How the cookie crumbles

 "Roman could always smoke ribs," Eddie reminded Paulie at lunch. This cracked up Paulie.

"I dunno, if..if LaLa would go for that," He took off onions and pickles from his burger at the table where he sat across from his best friend, Eddie.

"Right, I thought so." Eddie didn't sound like he wanted to come to the dinner party.

"But, but you know..we all get along," he said. "You know Roman is fine that..that LaLa and me are together."

"Yeah," Eddie nodded as he bit into a fry. "But I don't think LaLa likes Roman. Maybe she never really liked him." He was even lipped and his phrase only gave Paulie a wince. He'd never thought of that. He fixed his burger back into a neat stack and began to eat.

"I think she's smitten with you. She's happy with you," Eddie assured him. "Its just she has certain goals."

"How? How do you know this?" Suddenly, Paulie felt Eddie had said to much. He didn't want to get in a riff with the closest friend he had.

"It's probably nothing," he took another bite of his burger.

"Well, I want to know," Paulie would hate the thought that she was just using him.

"Look, I get the feeling Roman always knew he was just an inbetweener. They weren't in love." Eddie looked at him blankly as if he should have known this already. 

Paulie shook his head, no. He didn't want to believe Eddie.

"Look, Roman falls in love easily," Eddie explained. "But, I really don't know if LaLa's been in love."

"What do you mean?" Paulie squinted hard now. Eddie had to be wrong. He had to be.

Eddie put down his burger and sipped hard on his chocolate shake. He seemed to be in thought as if he knew he shouldn't have brought it up.

"Honestly, I want you to be happy. I'm not trying to hurt you," Eddie finally said with a sigh. "But you and LaLa are from two different worlds. She was just a kid some Air Force officer thought he could help out. She's always been an outsider. You've had all the love a kid could get with a soccer mom and a brother and sister. Your parents are still together. I know you want to be enough for LaLa. If anyone needs a family, it's LaLa. Money isn't everything."