HT: Chapter 7

It was now past midnight here in the little town of Peach Creek. We zoomed in on the Cul-De-Sac, where we could see Eddy's parents' car parked in their driveway before quickly jumping out of the car and rushing inside to see their youngest son.

They were informed about what happened as soon as they left the restaurant they were eating at in Savannah. They were mortified at what the police told them, about how Evan stole Eddy's phone to text his girlfriend, just so he could lure Double D into a trap and try to have his way with her.

They both stopped by the hospital first, hoping to see Eddy there and get an update on Double D's condition. Thankfully, Double D was doing well but was still resting in her hospital room; the doctors (and her parents) expected her to make a full recovery. Ed was currently by her side along with her parents… but Eddy was nowhere to be seen.

That was when Ed told them that Eddy had gone straight home after telling the police what happened, locking himself in his room. He did not even come to visit Double D while she was here. It was obvious that Eddy was upset and felt very guilty about what happened.

Once they were inside, Eddy's parents went over to his room, only to see that his door was both closed and locked, "Eddy, are you there?" Daisy called out to her son as she gently knocked on his door.

Eddy said nothing back, but they could hear that he was in his room, moving around a little on his bed.

"We heard about what happened with Evan, both today and five years ago," Luis said before taking in a deep breath, "We had no idea that you went to see him back then. You should have told us!"

"Luis, hush!" Daisy shushed her husband in anger before knocking on Eddy's door once more, "We should have known to not trust him… We're so sorry, Eddy."

There was a strong pause once more, Eddy was still silent to his parents.

"Please, open the door for us," Daisy continued to say, "All of this is Evan's fault, not yours…"

Both Daisy and Luis stood there at Eddy's door, patiently waiting for him to either respond to them or unlock the door. Eventually, they heard Eddy unlock his door, but not open it. Daisy opened the door slowly, peeking inside to see that Eddy had laid back down on his bed. It looked like parts of his room had been smashed, ripped, and torn apart.

Both of his parents entered his room, looking around at the damage done, "… Don't tell me. Did Evan do this to your room?"

They could see Eddy recoil at his dad's question, "Yeah, he did…" he replied in a low tone of voice, "My phone was on my nightstand when he came in here. I walked away from the house without it because I didn't want to deal with him and just forgot I had it here. I was charging it, but then he…"

Daisy walked over to sit next to her son on his bed, trying to see what she could do to help him. Luis was looking toward his nightstand to see a grocery bag that fell to the floor. He went over to pick it up, seeing what was inside; it was a bunch of candy, but also an open box of something he did not expect.

"Eddy," Luis started to say in a stern voice, catching Daisy off guard with how he sounded. He reached into the grocery bag to take out the open box of condoms along with the receipt, "There's a wrapper missing in this box you bought today…"

Both Eddy and Daisy widened their eyes at what he said, with Eddy's face growing even paler, realizing something awful with what he was implying, "OH GOD NO!" He shouted before burying his head underneath his pillow to hide his face.

Luis narrowed his eyes before taking in another deep breath, "Look here, the police told us that Evan had a condom wrapper in his pocket when they arrested him; he was most likely going to use it on your friend."

"Luis!" Daisy gasped in disbelief, "You don't need to rub salt into his wounds!"

"Let me finish, please," Luis stated before continuing, "I know you and Eddea are smart enough to know to not try and rush things in your relationship," he walked over to Eddy to sit on his bed, "Be honest with us. I'm not shaming you for buying these; it's honestly a good and responsible thing, but these were just bought… I want to know if you were using any of these with her before today."

"NO!" Eddy shouted again; this time it was muffled underneath the pillow he had over his head. He lifted his head off his pillow so he could speak clearly to them, "I just bought them today b-because I wanted to ask her about it for her birthday next week!" They could see him tremble slightly, "You gotta trust me! I wasn't going to use them unless she said yes! And if she said no, I was gonna throw them away! Honest!"

Both Daisy and Luis stared at their son, seeing how badly he was shaken up by everything. They had never seen him this vulnerable before.

