Just Another Lovesick Boy

“What do you mean she’s going to sit with us?”

That was how Eddy reacted to the news. He stared at me with his bright blue eyes wide, his jaw open, and his arms tightly hugging the blue bear he carried everywhere. His mouth closed and he looked down, his panicked gaze dancing back and forth across the table. His right hand gently tugged at the bear’s ear before he looked up at me.

“But why?” he asked.

“Eddy, she doesn’t want to sit with her friends. Who else could she sit with?” I replied as I opened a small bag of fruit snacks.

“She’s the most popular girl in school, idiot. I’m sure she should find someone else,” he huffed as he took a snack out of my bag.

“Chill, dude. I’m sure it’s just for today. I highly doubt she’s going to want to sit with us permanently.”

Eddy’s usual wide smile was back on his face at that statement. He hugged his bear tightly before taking two lollipops from his bag. He held one in each hand, staring intently at each with his tongue stuck out in mock concentration. He looked up at me with a smirk before handing me the sour green lollipop. I rolled my eyes at his antic as he gave me a wide grin and stuck his own blue raspberry lollipop in his mouth. This was a daily routine for us. Eddy would always bring two lollipops for us to eat at lunch. I would always have sour green apple and he would always have blue raspberry. We rarely ate anything at school besides the lollipops or the food kids in clubs would sell for fundraisers.

Though Eddy would never admit it to the world, he loved all things blue. Blue candy, blue bear, blue bedroom walls, blue furniture, blue clothes, and Blue’s Clues. Edward James Devereux was the epitome of the color blue. It was his world; his reflection. It was not like he even had to admit he loved the color because it was painfully obvious. He came to school every day dressed almost entirely in blue. He often went on rants about how he wished his hair or skin was blue. His little sister, Freedom, shared the same obsession with the color yellow. Her bedroom walls were a pale yellow, her clothes were yellow, her favorite flower was a daffodil, and I had yet to find crayons that were not a shade of yellow in her room. Eddy defined it as a “Devereux” thing as soon as he found out that his dad had the same obsession with the color green.

“I don’t see why you act like it’s a tough choice to choose a flavor. You bring the same two every day and pick the same every day,” I said.

“I know, but don’t you just love the suspense of the wait?” he asked with a blue tooth grin.

“Yeah, Ed, I do.”

He took the lollipop from his mouth with a popping sound. He held the candy to the bear’s mouth with a small smile on his face. I had to smile at how much he acted like a little kid. I found it remarkable that he wanted to stay that way for the rest of his life. I, on the other hand, was desperate to grow up. No more restrictions; I could be able to do what I wanted. Eddy and I often got into arguments about it. I told him to pros of being an adult and he’d tell me the cons. Eddy usually won. He had this uncanny ability to say random statements that somehow made sense and made me speechless.

“Ed, do you ever see yourself growing up?” I asked after I pulled the lollipop from my mouth.

“I guess so,” he answered as he glided his teddy bear through the air like an airplane. “I mean, I totally don’t want to but it’s not like I have a choice. It’s these damn hormones, you know?”

“It’s for the best. It’s not like anybody takes a child seriously.”

“No one takes anybody seriously. It’s human nature,” he shrugged.

“But it’s not like a children can take care of themselves.”

“They can if they put their minds to it.”

“What about love?”

“Nobody is too young to fall in love, Age,” he replied with a smile.

I watched him intensely as he carefully picked apart his Rice Crispies Treat when he finished speaking. He stuck a piece of the snack into his mouth, his blue tongue sticking out to lick off the sticky substances from his fingers. I gazed at him with my chin in my palm and the sun in my eyes. A soft shadow overcame us, causing the both of us to freeze for a moment before looking up. Nara Lee Evans smiled down at us from behind her blue framed sunglasses. Her blond hair blew away from her face in the soft wind. I could not help but notice a long blond hair stuck on her light blue shirt and I desperately wanted to pluck it off in a sad attempt to simply touch her. The surrounding area seemed just a bit brighter until I looked to Nara Lee’s left. There stood her best friend, Cassandra Carta.

