Chapter Text
Eddie had a gig playing with his band at the Hideout every Tuesday. Chrissy desperately wanted to go but she doubted she could swing going to a dive bar on a school night to see her secret delinquent friend play heavy metal, of all things. Maybe if she sneaked out…would she even be able to get into the Hideout? Would she need a fake ID?
She could just ask Eddie about it but she wanted to surprise him. Maybe the surprise wasn’t worth it. Finals season was about to begin and she couldn’t worry about potentially getting caught doing something illegal on top of getting good grades.
She groaned to herself, head in her locker that Monday morning.
Don’t think too hard about it.
Her first final was the following week, AP Literature. Mr. Burman gave out a study sheet last class and Chrissy took meticulous notes on each of the books they read. It should be fine. Don’t think about it.
Instead she daydreamed about Eddie and the night they spent together on Friday. She still couldn’t believe it— and it’s not like they had sex or anything either (no matter how much Chrissy also wanted to do that). They talked, kissed, watched a movie and she fell asleep in Eddie’s bed with him. He held her tight, keeping her warm throughout the breezy night. Something about it drove Chrissy to tears when she thought back on it, it was so nice . She realized she wasn’t paying attention to Mr. Burman and whatever he was going on about and tried to catch up.
While walking to her next class, she saw Jason and Maggie holding court at the far end of the hallway. He had his arm around her waist like he used to do with Chrissy and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t tug at her heart a little. Even though she wanted nothing to do with Jason and his shit, he was her boyfriend for 3 years and that comes with lingering feelings attached to it.
She wondered if he felt the same way when he saw her with Eddie— sadness, that is, over a failed relationship. She was sorry if he did. Chrissy jumped through hoops in her mind to try and convince herself that she wasn’t just as bad as Jason when it came down to it. But in the back of her head, was set on the fact that she did him wrong. Did she basically cheat on him like Maggie said?
Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. It’s too bleak to worry about. She had someone who treated her like a person now, even if their relationship wasn’t defined.
The more she thought about it in the moment though…the more she wanted it defined. She deserved that much. They both did. They were stuck in this weird dance that felt never-ending as they hand-in-hand twirled around the idea of being an item.
“Hey, Chris.” Eddie’s voice lilted from behind her. She was startled and turned around to face him as he rested his back on the lockers next to hers.
“Eddie!” She resisted hugging him, as not to draw attention, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. What’s your next class?”
“Trig.”
“Ah, awful.” He smiled.
She giggled, “What do you want with me anyway? The bell’s about to ring”
“Do you want to hang out after school? Or, at least can I drive you home?”
“Yeah, I'd love to hang out.”
“Awesome, meet me by my van.”
Chrissy nodded, “Got it.”
The bell rang, they both waved goodbye and scrambled to their classes.
♥
After school, just as he said, he was waiting outside of his van for her, smiling upon seeing her across the parking lot.
“Anywhere you wanna go this fine afternoon?”
“Let’s get ice cream.” She said it before she could really think about it. She thought it would be a nice activity.
“Sure.” He smiled, “Anything for you, baby.”
Chrissy couldn’t help but to grin and giggle, it almost made her self-conscious how bubbly she got around him. She watched as he got into the driver’s seat and suddenly shook out of her lovestruck haze and got in the van as well.
There was an Mom’n’Pop ice cream shop near Hawkins high that saw a lot of traction during the summer until a Scoops opened up on the other side of town recently after the one in the mall burned down. Scoops had more flavors and toppings but Tulsey’s had sentimental value to the town that couldn’t be replaced.
The place was basically vacant when they got there.
“I guess 3 PM on a Monday isn’t prime ice cream time.” Eddie commented.
Chrissy agreed.
They went up to the window and Eddie ordered two scoops on a cone, chocolate and strawberry, which Chrissy thought was an interesting combination. She ordered vanilla, Eddie chuckled.
“What?” She asked.
“You would just get vanilla.”
“Don’t make fun!”
That just made Eddie laugh more. He offered to pay and she let him without contest and they sat on one of the benches outside of the shack.
“My mom would kill me if she knew I was eating all this.” She half heartedly laughed.
“What’s up with her, by the way?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, what’s her deal? Why is she so…” He looked for a softer word than what he was thinking, “Strict.”
“Oh, well, I don’t know that much about it but, her mother used to be like that with her and I guess she never thought to be different.”
“Oh.”
“It must’ve been bad too, because they don’t talk anymore.”
“It’s always a cycle, isn’t it.”
“Yeah.” Chrissy sighed.
Eddie sat back on the bench, “If I have kids, I swore to myself I wouldn’t be like my dad. I would lay a finger on them.”
“I’m too afraid to even think about having kids, I feel like I’d mess up like my mom even if I tried really hard not to.”
“I don’t think you would. You’re too you .”