"And now she and her parents probably hate me because of Evan! I SAW what he was going to do with her, e-even though I got there in time to stop him! B-But I…" Eddy continued to say, "I don't deserve to be her boyfriend anymore, not even her friend!"

Eddy could feel his mom's hand land on his shoulder, "That's not true, sweetie. We've already talked with Eddea's parents about what happened."

Eddy widened his eyes as he turned to look at his mom, "Both Ed and the police explained to them how you jumped into the lake to help her as soon as you were able to; no one even knew she was there except for you. If you had not gone after her in time, she would have drowned," she gripped onto his shoulder, "You saved her life, Eddy, and everyone in town is calling you a hero, including her parents."

Eddy could feel tears start to form on the brim of his eyes at his mom's words, trying not to break down in front of his parents.

"Now that we got that settled," Luis started to say as he stood up from where he sat on Eddy's bed, "I think it would be kind of rude if Eddea's hero didn't visit her at the hospital."

Daisy nodded her head as she also got up from where she sat, "We should go visit her now before it gets any later, Eddy. We all need a good rest after what happened."

Eddy was silent to them before nodding his head in agreement, wiping the tears away from his eyes and cheeks along with clearing his runny nose.

It did not take them long to arrive back at the hospital. Eddy and his parents walked inside toward one of the waiting rooms, only to see Ed sitting by himself with a tired look on his face. Ed looked up when he noticed someone walking toward him; it was Eddy.

Ed made a big smile when he saw him sit next to him, "Eddy!" He cried once again as he embraced him in his usual bear hug, "I'm happy you're here! I needed a good shoulder to sleep on!"

"Geez, really? Am I your pillow now?" Eddy grumbled sarcastically to him as Ed let him out of his hug, making a sigh afterward, "Sorry that I didn't come sooner, I, um… kinda needed some time to myself."

"D'aww, it's okay!" Ed replied.

Eddy's parents looked at the two Eds with a small smile, "Ed, dearie. How is she doing now?" Daisy asked.

Ed stared at her when she asked that question, spacing out for a split second before replying, "I don't know. I could ask her mom and dad, but I haven't seen them walking around here in a while."

"… That's a bit concerning," Luis stated before turning to everyone, "We should try and find them. They might be in her hospital room."

They nodded their heads to him before walking off to Double D's hospital room. It seemed like the nurses did not tell them it was okay to visit her again, seeing that they were allowed to go inside the room to visit her.

Once they arrived at her room, everyone walked inside except for one person. Eddy felt himself stop in his tracks, preventing him from going inside. He was becoming scared; what if she had woken up already, only for her to start yelling at him for being an awful boyfriend? It was something he did not want… but knew it would happen.

Eddy shook those thoughts aside, trying his best to not think negatively about the 'what ifs' anymore. He opened the door to the room, only to see Double D's parents, standing alongside his parents and Ed next to her bed. Eddy could see Double D sitting on the side of her hospital bed, currently wearing a hospital gown and her old black beanie to cover her scar; just like when she was younger. Double D was looking at her parents before noticing Eddy had come into the room, turning to him before widening her bright green eyes in happiness.

"Eddy!"

Before Eddy could say anything back, Double D quickly hopped off the bed, rushing over to his side to embrace Eddy in a tight hug. Eddy could feel her whole body trembling, "I-I'm so relieved to see you safe and sound!" Double D cried as she hugged him even tighter, "I was so afraid t-that your brother had killed you! A-After he…!"

That was when Eddy hugged her back, trying to calm Double D down. He said nothing to her in response, but she could tell how relieved he was to see her by how tightly he hugged her in his arms. The two stood there for a few more seconds before separating.

Double D turned to the others behind her, "U-Umm… I want to speak to Eddy alone. Can you, um… E-Excuse us for a moment? Please…?"

Both Eddy and Double D's parents looked at each other before nodding their heads, "Of course you can, sweetie," Daisy replied, "Please call for us when you're done talking."

Everyone began to walk out of the room, but not before Ed looked back to his two friends, giving them a cheeky smile and a wink, as well as a thumbs up, "Good luck!"

The two teens stood there for a few extra seconds before Double D walked over to her hospital bed to sit down on the edge. Eddy decided to sit in the chair next to the bed. They were both silent with each other, not exactly sure what to say about what happened.

