PROM QUEEN, eddie munson

THE LIKE CONFESSION

EDDIE MUNSON HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL eyes, even when they were teary, maybe especially then. The shade of brown he saw the world through was Sophie's new favourite colour, as were the colour of his peach lips.

He seemed upset, or maybe regretful as he leaned his head on hers. His hand still held the nape of her neck, refusing to let her go. He knew he never wanted to, he just wanted to stay the way they were. He knew they couldn't though.

After they'd pulled apart, pure panic had set in for Eddie. He absolutely hated himself for kissing Sophie Harrington, she didn't like him like that, not at all and now he'd gone and made it awkward. He'd murdered their rekindled friendship, put it in the ground and buried it six feet under.

She kissed him back, yes, and in the moment he felt like he was floating up to the heavens, dancing with angels and bathing in sacredness. Now that he'd thought about it, he supposed she only kissed him as to not make things weird.

A mere moment of silence had followed after their kiss, her eyes still closed as they leant into each other. Sophie wanted nothing more than to pull him in for another one, but there was no way in hell that she would initiate it. She feared Eddie had kissed her out of raw emotion and nothing more.

Eddie sighed, reluctantly breaking their position and the silence that consumed them, "I'm sorry."

Sophie frowned, scanning his face so that she could understand how he felt. The tears threatening to spill from his eyes were a pretty good indicator. "Why?" She asked, gulping away her worries. Eddie wouldn't kiss her if he didn't like her, he wasn't like that.

He shook his head, not wanting to answer her. A small stream of water falling down his cheeks as he tried to rub it away, making his face irritated with redness. "I shouldn't have kissed you. I'm so sorry, Soph."

The Harrington girl in-took a sharp breath, pulling her sleeve over her hand and bringing it up to his face. Sophie wiped away his tears which flowed slowly, there wasn't an awful lot. "Why not?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, gently grasping her hand and directing it away from him. He enjoyed when she touched him, it made him feel things he'd never felt before, but he supposed it would just make the rejection worse. It would add salt to an already stinging wound.

"We're friends," he told her, seemingly not overjoyed about the fact. "Well, I'm your friend, I'm not so sure if you're mine." He wanted to hit himself repeatedly; why was he confessing? "I just, I don't want you to be my friend."

Bewilderment passed over Sophie's face, "you were the one who wanted to be friends again, Eddie." She was hurt and he didn't like it.

"That's not what I mean!" He defended sharply, eyes widening alarmingly as he felt her sadness. "What I mean is," he paused, "I don't wanna be your friend cause I like you." Eddie was struggling to breathe properly at this point, fiddling with the guitar pick around his neck.

The girl across from him hid her smile well because Eddie couldn't spot it at all. She squinted at him, the pain of her bruised hand fading away with one look from him. "You like me?"

"You must've known," he told her, swallowing harshly, "I didn't hide it all that well, there were sooooo many signs."

"I always thought you were joking," she replied, fingers drawn to her lips as she traced where his had once been. She missed them.

He kissed his teeth, shaking his head, "Unfortunately for you, I wasn't."

He was confusing Sophie left, right and centre. How could he be so negative about it? Did he really think there was no way she could like him back?