ASC: Chapter 15

It was now nighttime here at the hospital in Sunflower Shoal as we could see Double D was still in Alice's hospital room along with her and Eddy's parents. When Double D blurted out his feelings for Alice to help keep her alive yesterday, Eddy's parents thought it would be a good time to have 'the talk' with them once Alice was feeling better. Naturally, they both understood why this conversation was happening; they were both teenagers who had hit that point in their lives where hormones and peer pressure were the most rampant (as Double D knew all too well by now). They also told them they had already had this same conversation with Eddy and Jade, once they learned that Jade had called Eddy her boyfriend when she called the emergency number on her cell phone.

"Well then, now that we got that out of the way…" Daisy began to say as she turned to the two teens, "The doctors already told us that you are free to come home with us now, Alice."

Both Alice and Double D made a big smile, "Really? I can?!" Alice asked.

Eddy's parents nodded their heads, "Yes, but you still need to take care not to strain your shoulder," Daisy said.

The two adults and teenagers began to walk out of the room and down the hallway, but not before Double D started to slow down, which got the other's attention, "What's the matter?" Alice questioned with slight worry.

"U-Umm…" Double D muttered slightly before looking up at Luis, "Mr. McGee, c-can I ask you a question? I-In private?"

"Of course you can!" Luis replied as he turned to his wife and Alice, "Go on ahead, we'll be right with you."

Alice and Daisy began to walk off toward the exit, leaving behind Double D and Luis, "What did you want to ask me, Eddward?"

Double D was silent, trying to collect his thoughts on what to say, "Well, umm, y-you see… I…"

Double D proceeded to tell Luis about the dream he had with Alice and how ashamed he felt when he woke up.

"I-I already told Eddy this yesterday because I was so uncertain about what to do or how to feel. I also didn't know who else to turn to at the time," Double D continued to explain, "I could tell he was very shocked about what I said, but he didn't seem to get mad or upset like I thought he would. In fact, h-he seemed kind of happy for me, even though I'm still trying to process everything," he glanced away to look down at the floor, "I do understand it's because of hormones and such, b-but…"

Double D felt Luis's hand on his shoulder, "It's alright, Eddward."

Double D looked back up at Eddy's dad in surprise, "These kinds of feelings are a part of growing up, you don't need to be ashamed about it," Luis continued to say, "I know you and Alice are smart kids and know not to do anything drastic. That's why having these kinds of talks is important."

Luis took his hand off Double D's shoulder, "This is only a suggestion, but maybe you should try to take a CSE class. I know a lot of high schools these days are required to teach this in Health classes, but being more informed about the subject is a good thing too."

"… M-Maybe I should do that," Double D muttered before taking in a deep breath, scratching the back of his neck, "It certainly wouldn't hurt."

The two continued to walk until they came up to the exit of the hospital where they could see Alice and Daisy waiting for them, "Let's go home," Alice said to them.

The two teens walked out of the hospital with Eddy's parents in front of them. Alice reached out her left hand to Double D's right before holding it tightly. Double D looked at Alice as she began to lean in a little to wrap her arm around his while they walked, blushing to him, "I'm so happy I met you, Double D."

Double D smiled at her as he gently held her hand back, "I feel the same way, Alice."

Eddy's parents turned to see the two teens walking closely behind them, both smiling at them.

"Say, didn't Eddy and Alice want to take their friends on a double date yesterday?" Daisy asked her husband in a low voice so they could not hear her, "I think they should reschedule it and try another day. Everyone needs a good rest from what happened."

"I agree," Luis replied with a nod of his head, "Maybe I can try and schedule something for them at a good restaurant. School time is coming up soon, you know."

The group continued to walk until they found Luis's car. They all got in and drove off back home to the Cul-De-Sac. It took them more than thirty minutes to finally arrive home. Once they entered their neighborhood, the two teens could see their friends were waiting for them in Double D's front yard.

Double D and Alice proceeded to get out of the car, only for Ed to pull them into one of his trademark bear hugs, "Alice! You're okay now?!" he asked.

"Y-Yes Ed! I'm feeling a lot better," Alice replied with a small hiss afterward due to her shoulder. Thankfully, Ed sat them back down on their feet quickly, so her shoulder did not hurt for that long.

Reese made a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear… I'm so glad all of you are okay."

"Yeah, guess it's from how strong my family is! To even pull through this BS," Eddy boasted with confidence.

Double D rolled his eyes a little at his statement.

"I-I'm just happy that things are going to be better now…" Jade stated.

Jade felt Eddy hold onto her hand with his, "You bet! And I'll make sure things stay peaceful! I promise!"

Jade looked at Eddy before making a big smile, "I know you will!"

Alice tried her best to hold back her laugh at how her brother was acting.

"Anyway, I think Jade and I should head back home now," Reese stated as Jade let go of Eddy's hand to walk over to them, "It's way too late right now."

"Yeah, we'll see you two tomorrow!" Alice stated with a wave as Reese and Jade began to walk back home to their neighborhood.

"And we should also head home," Luis stated as he and his wife walked past the kids, but not before turning back to them, "It's been stressful for everyone."

Ed, Eddy, and Alice began to walk back to their houses, but not before Alice turned around to look at Double D again with a big smile, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight to you as well, Alice!" Double D waved goodbye as everyone went back home. Double D took in a deep breath before turning back to his house, to go inside, closing the front door behind as he did.

Double D reached into his back pocket to take out his cell phone, checking to see if he had any missed calls or messages sent to him… Surprisingly, there was only one message sent to him a few hours ago…

Double D made a sudden gasp in shock at who had sent him a message, quickly pulling up their information to call them. The phone on the other end rang twice before the person on the other line answered, "Mother…?"

"Oh, Eddward! There you are!" His mom stated to him, "You did not answer your text a moment ago…"

"I'm sorry about that, Mother. I-I was preoccupied with something at the time, but I'm here now," Double D replied, "Is there something you need?"

"No, not really," his mom said, "We wanted to inform you that your father and I are returning home soon from our trip."

Double D widened his eyes in surprise, "Really? You are?!"

"Yes. We are unsure exactly what day it will be, but it will be sometime next month," his mother continued to explain, "We will be sure to keep you up to date on when that will be."

"That's wonderful to hear!" Double D stated to her, "I, umm… T-There's someone I want the both of you to meet when you return home!"

There was a small pause on the other end of the phone, which Double D noticed immediately.

"You… met someone?" His mother asked in a slightly serious tone, "I hope you two have not been doing—"

"N-NO! It's nothing like that! I promise!" Double D gasped to his mom nervously, "I only met her last month! B-But I… I wanted you to be informed! It would not be right to try and hide her!"

Double D could hear his mother chuckle a little, "Don't worry, I was only poking fun at you, Eddward. I know you would never act like that behind our backs," she continued to say, "I can't wait to meet her when we get back!"

Double D could feel himself smile, "T-Thank you, Mother, I'll talk to you later… Goodnight," he said before hanging up his phone.

Double D glanced back down at his phone, "I guess the police have not contacted them about what happened with the Corvin Family…" he stated before making a deep sigh, "I suppose I'll tell them about it tomorrow. There's no way to avoid talking about it…"

Double D made a tired yawn before going to his staircase to walk up to his room. Seems like everything will be better for everyone in time; or so he thought to himself. But, knowing how chaotic his two friends can be a lot of the time, he wondered how long this peaceful time would last before being dragged back into some weird trouble… Hopefully never.

Author's Note (July 26th, 2024): Finally, this story is done! There will be a sequel to this sometime in the future, but I haven't planned that much about it yet besides that it will exist. I suggest you stay tuned when that time comes! Thank you for reading!