there will be a group of people here that will hate them for being different then they are, and who's to say that doesn't piss them off enough to wipe us out."
"Well I hope we become better people before that happens." Kevin returned to looking at the stars.
"I doubt it, we are taught to hate each other's differences since kindergarten, maybe even sooner." It was Edd's turn to look at the jock, hoping the boy takes a hint and understands he meant this statement to be about more than his status at school. "It's an endless cycle, we were taught by our parents and we will teach our kids, if we have kids."
Kevin sits up and looks down at Edd, "I would hope that one day we could achieve acceptance though."
Edd sits up and faces the jock propped up on one hand, "I hope you're right, it's a lot we have to accept about each other, and a lot of growing up we have to do as a species." Edd shakes his head and looks away from Kevin, "I'm sorry, I get these thoughts running through my head all the time, I didn't mean to unload it on you."
"There is nothing wrong with being a deep thinker, without them philosophy wouldn't exist, Plato and Aristotle wouldn't have had a job." Kevin smirked at Edd, "Now relax, I'm not going to judge you, I like you just the way that you are, I would have thought that you would have figured that out by now, you are the smart one." He pokes Edd in the forehead gently at the last part of his sentence. Edd yawns and Kevin fiddles with his wrist watch setting a alarm on it, then lays down and motions for Edd to join him, "Come here, you got to be tired and cold, we'll catch a few hours of sleep before your mom picks you up." Edd nods and tries to lay down at a reasonable distance away from Kevin, but the jock pulls him in to lay his head on his shoulder and Kevin shifted his weight so their bodies were side by side. Seeing the confusion in Edd's eyes, "To share body heat," Kevin reassures him so the position wasn't awkward to the boy.
Being well past his normal bedtime and now comfortable and enjoying the warmth and smell of the jock that had enveloped him in his arms, Edd quickly fell asleep. Waking up a few hours later to the sound of the alarm from Kevin's wrist watch, he found that he had rolled over onto his side facing away from Kevin and that the jock had followed him, his arm tucked under Edd's head and his other arm pulling the boy in close to him so they were spooning. Rolling over, he nudged Kevin gently to wake him up, the jock just mumbled for five more minutes of sleep, "Kevin it's almost time, we got to go." Kevin opens his eyes and focuses on his watch, and quickly got up and ready. Walking back to the rink to wait for their rides, Edd sees that his mother was already there, he waves farewell to Kevin and gets in the vehicle.
"You're out early honey." Edd was going to stammer off some excuse when a knock came to the window.
Seeing Kevin standing there Edd roles down the window, "Good morning Mrs. Vincent, how are you today?" She greeted him properly, "I just wanted to thank your son again for helping me get my car unlocked, stupid me left my keys in it." He motioned for Edd to give him a pen by mimicking writing, Edd quickly handed him a pen and paper, Kevin scribbled down something and handed it back to him. Patting Edd on the chest he smiles and says, "Give me a call sometime," and Kevin walks away to await his parent's arrival. Looking at the paper he sees Kevin's name and phone number on it, and a little piece of joy hits Edd's heart, cupid had struck his mark that night and Edd was desperately trying to keep that emotion in check, incase what Nat had said was ultimately going to be true.