PROM QUEEN, eddie munson

THE MUCH NEEDED COMFORT

WAYNE MUNSON WAS GROWING INCREASINGLY worried about his nephew's peculiar behaviour. The boy had skipped school, which wasn't unusual in the slightest, but he'd also been badly hiding his tears behind one of his bandanas.

Eddie and Wayne had always had a good relationship, he normally let Eddie decide when to to tell him what was bothering him, but the Munson man was concerned. He wondered what could've happened, for all he knew it was something stupid. Eddie could be sensitive, his eyes got teary quite frequently.

The older man would soon have to leave for his shift at the plant, the time nearing six o'clock. He narrowed his eyes at his nephew, who sat with his head buried deep into the couch as some angry band played in the background. Wayne almost laughed, the boy was such a drama queen.

"Eddie," he spoke, loudly setting his can of coke on the kitchen countertop. He watched as the younger boy lifted his head up, his face blotchy and red. "What's going on, kid?"

"I hate myself," he told him with sincerity. He really did, he despised himself for running away from Sophie, but he couldn't stand to be around her and not kiss her. He didn't want to face rejection.

"You're too much sometimes," Wayne rolled his eyes, checking his watch quickly. "Now, tell me what's got you weeping."

"I'm not weeping!" Eddie groaned, nearly hitting himself upside the head due to frustration. He looked to his uncle, letting shame settle in his eyes, "I kissed Soph."

"You did?" Wayne was pleasantly surprised, he never thought Eddie would gather enough courage to actually do it. To him it didn't make any difference, Sophie and Eddie had been dating since they'd met in his eyes. "Why is that bad?"

"Cause she doesn't like me back obviously!" Eddie snapped, gesturing to his dishevelled state. Just the thought of the Harrington girl rejecting him had already sent him into a downward spiral. He loved her too much.

His uncle tilted his head at him, "did she say she didn't?" He knew Eddie sometimes had a funny way of drawing conclusions that were simply not true. That's what he assumed must've happened, because he knew for a fact that Sophie Harrington liked his nephew back.

Wayne Munson did not watch thirteen year-old Sophie blush at every word that came out of Eddie's mouth, just for Eddie to say that she didn't like him back. He refused to believe that.

"Well...no not exactly," he frowned, "I guess I did most of the talking." Wayne sent him a look of annoyance and so Eddie jumped to defend himself, "Don't look at me like that, Wayne. She would've rejected me regardless, I mean, she sees me as her friend, her best friend."

The man disregarded every word that left Eddie's mouth, asking, "did she kiss you back?"

"Yeah," he nodded, faintly smiling as he thought back to it. "But I'm sure she was just confused or shocked or something."

"Oh my God, I raised an idiot," Wayne sighed, shaking his head at the boy in the living room. "She likes you Eddie, she always has."

"Bullshit!" Eddie hissed, refusing to admit it. There was no way that was true, otherwise he would've kissed her a long time ago. "How would you know?"

"You two used to be in here every day," he explained, "I saw how she looked at you, how she still looks at you. You know, she used to come here whenever you weren't home and she'd just sit in your room," Wayne's face was filled with fondness, "it comforted her, kid."

It was true, particularly when she was in her last year of middle school and Eddie was in his first year of high school. He'd come home later than she did and whenever anything was wrong, Wayne could find her in Eddie's room, with music faintly playing as she tried to calm herself down.