Close Your Eyes to See

“Fuck.” Edie silently cursed to herself as she drove down the road, already ten minutes late to Eric's apartment. She knew none of them were going to be pleased, but she really didn't care – she didn't even want to go.

Her morning hadn't started off on the right foot. It took her a half hour to figure out what she was going to wear to the lake, she contemplated on not even bringing a swimsuit. She ended up doing it. When she got to work, she got two orders wrong which resulted in her getting bitched at by the cranky morning people on their way to work. She also managed to burn her hand so many times on scorching hot milk that she couldn't even count.

She wore the damn swimsuit, but a cropped light weight white cardigan was placed on her shoulders, high waisted jeans on her waist and brown gladiators on her feet. She knew all of the girls on the boat would be rocking their bikinis and killer bodies, but she couldn't do it. This was the best it was going to get for her.

When Edie got to the apartment, she wasn't surprised to see John's face first. He was sitting on the couch in swim trunks and a white tank top – his dark tattoos sticking out from his pale skin. Spending the day with a half naked John wasn't going to be an easy one.

Whenever she was with John or talked to him, she always had to remind herself that he was taken and way out of her league. She felt like she was in high school all over again. He would never go for a girl like her. He was just hanging out with her because of Eric.

“Hey.” Edie said as she shut the front door of the apartment and stared at John. She could hear loud chatter from the kitchen and knew that everyone was already here, they were just waiting on her. John glanced at Edie and was honestly surprised to even see her, he assumed she was going to find her way out of this one.

“Sweet, you're here.” John said as he put his cell phone away and got up from the couch, walking over to give Edie a hug. It took Edie a second to even process what was happening, but she eventually wrapped her arms around him and lightly hugged back. Why was he being so nice to her?

Edie followed John into the kitchen and found all of the people that would be heading to the lake with them today – Eric and Beth, Jared and his girlfriend Tessa, Kennedy and his girlfriend Gabi, Justin, Nick and Andrew. Edie had never met Tessa or Gabi before, but they looked nice.

“Good my best friend is here.” Eric walked over towards Edie and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a tight hug. Edie didn't understand what all of the hugging was about.

“I don't know if I should be offended or not.” John said as he watched Edie and Eric hug.

“You should be.” Edie flashed John a smile before digging into her purse to try and find the envelope that held Eric's ticket to Wilco.

“Here is your birthday present. Since you were too drunk last night for me to give it to you.” Eric rolled her eyes at her as he took the envelope from her grasp and opened it up, his eyes automatically going wide when he saw the word 'Wilco' printed on the ticket.

“No fucking way, Edith. Are you serious? Wilco?” Eric immediately wrapped her in another hug, this time almost crushing her bones. Edie knew that she had done a good job at picking a gift.

“This is perfect Edie, thank you. The excitement is making my hangover worse though. All I got from John was an Applebee's gift card.” John's mouth automatically hung open and Edie laughed at Eric who was over the moon about his ticket.

“Dude, I put thought into that gift. At least you got one from me this year.” John socked Eric in the arm before staring at Edie who just shook her head at him – he shouldn't have gotten him the gift card.

“Yeah, well I figured that since you have been hounding about the three of us hanging out, John is going to the show as well.”

“Alright, my two favorite people hanging out with me. It should be pretty great.” Eric said as he tapped the two of them on the top of the head.

“You know we can all hear you right now. We are standing right behind you.” Beth interrupted causing Eric to turn around and stare at all of the people still in the kitchen. He waltzed over to Beth and gave her a peck on the lips,

“You are obviously my favorite honey bee.” At the sound of the nickname, Beth's face automatically scrunched up in disgust and she lightly pushed her boyfriend away before clapping her hands.

“Let's get to the lake so I can have a fucking beer.”

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“You're not seriously reading right now, are you?” Edie looked up from the book she held in her hands and took the beer can John was offering to her – putting her bookmark in and closing the book before putting it back in her bag.

“There isn't anything else to do.” John took a seat next to her on one of the squishy white seats the boat had to offer.

The group had gotten to Lake Powell and on the boat in about forty five minutes, Jared dubbed captain of the boat which left him spending most of his time behind the wheel. Eric was busy mingling with everyone that was on the boat, leaving Edie kind of on her own.

Everyone intimidated her. She didn't know any of them. Sure was sure they were nice, but she was too shy to say anything to them. All of the girls were in their bikini tops and small bottoms, leaving Edie feeling even more uncomfortable because she stuck out.

“What are you talking about, there is plenty to do! We got the beers and the food and the music and the people. And you are over hear reading some book like you are at a library.” John teased playfully at her as he brought the lighter to his mouth and lit a cigarette.

John knew Edie didn't want to be here so he felt like it was up to him to make sure she was having fun. He didn't really know how to get her to interact with everyone though, especially the girls. John never had friends who were this shy – normally, they were all people who loved to party and strike up conversation. With Aly, he sometimes couldn't even get a word in.

Edie was sure everyone on the boat thought she was an anti-social freak. As John sat there and talk her ear off with nonsense, she could see them glancing their way every once and a while and the stares were making her uncomfortable.

“Smoking kills, ya know?” Edie said, turning to stare at John who had a cigarette hanging from his mouth. His lips formed into a smirk as he breathed in the toxic chemicals.

“So is being painfully shy.” The remark took Edie by surprise and it even stung a little, but it was true. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I am here, aren't I?” She said quietly, staring out at the water. The scenery was beautiful. The sun was beating down on her as little waves painted the crystal blue lake. The cardigan she was wearing as light, but still made her sweat. She wished she could just take it off.

John observed Edie as she hid behind her big round sunglasses, taking a long sip of her beer as she stared out at the water. He was so confused by her, she was surrounded by tons of people and yet, she was sitting in her a corner all by herself.

