APtCH: Chapter 4

It was now much later in the day in Peach Creek, around the late afternoon. We soon zoomed in on Eddy's house as we could see him standing outside in his front yard, waiting for his friends to arrive. After all, it is his fifteenth birthday today! He looked around for a moment before looking down at himself, making a small sigh. He was still in a bit of disbelief about the sudden growth spurt he went through yesterday, even his parents were surprised that it happened so drastically when he approached them. His voice had also changed, but only slightly.

Eddy was also thinking of ways to make himself look less like his older brother, 'It could help Zoey out a lot if I looked less like him, but I don't really know how I can do that…'

A few minutes passed by before most of his friends arrived at his house; the only ones not here yet were Marie and Zoey. They all decided to enter Eddy's house to start hanging out for the day.

"You know, I'm quite surprised that you did not want to have any sort of party for your birthday today," Double D started to say to Eddy.

"Eh, it's fine. My folks are still getting me a cake in town, but that's about it," Eddy replied with a shrug of his shoulders, "Besides, next year will be the big one! I'll be sixteen then! I'll make up today by partying twice as hard next year!"

Double D rolled his eyes a little, "Let's not go that far…"

Meanwhile, Matthew sat on the couch for a moment before realizing two of their friends were not there yet, "Huh, I wonder where Marie is? Kind of feels weird without her here…"

"Wow, you really do like her, huh?"

"Ah!" Matthew gasped as he turned to see Serena now sitting beside him, "D-Don't do that to me!"

Serena laughed a little at her little brother, "Sorry, sorry! It's almost our first Halloween soon! Let's get into the spirit of things!"

"… You're using that as an excuse to jump-scare me whenever you want, isn't it?"

"Yep!"

Matthew groaned at his older sister, "How nice of you to be so honest."

The twins sat there for a second before Serena spoke up, "You know, I'm kind of surprised you haven't told Marie how you've felt yet."

Matthew looked to Serena in surprise before making a small smile to her, "I could say the same to you about—"

"NO!" Serena gasped as she covered his mouth to make him stop talking, "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" she said in a nervous tone and a small glare.

Matthew sighed at her behavior as she lowered her hand from his mouth, "Okay, I get it! I won't say anything."

"Hey, Serena!" The twins heard Ed close by as he rushed up to their sides with a big smile, "Guess what I got at the comic bookstore yesterday!"

"Uh… a comic book?"

"Yeah!" Ed pulled out a comic book that he had hidden in his jacket, "It's a reprint of a classic issue of Superman! Do you wanna read it together?"

Serena smiled at him, "Sure!"

Ed sat down next to Serena on the couch. Matthew continued to sit there for a second before getting up to walk away, "I'm gonna grab something from the kitchen. I'll be right back."

Of course, Serena knew why he left; so that she and Ed could be together for a moment, 'Thanks, Matt.'

The two teens sat there on the couch as they started to read the Superman comic Ed had with him. In the last edition, Lex Luthor kidnaps Louis Lane (again) to both kill her and lure Superman into a trap to finally defeat him! As they continued to read the comic, Superman encounters and fights Lex, as well as saves Louis before she can get killed! After Superman knocks Lex out and sends him to prison, they can see Superman and Louis standing there near the aftermath of Lex's lair, which was now destroyed. The two were embracing together in a tight hug; Louis already knew that Superman was her co-worker in disguise, Clark Kent, whom she had a relationship with. One of the last panels of the comic was them kissing each other before showing a new enemy in the very last panel, hinting at the continuation of the story for another time.

While they were reading the last page, Ed glanced over to Serena, who was still reading the final page to herself. He could feel his heart starting to beat a little faster than before as he was looking at her. A deep blush started to form across his face.

"Wow, those two always seem to get into some weird trouble," Serena said as she turned to Ed, "Makes me wonder if they can ever catch a break or even relax."

Ed stayed silent at her, which Serena noticed immediately, "Ed?"

Serena could clearly see how red Ed's face was now as looked at her. She stared at him for a second before realizing that she was also blushing. The two teens sat there for a moment before Ed finally spoke, "U-Umm, Serena? Can I ask you something?"

He reached out to the comic book to show the second to last page in it to her, "I, uh… I-I've been thinking about this a few times when we've read things together."

Serena looked down to what Ed was pointing at on the page; the panel where Clark and Louis were kissing each other, "I was wondering if, umm – Y-You felt the same way t-to… to me? Like this?" Ed finally asked.

Serena looked back up to him in shock. A few seconds of silence passed by before Ed made a sad face, glancing down at the floor, "Oh, umm…" he started to say before looking back to Serena, "S-Sorry, I—"

He could suddenly feel Serena grab him a little by his shirt to pull his face down to her since he was a lot taller than her. It was then she gave Ed a kiss on his lips. He widened his eyes in surprise at her before closing his eyes to give Serena a kiss back in response, gently placing his hands on her shoulders for a moment as he did. They separated from each other a few seconds later.

The two teens could not stop blushing at each other, "I-I didn't know you felt the same way!" was Serena's reply, "I thought it was just me…"

She then gave Ed a tight hug that was on par with one of his own Ed-Hugs, making a big smile to him. He hugged Serena back in response.

"… You know we can all see you, right?" they heard Eddy's voice say to them.

