OtVoM: Chapter 6

It was now a brand-new morning here in the town of Peach Creek; currently February 6th, Zoey's eighteenth birthday. We soon zoomed in on Zoey's house, where we could see both Eddy and Zoey, still asleep in her bed. Eventually, Eddy started to wake up to get out of her bed. He then looked back at her to see that Zoey was still asleep, her back turned away from him now.

Eddy started to remember what they both did last night and… Honestly, he could not believe it; everything happened for them in a flash, but he could remember it very well and how it felt. It was a rush of emotions he'd never felt before, and he was happy that it was between him and the girl he loved the most.

There was a stray thought that crossed his mind for a split moment before he quickly shook it away. 'We should do that again someday soon.'

'No, wait! Stop that! I only did this to comfort Zoey for her birthday!' Eddy thought to himself, getting angry at himself for even thinking that, 'Just wait again until you're older like you promised! This was just a one-time moment for now, don't be that asshole!'

He got up from her bed to go downstairs to grab the suitcase he left by the staircase; he had a change of clothes in it. It was as he went downstairs that he suddenly heard the doorbell ring, making him jump in surprise.

"Geez! Who the hell is that this early in the morning?!" Eddy grumbled in a tired voice as he opened the door, not realizing what a mistake that was.

"E-Eddy?"

He widened his eyes as he saw both Double D and Jennifer standing there at the door, with Jennifer holding a vase full of violets, Zoey's favorite flower; presumably to cheer up her friend from all that was going on.

"Why are you here at Zoey's house?!" Jennifer asked in both surprise and confusion.

Double D was the one who noticed that Eddy was only in his boxers, but not the ones he wore for his usual pajamas, which were a tank top and a different pair of boxers. He furrowed his eyes a little in suspicion, "Eddy, what's going on?"

"W-What do you mean? I just woke up from sleeping on her couch!" Eddy replied quickly with a lie, "My folks called me last night to check on me after they heard what happened to Evan. I then told them about what happened to Zoey's dad, and they gave me the go-ahead to stay here for one night to help her out if she needs it."

"… I see," Double D replied to him, still being doubtful to his friend.

"Umm, is Zoey awake? We wanted to cheer her up and give her some violets," Jennifer stated, "Both for her birthday and everything else going on."

Eddy shook his head, "No, not that I know of yet… I haven't—"

"Eddy?" Zoey's voice called out from the top of the stairs as she started to walk down them, "Who are you talking t—?!"

That was when Zoey noticed Double D and Jennifer standing at her front door. She had come down the stairs with a blanket wrapped around her top half to cover herself, the others could tell she was not wearing a bra or her usual pajama tank top. Both Eddy and Zoey could feel their faces turning red, "… Uh oh."

Double D only made a heated sigh in disbelief at them while Jennifer looked at him with a bit of confusion, "I had a feeling that's what was going on."

"W-We can explain ourselves; I swear!" Both Eddy and Zoey yelped to him in a panic.

"Yes, please do so."

Eddy and Zoey let Double D and Jennifer into the house and closed the front door behind them, leading them to her living room couch to talk.

Jennifer handed Zoey the vase of violets she wanted to give to her, "Thank you so much, Jennifer, I'll find a place to put them later," Zoey said to her friend with a smile.

Double D cleared his throat, trying to get their attention, "Eddy, Zoey… For the love of God, please tell me you two didn't have sex last night, did you?"

Eddy and Zoey were both silent to him, "… We did," Zoey replied.

Everyone was silent for a moment again before Jennifer widened her eyes, "O-Oh, I get it now. We're, umm, sorry if we interrupted anything…"

Double D made another sigh as he facepalmed, "Did you at least use protection?"

"O-Of course I did!" Eddy shouted at him a little, "I would NEVER want to use or hurt Zoey like that!" He looked down towards the floor, "Not like what Evan was going to do to her yesterday."

"That's good to know," Double D replied before crossing his arms a little, "But why would you two do this now? You know you're both still in high school, Senior year or not…"

Eddy and Zoey looked at each other before saying anything back, "Well, uh… I didn't lie to you about the call with my parents; they really did give me permission to stay here for the night to help Zoey if she needed anything."

