lauren

Chapter Eight

It was morning and both Lex and Eddie were woken by Lex’s alarm to get up for work. 

“Fuuuuck,” Lex groaned as she reached over to silence her phone. Eddie shifted with her to allow her to reach over, slightly confused from being half asleep still. He wondered when he would get used to waking up to an alarm. “I can’t. I can’t go.” Lex rolled back over and buried her head into Eddie’s chest. 

“Don’t go, they will understand.” Eddie rubbed his hand up and down her back. “You need to take time to process everything.” 

Lex was always super anxious to call in sick to work, but he was right. There was no conceivable way that she would be able to function at work. She typed out a text to her boss explaining what had happened and put her phone back on the bedside table. “Done.” 

“Good girl.” Eddie comforted her, drawing her back into his chest for a hug. They stayed like that for at least an hour, not saying anything, just appreciating each other's company. As the morning progressed, Lex and Eddie slowly made their way out of bed.

Eddie poked his head cautiously out of the bedroom door first, ensuring there were no sneaky light beams poking through the curtains. Satisfied, he turned on some lights to illuminate their path. Lex didn’t make it very far, she plopped down on the couch and started scrolling through her phone. 

Eddie started brewing coffee for the two of them, he was only starting to adjust to a ‘normal’ sleeping schedule again, but he didn’t mind. Even if it meant he was dodging sunlight all day, being able to spend time with Lex was more important. He brought two mugs of coffee over to the couch and sat hers down on the table. “How are you feeling.” 

Lex pulled a face, but shrugged. “As good as can be expected, I suppose.” 

“Yeah, it’s probably going to be a long time before you feel normal again.” 

Lex stifled a small laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt normal, Eddie.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes, she was at least feeling good enough to be cracking jokes. “Well whatever your normal is.”

Lex continued scrolling through her social media, coming across a photo Ace had put up. She felt a pang of pain in her heart, but she knew what she had to do today. “Hey… Would you come with me to Ace’s?” Lex asked Eddie, who was mid-sip of his coffee. 

“Of course, anything you want to do. We ah, might have to wait until nightfall though.” 

***

As the sun began to set, Lex had showered, gotten dressed and brushed her hair, which was pretty good considering everything that was going on. Once the sun had disappeared enough that Eddie wouldn’t be turned into chocolate nesquik the two of them left her apartment. From what Lex had explained, Ace only lived a few blocks past Rusty’s the opposite direction to hers and was totally walkable. 

As the pair walked through town Lex’s anxiety grew, a knot building up in her stomach. What should she say? What do they talk about? Eddie was picking up on her panic and checkin in on her. “You good?” 

Lex glanced across at Eddie. “I’m just really nervous to see him.” She admitted. 

“Well I’m sure it’s going to be really tough, but I’ll be there.” 

“What if he’s mad at me?” Lex asked.

“And why would he be mad?” 

“Because… Because he was really close with her and I think he was angry at me that night when I wouldn’t work things out with her.” Lex tried to explain. 

“I’m sure anything that was on his mind before has since been replaced with other concerns.” Eddie reassured Lex as they turned down the street Ace lived on. 

Lex reached her hand up to knock, but Eddie grabbed it. “If he doesn’t specifically say it, you gotta invite me in, remember?” Eddie reminded Lex, to which she nodded in agreement. He let go of her arm and she knocked on his door. 

It was a few moments and the latch could be heard turning in the door before it swung open tenderly. Ace looked a mess, from the look on his face he had not stopped crying since. “I didn’t expect you here.” He spoke in a monotone, very different from his usual flamboyant nature. 

“I just… We wanted to check in.” Lex caught herself mid sentence and looked to Ace expectantly. 

Ace’s eyes darted across to Eddie and back at lex. “Yeah. Well you guys can come in,  I suppose.” 

“Thanks.” Lex turned to look behind her to watch Eddie, making sure that was enough of an invitation. He looked slightly surprised when he was able to step inside with no problems, giving Lex a little look. “How are you holding up?” 

