in Eric's room

Ellie was pretty sure that Kyle had been at Eric's.

"Yeah, you just missed him. Actually." Eric nodded who was putting all his Cd's away. His electric guitar was still out on the bed. She knew Kyle loved that guitar.

"Did he know I was coming?" Ellie hated this. Kyle was avoiding her now. She didn't mean to be so peeved, but he'd made it sound that everything was OK, between them when obviously it wasn't.

"I might have mentioned it." He kept tidying up his room. It was starting to annoy her. The room smelled of a sweet smoke, as well.

Ellie's eyes lit. What were they doing?

"Are you guys smoking?"

"Its not what you think." Eric turned from her. There backs touched. "Nothing is going on. I don't like tabacco."

"Does your mother know?"

"Sh!" He turned back then and put his hand over her mouth and gave her a slight giggle. His mother was at work, anyway. He let go and she turned back to him.

"Oh my God!" It was obviously true. They were smoking pot.

"What?" He was probably high right now. "Don't look at me that way. You're making more out of it than it really is. Its not like we do it everyday or anything."

"Who else is doing it?" She huffed.

"You're not going to call the cops or anything? Are you?" Then he laughed as if that was the funniest joke ever.

She wanted to tell him it was disgusting, and he was wasting his life away and that she thought he was so much smarter and stronger than to take part with Kyle in something like this.

"Its either this or what ever Kyle brings over from his medicine cabinet, and I really don't want to take my chances when it comes his little bag of pills."

"Pills? He's taking drugs?" Ellie's eyes were opened wide now. This was shocking. She gritted her teeth then.

"Relax." Eric sighed. He went to put some other stuff out of the way in his closet.

"I shouldn't have said anything. He's not that bad. Its not like he's druggie or anything." Eric looked at her blankly. "He's just cool, you know. Cool with everything going on." He nodded.

"Who else is doing these things with you guys?"

"Sometimes, Cory," Eric told her. "But usually, he's pretty much a chicken shit." He turned and scratched the back of his neck in thought. "He's a chicken shit. Plain and simple." He closed his eyes and shrugged.

Ellie wondered if he was talking about something else other than smoking pot with him and Kyle.
"He really likes you," she offered. "I can see it. I know he does."

"Yeah, well, he's a butthead," Eric smiled. "You know, if I only had the balls you did, just go out, find someone, do the inevitable and get it over with. I really think I'd be so much better off." He dropped to his bed then and sat back on the pillows that formed it into more of a couch that he'd pampered so diligently just moments before. He patted the place next to him and told her to sit.

"That was the worst thing I could have done." She cringed, hugging herself.

"So what was it like?" His eyes narrowed, and he pushed her long strands of blond hair behind her ear.

"Painful." She nodded, wishing he hadn't brought it, but maybe she needed to talk about it.

"Ouch." He nodded, "Why do people have sex? Huh?" He smiled. His eyes lit as he leaned in. He giggled, slightly.

Ellie wasn't sure what to think about this whole conversation. Eric definitely had to be a little high. He wouldn't normally be this close.

"Well, it was intercourse." He smirked. "Right?"

"I guess so." She nodded just shivering at the word. She wasn't really into charting it out on a graph and getting out a Biology book to look up answers.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You don't know? Do you?" He squeezed her shoulder then. She looked away. This was getting a little too close for comfort and a little awkward being here in his room.

"Its OK, I'm not trying to make you feel bad." He messed with her hair then. "I wouldn't, but don't you want to know? Wouldn't you want to know, for sure?"

She shook her head, no. What did it matter? It wasn't going to happen again. It wasn't. She didn't want to go through something that painful without painkillers involved. She cringed to think she'd have to be drunk to be some-body's lover.

"Think about it?"Eric put his arm around her neck and drew her in. "Are you sure you lost anything? Maybe it was something two guys would rather be doing to each other." He breathed in her ear then.

Ellie shivered. She wondered if he'd even remember this conversation. She wondered if he'd know that he was right.