"Yeah… Eddy arrived here around 10:30 last night, I think," Zoey started to say, "He was trying to cheer me up from everything that was going on, reassuring me that everything was going to be okay…" she then started to blush, "S-So, he then showed me what he bought in town a few days ago, some condoms. He told me he bought them for my birthday, to see if that was something I wanted to do. But because of everything that happened yesterday, he decided against it, but still told me about what he bought; saying it felt like bad timing and wanted to wait until we were a little older," she reached out to hold Eddy's hand with hers, "I told him it was nice of him to ask me about it, and that we could do it."

"And that's pretty much all there was to it," Eddy finished off explaining, "We both promised each other to not do it again until we're older. This was only once, just for Zoey's birthday. Honest!"

Double D and Jennifer were silent about what they both said. They could both tell they were being genuine and not lying or hiding anything.

"So, uh… Is that what you wanted to hear from us, Mr. Nosey Sockhead?" Eddy asked with a bit of annoyance.

Double D made a small smile back, "Yes, I'm sorry about all the questions. I just didn't want anything to escalate into where it would be a problem; especially since you're both high schoolers."

"Don't worry, we know," Zoey replied before gesturing to her kitchen nearby, "I have a few packets for making some hot chocolate. Do you want some? It's still snowing outside today, right?"

"Oh, I want some," Jennifer stated with a smile. She and Zoey both got up from where they sat, with Jennifer going to the kitchen and Zoey going upstairs to put on something else, leaving behind Double D and Eddy.

"I think you should also go get dressed properly," Double D said to Eddy, noticing he was still in his boxers.

"Yeah, that's what I was going to do before you knocked on the door," Eddy stated as he got up to grab his suitcase near him, walking up the stairs with it as he did.

Double D made a sigh once again, glancing into the kitchen to see Jennifer getting out four coffee mugs for the hot chocolate, 'Oh… I remember her saying she was always nervous when making anything by herself in the kitchen. I should go help.'

A few hours have passed since Double D and Jennifer arrived at Zoey's house early, with it being 2 p.m. now. Zoey's other friends had just arrived at her house to celebrate her birthday, as well as to give her company from the tragedies that happened yesterday. Of course, Double D and Jennifer were the only ones who knew what Eddy and Zoey did last night, and they planned to keep it that way to respect their privacy.

It was while everyone was hanging out at her house that Eddy's parents came driving up. They were finally back from visiting their friend in another town.

"Oh, Zoey, you poor child!" Eddy's mom started to say as she hugged her tightly, "I'm so sorry that all of this happened to you!"

Eddy's dad looked at his son before patting his back, "It's good to see that you two are okay now."

Eddy nodded his head before making a bit of an upset face, "I know, but Evan. He's, umm…"

"Eddy, it's okay," his dad started to say to him with a sigh, "You knew there was no way of stopping him without using force. I wish it didn't come to that, but sometimes it just happens that way."

Eddy's mom separated from Zoey to look back to Eddy and all their friends, "Eddy, Zoey. There's something we want to discuss with you two. Your friends might want to hear this as well."

All the teens in the room started to get nervous from her tone of voice; she sounded very serious.

"Zoey, your father already told us about his declining health a few days after your mother passed away. He apologized to us about not talking to anyone about it until that point," Eddy's mom started to explain to them, "He asked us to not only take care of you when he's gone but to help pay off this house for a while until you both graduate and get a job. You'll both live here with a small bit of rent until you're old enough to pay for this house yourself."

Everyone was stunned at what she said to them. Zoey could feel herself fall to her knees in shock, "I… I-I don't have to move away?" she asked in disbelief.

"No, you don't need to," Eddy's dad said to her, "You can stay here with Eddy as roommates."

Eddy stood there in shock as his parents broke the news to them before looking back to Zoey, who started trembling a little in shock. He made a big smile as he went over to hug his girlfriend from where she fell on her knees, kneeling beside her as he did, "T-This is awesome!" he said to Zoey, hugging her tighter as a few tears started to form in his eyes, "You CAN stay here!"

Zoey could only hug him back, hugging him even tighter than Eddy was to her. Tears were streaming down her face from the news. They then could feel themselves being picked up from the ground by Ed, who was giving them his patented Ed-Hug, followed by the rest of their friends in a big group hug. Eddy's parents looked at the group of teens with a big smile.

The eight teens soon got out of the group hug, "I'm so happy you can stay, Zoey!" Jennifer stated to her friend with a smile.

Double D turned to Eddy, "I'm also happy for you as well, Eddy."

