Just Another Lovesick Boy

The next day, Mr. Devereux suggested that Eddy take out his car to get a feel for it and make sure that everything was in order. Eddy did not hesitate to grab his keys and run over to my house. I had been typing out an essay for my English class when he suddenly barged into my room. I jumped at the sudden invasion before he ran forward and grabbed my wrist to pull me out.

“Dude, if you’re going to kidnap me, at least let me save my work first,” I groaned as I pulled away to save my essay on my laptop.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” he cried before pulling me away downstairs.

“I’ll be back later, Mom!” I called out to my mom, who stared after us incredulously.

Eddy pushed me from behind to his house, through the front lawn, and to his car. He opened the passenger door and forced me into the seat. I stared at him with a grimace on my face as he ran around the car to get in front seat. As soon as he put on his seatbelt and started the car, he backed out of his driveway and drove away down the street. I kept staring at him as he drove. It was not until he hit the first stop sign that he turned towards me with a small smile.

“So where do you want to go?” he asked.

“I can’t believe you. I was writing a really important essay for English,” I said as I looked out the window.

“You say that about every essay you write for English,” he brushed me off.

“That’s because every essay I write for English is important.”

“Ours aren’t,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, well, Mrs. Eidson goes way easy on you guys for some reason,” I shrugged.

“Oh, the joys of not being an AP student,” he grinned cheekily at me.

“Shut up. Where we going?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Just driving, I guess.”

“I was really on a roll, too. I seriously was about to bust out, like, an entire page for that essay.”

“Adrian, shut the fuck up about the stupid essay. Just write your ideas down on your phone or something.”

“Takes too long.”

“Stop bitching.”

“But it’s what I’m good at,” I sighed.

“Trust me, I know,” he laughed.

“Fuck you.”

“Can’t. I’m driving.”

We continued to banter back and forth like that as Eddy drove around the town. After a few minutes, Eddy drove out of the city limits and into the next town. I would not say that where we lived was exactly a small town. Not everyone knew everybody or their business but our town was in no way large. But it was secure and safe. Our high school alone only had about six hundred students. So being outside the town was pretty odd. Of course, I had gone to the next city before but it always felt somewhat daunting when I did. Eddy and I passed by other high schools, which seemed smaller than ours but I knew that they held more than a couple thousand students. I could not imagine being in such a huge setting. It made me feel unprepared for the real world.

“I always feel so weird coming out here. It feels so huge,” Eddy remarked.

“Seriously. Could you imagine going to school out here?”

“Fuck no. It already feels crowded with six hundred kids at school.”

“I heard that the grandpa of one of the girls at our school actually had our school built for her,” I said as I picked at the thread of my jeans.

“No shit?” he asked me, briefly taking his gaze off the road to glance at me. “Who?”

“Red Bird.”

“Bird? Who’s that?” he asked.

“Dude, we’ve been going to school with her for, like, four years, and you don’t know who she is?”

“Screw you, I don’t know everybody like you do.”

“Anyway…I head her grandpa built the school just for her.”

“Who the fuck is her grandpa?” he scoffed.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the guy who founded Bird Corporations.”

“Damn!” he exclaimed. “She has to be super loaded.”

“I guess,” I shrugged. “I have, like, three classes with her. And last month, she came in to school with a body guard. And she always wears expensive things. But she’s really nice. Lee likes her.”

“Is it just me or does she give you a lonely kind of vibe?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve heard people talk about her, you know. In the halls. They say she’s really stuck up and doesn’t talk to anybody. But whenever I notice her around, she just seems really shy. She looks lonely to me,” he shrugged.

“She’s been sitting with a group of guys, though, lately.”

“Yeah?”

“Remember that one hipster guy Anya hung out with a while back?”

“Don’t fucking remind me,” he growled as he gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“Down, boy,” I sighed. “His name is Finn and he’s in yearbook with me. Him and this other guy, Jesse, have been talking about her a lot. Apparently, they made friends with her and they hang out a lot.”

“Good. He can stay away from Anya.”

“You’re such a possessive prick,” I laughed as I leaned my head against the window.

“Whatever.”

“Speaking of Anya, how’s wooing her going for you?”

Eddy was quiet for a moment. I glanced at him in the corner of my eye. He had no expression on his face. Instead, he calmly watched the road as he drove around. He seemed to be thinking deeply on his answer. He flicked his head back to throw his hair out of his face before licking his lips. I raised an eyebrow at him as he thought to himself.

