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Chapter Text

Jeff chewed his nail nervously.  He looked around at all the other middle school students in costumes or dresses or suits and ties while he stood backstage in his own pressed, white button-up shirt and black tie, waiting for the band’s name to get called to go on stage. 

All the students around him look nervous too, but it’s probably because they’re worried about forgetting their lines that they’re making a last-ditch effort to memorize, or they’re worried about hitting a wrong note or their voice breaking in the middle of their song.  They’re probably not nervous about their parents grounding them for life because their performance at the talent show got them expelled. 

Everyone’s nervous except for Eddie.  He’s just standing there in his own nice pants and white button-up shirt and skinny black tie with a confident smile on his face.  He leaned casually against the backstage wall with his hands in his pockets as he watched the various acts on stage, looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but then Jeff sees it.  The telltale signs of nervousness.  The thumb tapping a rapid beat on his belt.  The occasional jaw twitches.

Eddie looked over at him and suddenly the tapping was gone.  The jaw twitch is replaced with a huge grin and Jeff realized that Eddie’s just as nervous as he was but he’s putting on a front.  But if he was scared and faking confidence, then maybe, just maybe he could talk Eddie out of their brilliantly stupid plan to be the rebel heroes of Hawkins Junior High.  Maybe he’d listen to reason…  Maybe…

Oh, who is he kidding!?  When Eddie gets his mind set on something, there is no way to get him to stop.  Even if he’s on a collision course with expulsion and getting murdered by his uncle.

Eddie had come up with a plan for the talent show.  A plan to make them legends and honestly, when Jeff first heard it, he thought it was brilliant.  The plan was simple.  They would sign up to play “Spirit in the Sky” at the school’s talent show.  They would dress in their Sunday best and look the part of upstanding Christian soldiers who would march up on that stage and put on a show that will get everyone singing a rock-n-roll song about being good little boys and girls so that Jesus will love them enough to let them into heaven. 

But in actuality, when they got on stage, they wouldn’t play the school and church friendly rock song.  They would play something dirty and subversive that would blow everyone’s minds.  The students would hoist them up on their shoulders and proclaim them heroes while all the parents and teachers and Principal Coleman would collectively clutch their pearls and lose their damn minds.

“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” Eddie asked a week ago.

“Expulsion,” Jeff started holding up a finger for each of the worst things that could happen, “Grounded for life.  Murdered by parents.  Sent to military school…”

“Pfft, that’s not gonna happen,” Eddie smirked and before Jeff could reply, he said, “But even if it does, wouldn’t it be worth it to be a rebel? To be someone’s hero?  To become a legend?”

It would be nice to be a legend and in a good way.  Not in the way that Jeff’s currently a legend.  A legendary nothing compared to his older, popular, drum majorette sister.  He’s just a scrawny nerd with crooked teeth that will soon to be covered with braces and will make him absolutely repellent to every girl in his grade.

Eddie’s current legendary status was not much better.  In fact, he’d probably prefer to be a nothing instead of the dirt-poor kid that lives at the trailer park with his uncle because his dad is in jail, and no one knows where his mom is.  The kind of kid that a lot of adults treat as if he’s a disease.  Someone for your kids to avoid so they don’t catch whatever he has and be ostracized for eternity. 

But instead of slowly rising up the social ranks from being a pariah to being considered a nerd or a nothing, Eddie would rather shoot right past Jeff’s current social status to “rebel hero with a guitar”.

And the thought of that, the thought of being considered a rebel, the thought of being something greater suddenly gave Jeff a brief confidence boost and made him feel like maybe he can fake-it-til-they-make-it too.  But then his stomach made a weird gurgling sound and maybe he’ll fake it after he throws up first…

“Chrissy Cunningham?” 

Mr. Adams’ stage whisper broke Jeff out of his nauseous state of false confidence as the drama teacher searched through the crowd of students until one of Jeff’s classmates, a small blonde girl in a blue and white cheerleader uniform with matching pom-poms, stepped out of the group and timidly raised her hand. 

“You’re up next and…” Mr. Adams checked his clip board and then asked, “Do you know where the other members of your trio are, hon?”

She shook her head “no” as she whispered out the word. 

“I’ll go look for them for you, okay?” Mr. Adams offered with a smile that he probably thought looked encouraging, but instead looked pitying.  She nodded and then he pointed to a spot next to where Eddie is standing, “Wait here until I get back.”

Mr. Adams looked towards the stage and checked his clipboard again before he looked at the blonde boy that was currently stumbling his way through some scene from Shakespeare where he’s playing multiple parts and flubbing almost every line.  Mr. Adams groaned, “I think this is going to take a while, so just… Just wait here.”  With that he disappeared into the darkness of the backstage area.

Jeff winced as he watched the kid on stage pretending to be several witches and stiltedly ground out his lines, but his attention quickly shifted to Eddie when he heard him whisper to Chrissy. 

“Sooo,” Eddie leaned sideways towards Chrissy.  “Whatcha gonna do?  Sword swallowing?”

“W-what?” She asked as she looked up at Eddie, her eyes huge and fearful.

“No wait, don’t tell me…” He grinned at her and got her to giggle when he asked, “Fire eating?”

“No,” She bit her bottom lip through her smile.

“Ah, I know,” He nodded confidently, “Chainsaw juggling.”

She laughed loudly and quickly covered her mouth with her hands and pompoms as she shook her head no.

“Okay, I give up,” Eddie’s grin got bigger.  “I have no idea what you’re gonna do out there.”

She pulled her hands away from her mouth and held them to her chest while she bit her bottom lip again. “I’m gonna do a cheer routine.”

“That’s pretty cool,” He smiled and nodded.  Then he tapped the shoulder of her cheer sweater as he said, “But I never woulda guessed.  Maybe if you wore something to give people a hint…”

She barked out an open mouth laugh and quickly covered her mouth again with one of her hands and a pompom as she shoved his shoulder with the other.  He dramatically stumbled back before righting himself and grinned at her.

“What are you gonna do?” She dropped her hand from her mouth when she asked and craned her neck to the side to try to look at the guitar that he had slung across his back.

“Chainsaw juggling.”

She laughed again and this time she didn’t cover her mouth with her hands.  Jeff snorted a laugh as he watched his friend charm the hell out of his classmate. 

Chrissy’s usually quiet and very shy which Jeff totally gets because he’s the same way.  But not Eddie, he is not quiet or shy.  How can you be when you have all that charisma and personality?  It’s too bad that most people don’t want to see it.  They just see a poor kid with a buzz cut.

“We-ell, I was gonna do chainsaw juggling, but I thought you were doing that same thing—” Eddie got a playful smirk when Chrissy giggled, “—and I just knew I couldn’t compete with you, so I switched to playing guitar.”

“Nu-uh!”

“Ya-huh!” Eddie adopted an air of false incredulity, “My chainsaw’s right over here…” He looked around frantically, “Ah man!  I think someone stole it.”

Chrissy laughed again but then got a look of horror when Eddie narrowed his eyes at her.  He grinned while he accused her, “Did you steal my chainsaw, little miss Chrissy Cunningham?”

“N-no,” Her lip started to tremble when she stammered, and Jeff was about to tell her that his friend was just kidding when Eddie spoke.

“Eh, you couldn’t have done it,” He lifted his finger like he’s going to boop her nose but stopped a few inches from her face and moved his hand away from her to scratch the back of his shorn head instead.  She smiled up at him and his smile softened along with his voice, “I think you’re too nice to steal things.”

She looked down shyly, but looked up when she asked, “Are you going to play a song all by yourself?”

“Naw,” He grinned at her, “I’m here with my band.  I sing and play guitar and Jeff—” He pointed at Jeff, “—he’s gonna play lead guitar.”

Jeff nodded and smiled as he gripped the neck of his guitar nervously while his churning stomach reminded him that he’s about ten minutes away from expulsion.

“Oh,” She bit her lip and asked, “Are you guys gonna play a rock song?”

“Kinda,” He leaned in close to her conspiratorially, “We’re gonna play a punk song.”

“Like something by The Cars?”

“Naw, something else…” He grinned wickedly at her and whispered, “But it’s a secret.”

“Oh,” She looked down at her pompoms that are in front of her chest.

“Can you keep a secret?” He nudged her with his elbow when he asked, and she looked up and nodded readily.

“We-ell…” Eddie looked over at Jeff and he started to shake his head no because Chrissy’s nice and all, but she’s a rule follower.  She’s not gonna be able to keep a secret like this.  Once she found out what they’re gonna play, she’ll probably feel compelled to tell Mr. Adams or another teacher otherwise she’s gonna think her soul is at risk and she might go to hell or something for not saying anything.  And if she told, well then the jig is up.  The chance would be over before it even began.

Eddie either doesn’t see Jeff, which is not possible because he was looking right at him, or he’s purposely ignoring him, which seems very likely because he leaned down and cupped his hands around Chrissy’s ear.  Jeff swallowed hard as Chrissy’s eyes got huge at what Eddie whispered to her.

When Eddie pulled back, Chrissy looked at him with her mouth gaping open.  Eddie grinned at her, and stage whispered, “Don’t tell anyone, ‘kay?”

Chrissy nodded quickly with her mouth and eyes still open wide, but Jeff can see the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

“By the way, I’m Eddie.”

Chrissy’s mouth clapped shut, and she thrust her hand out in front of her as she said, “I’m-”

“Chrissy?”

Chrissy turned quickly before Eddie could shake her hand and she looked into the darkness that Mr. Adams emerged out of, looking more flustered than ever.

He dramatically threw up his arms and sighed out, “I found them.” And right on cue a couple of giggly girls emerged from the darkness.  They surrounded Chrissy and pulled her away from Eddie, who they eyed suspiciously.

“I think this act is about done,” Mr. Adams said as he looked at the boy stumbling through his lines on stage and then added quietly under his breath, “Thank God.”  He smiled at the girls before he continued, “I’ll go out and announce your names then you come out and whoever is supposed to be in the middle needs to stand where the star is in the middle of the stage, okay?”

The girls all nodded and pointed towards Chrissy who looked even more nervous now.

Mr. Adams smiled at Chrissy and then checked his clipboard.  He looked up and scanned the backstage area as he stage whispered, “Umm, Junior Rockers?”  He looked back down at his clipboard and started to rattle off names, “Eddie Munson, Jeff…”

“Corroded Coffin,” Eddie interrupted him, “We changed our name to Corroded Coffin.”  Eddie looked down at Chrissy who had edged herself away from the two other girls and back towards him.  Her mouth gaped open in a muppet grin at the band’s name, and he grinned right back at her.

The teacher looked at Jeff questioningly, so Jeff nodded to confirm the change because he hated the name Junior Rockers.  It’s dumb and sounded so… so junior high.  When Theo signed them up for the talent show, he used the name he’s been championing for the band even though the rest of them hate it. 

Jeff watched Mr. Adams scribble a note on the page as their two bandmates appear from further backstage carrying a bass guitar and drumsticks, and by Theo’s smile, he probably had no idea that the band’s name had changed.  The guys stood next to Jeff, and he is really looking forward to seeing the look on Theo’s face when the new band name got announced.

Mr. Adams motioned to have them all gather together next to Eddie while he said, “You’re on after the cheerleaders.” He turned to Chrissy and the other two girls and cheerfully said, “Break a leg!”  Then he hurried on-stage to usher the blonde boy off as the guy bowed to a smattering of applause.

“Well, that’s messed up…” Eddie sucked his teeth at what the teacher said to Chrissy.

“No, it’s good.” She touched Eddie’s arm, and he got a questioning smile, so she explained, “It’s bad luck to say ‘good luck’ to a performer before they go on stage, so you say ‘break a leg’ instead.”

His smile grew to a toothy grin, “Well umm, then I hope you break both your legs and your arms too.”

She laughed, but her smile vanished as her name was announced with the other girls.  She bit her lip and gave Eddie one final look before she walked timidly onto the stage with her arms wrapped around her waist like she was giving herself a hug.

When she reached the star, the other two girls flanked her, but she looked past them and back to the backstage area.  Eddie was still behind the curtain but he moved forward a little bit so that he was in enough light so she can see him.  Jeff watched as Eddie mimed his arms and legs snapping, and he collapsed like a marionette whose strings are cut.  She started to smile but bit her lips together to keep a serious face. 

Eddie stood up straight and gave her a huge muppet grin and two thumbs up.  She returned an almost imperceptible nod to him before she faced the audience, and the trio started their routine. 

Jeff and Eddie watched as the girls went through their cheer routine of chants and pompom movements.  Chrissy’s voice was barely above a whisper at the beginning, but she gained confidence as the routine continued and now it rang clearly through the auditorium along with the other girls’ voices.  Then the trio all dropped their pompoms in unison and performed a series of synchronized cartwheels.  Then Chrissy performed a small series of flips.

Jeff looked over at Eddie when he heard him whisper, “Shit, that’s cool…” 

Jeff looked around quickly to make sure there weren’t any teachers around to hear his friend curse before he nodded because it was cool.  Chrissy kinda stumbled a bit on her final landing, but she didn’t fall and gracefully transitioned the stumble into a kneeling position and grabbed her pompoms off the stage floor and threw them in the air along with the other girls and they each caught them to end the routine.

There might have been applause from the audience, but Jeff had no idea because he couldn’t hear a thing because Eddie was whistling through his fingers right next to his ears.  Jeff clutched his ringing ears and winced, “Damn, man!”

“What!?” Eddie clapped loudly as the cheerleaders bowed for the audience.  “That was amazing!”

Two of the girls ran past them as Chrissy skipped their way.  When she reached them, Eddie was bouncing on the balls of his feet, “That was…”

She smiled, but then it faltered, “I stumbled at the end.  My mom’s gonna be upset…”

“What!?” Eddie had a huge open mouth grin, “I didn’t see it.  What you did was so… so bad ass!”

Her eyes got huge after he cursed and she covered her mouth when she gasped, but they can still see her huge smile hidden underneath her hands and pompoms.

“Can ya teach me how’ta do a cartwheel?” Eddie grinned out, “Please?”

“O-okay,” Chrissy dropped her pompoms down to show her huge smile.

Jeff is about to congratulate her too when he heard a voice from the stage, “And now, Corroded Coffin!”

Theo scowled at Eddie at the same time that Kurt mouthed "Yes!" and high-fived Jeff and Eddie.  The band headed out onto the stage as a curtain opened to reveal a small drum kit, three amps, and one microphone. 

Jeff looked back to see Eddie still smiling at Chrissy when she stage whispered, “Break a leg!”

Jeff grabbed Eddie’s arm and pulled him towards the stage.  Eddie looked back at Chrissy who was standing at the edge of the curtain and gave her double finger guns.  Jeff just rolled his eyes and pulled his friend onto the stage so they could plug their Squire guitars into their small amps and ignore Theo’s glare. 

He watched Eddie take a deep breath before he stepped up to the mic.  He looked back at the rest of the band and each one of them nodded at him, even Theo.  Eddie got a huge smile and nodded back before he faced the audience and let their brilliantly rebellious plan come to fruition.

“Well, you tried it just once,
found it all right for kicks.”

Jeff and Eddie both hit their cords as Kurt slammed his sticks down on the high-hat and snare drum.  Theo slapped out the notes on the bass guitar and grinned at the other guys.

“But now you found out that it’s a habit that sticks,
And you’re an orgasm addict.
You’re an orgasm addict!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff could see the commotion just off stage as several teachers trip over each other trying to get to the curtain rope or the breaker box to pull the power as soon as the word “orgasm” makes it out of the speakers.  He threw Eddie a concerned look after he saw Principal Coleman’s horrified face when he looked up from the stage-right stairs where he had seemed to be falling asleep leaning up against an exit door, but Eddie kept on singing.

“Sneaking in the back door with dirty magazines,
Now your mother wants to know, ‘What are those stains on your jeans?’”

Principal Coleman clamored up the stage steps as they kept belting out the song.  The band had frantic energy as they tried to get as much of the song out before the plug was literally pulled on the act.  Eddie got to one more chorus of “orgasm addict” out before the mic cord is pulled at the same time the plugs for the amps are pulled.  When the instruments went quiet, Kurt stopped drumming and looked at Eddie with fearful eyes.

He’s probably feeling the same fear of punishment that Jeff was because now they could hear the angry murmurs from the parents sitting in the audience.  Some angry voices rose above the rest decrying the lack of morals in today’s youth.  Some yelled to bring back corporal punishment for this type of behavior.  Some called for their expulsion, but before Jeff could hear more, he felt a hand grip his arm and he was pulled off the stage. 

Jeff gulped in fear as they were dragged through the backstage area, but then he heard it.  The cheers from the students waiting in the wings.  The whistles and claps from all the middle school students that are backstage and in the audience.

He looked back to see Eddie being pulled along by his arm by Principal Coleman.  Eddie had a huge grin on his face and Jeff grinned back at him because Eddie was a genius!  He knew this would happen.  He knew that the adults would hate them, but to everyone else they’re heroes.  They dared to buck the establishment and now they are legends.

They're pulled towards the backstage double doors that lead to the hallway that will take them to the principal’s office and their likely suspension and possible expulsion.  They're pulled past cheering students and Mr. Adams who was standing next to three cheerleaders that were huddled around him by the exit doors.  Mr. Adams was shaking his head, but he had a small, almost proud smile on his face as he said, “Damn kids.”  And that smile gave Jeff a bit of hope that maybe their punishment won’t be that bad.

Two of the cheerleaders next to Mr. Adams have shocked looks on their faces, but Chrissy on the other hand has a fearful look on her face.  But Jeff watched as the look of fear diminished when her eyes locked onto Eddie.  He looked back again at Eddie to see him grinning at her and giving her a double thumbs-up as they were pulled past her and through the doors.

Jeff looked at Chrissy again to see her mirror Eddie with her own huge smile as she broke away from the other girls and started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.  She cupped her hands around her mouth to project her voice to Eddie, “I liked your song,” as the band is pulled around the corner and away from the angry yells from the parents and the cheers from the students.

Jeff looked back at Eddie who’s grinning from ear to ear as he mouthed, “Worth it!” and it really was.

Chapter Text

Typical…

Jason shook his head in annoyance at the latest rant from Eddie “the freak” Munson.  It should be Eddie “the prick” Munson with the way that he always seemed to bother everyone with his tirades about whatever perceived injustices he thought he saw.

If it’s not Munson’s problem with team sports then it’s something about the preppy kids or with the music that the school played at the dances, which he shouldn’t complain about because he doesn’t even go to any of the dances, or how he thought that the First Lady’s “Just Say No” campaign was a joke. 

And really, Jason doesn’t care about Munson or his feelings.  Why should he?  His life is pretty damn good.  He’s the captain of the basketball team.  He’s going out with the prettiest girl at school who just happened to be the head cheerleader, and they’ve been proclaimed the King and Queen of Hawkins High.  And after he graduates, he’s got a real shot at a basketball scholarship at Northwestern and even if that falls through, he’s a shoo-in to get into Loyola, his dad’s alma mater in Chicago, thanks to legacy admissions.

His life was pretty great, and it would be perfect if only the freak would just lower his stupid voice and only complain to his fellow losers that sat with him at their table full losers instead of involving the entire lunchroom.  It’s a weekly occurrence at lunch, well not quite weekly but often enough for Jason to notice.  Each time he started his rant, Jason told the freak to shut the hell up.  He threatened to kick the guy’s ass multiple times.  He even threatened to have the football team and basketball teams jump him, but the prick just made a lewd devil’s face at him and laughed at each threat.

Jason stabbed his fork into a tater tot forcefully enough for the tines to make a horrible screeching noise when they scrapped along the melamine lunch tray.  He winced and wondered if maybe today should be the day he actually went through with his threats and kicked the freak’s ass. 

But the thing is if he did anything, if he started anything, he’s gotta do it alone.  He’s gotta show everyone why he’s the king, but that might be more difficult than anyone thinks because Munson’s tougher than he looks.  He’s wiry and scrappy and more importantly, he fights dirty.  He’ll poke someone’s eyes or knee them in the balls and then break their nose.  He’ll shove a broken bottle into your face or neck.  He fights dirty and scary.  Hell, even Billy Hargrove, God rest his soul, didn’t mess with him.

Jason grumbled because maybe today isn’t the day.  He’s not ready for a broken bottle in his face.  He had to be ready because if he’s not, then this fight might be a repeat of what Byers did to the former king a couple years ago.  So maybe next week he’ll do something because he needs at least a week to prepare but then he’ll be ready…

He dunked his tater tot into ketchup as he imagined Munson on his back with a bloody nose as Jason stood over him and listened to the freak begging for mercy instead of hearing his bitching and whining diatribe about how the school unfairly promotes activities and how they use the cheerleaders to get people to go to football and basketball and his ridiculous theory on why they don’t do that for other team and club events.

Jason snorted a derisive laugh.  What, are the cheerleaders supposed to show up at chess club meetings or mathlete events and wave pompoms around?  That’ll just disrupt the whole event, dumbass.

Then as suddenly as the rant started, it ended and a blessed quiet descended in the lunchroom.  Well, not complete quiet, but the only sound was the normal lunchroom chatter and not the maniacal ravings of a madman.  Since the freak’s not on top of the lunchroom table or yelling anymore, things are calming down and Jason can finally eat his tater tots in peace. 

He smiled as he brought the ketchup covered tot up to his mouth, but stopped when Andy asked, “Hey, is the freak talking to your girl?”

Jason turned around in his seat to see Chrissy facing Munson and Jason’s immediate thought was this isn’t her lunch period.  He could see her holding a can of root beer with both hands up in front of her chest, so she was probably sent on a drink run for Mrs. Click.  She was probably on her way back to class when she got waylaid.

But then Jason watched as she smiled and rolled her eyes at something the freak said to her, and he choked out a quiet, “Chrissy?”

No… no she can’t be having a good time with Eddie “the freak” Munson.  She’s probably only talking to him because he’s blocking her way and mocking her.  She was probably on her way back to class with the drink and the freak stepped in front of her and forced her to talk to him because she’s a cheerleader and those are his targets today.

Munson mimed some rah-rah cheer moves and that proved it.  She was the freak’s target.  He knew that prick was tormenting her even though she let out a laugh and covered her mouth with one hand like she was having a good time.

