*vicious*, eddie roundtree

xvi.

. . .

INTERVIEWER: And how did you react to his...confession, of sorts?

CHRISTINE: (laughing) Oh, I freaked the fuck out.

. . .

Chris planned on staying in that storage closet for the rest of her life. She stood frozen in place, Eddie's voice echoing in her head. "I think you already know the answer to that, Chris."

It was all she could think about. What could he have meant by that statement? The second she actually considered the possibility that he could actually be in love with her, Chris wanted to immediately push it out of her mind. There was no way that was the case. The idea of Eddie loving her in a way that was anything beyond platonic felt absurd.

She couldn't shake the thought, however.

The more she thought about it, the more she began to doubt that possibility. There were too many factors working against the theory; Eddie had been hooking up with the groupie girls a lot more recently, he fucked Camila a couple of months ago, and he had never once made a pass at her before.

Chris ignored the excitement she felt. Surely it was just leftover adrenaline pumping from being on stage just a few minutes before. That was the only plausible explanation.

Chris was suddenly able to move again once she heard the band start playing from the gigantic speakers that sat on stage. She reluctantly made her way out of the closet and slowly walked to the side of the stage where she could safely watch their set out of the audience's view. Chris found that she was unable to divert her eyes away from Eddie.

It seemed she saw him in a brand new light.

She stared at the way his hair flew around wildly as he played. His face contorted in a way that she could see just how hard he was focusing; how passionate he was about the music. She watched as his left hand moved effortlessly up and down the fretboard as the right plucked the thick strings of his bass flawlessly.

As Chris stood there transfixed, it felt as though their entire relationship flashed before her eyes.

She remembered their incessant bickering that was sure to fill the garage back in Pittsburgh, the cigarette they shared outside of McNasty's just seconds after she'd finished throwing up upon the sight of him, the peaceful silence that followed her near baseball bat attack, the countless hours they'd spent alone in her apartment, talking about anything and everything.

She never realized just how much he had affected her life. No one had made her laugh as hard, cry as hard, feel as hard as Eddie had.

She'd also never realized that she was hopelessly in love with him.

Chris audibly gasped upon her revelation. She was honestly shocked that she hadn't figured it out before. She had studied his face countless times, admiring how smooth his skin looked, how expressive his eyebrows were, how stunning his smile was. She loved every part of him. The fact that she was so angry with him half the time was because she cared so deeply for him that every little thing he did amplified her emotions. When he made her laugh, she laughed so hard her stomach hurt and tears fell down her cheeks. When they went out on their drives, she felt more relaxed than she had ever been before.