𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝙳𝚘𝚕𝚕.

𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡

The sound of someone banging on our door woke me up. It was around 12 pm, so I had slept in a little. I got up, moved the chair from my door and made my way down. While I was on my way to the door, I could see the aftermath of last night. The broken glass on the floor, empty beer cans and a small pool of blood from where my nose bled. I was broken out of my trance when the door banged again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." I opened the door and I was surprised at who I was greeted with. "Hey, your dad left his- Holy shit what happened to you?" Eddie asked.  "It's nothing." He glanced over my shoulder at the holes in the wall from previous arguments and the glass shattered on the floor. "What happened?" "Like I said, nothing." "That doesn't look like nothing." "Well it is, what did my dad leave?" "He left his jacket at the bar last night but my uncle didn't get a chance to give it to him." He handed me my dad's blue jacket. "Thanks." I went to shut the door but he put his hand on it, keeping it open. "Lou, I'm sorry about your doll. I had no idea what it meant to you." "Eddie it's happened now. You can't fix it, it's broken." "I know and I'm really sorry." I wanted to accept his apology, but I just couldn't. "Goodbye Munson."

I shut the door and went back up to my room, crying into my pillow. I almost felt bad for Eddie, that I was ignoring him like this but I was still angry at him for tearing my doll apart. It was something that you just can't forgive. My dad was fast asleep still, his sleeping patterns are nocturnal at the moment; Asleep during the day, awake at night so I decided that I maybe needed fresh air, so I went to my local playground and sat on the swing, pushing myself back and forth with my feet on the ground.

I was there for a while until someone came and sat on the swing next to me. They didn't speak, they just kept their head down in silence until I looked up to see who it was, Eddie, Again. "Are you stalking me or something?" "No. I came to do the same thing as you Lou." He sounded a little solemn as he spoke. "You okay Ed?" I can't remember the last time I called him that but I really felt bad for earlier, so I wanted to level with him. "What did you just call me?" "Ed?" His face lit up slightly as he looked up at me. "Yeah, Ed." "Do you not like it?" "No, I love it." "Cool." "Cool." I turned back to the floor and Eddie was still looking over at me. 

"Y'know, I was with Wayne and your dad at the bar last night." "Yeah?" "Yeah, he didn't seem very uh, fond of you." "What makes you say that?" "He told us about how he threw a glass at you and seemed pretty proud of himself." "He does that." "Lou, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but did he do that to you?" "My nose?" "Mhm." "Yeah, he did. I was watching TV, and I'm not allowed to watch unless he is and I was watching 21 Jumpstreet." I tried to laugh but I could feel the tears trying to run. "And uh, he came home while I was watching it and he wasn't happy. He threw a vase at me." I stood up from the swing and lifted my shirt, showing him the big bruise on my side. "Holy shit." I sat back on the swing and kept going, "And then started yelling at me, and then swung at me. I fell to the floor and he told me to run up to my room because he didn't wanna see my ugly face again."  "So, all those bruises I picked at you for at school, he gave you?" "Pretty much." "Shit, Lou I'm so sorry." 

I felt the tears streaming down my face, it was nice to get that off my chest to someone who wasn't Gareth for a change. "Ed?" "What's up?" "Can I- hug you?" "Yeah of course, you don't have to ask." We both stood up and I crashed into his chest, wrapping my hands around his waist. His chin rested on my shoulder as his arms went around my back and one hand went on the back of my head and I just cried into him, I didn't care if I hated him or if he hated me, I just wanted someone to hold me. "You okay?" "No, I'm scared to go home." "Maybe you can stay over at my trailer tonight? You don't have to, I just thought-" "I would love to." "You sure?" "Yeah, if it gets me away from him then I'll do it." 

He pulled away from the hug and looked down at me, smiling. "You wanna go now?" "Sure." "My van's over here." He held my hand and directed me over to it. "Now I am forewarning you, I'm not the best driver." "Have you seen my dad drive?" "No, is he bad?" "Sometimes I wonder how he still has a legal license." He looked back at me and laughed as he unlocked his van and he opened my door for me. "M'lady." He sort of bowed for me as I got in. "Thank you, kind sir." Smiling at me through the window, he walked back over to his side and got in. 