Jason dropped his fork and stood up.  He only halfway heard Andy ask if he needed some back up, but Jason just waved his hand to let the table know that he could handle it.  He’s the captain of the basketball team, he had to do this on his own.  He could handle a freak that was messing with his girl. 

Jason threaded his way past the students moving through the cafeteria and towards the pair.  He’s gotta help Chrissy out.  She’s probably scared and not sure what to do, so he’ll take care of it.  That asshole better not make her cry...

Okay, so she doesn’t look like she’s going to cry right now, but Jason knew better.  He knew she was only laughing and smiling to placate Munson and defuse the situation so she could escape.  But she shouldn’t have to do that.  The freak should respect her and her space and damn it, he’s gonna teach him that lesson!

Jason had to halt his march towards the pair when a bunch of sophomores got up from their table and blocked his path, but he kept his eyes on Chrissy and Munson who don’t seem to have noticed him at all.  They were just looking at each other and Chrissy was biting her bottom lip.  Her cheeks were flushed, but that’s probably just a flush of fear…

As Jason got into earshot, he watched Munson lean towards Chrissy.  The freak grinned as he said, “Aw come on, cheer queen.  Whatta ya say?”

“She says no!” Jason said in his most authoritative voice that he usually only used when he barked orders on the basketball court, and it got their attention. 

Jason took his rightful place by Chrissy’s side, the king and queen together in a united front against this prick and felt a wave of warmth wash over him when the freak scowled at the two of them together.  But Jason doesn’t want Chrissy to be subjected to such nasty looks, so he nudged her back behind him and barely heard her say, “Hey!” as he positioned himself between the two of them.  He would have to acknowledge that later because right now he needed to pay attention to Munson in case the prick went for a sucker punch.

“I was talking to her,” Munson looked at Chrissy and gesture to her with his head before he said to Jason, “Not you, ball boy.”

“I’m not a ball boy, freak,” Jason felt his lip curl when he said the epithet that didn’t seem to bother Munson as much as Jason wanted it to before he corrected him, “I’m the captain—”

“Sorry,” Munson sneered out, “Captain ball boy then.”

Jason took a deep breath.  He can’t just punch the prick in his smug face in the middle of the cafeteria.  He can’t let the freak get to him and get him suspended from school or the basketball team just as the season started.  He’s gotta be around to protect Chrissy, so he put his hands on his hips in an authoritative way that usually got his teammates in line and said, “Well you’re talking to me now and I want you to stop harassing my girlfriend.”

“Jason…” Chrissy sighed out with annoyance, but she can’t be annoyed with him, he’s protecting her.  She’s gotta be annoyed at the freak.  That prick and his stupid name calling and harassment.  Why does he have to be mean to her?  Probably because she’s a good girl and not one of his fellow devil worshiping delinquents.

“I’m not harassing her,” Munson replied and he looked genuinely taken aback, “We’re just talking…”

But Jason wasn’t going to let Munson fool him, so he fired back, “Well, it looks like harassment to me with how you’re blocking her path and—”

“What?” Both Munson and Chrissy exclaimed at the same time. 

She didn’t even realize…

Jason shook his head because she didn’t know since she probably didn’t hear the freak’s rant, but he heard it.  He knew.  She probably didn’t even know how much danger she was in, and he wasn’t going to let Munson pull the wool over her eyes, so he let loose and hurled his accusation, “I heard your tirade against cheerleaders and who better to harass than the head cheerleader.”

The freak snorted a laugh and looked off to the side and that just pissed Jason off.  This asshole needed to learn that he doesn’t have the right to harass Chrissy, so Jason growled through gritted teeth, “So you can take your weird, perverted…”  Jason screwed up his face as he tried to think of more adjectives like satanic, yeah that’s a good one! “...satanic offers that you made to her and stick them up your ass, prick!”

“Jason!” Chrissy exclaimed at his foul language, but she’s got to hear it.  She’s got to know what type of person that the freak is.  She’s got to know that she can’t trust Munson to be anything other than a devious umm… deviant to her.   

“Is that what you think she wants?”  The freak’s smile is more of a smirk, but it softened when he looked over at Chrissy.  Obviously trying to fool her into thinking that he’s harmless…

Jason looked over his shoulder at Chrissy, but she wasn’t looking back at him, she was looking at the freak but without any anger or fear.  She’s probably too afraid to show emotions right now, Jason hoped because he doesn’t want her falling for Munson’s tricks, but maybe she had already. 

No problem, he’ll answer for her the right way, “I know more than anyone what she wants…”

“Jason!”

He glanced at Chrissy when he heard her say his name.  Her mouth was open wide in what he hoped was awe, so he turned back to the freak to let him know in no uncertain terms, “And she doesn’t want you talking to her anymore.”

“Oh, no?  Well, I think she does,” Munson laughed out derisively and that act of contempt was the last straw.

Jason grabbed Chrissy’s hand and said, “Come on, babe—” as he pulled her towards the exit doors, “—let’s get out of here.”

He looked back over his shoulder, past Chrissy to watch Munson stand there with his arms folded across his chest.  His upper lip curled in a sneer before he turned away and sat down at the table full of his fellow nerds and freaks.

Jason smiled in triumph as he pulled Chrissy through the doors and out of the lunchroom, but as soon as they were in the hallway, she wrenched her hand out of his grasp.  He stopped and turned to face her.  Why did she do that?  I’m rescuing her…

“Jason, I can’t believe you did that!”  She spat out.  Her brow knitted, her mouth in a scowling frown and he could feel a confused look form on his face.  What the…?  I just saved her…

“Babe,” He reached for her, but she pulled away.  He sighed because she probably thought he was mad at her.  That she thought that him pulling her out of there was her fault.  He smiled now that he understood that he just needed to explain to her, “Babe, I was just helping you out because Munson was being a jerk to you.”

“Eddie wasn’t being a jerk,” She said curtly as she folded her arms across her chest, closing herself off from him, “He was just… He was just being silly.”

“Oh ‘silly’!?” He huffed out and she looked off to the side. She doesn’t understand that that “silly” thing would lead to something more sinister.  He smirked at her naivety, “What ‘silly’ thing was he asking you to do?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “He asked if I would cheer at a Hellfire Club meeting.”  The corners of her mouth curled up slightly as she repeated what Munson asked, like this is all a game. 

She still doesn’t get it.

“Chrissy, that club is…”  He shook his head and took hold of her shoulders.  She looked at his hands and then into his eyes when he continued, “The news says that that game they play is like a cult and I think he just wanted to lure you there…” He watched her roll her eyes, but he knows better than her, “Chrissy, Munson just wants to get you alone at one of those meetings so him and his friends could… So, they could do bad things to you…”

“Oh, geez Jason!” She huffed a laugh, “Eddie wasn’t serious.”

“Oh yeah!?”

“Yeah,” She breathed out and then the edges of her lips curl up a bit again when she said, “He was just joking around.”

“Yeah, he’s hilarious,” Jason rolled his eyes and snorted a laugh, but then he watched as her smile faded and maybe she’s getting it.

“But you know what’s not hilarious?” Chrissy’s smile faded even further into a frown, “You telling people what I think for me.”

“Chrissy…”  Jason sighed out because they’d had this discussion before, and he really tried not to tell people what he thinks she thinks.  In all honesty, he’s batting 500 at best on knowing what she thinks, but this circumstance was different.  He was helping her, “Babe, I only did it because you were too flustered and scared to speak.”

The immediate look of anger on her face told him that that was the wrong thing to say.  Her face scrunched up as her eyes narrowed and she measured each word succinctly, “I wasn’t too flustered or scared.  You-” She pointed an accusing finger at him, “-kept interrupting me while you were having your pissing contest with Eddie and before I could say anything, you pulled me out of the room.”

“Babe, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t ‘babe I’m sorry’ me,” Her mouth turned further downward in a sad frown, “Because you don’t actually mean it.”

“I meant it,” Jason’s eyes got huge, and he felt his heart start to thump uncomfortably in his chest, “I mean it, I really am sorry.”

“You keep saying that, but you still keep doing it,” She shook her head and looked down at her shoes, “You know how much it bothers me, how much it hurts me, but you keep doing it.”

“Babe, I’m…”  Is all he can get out because she’s right.  He does keep doing it even though he knows how much it bothers her that her mom does it too, but he’s not like her mom.  He’s not trying to control her; he just wants to protect her.  She’s too good and innocent and she needed someone to help her…

“You don’t listen to me,” She shook her head and looked at the can of root beer in her hands, “I can’t keep doing this…”

“W-what are you saying?” He felt his eyes getting wet and he swallowed hard because he was afraid of the answer.

“I dunno,” She looked up at him and still shaking her head, “I have to get back to class and… think about things.”

He nodded at her as she turned and walked down the hall back to her class.  He’s pretty sure that this is the end.  He can feel their relationship hurtling off a cliff and there’s nothing he can do to stop it even though he knows he’s the one that’s steering them towards their doom.

He wiped his eyes before any tears could fall.  He breathed in a few deep breaths and rolled his neck and shoulders to loosen up his tense muscles because no one should see him sad and upset.  He can’t show weakness when he goes back into the lunchroom because he’s the captain of the basketball team and captains never cry.

Jason didn’t talk to Chrissy the rest of the day.  He didn’t even get a chance to speak with her at the first basketball meeting of the season after the JV and varsity rosters were posted even though she was there with the cheer squad to welcome the new and returning players.

They didn’t speak then, but the next day after school, she ended things.  He knew it was coming, but it still hurt.  It still made him cry in his Cherokee in the empty school parking lot even though she promised that they would still be friends.

He wanted that too.  To be friends with her even after the breakup, but it’s difficult.  It’s so difficult because he keeps seeing her talking to Eddie Munson. 

Jason’s not sure what’s going on, but for the past few weeks since their breakup, every time he sees her at her locker, the freak’s there too, leaning against the lockers, smiling and talking to her and she’s smiling back at him.  He’s never seen them touch each other or act like they’re dating.  No holding hands.  No blowing kisses.  But Jason can see an intimacy between the two of them. 

It's like right now, they’re just sitting next to each other across the quad from him.  She nudged Munson’s shoulder with hers, but otherwise they don’t touch, but she’s laughing and smiling at whatever he said to her.  Genuine laughs, like the ones where she covers her mouth with her hands.  Jason had only seen those laughs a few times before, but she does it all the time with Munson, like right now.

Jason tried not to look at them.  He tried to pay attention to the talk about the party that Chase was planning while his folks were out of town, but he couldn’t help but sneak glances back at them.

It all looked so innocent, but he knew better.  There’s nothing innocent about the freak.  Munson’s just biding his time.  Acting innocent and adorable to lure Chrissy into his web and then take advantage of her.

Andy said that the freak is a satanist because of the heavy metal patches on his jacket, but Jason doesn’t actually think he is, even if he accused him of it.  He knows guys that are into metal, like those guys in cross country and track, and they’re okay.  They listen to Judas Priest and Quiet Riot and honestly, Jason likes some of the songs he’s heard.

But even if Munson’s not a satanist, that doesn’t make him harmless.  Jason knows he’s a drug dealer.  He knows this for a fact because half the guys on the football and basketball team buy weed and benzos from him.  He’s heard that some of the burnouts buy acid from him.  He’s also heard that he can get you animal tranquilizers from him if you are willing to pay for it. 

Some people say that pot is harmless, but Jason knows that it leads to harder drugs.  He’s seen the afterschool specials.  And yeah, those shows are kind of a joke, but they’re not completely wrong about that stuff.  Sure, you start out smoking pot, but soon the high that pot gives you isn’t enough and before you know it, you’re giving blowjobs to get drugs to feed your heroin addiction or maybe even a crack addiction. 

Jason’s seen the news reports.  There’s a crack epidemic out there in the big cities.  The news also said it’s only a matter of time before it comes to small-town-America.  Small towns like Hawkins will get swept up and mired in drug addiction before anyone knows it.

Jason wasn’t naive enough to think that the freak wouldn’t sell crack.  He’ll give everyone, including Chrissy, a free taste and get them all hooked.  He’d probably sell to the kids at the junior high.  That’s probably why he’s in Hellfire in the first place, to gain the trust of the kids and then make them addicts that’ll steal from their parents for that sweet high.

Jason watched as Munson moved his finger around in front of Chrissy’s face, trying to boop her nose as she playfully swatted it away, laughing the whole time.  Laughing and not realizing how much danger she’s in, but he knows. 

He knows and he needs to do something about it, but he can’t just go up to them and accuse the freak of luring Chrissy into a drug-dependent relationship.  Chrissy would never believe him and that’s the insidiousness that is Eddie Munson.  He’s fooling her into thinking that he’s not bad.

No, Jason knew he’s got to get outside help to intervene.  He needs…  He needs…  He gasped when the epiphany hit him.  Some of the guys on the basketball team that are with him at the picnic table look at him oddly, but he waved them off as the plan formed in his head. 

He knows who he can get to save Chrissy.  The cops!

After the fifth ring, someone finally picked up the phone at the Hawkins police station.  Jason heard a faint voice on the other end of the line, like it’s further away from the receiver, “Well where’s she at anyways, lunch?” then a sigh and someone said into the receiver, “Hawkins Police, this is Chief Hopper.”

Jason suddenly got nervous.  He didn’t expect to talk to the chief of police.  He expected to talk to the secretary that works at the station, but this is big time now.  He grinned and said, “Hello, I umm,” and stopped abruptly because he needed to disguise his voice.  Even though he’d never talked to any of Hawkins’ finest before, he doesn’t want to take the chance on his voice being recognized.  He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, “I would like to report a drug dealer at Hawkins High.”

“Oh yeah?”

Jason got excited when he heard the pique of interest on the other end of the line and grinned, “Yes, umm,” Jason cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, “It’s Eddie Munson.  He’s selling pot to the students there.”

Chief Hopper sighed out, “Is that right?” with less enthusiasm than Jason would have liked, but he can still hear a pencil scribbling in the background.

“Yes, he’s selling umm, pot to the kids there.”

“So do you have any proof?” Hopper sighed out, “Information on where he does his deals, who he deals to, stuff like that.”

“I’ve heard that he does his drug deals in the woods…”

“Where in the woods?  Because we’ve got a lot of woods around here…”

“Umm, I dunno,” Jason heard Hopper sigh, so he quickly told him, “But I’m pretty sure that he’s giving drugs to my girl… my former girlfriend.”

“You’re ex—”

“Former girlfriend,” Jason corrected, “And yeah, he’s trying to make her an addict so he can take advantage of her and…”

“And you know this because…”  Hopper let the question hang in the air.

“Well, he’s gotta be because she’s always around him, all the time," Jason said not realizing that he was using his normal voice, "And she never used to talk to him, but now it’s like they’re always together and—”

“Tell me, kid,” Hopper sighed, “When did you and your ex, I mean your former girlfriend break up?”

“18 days ago, but—”

“Okay, so when a relationship ends, it takes time to get over it,” Hopper said with an annoyed yet understanding tone, “For some people it doesn’t take as long to get over it and for the other person, it can be hard to watch that person move on…”

“But he’s making her addicted to pot, I know it because—”

“You can’t really get addicted to pot.”

“What?” Jason was confused because the specials and the news said…

“Pot’s not like heroin or cocaine,” Hopper sighed out, “It’s not really addictive.  It can be habit forming, like chewing gum, but not addicting.”

“Then maybe he’s giving her crack,” Jason said.  Then he heard the chief take a breath to speak, so he quickly added, “Because the news says it’s coming and maybe it’s already here.”

“Look kid,” Hopper sighed, “If you get proof that anyone is selling crack in Hawkins, I’ll slap the cuffs on ‘em personally, but until then, you have got to let your ex-” Hopper sucked his teeth at the error, “-former girlfriend live her life without you, okay?”

“Okay,” Jason said softly.

“Alright… now go do your homework,” Hopper said as he ended the call, “Or play basketball or whatever it is that you do…”

“Okay,” Jason sighed, “Bye.”

“Goo-odbye,” Hopper said but as he was hanging up the phone, Jason could hear him say under his breath to himself, “And Joyce says I’m not understand-” Then the only sound that Jason could only hear was the dial tone.

He slowly put the receiver back onto the cradle of the pay phone.  Maybe Chief Hopper was right.  Maybe he was just seeing something bad because he can’t get over her.  Maybe he needed to let Chrissy live her life.

It’s what Chrissy wanted.  She wanted to make up her own mind on things.  Make her own decisions and even if he doesn’t agree with them, he'll do the right thing and he won’t interfere…

But he’ll still keep an eye out for crack, for Chrissy's sake.

Chapter Text

Lucas grinned as he weaved his way through the students in the crowded hallway on his way to his next class.  He’d been grinning like this since yesterday and probably couldn’t stop even if he wanted to.  That smile had been permanently etched on his face.  It was stuck there for all eternity, and it was because he actually made the basketball team. 

No, wait.  He didn’t just make the basketball team, he made the fricking varsity team! 

When he tried out for basketball, he thought that he had a halfway decent shot at getting onto the junior varsity roster.  As a freshman, JV is really all that he could realistically hope for and he knew that even if he got on the team, his lack of competitive play would probably relegate him to being a bench warmer.  But it would be worth it to sit on the bench ninety percent of the time because being on the team meant that he wouldn’t be considered a nerd or a freak anymore. 

So, he attended the tryouts last week and he thought he put in a really good effort.  He made most of his mid-range shots and all but one of the free throws.  He even figured out a way to throw a few 3-pointers to show his potential just in case their high school conference adopted the rule.  He’s glad he did too because after making his third 3-pointer in a row, he noticed a few of the coaches nodding and jotting down notes on their clipboards as they watched him.

So yeah, he thought he had a good shot at getting on the JV team, but then the team rosters were posted, and his name wasn’t on the junior varsity list.  But before the weight of disappointment could really hit him, one of the guys who was at the tryouts said his name was on the varsity roster.  He thought for sure that the guy was messing with him, but no, his name was there. 

But, come on, it had to have been a mistake, right?  Freshmen do not end up on the varsity team.  It was a misprint.  His name was probably supposed to be on the JV list, but someone screwed up when they wrote it out.  Stuff like this probably happened all the time, so he was ready for the inevitable discovery of the error and hoped that he was just on the wrong list and not that he wasn’t on either team.

He went to the first meeting after school yesterday and sat down on the bleachers with the rest of the freshmen and sophomores on the junior varsity team hoping it wouldn’t be revealed that he shouldn’t be there at all and then get laughed out of the gym, but then something magical happened.  One of the coaches told him that he was on the wrong bench and pointed Lucas towards the bleachers where the varsity team gathered.  And the magic continued when the captain of the team, Jason Carver, Mr. King of Hawkins High himself congratulated Lucas and told him he was glad he was on their team.

When he thought about Jason actually shaking his hand and telling him that he would be an asset to the team’s back court game he couldn’t suppress his grin.  Ever since yesterday, he had been walking through the hallways between classes, grinning like a loon, but he doesn’t care because… fricking varsity!

Even after the handshake, he was still a little bit worried because a freshman on the varsity team would ruffle the feathers of at least a few of the junior and senior players, but his worries were put to rest when Jason stepped up.  He got right up in the faces of the team’s few mouth breathers that had been eyeing Lucas maliciously and told them that if anyone wanted to haze or start any crap with any of the new team members, they would have to go through him first. 

Oh, hell yeah!  Just the thought of Jason standing up for him and the meatheads immediately backing down made Lucas want to jump up and down and pump his fist in the air.  But he can’t do that right now.  He’d have to wait since the hallway was still too crowded and he doesn’t want to elbow anyone, so he would have to be content with a small fist pump close to his body. 

“Yes!” He whispered quietly as he clinched his fist in pride.

Oh, he cannot wait to tell the rest of the guys.  He already told Mike.  As soon as he got home yesterday, he ran next door to let him know the good news and he seemed pretty pumped, but then Mike asked if the games would interfere with Hellfire meetings.  They shouldn’t.  Well, he’ll miss most of the big Friday campaigns during the basketball season, but the other nights should still be open… 

…Unless there’s practice… but Lucas brushed that thought aside because this was more important.  Being on the basketball team meant that their days of being called nerds and treated as pariahs was coming to an end.  Guys on the varsity team and the friends of the guys on the varsity team aren’t nerds or losers.  Especially if that varsity guy is also friends with Jason Carver!

He can’t wait to tell Max.  She’d been so sad this year ever since her jerk of a stepbrother… No, just call him her “stepbrother” for her sake even though he really was a jerk.  Well, ever since he died, she’d been so sad and maybe hearing some good news might help out a little.  Maybe she’d open up to him more and want to go places with him.  Maybe she’d want to come and watch him play instead of sequestering herself inside the trailer that her and her mom moved into at the beginning of the school year.  Maybe this will give them something new to talk about that won’t lead to memories of the accident.  Maybe…

“You!”

Lucas was snapped back into reality as soon as he heard the sound of the familiar voice.  He didn’t want to leave the daydream of Max smiling at him from the bleachers as he scored the winning basket that he would dedicate to her, but he had to because he was currently on a collision course with Eddie Munson who was coming straight at him like a ballistic missile.  A ballistic missile with a scowl on his face. 

And that scowl made Lucas want to run and hide, but he shouldn’t feel like that.  Eddie’s his friend.  He was his hero and savior.  He saved him and Mike and Dustin and Will from being ostracized yet again. 

That first day of school, the four of them stepped out of the lunch line and stared at all the tables full of people they didn’t know, that were following social rules that they weren’t privy too and they were scared as hell.  Then the scariest person he’d ever seen was there in front of them in an Iron Maiden shirt with tattoos on his arm and a sneering smile.  He thought they were done for even before they had a chance to sit at the wrong table, but no.  Eddie just pointed to a table filled with more scary looking guys and told them to go sit down.

The four of them were too stunned and afraid to argue and just did what Eddie told them to and Lucas was so glad they did.  As soon as they sat down, Eddie introduced himself and everyone else in Hellfire to them.  He even invited them to join their DnD group right off the bat, no tryout necessary.  Total and complete acceptance.

So yeah, Eddie was a nice guy, but then why did Lucas want to turn and run in the opposite direction?  Maybe it’s because he looked pissed, but honestly, Eddie was usually pissed off or worked up about something or other.  The usual culprits are forced conformity, people saying heavy metal isn’t real music, or the news telling parents to keep their kids away from Dungeons and Dragons because it was a gateway to satanism and the occult, but this time it looked like Eddie was directing his ire right at him.

