Close Your Eyes to See

“Would you hurry up in there, Ed? The party started a half an hour again.” Edie rolled her eyes at Eric's voice she heard coming from her bedroom. She was trying to get ready as fast as she could, but she had to take her time doing her makeup in efforts to hide any imperfection she had. She didn't wear a ton of makeup, but enough to hide all of the small pimples and blackheads on her face. She longed for flawless skin. She longed for a flawless everything.

The sounds of The Wombats filled her room and bathroom as she finished the last touches on her makeup before looking at herself in the mirror. She was never satisfied. Her long brown hair was in its natural waves and still a complete mess from just getting out of the shower. Her outfit was boring – wearing a long sleeve black v neck and red acid wash shorts and sandals. She just had no effort to put any energy into her appearance tonight, it took too much time.

With a sigh she exited her bathroom and walked back into her bedroom. Halvo was sprawled out on her red duvet cover, messing around with Harley to pass the time.

“Its about time, Edie.”

“Well you didn't really give me any time to prepare for tonight since you invited me an hour ago.” She walked over to her dresser and pushed a few black bracelets onto her wrist before spraying perfume over her body.

“FUCK!” Eric shouted causing Edie to jump and turn around. When she did, she found Eric sitting up on the bed, sucking on his pointer finger.

“Your fucking cat just scratched me. You know, I give that thing unconditional love when I see it, which is a lot, and it still fucking scratches me. Cats, unbelievable fucking creatures.” Edie let out a loud laugh before walking over to the bed and picking up her cat, caressing it in her arms.

The one thing she loved about Eric was that he was a complete loser. He was dramatic and overreacted on almost anything. But he was also really funny and always managed to make Edie laugh even when she didn't want to. She's known Eric for going on three years and she never got sick of the kid. She missed him when he was on tour and cherished all the time she got to spend with him when he was home. He was a great kid – 'kid' being a literal statement.

“She knows the good from the bad. Harley never lies.” She kissed the top of her tan stripped head before placing the cat down on the bed and looking to Eric who was still sucking his finger.

“Don't be such a baby.” She grabbed his hand and inspected his finger, not even seeing any blood.

“Eric, there isn't even blood.” He snatched his hand back and dramatically acted like he was hurt by Edie's words.

“Its my pride that is hurt more.” She ignored his words and walked over to her desk, reaching for her purse and phone along with her car keys.

“So have you talked to Beth yet?” She shut her bedroom light off, turned off the music and the two of them made their way to the front door.

“I probably won't talk to her until tomorrow. I need to unwind for a bit.” Before Eric could reach for the handle, she slapped his arm away from the gold knob and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Which means you are staying here tonight?” It was a part of the routine. When Beth and Eric fought, Eric went to a party and got wasted and stayed at her apartment, throwing up everywhere.

“Aww Edie, thanks for the offer.” He patted her on the back acting like he had no intention of staying the night until she mentioned yet.

“Hold on there Eager Beaver, what are the rules?”

“Come on Edie, you know I know them already. Can we go now?” He went to reach for the doorknob again, but she slapped his hand away once more.

“I am not mopping up your throw up anymore Eric. What are they?” Acting like a child, Eric sulked for a second, letting out a huge sigh and eye roll, staring up at the ceiling.

“Once I can't taste the tequila anymore, I need to stop drinking. Three beers and nothing else. If I can't walk on my own by the end of the night, I have to find a place to stay that isn't yours, my clothes have to stay on for the duration of the night.....”

“And......”

“And no crying over Beth. Alright, can we go now?” Edie patted Eric on the head with a smile before opening the door for the two of them,

“That's my boy.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“You have Beth, Eric.” Edie cut off Eric's stare as the two of them stood in the kitchen of the house. It wasn't a huge party, probably about thirty people filled the house and it was decently quiet – Edie could actually think in the environment.

“Doesn't mean I can't look.” Eric took a long sip of his Corona, eyeing every girl that passed them in the kitchen. All of the girls in the house looked like models, tanned skin and perfect hair. All of them hardly had any clothing covering their bodies – wearing napkins as shirts and underwear as shorts.