“I really don’t know what she wants,” he finally answered.

“What do you mean?”

“She says that she won’t go out with me until we get to know each other better. But every time we talk, it feels like I’m offering up more of myself and she gives me nothing with return. How are we supposed to get to know each other if she won’t tell me anything?”

“Maybe she doesn’t know what to say?”

“I’ve tried, man. I’ll ask her questions and she’ll be all, ‘Oh, I don’t know. What about you?’” he explained in exasperation.

“I think you should straight up ask what her deal is. Just ask. Ask her what does she really expect? Ask her if she’s serious about giving you chance or is she just stringing you along.”

“I think I might have to do that,” he sighed as he pushed his hair back. After a moment of silence, he hit the steering wheel with his fist, causing me to jump in surprise. “Man, I don’t fucking get girls.”

“I don’t think they get us either, to be fair,” I shrugged.

“Why? We’re so simple,” he said incredulously.

I stared at him with hooded eyes, not completely sure if he was serious or not. I knew Eddy had profound moment but sometimes, he was just dumb. I never believed that boys or girls were simple or easy to understand. People, in general, were rather difficult to comprehend. Every other person was different from somebody else. It was hard to figure out how to handle someone without some trials and errors. Realizing soon that Eddy was completely serious, I sighed and shook my head at him before looking away.

“So how are you and Lee going anyway?” he asked casually.

“It’s all over the place,” I shrugged, bringing my knees into my chest.

“Like?”

“Like, she’ll tell me she knows I like her. Like, she’ll tell me that her sister likes me but she told her to back off. Like, she said I should straight out say that I like her so she can admit she likes me back.”

“How cute, you might as well be together by now,” Eddy grinned.

“I guess.”

“You guess?” he scoffed. “Dude, just fucking ask her out already.”

“I try!” I exclaimed, straightening up in my seat. “I think about it every day. And every morning, I’m ready to blurt it out but once I see her, I choke up.”

“Chicken shit,” Eddy sang lightly under his breath.

“Shut the fuck up,” I glared.

“Hey, at least I tell the girl I like that I like her and I ask her out every day.”

“I guess I don’t want to be rejected like a pitiful loser like you.”

“Ouch!” Eddy claimed, grimacing as he grasped his chest with one hand. “That was cold. But at least she’s thinking about it. Give me that satisfaction.”

“Oh, I’ll give you more than that satisfaction.”

“Really? Get to it, man,” Eddy grinned as he pulled my head down towards his lap.

“Get the fuck off me!” I exclaimed, shaking him away from me.

“Where’s my satisfaction?” he pouted.

“I hate you so much.”

“But you said you’d give me satisfaction. You started it, Adrian. Where the fuck is my satisfaction?”

“Stop fucking saying satisfaction!” I yelled.

“I can’t get no satisfaction,” Eddy started singing under his breath, his head bobbing along with music only he heard in his head.

As Eddy kept singing to himself, I began to groan in annoyance. I attempted to cover my ears and hit my head on the window in a pathetic attempt to drown him out but after a few moments, Eddy began to belt out the lyrics on the top of his lungs. He startled me with his sudden loudness, causing me to jump in my seat. I slowly looked away from him to look out the window to see other drivers looking at us incredulously. I began to lower myself in my seat in embarrassment. After a few moments, I could not help but laugh at Eddy, who really did seem to be genuinely enjoying himself.

“I can’t believe you know all the lyrics to that horrific song,” I shook my head.

“Don’t disrespect, asshole. Any music is good music.”

“Even Millionaires?” I asked, already knowing his answer.

“That’s not music, that’s trash,” he answered absently as he fiddled with the radio.

“Let’s get fucked up, give you that alcohol,” I sang softly.

“If you do not fucking shut up, Adrian Demetri Dawson, I was fucking pull over and kick your ass out!” Eddy yelled immediately.

“A-L-C-O-H-O-L,” I continued, only stopping when Eddy growled and began punching me with his right fist.

I roared with laughter at his reaction but gave in to his demand. Eddy’s reactions were always so predictable but they never failed to amuse me. I was really glad that Eddy was my best friend. Everything felt so comfortable and familiar but it felt like every experience with him was something new. No matter if things were repeated over and over, it felt like a new adventure every single time with him. Eddy kept me lively and upbeat and I kept him grounded to earth. There was not a day that went by that I did not feel grateful for having Eddy in my life.