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Her eyes are green and her heart is gold
You have a vision, you'd like to meet her
And so you're walking down that road to the sea
Eddie must actually be insane. All this time, he’s thought that the whole unhinged, loose cannon thing was an act to scare off the weak but nope. Apparently it’s been true all along. That’s the only explanation for his current course of action. He’s really, truly, on his way to meet Chrissy Cunninham. For a fucking drug deal, no less.
He must have read her note a hundred times since he found it before lunch. Neat, loopy cursive with little hearts over the eyes. Fucking hearts. Where most people just told him where to meet and what they wanted, Chrissy asked him to “please meet me today, at your usual spot at the picnic table, if you have time. It’s really important.” She sounded so sweet, so desperate, that he’d been compelled to respond (even though it WAS really short notice). But a large part of him still doesn't actually believe this is real, that she actually wrote the note.
Someone has to be fucking with him, Jason or some other douchebag from the basketball team. Somehow, they’ve found out about his ridiculous crush and have decided to humiliate him. And here he is, walking right into their trap. Because if Chrissy Cunningham is involved, if there’s even the slightest chance she needs him for literally anything, he’ll be there.
You hear a lot of things about her
Her reputation's widely known
It isn’t a trap. Chrissy actually shows up. In fact, he runs right into her and she looks ready to bolt. At first, he thinks it’s because of him, thinks that being in his presence has her keyed up, scared. And if he’s perfectly honest, that hurts a little bit. His reputation is carefully cultivated and serves a purpose, he’s brought it on himself. But seeing Chrissy look at him with actual terror sucks. He doesn't want HER to see him that way (he kind of hates that anyone does, deep down. But he’s built walls for a reason). But Chrissy assures him that it’s not him, he isn’t the cause of her distress. That actually worries him even more. Whatever has her seeking him out, it’s bad.
She isn’t anything like he expected. He’s been a tiny bit (just a tiny, little bit, he swears) obsessed with her since the eighth grade and he’s very aware that he’s put her on a pedestal. Sees her as the golden maiden from one of his favorite stories, clean and untouchable. An Arwen, a beautiful elf maiden waiting to be saved (and maybe in his fantasies, he’s the one to do it. Her loyal knight). But up close, he sees how wrong he’s been. Beneath her fear and anxiety, he sees her strength. She’s a fighter, fierce and strong. She’s an Eowyn. Actually, she’s better than that. She’s a Chrissy.
Apparently, he isn’t what she was expecting either. Her fear seems to melt away and he gets her laughing. He thinks her laughter might be the best thing he’s ever heard. He’ll make a fool out of himself as many times as it takes to hear it again. She asks for something stronger and he hears himself agree. Anything to keep her around.
The people talk but that don't matter
Because to you she feels like home
She doesn't end up taking the special k. He didn’t really think she would. But he lets her come to the decision on her own. He gets the sense that she doesn't get to make a lot of choices in her life. She breaks down and tells him about her mother, Jason, the horror of a future already mapped out for her. They end up sharing a joint, sitting side by side on the couch. He feels his own walls start to crumble (but let’s be real, they started to fall the second he ran into her in the woods). Suddenly, he’s telling her about his own shit. His dad locked up, his mom in the ground. How hard it is to feel different, how painful. How lonely. He recognizes the same feelings in Chirssy’s eyes, just like he recognizes her strength and determination. He tells her as much.
Looking back, Eddie isn’t sure who made the first move but one of them must have leaned in. Because the next thing he knows, they’re going at it right there in his living room. He tastes the weed smoke and cherry lip gloss on her mouth, feels her fingers tangled in his hair. They pull apart just long enough to giggle, long enough for Chrissy to gasp “this is crazy.”
Long enough for him to agree. “Yeah. We hardly know each other.” Then they’re locking lips again. Clothes come off. He hears Chrissy sigh (it might be even more beautiful than her laughter) as he touches her. Hears her moan as he slides into her. He doesn't know what any of this means, doesn't know if she’ll even acknowledge him in the morning. Eddie knows he’ll probably care then, it’ll probably hurt like hell. But in that moment, he decides not to care.
Afterwards, while they lie sweaty and sticky in each other’s arms, Chrissy disagrees with him. “You’re wrong,” she says quietly, she looks up from where she lays on his chest. “Just so you know.”
His brain still hasn’t fully come back yet, so he stares at her blankly. “I’m sure you’re probably right but about what?”
“That we hardly know each other.” She looks like she might be blushing, suddenly getting shy. “You said it earlier. And I think we do know each other.”
Eddie grins down at her, plants a kiss on the top of her head. “Well, I think we know each other better now.”
She pretends to swat at him and sits up. “You know that’s not what I mean. I just…I feel like I’ve known you my entire life already. I know it doesn't make sense.”