“I’m sure someone said that to my mom at some point.” Chrissy looked back down at her ice cream, it started to melt slightly, a little streak of vanilla pooled where she was holding the cone. She could feel Eddie’s eyes on her, she met his gaze.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m…I…I guess not.”
He put his free hand on her back, he was mostly done with his cone, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“No…Can you talk about something nice? I need a distraction.”
“Okay,” He stammered a little, “Metallica has a new album out and I finally got enough money to get it on tape and vinyl.”
“Huh.”
“Would you like to listen to it with me some time?”
That made Chrissy perk up a bit, “Sure.”
Eddie chuckled, “I knew you would.”
“No you didn’t!” She insisted playfully.
He insisted back, “Yeah, I did!”
“Whatever.” She laughed.
♥
That night, she lied in bed by herself, longing for Eddie’s touch. She curled up on her side and pretended to be in his arms, recalling when she actually was.
What if I never get to do that again? She thought. She knew she would, she just didn’t know when and that made her anxious. And then, an even worse thought popped into her head: what am I going to tell my parents?
They’d hate Eddie, plain and simple. It’d be a disaster trying to introduce them formally. Maybe after graduation, during the summer, they’ll let up and— Whatever she was thinking, it was a pipe dream. They’d never overcome their biases, not even if Chrissy were visibly happier.
She sat up in bed with a huff. Being so close to the finish line made her restless. Soon she’ll get away from her parents— her mom, but soon wasn’t soon enough. Not to mention, her freedom wasn’t a complete untethering from her family, she’d still come home for the holidays and be financially dependent on them until she got out of college.
Count your blessings, she thought. It’s enough to no longer be under the watchful eye of her mother.
♥
Chrissy and Deena entered the establishment, no problem. The bartender didn’t ask for ID or say anything to them, just glanced over at them and back down at what he was doing.
“Is that them?” Deena pointed towards the short stage at the far wall of the bar. The band, we’re tuning their instruments and Eddie stood with his back towards the audience. Chrissy smiled looking at him, Deena nudged her with her shoulder, “Are you gonna go up there?”
“I don’t know, I wasn’t sure if we’d get this far!”
“I mean, he’s gonna see you at some point so it’s either now or later.”
“Right.” Chrissy nodded, and bore her eyes in determination at Eddie’s back. She broke away from Deena and strode over to him.
The rest of the band noticed her first, they stopped tuning and the bass player’s eyes went wide. Eddie noticed the sudden change in his friends and whirled around to see what the deal was.
Upon seeing Chrissy, he got a wide grin on his face, “Chris!” He hopped off stage and twisted his guitar away from his front in order to embrace her, “You made it.”
“Of course,” she pulled away from him, “I’ve been fretting over when to come or even if to come for weeks!”
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
Chrissy nodded then felt someone slide up beside her: it was just Deena.
“Hello, Eddie.” There was a hint of mocking in her voice but it was meant to be playful.
“Deena, my good woman,” He bowed. Deena chuckled and Eddie looked up in triumph.
He gestured to the rest of the band, “This is–”
“Gareth–” the drummer nearly stumbled over himself trying to offer Deena his hand, “I’m Gareth O’brien.”
Deena shook his hand, “Hello, Gareth O’brien.”
“I’m Jeff Watts.” the bassist waved.
“Wendell.” the guitarist grunted.
Deena nodded, “Yeah, I’ve seen you all around school.”
Gareth got the widest smile on his face. Eddie chimed back in saying they have to get into place. The girls went to sit at a table, Deena leaned over to her friend, “Hey Chris, I know you probably want to spend time with your… Eddie after this but I’m not leaving without you.”
“Deena…”
“I’m just looking out for you— and I, personally, don’t want to be left alone.”
“Alright.”
The mic blared and Eddie started talking into it, introducing Corroded Coffin. Chrissy seemed to be the only one in the bar, genuinely interested. They started to play their brash, loud, intimidating but sometimes funny music. Chrissy wanted to get up and dance to it but she didn’t exactly know how to dance to something like this. And she didn’t want to draw too much attention to her and Deena and risk getting kicked out for being under 21. She looked over at her friend in the middle of the set and she knew she wasn’t enjoying it.
After every song, she let out a sigh of relief.
The set finally ended after 30-ish minutes and they said their thank yous and good nights. Eddie took off his guitar, debriefed with the rest of the band and, as quickly as possible, came up to the girls, stoked from being on stage.
He hugged Chrissy, “Me and the guys were gonna go back to my place for a while, you two wanna come?”
“Yeah, totally!” Chrissy answered for both of them.
“Chris!”
“What?”
“It’s late.”
“We can leave after an hour, I promise.”
“You’re killing me.” But she resigned to her fate.