I would be the first person to gladly admit that I was never a fan of Cassandra Carta. Ever since I met her in our freshman year, I knew she had to be an all-around pain in the ass. She had this odd fixation about wearing a lot of white, not unlike Eddy with the color blue. I had no idea if she was under the impression that the shade made her innocent or if she looked good in it, but even though it went well with her tan skin, her clothes made her seem even more sinister. Her dark red hair fell in curls past her shoulders and she looked down at us with her dark green eyes and a sneer on her lips. Her tongue flicked out past her lips to play with her lip piercing before she glanced over at Nara Lee impatiently.

Nara Lee gave us a large smile before sitting down next to me before nervously glancing at Eddy. Eddy looked away from Cassandra to scan over Nara Lee with no expression on his face. His eyes rolled over towards mine before a slow smile that did not look quite right slid onto his face.

“Hello, ladies. Welcome to our humble table. Coffee? Tea? Me?” he asked with a smirk.

Cassandra sneered as she rolled her eyes before dramatically sitting down next to him. Nara Lee smiled and gave a small laugh at Eddy’s remark before saying, “No, thanks.”

“Sorry about the fart comment this morning. Actually, I’m not really sorry, but I might as well pretend to be,” he shrugged.

She gave him a large smile as she said, “It’s cool.” She turned towards me, her knee slightly touching mine before saying, “You deal with him every day?”

“He makes me laugh,” I shrugged before sticking the lollipop back in my mouth.

“He hangs out with me because I’m a good fuck,” Eddy smirked as he wrapped an arm around Cassandra’s shoulder, twirling a lock of her hair with his finger as she looked at him in disdain.

“You two are disgusting,” Cassandra said with a roll of her eyes.

“Duh,” we said in unison.

“You shouldn’t be so perverted. You won’t get a girlfriend that way.”

“Yeah, because that’s totally the most important thing right now,” Eddy scoffed. “Fuck graduating, I need to get laid.”

“God, no wonder nobody wants to hang out with you two: you’re freaks,” Cassandra spat out.

“Cassie!” Nara Lee said in shock.

“What do you want me to say, Nara? I don’t even know why we’re here. So excuse me while I go with my boyfriend and normal people,” she sneered before getting up and walking away.

Nara Lee’s gaze followed Cassandra’s form as her lips tightened together. I glanced at Eddy, who avoided my eyes as he began playing with his teddy bear again. Nara Lee turned back to us after a moment with an apologetic face.

“Sorry about her.”

“Never say you’re sorry for somebody else. That just makes the apology less real,” Eddy stated without looking up.

“How are you so calm?” she asked.

“Dude, we get insulted every day. Do you think a freak is the worst thing we’ve been called?” he laughed without humor.

“And you’re okay with it?” she asked quietly.

“Nothing we can do about changing people’s opinions. Sometimes, that’s all they have,” I shrugged as I examined my lollipop closely, trying to see if there was a hair on it.

“I guess I can understand you. I mean, you’re the Queen Bee here. You’re perfect. But look at us, we’re freaks. But we don’t care. We chose to be this way. We’re content like this,” Eddy said as he tugged on his bear’s ear.

“Well, I don’t think you’re freaks if that’s any consolation. You’re entertaining,” she said with a smile before standing up. “Well, I’m going to try to find Cassie. Maybe I can get her to apologize.”

I gave her a small smile before she turned and walked away. I leaned to the side to see past Eddy as she walked back inside to the cafeteria, where all the self-proclaimed cool people sat on the performance stage. I slumped down in my seat and sighed and stared at the table. Eddy gave me a bored look as he placed his chin in his palm.

“Let me guess, you’re about to moan about how you ruined that conversation?” he asked.

“I just talked to Nara Lee Evans. Without stuttering. I am awesome!” I yelled out the last statement with my hands in the air.

“Oh, God,” Eddy rolled his eyes before playing with his bear again.

“She’s the one for me, Eddy, I know it.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I love you, too, twin.”

He rolled his eyes before smiling down at me.