Lucas swallowed the lump of fear in his throat as he lifted up his hand and waved at the bullet with his name on it coming right for him.  He felt the falseness of the smile that he forced on his face to hide his fear as he let out a strangled, “He-ey, w-what’s up Eddie?” 

“You goddamn traitor!” Eddie growled out when he reached him and was inches from Lucas’ face.

Lucas could only gawp at him because he had no idea what Eddie was talking about.  He doesn’t have a traitorous bone in his body.  He’s full of loyalty bones! 

He’s always there for his friends.  He was the one that constantly stood by all of Dustin and Mike’s DnD tactics even when the Corroded Coffin guys call them insane.  He was the one that helped Mrs. Byers look for Will even though most of the town had given him up as lost forever.  He was the one that accepted Max into their group with open arms even though her stepbrother threatened to kick his ass and run him down with his car for daring to talking to her.  And even though he had threatened to kill Erica in her sleep, and he was sure a jury would never convict him, he would never actually do it and not just because he was afraid of what she would do to him if he failed, but because they were siblings and siblings stick by each other.

He was as loyal as the day is long, so why would Eddie call him a traitor?

“A little birdy told me something very interesting,” Eddie cocked his head menacingly as he looked down at him.

Lucas swallowed the fear in his throat and his mind went blank as to what he might have done.  In fact, all he could think of as Eddie towered over him was, wow Eddie’s pretty tall.  Maybe he should play basketball…  And then his face dropped when it hit him, oh crap, basketball…

Right as the realization hit Lucas, Eddie growled, “I heard that one of the key members of Hellfire isn’t going to be at the Friday campaigns anymore.  He won’t be going into battle to fight and bleed alongside his brothers and sisters because he needs to throw balls into laundry baskets.”

“Eddie,” He felt a nervous smile twitch on his face, “It’s not like that—”

“Oh? Oh, it’s not?” Eddie smiled with dead eyes, “Well tell me what it’s like then, Sinclair.”

Lucas swallowed the new lump of fear that lodged in his throat because he knew this look.  It’s the same look that Max got when she caught him spouting a half truth or just saying something generally stupid. 

“Well,” Lucas forced a smile and admitted, “Okay yeah, I’m on the basketball team now,” Eddie started shaking his head slowly, so Lucas quickly continued, “And yes, the games are on Fridays, but not all the Hellfire campaigns are on Fridays, so…”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed and his lip curled as he growled, “Just the big ones.”

“Okay, yeah,” Lucas felt himself cringe under the weight of Eddie’s scowl, “But I’ll still be there for the other ones.  I still wanna be in Hellfire.  I still want to play DnD, but I wanna play basketball too.  Eddie,” He pleaded, “I’m not just on the basketball team.  I’m on the varsity team.”

Eddie smiled and threw his arms up in the air and said, “Oh, well why didn’t you say so!” Lucas got a hopeful smile on his face, but it was quickly dashed as Eddie continued, “Now it’s all okay ‘cause you’re on the god damn varsity team,” Eddie’s smile disappeared when he scowled out, “I didn’t realize how deep you were in it, Lord Vader.”

“Oh, come on, I haven’t turned to the dark side…”

Before Eddie could reply, he was interrupted by a female voice, “Hey!  Leave him alone!”

Both Lucas and Eddie turned their heads to look towards the wall of lockers where the voice emanated from to see Chrissy Cunningham slam her locker door shut.  She stomped over to them, looking menacing even dressed in snow-white Keds, a pink tank dress, and a dove gray cardigan with blue and lavender flowers embroidered on it. 

When she reached them, she directed her glare towards Eddie, whose own mouth was open in a snarl of indignation.  She placed her fists firmly on her hips, but there was a shake in her voice when she said, “Playing basketball isn’t a bad thing.  It promotes good sportsmanship and teamwork and, and…” She raised up her chin as she seemingly gained confidence, “And it’s fun to be at games and he’s gonna have fun playing and…” She stuck out her chin as she declared, “And I’m gonna cheer for him, so… being on the basketball team is a good thing.”

Lucas smiled at Chrissy’s statement, but then it quickly faded when Eddie huffed a laugh and a sneering grin spread across his face when he said, “Oh yeah princess?  I suppose you think that basketball is better than DnD.”  He folded his arms across his chest and turned his body to face her, “Did you know that all his friends have fun when we play DnD as a team?  A team that we cheer for and that Hellfire’s the good thing that’s he’s quitting so that he can play-” Eddie lifted his hands up to the heavens and said in mock reverence, “-basketball.”

“No, no I didn’t say that,” She shook her head and she clutched her hands together in front of her waist, “I don’t think that…”

Eddie folded his arms back across his chest as he took a step forward and loomed over her as he growled, “Then I suppose you think that Hellfire’s a fucking satanic suicide cult that I’m luring these kids into…”

“I’m not a kid…” Lucas started to say, but both Eddie and Chrissy ignored him.

Chrissy took a step backwards from Eddie, but then she folded her arms across her chest defiantly and set her jaw as she said, “No, I don’t think that either.”

Eddie took another step forward and he was looming again, so Lucas sighed and said, “Eddie, come on—”

Eddie held up a finger to him in response before he asked Chrissy, “Then what do you think?”

“I think…” She looked down at her shoes, but before she can say anything else, Eddie sneered out, “Or do you need to ask your boyfriend what to think?”

Chrissy’s head snapped up and both Lucas and Eddie took a step back when they saw the scowl on her face.  She took a step towards Eddie and said each word with defiant clarity, “I don’t need to ask anyone what to think!  I make up my own mind about things and I don’t need anyone telling me what I should think.  Not Jason and not you either—” she poked her finger twice into his sternum as she said, “—Eddie Munson!”

At first Eddie’s grin widened at each word that came out of Chrissy’s mouth and if Lucas didn’t know any better, it seemed like Eddie liked her scolding him.  But when she all but accused him of telling her what to think, Lucas watched the wicked grin quickly fade off his friend’s face and was replaced with a look of regret.    

Eddie rubbed the middle of his chest where Chrissy had poked him and mumbled out, “No, I guess you don’t…”

“No, I do not,” She crossed her arms across her chest and held her chin up as she said fearlessly, “You wanna know what I think?  I think that basketball is good, but that doesn’t mean that I think that it’s better than your game or that Hellfire is bad.  It’s not bad, it’s just,” Lucas watched as she looked right into Eddie’s eyes that softened with each word she said and she said softly, “It’s just misunderstood.”

Lucas smiled warmly at what he thought was one of the nicest things that a normal person had ever said about Hellfire and DnD.  Usually, people think that anything and everything was better than Dungeons and Dragons since it was a game played by nerds and freaks, but the head cheerleader just said it wasn’t and that’s… well, that’s something.

Then Eddie huffed laugh and Lucas quickly looked at him questioningly because why would he laugh at something so wonderful, so beautifully put by the Queen of Hawkins High?

Eddie didn’t notice Lucas’ look because his eyes were still locked on Chrissy.  He shrugged his shoulders as he said to her with a sheepish smile, “Sorry, umm-” he bit the inside of his lip, “-everything you said was nice, but umm, I was kinda hoping you’d say it was sexy.”

Chrissy’s serious demeanor broke at the word.  She snorted a laugh and quickly covered her mouth with her hands as she giggled out, “Well, I dunno about sexy…”

“Aw come on, Princess,” Eddie’s smile grew with cocky confidence.  He cocked his head and asked, “What’s not sexy about dragons and magic and all that shit?”

“Oh?” She lowered her hand to reveal a playful crooked smile as she asked, “Does it really have all that shit?”

“All that sexy shit.”  His smile got bigger when she giggled at his retort.  He slouched a bit and put his hands in his back pockets as he said, “You should give it a try sometime.”

“Are you actually inviting me to join Hellfire instead of cheer at it?” She bit her lip as she cocked her hip with her hands clutched in front of her chest. 

“Maybe,” Eddie cocked his head and stared at her bottom lip and asked, “Would you come if I asked you?”

Oh crap, is Eddie asking Chrissy out on a date!?  Suddenly Lucas felt like a third wheel.  He quickly looked between the two of them as they looked at each other all starry-eyed and yeah, he shouldn’t be there while his friend asked a girl out. 

Lucas looked around at the now deserted hallway and wondered if he could maybe slink away, but then Chrissy smiled and said, “Okay Eddie, I’ll go to a meeting but only on one condition,” Then she motioned to Lucas with her head and said to Eddie, “You have to lay off Lucas for being on the basketball team.”

A smile formed across Lucas’ face when she said his name.  The Queen of Hawkins High remembered my name!  He had just met her yesterday and today not only did she defend his being on the basketball team to fricking scary-ass Eddie Munson, but she also remembered his name!  He resisted the urge to jump up and down as he got further proof that he was clawing his way out of nerd status, but then he heard a rumbling growl come from his friend.

He looked over to see Eddie’s arms crossed in front of his chest again as his jaw twitched, but before Eddie could say anything, Chrissy continued, “Because Lucas being on the varsity team is a big deal.”

She took a step forward with her hands on her hips and now she’s looming over Eddie even though she’s looking up at him since she’s half a foot shorter, “Do you know how often a freshman makes varsity without having to be on the JV team first?”

Eddie rolled his eyes and looked off to the side.  He let out a resigned sigh, probably because he knew the answer but was loath to admit it, so Chrissy said it aloud for him, “Never.  It never happens.  So, it’s special and important and it says something about him.  It’s kinda like umm…” Her brow knitted as she thought for a moment but quickly smiled and said, “Oh, it’s like in Star Wars when they get to the rebel base...”

Eddie looked back down at Chrissy and cocked his head questioningly.  Both he and Lucas put their hands on their hips as she continued, “It’s like when they put Luke in Red Squadron even though he just got there.  They could have told him to stay at the base, but they didn’t because not only was he good enough to pilot the x-wing, but it would have been a waste for him not to—” Then she bit her lip and smiled, “—and he did blow up the Death Star, so…”

As soon as she finished, she lifted up her chin in pride and Lucas couldn’t help but mirror her.  Hearing her impassioned plea and comparison to the Jedi filled him so full of hope.  He knew now that there was a reason for him to be on the varsity team.  Her words, her faith in him made him believe that yes, he was an asset who might even score a winning basket and save the day, and he really hoped that Eddie believed it too.

Lucas could feel himself bounce a little bit on the balls of his feet when he looked at Eddie whose face had gone slack as he looked at Chrissy with an almost awed expression.  He’s gotta believe her too, right?

Then Eddie smiled an easy smile, “Okay Princess,” He dipped his head in acknowledgement, “You’ve made your point.”

“Good,” She smiled back at Eddie but then her eyes narrowed as she told him, “And don’t call me princess.”

Eddie huffed a laugh and said through a sneering smile, “Okay Cheer—”

She raised her finger up and interrupted him, “And don’t call me cheer queen either.”

Eddie looked up and back as he chuckled before he looked down at her again with a grin, his tongue running back and forth along the edge of his teeth, “Okay… Chrissy.”

She bit her bottom lip as she blushed out, “Thank you, Eddie.”

Lucas stood there chewing on his bottom lip and looking back and forth between the two of them as they smiled at each other in silence.  Now that the excitement had died down, he knew that he definitely should try to slip away while he had the chance, but before he could make a stealthy exit, the 1-minute bell rang making them all jump. 

“Crap,” Lucus breathed out as the other two smiled at each other, still ignoring him.  He took a deep breath and pointed down the hallway to the right, “Umm, I gotta get to class and…”

But he was talking to no one since Chrissy and Eddie seemed to have forgotten that he was even there.  They just looked at each other until Chrissy finally spoke, “Hey, umm, can you walk me to class?” She smiled at Eddie and took a step to the side and motioned down the hallway in the opposite direction that Lucas’ class was, “Because I have some questions about Dungeons and Dragons and about Hellfire.”

“Sure, prince—” Eddie closed his eyes as he shook his head and sighed when he caught himself.  He got a closed lipped smile as he said, “Sure Chrissy.”

The couple turned and walked down the hall and Lucas said to their retreating forms, “I guess I’ll see you two later then.”  He waved, but they didn’t wave back probably because they seem to be too caught up in their own conversation about DnD.

“So umm, are there premade characters or do you make your own?”

“There’s both, but I recommend making your own so you can customize it.”

She hummed then asked, “Can I make up a back story for my character?”

“Shit yeah!  That’s half the fucking point of playing.”

Lucas stood there with his hand up, twisting it back and forth at the wrist like he’s a member of the British royal family and let out a “Bye,” before he headed off to his own class that was in the opposite direction and his grin returned.

This had been a great week.  He was on the varsity basketball team.  He was still in Hellfire.  And he might be the reason that his friend and the head cheerleader are potentially… maybe… could be… possibly dating.

Lucas took one last look back over his shoulder to check on his matchmaking skills and smiled when he saw the couple standing in the hallway facing each other.  Chrissy was holding Eddie’s hand and writing something on his palm, and he had a huge smile on his face.  She folded his fingers over what she wrote like she’s protecting something precious and then pulled on Eddie’s arm for him to walk beside her as they continue down the hallway.

Chapter Text

Wayne smiled as he tapped his thigh to the beat of the Hank Williams song about getting rid of his old address book while he drove down the foggy rural road towards home.  The fog wasn’t too heavy, just enough to add a softness to the bare branches of the black oaks and cottonwoods that lined the road.  It was just foggy enough to be the kind of morning that he loved, where everything seemed softer and quieter.  The kind of morning that reminded him why he liked to live out here in the sticks instead of Hawkins proper. 

The corners of his mouth pulled up slightly as he turned off the lonely country road and onto the gravel driveway entrance for the Forest Hills Trailer Park.  The trailer park might be on the wrong side of the tracks, but it’s right next to the woods so it’s not a bad spot to be.  As a matter of fact, it’s a pretty decent place to live. 

Some folks might not see it that way and would point out that the owner of the park barely did any maintenance on the grounds or that Wayne’s trailer had aged well past its expiration date or that he hadn’t actually had a real bedroom in nearly seven years, but all that stuff was manageable.  The folks that live at the park took turns weed whipping or mowing in exchange for the cheap rent.  He and Ed could easily patch up any leaks or cracks on the trailer and he doesn’t really need a bedroom that badly.  He doesn’t mind bunking in the living room.  The TV’s out there and he got a bit of privacy while his nephew was out during the day.

That and the trailer’s situated in a real nice spot.  Yes, it’s closer to the entrance so they have to hear the cars drive by on their way in and out of the trailer park, but their lot backs up next to the woods.  And their closest neighbors are across the way and a lot further down the gravel road from them, so they get plenty of quiet and privacy.

Even if the neighbors were closer, it wouldn’t be so bad.  The folks that live here are a decent lot.  They helped out when a neighbor needed it without being nosy or noisy.

Wayne smiled as he drove down the gravel road, the truck’s headlights cutting through the fog to land on a few deer on the edge of the wood.  The critters froze and watched his old pick-up truck ramble by before they continued to feast on the patches of grass that weren’t covered in icy snow. 

He veered a bit to miss the pothole that formed after the last storm and made a mental note to get Ed to help him fill it in this weekend.  He automatically put his hand atop the pink bakery box next to him on the bench seat when his tires eased over the makeshift speed bump on the trailer park’s main road.  He can’t take a chance that it could go sliding or flying because that is another good thing about living here.  Halfway between Forest Hills Trailer Park and his job at the power plant was the best donut shop in Hawkins.  

He stopped into the shop once a week, usually on Saturdays, and would pick up half a dozen raised glazed or glazed old fashioned donuts for him and Ed to share over coffee.  They’d sit at the small two-seater table in the trailer and have a chat about Wayne’s work, since he doesn’t want to know the details of Ed’s “work”.  They'd also talk about school, his nephew’s band, or discuss the broken things that needed fixing.

But for some reason, today felt a little bit different.  It felt a bit more special, so when he got to the donut shop this morning, he decided to splurge and get them a half dozen fancy donuts.  He’s not sure exactly what felt so special about the day, maybe it was because he got off work early since he started his shift early and that made it feel like a special morning.  Maybe it was the way the fog hung in the chilly morning air that made him feel the need to get a special treat for the two of them.  Whatever the reason, he felt the need to get something out of the ordinary today.

He smiled as he thought about the buttermilk bar in the box that had his name on it, but then he spotted something unusual.  Now that’s something out of the ordinary, he thought as the small yellow Datsun that was parked in front of the trailer emerged from the blanket of fog.  Folks round here don’t own imports and he knew all the vehicles here since he and his nephew worked on each one of them at one time or another.    

Before he could wonder too much about if someone got a new used car, he could see something else out of the ordinary.  A blonde girl sitting on the steps of his trailer.  The only girl that lived here had a trailer with her mama across the way, but that girl’s a ginger and probably a good three to four years younger than this one.

The girl watched him as he drove past the steps and parked in the spot on the other side of Ed’s van and he watched her too and saw another thing out of the ordinary.  The two cats that he and his nephew had been feeding were curled up against her on the step.  They had been feeding those two felines since autumn and could barely get them to not run when they approached the steps, let alone pet them.  But not this girl, she had them curled against her as she stroked their fur.

As he turned off the engine, he wondered just who this girl was.  It’s too early in the morning for Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons to be about and no offense to his nephew, but this girl looked a bit too well put together to be there to see him what with her fine wool coat and fur trimmed boots. 

Maybe she was there to see that ginger girl across the way but got the wrong trailer.  No matter, he thought as he grabbed the box of donuts and got out of the cab of the truck, I’ll point her in the right direction.

He walked around the back of the van and as he approached the steps, the cats scattered under the small porch and hid in the shelter that Ed constructed for them out of an old apple box and put just under the steps.  The girl got up at the same time and smoothed her coat while the cats peered out from between the steps at Wayne.  He couldn’t help but huff a laugh because those critters always did this every time he came home.

He shook head and walked towards the girl who smiled and greeted him with a shivering, “G-good m-morning, sir.”

“’Morning,” He nodded at her, “You waiting for someone?”

“Yes sir,” She clutched and rubbed her gloved hands together in front of her in the cold morning air and smiled when she said, “Eddie Munson,” then she asked, “Do you live here too?”

He smiled with a quick hum because maybe Ed could get a well put together girl to see about him and replied, “That I do.”

“Oh, umm, I’m Chrissy Cunningham sir,” She thrust her hand out in front of her for him to shake.  He took her small hand encased in soft leather into his own rough and calloused hand and received a firm handshake in return.

“Wayne Munson,” He replied with a nod and released her hand which she pulled back to clutch in front of her shyly. “I’m Ed’s uncle.”

“Oh, I’m p-pleased to meet you s-sir,” she said through her shivering as she looked down at her hands.

He dipped his head and told her, “Call me Wayne,” before he walked up the steps to unlock the door but when he reached the landing, he looked at the van which meant his nephew was probably home.  So, he turned to ask, “If you’re here to see Ed, then why’re you outside?”

“Oh, umm,” She looked up and said, “When I knocked, no one answered.”

He hummed at this as he unlocked the door and looked back at her when she explained, “Umm, we’re supposed to go to Indy to the botanical gardens,” She blushed and shivered when he raised his eyebrow in amusement because there’s no possible way that his nephew would go all the way to Indy just to look at some plants unless it was at a girl’s suggestion, then she continued, “We’re going for a school project, but umm, well I’m early and he’s probably still in the shower or something so I thought I would just wait in my car, but then I saw the cats and well…” She shrugged and looked at the cats that blinked lazily at her from under the steps.

“I see,” He nodded and then watched as she knelt down and reached her hand out to the openings between the steps and towards the cats that were crouched underneath.  He chuckled as the cats craned their necks out to bump their noses and cheeks against her fingers. 

“Well,” He said as opened the door wide and asked the shivering girl who was standing up right again, “Would you care to come inside where it’s warm?”

“Y-yes sir, I would sir,” She said as she quickly nodded through her shivers, “Thank you sir… I mean, thank you… Wayne.” Then she moved past him and into the warm trailer while he held the door open for her.

Wayne watched as the cats retreated further under the steps and back into the box that was lined with old flannels before he followed Chrissy into the trailer.  But as soon as he stepped through the door, he had to come to a halt so he wouldn’t crush the donut box into her since she had come to a complete stop and was standing still just past the small dining table. 

Chrissy’s face was slack, her mouth was opened slightly but her eyes were as wide as saucers, and she was looking down to the far end of the trailer where the bedroom and bathroom were, and Wayne wondered what had her so fazed.

He peeked around the cabinets that lined the wall next to the table to see Ed standing just outside of the bedroom door with only a towel wrapped around his waist and water dripping down from his hair.  Wayne grimaced at his nephew, who was just standing there dripping water onto the floor and was looking equally stupefied while he stared at the girl.

“Damn it, Ed,” Wayne said as he shook his head at his nephew, “Quit tracking water through the trailer.”

“What!?” Eddie’s brow knitted and his eyes snapped to Wayne as if his words broke him out of a catatonic state.

“I said, quit tracking water through the trailer…”

“Shit!” Eddie breathed out as he looked at his trail of wet footprints that led out from the bathroom.

“Language,” Wayne said quickly, and watched as his nephew nodded an apology at his futile reprimand but he still stood there, so Wayne reminded him, “Now go get dried off and dressed because you have company.”

“Sh—” His nephew grimaced but managed to stop the curse before it could fully escape his mouth and said, “Yeah,” and nodded.  He took one more look at Chrissy who was still standing immobile and staring at him before he went into the bedroom and shut the door.

Wayne sighed and shook his head as he pulled the front door closed behind him and walked around Chrissy who had remained rooted to the spot.  She probably didn’t expect to see that this mornin’, he smiled as he put the pink box on the counter and chuckled out, “I swear, no matter how many times I tell ‘em, Ed still tracks water out of the bathroom every damn day.” 

He pulled off his jacket and draped it over the washing machine before he went to the coffee maker and asked, “Would you care for a cup of coffee, miss?” as he opened the cabinet and reached past the large Folgers canister to the small container of Café Du Monde.  He figured today was a special day that deserved a fancier cup of coffee to go with the fancy donuts. 

Now he had a better understanding as to why today could be a special day.  It wasn’t just because of the fancy donuts or the early end to the shift or because of the perfect fog outside.  It was because there was a girl here to see his nephew.  That had never happened before. 