“Don't be one of those guys, Eric. So you and Beth had a tiny fight, you have those a lot. It makes your relationship work. If you didn't have anything to fight about, you wouldn't have anything to make up on.” Edie took a swig of her own beer, wishing she wasn't driving tonight so she could get hammered. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be at home and curled up with Harley, watching reruns of Modern Family.

“Yeah, I guess you are right. Maybe I should call her.” Eric reached into his pocket for his phone, but Edie stopped him before he had the chance to dial her number.

“She is probably sleeping, Halvo. If you call her now and wake her, she is just going to be more mad. Call her tomorrow morning and take her out to breakfast.”

“Sometimes, I think the only reason why my relationship with Beth survives all it does is because of you.” Eric leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, a simple gesture that Edie always loved no matter what. It gave her ten seconds of hope that maybe someone actually cared about her.

“So where are these so called friends of yours I haven't met yet?” Edie arched an eyebrow in curiosity and looked over at Eric who had finished his first beer of the night. She hadn't seen any really new faces tonight, most of the people in the house were ones that she had either seen or met at previous parties.

“They should be arriving here any minute, they are always fucking late to everything.”

Eric had filled her in on the car ride to the house. Like most guys in Arizona, these mysterious friends of his were in a band and had spent the last few months touring. Eric was only excited for Edie to finally meet them because one of the guys has been Eric's friend since they were in middle school. Edie had heard a lot about this friend of his, but never got the chance to meet him before. By the sounds of it, they were always off doing something and Edie couldn't make it to all of the parties because she spent her life working and hanging out with a cat.

Edie's phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her purse while Eric walked over to the other side of the kitchen to crack open a new beer. The text was from Beth who was wanting to know if Eric was with Edie.

'Yeah. Eric is with me. His sad and pathetic self was waiting on my porch when I got home from work. We are at one of his friend's house right now and I will be sure to get him home to you in one piece tomorrow.'

Now, most girlfriends would have a problem with their boyfriends staying the night at another girl's house. Edie wasn't a threat to Beth. Although Beth was one of the nicest girls ever, a hard ass sometimes, but nice – she didn't even take Edie seriously when it came to guys. She never questioned anything with Eric stayed the night in Edie's apartment, nothing ever happened though of course.

“HEY!” The house suddenly erupted into noise at the sound of the door opening causing Edie to lose her train of thought and jump out of her skin. Eric quickly brushed past her, leaving her completely alone in the kitchen, as he joined the ruckus that was going on in the other room. Edie felt so out of place and her social anxiety was getting the best of her. What was she fucking doing here? She took a long sip of her beer and tried to stay preoccupied by sitting on her phone and waiting in the abandoned kitchen for Eric to come back – she had no one else to talk to.

“Edie! This is Garrett!” Eric shouted over the noise as a bunch of people began filling into the kitchen all of sudden, causing Edie's eyes to go big and face to go red. She looked at Eric and then at Garrett, a slightly small and scruffy boy, who eagerly stuck out his hand for Edie to shake.

“Hi, I'm Edie. Welcome home!” She tried so hard not to sound awkward as she shook his hand, but it was no use. He had no idea who she was.

“So you're the Edie that Eric keeps talking about. Its nice to finally put a person to the name.” She shot a glare at Halvo who just chuckled at her, what had he been saying about her? She was suddenly self conscious. Garrett quickly excused himself when he heard his name being shouted, leaving Edie and Eric alone. She smacked him in the chest, spilling some of his beer onto the kitchen floor.

“What have you been saying about me?” He threw his hands out in surrender.

“All good things, I swear.” Eric laughed at how dramatic Edie was being as people came in and out of the kitchen to grab their drinks. It wasn't long before another boy came waltzing over to Eric to strike up a conversation. His hair was a dark brown, facial hair filling the bottom of his chin and lightly lining his jaw. He was taller than the other one, Garrett, but he looked a little more cleaner cut. She stood there for a few moments, staring down at her phone and trying not to intrude on their conversation they were having.

“Oh Kenny, this is my friend Edie.” She looked up from her phone and made eye contact with 'Kenny' who used his free hand that wasn't holding a red cup and stuck his hand out. What was with these guys and shaking hands?

“Hi Edie, I'm Kennedy.” With a little hesitation, Edie smiled and took the handshake lightly, still feeling awkward even though people were actually talking to her this time.