“Shit.” Ace answered Lex with a nervous laugh. “The love of my life just died, here, in my fucking house.” 

Lex didn’t know how to begin unpacking everything he had just said. Did he just admit that he was in love with Molly? “Ace..” 

“Don’t.” He abruptly interrupted Lex, grabbing a beer that was on the coffee table and taking a big chug. He had clearly been drinking all day. “Because why do you care all of a sudden.” 

The words hit Lex like a knife. While she was afraid of him being angry at her, she was still surprised when it actually played out that way. Eddie interrupted, unable to stand by and let this happen. “Hey, that’s not fair.” 

Ace cocked his head to look at Eddie and raised an eyebrow. “Well since you entered the scene, you’re all this one has cared about.” He waved his hand around motioning towards Lex, still holding the beer causing it to slosh about. 

“Yeah? Well from what I’ve heard you two were supposed to be her best friends, but I can’t really see why to be honest.” Eddie was defensive, very defensive. He could feel his anger bubbling up, how dare he take his pain out on Lex who was grieving just as much as he was. 

“That’s rich considering you’ve been relevant for what, 5 whole minutes?” Ace shot back. 

“Eddie.” Lex stepped towards him and tenderly touched his arm, asking him to back off. Eddie’s eyes darted across to see how upset Lex was, but respected her wishes and stayed quiet. “Ace, please I didn’t come here to fight, honestly.” She tried her best to deflect the situation. “I already feel so guilty for Saturday night, the way I blew her off like that.”

“Well you should.” He finished off his beer completely before setting the empty can on the table where several others sat. “Because she was so upset that she thought she had lost you. Why do you think she OD’d? Because she was trying to distract herself from all the bullshit.” 

Lex began to break down, unable to cope with everything that Ace was saying, confirming her worst fears. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

Eddie was furious, putting his arm around lex to comfort her, counting down in his head trying to calm himself from completely flying off the handle at Ace. “Let’s go.” He whispered to Lex who nodded in between sobs. He guided Lex towards the exit before turning around and having one final jab. “I hope this has made you feel better.” Eddie seethed, suppressing everything telling him to beat the shit out of him and drain him dry. 

Ace was unphased, lighting a cigarette as he watched them leave. 

Once outside on the street, Eddie grabbed Lex and held her head in his hands. “Look at me, Lex, Look at me.” She tried her best to stop sobbing to meet his gaze. “Do not listen to what he’s saying, he’s really hurt at the moment and he is taking it out on you. I promise you, he doesn’t mean it.” 

“He’s right though.” 

“Lex!” Eddie yelled, making her jump back a little. “Nothing is your fault, do you hear me?” Lex nodded, not wanting to fight with Eddie when he was just trying to make her feel better.

They walked back to Lex’s apartment. Once inside, Lex explained that she just wanted to have a shower and relax. Eddie agreed that that was a good idea, and he would order a pizza for them to eat when she was out. 

Lex thanked Eddie again for being there for her and went into her room to grab some pyjamas, before coming back out and going into the bathroom. 

Eddie ordered the pizza like he said he would, fluffed up the couch and grabbed a blanket for them to snuggle up on the couch. He flicked through netflix and tried to find a movie for them to watch. It had been around 20 minutes and the Pizza arrived. Eddie paid for it and placed it on the coffee table, wondering why Lex was taking such a long time to shower. He presumed she was just upset and needed her space, which was completely fair. 

Eddie wanted to be comfortable, so he went into her bedroom to pick something from his bag of stuff he was leaving at hers. Entering the bedroom, something resting on the bed caught his eye; it was a little tin box. Curiosity getting the better of him as he had never seen this in her room before, he opened the tin to find a couple razor blades. His heart dropped, panicked as to why this was sitting out. 

“Fuck.” 

Eddie turned around to see Lex standing in the doorway to her bedroom, looking terrified that he had found what she had carelessly left out. “Lex.. What-” Eddie approached her with the tin in his hand. 

“I didn’t do it.” Lex interrupted him before he could continue. “I thought about it, but I didn’t.” 