It’s not like Wayne was under the impression that his nephew had never had a girlfriend or was innocent in the ways of love.  He’d seen the boxes of condoms on Ed’s dresser and answered the phone when young women called for him, but he’d never actually met one of these girls because his nephew never brought one home before and there hadn’t been a young lady come ‘round to court his nephew neither.

As he scooped the fragrant grounds into the coffee filter, he realized that Chrissy hadn’t answered him when he offered her coffee.  He looked over at the girl to see her still rooted in the same spot, still staring off into the middle distance with her hands loosely clutched together in front of her chest which made him wonder what exactly their relationship was.  If they were just friends or classmates, then there probably would have been laughter at the absurdity of the situation, but the way they were both befuddled and twitterpated at seeing each other unexpectedly made him wonder if there was something more.

He smiled and shook his head as he filled the coffeemaker with water and started the brew cycle.  He pulled three small plates out of the cupboard for the donuts.  Normally he and Eddie would just use the napkins the donut shop provided as makeshift plates, but today is a special day with special company.

Wayne leaned his hand against the kitchen counter and asked, “Miss Cunningham?”

“Hmm?” She was still staring towards the back of the trailer, but then she fluttered her eyes quickly as if waking up from a spell and looked over at Wayne with flushed cheeks, “Umm…”

“Would you care for some coffee and a donut?” He nodded his head as he asked again with what he hoped was a friendly smile because he could be gruff at times but didn’t want to be with this poor, flustered girl.

“Oh umm, yes please, thank you,” She smiled shyly and looked down at her boots, “And please, call me Chrissy.”

“Okay Chrissy,” He nodded then motioned to the small table next to the door, “Why don’t you take off your coat and sit a while.”

She nodded and bit her lip as she took off her soft leather gloves and unbuttoned her wool coat while she looked around at his collection of mugs and caps that lined the walls of the living room. 

“I’s in the navy and also used to drive a big rig, so I used to travel a lot,” He motioned with his chin towards the mugs, “I used’ta pick up a mug or a ball cap as a keepsake of the places I visited.”

“Oh,” She nodded as she gave the collection one more pass before she looked around with her coat draped over her arm.

He looked at her smart outfit, tan slacks tucked into her fur-trimmed boots and a teal sweater which made her look like maybe a young college student and not a high school girl which had him confused because she’s just a slip of a girl.  Maybe she’s younger than she dresses?

“Is there a hook where I can…?” She asked as she motioned to her coat.

“You can put your coat there,” Wayne said as he motioned to the couch. 

She draped her coat over the back of the couch and joined him in the kitchen and said a quiet, “Thank you,” when she took the plate he offered her.

“You’re welcome,” He smiled as he opened the box to reveal the treasure trove of fancy donuts; a jelly, a bismark, a custard-filled, along with an apple fritter and two buttermilk bars.  Chrissy reached for a jelly donut but then hesitated, so he reassured her, “Grab whichever ones takes your fancy.”

“Are you sure?” Her hand still hovered over the glazed donut with the red dot on top that denoted the raspberry filling, “I don’t want to take anyone’s favorites.”

“Nonsense,” He said over his shoulder as he got down three coffee cups with matching saucers instead of the mismatched diner mugs they usually use because today they had special company.  Then he smiled, “We like ‘em all, so take your pick.”

“Thank you,” She whispered out as she picked up the jelly donut and sat down at the small table next to the door.

He grabbed a buttermilk bar and joined her while he waited for the coffee maker to finish its brewing cycle.  Chrissy sat with the donut in front of her as if she was waiting.  Wayne got a small smile and took a bite of his donut, and she did the same right after. 

She waited because she’s a polite and refined girl.  She took small bites of her food and probably wouldn’t speak while her mouth was full.  She said please and thank you at all the right times.  She called him sir until he told her otherwise.  She was so polite and well-mannered that it made him wonder, “So how do you and Ed know each other?”

“Umm,” She swallowed and answered, “From school.  We’re both seniors.”

“Ah, I see,” Wayne smiled and quickly did the math that said that Chrissy was either 18 or very close to it, but she’s just a slip of a girl.  Why was she so thin?  Wasn’t she getting fed at home?

Chrissy interrupted his thoughts as she explained further, “We both have the same science teacher but during different periods, so we both have the same biology project,” She smiled as she picked a bit of loose icing off the donut and placed it on her tongue to melt before she explained, “And the garden we’re going to has a huge greenhouse and flowers that bloom in the winter and…” Her voice faded as soon as they heard the bedroom door open.

Wayne looked over at Eddie, all dried off and dressed in his usual attire, a rock shirt and ripped jeans with all the accoutrements.  He smirked and couldn’t help but rib his nephew, “I see the emperor decided to put on some actual clothes.” 

Eddie shifted his jaw at Wayne before he headed into the kitchen and that look on his nephew’s face made him want to let this young lady know, “You know when Ed was just a little boy, ‘bout 2 or 3, he’d never wanted to get dressed.”

Chrissy’s eyes went wide.  Her mouth opened slightly, and the corners curled up in amused shock, so Wayne leaned towards her and continued, “Sometimes when I used to head ‘round to his mama’s house to help out, she’d just be getting him out of the bath and before anyone could dry him off, he’d take off runnin’.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Wayne,” Eddie mumbled as he leaned his fists against the kitchen counter and grimaced, but that didn’t matter to Wayne.  He was too busy enjoying Chrissy quickly covering her mouth after she snorted a laugh.

“Language,” Wayne said over his shoulder to his nephew and then continued his story to Chrissy, “He’d laugh and carry on, making a game out of it and you know, sometimes,” Wayne nodded knowingly at her, “He’d make it outside and run ‘round the front yard naked as a jaybird.”

Chrissy barked another laugh and Wayne peeked over his shoulder at his nephew who was looking up at the ceiling and shaking his head and that just spurred him on.

“Yessir,” He grinned, “We’d have to chase him down and corner him before the neighbors could lodge a complaint.  Oh, and he hated it when we got a pair of draws on him.  He’d cry and cry like wearing those underpants was the worst thing in the world,” He smiled as Chrissy let out yet another quick, loud laugh and covered her mouth with her hands, “So we’d sit him down in front of, umm…  What was that piano toy called, Ed?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Pianosaurus…” His nephew droned out.

“That’s right, pi-ano-saurus,” Wayne smiled as he was transported inside the memory, “He’d bang on the keys as he caterwauled until he got it all outta his system and calmed down, then he’s just play little tinkling tunes on the thing.”

When the images of his young nephew faded, Wayne focused on Chrissy.  She was smiling, but it wasn’t a laughing, amused smile.  Instead, it was a sweet, warm smile that told him there was something going on with her and his nephew…

“Chrissy,” Eddie shifted his jaw and glared at his uncle as he said, “Do not listen to him.  He’s a crazy old man.”

“Crazy like a fox,” Wayne chuckled out and tapped the side of nose at Chrissy who snickered back at him.

“Damnit,” Eddie sighed under his breath at the two conspirators before he peered into the donut box and frowned, “No jellies?”

Chrissy’s eyes went wide, but before she could say anything Wayne said, “I gave the jelly to our guest, Ed.”

“You can have it if you want,” Chrissy quickly said as she held up her plate towards Eddie, “I only took a small bite…”

“No, no!” Eddie quickly said as he shook his head, “You have it—” Then he smiled and she mirrored it, “—I like the other ones too so…”

“Okay,” Chrissy put the plate back down in front of her, but Eddie kept watching her.

“Here Ed,” Wayne got up from his chair and moved back into the kitchen, “You can have my seat while I take care of the coffee.”

Eddie grabbed the apple fritter out of the box and put it on the plate that Wayne had shoved into his hand with a look to remind him that they have company.  Then he sat down at the table with Chrissy while Wayne got out the sugar bowl and milk. 

Wayne watched the two of them as he poured the milk into the ceramic creamer that the two bachelors never used, but today they had company.  He smiled as they planned their trip, joking and laughing the whole time.   

He never gets to see this, Ed sitting and smiling with a lovely young lady.  Their usual Saturday morning consisted of the two of them alone with no guests to liven up their mornings, but today was a special day.

He poured coffee into the three coffee cups with matching saucers.  His nephew fetched the cups of coffee and brought them to the table while he brought the milk and sugar, and each received a demure thank you from Chrissy.  Then he smiled as he watched Chrissy take her coffee regular and his nephew loaded his up with sugar and milk like it was going out of style.

Wayne leaned against the kitchen counter as he drank his black coffee and let the two of them visit with each other.  The two joked and laughed and at one point, Ed offered her a bite of his apple fritter.  When she accepted, he fed it to her while she blushed and oh yeah, there’s something going on between these two…

Wayne had been content to just listen and let those two enjoy each other’s company, but when the moment was right, he’d interject a funny story from his nephew’s youth.  Back when Ed was a child that he called Eddie instead of the man sitting at the table.

When Chrissy mentioned she saw some deer earlier, back behind the trailer, Wayne told her about Ed’s love of the movie Bambi.  He told her how he took his nephew to see the movie in the theater when he was 5 and again at 15 and how they both cried at both showings.  Ed closed his eyes and shook his head while Wayne told the story, but then smiled at Chrissy when she said that she also cried at the movie when her and her brother went to see it a few years ago.

When Chrissy asked his nephew about his guitar, it was the perfect opportunity for Wayne to tell her about the time that Eddie stole from a church.  She laughed at the tale of a 5-year-old Eddie taking a guitar from the stand next to the church’s piano.  And how all the parishioners looked up and down for the thing only to discover Eddie plucking its strings in the back seat of his mama’s car because he thought he could take it home since the sermon was about sharing but he didn’t fully understand the concept that the owner had to offer to share with you before you could take something.

Ed, for his part, kept quiet and didn’t interrupt Wayne as he imparted the tales.  He just grimaced and sighed and only spoke up when his uncle asked him to fill in any gaps, but otherwise, he just drank his coffee and ate his donut as Chrissy laughed at Wayne’s stories and beamed at his nephew.

Once they had finished with their breakfast, Eddie gathered up their cups and plates and took them to the sink that Wayne was filling up with hot, soapy water while Chrissy wiped down the table. 

Wayne looked at his nephew and gestured with his head towards Chrissy who was still at the table and raised his brow. 

Eddie shook his head and let out a long breath through his nose and said quietly to his uncle, “There’s… It’s…  Don’t get excited, Wayne.  We’re just… we’re just friends okay.”

“Just ‘friends’, huh” Wayne smirked because they were “just friends” like he’s the King of England.  He put his hand on his nephew’s shoulder and told him, “Well, be sure to be a gentleman and mind your manners with your ‘friend’.”

“Wayne…” Eddie sighed out as he shifted his jaw.

That just made Wayne’s smile grow and he continued, “Ed, just be good and polite.  Open up the door for her and offer your hand when she walks on the icy paths because that sort of thing is appreciated between ‘friends’.”  His nephew rolled his eyes each time Wayne used air quotes when he said friends, but that just made him smile more.

Wayne looked back at Chrissy after she had finished cleaning the table and had wandered into the living room to look at the mugs and hats on the wall again.  He tilted his head towards the young lady and squeezed his nephew’s shoulder gently and told him, “Now why don’t you go help your ‘friend’ with her coat while I finish up in here.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes and shook his head, but he went to the living room as he was told.  When he got there, he stopped and looked at Chrissy’s mouth and said, “You have umm-” he pointed towards his own bottom lip, “-icing…”

“Oh,” She said in surprise and quickly swiped her tongue along her lower lip, but missed the white flake that was just hanging onto the bottom edge.

“Umm, other side,” Eddie huffed a small laugh but still stared intently at her lip and her tongue when it swiped across again and this time she caught the small piece of icing on her tongue.

After she brought her tongue back in her mouth, she looked at Eddie who still stared her lips and asked him, “Umm, did I get it?”

“Hmm?” He looked up into her eyes and said with a crooked smile, “Umm, yeah you got it.”

Wayne huffed a laugh and shook his head at the “friends” as he packed up the bismark and custard-filled donut into a small, brown paper bag while his nephew helped the young lady with her coat and then met them at the front door.

Eddie opened the door for her and quickly looked at Wayne with a smirk.  Wayne shook his head and smiled at him before he handed the bag to Chrissy and told her, “Now don’t let Ed eat both of these-” he kept talking even though his nephew scoffed at the affront Wayne made to his character, “-because one’s for you, Chrissy and you choose first.”

She smiled and took the bag as she said a quiet, “Thank you sir, I mean… Wayne.”

He smiled at her before he stepped back and looked at the two of them together, “You two ‘friends’ have a good time on your…”

“Class. Project.” Eddie said both words deliberately as he put his own jacket on and glared at his uncle before Wayne could call their date a date.

“Of course it is,” Wayne smiled back as Eddie shook his head at him.

Wayne watched as the two left the trailer.  He leaned against the open door and was pleased to see his nephew open the passenger side door of his van for Chrissy.  He even closed it for her after she got settled.

He waved at them as the two “friends” drove away.  Chrissy waved back but Eddie only scowled at him and that got a chuckle out of Wayne.  Yup, they're not gonna be friends for much longer...

Chapter Text

Bang, bang, bang!

“Jesus, hold your horses…” Gareth muttered under his breath while he jogged towards the exit door at the rear of the skating rink.  He shoved open the door right after another set of loud bangs erupted through the empty building and there was Eddie standing there with a crooked grin on his face.

“Took you long enough,” Eddie said nonchalantly as he slid through the doorway.

“Yeah, you’re welcome, man,” Gareth shook his head and sighed because this was so Eddie.  Acting like he was politely knocking and waiting patiently for the door to open instead of pounding on the door over and over with the side of his fist for the last thirty seconds like he had a pack of zombies on his heels.

Eddie took hold of Gareth’s shoulders and gripped them firmly with both of his hands as he said with as much mock sincerity that a human could muster, “Thank you, Gareth,” while his grin got wider.

Gareth shook his head as he muttered, “Prick,” through a laugh because he can’t be mad at Eddie.  After all, he saved him from a miserable existence in middle America.

When Gareth first got to Hawkins High at the beginning of the spring semester of his sophomore year, it felt like the worst day of his life.  He was deemed an outcast and an outsider by the student body on day one.  Probably because he was an outsider.

He wasn’t from Hawkins or even from anywhere in the Midwest.  He wasn’t really from anywhere.  He had been an air force brat, so he never lived in one place for too long.  He supposed that he could say he was from Spokane since he was born at Fairchild AFB and spent the first 8 months of his life there until his dad got transferred across the country, but that was as deep as his roots went.

Not having set roots wasn’t ever an issue for him before.  Sure, he never made any life-long friends, but none of the other military brats did either.  They were all in the same boat, so everyone was willing to find some commonality, anything that they could use to build fast but temporary friendships until their mom or dad got transferred to some other part of the world. 

But things changed when his dad retired from service and moved the family to Hawkins to help Gareth’s uncle run the town’s only roller-skating rink.  There aren’t any military brats here.  There wasn’t anyone who knew how to or was willing to quickly make friends with the kid that just moved in.  

Everyone around here knew each other.  Most of the kids at the high school had lived their entire lives in Hawkins.  They grew up together and had already established their lifelong friendships with each other and there wasn’t any room for a new one.

It seemed an impossible task to make new friends here and it probably didn’t help that he looked the part of an outcast.  At the time he still had a ton of baby fat on his cheeks, and he had just hit a growth spurt so none of his clothes fit properly.  It also didn’t help that most of those clothes were made up of hand-me-downs that were either too large or too small and heavy metal t-shirts.  It also didn’t help that he liked reading stories about Robin Hood and King Arthur instead of playing sports. 

During lunch on his first day at school, he had been prepared to eat alone.  He planned to hole up in an empty corner of the lunchroom and put his nose in his book and read.  He hoped that everyone would ignore him and not see him as an easy target, but instead something serendipitous happened. 

Right after Gareth stepped away from the cashier at the end of the lunch line, he looked up to see Eddie pointing at him from a table across the cafeteria before he yelled, “You! Yeah, you with the King Arthur book.” Gareth gulped and his mouth gaped open as he mouthed “Me?” and stared at the tall metal-head, who stood up from his seat at the head of the lunch table that he was obviously the lord of. 

If Eddie noticed any fear on Gareth’s part, he ignored it.  Instead, he motioned with his hand for him to come over and Gareth felt some sort of weird compulsion to follow.  So, he let himself get pulled by Eddie’s magnetism towards the table full of kids wearing matching club t-shirts. 

As soon as he got to the table he heard, “Welcome to Hellfire, uh…” and looked up to see Eddie back in his seat at the opposite end of the table and quirking his brow at him. 

Gareth took this to be an invitation to introduce himself, so he told him with a shaky voice, “Gareth.”

“Eddie,” He said with a quick acknowledging nod before he gestured with a flourish of his hand towards an open chair, “Si’down, you’re gonna eat with us.”

Gareth nodded as he swallowed his fear and sat down as ordered.  He didn’t say much that day, other than to introduce himself to the table full of other outcasts.  Instead, he listened to them talk about music and movies and their Dungeons and Dragons club.

The following day at lunch, the same thing happened.  Eddie motioned with his hand for Gareth to eat at the Hellfire table again and the same thing happened the next day and all the days after until Gareth automatically just went to the Hellfire table without the need for an invitation. 

He quickly became comfortable enough with the group to start talking.  He told them about himself.  Stuff like how his family never stayed in any place long and how he had lived all over the world.  He told them how he saw Scorpions and Iron Maiden at concerts in West Germany when he lived there.  He told them how his hero was Nicko McBrain and that his parents had got him a drum kit for Christmas. 

When he told them about the drums, Eddie and Jeff laughed and told him that their band seemed to have a Spinal Tap situation with their own drummers.  They invited him to jam with them that day at Jeff’s house and even though there was a chance he would spontaneously combust or choke on vomit of unknown origin or meet with some other grizzly fate, Gareth accepted.  After that day, he became Corroded Coffin’s official and most resilient drummer. 

He also got pulled into Hellfire.  It was an easy transition from liking fantasy adventure novels to playing a role-playing game with rogues and rangers and paladins.  He threw himself fully into the game, learning all he could, and eventually started helping Eddie plan and create campaigns for the club.

Eddie and Jeff were like big brothers to Gareth, but like cool older brothers.  Like ones that give you a ton of shit, but they want you to give that shit right back to them. 

He knew that they both had his back, and he wanted to have their backs too.  So, when Eddie asked if he could get him and someone else into the skating rink early before they opened that Wednesday night, he said, “Hell yeah!” 

Gareth quirked his brow and craned his neck to look out the cracked exit door as he asked, “Where’s…?”

Eddie opened the door wider and said out into the cold late-February air, “Come on.”

Then Chrissy Cunningham cautiously slipped through the door.  Gareth had figured that she was the “someone else” even before Eddie told him the day before since you would have to blind not to notice the two of them constantly together between classes and after school.

Gareth had heard people in the halls talk about the strange sight of the head cheerleader and "the freak" together.  They said it was weird to see her with her prim and proper clothes and perfect hair laughing and smiling with the heavy metal guy that wore spikes and chains and leather, but he didn’t think so. 

They kinda looked right together, like their contrasts complimented each other and tonight was no different.  Eddie was dressed in his usual, black ripped jeans and a Judas Priest shirt and Chrissy was in a black and white checkered top and stonewashed jeans with zippers at the ankles and her hair up in a tidy ponytail. 

Their clothing had its differences but the biggest difference between the two was their demeanor.  While Eddie was his usual confident self, Chrissy looked less so.  Her eyes were wide as she looked around the dimly lit roller-skating rink.  She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around her middle before she said quietly to herself, “Roller-skating…”

“What gave it away Cunningham?” Eddie snorted a laugh before he turned and headed towards the skate rental counter, pulling off his jacket along the way. 

Gareth started to follow him but stopped when he saw that Chrissy was just standing there not moving.  He figured that she was worried about being there when the rink was closed.  He got it.  He was kinda a rule follower too.  It’s probably from his strict upbringing and he wondered if her dad had also been in the military.

“Don’t worry,” Gareth said, and she jumped slightly at his voice, but then smiled at him as he continued, “No one’s going to get here for another hour, and we don’t open the doors until 6.” 

She swallowed and nodded.  She pulled off her coat as she walked alongside Gareth towards the skate rental counter that Eddie had already hopped over to grab a pair of skates that he was now lacing up on a bench next to the counter.

“Plus, my uncle owns this place and my dad’s the manager, so…” Gareth smiled and shrugged his shoulders to let her know that even if they got “caught” they won’t be in trouble.  He unlatched the door to go behind the skate rental counter and asked her, “What size?”

“Umm, 6 ½.”

Gareth handed her a pair of white skates and saw a look of trepidation on her face which made him wonder if she was maybe nervous about something else.  But before he could ask, she took the skates and sat down on a bench opposite Eddie and started unlacing her shoes. 

They both looked up when Eddie stood up in his skates.  He flailed his arms around wildly as if he was off-balance and might fall over.  Gareth laughed at the sight of his friend’s pantomime and Eddie grinned as he straightened up his body and pushed his wheeled feet across the carpet towards Chrissy.   

“I’m gonna go get warmed up,” He motioned with his head towards the rink and grinned at Chrissy, “I don’t want you skatin’ circles ‘round me, Cunningham.” 

She nodded and watched Eddie skate towards the rink.  Her jaw dropped open as soon as his skates left the carpet and touched the polished wood floor where he glided around the oval, skating backwards and forwards with grace and ease.

She swallowed and looked at Gareth.  Her eyes were huge as she asked, “He can skate?” It seemed more like a statement and less like a question, but he still answered her.

“Yeah,” He nodded and watched Eddie as he jumped and pivoted and did a “shoot the duck” move with ease.  He looked at Chrissy and said with familial pride, “He’s really good.  We come here after band practice sometimes and skate around to Judas Priest and stuff.  You know, after the rink’s closed.”

“Oh…” She looked down at the unlaced skates that she had pulled onto her feet before she looked up at Gareth again and he can see a blush grow on her cheeks when she stammered out, “Sooo… How hard is it… I mean…” She bit her frowning lip and that frown had him worried about what she was going to ask, but he never in a million years thought she would ask in a quiet, shaky voice, “How hard is it learn to skate?”

“W-what?” He stammered out as his mouth fell open in surprise.

