It was early, far too early for anyone to be awake. Somewhere between two and three o’clock in the morning, Eddie wasn’t sure. It wasn’t even the first time Eddie had woken up that night, and he had already been laying there awake for what felt like hours. There was a part of him that more than anything wanted to fall back asleep, but there was another part that knew even if he could he’d rather not. Though, he soon pulled himself out of bed as he heard someone else awake, and as he reached the kitchen he found his oldest sister, Cassidy. “What are you doing up?” he asked her. “That’s what I should be asking you.” she responded with as she turned to him with a knowing look. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Nightmares again?” Eddie couldn’t stop his gaze from traveling to the floor, knowing how well his big sister knew him. “No, its fine. I just couldn’t sleep. And you didn’t answer me” Eddie didn’t want to be a burden on any of his sisters, or his mother. He knew he already had been for so long, but they didn’t need that pressure. Especially not Cassidy. She was about to move into a new house and had her own family to take care of. She didn’t need to be worrying about her little brother. “I was up with the baby and came to get some water before I go back to bed.” Ah that’s right, as of about a week earlier, Eddie was now an uncle to an adorable baby nephew. Which was just another reason why he wanted his sister to not worry about him, but she still walked over to Eddie and pulled him into a hug. “Is there anything I can do?” Though Eddie hugged her, he simply shook his head. “I’m fine sis. Don’t worry about me. Go be with your family” Eddie said, the look in his eyes begging her to believe that he was just fine and didn’t need her. In response, she nodded, stepping away to go back to bed herself, but pausing in the doorway. “Just try to get some sleep, please. And know I’m always here.”
“Night, Cassidy” was all Eddie said, knowing that with the way he had been before seeing her in the kitchen, trying to sleep was of no use. Instead of going back to his room and laying in bed for who knows how long, he started off by editing and polishing some of his video clips, but then turned to just watching some of his videos, and eventually more videos he had found from when he was younger, before he left London. That continued for the rest of the night, all the way until the morning when it was time for school. Once again, Eddie was going to school on almost no sleep, but all he could do was walk into school just like any other day.
Of course, at Cerulean high, it wasn’t simply just another day. It was Valentine’s Day, the halls were filled with reds and pinks, everyone was talking either about their Valentine’s lists, or who was asking who to prom. Before that point, Eddie honestly hadn’t even thought about the fact that prom was coming up fairly soon. He took a glance at the list he had been sent that morning, there were the names of a few girls he didn’t exactly know, and Amelia, which was just not something Eddie really wanted to think about. She was more like family to him, not a potential love interest like the Valentine lists would want to believe. With that, Eddie put his phone back into his pocket. If there was a chance of him going to senior prom with a date, like he knew his mom and older sisters would hope for, that list was not the place to start. Maybe there would be someone else, but people weren’t exactly lining up to go out with the shy camera geek who most people in the school didn’t even know existed. For a moment, Eddie was stuck in thought, that combined with exhaustion meant that he wasn’t entirely aware of his surroundings. He rubbed his eyes as he walked, and when he looked in front of him again, he barely had a chance to stop and not run into a girl. He didn’t actually run into her, but the slight squeak of his shoes against the floor would’ve been enough for her to know that he had stopped suddenly. Though, this wasn’t just any girl, it was someone Eddie actually knew and was more comfortable around than he was with most people, Florence. He gave an apologetic smile. ”Hey Florence… I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking, sorry…”
@CerealKiller - Florence