They could hear Eddy's dad clear his throat to get their attention, "I know we said you two can live here without much supervision… BUT! You two still need to abide by some rules like if we were here with you, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Zoey and Eddy replied with a nod of their heads, "We understand there needs to be rules," Zoey continued to say with a smile.

"Good," Eddy's mom nodded her head, "I do have ONE major rule we need to set straight…" they could see his mom cross her arms a little to them, "No 'funny business' allowed until you're 21. We know you are both Seniors and close to graduating soon, but please don't jump the gun about that sort of thing. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" Eddy and Zoey nodded their heads again in agreement while also internally screaming to themselves, hoping Eddy's parents never find out what happened last night. They did promise each other to wait until they were older to do it again, but they still broke a rule before it was even established to them, even if it was a pretty obvious rule. Oops.

Eddy's dad looked to his son's friends, only to see Double D make a nervous face after his wife's statement, looking at Eddy and Zoey as he did. He narrowed his eyes a little before making an internal sigh to himself, 'I guess Eddy and Zoey have really good poker faces, but not their friends,' he thought.

About a minute later, everyone went on with celebrating Zoey's birthday. Zoey had gone into the kitchen as Eddy sat on the couch, sighing in relief that she was staying. He then felt a hand on his left shoulder, "Eddy, mind if I talk to you about something in private?" his dad asked.

Eddy looked at his dad in confusion before starting to feel nervous, "Uh, sure!"

The two walked upstairs and entered Zoey's parents' room, closing the door behind them, "I guess this will be your room for now, huh," his dad said.

"Yeah, I guess," Eddy replied, glancing around at the things left behind by her parents, "I feel kind of bad it happened like this though… I didn't know her dad was sick."

"… Eddy, be honest with me for a moment," his dad started to say, looking at his son with a serious face, "When your mother mentioned her rules to you two, I noticed Eddward was looking at both you and Zoey with a worried face."

Eddy's face grew pale at what his dad was saying, "U-Uh…"

Eddy's dad made a sigh, "I had a feeling that's what happened."

"I-I can explain! It was for a good reason, I promise!" Eddy yelped to him.

Eddy explained to his dad that he had bought some condoms a week ago; to ask Zoey if that was something they wanted to do for her birthday. But when the incident with his brother happened yesterday, as well as the death of her father, he told her it was a bad time to suggest doing something like that. He was going to reconsider asking her; but then told her his thoughts that night, anyway, saying it would not feel right to not tell her about what he bought. That was when Zoey thanked him for being honest, saying they could do it.

"… And we did."

Eddy's dad stayed silent as his son explained his reasons.

"Afterwards, we both promised each other to not do it again until we were older; probably when we're 21, like mom wants," Eddy continued to say, "Double D and Jenna found out about it later when they came here to visit us early, but no one else knows besides them… They promised to not tell anyone, but I guess they can't hide how they felt if someone brings it up somehow," he lowered his head, "Umm… I-I just wanted to cheer her up for her birthday, and from all this awful stuff that's happened; at least just this once… Honest."

A heavy silence filled the room for a moment before Eddy's dad put his hand on his son's right shoulder, "Listen, I'm not going to be strict with you about it like your mother wants you to be, and I won't tell her you've done it already. I don't think it's possible to stop you two from doing that when you are living here together," he started to say to his son, "All I ask is for both of you to be careful with that sort of thing if you consider it again, and for you to keep treating Zoey with the respect she deserves, alright?"

Eddy looked at his dad with shock before nodding his head to him, "Don't worry, I've been doing that this whole time."

"I know you have," Eddy's dad replied with a smile, "Come on, let's go back downstairs."

Eddy and his dad started to leave the room, but not before Eddy glanced back to the bed that was now his. He smiled a little before closing the door behind him, 'I promise to take care of her, Mr. Wheeler.'

The End

Author's Note (October 28th, 2023): And that concludes the fourth story out of five! I also feel like I need to say something here for a moment. The reason this story in particular was made was to do something that I've never done before when writing these stories. I usually don't write about these sorts of things because I don't have that much interest in the topic. Like, I'm not opposed to or against it; I'm pretty indifferent to it and feel nothing when it comes up. I wanted to try and get out of my comfort zone for once when writing, so… Here we are. Again, apologies if anything in this story brought any sort of bad memories to anyone.