She sighed and fiddled with the tongue on her skates while she quietly revealed, “I don’t know how to skate.”

“Uhhh…” Oh-no!  Gareth gulped in panic because Eddie had planned everything for this brief visit to the rink, the music, what lights to use, but all those plans had been contingent on the assumption that the head cheerleader knew how to skate. 

Eddie had met him at the rink the previous day to pick out music for them to skate to.  He meticulously went through every one of the 45s they had at the rink to curate a playlist.  He even told Gareth to fuck off when he gave Eddie shit for picking out a Madonna song. 

“I thought you said she liked good music.” He smirked at Eddie.

“She does.” Eddie’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, umm, ‘Borderline’ is—” Gareth laughed out before Eddie cut him off.

“Fuck off, I like this song.”

“Wait, what!?  You like…?  But… but it’s so… mainstream…”

“Jesus, Gareth,” Eddie sighed and shook his head as he continued to thumb through the 45s, “You can’t get caught up in shit like that.  You get to like what you like.  And you sure as fuck can’t go around telling people what their opinion should be otherwise, you’re just like one of those motherfuckers that say metal isn’t real music and shit.”

“Yeah,” Gareth sighed out, “I guess you’re probably right.”

Eddie was right, and it was good to hear that aloud.  In all honesty, he kind of likes some of the music that they play at the skating rink.  Maybe he would throw on one of those songs the next time the band comes into skate, but only ones that Eddie was currently picking out because he wasn’t sure that he was completely ready to reveal to anyone his love for English synth-pop. 

Gareth smiled as Eddie pulled out a single by Mary Jane Girls because he liked that song too.  Eddie added it to his pile of songs he wanted played and got started writing down the song order.  He wasn’t just specific about the play order but was also meticulous about what lights to use during each song.  When Eddie finished the playlist, complete with detailed lighting instructions, he handed the slip of paper to Gareth for the perfect soundtrack for a skating date…

“It’s not a date.  We’re just friends.”

“Uh-huh, whatever man…”  Gareth smirked as he eyed the “Space Age Love Song” single.

Every detail was planned except for this.  They had not planned for Chrissy not knowing how to skate.  Probably because they were both sure that the head cheerleader, the Queen of Hawkins High, the most popular girl at school, not only knew how to skate, but she would be the best skater ever.

But now that Gareth was really thinking about it, he had never seen Chrissy here before.  He had seen other cheerleaders and their jock boyfriends here, but never Chrissy.  Granted, he never really paid that much attention to the rink’s clientele, but still, he probably should have noticed that the girl that his best friend and brother and bandmate had had a crush on since forever had never ever been to the only skating rink in town.

“You almost ready, Cunningham?” Eddie grinned out when he skated up and stood directly in front of where she was sitting.

“I…” She blinked quickly like she was trying not to cry.

Gareth wasn’t sure what to do, but he needed to do something.  “Hey, Eddie, ummm,” He gulped as he tried to think of something to shift the focus from skating, “The skee-ball’s fixed and maybe you guys wanna check it out and…” 

Eddie slowly looked over with his brow knitted in confusion while he gave Gareth a shut-the-fuck-up look.

Then Chrissy said quietly, “I can’t skate.”

Eddie looked back at the girl sitting on the bench when she spoke.  He smiled and dropped to his knees in front of her to start lacing up her skates.  “Sure you can,” He said as he worked the laces up the hooks, “You just need to…”

“No Eddie,” Chrissy bit her lip again and now it was her turn to be on the receiving end of Eddie’s confused expression, “I don’t know how to skate.”

 Eddie’s mouth gaped open as if she just spoke Greek to him, “You don’t… I…”

“The skee-ball machines, I’m telling you man, they work great now and—” Gareth tried to deflect from Chrissy’s obvious embarrassment, but Eddie held up a finger towards him and he fell silent.

Chrissy sighed, “When I was ten, I went to a skating party and while I was learning to skate, I fell on my butt and then someone rolled over my fingers and broke my pinky and ring fingers and that’s why they’re crooked-” She held up her right hand and her pinky and ring fingers angle out the wrong way, but only a little bit, “-and for years I was just too scared to try again and then I got older and everyone else already knew how to skate so it would be too embarrassing to say that I didn’t know how, so I avoided skate parties and stuff and I never tried to learn again…” She sighed again and Eddie took in a breath to say something, but she interrupted him, “And I know how lame that is, but it just…” She shrugged and looked down at her hands that she had twisted together in her lap, “It just is.”

“Ah fuck,” Eddie said quietly before he berated himself under his breath, “I fucking assumed again…”  He fidgeted and stared at the laces on her skates and asked quietly, “Did you wanna leave?  `Cos we don’t have’ta stay…”

Chrissy took in a deep shuddering breath and frowned. 

Gareth felt his mouth twitch.  He didn’t want to watch his friend’s date-that’s-not-a-date fall apart right in front of him, “Hey Chrissy, didn’t you say that you were ready to learn to skate?”

The question flew out of Gareth’s mouth before he even realized it and they both looked over at him.  He huffed a nervous laugh and smiled, “I mean, you were asking earlier about learning and so I figured-” he motioned towards Eddie, “-I mean, Eddie taught me how to play DnD, and he was really good and patient about it, so I thought that maybe he could probably teach you to skate and stuff and…” 

Gareth’s voice trailed off into a nervous laugh, but they didn’t notice because they weren’t paying attention to him anymore.  Chrissy looked at Eddie and he looked right back at her.  She bit her lip and quietly asked, “Could you?  Teach me how to skate, I mean?”

“Sure Chrissy,” Eddie’s face broke into a grin and then added, “But only if you teach me how to do a cartwheel.”

“Okay,” She smiled at him as he resumed lacing up her skates.

After her skates were laced up, Eddie stood up and held out his hands.  Chrissy took them in hers and he pulled her upright.  Her feet made quick movements back and forth as she tried to adjust to having wheels on her feet.  Eddie’s hands went to her hips to help her balance as she held onto his forearms.  Then he looked into her eyes and smiled, “You ready?”

She nodded and took a few tentative rolls on her skates with Eddie holding both of her hands and rolling backwards.  He looked at Gareth and asks, “Mr. DJ, do ya think you could…”

Gareth nodded quickly.  He hopped over the skate rental counter and jogged to the DJ booth that towered over the skating rink.  He pulled the playlist out of his back pocket and grabbed the stack of singles he set aside for their visit.  He placed the Madonna single on one of the turntables and then queued up the Elvis Costello 45 on the other. 

He looked up and saw the two of them on the rink.  They had already done a couple of slow laps around the perimeter with Eddie skating backwards and holding both of Chrissy’s hands.  Her legs weren’t as wobbly anymore, actually they didn’t wobble at all.  It was probably because she had that natural athletic ability.

It’s an ability that Gareth wished that he possessed.  Everything physical took so much practice for him, even drumming.  It took him forever to learn to skate, but not her.  She was barely getting pulled anymore.  She was still holding Eddie’s hands even though she probably didn’t need to, but Eddie didn’t look like he was ready to drop her hands either.  He was still skating backwards and smiling as he looked into her eyes. 

Gareth grinned as he dropped the needle on to the 45 to start “Borderline”.  As soon as the telltale synthesized xylophone notes began, he flipped the switch to light up the disco ball.  When the drumbeat dropped, he hit another switch to douse the house lights.  Gareth's head moved back and forth, almost automatically, to the beat because Eddie was right, it was a good song.

He hit the switch for the blue and red spotlights to slowly blink on and off and bathe the rink in colored light while the disco ball created starlight that floated across the floor and walls.  Eddie and Chrissy still held hands as they skated across the circling galaxy of lights and Gareth could see the smiles on their faces as they talked and skated. 

He smiled and then plopped down in the ratty office chair in the DJ booth and out of the view of the couple that glided around the rink.  He continued to DJ, moving the slider to fade out of one song and transition seamlessly into the next as he occasionally looked over the wall of the booth to see how the couple was doing.

The final time he looked, Chrissy seemed to have picked up the skill.  The two still held hands as they skated, but they were doing moves that Gareth wouldn’t even attempt.  They skated around like they were ballroom dancing and even did a tandem waltz jump.  She was skating better than Gareth ever could and he felt a small pang of jealousy because he’d been skating for a few years now and couldn’t even come close to doing stuff like that. 

He sighed as he picked up the last single to put on the turntable.  He pulled “Love Action” off the turntable and looked up at the couple when he heard their voices as they skated by.

“Do you really think we can…?”  Chrissy asked while clasping Eddie’s hand in hers as he skated alongside her.

“Sure, on the straight part…”  That was all Gareth could hear for Eddie’s response before they were out of earshot.

As they went around the perimeter of the rink, Eddie moved behind Chrissy and held her waist.  After they rounded the bend and hit the straightaway where they were facing Gareth, Eddie gripped her waist and lifted her up.  Chrissy’s skates lifted off the ground and she laughed as she spread her arms out wide.  He held her aloft for a few seconds but then his hand slipped.

“Shit, shit, fuck!” Eddie barked out over the song while he tried to keep her from crashing to the floor.  He somehow managed to keep her upright, but when the wheels of her skates hit the polished wood, they almost rolled out from under her.  She quickly pivoted and grabbed onto Eddie’s shoulders, skating backwards while she stumbled on her wheeled feet.

Eddie let out a loud, “Oh fuck!” when he looked past her to see the wall next to the DJ booth that they were both on a collision course with.  He quickly spun their bodies so that he could take the brunt of the impact with the carpeted wall and Chrissy smashed into him when they hit, sandwiching Eddie between her and the wall.

Gareth’s mouth and eyes gaped open as he watched the whole calamity play out in front of him.  Eddie seemed to be okay, but Chrissy had her face against his chest and her shoulders were shaking.  “Shit,” Gareth whispered because this was probably bad.  She was probably traumatized and would not only never skate again but would blame Eddie and never talk to him again.  She’d probably…

But in an instant, all of his worries disappeared when Chrissy threw her head back and let out a loud laugh.  Her hands were on Eddie’s chest with his holding onto her hips.  Eddie laughed along with her while Gareth clutched his chest at the narrowly averted tragedy and wondered if it was possible for a 17-year-old to have a heart attack. 

Chrissy thunked her head down against Eddie’s sternum and her shoulders kept shaking through her laugh, but she looked up when he said, “Okay, maybe I was a little bit overconfident in our abilities…?”

“Oh, but just a little bit?” She snorted out as she wiped away tears of laughter from her eyes.

“Yeah,” Eddie grinned down at her, “A tiny, itty-bitty bit, but next time…”  He nodded.

Gareth grinned at their conversation that he overheard and…  Oh shit, I can hear them!  He panicked for a moment when he realized that he hadn’t switched to the final song and there was nothing but dead air in the rink.  He reached down to push the slider over, but the single wasn’t on the turntable, probably because it was still in his hand.  Shit!

“Well, I think we need to work on the basics first before we try that again” He heard her say as he hurriedly put the Flock of Seagulls single that Eddie had picked out onto the turntable and dropped the needle.

“Yeah, well…” Eddie said with a grin in his voice. 

Gareth looked up after he moved the slider to the spinning turntable to see that the two of them were still smashed up against the wall.  Neither of them had moved.  Eddie still had his hands on her hips and was looking into her eyes.  Chrissy was still up against him with her palms on his chest and looking up into his eyes.

But then the drumbeat started for “Space Age Love Song”, and the music seemed to have broken them out of the spell that they had each other under.  Eddie’s hands dropped off of Chrissy’s hips as she skated backwards a few feet.  Then she held out her hand and Eddie took it with a smile. 

Chrissy held onto his hand as they moved around the rink.  The two talked and giggled as they slowly skated across the galaxy of stars and Gareth felt a smile burst across his face.  He knew that he was probably intruding, so he sank back down behind the wall and slouched into the chair.  Not a date, my ass…

Chapter Text

Laura Cunningham felt her mouth twitch a small smile while she watched one of the cheerleaders fall out of sync with the rest of the group during their halftime routine.  Even though she knew that a good Christian woman shouldn’t smile at someone else’s misfortune, she couldn’t help but feel a small bit of happiness at the young lady’s mistake because it just highlighted how much more talented Chrissy was than the other girls on the squad. 

But maybe in this one instance it wouldn’t be so bad to feel happy about another person’s blunder because today was a very important day.  There were rumors that scouts for some of the Big-10 colleges would be at the game.  They were scouting the basketball players, but she had heard from Mary Fletcher that they also sometimes made note of any talented cheerleaders and that’s how her daughter Lisa got a scholarship to Purdue and that girl wasn’t even half as talented as Chrissy.

If a scout could only see her daughter, all of their hard work would pay off.  Chrissy would receive the recognition that Laura never got for herself, and her daughter would be accepted into a private university or a public university in a prestigious conference and hopefully with a full scholarship.

Laura had missed her own opportunity to cheer for a big school and had to be content to cheer at a smaller state college in Ohio.  She knew it was her fault.  It wasn’t because she didn’t have the talent or the ability, she just didn’t have the drive back then.  She didn’t have someone reminding her of the consequences of being lax with her training.  She didn’t have someone pushing her to stay on track and be the best she could be.

If she only had someone other than herself to keep an eye on the prize, she might have been more than she is today.  If she was only more conscientious of her weight and pushed herself to be in peak physical condition, she could have had more.  But instead, she wasted her high school years socializing and dating bad boys instead of training. 

With all of her frivolous activities during her teenage years, she was fortunate with how her life worked out.  She could have easily gotten into “trouble”, but she somehow maintained a high enough GPA in high school to attend college, but only at a smaller state school and not a private college or ivy league school.  At least the school she attended was exclusive enough to have had fraternities and sororities and she ended up being the president of her school’s chapter. 

She was also fortunate enough to have met Phillip at that school.  He wasn’t athletic but he was handsome and nice and got good grades.  Although he wasn’t in one of the more prestigious fraternities, he was still part of Greek Life and was able to use those connections to get a decent job in Hawkins where they have a large house in an upper middle-class neighborhood. 

But sometimes Laura wondered what she could have been if only…  If only she dated Gerald Coope, the captain of the football team, back in high school.  He went on to attend Notre Dame and married Donna Merser, the girl he dated during senior year, but he had been interested in Laura back then.  He had asked her out several times at the beginning of their senior year, but she blew him off to go around with that boy from the wrong side of the tracks and all because that boy had a motorcycle. 

If only she didn’t eat all those cheeseburgers and hotdogs and only ate salads.  Then maybe that talent agent that was at the community theater production of Our Town would have whisked her away to Broadway instead of Connie Topps.  Laura should have been chosen.  She was the star.  She was great in the lead role as Emily, everyone said so and Connie only did a serviceable job as Rebecca, but the scout still chose her even though she played a bit part.  Laura knew she had more talent, but Connie had that willowy figure…

The sound of applause brought Laura out of her regret and back to the game where she automatically clapped along with the crowd in the bleachers as the girls continued their routine.  She frowned when she heard a loud whistle from further down the row as the girls swiveled their hips seductively.  Cheer routines were a lot more risqué than in her day, but it’s just a sign of the times.

She was fortunate that Chrissy was a good girl, because with routines like this, it would be easy for a boy to take advantage of a girl.  Chrissy might not be worldly, but Laura instilled enough morals in her daughter so that she’d hang onto her virginity until her wedding night.

Times may be changing, but some things never do.  If Chrissy debases herself with some boy before she gets married, she might miss the opportunity for something better in her future and Laura would be damned if her daughter missed any opportunities that were presented to her.

Chrissy would snatch up those opportunities and be better in every way.  She will go to a prestigious university and not some small state school.  She will marry a wealthy man from a good family and bear beautiful heirs for him.  She will be in a high tax bracket and live in a big house in a prestigious neighborhood in a cosmopolitan city. 

Laura smiled while she watched her daughter climbed up the bodies of the heftier, less agile cheerleaders and stood on their shoulders for the routine’s grand finale.  She stood and felt so elated as she listened to the cheers and a loud whistle from the crowd as Chrissy was thrown up in the air and the other girls caught her.

Laura clasped her hands together in front of her chest and smiled because her daughter was a flyer.  She would climb atop the shoulders of others that are meant to bear her weight in order to reach the pinnacle of success and soar through the air.  And when she returned to earth, the people at the base will catch her and hoist her up because she was meant to rise above.

Laura knew that both of her children would rise high in the social ranks until they reached the upper echelons of society, and she would be there to guide them the entire way.  It didn’t take much work to guide her son.  Boys were easy to mold and shape towards greatness.  They had a natural tendency towards it.  Girls on the other hand, well…

Girls needed guidance.  They needed a firm hand to keep them on the path otherwise they might make questionable decisions if left to their own devices.  She should know, she made a few in her youth, but Chrissy won’t.  Well, she won’t make any further questionable decisions starting today.

She already made a huge mistake by breaking up with Jason.  It was all because Chrissy couldn’t see the potential.  She was too young to see the wonderful and prosperous future that was offered to her.  She only saw the here and now. 

“Jason doesn’t listen to me,” she whined when Laura asked why she ended things, “He doesn’t make me laugh.”

Laura almost barked a laugh right into her daughter’s face when she heard the reasons.  Those things don’t matter.  What mattered was that Jason was from a good family with prospects.  He treated her well, better than some other rich boys would.  He was never violent or abusive.  He genuinely seemed to like her, and Laura just knew that he would have come to her and Phillip to ask for their permission for Chrissy’s hand before he started college. 

So, what if Jason didn’t always listen to Chrissy or made her laugh!?  That was all window dressing.  Chrissy needed to pay attention to the foundation because that boy had bedrock underneath him. 

Jason had connections and was part of a legacy of success.  His grandfather founded a prestigious law firm in Chicago that his father worked at on weekdays.  His parents had one of the largest homes in Hawkins, an apartment in Chicago, and a cabin on Twin Lakes that they vacationed at during the summer and all of that would be Jason’s eventually and it could have been Chrissy’s too if she hadn’t ended things with him.

Laura had wanted to order her daughter to apologize and get back together with him, but she knew she couldn’t go that route.  Her daughter could be pig-headed at times, but there were other ways to change a foolish girl’s mind.

Laura just needed to remind Chrissy in small ways how good Jason was for her.  How she would have a tough time ever finding someone like him again.  She needed to remind her daughter that she wouldn’t always be young and firm.  She would eventually lose her looks, so she needed to land a good man while she was young.  A man who was financially secure and could give her all the good things in life.

Convincing her daughter of this would take a bit of time, but Laura was a patient woman.    It took months to convince Chrissy to follow a strict diet so she wouldn’t gain any more weight when she went up to a size 3 during her junior year, but Laura kept at it.  She regularly pointed out after each practice and performance that even the stout girls at the base of the pyramid seemed to strain when Chrissy climbed atop them and after the fourth week her efforts paid off and her daughter finally relented and agreed to weekly weigh-ins to keep her figure trim.

Yes, it would take time, but she’d be able to do it because Jason still seemed interested in her daughter.  Laura could have sworn he winked at Chrissy when he was on the court during the first half of the game and the cheerleaders were waving their pompom on the sidelines.  And when the players returned from the locker room after halftime, he watched her intently at the end of the routine and when the cheerleaders ran off the court. 

But Laura felt nagging doubt when Chrissy ran by Jason because her daughter didn’t make eye contact with him.  He looked at her, stared at her with a look of longing that would grab anyone’s attention, but she skipped right past him like he wasn’t even there. 

She hummed through her frown because convincing Chrissy to get back together with Jason might be more difficult than she thought.  She was certain she could turn anger or hurt back into love, but indifference is a whole other issue.

She settled back down in her seat as the second half of the game commenced and tried to think of ways to entice Chrissy to notice Jason again.  Maybe she shouldn’t only rely on changing her daughter’s mind.  Perhaps she should talk to Jason and change him too.  Maybe she could get him to be more attentive and maybe find him a sense of humor that her daughter would appreciate.  Maybe he could ask Chrissy to prom and the thought of a perfect night might change her daughter's mind.

She looked over to where the cheerleaders were crowded around the water jug to see if Chrissy was watching the game and possibly Jason, but her daughter wasn’t among the other girls.  She craned her neck and shifted in the bleachers to try to see around the throngs of people that were in her way and then she spotted her.

Chrissy was near the exit doors and talking to a young man.  Or maybe it’s a young lady, what with that long hair, she thought as she harrumphed.  In her day, hippies weren’t allowed to wear their hair long at school or have ripped jeans or write on their arms with black markers like this boy had done.  The threat of corporal punishment kept everyone looking neat and tidy. 

She narrowed her eyes as she took in the sight of the young man, trying to figure out exactly who he thought he was to talk to her daughter.  Although he slouched against the door frame, she could tell he was tall.  He might be tall, but his ripped jeans and heavy metal, rock-n-roll t-shirt with a graveyard printed on the front made it obvious that he wasn’t part of the basketball team.  He seemed to be wearing a lot of heavy silver rings on one hand and… Good lord, did he have his belt buckled with a pair of handcuffs!?

Even with the long hair and questionable clothing choices, Laura had to admit that he was quite handsome.  She hummed and thought that maybe if he cut his hair and put on a nice button-up shirt and pair of slacks, he wouldn’t be so alarming to look at.  But being nice to look at wouldn’t necessarily make him a good prospect for her daughter. 

But then again, maybe he was a good prospect.  Maybe he was actually from a well-to-do family, but he chose to dress like a hooligan because he was young, and his family indulged his quirks until he would be off to take over the family business like the Harrington’s boy with his silly bouffant hairdo.  Maybe he was a baseball player, since sometimes those boys would have longer hair, and he had a scholarship to a prestigious university, and she had never met his family because they went to the Presbyterian church across town instead of the Episcopalian church her family attended. 

Laura narrowed her eyes as she watched the young man talk to her daughter, just to make sure that she was safe because who knows what a person that looked like that would do to Chrissy.  But her daughter looked happy and relaxed.  She was laughing and smiling, and he was doing the same back to her.  If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that they were a happy couple, but…

No, no!  If Chrissy had started seeing a different boy, she would have told her.  Her daughter wouldn’t keep anything from her, would she?  And if she was seeing a different boy, it certainly wouldn’t be someone of questionable moral character, would she…?

No, no!  Chrissy knows better, Laura thought and was on the verge of dismissing the young man when something very troubling happened.

