*vicious*, eddie roundtree

ii.

. . . 

Graham Dunne nearly died four different times as he scaled the tree outside Christine Hyde's window high out of his mind at one in the morning. He was dying to tell her all about Camila Alvarez and Billy's new 'relationship' and how pissed off Eddie was at the entire situation, but he forgot the entire reason he was there in the first place as he noticed the blank walls where her posters of the Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones, and the Doors belonged, pinholes in the wall left in their absence. This caused him to lose his footing while guiding his other foot through the window, resulting in him crashing to the floor in shock. He'd sobered up faster than he ever had before as he scanned the rest of her room, failing to find the majority of its usual contents.

Graham made his way off the floor and onto the foot of Chris' bed, struggling to accept what he was seeing. He sat there in silence for what felt like hours but was probably only mere minutes in reality. He didn't even flinch when he heard the door to her bedroom open. Her mother walked in and, upon seeing Graham sitting there like a kicked puppy, left the baseball bat she grabbed to investigate the loud crash in the hallway. Graham didn't even need to look up at her to know she looked at him with pity in her eyes.

"She left, didn't she," Graham said, stating it as a fact rather than a question. He already knew the answer. He'd be lying if said he wasn't expecting this.

"Yeah, honey. She did."

He stood up and sauntered to the door, Chris' mom making room for him as he approached, touching his shoulder in comfort as he passed her. She watched him descend the stairs and waited for the sound of her front door closing to go back to bed.

As he walked the few yards back to his house, Graham thought to himself that he expected she'd leave any day at that point; he'd noticed how withdrawn she'd gotten within the past few months.

Despite this, he never ever expected her to not say goodbye.

. . .

INTERVIEWER: And how did you feel when Christine left Pittsburgh?

EDDIE: (laughing) I was thrilled. Initially, y'know, until Graham wouldn't stop whining about her.

. . .

Eddie walked into the Dunne's garage for band practice the next day to a depressed-looking Graham. He hadn't looked this depressed since he got dumped freshman year.

"Woah, Graham, who died?" Eddie asked, trying to lighten the mood. When Graham didn't even crack a smile, he knew something was wrong.

Graham scoffed, "Like you would care."

Taken aback, Eddie fired back. "Then what the fuck happened, man? You look like you just put your dog down. Holy shit, that's not what happened, is it?"

"No, dipshit." Graham sighed. He debated telling Eddie at all, figuring he'd immediately start running around the block, screaming "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead!" at the top of his lungs. He didn't need that at the moment.

"Chris left yesterday. She moved to LA." He awaited Eddie's cheers, but they never came.

"Oh," was all he said.