It's Always Something With Her

Eden had to shower and change into her pajamas as soon as they got back from the park. She had specifically decided to stay at their place rather than her mother's despite having to sleep on the couch in a studio apartment so she wouldn't have to deal with more nagging than necessary.

They had fun watching movies until bed but that was another problem. Since the apartment was only one room and a bathroom, she could hear everything. Those two were whispering and giggling to each other for over an hour and the bed kept shifting as they readjusted themselves to snuggle better.

Her single heart was bleeding. She had done too much third wheeling for one weekend already.

It was highly tempting to text Troy earlier once they left Universal Studios but she wanted to give Ezra and Nadia her full attention because she saw them so infrequently. Now it was definitely too late to do it.

They hadn't talked since Wednesday and she was definitely feeling the loss. Maybe she should try figuring out what time he was on his lunch break and text him then on the days he worked full time next week.

That might be too presumptuous of her though. Who said he even wanted to talk to her on his lunch breaks?

Then again, he had called her twice since their original call on top of texting nearly every day. It probably wouldn't be too much of a bother for him. They did used to spend most of their breaks talking in person, after all.

Eden usually didn't feel this single. Why did she feel more single now that she had a phone relationship of sorts than she had back when she had nothing?

It must be because having anything made her want more. Like how you couldn't eat only one potato chip. Having a one perk of having a guy around—fun conversations—made her want all of them.

Going out on dates. Having a built-in person to do things with whenever you wanted to mix things up and none of your other friends were available. Snuggling. Inside jokes. The whole shebang.

Her old relationships left much to be desired but was it so terrible to want one like Nadia and Ezra or Aubrey and David? One built on mutual love, trust, and enjoyment of each other's company. Both of those couples were teams; anyone could see it.

It was hard seeing what was possible while knowing it was out of reach. Troy might seem great now but all of the other jerks she dated had at first too. It took a few months of knowing someone to stop seeing them through rose-colored glasses.

She hadn't 'seen' him period so she couldn't make that call yet. People had more time to come up with appropriate responses over text than they did in person when their knee-jerk reactions made an appearance more often.

Pinning her hopes on him when she knew his life would be unstable indefinitely was a bad idea. Talking to someone and having fun with it was one thing; contemplating a future was entirely another.

Eden was only thinking about this because of her lame date last night and being forced to witness this love fest now. Her relationship with Troy wasn't like that. It had never been like that, Valentine's candy or not.

If he really wanted to date her, he would have asked her out already by now. He had plenty of opportunity. They were text buddies and nothing more.

She drifted off into an uneasy sleep eventually because she knew she needed strength to face her mother tomorrow. Staying up all night thinking would only make things that much worse for her.

The next morning when she woke up, Nadia was already gone. She was in charge of organizing the egg hunt for her little nieces and nephews and had to be at her parents' house early.

"We're having dinner around two, right?" Ezra asked with a yawn as he made them both scrambled eggs. "I know you have to drive back tonight for work in the morning."

"Yeah, I already talked to Mom about it," Eden said quietly.

Would she manage to make it until the end of dinner without getting ripped to shreds about something or other this time or not? She really wasn't in the mood for any more of her mother's nonsense right now when she was already feeling bitter about the state of her life.

"She can't give you a hard time about your job anymore," he replied optimistically as if reading her mind.

"I'm worried that she's already moved on to the next thing. You know it's always something with her…I hate coming home, Ez. I wouldn't bother at all if not for you."

Ezra sighed and gave her a sad smile. "I know. And I'm really glad you do because I love seeing you. Mom…she's not well, E. Something changed inside her after Dad left and it seems to me like she thinks you can avoid the same pain if you reach a certain standard.

"It's a bunch of bull because even the most beautiful and amazing people in the world can get cheated by creeps but that's how she thinks. I can't talk her out of it and neither can you. All we can do is try to keep her happy by staying minimally involved in her life."

Eden knew he couldn't stand their mother either. He held a grudge for the way she treated Eden after he left home when he came back to visit and saw how bad things were. He had been on the overprotective side ever since.

He couldn't tell their mother to shove it though because he lived in the same area. She had no doubt he would have moved up to Silicon Valley to be closer to her once he finished law school if he hadn't fallen in love with Nadia.

The woman he loved was close with her family and still had a lot of school left when they met. There was no way she would be willing to leave.