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It had been your idea to move back home. You’d left after high school and gone to college just how you were supposed to, but it just hadn’t been working out.
When the earthquakes happened it seemed like the right time to leave. To go home. Figure out what you actually wanted to do.
So you told your faculty advisor, your tutors, everyone that you needed some time to go back home and help your parents pick up the pieces. As it turned out you weren't the only one who'd thought the same, you'd run into more old friends and classmates around Hawkins now than you'd ever done before. People who had stayed, people who had left and come back for one reason or another.
It almost felt like Hawkins had some sort of gravitational pull that no matter where you went or what you did Hawkins would always pull you back into its orbit. Like there was something, not natural, going on. It wouldn't be the first time people brought up the strange happenings in town and attributed it to something unnatural. Though people like that were usually seen as nothing more than crackpots and conspiracy theorists, like that guy Murray your dad had told you about who lived outside of town.
It was strange being back in Hawkins but also as if you'd never left, you'd expected things to have changed somewhat in the year since you'd been gone but apart from some more stores that had closed downtown apparently threatened by the new mall being built outside of town, new since the company that had owned Starcourt went out of business after the fire (something about asbestos was the rumour) but all the money had since been diverted to “help Hawkins heal”, which seemed to be the bullshit campaign the mayor was running on to try and get re elected. According to your dad however, it wasn’t gonna work.
You'd been lost in thought and almost didn't see the boy who ran out into the street in front of your car, you just about had time to slam on the brakes before you added to the Hawkins Death Toll. What was strange however was that instead of coming to a dead stop your car seemed to want to go left towards the curb.
You could see the boy's mother coming out into the street and chastising her son, obviously she'd turned her back for two seconds and the boy had just forgotten all about basic road safety,
"I am so sorry about him, is your car ok? Did you hit the curb?" the woman asked, "Johnny! Apologise to the lady, you probably scared her half to death!"
Johnny didn't seem to understand what he'd done wrong and was instead gawking at his mother with large wet tears forming in his eyes,
"I'm ok, the car probably just needs to go to the shop. It's due for a check up" you told the woman, you had no desire to stick around and wait for Johnny to start crying and screaming. So you bid the woman goodbye and headed off home again. Your car was already full of groceries and you didn't want anything to spoil.
After unloading the car and the groceries you told your Dad about what had happened,
"That's definitely not good, you really should get that checked out. I'll take a look"
"No you will not" your mum warned, brandishing a spatula as a weapon, "you aren't a mechanic and you don't know half as much about cars as you think you do"
"I was just gonna take a look"
"Take it to Randy's on Elm, they'll take a look at it for you" your mum brandished her spatula at your dad again, "if you want something to do then I've got a hundred jobs you could be doing"
You took your mother's advice and left the house again. Watching as your dad slumped back towards the house, he was a man with a lot of opinions. It was true but those opinions didn't always equate to professional knowledge.
You made it to Randy's without incident and pulled your car up into the forecourt, you couldn't see anyone around and thinking maybe they were in the back or on lunch you headed into the office. The door made a ringing noise as you opened it and you could hear someone calling out from behind the counter,
"Be with ya in just a sec" the male voice called, the voice sounded vaguely familiar and so you wondered if perhaps another old friend was working behind the counter these days.
When a curly headed man popped up from behind the counter you had to dig your keys into the palm of your hand, Eddie Munson looked different than you remembered but he still had the same effect. He had scars on his face and what looked like a ligature mark around his neck, you remembered hearing about the escaped Serial Killer Henry Creel and what he'd done to the kids who'd been his victims and to Eddie but you hadn't expected Eddie to still be in Hawkins,
"How can I help you Princess?" he asked with a slow grin, "having car trouble?"
You swallowed hard and relayed your troubles to Eddie and that you'd been told to come here specifically to get the car checked out,
"Um I don't know what's wrong but I guess it's my brakes?" you said shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other, "i don't know anything about cars"
"Well don't you worry Princess that's what we're here for. Why don't you leave the car with me for a couple hours and I'll see what I can do"
You nodded and moved towards the counter to fill in the paperwork Eddie placed on top and handed him your keys. He laughed at the little keychains you'd attached to the main keyring and you felt all the blood rush to your face,
"Um, should I wait here or?"
"It'll take me a little while and I wouldn't want you waiting around for me" Eddie told you, "why don't you go home and i'll call you when we're all set"
You nodded and left the office. How you were going to get home was another question entirely but right now you needed someone to vent your feelings to.
Twenty minutes later you were sitting in Benny's with your best friend Maria and relaying the whole interaction to her,
"He looks even better than he did in school Maria, how is that fair?"
Maria who'd known all about your crush on Eddie in High School and had listened to you talk about him for hours just laughed,
"Girl you were in college, didn't you find any nice college boys to get over this crush?"
"I thought I did but … ugh" you hit your head lightly off the table, "he was wearing coveralls and he had his hair up, I'm only human!"
Maria just shook her head at you and stole another one of your fries. She knew there was nothing she could say or do in this situation, you just needed to get it out,
"Would it be entirely unethical to just ruin my car if it means he'll be the one fixing it?" you asked from your spot on the table, "like I'm sure I could find something in the library that would tell me which parts i could pull out to make it still run but need looking over"
Maria opened her mouth but then cut herself off with a grin, she had spotted a familiar mass of curly hair not too far away from where you were currently lamenting,
"I think maybe that's a little extreme babe" she said, "eat your burger, we'll go get your car when we're done. I'll be your emotional support"
Maria was true to her word and she drove both of you back to Randy's to pick up your car, or at least to see if it was ready,
"Well well what have we got here. Miss me that much Princess?" Eddie's voice rang out across the forecourt as he came into view again. His coveralls were tied at his waist and there was what you assumed to be engine oil on his white t-shirt, arms and a smear across his face. You could tell he'd built some more muscle since high school, probably from working in the Garage and his arms were much more toned than you remembered,
"Is the car ready?" Maria asked, since apparently you had lost the ability to speak,
"Yeah she's ready to go. Why don't you come in the office with me Princess and we'll get this all squared away?"
You nodded dumbly and followed Eddie into the office, he jumped the counter and fumbled around looking for the right paperwork. You could see Maria outside giving you an encouraging smile and thumbs up,
"Um, what do I owe you?" you finally found your voice as Eddie turned back around, you'd brought your Dad's credit card with you knowing you wouldn't have enough to pay for this outright,
"How about we call it $150 and a date?" Eddie grinned at you again, "and you promise you won't ruin the poor car just to see little old me?"
"Oh my god you heard that?" you wanted nothing more but the ground to open up and swallow you whole, "i'm so sorry"
"What's to be sorry about?" Eddie laughed, "it just gave me the little push the guys said I needed to ask you out. So what do you say?"
"Absolutely. Yes"
Eddie made a little fist pumping motion and you couldn't help but laugh. Turns out you wouldn't need to ruin your car for a date with the hot mechanic after all.
Maybe coming back to Hawkins was the best thing you'd ever done.