Laura’s eyes widened as she watched her daughter rise up on her tiptoes at the same time that the young man leaned down.  As their faces got closer, he turned his head for Chrissy to say something into his ear.  When she pulled away, his face broke into a huge grin, and he leaned closer and said something close to her face.  Chrissy barked a loud laugh, but quickly covered her mouth with one hand while she slapped his chest with her other hand. 

And that hand, her daughter’s hand that lingered on this questionable young man’s chest had Laura worried.

Laura drove down the dark roads from the high school to their home and she knew she had her work cut out for her to remind Chrissy of her missed prospect, but she would have to be careful.  The young man her daughter spoke to tonight seemed to have that sense of humor that she, for some reason, deemed important, so she needed to tread cautiously.

“You did so well tonight,” Laura smiled and quickly looked over at her daughter who was sitting in the passenger seat and saw her smile back until Laura added, “You didn’t stumble once.”

Chrissy quickly turned her head to look out the front windshield as the smile dropped from her face and she said a curt, “Thanks.”

Laura sighed because her daughter didn’t know how to take a compliment sometimes, so she added, “I think all those extra practices you’re putting in are paying off.”

Chrissy looked over at her with her brow knitted in confusion and Laura wondered, “That is why you’ve been late getting home from school the past few weeks, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Chrissy smiled and nodded and looked straight out the window, “Umm yeah, I’ve been practicing a lot…”

“Well, it’s really paying off, Chrissy.  Everyone’s eyes were on you,” Laura smiled knowingly and teased, “Especially the eyes of a certain boy…”

She looked over at her daughter to see a rosy blush hit her cheeks, so maybe she did notice Jason after all.  She looked out at the road again and smiled, “Jason couldn’t take his eyes off of you.”

“Jason?”

Laura looked over at her daughter’s confused face and smiled out, “Of course Jason.  Who else-”

“Oh, I umm, I guess didn’t notice…”

“Well, he noticed you,” Laura forced herself to smile as she looked out the front windshield at the circles of light cast from streetlights that they drove by.  This might take a bit more time and effort, she thought as she said, “He’s still so taken with you.”

“Mom…” Chrissy’s eye roll was so evident in her voice that Laura didn’t bother to look at her daughter and kept her eyes on the road.

“I know, dear,” Laura simpered, “I know, but it’s something to think about—”

“I don’t want to think about Jason,” Chrissy sighed out.

“Okay dear,” Laura smiled and knew that she might have to work a different angle if she wanted to get those two back together and married.  She might need to get rid of the competition, but first she needed to know who he was.

“Chrissy, who was that boy you were talking to?” Laura quickly looked at her daughter as they passed under a streetlight, and she looked unconcerned about the question so maybe that was a good sign.

“Hmm?” She hummed and asked, “Which boy?”

“The boy you were talking to after your halftime show,” Laura stole another quick glance at Chrissy who was now pointedly looking out the front windshield which made her retract her previous thought and now she was certain that the boy wasn’t some secret prince with good prospects that would meet with parental approval and instead was likely a hooligan, “The boy with the long hair and the marker on his arms.”

“Marker?” Chrissy’s brow knitted at first, but then she quickly bit her lips together and looked over with a nervous smile, “Oh umm, he’s umm, he’s a friend.”

“Does your friend have a name?” Laura looked over and raised her brow.

“Eddie,” Chrissy swallowed and darted a look at Laura, “He’s in my grade and umm, we have some classes together.”

Laura hummed before she asked, “What classes?”

“Umm, government and biology,” Chrissy bit her lip like she did anytime she got nervous, “I mean, we have the same bio teacher but we’re not in the same period.”

Laura hummed again and asked, “Did he go with your group to the botanical garden a few weekends ago?”

“Yes,” Chrissy worried her bottom lip as she stared out the front windshield, “Umm, he went with umm, us…”

“Is he on the basketball team?” Laura asked already knowing the answer, but she figured she might as well ask anyways.

“No.”

Laura knitted her brow in a moment of frustration because she was hoping for more than a one-word answer.  She sighed and she knew she needed to get a bit more specific with her questions, “Well, does he play any sports?”

“No, he umm, he’s more into clubs,” Chrissy hurried out nervously, “Like gaming clubs.”

Laura nodded through another hum.  Although the chess club is a far cry from sports, it does show intelligence.  Maybe this boy was more like Phillip, academic rather than athletic.  She smiled as she thought about her daughter married to a university professor, maybe at Oxford where she could attend tea parties and befriend royalty, “What were the two of you talking about tonight?”

“Nothing much,” Chrissy shrugged and didn’t seem nervous for the first time during the line of questioning, “Just random stuff.”

“Well, you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

“Yeah well,” Chrissy looked at her mother with a small smile, “He’s funny and he makes me laugh…”

“A real charmer, huh?”

Chrissy huffed a laugh and nodded.

“Well, does this charming boy have a last name?”

“Yeah, umm,” Chrissy bit her bottom lip again, “It’s umm, Munson.”

“Hmm, Munson,” She repeated thoughtfully as she stared down the dark road, “Does he go to the Presbyterian church?  Carol and Fred’s boy?”

“No, I think you’re thinking of Kevin Martin.”

Laura nodded and repeated, “Munson,” She looked at the road again as she pondered the name.  It sounded so familiar. 

“Munson,” She said again absentmindedly as memories of a talent show came to mind and she asked, “Did he recite Shakespeare for the junior high talent show?  You know, the show where you stumbled during your routine?”

“No,” Chrissy frowned and Laura’s not sure why, it was the truth, she did stumble.   Then Chrissy added, “That wasn’t him, he umm, he played a song.”

“The boy with the violin?”

“No, he umm,” Chrissy took a deep breath and looked at her mother, “He played guitar with his band.”

“Chrissy!” Laura exclaimed and almost lost control of the car as the memory of the band of miscreants playing that song with the obscene lyrics yelled out by the boy with a shorn head flooded her mind.  That would have never happened in her day.  Her school principal was a proper British gentleman and had heavy paddle that he called a cricket bat that he used to paddle your naked behind if you so much as stepped a toe out of line.

But schools now days were too lenient, so there wasn’t any corporal punishment and that boy along with his cohorts took advantage of that fact.  Those delinquents only got detention for two weeks and were banned from participating in any further extracurricular activities for the rest of the school year and that was all.  Their only punishment.

They should have been suspended for a week.  They should have had their posteriors beaten until they were black and blue.  They should have been expelled and sent to juvenile hall for their disgusting behavior.

Even though the school didn’t see fit to protect its students from such trash, she and some of the other parents did.  They forbade their children from speaking with that hooligan and his ilk.  They made certain that their children weren’t in any classes with those bad seeds and took turns shepherding their children to and from school for the rest of the year to make sure that they weren’t led astray by that good-for-nothing boy and his gang of hoodlums.

Laura even heard that the boy lived in a trailer park on the wrong side of the tracks.  He stayed with his impoverished uncle instead of his parents.  She had heard that he had been abandoned by his mother and that his father was in prison.  She wasn’t sure what his father was convicted of, but it was probably something horrible that would follow that family for generations because apples don’t fall far from the tree.

No, she didn’t let this happen before and she’d be damned if she’d let it happen now.  She opened her mouth to yell at Chrissy and tell her that she wouldn’t be allowed to talk to that boy ever again, but when she looked over at her daughter, she saw a defiant gleam in her eye.  It was similar to that gleam that she herself got when her own parents found out about her escapades with the boy from the bad side of town and told her not to see him anymore and how that just led her to letting him take her virginity in an act of misguided rebellion. 

Laura quickly shut her mouth before a sound came out because she had to be careful.  She couldn’t let her anger drive Chrissy completely away from Jason and into the arms of that penniless rogue.

“Oh Chrissy,” She managed to say without a speck of anger but instead the tone of disappointment that had always worked so well with her daughter in the past, “Are you sure you should be talking to him?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Chrissy sat up straight in her seat and said with an uppity air, “There’s nothing wrong with being friends with him.”

“Chrissy, can’t you see what he’ll do to you?” Laura sighed out in a more disappointed tone since it wasn’t enough the last time, “What he really wants from you?”

“He doesn’t want anything from me,” Chrissy’s lip twitched, “We’re friends, mother.”

Oh, “mother” is it?  Laura’s brow knitted at the hubris of her daughter's formality.  She set her jaw, “He only wants one thing from you and it’s not friendship.”

“Mother,” Chrissy said again, and Laura huffed in indignation at the cold and formal title, but her daughter continued, “He’s not like that.  Yes, he can be flirty—” Chrissy’s cheeks reddened, “—but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Chrissy,” Laura sighed at her daughter’s naiveté, “I’m not talking about sex, he wants money…” she paused so it would sink in, “But I’m certain that he wouldn’t mind you giving up your innocence to him.”

“Mother!”

“Chrissy,” Laura turned the car onto Poplar Tree Road and thank God she’s close to the house because she really needed Phillip there to back her up, “He’s going to ask you to buy him things because he knows that your family has money, and he doesn’t.  Doesn’t he live at the trailer park?”

“Yes, but he hasn’t—”

“Oh, he won’t ask for anything at first, but then he’ll ask and ask and ask,” Laura pulled the car into the driveway of the family home and shut off the engine.  She shifted in her seat to face her daughter who was still defiantly looking out the front windshield with a frown on her face, so Laura continued to tell her daughter about her “friend’s” plan for her, “Then he’ll seduce you and get you pregnant and-”

“Mom…”

“No, Chrissy,” She put her hand on Chrissy’s arm which her daughter quickly pulled away from and her hand landed between them on the seat.  Laura sighed, “I’m sorry, but you have to hear this.  He’ll get you pregnant and then expect money from us to take care of his… of a child and we, well we’re not monsters, so-”

“Mom, he’s not like that,” Chrissy looked at her for the first time since she parked the car with a pleading look on her face, “Can’t you trust me to—”

“Frankly no, Chrissy,” Laura said firmly, “You broke up with Jason for a petty reason and—”

“It wasn’t petty.”

“It. Was!” She firmly tapped the seat with her palm at each word, “It was petty and selfish and shortsighted and foolish!”  She let out a long breath and said gently, “Jason is a good boy.  He’ll take care of you.  He’ll change, you’ll see—”

“No, he won’t.”

“Yes, he will, Chrissy,” Laura said through clinched teeth as her brow knitted at her daughter’s insolence, “He loves you and I know that you still love him—”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes. You. Do.” She enunciated each word by tapping her fist forcefully on the seat, “You’re just being difficult because you’re so young and don’t know any better,” Laura sighed in exasperation. Why can’t she accept that I know what I’m talking about and only have her best interests at heart!?

“Mom,” Chrissy turned in her seat to face Laura and pleaded, “Please stop telling me how I feel or what to think.  Stop treating me like a child.  I’m 18—”

“You’re still a teenager, young lady,” Laura couldn’t stop her voice from rising in anger.

“I’m an adult!” Chrissy yelled, “Treat me like I’m an adult!”

Laura felt her lip twitch in rage, treat her like an adult!?  How can I when she acts like a spoiled child!?  She doesn’t know the first thing about being an adult…  Then Laura’s mouth twisted into a smile as the answer suddenly hit her.  She needed to teach her daughter a lesson.

“Fine Chrissy, I’ll treat you like an adult,” Laura couldn’t stop the gleeful grin take form on her face when she continued, “You won’t get an allowance or gas money anymore because adults don’t get those.  But you still have to do all of your chores because you have to earn your keep around this house, young lady.  And your car—”

“The car is mine,” Chrissy snapped back, “Aunt Sally gave it to me and it’s in my name.”

“Fine, but you won’t get any more help from us to fix it,” Laura could feel her face contort further as her smile grew, “And you won’t get any more money from us for clothes or for movies or for going out.  This bank is cut off!”

“Fine!” Chrissy snarled out and shoved open the passenger side door.  She pulled herself out of the front seat and then looked back in the car at Laura, “I don’t want anything from you anymore!” She slammed the car door behind her as she stomped to the house, went inside, and then slammed the front door behind her.

Laura barked a laugh at her daughter’s insolence because Chrissy had no idea.  She’d never had to work or pay for anything in her life.  She’d never had a job and would be hard pressed to find a decent one with her lack of marketable skills.  She’d probably have to get a menial job, like a cashier at Melvald’s or waitressing at Benny’s and then she’d see how easy she had it before she was an “adult”.

Laura would give her a week.  Yes, a week at the most before she came sniveling back after her con artist “friend” dumped her when the gravy train ended, and then she’d have to admit that Laura was right all along.  When she did, Laura would accept her apology with benevolence.   She’d hug her daughter and forgive her and then she’d set her back on track. 

Yes, once Chrissy admitted that she was foolish and naïve, Laura would guide her back to the path to greatness.  Her daughter would get back together with Jason.  He would ask for her hand in marriage and Laura and Phillip would say yes for Chrissy.  The happy couple would attend the same college and be married as soon as they graduated.  And then the two of them would live the dream that Laura knew that her daughter always really wanted.

Chapter Text

Dustin bounced on the balls of his feet in nervous anticipation.  He looked out the front window of his living room when he heard the sound of a car engine and pressed his hands to the glass and tried to get a better angle against the window so he could see further down the street.  But as soon as the source of the sound came into view, he sighed in disappointment.  Just a K-car…

“Calm down.”

He turned and peeled his cheek off the glass when he heard Will’s exasperated voice.  Dustin mouthed “Wha!?” at his friend because it’s not like he was the only one that was excited for today.  Will perked up too when he heard the sound of the engine and Dustin was pretty sure that if he wasn’t watching the street, Will absolutely would be instead of just sitting there on the sofa telling him to calm down and that, “He’ll be here soon.”

“Yeah, I know,” Dustin sighed and slumped his shoulders, “I just want to be ready to go when he gets here.”

He didn’t want to waste a moment of the day today.  He wanted to be down the driveway and in Eddie’s van as soon as he pulled up because they were going to hang out with him today!  On a Saturday instead of a school day!

Eddie was like the coolest guy they knew, and he was actually going to let them hang out with him outside of school and Hellfire!  This was unprecedented!

Okay, so they know Steve and he was cool and hung out with them too.  But Steve was cool in a different way.

Steve was athletic and brave and knew a lot about girls, but Eddie was cool like…  Like a rebel!  He doesn’t care about what people think of him.  They call him a freak, but he just makes devil horns and laughs maniacally back at any would-be tormentors. 

Yeah, Eddie was scary and cool, but he was also really nice to them.  They all sat at the same table during lunch, and he sometimes drove them home on rare occasions when Jonathan or Nancy couldn’t, and those things were really important.  Mouth breathers think twice before messing with them when he was around.

They were all targets when they started high school.  They were immediately marked as outsiders and losers.  And yes, it probably didn’t help that Dustin wore a Weird Al shirt the first day, but even if he didn’t, all the mouth breathers and meatheads would have still sniffed them out as potential prey.

There was only so much that they could do to protect themselves.  They weren’t fighters in real life.  They barely survived that fight against Billy Hargrove and only because Steve distracted him enough by having Billy pound his fist into his face until Max could bash her stepbrother over his head.

And it wasn’t like Steve could come back to the high school after he graduated to be their bodyguard, taking punches for them until Max could smack whoever upside their head with her skateboard.  And even if he could, Eddie was a far better deterrent because he had won more fights than the two that Steve had been in and lost. 

Dustin had heard rumors that Eddie fought dirty, like scary dirty.  Underhanded stuff, like he’d poke you in the eyes and then sucker punch you.  Brutal stuff, like he carried a knife on him and had no problem slashing someone’s face if they started something.  But that underhanded, brutal stuff meant that no one wanted to mess with him and that kept the meatheads away.

But he had heard other rumors about Eddie.  Less cool rumors like he sold drugs, but was that really true?  He’d never seen it and Eddie had never offered them a joint or pills or cocaine or whatever else he might have allegedly sold.

What evidence was there?  He asked Steve how he knew that Eddie sold weed, but he just got tight lipped and said to never mind.  So, Dustin asked Jeff, seeing that he had known Eddie the longest, so he would have to know one way or the other.  But when he asked, Jeff said, “If Eddie does sell drugs, he wouldn’t sell to you so don’t even think about asking.”  Which was kinda cryptic and didn’t really answer the question…

But you know, since there’s no evidence to the contrary, he’s just going to assume that Eddie doesn’t sell drugs.  He’ll assume that Steve made up that part because he was jealous that he wasn’t Dustin’s only “older male friend” anymore, which Steve said he hated being called and even Eddie told him never to call him that him again.  But why not?  That was what they were, so what was the big deal!?

But anyways, Eddie was super cool.  He listened to heavy metal and had long hair.   He listened to bands that preached rebellion through wailing guitar riffs.  And he preached his own brand of nonconformity through shredding chords with his metal band that he played gigs with each week at a bar on the edge of town and his hair looked like Eddie Van Halen’s.

Yeah, he’s so cool, Dustin thought as he ran his fingers through his own hair that he was growing out.  Steve had told him he needed to do something with it before it started looking like a hairstyle that someone’s aunt would have.  He was thinking of maybe getting it cut but the other day, Eddie mussed his hair and said, “Looking good Henderson.  Your hair’s gonna be fucking awesome when it gets past your shoulders,” which was really cool to hear.

Oh yeah, and the coolest thing of all was that Eddie played DnD.  Steve refused to even give it a try and snorted out a no when Dustin asked him to drive him and Will to the comic book store, Phantasy Bazaar, this weekend, but not Eddie.  Eddie was a cool dungeon master that didn’t have a problem driving them there since he was going anyways.  Well, he did shift his jaw and let out that loud breath when Dustin asked after he overheard his friend say he was going there on Saturday, but he still said, “Yeah, I guess.” 

Dustin let out a sigh.  He’s gotta stop comparing his two older male friends with each other because it just wasn’t fair to Steve.  Steve had good qualities too.  He was brave and protected Lucas from Max’s stepbrother even though he got his ass kicked. 

Steve never held a grudge.  Even though Nancy broke up with him to date Jonathan, he still stood up for Will last year against all of his jock friends when they tormented the younger Byers for getting trapped for days in that abandoned building after getting kidnapped by his father.  And sometimes Steve lets them hang out with him and Robin at his house on Saturday nights where they watch movies on his projection screen TV. 

Sure, Steve doesn’t play DnD or video games, but he’s still kinda cool too.  And you know what, even though Eddie was cooler, Dustin would still be Steve’s best friend along with Robin. 

Man, I’ve got so many best friends, Dustin felt a grin form on his face as he looked out the front window of his living room.  He used to think that you could only have one best friend, but he was wrong.  You could have multiple best friends for different reasons.  Steve was his older male best friend.  Will was his comic book best friend.  Max and Lucas were his video game best friends.  Mike was his DnD best friend.  And Eddie was his scary cool best friend.

 Dustin was about halfway down a long checklist of all his best friends when his thoughts were interrupted by Will’s voice.  “Hey, do you think we might be able to get two modules if they have some good used ones?”

“Huh?” Dustin turned and then thought about it.  He and Will had planned to pool their money for one module so he could get a set of clear blue gaming dice and Will could get that graphic novel of the Dark Phoenix Saga.  But if they bought used books… “Yeah,” He felt a grin spread across his face, “Hell yeah!”

Will grinned up at him from the couch and Dustin knew that this had potential to be the best Saturday ever.  Maybe they could talk Eddie into getting lunch at Benny’s after going to Phantasy Bazaar.  There they could maybe pick his brain about the next big campaign he has planned for Hellfire.  Maybe they could even talk him into renting a movie and…

Dustin jumped when he heard the jarring honk of a car horn just outside and quickly looked out the window to see a van idling out front.  He could hear the engine rumble as steam poured out of the tailpipe and into the cold late-winter air and he wondered how in the hell he missed hearing it, but also, Eddie has a van which is also so cool…

Dustin’s grinned as he quickly grabbed his pack and rolled his eyes when he looked at Will still seated on the sofa.  He pulled his friend to his feet because that guy needed to move faster and threw them both out the front door. 

While he locked the door behind him, he silently pleaded that Will wouldn’t get into the front seat because he really wanted to ride shotgun today.  He turned around and grinned when he saw Will open the back passenger door of the van and whispered a “thank you” to the heavens for answering his prayer.

He felt a skip in his step as he moved down the driveway and slowed down so he could act nonchalant since skipping isn’t that cool, but you know what, screw it!  He can have a skip in his step.  He doesn’t need to be cool.  Steve told him that… Or wait… Hang on, did Steve say that he doesn’t need to be cool or that he should stop trying to be cool?  Which now that he thinks about it… 

Another loud honk brought him out of his thoughts, and he realized that instead of walking calmly, he had just come to a complete stop in the middle of the driveway.  Crap!  He hurried to the van and yanked open the front passenger door and the smell of cigarette smoke hit him.

He threw his backpack on the floorboard and himself into the front seat before he pulled the door shut.  He looked over at Eddie who had a lit cigarette dangling out of his mouth and his brow was knitted, but Dustin just grinned at him and said, “Hey, Eddie.”

Eddie’s expression didn’t change when he acknowledged them, “Henderson. Byers.”

Dustin barely had the seatbelt in his hand before Eddie pulled away from the curb and he had to grab the oh-shit-handle to keep from sliding off the seat.  Yeah, he drives cool too, Dustin thought as he yanked the seatbelt over his lap and clicked it closed.

He looked at the cassette player in the dash and that was another thing that’s cool about getting a ride with Eddie, you get to listen to heavy metal.  He had great taste in music and listened to it at a volume that would make Dustin’s mom worry about them all getting permanent hearing loss.  The best part was when you rode shotgun, Eddie would let you pick out what you wanted to listen to from the large shoebox of cassettes that was sandwiched in between the front seats.

He wondered what he should suggest today.  Eddie usually was game for whatever he wanted to play since it was all his music.  He didn’t even mind it when Dustin picked out what Eddie called “beginner metal” bands like Quiet Riot or Ratt.  Dustin scanned over the names of the bands on the cassette cases.  Hmm, maybe Ozzy or Dio or maybe go for something with an even harder edge like Metallica or Anthrax…  Then he spotted Screaming for Vengeance and grinned as he asked Eddie, “Hey, you wanna listen to—”

“No,” Eddie’s quick answer knocked Dustin for loop because he was riding shotgun.  He started to sputter this fact out when Eddie interrupted him again.