The two teens widened their eyes as they looked beside them. Their friends were standing close by, Eddy was snickering at them while Matthew and Jennifer only smiled. Double D, in the meantime, looked on with surprise; he never did catch on that one of his best friends was in love with his adopted sister and vice versa. Ed and Serena stared at their friends before turning back to each other, quickly letting themselves out of their hug, both blushing like mad.

"I'm sorry Matt! Sorry Double D!" Ed started to apologize to Serena's brothers, covering his face with his hands to try and hide, "I should've said something about this to you two! I'm sorry!"

"Why are you apologizing? You don't need to do that," Matthew started to say, "I've had the feeling for a while that you liked her like that."

"… Wait, and you decided to NOT tell me that?!" Serena yelped as she made a grumpy face to her brother, "Wow! Some brother you turned out to be!"

Suddenly, everyone heard a knock at Eddy's front door, surprising them a little bit.

'Zoey's here now!' Eddy thought to himself with a big smile as he quickly went over to his front door and opened it. His face dropped a smile when he noticed it was not Zoey, "Oh, hey Marie."

"Geez, don't let your excitement come out all at once," Marie huffed to him before turning around to her right near Eddy's garage, "No need to be disappointed, Zoey's right over here."

"Huh?"

Eddy walked out to see Zoey, only for him to widen his eyes at her. He could see that she was wearing something vastly different than what she usually wore every day. She had on a silky purple tank top along with a dark purple skirt that went to her knees, black pantyhose, and some black shoes that had a small heel on them; the outfit showed off her curves a lot more. He could also see that she fixed her hair up a little more than usual, pulling back the part of her hair she usually had covering her right eye. She was holding a jawbreaker in one of her hands while she held a vase of some purple flowers in the other. She still wore the necklace with the promise ring he gave her attached to it.

Eddy stood there for a moment, looking at Zoey as she walked over to him.

"Umm, h-hey," Zoey started to say to Eddy; she sounded extremely nervous to him, "I-I, uh… I kinda wanted to do something special for you," she gestured what she had with her, "I did get a jawbreaker for you, but I also brought you my favorite kind of flower; some violets."

Eddy could only stare at Zoey, not really knowing what to say to her; it felt like something was stuck in his throat, preventing him from speaking. His face started to turn a deep red at her. Of course, Zoey noticed his stare and his silence, internally sighing to herself. She had a feeling this would happen if she did this, and now she instantly regretted her decision.

Back when Zoey lived in Sunflower Shoal, a lot of boys there started to hit on her or ask her out after she hit puberty, even when they had no interest in her before then. Some of the older teen boys asked her for dates as well, but she would always decline; Zoey could see that all of them wanted to be around her for her body like a trophy girlfriend or something. It honestly made her feel sick that it kept happening so often. It was one of the reasons Zoey wore a very big hoodie everywhere she went, even in the summertime when it was hot outside; to try and hide her figure as best as she could. The two incidents with Eddy's brother did not help her self-confidence about her figure in the slightest.

"… Can I come in?" Zoey asked.

Eddy jolted a little before nodding his head in reply, backing away so she could enter his house. Zoey walked inside with a bit of a downtrodden face, even closing the door behind her.

Eddy was about to follow before he could feel Marie grab him by the back of his shirt collar, "H-Hey!" Eddy yelped a little as Marie turned him around so he could face her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Marie started to ask him with a bit of anger, "You didn't say anything to her just now!"

"I-I know that!" Eddy snapped a little before making a sigh, "I didn't know what to say, I'm sorry!"

Marie made a groan while facepalming, "Listen, Zoey was really struggling to try and get out of her comfort zone for you! She asked both me and Nazz for help with what to wear today! The least you can do is say something and NOT stare!"

Eddy made an upset face, "Look, the new clothes took me by surprise; I didn't mean to do that!"

"Good to know, but you should tell that to Zoey," Marie stated to him as she pushed him towards his front door to go inside.

Eddy made a sad sigh as he opened his door to come back inside. He could see Zoey was not in his living room; she had left the jawbreaker and the vase of violets on his coffee table. Everyone else was looking towards his kitchen before looking back to Eddy, all of them looked a little concerned, "Did Zoey go into the kitchen?" he asked.

"Yes, she did…" Double D stated with a sigh, "She looked upset just now. What happened?"

"I-I'll explain in a minute, okay?" Eddy replied to them as he walked into his kitchen to see Zoey there, sitting in one of his chairs near the kitchen table.

Eddy walked over to her and pulled a chair next to her, "Umm… Sorry, I didn't say anything earlier when you got here. I was kind of surprised about the clothes, and—"

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

Zoey looked at Eddy beside her, "I got upset for a moment, but I know you didn't mean to stare like that," she lowered her head a little, "But it did kind of bring back some sour memories for me."

Eddy made a bit of an upset face when he heard that, "Oh… My bad."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. I can tell you about that some other time," Zoey replied, shaking her head a little before looking back at him with a smile, "Happy birthday, Eddy!"

She leaned over to him for a hug, which he gave back as well, "Thanks, Zoey," Eddy said with a smile.

Author's Note (October 22nd, 2023): Finally got this chapter made! It took a while for me to figure out what to do for the ending, but now it's done! The next chapter miiight be the final chapter, maybe? If it's not the next chapter, it will be the chapter after that one.