Eddie’s concern softened, but he still inspected her for any cuts, making Lex feel so stupid. “Sorry… I just… Please don’t hurt yourself Lex.” Eddie pleaded, his big puppy dog eyes looking into hers desperately. “I’m taking this, by the way.” 

“Please do.” Lex agreed, following him back into the lounge to see the cute little set up he had made for them, complete with pizza and a movie ready to go on the tv. Eddie hid the box for now, knowing that he would get rid of it later. 

He tried his best to shake his new fears, trying to focus on the movie but he was plagued with new concerns. Sure she hadn’t self-harmed now, but if it had crossed her mind he was sure that would happen again. 

***

It was a new day and Lex called in sick again, this time explaining that she would not be coming in for the rest of the week. “I feel a bit more relieved.” Lex explained to Eddie as they laid in bed together. 

“Good.” Eddie leaned across to kiss her. “Now I get to take care of you all week.” He placed lots more tiny kisses all over her face. 

Lex started to giggle, feeling a glint of happiness that she had been unable to feel for the last couple days. “Eddieeee.” She pleaded as he added tickling into the mix. 

‘What? I can’t help it, I like hearing you laugh.” He admitted, pulling away and stopping his tickling assault to stare into her eyes. “I love seeing you happy.” 

Lex’s heart fluttered at the use of the word ‘love’. She wondered whether it was too soon, but she knew exactly how she felt. She studied his face for a moment, watching him stare back at her. She decided now was a good time as ever, and said ‘I love you.” 

Eddie looked stunned, but a happy stunned. “I love you too.” He replied as he watched a massive grin pull across Lex’s face. He leaned in to kiss her, soft at first but increasing in intensity as it went on. 

The days began to grow into one blur, Tuesday ended and suddenly it was Wednesday. Not having left the house in a couple days definitely wasn’t helping, but Eddie was here, and wherever Eddie was is exactly where Lex wanted to be. 

Lex’s phone rang in the middle of the day causing a slight panic, the last call she had received was Ace telling her the bad news. She recognised the number, it was her boss. Lex answered the phone, exchanging a few formal greetings. The formalities didn’t last long before he told her that she had really let him down by calling in sick this whole week, and despite the fact that she was going through something really tough he had to find a replacement as they couldn’t run a staff member down. 

“So what does that mean?” Lex asked desperately, her heart racing. 

“It means you won’t be required to come back.” His voice echoed through her head. 

“So, you’re firing me?” 

“Something like that.” He brushed her off. “If you’ve left anything here feel free to come by and pick it up, we wish you the best in your future endeavours.” 

Lex hung up the phone, throwing it across the room landing safely on the couch, thankfully. She pressed her palms against her face, burying her head. “Fuck!” She cried out. She wanted to scream, cry, but nothing was coming out. 

Eddie came out of the bathroom hastily, worried about what had happened. “You okay?”

“I’ve just been fired.” She said, completely exhausted at the week she was having. 

“No…Lex. I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve any of this.” Eddie pulled her in for a hug, wondering how one person could have such a shit run of back luck. 

“How am I going to pay for my apartment, how am I going to live without an income.” She questioned emotionless, exasperated. 

“Don’t worry about that,  you can always move in with me.” Eddie reassured her, rubbing his thumb over her cheeks. “I’ll always take care of you, I promise.” 

“I just feel like such a failure.” Lex admitted, leaning into his gentle caresses of her face. 

Eddie pulled her back in against his chest, at a loss for words. What do you even say at this point? Everything was going south for her, quick. And if he was being honest with himself it all started when he had come around. While he didn’t want to admit it, there was a part of him that thought maybe he was no good for her, that maybe he was cursed to ruin the lives of those that ever decided to get close to him. Although he chastised Lex for feeling to blame, he couldn’t help but think this was all his fault. 

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💚steddie || ronance💛 parralels / chaotic 😜 gay || cool 😐 bi

It’s like the top right, except it has an underbite, not an overbite.