“We need to make a stop and when we do—” Eddie pointed his half-smoked cigarette at him, “—You have to move to the back.”

Dustin’s mouth gaped open in dismay, but before he could say anything, Eddie looked at the cigarette between his fingers and grimaced before he quickly smashed it out in the overflowing ashtray.

“Shit,” Eddie whispered under his breath as he rolled down his window and pointed at Dustin, “Roll down the window, will ya Henderson.”

“But it’s cold and—”

“I don’t give a shit, it fucking smells like cigarettes in here.”

Dustin’s mouth gaped open again, and he looked back at Will who looked equally confused because it always smelled like cigarettes in Eddie’s van.  That’s like the permanent smell of his van.  What the hell was happening!?

Even though he was confused, Dustin quickly rolled down the window before Eddie could bark at him again, but then he got even more confused when they turned down the road that leads to the rich neighborhood in Hawkins.  The only person that Dustin knew that lived out there was Steve, but why would they go to Steve’s house?   I thought Eddie and Steve didn’t even like each other…

Then they turned onto Poplar Tree Road in the opposite direction of Steve’s house, so now Dustin was thoroughly confused.  Who does Eddie know out here besides Steve?

As if to answer his unvocalized question, they pulled over and parked on the street next to a large two-story house.  Dustin looked out the window at the yard with perfectly manicured shrubs and trees that looked like it was taken right out one of those home and garden magazines that his mom subscribed to. 

Eddie hopped out of the van but kept the engine running.  He looked over at Dustin and told him, “Roll up the window and get in the back.”  Dustin nodded as he quickly rolled up the window before he threw his bag to Will and then started to climb over the front seat and into the back, but he stopped when he heard Eddie’s steady yet annoyed tone, “Use the fucking door, Henderson.”

He looked out the open driver’s side door at Eddie who glared back at him.  His friend’s jaw ticked, and his hands were clinched into tight fists like he was all wound up, but that wasn’t too unusual.  Being wound up was a normal state of being for Eddie, but he was usually worked up about forced conformity or people saying that heavy metal isn’t music or some other thing.  But this was different.  This was more nervous energy than anything else and Dustin really hadn’t ever seen Eddie like this.

Dustin nodded and opened the passenger-side door to get out, but just before he slid out of the seat, he heard the front door to the picture-perfect house open and close.  He looked over and finally the question of who Eddie knew in this neighborhood was answered. 

It was a girl, no wait, not just any girl.  It was Chrissy Cunningham!

Holy crap!  They were at the head cheerleader’s house!  She was the stop!  She was the one that has usurped Dustin’s shotgun privileges!

His mouth gaped open as he watched her make her way carefully down the icy walkway in a pair of dark-brown, fur-trimmed calf boots and a long wool coat that probably covered up a dress.  She shifted a leatherbound notebook to her right hand when she reached Eddie who walked halfway up to meet her and offered his hand to her…

And she took it!  Dustin looked back into the backseat of the van to see if Will could also see what was happening and he must not believe the spectacle either since his eyes and mouth gaped open at the sight too. 

The unbelievable sight of Eddie “the freak” Munson holding Chrissy “Queen of Hawkins High” Cunningham’s hand.  Eddie, the guy who literally just yesterday stood on top of the tables in the cafeteria talking about how basketball and glee club was killing the kids with forced conformity, was being all gentlemanly and holding the head cheerleader’s hand to help keep her from slipping on the icy walkway.

But when Dustin thought about it, it almost made sense in a weird way.  Even though Eddie hated conformity, he did have a soft spot for cheerleaders.  That and Dustin had seen him looking at Chrissy on more than one occasion.  No, he didn’t just look at her, he gazed at her in awe like she was a unicorn that had somehow magically appeared in the school’s hallways and classrooms.  But the part that he couldn’t make sense of was why she was holding “the freak’s” hand and was about to get into his van!?

Dustin quickly clamped his mouth shut when he realized it was gaping open as Chrissy got to the van.  She smiled at him before she grabbed the handle to open the back passenger door, but no, he couldn’t let that happen.  She needed to sit up front with Eddie.

Dustin knew he needed to make that happen.  He needed to help his friend.  Yeah, he was only 14 and his knowledge about love was limited to one girl that he met at science camp, and she was currently a thousand miles away, but that didn’t matter.  Even without Steve-level experience and knowledge, he could still be a good wingman!

Dustin tumbled out of the van and quickly moved to the side of the door.  He gestured towards the front seat and bowed his head and said in a classy voice, “Your carriage awaits, milady.”

He grinned and shot a quick look over his shoulder at Eddie, whose mouth was open slightly and his brow knitted in bewilderment.  Then Dustin looked back at Chrissy, who giggled and covered her mouth with her gloved hands and said, “Thank you, sir,” as she got into the van, and he closed the door behind her.

Yeah, best wingman ever, he thought before he looked over at Eddie and gave him two thumbs-up.  Eddie just shook his head before he snorted a laugh and muttered, “Fuckin’ Henderson,” and he moved to the driver’s side of the van. 

Dustin piled into the backseat at the same time that Eddie climbed into the driver’s seat and turned and gestured to him and Will, “Chrissy, this is Will and Dustin.  Boys, this is Chrissy.”

Both he and Will glared at Eddie for calling them “boys”, but they both looked at Chrissy and smiled when she said in a genuine and sweet voice, “It’s very nice to meet you both.”

Eddie popped a cassette into his stereo and Scorpions suddenly blared out of the speaker.  He quickly turned the volume down and grimaced, but Chrissy only smiled at him.  He pulled away from the curb after she had finished situating herself and had fastened her seatbelt and he seemed to have forgotten that Dustin and Will existed in the backseat because all of his attention was on her.  And really, Dustin couldn’t blame him.  When Suzie was around, he forgot about everyone else too.

“Is it warm enough for you?” 

“Yeah, we’re—” Dustin started to say, but quickly realized the question wasn’t for him.

“It’s good.” She replied and gave Eddie a small smile.

“Hey, sorry it smells like cigarettes,” Eddie grimaced and briefly looked down at the overflowing ashtray, “I forgot to empty this-” He gestured towards the mound of cigarette butts with his hand before he returned it to the steering wheel, probably so his fingers would have something to nervously tap against, “-And I smoked a cigarette before coming over and—”

“Eddie, it’s fine,” She shifted in her seat to face him more, “I appreciate you driving me around today.”

“It’s no problem,” He smiled back at her and got this dopey look in his eye and Dustin looked over at Will who raised his eyebrows back at him because he was seeing this too.  They both saw the mean, scary freak that fought dirty and probably sold drugs completely subdued.  It’s like witnessing a fair maiden charm a vicious, man-eating dragon.

“And you also got me that job interview…”

“That was all you and your application,” Eddie grinned as he turned onto Main Street, “Bill was already planning on interviewing you when I put in a good word.”

“Well, I appreciate it all the same, Eddie.” She put her hand on his arm.  It was a small touch, but he still looked down at his arm and maybe blushed?  Which had Dustin and Will looking at each other and silently asking with their eyes if either of them knew what the heck was going on.

“It’s umm… like I said, it’s no problem, Chrissy,” Eddie cleared his throat, “Umm, do you still need help with your car later?”

“Yeah,” She sighed and looked out the front windshield, “Well, I’m pretty sure that it’s just the spark plugs, and I have replacements for those, so I only need to borrow a socket wrench from you since…”  She shook her head slightly and sighed again.

“…Since your mom’s a fucking bitch?” Eddie chuckled out with a crooked smile.

Dustin and Will looked at each other, eyes wide and mouths agape.  Both silently asking each another with their eyebrows, can you do that!?  Can you call someone’s mom a… a…

And maybe you could in this case because Chrissy huffed a laugh and looked over at Eddie and said with a sighing smile, “Eddie…”

“Tell me I’m wrong, Cunningham.”

Both boys in the backseat quickly looked back and forth between the couple in the front seat waiting to find out if their dungeon master was wrong.

Chrissy rolled her eyes with a bigger smile and laughed out, “No comment.”

They drove in silence as they got closer to Phantasy Bazaar, well except for the music coming out of the van’s speakers, but then Chrissy looked at Eddie and said, “I like this song.”

“Oh,” Eddie’s face split into a grin, “It’s umm, it’s called ‘The Zoo’. It’s by the Scorpions.”

Dustin heard Chrissy hum as she opened her notebook to the last page.  He peered over the seat back and watched her scribble the name of the song and the band at the bottom of a list of other metal songs to make an even dozen while Eddie pulled the van into the shopping center parking lot.

He parked the van in a space in front of the Phantasy Bazaar storefront and Dustin started to open the back door, but Eddie stopped him, “Wait a minute, Henderson.”  Then Eddie looked at Chrissy and smiled, “Break a leg.”

She smiled back at him and then turned and gave Dustin and Will a small wave before she got out of the van and went into the store.  As soon as the store’s door closed, Dustin and Will bombard Eddie with questions.  They talked over each other as they grabbed the backs of the front seats.  “What is happening!?” “Why’s Chrissy Cunningham here?”  “Are you guys going out?!” “How long has this been happening?!”  “Is Chrissy gonna work at…?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Eddie growled through gritted teeth with his hands clinched tightly around the steering wheel.  He suddenly pulled his hands away and he turned around in his seat towards Will and Dustin who cowered in the backseat under his glare.  

“We’re…” Eddie growled before he took a deep breath and said in a calm voice, “I’m just her friend, okay?  And her car broke down, so I’m doing her a favor…  And she’s been looking for a job and yeah, she’s interviewing here and-”

“Does she even know about comic books or DnD or-”

“She knows enough.”

Eddie sighed and looked back out the front windshield and into the huge storefront window.  Dustin and Will followed his gaze and watched as Chrissy shook the store manager’s hand and he ushered her through a doorway painted to look like a British police call box and then closed the door.  Eddie let out a huge breath and then said plainly, “Okay, we can go in.”

Dustin grinned as he shook the small plastic container with the 7-piece gaming dice set because today has been great so far.  He didn’t get the set of blue dice he wanted, but he found an even better set of hematite dice that made up for it in spades.  Will found a gently used copy of the X-Men graphic novel along with two used DnD books they both had been wanting and were able to purchase with their pooled funds and they still had some money left over.

Now they were just wasting time at the store while they waited for Chrissy to finish her interview.  Dustin leafed through a Captain Harlock book and wondered if they could maybe talk Chrissy into a trip to Benny’s because it seemed like Eddie would go if she wanted to since they were such good “friends”. 

He almost snorted a laugh at the two of them being “friends”, but maybe he was wrong.  After all, Steve and Robin are only friends, so maybe…

The sound of the store’s office door opening drew his attention.  He looked up to see Chrissy step out and shake Bill’s hand as she thanked him for his time.  She looked towards Eddie, but he wasn’t looking at her.  Dustin followed his friend’s gaze to Bill who gestured with his head and eyes for Eddie to meet him at the cordoned off, adults-only area of the store that had copies of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Metal.  

Eddie gave him a small nod before he said to Chrissy, “Hey, I’ll just be a minute…”

“Okay,” She smiled, but Dustin couldn’t see any joy in it.  He frowned and wondered what happened as she joined Will at the new comics rack.  She leafed through an issue of New Mutants which got Will interested and soon they were having a conversation about the graphic novel that he had purchased, but Dustin was far more interested in the conversation that Eddie and Bill were having.

He made his way to the other side of the book rack that divided the adult section from the rest of the store and started thumbing through the Pendragon books as he listened to the hushed voices on the other side.

“So, whatta ya—” He heard Eddie start to ask.

“I dunno…” Bill replied quickly.

“What’s not to know?”  He could hear the exasperated tone in Eddie’s voice, “Did she do okay on your test?”

“Yeah, she got the Marvel and DnD stuff right and I’ll even give her extra credit for knowing about Usagi Yojimbo, but—”

“Isn’t that most of the test?”

“Yeah, but I still dunno.  She got some important things wrong.”

“Like what?”

“Well, she got a couple of DC questions wrong.”

“Oh no, she got some ‘Dumb Comics’ trivia wrong,” Eddie’s whisper took on a tone of mock panic, “Perish the thought of not knowing all names of the fucking lantern guys—”

“She also got a Hawk the Slayer question wrong.”

“Well, Hawk the Slayer’s a big pile of shit.”

“Okay, I’m gonna ignore that you said that because you seem to be a bit on edge,” Bill’s voice sounded like he was talking through gritted teeth but then he sighed when he said, “But I dunno, she’s just… I mean, just look at her.  What do you see?”

“I see a…” Eddie paused, “I see a pretty girl looking at comics and talking to one of your customers.”

“That’s the problem.”

“What, that she’s a girl!?” Eddie growled, “'Cause that’s a fucked up—”

Dustin scoffed too and quickly covered his mouth because he didn’t want to get caught spying, but still, that was messed up.  Suzie knew an insane amount about fantasy novels and Max is super deep into comics.  Erica probably could teach a college course on DnD and apparently Chrissy knew a lot about some of that stuff too.  And just because they’re girls doesn’t mean…

“No,” Bill quickly interrupted Eddie and also Dustin’s thoughts, “It’s the pretty part,” then he paused, as if he was waiting for Eddie to say something, but then he sighed, “Look, there were three other guys looking at comics, but when that ‘pretty girl’ came over, they bolted out of the store.”

“They probably left because they’re stealing—”

“Hey, you know those three and you know they’re not thieves,” Bill sighed, “Look, all I’m saying is that she intimidates my customers—”

“What the fff—”  Dustin could hear the anger building in Eddie’s voice, but he still managed to keep his growl at a whisper, “She’s talking to one of your customers right now!” 

“Yeah, but he already knows her—”

“He just met her today!”

Dustin turned his head towards the door when he heard the bell ring and another guy slinked out.

“See, there goes another one.”

“Hey, in all fairness, that guy is actually stealing so…”

“Ah fuck!” 

Dustin watched Bill bolt out from behind the shelf and out the door yelling at the shoplifter to stop.  Eddie emerged right after and immediately looked over at Dustin and shifted his jaw.  Dustin let out a nervous laugh and hoped that Eddie wouldn’t string him up for spying.  Luck seemed to be on his side today because his friend just shook his head and walked over to Chrissy.

When Eddie reached her, he hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder, “Hey, you ready to go?”

She nodded and then smiled when he took her coat and held it up for her to slip on.  She looked over her shoulder at him and whispered a thank you and Dustin watched Eddie blush again.

But that blush quickly turned into a glare pointed at Dustin and Will when they both snorted laughs because yeah, you’re just friends…

The group sat in silence in the van as they waited for the engine to warm up outside of Phantasy Bazaar.  Dustin felt on edge after listening to Eddie’s conversation with Bill and he didn’t want to be saddled with the knowledge that Chrissy might not have gotten the job because she was too pretty.

It wasn’t fair because Chrissy was really nice.  She was easy to talk to.  Heck, her and Will were talking, and he had a hard time talking to anyone new. 

Then movement outside of the van caught Dustin’s attention.  He and everyone in the van watched as Bill came around the corner of the building holding a guy in an armlock.  He was also carrying a handful of dice sets and had a couple of mangas tucked under his arm, so apparently, he caught his shoplifter. 

Bill looked over at the van and grinned.  He waived the dice set at Eddie as he mouthed “thanks”, but Eddie just scowled at him and gave him the bird.  Bill scrunched up his face and shook his head and then shoved the would-be shoplifter back into the store.

Dustin shifted his attention from the drama outside of the van when Eddie asked Chrissy, “How’re you doing?”

“Okay, I guess,” Chrissy opened her notebook and jotted something down, “Bill seems nice, but I’m not sure how well I did.  I know I got a few important questions wrong, so I dunno if I’ll get the job.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eddie started the engine and turned to back out of the parking space and Dustin noticed that he had a grim look on his face.  Dustin felt kinda grim too because he heard the conversation and knew the real reason that Chrissy probably wouldn’t get the job. 

After Eddie backed out of the parking space, he briefly made eye contact with Dustin.  He gave him a small head shake and Dustin nodded back because he wasn’t going to tell Chrissy the truth about the situation either.

Eddie sighed as he shifted into first gear and asked, “Where to next?”

“Umm,” Chrissy checked her notebook and looked up at Eddie, “I have an interview at Melvald’s in 10 minutes.”

“Hey,” Will looked up from The Book of Marvelous Magic where he had his nose buried into since they got into the van, “My mom works there.”

Chrissy looked back down at her notebook before she asked, “Is her name Joyce?  Because that’s who’s interviewing me.”

“Yeah,” Will smiled, “I can put in a good word for you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to…” Chrissy blushed out, but Will told her it wasn’t a problem and then she asked, “Well, how about afterwards, we all go get lunch at Benny’s?”  She looked back and forth between the freshmen, “My treat.”

Dustin grinned and was about to say, “Hell ya,” but then Eddie interrupted him.

“Chrissy, you don’t have to pay for those two,” He gestured towards the back seat, “I can cover it.”

“But I want to.”

Eddie shook his head and sighed, “Well, at least let me pay for half since you didn’t know they would be here and—”

“Fine,” She breathed out and crossed her arms in front of her chest, but she had a small smile on her lips, “But only half.”

“Okay Cunningham,” Eddie grinned back before he pulled out of the parking lot and got on the road to Melvald’s.

Dustin smiled because this was turning out to be a pretty awesome Saturday after all.  Even though Chrissy probably wouldn’t get the job at Phantasy Bazaar, maybe she’d get the job with Will’s mom because Mrs. Byers wouldn't mind that Chrissy’s pretty.  And maybe they could talk Chrissy into hanging out longer today.  Maybe she'd want to rent a movie to watch after lunch and after they fix her car of course, because she’s pretty cool too.

Chapter Text

Hopper stared unblinking at the upstanding, young lady in a Hawkins High cheerleader uniform that was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of his desk.  This is… unbelievable…

“So, you see, sir.  He, ummm,” The girl bit her bottom lip before she continued, “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh, he didn’t?” He huffed a laugh and smirked.  His chair squeaked sharply as he leaned back and he’s either gotta lose some weight or oil the springs. 

Note to self, pick up some WD-40 at Melvald’s tonight…  He felt a smile start to sneak onto his face when he thought about Joyce and how he’d ask her where it was, and she’d roll her eyes at him and ask him if he’d at least try to remember where things were so he wouldn’t bother the new girl that was starting this weekend or next week or whenever…  Then he cleared his throat and scowled back into his game face before the smile could fully form.

“Well, I guess he did something wrong, but it was only to help me,” The girl looked down at her hands that she was wringing in her lap as her legs bounced nervously, “So I’m to blame and not him…” 

She looked up and he could see the hope in her eyes and wondered why…  Why him?  Why was she lying for Eddie Munson, of all people?  It’s not that Eddie was a bad kid, but how in the hell did he get this particular girl to lie for him?  Nope, this is not happening, not on my watch…

“So, let me get this straight,” He leaned forward and fished a cigarette out of the pack on his desk, “It’s your cannabis…”  His brows rose at the word as he placed the cigarette between his lips and paused when he noted her confusion, “Your weed.”

“Oh,” She smiled and nodded when she recognized the term, and she really shouldn’t smile right now… 

He sighed, “And Eddie was holding it for you,” He lit the cigarette and took a long drag as she nodded again.  “Two ounces.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s holding a little over two ounces of weed for you,” He took another drag off the cigarette and leaned back in his chair on the exhale and tried not to wince at the spring’s death squeak. “All rolled into joints or individually packaged into dime bags…”

“Yes?” Her brow furrowed and he just knew it was because she had no idea how much that was.

He leaned forward again and unlocked the large drawer at the bottom of his desk.  He pulled out the large paper bag that was full of joints and buds that were all proportioned out into sandwich bags and ready to sell.  He watched her nervously bite her bottom lip as he popped open the staples that held the bag closed and then dumped the contents onto the blotter on his desk for dramatic effect which seemed to work because her eyes got huge.  He leaned back again as he took a drag off of his cigarette and said after he lazily breathed out the smoke, “So you’re saying that this is all yours?”

“Yes,” She squeaked out before clearing her throat and squaring up her shoulders.  Then she continued with a layer of false confidence, “I umm, I have a problem and I’m umm, I should go to rehab because umm, I’m addicted to pot, I mean umm, can…,” Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember the name, “Cana…”

“Cannabis.”

“Yes, can-na-bis, thank you,” She carefully sounded out each syllable as if she was memorizing it in case they had a pop quiz on it later, “So, Eddie was holding the, umm, the cannabis for me so I wouldn’t smoke it anymore.”  She nodded at the end of her statement as if it would make it somehow believable.

“Look Miss, umm…”

“Cunningham, sir.  Chrissy Cunningham.”

He shifted his jaw and asked, “Are you Lau— Phillip Cunningham’s daughter?” He didn’t dare say Mrs. Cunningham’s first name just in case it would summon her like Bloody Mary.

“Yes, yes sir.”

Well, that’s just great… He let out a loud, long sigh because it was just his luck that the girl in his office was Laur— Mr. Cunningham’s daughter.  That guy’s wife was a real piece of work.  That woman attended every civic meeting that occurred in this town.  School board, town hall, the goddamn garden club.  She was at them all and she had a goddamn opinion to share at each and every one of them.  He wouldn’t be surprised if she materialized in his office right now, screaming bloody murder and threatening to start a damn petition to have him ousted as chief of police for daring to talk to her sweet little angel like this.

“Well, Miss Cunningham,” He leaned back again and ignored the squeak, “Your story is thin at best—”

“Well, it’s the truth—”

“That you’re a drug addict…”

She nodded vigorously.

“And your addicted to cannabis…”

She nodded again, but with less zeal as she wrung her hands on her lap.

“And suspected drug dealer, Eddie Munson, is holding onto two ounces of weed that’s all portioned out and ready to sell, because?” He shook his head slowly to really let her see the disbelief sink in, “He’s gonna help you kick the habit?”

Miss Cunningham sat up straight in the chair with her head held high and chin forward and stated matter of factly, “Yes.” 

He shook his head because he knew this look, she was committed to the story.  Damnit…

He was already planning on letting Eddie go with a slap on the wrist, well more a punch to the gut since he wasn’t getting his weed back, but he’d still let him walk.  He didn’t need to since there was enough to charge him.  If he wanted to, he could ignore the sketchy probable cause that Callahan used to search the kid’s van, but that search didn’t sit right with him.  That and he wanted to give the kid a second chance.

