Eddie Shows Some Vulnerability

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But then he sighs and he speaks slowly, carefully choosing his words.

"I'm not the best with people... I'm not the best with girls..."

"Women," I correct him, but he's showing growth so I feel a little bad about it, "Sorry."

"No you're right," he says grumpily, clearly trying here, "I don't trust people a lot. Been burned before. And it's worse with women, though I suppose you know that."

I nod, "I do. And you don't have to say it but I appreciate that you do. It's a hopeful note, you know?"

We walk on in silence for a while, drifting a little closer to the group. Eddie seems to be chewing on something and I give him the space to finally get it out.

"So we used to be friends and now we aren't."

"We could be," I offer, and he shakes his head but he does it with a smile.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. We barely know each other. Well, I barely know you."

"But you could," I say, "And I'm pretty fucking awesome."

He laughs, "I get that feeling."

Together and in mostly silence we go through a bit more of the tour. And it's like the last time we did it but different at the same time.

The jokes are still biting, but when they're a little on the edge of cruel I don't hesitate to shut him down. That's not to say that I don't make a few jokes of my own and not to say that we don't get a little closer. But it's still not quite as comfortable as it was the last time.

And I don't know that that's a bad thing.

It takes time for us to come back around to the topic both of us really want to discuss and I think that's mainly because we don't have much more to say. I know that I don't have much more in the way of answers or explanations for him, and I know that he doesn't fully trust my story even if he is opening up to the possibility of it.

So when he does broad it again, he's more than a little cautious.

"The last time," he says eventually, "The other time. We were close."

"Thick as thieves," I say, "Truth be told you were the only friend I had."

"I have a hard time believing that," he muses.

But I have to have him understand, "I wasn't like this last time. I wasn't so outgoing. I was a little afraid to speak my mind. Confidence wasn't exactly my strong suit and while I don't have an abundance of it right now, I have more than I had before."

"You seem to be pretty confident to me," he points out, "Certainly had enough to put me in my place."

"Fake it til you make it, baby," I joke, then get serious, "But the last time I kind of just went with the flow and I think that hurt things more than it helped. Not that I fell in with the wrong crowd, but more that I just wasn't sure enough of myself to speak up when I was uncomfortable."

"We still had each other, at least," he says, so quiet that he's almost speaking it under his breath.

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