He then started to drive away, I was used to reckless driving as my dad is the worst driver on earth; As I said earlier. "You okay over there?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "I'm not driving too crazy am I?" "Nah, you're good." It didn't take long to get there at the speed Eddie was going at, we pulled up and got out. "It hasn't changed." "Nah, my room has though. Wanna see it?" "Sure." We walked inside and went into his room. "Nice guitar." "Ain't she pretty?" He held it up and shoved it in my face. "She's a beauty." I replied, smiling back at him. 

"You like Nirvana? Seriously?" He had their album, Bleach on vinyl and I was holding it. "Yeah, why are you surprised?" "I just thought Nirvana was too mainstream for you." "I used to listen to them before they were popular, actually." "Uh-huh." He took the vinyl out of my hands and put it with the rest. "So, did you wanna sleep in here tonight? I can take the couch." "I don't mind." "Alright, well you'll sleep in my bed, I don't want you to be uncomfortable or anything." It felt weird being nice to him, and him being kind and caring for me. It's like he's starting to regret our thirteen-year-long feud and I honestly am too. 

"Thanks Ed." "It's alright. Did you want something to change into?" "Yeah, please." He started to look through his pile of clothes on the floor and picked up a Dio shirt, sniffed it, and then threw it at me. "It's clean." I looked down at the shirt and back up at him. "I promise, I've only worn it once. Or twice." He squinted his eyes and scratched the back of his head to jog his memory. "It's fine." "I'll leave so you can get changed." "Thanks Ed, this was really nice of you. You didn't have to do this for me." "I wanted to, I kinda felt bad about the doll thing, then I found out that your dad was abusive, so I wanted to take care of you. I guess." His face went a pretty shade of pink, I think he was either blushing or embarrassed. "Anyway, you get changed, I'll be on the couch." "Thanks again." "It's no problem." 

He walked out of his room and shut the door behind him and I don't know why, but I felt butterflies in my stomach. The fact that he was taking me under his wing like this felt weird, I'm not used to this kind of affection and never did I think it would come from him of all people. I put his shirt in between my legs and lifted mine over my head, I then grabbed his shirt and put it over my head and I was engulfed in his scent. He smelled like beer, cigarettes and cologne. It was honestly a disgusting smell but the way he wore it made it an enjoyable smell.

I tossed my shirt onto his bed seeing as I was sleeping in it and walked out, seeing him manspreading on the couch made my heart flutter a little. "Hey, did you wanna watch TV with me?" "Yeah, why not?" I sat next to him on the couch and he was watching some crime documentary or something. "What's this?" I asked, he went on to explain the case of "The Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, and how he was a mass murderer and other stuff. He seemed pretty interested and I honestly was too. 

We sat and watched the documentary to the end; by the time it finished, it was 2 am. I was exhausted, "You tired?" "Yeah, how long was it?" "Three hours." "Shit." "C'mon, you need to sleep." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up although I was reluctant to move and we walked over to his room. Before he had a chance to say goodnight, I turned around and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him. "I know I've said this a million times already but thank you Ed. I really mean it." "It's okay, if anything ever happens at home, you can always call me and I'll come running." I looked up at him and smiled. "C'mon, you need to get some rest sleepyhead." 

He pulled away from the hug and I walked over to his bed, crashing onto it. "Goodnight Lou." "Night Ed." He flicked the light off and walked away, shutting the door behind him. I took my hair out of the half up half down thing I had it in and drifted off to sleep. While I was half asleep, I heard Eddie come into his room. He walked over to me, kissed my cheek and said, "I love you so much and you have no idea." I fought the smile that tried to find its way onto my lips as he gazed at my sleepy face. "You're beautiful." He kissed my cheek once more and walked away, shutting the door again. As soon as I heard the door click, the biggest smile appeared on my face. He has a crush on me. And I maybe, just maybe, might like him too.

APOLOGIES FOR THE SLOW UPDATE LOLOL