Demons [Eddie Brock] Venom

7. Compare

Rory's new neighbour had officially been living in Pleasure Estates for a month now, each morning they greeted each other with strong coffee made to perfection – he liked one spoonful of sugar, she liked two. In the evenings she brought something that resembled a dinner, and he bought wine he couldn't afford. Day after day, night after night, Rory was spending more time in his apartment -even though it was messier than hers and less personal, it felt homey.

She knocked with her elbow as she held the casserole dish, waiting for Eddie to open up. She rocked back and forth on her heels, feeling this strange sense of companionship with her newfound neighbour. The door opened and Eddie greeted her with an infectious, subtle smirk of a smile that made her feel something she hadn't allowed herself to feel in so long.

"Ah, you're to good to me, Rory," he said as he took the dish from her hands. He turned around and placed it on the small counter space, two glasses of wine already poured and ready.

Rory noticed that there was something different in the apartment; it smelled fresher, as though he did a power clean of some sort. Then she realized that it wasn't the smell of some lemon scented cleaner, it was the fact there were candles.

"Are you trying to woo me?" she asked as she glanced around, placing her now-free hands upon her hips.

"Ah, you deserve it," he told her, not quite meeting her gaze -was that guilt she saw in his eyes? Guilt that he was treating her like she could be more than a neighbour and a friend, guilt that he was moving on from his ex, or perhaps guilt that he wasn't moving on from her, and yet was still stringing Rory along.

Rory didn't see it as any of those, however -she didn't buy the friendzone, it didn't exist. You were either friends, sexual partners, lovers or nothing -there was no friendzone. She asked him, "I deserve to be wooed by you?"

He laughed, grabbing his glass of wine. "That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?" She grabbed her glass; this time it was a rosé, sweeter than she was used to, but Eddie proved he had excellent taste. She put the glass back down after taking a sip, her eyes lidded in a sultry gaze. She did not believe the friendzone existed; her and Eddie were friends. But she wondered, as she was more and more attracted to his physical and emotional being, if there was a possibility that they would be more than friends.

Eddie reached his hand to the side of his head, running his fingers through his hair. Then he extended his hand, fingers wide, gesturing to Rory. Cocking his head to the side he said, "You deserve someone who treats you... the way... you deserve to be treated."

She smiled; it was his way of saying he pitied her because of her past, and how it impeded on her present. His way of saying he wanted her to feel like she deserved someone who treated her like this, but that it wasn't him. He was showing her how to be treated when the right guy walked in on her life.