“Eric has told me a lot about you.”

“So I've heard.” Edie said through her teeth, glaring at Eric once more who pretended like he didn't see and took a chug of his beer, averting her stare.

“But dude,” Kennedy slapped Eric in the chest to get his attention again, “I have to show you those pictures from that show. You're going to wish you were there.” The two of them walked off, completely ignoring Edie again as she stood alone in the kitchen. Its funny how even in a room full of people, Edie could still feel so alone.

She watched from her spot – seeing all of the people half dressed walk around the kitchen with their drinks. Everyone seemed to know everyone and here she was, standing all alone. All of the girls were getting hit on by the half drunk guys and the girls were eyeing them back. She felt sick to her stomach. She walked out of the kitchen, beer in hand, and made her way into the backyard where she could finally be to herself, literally alone.

She had been to this house once before, but she couldn't even remember whose it was. She found herself a spot in one of the lawn chairs and finished off her Corona, finally feeling herself relaxing. She was going to kill Eric, she knew she was going to end up alone tonight and yet, despite her accurate prediction, she still went.

She wished her brother was home, he always made time for her. Whenever they went to parties together, he was there to watch out for her and was always by her side. She didn't have to feel alone. Gabe was quite the partier back in high school, and sometimes, still is. He was considered a legend in the Arizona party world – having the longest kegs tand hold for three consecutive years. He always made friends with everyone and everyone loved him no matter what. Edie wished she had that power over people. It wasn't her fault that she kept to herself, she was made a certain way and she couldn't change it – no matter how much she wanted to.

“Hey.” Edie looked over saw a tall boy with sandy blonde hair standing behind her, a beer in one hand and a pack of smokes in the other. It took her a second to register that the 'hey' that left his mouth might be directed to her. He stared at her with weird eyes, waiting for a reply to escape her mouth.

“I'm sorry, uhh, are you talking to me?” No one ever started a conversation with her, this was a foreign concept to her. The boy only chuckled and took a seat in the chair adjacent from her.

“Do you see anyone else out here?” He spread out his arms as a cigarette dangled from his mouth. Edie tried to hide the red tint that was covering her face, feeling foolish for how she started off the whole conversation. The boy lit the cigarette hanging from his mouth, a cloud of smoke engulfing his surroundings.

“You look lonely.” He observed, blowing the smoke into the black Arizona sky before looking over at her with tired eyes. She didn't understand why he was talking to her in the first place so she didn't even know how to keep a conversation with this guy.

“Uh, yeah, my friend kind of ditched me.” She looked down at her empty Corona bottle and wished she had another beer. This guy was attractive, even for Edie's standards, which wasn't much to begin with. She didn't have high standards on guys because she knew guys didn't have her set at a high standard.

“Sounds like a great friend.”

“Oh definitely, he is always super compassionate about other people in his life.” She joked causing the boy to laugh a little.

“So what are you doing here then?” She couldn't decide if she enjoyed how short he was being with her about everything, but she didn't know enough about the guy to judge his character. She looked down at her thighs, trying to readjust her sitting position so they didn't look so massive in the shorts she was wearing. Why was she wearing shorts?

“He wanted me to meet some of his friends and I didn't have anything better to do.” He watched as the guy finished off his cigarette and flicked the left over filter into the grass, not caring where it landed.

“And who are these friends you are supposed to be-”

“There you are Edie!” She jumped at the sound of Eric's voice and turned around as he emerged from the house, making eye contact with her. She rolled her eyes and turned back around in the chair, avoiding him.

“You're Edie?” She looked over at the boy as he whispered the question, but Eric's voice distracted her and cut her off before she could respond.

“Great. You guys have already met!” Eric grinned as he clapped his hands together. Edie stood up from her chair, completely confused about what was going on.

“Edie, this is John. My best friend since high school.”

“That makes us sound so old dude.” John said as he finished off his drink and stood up, standing in front of the two of them. Edie tried not to laugh at the whole situation out of embarrassment and just sheer luck.

“I'm John.” He stuck out his hand which Edie took very carefully, not knowing how to even react. This guy would be Eric' best friend and the worst part, he already knew about her. She could only imagine what he has heard about her. One thing was certain after this night, she was never going to shake another hand again.