"I'm so sorry."

Double D looked at Eddy, whose head was lowered in shame, "I thought Evan was only after me because of his dumb game of ruining my life, and that he targeted you to get back at me… But I-I have no idea that he was a damn chaser! I didn't know at all!"

She could see a few tears fall from his eyes, "You probably hate me now because of all this; t-that I couldn't protect or help you when you needed it the most!"

"Eddy."

Eddy raised his head to look at Double D, only to see unshed tears forming in her eyes, "That's not true at all," Double D began to say as she glanced away from him, "If anyone is at fault here besides Evan, it's me for replying to that text message he sent with your phone. I knew it was him but went anyway, despite knowing how dangerous it could be."

Eddy could see her grip the edge of the bed she was sitting on, "I wanted to confront him and ask several questions about why he really came to visit; why he wants to keep ruining your life in this awful game he speaks of so much."

Double D began to tremble, "He knocked me out when I decided to try and walk back home, dragging me to the lake. That's where he took my clothes and ripped them apart, leaving me vulnerable like that… b-but I could tell he did nothing to me when I was knocked out, s-so… He probably was waiting for me to wake back up before doing anything physical to me."

Eddy could see the tears from before now falling from her eyes and down her face, "When I finally woke back up, that's when he confronted me, telling me that he only saw me as an object. He even showed me a condom wrapper he had with him, claiming you had a box of them in your room, a-and that you felt the same way he did."

Eddy's heart froze at her words.

"I didn't believe him, of course. I know you care a lot about me," Double D continued to say, looking back at Eddy with a smile, "Besides, I know you wouldn't have something like that on you. He was only trying to mess with us."

Double D noticed the look of horror on Eddy's face; she could tell something was off from what she said, "… Eddy?"

"No, h-he was telling the truth on one thing."

Double D stared at him before a sense of dread started to form, "W-What do you mean…?"

Eddy made a sigh, "Listen, I wasn't going to keep this a secret for very long, but when we went to the store today, I-I…" he paused for a second before saying, "I did buy my first box of those today."

The silence that filled the room afterward felt very thick and oppressive. Double D widened her eyes as she clutched her chest with her right hand in disbelief, a small blush began to form across her face, "B-B-But…"

"I was going to ask you about this on your birthday next week when you turn eighteen," Eddy continued to explain, not giving her a chance for a rebuttal, "If you said no, then I was going to throw the box away," Eddy gave Double D a serious look in his eyes as he got up from where he was sitting, "Trust me, I respect you and your decisions, but I still wanted to know your thoughts about it because I love you. You are NOT an object to me!"

Eddy went over to hold Double D's hand as he sat down next to her on her bed, "S-So, um… I know this is the worst time to ask, but I need to know," he held her hand tighter before he asked, "Is that s-something you would want to do together one day?"

Double D was speechless at what Eddy was asking her, the blush on her face became red as a beet and her heart could not stop pounding inside her chest; it felt like she could not breathe for a short moment. Eddy noticed how silent she was to him; he knew this question never crossed Double D's mind after all these years of being a couple, she was so shellshocked.

"You don't have to say your answer right now, Double D," Eddy stated with a smile as he let go of her hand to give her some space, "Just take some time to think it over. There's no pressure, okay?"

Double D could only watch as Eddy sat up to walk out the door, going back into the hospital hallway, "I'll talk to you later."

Once Eddy left the room, Double D felt herself becoming weak, lying back down on her bed to think about what Eddy had asked, "I-I don't know…" she muttered to herself in a shaky voice, trying to get her breath back. She could feel her heart continuing to race at his proposal, "Do I even want to do s-something like that with him?" she bit her bottom lip at the mere thought of them having sex, gripping onto her old beanie by the brim of her head in nervousness, "Why does everything need to be so awkward?"

Author's Note (July 12th, 2024): Hey, is FFNet not working anymore on desktop browsers? It's been down for several days. I guess someone forgot to pay the bills to run the site, uh oh... Thank god it still exists here as an app for iPhones and Androids. Anyway, not sure if the next chapter will be the final one, but we will see!