“Can I ask why you are so shy?” Edie gulped as he asked the question and just shrugged her shoulders at him, not wanting to use her words.

“Come on, Ed. Don't just shrug your shoulders at me.”

“This isn't the time or the place John, okay?” Edie shook her head at John, getting mad that he was asking her those types of questions when people were probably listening. She glanced over and noticed Eric was staring at her with a confused look on his face. Before she even had time to roll her eyes, Eric was over there – sandwiching himself in between the two of them.

“The boat is about to drop its anchor and everyone is going to take a dip in the lake, are you going to tag along?” He put his arms around his two best friends and tried to understand the awkward tension that seemed to be around them.

“The boat doesn't have an anchor, Halvo.” Edie said with an eye roll, trying to not sound completely annoyed and upset at her friend.

“Its was a metaphor, Edith.” John stood up from his seat and peeled off his shirt, tossing it on the ground before walking off to the other side of the boat to grab a fresh beer. He didn't mean for it to bug him so much, but he didn't like the cold shoulder he was getting from Edie.

“What was that about?” Eric looked over at Edie who immediately tried to put a smile on her face and tell him that nothing was wrong. Eric saw right through it.

“I think you forgot that I know you better than anyone. Is John bugging you? Did he say something? I saw you guys talking earlier...”

“No Eric, he just doesn't understand how I function unlike you.” Edie sighed and brought the beer can to her lips once more as the boat slowed down to a stop and Jared cut the engine. Before she knew it, everyone was jumping into the water.

“I know you have been through a lot of shit Edie, I just hate to see you sad, ya know?” Edie leaned over and kissed Eric on the cheek before patting him on the shoulder.

“If I have survived this long, I think I will make it. I don't want to be a downer on your birthday so go get your boney ass wet in the water.” Edie joked at her best friend before he stood up and hopped over the side of the boat and into the lake.

Edie glanced around the boat, the shouting and splashing from the water filling her ears as John approached her from the other side, his body still completely dry.

“You getting in?” John was going to keep trying until she participated in something today. She scrunched her nose and shook her head at him, trying to hide the tint of red that was coming over her face. John didn't understand why she was being so weird today. Things had been going so well – they felt like actual friends.

“Nah, I am good.” Edie leaned farther back in her seat and hoped John would take the hint and go away.

“Come on, you have your bathing suit on and everything.” He reached out for her hand, but she ignored the gesture and shook her head, her butt not moving from her seat any time soon.

“No I am cool John, seriously.” John raised an eyebrow at her, feeling like he was challenging her. Maybe this was his shot to get her into mingling with everyone. I mean, she must want to go in the water. She put on her bathing suit and was out on the middle of a beautiful lake.

John reached down and took the sunglasses off of her face so he could finally see her eyes.

“Get in the water, Edie.” She was starting to get really annoyed with John. She just wanted to be left alone. She couldn't go swimming because that would require her to actually wear only her swimsuit. If John would leave her alone, she would mingle with his friends if thats what it took for him to get off her back.

“No, John.” She was getting irritated and began sifting in her bag for her book so she could read and avoid John for the rest of the day.

Before she even had time to think though, her body was being lifted up from her seat and was soon submerged in the crystal clear lake water. The anger in her blood was boiling before she even hit the surface.

“What the fuck was that, John?!” Edie shouted at him as she hit the surface of the water, her mop of hair covering the side of her face. Everyone around her was laughing and she didn't know if they were laughing at her or the situation. John stood on the boat, a stone look on his face.

“Ed, come on – it was just a joke!” She heard Beth say from nearby. Edie was so angry with John on the inside, but the mischievous grin on his face made it so hard for her to yell at him. John threw his gangly body off the side of the boat and disappeared underneath the water.

Edie's clothes were soaking wet and her makeup was probably running down her face. She didn't want to go in the water, but John had managed to lift her disgustingly overweight body over the side of the boat and into the water. As much as she hated him right now, being in the water felt good. It was cold and refreshing and she was having more fun than sitting on the boat alone while everyone around her was having fun in the lake.

When John's face came up to the surface, Edie pushed a wall of water towards him and he retaliated by doing the same thing back.

“You are such a fucker, you know that?” Edie said to him as the two of them treaded in the cool water.

“Loosen up White, you gotta try something new every once and while.” John knew that his plan could go two ways – either Edie would take it as a joke and have fun in the water or she would yell and scream and never talk to him again.

“Do you treat your girlfriend like this, John?” Edie teased, pushing her soaking wet hair out of her face.

“If I did this to Aly, she probably would have hit me and started crying for fucking up her hair and getting her clothes all wet.” He rolled his eyes at the thought of Aly and realized he should probably call her soon. John took in a mouthful of the lake water before spitting it out at her.

“Wow, O'Callaghan. I didn't know you were five.” She teased farther as she swam closer to him and dunked his head under the water for a moment, getting him back for spitting the water at her.

“I gotta keep it young. The hard partying is making me old.” John said as he resurfaced from the water, glad that Edie had finally loosened up and was having fun.

Her face was now bare, no makeup present, and her hair was a complete mess on the top of her head. She was goofing around and smiling at him – this was the Edie he was still getting to know. But deep down, he knew she could be painfully shy and he wanted to know why. Why was Edie energetic and bubbly one second and completely closed off and shy the next moment?

“Race you.” Edie said as she began to swim over to the group of people, not giving John a second to react. He took his time getting over to everyone else, his mind still clouded with thought. Edie was so different with every little thing - any other girl would have killed him for doing what he just did and yet, she barely seemed to mind. Edie White was a girl that was full of so much mystery, it both intrigued him and scared him at the same time.