Rob must have realized this, because he then took out his wallet and held out a twenty dollar bill. “Here, take this and go eat at
the diner. Maybe have some fun.” Eddie normally would have refused, but this time he was too tired to argue and begrudgingly accepted
the money.
“Thanks, Dad..” He didn’t know what he was thanking Rob for, because as much as he would have liked his father to have a caring
motive, he knew his father just wanted to be able to watch football without the sounds of a teenage mental breakdown interrupting him.
Rob nodded, ignoring Eddie as he walked out of the kitchen to the home phone. At the phone, Eddie dialed the number of one his best
friends, Matt. The said boy answered right before the final ring, a telltale sign that he’d been ignoring the phone until he saw Eddie’s
number.
“What’s up Edmund?” Matt’s cheerfully teasing voice sounded through the phone. Eddie groaned.
“Please stop calling me that. It’s not even my real name.” Matt laughed into the phone.
“Potato patato. What do you want?”
“Want to get dinner with me at Pat’s? I’ll pay.”
“Of course. True friends don’t let their pals cry in diners alone. Did Andy leave yet?” Of course, Matt knew why Eddie wanted to
go to the diner. Matt could always see right through him.
“Yeah, she did… Meet you in fifteen?”
“You know it.” At that, Eddie hung up the phone and sat down on the floor near the door, pulling on his sneakers. He wore them
without socks because it was still hot outside and he did not care about blisters. He called out to Rob that he was leaving and he looked
the door behind him. It was odd to him, going to Pat’s without Andrea. It was their tradition every Friday after the football game to get
dinner there and then walk home with Andrea’s friends Laurie and Beverly. He supposed though, that he would have t