My Life Is Weird

"I mean I don't know that you do," she said slowly, "I don't know that you don't either. Looking over at that booth I see one person who's got your build and your whole aesthetic, though it's a little hard to tell because he appears to be dressed up as some kind of knight so I'd have to see him in day clothes to be sure.

"But regardless I didn't ask you because I thought you were the type, Eddie. I try not to assume types for people, even if I don't always succeed, because getting locked into a box because you look a certain kind of way is pretty fucking shitty.

"I asked you because you were in our group and because I noticed that you were staring at the booth so I figured you kind of wanted to join up but were holding back. And so I figured maybe that if you had some friends offer to sign up with you, that maybe it would give you the courage you needed to pull the trigger."

He opened his mouth but Rachel held up her hand to cut him off.

"And I know we're not friends. Not yet at least. But we're in the same group and we're stuck with each other for the rest of the week so even if we're not going to be friends we should at least be friendly.

"And I think you'll find that we're quite good company, Emily and I, if you give us the chance to be at least."

Eddie kind of wilted, all the anger and indignation bubbling up from beneath the surface of him and the intention of it kind of ebbing away and melting down into him. He shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other and then he did it again.

He looked at me.

I know Eddie. I know Eddie maybe better than anyone else in this world. I know him and I've seen him like this before.

I know him and I know that beneath all the bluff and bluster and the anger there is such a bitter fear. There is such a brokenness to him, this insecurity that was only ever fed but never ever tamped down.

So I shrugged and I flashed him a goofy half smile, "I mean I barely know Rachel too, but if there is one thing she's proven to me over the past day it's that she's persistent. I'd go with it if I were you. If you try to turn her down she's only going to turn you into a project and then you'll never get away."

I tried to make it a joke but Eddie didn't laugh. At least Rachel did, though, laughing high and light and reaching out to take his hand in hers and drag him along with the two of us.

"That's right," she said, "You resist me and I'll shadow you for the rest of your days. You'll never lose me."

Now there have been a lot of moments that I would never have believed, had you shown them to me when I was living my old life. I'd never have believed that I would have been entangled with Rachel like I was in the bathroom. That I would have willingly got on my knees for not one but two hot strange men in the span of maybe an hour and a half. That I would have let Blake, my bully, touch me like that. That I would have begged for my landlord to touch me even more.

But of all the things this was one of a moment that I know would be beyond comprehension for me. A moment I'd like to take a snapshot of and send through the multiverse to myself so that I can see just how bizzare it was.

To have Rachel Patrick arm in arm with both me and Eddie Young. To have the three of us heading over to a booth dedicated to LARPing and signing up for it. To have the whole damn thing be the idea of the hottest and most desirable girl on all of campus.

Yeah, my life had gotten weird.

My life had become unrecognizable.

But for the first time I could truly say that it wasn't bad and that it certainly wasn't boring.

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