Eddie resists the urge to tease her. That isn’t what she needs right now. Instead, he takes her hand. “It makes perfect sense, Chrissy. You feel like home.”
To his eternal surprise. Chrissy dumps Jason the next day, deals with the fallout from that at home when her mother decides to ground her. But she tells her off and comes to him anyway, all shyness gone. He picks her up and twirls her around, kisses her in full view of the trailer park. “ You’re so fucking brave! My girl the dragonslayer,” he says. “My knight in shining armor.”
Chrissy beams up at him. “I like the sound of that.”
You feel free because
She'll never bring you down
You're hot, then she'll bring you water
The next week, spring break, is heaven. They spend every moment they can together. Chrissy’s mother is displeased, to say the least but now that Chrissy has fully embraced her inner badass, there isn’t a lot that she can do to stop her. Eddie is more than happy to have Chrissy sleepover, so she does (Wayne will eventually take notice of their house guest and have an absolutely mortifying discussion with Eddie about sexual safety) basically every night. They take trips to Lover’s Lake to dip their feet in the icy cold water. They go to the movies, the arcade. He brings her to meet the Hellfire gang and deals with their incredibly annoying questions, their shock. “Practice for when we go back to school,” Chrissy says when he apologizes. “It’s all worth it,” she assures him. “But people are definitely going to react.”
“Not too late to turn back, Dragonslayer,” he tells her, though he hopes she never takes him up on that. He’d understand but his heart would probably never recover.
“Yeah it is,” Chrissy says, reaching for him. “Like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”
She says things like that a lot but a part of him, the part that he doesn't like people to see, still doesn't believe her. Chrissy has been through a lot in her life, God knows, but she’s never been bullied or ostracized at school the way he has. He knows what’s coming for her and while he wants so badly to trust Chrissy when she says she doesn't mind, that she could never be embarrassed or ashamed, he just can’t. And Chrissy knows that (because she knows everything). She tells him, over and over again, never gets angry no matter how many times he doubts her. “I love you,” she tells him, wraps him in her arms.
They’ve been together exactly a week and they’re already saying “I love you.” It’s definitely too fast but neither of them can bring themselves to care.
“I love you so much,” he tells her. “So much that it’s a little scary.” It’s scary for him to be so vulnerable, to open himself up to rejection like this. He’s spent so long trying to avoid feeling this way.
“I’m not going anywhere, Ed” she assures him. God, he loves it when she calls him that. “I’ll tell you as many times as I have to.” She smiles. “I’m your knight, remember? I took an oath.”
She wears a flower crown
She is the people's daughter
They walk into school hand in hand. The reaction is about what Eddie expected. Stares, whispers, some pointing thrown in for good measure. Jason, of course, takes it a step further. He decides to give Eddie a nice punch to the jaw out in the parking lot during free period. He’s obviously pissed that Eddie doesn't hit back. Tempting as that might be, Eddie won’t risk suspension or expulsion so close to graduation. And besides, he probably deserves a little roughing up. He did sleep with Carver’s girlfriend, after all. That particular rumor is true (there are many that aren’t, some truly crazy shit).
Chrissy saves the day, of course. She walks up and whacks Jason over the head with her math book, without a moment of hesitation. Because she’s Chrissy Cunningham, who has never been in trouble a day in her life, she’s let off with a warning. Principal Higgins seems more shocked by their relationship than by Chrissy’s act of heroism.
After school, they run out to the van and get the hell out of there. “My hero!” Eddie cries as he drives. “ Sir Cunningham, defender of the weak!”
Chrissy giggles. “I didn’t do anything that big, Eddie.” She laughs harder. “I can’t believe I hit Jason with a book.”
“An interesting choice of weapon, Sir Cunningham, but a noble one.” He thinks about driving home but decides against it, heads for Lover’s Lake instead. Chrissy takes his hand and beams. Eddie feels like he could fly.
They spend the afternoon beside the lake. Eddie fishes a blanket out of the back of the van and lays it on the grass, where he and Chrissy stretch out in the sun together. Grabbing some particularly pretty wild flowers, Eddie weaves a little circlet, which he places proudly on Chrissy’s head. She smiles (so fucking beautiful) and touches her crown. “I thought I was a knight, not a princess.”
Eddie can’t help but reach for her, he pulls her close and kisses her deeply. “I think you can be both,” he says when they break for a moment. He kisses Chrissy’s nose. “You’re a knight.” Kisses her forehead. “A princess.” Kisses her right cheek. “A saint.” Kisses her left cheek. “A fucking sorceress.” Chrissy laughs and pulls him back in for a real kiss. He pulls away one last time. “My Chrissy,” he whispers.
“You’re my Eddie,” Chrissy says softly. “My Eddie. Now please stop talking and make out with me.”
Eddie laughs. “With pleasure.”
She's holy, holy
Maria's prayer, the dragonslayer
She's fighting fire by the sea