♥
All six of them sat in the Munson trailer, Gareth and Eddie gave up their seemingly usual seats on the couch for the two girls to sit there. You could tell the band was still in awe of the fact that they were hanging out with pretty cheerleaders and were trying to be cool and totally not awkward about it. Chrissy could tell that even Eddie was still nervous around Deena, she found it cute. Wendell sat in the EZ chair and Jeff sat on the end of the couch next to Deena. Eddie put on a Sci-Fi movie and apparently, even an hour in, they weren’t halfway through the runtime. Not that they were really watching it, the volume was low and they drank beers while talking over it.
After a lull in the conversation, Eddie casually spoke up, “I’m gonna go out and have a cig, anyone wanna come with?”
Deena shook her head and all the guys said some form of ‘No’, but Chrissy enthusiastically said, “I’ll keep you company!”
Eddie smiled and beckoned her outside with him.
They sat outside on the picnic table illuminated by the sparse street lamps and the bright moon. The cool night wind made Chrissy shiver.
“Here,” Eddie took off his green flannel and placed it around her shoulders.
“What about you, aren’t you cold?”
“Just get close to me.”
She leaned into him, shoulder to shoulder and she resisted wrapping her arms around him. He hasn’t even lit his cigarette yet, he just has the pack next to him on the table. Chrissy turned her attention towards the clear sky before them, while Eddie had his eyes on her.
Her eyes trailed down until they were staring out towards the trees before them. She pulled the flannel tightly around her, “Eddie, how do you feel about me?”
He snickered, “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not unless you say it.” Despite the sureness of her words, she was worried about something she couldn’t name, a malformed feeling without conscious thought attached to it.
“Okay, well,” he paused for a moment, “I care about you a lot. I never thought I’d know someone like you, someone, so… beautiful.”
“Beautiful?” He’s dancing around it, she thought, he didn’t want to say it— or maybe he didn’t feel it at all.
“Yeah. I don’t just mean your looks, you are beautiful, Chrissy.”
“Oh.” I love you , she wanted to say it. She knew she was smitten with Eddie Munson from the day they reconnected in the woods. She thought maybe she could get over it but it was stuck to her. She wanted to be with him in every way possible. But she didn’t know if it was all just a fantasy. They had only really known each other personally for a little over a month. But those couple of weeks meant everything to Chrissy.
“How do you feel about me?” He said it as a throwaway line, like he already knew.
I love you, “You’re like no one else I’ve ever met.”
He chuckled, “I’ll bet.”
“No, Eddie, I mean it.” She began to speak without thinking of consequences, “I’ve never been so comfortable around a person. You’re extraordinary, you’re funny, you’re mesmerizing— you calm me down. You make me feel things I never thought I could feel. I—“
“I love you!” He blurted out.
Chrissy sat stunned and blushing, she didn’t think he’d actually…
“I know it’s insane, but I— I’m really into you. I can’t get you out of my head, you’re all I think about!”
She tittered, giggled, then laughed. Putting her head in her hands, she laughed with the biggest smile on her face. He laughed too, but unevenly.
“What’s so funny?” He asked with a scared smile on his face.
She sighed in relief. “I love you, too.”
“Y-you do?”
Chrissy nodded excitedly and Eddie joined in, unable to hide his elation. He hugged her, picking her up and making her squeal. Feeling happy with someone was such a novel idea for her, not just because of her relationship with Jason but because of what she observed with her parents. Their relationship was rarely loving and could be described, without exaggeration, as transactional.
She thought about the future and she thought about how it would be with Eddie. She knew she was getting it ahead of herself but she couldn’t help it.
Just focus on the next couple of months, Christine. The practical voice in her head said. In the fall, she would go to college and Eddie would be…well, who knows where. Maybe they’d forget about each other. The thought upset her though it’s a big possibility.
She knew no matter what happened she’d never forget what he gave her: a taste of something different, better than what she had — and she would never settle for less.
“Shoot,” she suddenly remembered something.
“What?” Eddie shook himself out of his love-haze, too
“I said I wouldn’t leave Deena alone.” She hopped off of the table and turned back towards her… boyfriend? Her Eddie. And offered her hand. He took it and came down too.
Inside, Deena seemed to be fairing well with the band but as soon as she saw her friend she turned back into her responsible self.
“I think we should go. It’s late, girl.” She got off the couch.
“I know, but—“
“Both our parents are gonna interrogate us if we don’t get home soon.”
Chrissy groaned, Deena was right, as usual. She turned to Eddie, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Of course you will.”
She grabbed her little bag from the couch and headed to Deena who might as well have been halfway out the door.
They boys came outside to see them off. Chrissy hugged Eddie so tight he let out a little sound. She bounded away to the car, feeling warm and excited, she was still wearing his flannel.
As the girls drove off, Gareth looked to Eddie and joked, “You’re never gonna get that thing back, man.”
♥End ♥