finding the key

"It's good we could meet up like this," Cory was all smiles to meet Eric for breakfast. It was a little early, but Eric looked as if he had a place to go, yet time for him. It hadn't worked out with pizza nor with Kyle. They'd settled on this last minute.

"Yeah, I'm sorry we haven't, you know, tried to go out before now." Eric gave him a nervous smile.

"You OK about, you know, breakfast?" Cory was a little worried. He didn't think they had a problem. He hoped not.

"Oh, no, I love seeing you, I do. I just have a lot on my mind." He was kind of jumpy. "I've got a flight to catch in a couple of hours."

"Really?" Cory smiled. There coffee came and they ordered breakfast. "What are you doing now? Have a job interview or something?"

"No," Eric shook his head. "Its a girl. I'm going to Boston to see a girl."

"OK, uh, what's going on with you, Eric?" Cory chuckled.

"I dunno. I wish I did. I guess I'll find out." Eric tried his best not to be silly about the matter. Cory watched him stir cream in his coffee.

"God, you're in love, aren't you?" Cory knew what this was about now. He remembered how he was with Ellie.

"Yes."

"You fall in love too easily, man." Cory was serious. "You fall so hard that it hits you, and you don't know where to go."

Eric squinted then and pushed his finger through his hair. He pressed his lips tight.

"Look, she's not a drug." Cory stared at him seriously then. "You gotta pace yourself. You have to slow down. You have too."

"Are you trying to tell me I shouldn't see Syd?" Eric glared back.

"I wouldn't tell you to do anything, Eric. Just look at your track record, OK. That's all you need to look back at. Now, you get really into them the first month. Second month is great. The third month, well, you start to think, is that all there is..and well, you kind of run out of steam, after awhile. You have to be there for the long haul, Eric."

"The long haul?" Eric winced. "Look, I was with Olivia for a very long time."

"You pretty much treated her like she was your little sister." Cory reminded him.

"I did not." Eric squinted.

"Think about it. You were so careful. You didn't want to hurt her. You didn't," Cory said.

"I guess. But we broke up, anyway, and she's with Roger now." Eric huffed.

"Yeah, its kind of hard to watch. Seriously, I had no idea how that happened. But I think they're really happy. She makes him happy. He makes her happy." Cory nodded.

There breakfast specials came with eggs and hash browns included with sausage and bacon.

"Happy."  Eric nodded.

"That's the key, Eric. You have to make each other happy. Its that simple." Cory smiled. He dug into his waffles on the side.