He had always been about second chances.  Hell, he received a second chance when he adopted Jane.  He had been spiraling before she came into his life.  He was lost in the darkness.  Drowning his sorrows in booze and prescription meds after the death of his daughter and then his wife leaving him, but that all changed when he rescued Jane.

Watching that starving little girl scarf down that cheeseburger that Benny made for her after he found her eating cold hotdogs in his walk-in woke him up.  Her clinging to him and begging him to not let the corrupt government contractors take her back when they came to collect her pulled him out of the nosedive he was in.  She was a bright and shining light that needed him and he needed her too, so he got his shit together and put together a solid investigation.  The facility she was housed in was shut down and the assholes that ran it indicted and after all of that, he was able to adopt her.  He got a second chance to be a father, so why not give one to a 19-year-old kid.

It was an easy call because really, in the grand scheme of things, 2 ounces wasn’t a lot.  Yeah, it was a class-D felony, but still 2 ounces was nothing when you consider that they were going to net a much larger fish when they raided “Reefer” Rick’s place tomorrow.  That guy never learned.  He kept growing his operation and branching out to harder stuff which made him burn through his fifth and sixth chances in Hopper’s book.  

But the drugs didn’t have him worried as much as Eddie having this girl lie for him.  This was exactly the same kind of bullshit that Eddie’s father would have pulled.  Doing some fucked up shit and then getting some sweet, young thing to bail him out by saying that he was doing it for her, or that it was her fault, or some other thing to make the girl the devil and him the angel. 

Damnit, Hopper had hoped that Wayne would have been a good influence on the kid.  Wayne Munson might be a rabble-rouser for the union, but that was all the “trouble” he got up to and being pro-union wasn’t a bad thing in Hopper’s book.  He liked Wayne.  He was an honest, hard-working man and they bonded over being vets even though they served during different wars. 

Hopper thought that nurture had triumphed over nature.  That Wayne had set the kid on the right path.  That Eddie wasn’t going to be like his father.  He wouldn’t be exactly on the straight and narrow, but he’d be at least adjacent to it.  The kid had kept out of trouble except for a few minor incidences of teenage hijinks, one case of underage drinking and that time he took his neighbor’s car out for a joyride but that was it. 

But now Hopper wonders if maybe he was wrong.  Maybe Eddie had a bit more of his father in him than he thought.  Well, this foolishness needed to stop right here and right now, starting with her. 

“Let me give you a piece of advice, Miss Cunningham,” Hopper got up and walked around the desk to stand in front of the girl whose mask of confidence slipped away as she wrung her hands on her lap.  He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and scowled, “Don’t lie for any man, especially one that asks you to lie for him.”

“But he—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” He angrily crushed out the remaining unsmoked half of his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray on his desk before he continued, “He loves you and you just needed to do this one thing for him, but let me tell you, it’ll never be just one thing.  It will never be enough.  He’ll keep asking for more and more and the lies will get bigger and bigger-” He leaned down closer to her face to hopefully put the fear of God into her God-fearing soul, “-Until he uses you up and then throws you away.”

Chrissy looked at him, her shimmering eyes darting back and forth between his while her bottom lip trembled.  He felt a twinge in his heart because he doesn’t want to make the girl cry, but sometimes you have to hear hard truths.  He straightened back up, “Now go wait outside.”

Chrissy opened her mouth for a moment like she might say something, but instead she nodded and wiped the tears off of her cheeks with the back of her hand.  She hurriedly picked up her backpack before she darted out of his office and out the front door to wait on the police station’s front steps.

Hopper shook his head, and he really hoped he was wrong about Eddie using Chrissy.  He let out a long sigh as he grabbed his keys and scooped the evidence off of his desk and back into the bag before heading out of his office and back towards the station’s holding cells.  As he walked through the main office towards the cells, Officer Callahan looked up and groaned.

“You’re gonna let him go—” He shook his head. “—aren’t you.” 

“It’s just weed, Phil,” Hopper kept walking towards the holding cells, and he knew that Phil was going to get upset about this.  It was his caller unfortunately and he was a little too happy about it.

Phil had the potential to be a good officer, but he’d seen too many Dirty Harry movies.  He was too willing to throw his weight around.  Hopper and Powell tried to roll double unit with him whenever they could and took the lead on any contacts so that he could see what law enforcement needed to be in this town and not what he thought it should be.

For the most part, you only needed a guided touch in this town.  Most folks were pretty decent and only needed a warning or maybe a ticket to straighten them out when they got out of line.  You saved the arrests for the things that a ticket or a warning wouldn’t fix, like domestics or robbery or assault or a large-scale drug operation, like the kind they’re going to bust Rick for tomorrow morning.

But today they were short staffed, so Officer Callahan was patrolling on his own and he saw an opportunity to conduct a search on a shitty van and he took it.  He got a bust too, not a big one, but it was one that he got all on his own, but it was a shitty search using even shittier probable cause. 

Hopper told him so after Phil told him about the open container that he spotted through the window that turned out to be a 7-Up bottle.  As soon as Hopper heard that, he ripped Callahan’s halfway completed report out of the typewriter and told him that he would do him the favor of not sending the report to the DA.  He’d give him a second chance by letting the kid go and forgetting about this arrest because even a public defender on their first day would have made mincemeat out of him on the stand.  Callahan would get a second chance not to be branded a liar and his career wouldn’t be over.

But apparently Phil still held out hope that his arrest would stick. “But it’s all packaged up and ready for sale and—”

Hopper stopped and looked over at Officer Callahan and sighed, “It’s not like I’m giving it back to him.”

“But he sells to high school students, Jim.” Phil said so dejectedly and that reminded Hopper of the phone call he got a few weeks back about a good girl hanging around a bad boy who was dealing at the high school. 

“He is a high school student,” Hopper sucked his teeth and thought, Eddie better not be dealing on school grounds, but he told Callahan, “He’s just selling to his own kind.”  He quirked a smile, “Come on, Phil.  You’re telling me you never smoked in high school?”

“No…”

Hopper snorted a laugh, but Officer Powell spoke up, “I believe you, Phil.”

Callahan grinned at what he thought was a show of support, eliciting an eye roll from Hopper before he looked at Powell.  Then a smirk started to form on his face when he saw the twinkle in Powell’s eye.

“Yeah, Hop,” Powell grinned, “He didn’t smoke weed back in high school.  He only did poppers and trucker speed back then.  That’s why he’s all high strung now.”

Hopper barked a laugh and resumed his walk to the holding cells.  He could hear Callahan start in with denials as he went through the first security door.  “Hey!  I never did speed.  What the hell, Calvin!?” 

After the door shut behind him, it was all quiet.  He looked through the window of the second door and there was Eddie.  He was sitting on one of the benches in a cell.  His elbows were resting on his knees as his legs hopped up and down nervously.  He couldn’t see the kid’s face since it was down and covered by his hands, but his body language told Hopper that he’d put some fear into him.  Good.

Hopper opened the evidence bag and pulled out about a quarter of the dime bags and joints, just enough for Eddie to recoup most of his expenses and put them into a brown paper lunch bag.  The last thing either of them needed was for the kid to show up at Lover’s Lake to replenish his supply during the bust and get arrested all over again.

Before he opened the door to the holding cells, he swapped out the large evidence bag that held the majority of the cannabis for a bulky manila envelope in the evidence locker.  He made extra noise, clanging the keys against the lock before he swung open the door that led to the holding cells and got a crooked smile when Eddie hopped up from the bench and tried to hide his nervousness behind a layer of false bravado.

“You finally here to let me out, Hop?” Eddie smirked out with his hands on his hips.

Hopper snorted in derision as he unlocked the cell that Eddie was in and noted the surprised look on the kid’s face before he quickly covered it up with bold grin, “See, it wasn’t too outlandish that I thought that I was carrying unfiltered cigarettes and oregano for a friend, was it?”

“No,” Hopper opened the cell door and Eddie stepped out, “It was one of the most outlandish and dumbest lies that I’ve ever heard, but that’s not the reason I’m letting you out.”

“Oh yeah?” Eddie walked backwards through the first security door of the holding area that Hopper held open for him.

“Yeah, I’m doing it because I think you can be a good kid,” He put his hand heavily on Eddie’s shoulder to make sure that the kid heard him, “I think that if I did bust you, Wayne would be very disappointed, and I know you don’t want to disappoint your uncle.”

Eddie looked down and all traces of his smile faded from his face.  He nodded slowly and let out a quiet, “Yeah.”

“This is your one shot not to disappoint your uncle,” He watched the kid carefully to make sure it sunk in, “Next time I won’t be so generous.”

Eddie was still looking down at the floor, but he nodded again.

Hopper gave him a closed lip smile and grabbed Eddie’s denim vest and shoved the paper lunch bag into one of the inside pockets and told him, “Take care of business discreetly and it better not be on school grounds.”

“Yeah?” Eddie looked up at him with narrowed eyes and a knitted brow, probably wondering if this was a set up or not, “Sure Hop.”

“And don’t blow through stop signs or break any other traffic laws while your holding,” Hopper raised a brow at Eddie, “And I better not hear about you going out to Lover’s Lake this weekend.”

Eddie’s jaw shifted and he nodded slowly.

“Just take care of what you got on you, no restocking,” Hopper paused before he opened the security door to make sure he got it, “Got it?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, still nodding before he went through the door that Hopper held open for him and told him, “I got it.”

He smiled as Eddie passed him because he’s pretty sure the kid had got the message and slapped the manila envelope with Eddie’s wallet, keys, watch, and crappy silver jewelry in it against the kid’s chest before he opened the next security door.  Eddie quickly pocketed the items and went through the door, but with his false bravado back in place and Hopper wasn’t going to say anything.  He’d let the kid save face this time while he walked past the other officers. 

“Your girlfriend’s waiting out front, and her lie was even dumber than—”

“My girlfriend?” Eddie stopped and knitted his brow in confusion, but before Hopper could remind him about his perfect little cheerleader girlfriend that he got to lie for him, Officer Callahan stole their attention when he snorted in derision at the word “girlfriend”. 

Eddie got a wicked grin and started to open his mouth, but Hopper turned the kid towards the front doors before he could mouth off and say something that’ll rile the other officer up.  Then he heard the kid curse under his breath as soon as he saw Chrissy standing outside with her head bowed so she could make a careful study of her pristine white sneakers while she twisted her hips back and forth with her arms wrapped around her waist like she was giving herself a hug.

Hopper watched Eddie rush out the door to her.  When Chrissy spotted him, she leapt at him.  Her arms wrapped around his neck in a tight hug, but Eddie quickly broke the hug.  His hands were on her hips as he started to talk to her, but the doors shut before Hopper could hear him, so their conversation was just muffled sounds. 

Eddie looked down the front steps at Florence who was coming back from her lunch break.  He took Chrissy’s hand and led her down the steps and away from the front of the building and Hopper just shook his head.

He sighed as he headed to his office and shut the door.  He really hoped he’s right about letting the kid go.  He hoped that Eddie would take his advice and stay away from Rick’s this weekend and also maybe not be so damn stupid and get busted again. 

Or better yet, he hoped that Eddie would stop selling weed and get a legitimate job, but he wasn’t holding out hope for that.  He knew that the kid could make a lot more money selling drugs than busing tables or pumping gas.

He also really hoped that Eddie wasn’t using Chrissy and that he wasn’t berating her right now because she wasn’t supposed to wait for him after telling her giant lie about being an addict.  He hoped that Eddie wasn’t thinking up new ways to use her and that he wasn’t going to see her in his office again making up some new, even dumber lie to try to get that kid off the hook for something even worse. 

He sighed because he really needed to have a talk with Jane about boys that use girls and how to avoid them.  She could be so innocent sometimes, so easy to fool.  After everything she went through, she still had a trusting view of the world and the people in it and he really hated to be the one that ruined that for her, but it would be worse to see her get hurt. 

 At least her boyfriend Mike didn’t seem like the type that would do something like that.  Yeah, that kid was a little twerp, but he probably wasn’t going to get her into trouble.

He flopped into his chair and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of squeaking.  He smiled as he leaned back in silence and pulled a cigarette out of the pack on his desk and held it between his lips, but then his smile dropped off a bit because now he doesn’t need to go to Melvald’s to ask Joyce if they carry WD-40. 

But maybe, maybe he should still go and ask her if they have it in stock anyways, just to have it on hand.  Anyways, he needs her advice on how to talk to Jane about boys in a way that won’t make his daughter scowl at him before she slammed her bedroom door in his face. 

Joyce had always been good at talking with her and that would probably be her advice, talk with her and not to her, whatever that meant.  Maybe he could get Joyce to talk with Jane since she always listened to her.  It’s probably the way she jokes with her.  Or maybe it’s Joyce’s warm smile that puts her at ease.  Or how Joyce always gives him crap about being crappy right in front of his daughter, making her laugh until she can’t breathe anymore.  Or maybe it’s Joyce’s big brown eyes that are so kind and heartfelt and the way they bore right into his soul…

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps in the alley below his office window and then he heard Eddie’s voice, “Chrissy, what did you tell Hop?”

“Nothing.” Hopper could hear a bit of fear in her voice.  Damnit, he really hoped that something like this wouldn’t happen…

“Chrissy…”

“I just told him that it was my weed and—”

“You what!?”

“Well, I wanted to help you because you’ve helped me so much and I thought that if they think it’s mine then they can’t put you in jail—”

“Chrissy!”

Hopper leaned back in his chair and peeked out the window and thank God the chair remained silent and didn’t squeak.  He looked down into the alley and watched Eddie pace back and forth in front of Chrissy, whose back was to the window that he was peering out of.

“It’s weed that was all portioned out and ready to fucking sell!  That’s not just simple possession.  It’s fucking holding with intent to sell.  That’s… goddamn it Chris, it’s fucking jail time!  They don’t fuck around with shit like that!”

“So, now they can’t put you in jail,” He could hear the confident smile in her voice.  The voice of someone who doesn’t realize the possible consequences of her actions.

“No Chrissy,” Eddie stopped pacing and grabbed hold of her upper arms, and Hopper was shocked of how gentle the kid was being with how much his face was contorted in pain and frustration, “They wouldn’t just send me to jail.  They’d send you too and I… Fuck Chris, I couldn’t…”

“They would…”  Her voice got quieter until it dropped off completely.

“Chris, I…” Eddie’s hands dropped from her arms, and he turned and started walking back out of the alley and towards the front of the police station. “Fuck!”

“Eddie, where are you going?” Chrissy followed after him and grabbed his arm.  She pulled it so he was forced to turn around to face her again, “Eddie?”

“I’m gonna fix this.  I’m gonna tell Hop I told you to say it was your weed,” He bit the inside of his lip as he shook his head with his face contorting in anguish while he rambled out the rest of his plan, “And I’ll tell him that the lie was all my idea…  I’ll tell him that I made you say it…”

“No,” Her back was still to Hopper, but he could hear the tears forming though her cracking voice, “No Eddie, he already let you go.”

“Chrissy, I can’t…  They can’t think that you…” Eddie’s hand cupped her cheek tenderly, “Never lie for me, Chris.  Never.  Especially for shit like this.”

Hopper could see the tears forming in Eddie’s eyes, “I would rather go to fucking jail that have anyone think that you would do anything…”  He swallowed as her hand went to clutch his hand on her cheek, “I don’t want them to think that you’re bad like me.”

“You’re not bad, Eddie,” Hopper could hear the choking sobs of her voice as she threw her arms around Eddie’s waist and pulled herself tight against him, “You’re not… you’re not…”

Goddamn it! 

“Goddamn it!” Hopper threw open the window.  He pulled the unlit cigarette out that he was gnashing between his teeth as he leaned out the window and yelled through gritted teeth, “Goddamn you two!”

He scowled down at Eddie and Chrissy as they released each other from their crushing hug.  Chrissy turned so she could face Hopper too as they both look up at him and stared slack jawed.

“You two are talking so damn loudly that I can hear every damn thing you two say.  Everything!” He pointed at Eddie, “You!  You take her back to the trailer and you two spend some quality time with Wayne and when he goes to work, do… I dunno, do whatever it is that you two do that’s not illegal.”

Chrissy nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks while Eddie grabbed her hand and nodded out, “Sure, Hop.”

“And I don’t want to see you two here ever again,” He grimaced and snarled at them, “Now get outta here before I get really mad!”

Eddie tugged at Chrissy’s hand, and they turned and walked down the alley and back to the front of the building.  Before they round the corner, she wrapped her arm around his waist, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her hair.

Hopper slammed the window shut and collapsed into his chair again.  He wiped his eyes that must be watering from the cigarette smoke… From his unlit cigarette… Damn, stupid kids…

He sighed and fished his lighter out of his pocket.  He lit his cigarette as soon as the flame flicked on, but hesitated before he closed the lighter.  Instead, he smiled while he stared at the small flame. 

Yeah, he's definitely going to see Joyce tonight.

Chapter Text

Robin hid behind the standee of the Breakfast Club gang as she looked out the window and watched Eddie’s van back out of the parking space in front of Family Video. 

She held up her finger as soon as Steve took a deep breath.  She looked back towards him, and he couldn’t stop himself from bouncing on the balls of his feet behind the video rental counter with his teeth clinched together in a maniacal grin.

She took another look out the window and watched the van pull out of the parking lot and drive south on Main Street before she turned to give Steve the okay that they were gone.  But he had already lost control and had hopped over the counter and headed straight for her with his arms stretched out in front of him to grab hold of her.  They both gripped each other’s upper arms and hopped up and down on the balls of their feet with huge muppet grins.

Excitement overwhelmed them as they said at the same time, “Did you see that!?!” “What the fuck just happened!?!”

Steve winced after he cursed when he saw a woman with two young children just behind the Ghostbuster’s display.  His stomach tied up into a knot when he watched the flash of horror fall across her face as she attempted to cover her children’s ears while they giggled at hearing the bad word.  

He summoned up the sincerest look of regret he could muster as he mouthed, “Sorry…” as she herded the children to the opposite side of the store.  But as soon as she was out of sight, his muppet grin returned when he turned his attention back to Robin and asked, “Did you see that!?”

“Yes, I saw it,” Robin grinned out.  Her hands released his arms so that she could poke his chest with her index finger as she said, “And I told you—”

“Yeah, yeah—”

“Oh, but you didn’t believe me,” Robin mimed checking a box as she said, “It’s yet another tick on the ‘Steve sucks’ side of the board.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.  He really hated that Robin still had that stupid board… 

And yeah, she told him before, “I think that Chrissy and Eddie are going out.”  “I think that they’re a thing.” But he scoffed at that and said that she was too into romantic movies and pining away for Vicky, so she was reading into things which at the time netted him a scowl from his best friend.  But he knew that there was no way that some heavy metal guy would ever be able to date the head cheerleader even after Robin told him about the paper thing a few weeks ago.

That night when he drove Robin home after their shift, she told him, “He draws her pictures.”

“Eww,” Steve grimaced as he remembered an old drawing that he saw of Vlad the Impaler eating dinner next to his disemboweled and impaled victims and that seemed like just the type of picture that Munson would draw for someone, even as a romantic gesture. “Like drawings of demons or dead people or-”

“Bunnies,” Robin said with a smile and looked over at Steve.

“Bunnies!?” He quickly looked back and forth between her and the road, “Like Playboy bunnies—"

“No, regular bunnies and sometimes bears and squirrels… or are they chipmunks?” She squished her face, “I can never remember the difference…”

“I think that squirrels have fluffy tails and chipmunks have spots or stripes,” Steve’s brow furrowed as he wondered, “But are they like dead chipmunks or animal skeletons or—”

“No, they’re alive,” Robin nodded, “And they’re definitely squirrels.”

“How!?” Steve’s mouth gaped open and he somehow managed to get out, “Why? How?” as he turned onto the street where Robin lived.

“A week or two ago before our government class started, he asked to borrow a piece of paper from her,” Robin said as she absentmindedly ran her thumb along the French language paperback she had been reading at work, “And Chrissy said okay but he had to give it back after class and she was just kidding, but at the end of class he gave her the paper folded in half and when we opened it, there were—" she smiled “—bunnies.”

“Like stabbing each other or—”

“No, like frolicking and stuff,” Robin shook her head and then looked at him earnestly, “And that’s when I knew there was something going on because you don’t draw bunnies for just anyone…”

Steve let out a loud breath and shook his head as he pulled up to the curb next to Robin’s house.

“Anyways,” Robin said as she opened the door, “He’s been giving her drawings like that every day since.  It’s bunnies and other woodland creatures frolicking—” she ignored Steve’s snorting laugh, “—and having tea parties and stuff like that.”

“Why would he—”

“Girls like stuff like that,” Robin said as she got out of the car, “They like it when a rebel type or really when anyone does unexpectedly sweet stuff like that.”

Now that he thought about it, Eddie and Chrissy had probably been together for a while because Robin was right, you don’t draw bunnies for just anyone.  He groaned because that was another thing that he was wrong about and he really didn’t want to admit it and tell her that yet again that she was right, but then she said…

“To quote Dustin,” Robin smirked and he really, really hated this quote, “'How many times do I need to be right before you start believing me.'”

And there is no way I’m going to admit you were right now!  Steve thought before he pointed his finger at his best friend and he made his way back behind the video rental counter to check in the returned tapes, “Well, in my defense something like this doesn’t happen… ever.  I mean it’s not like a football player dating a cheerleader or—”

“The captain of the basketball team dating a bookish, straight A student that’s also a reporter for the school newspaper?” Robin smiled smugly at him as she leaned against the counter.

“Okay, fine,” Steve winced as he shook his head because that reminder of what he used to have stung, “It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility, but you gotta admit that me and Nancy were more likely to date than ‘the freak’ and the head cheerleader.”

“I dunno,” Robin said as she looked up at the ceiling and moved her head from side to side, “He’s got that whole rebel without a cause thing happening.”

“Rebels,” He snorted out with derision as he popped a returned movie into the tape rewinder.  

Rebels were always trying to do him in.  Maybe because he tried to be a rebel once and it didn’t work out so well.  During his junior and senior year, he drank and smoked and invited his friends over when his folks were out of town to drink and smoke with him, standard high school rebellion stuff, and it kinda worked on Nancy at first.  She kinda took to him, but it still didn’t stop her from looking at another rebel. 

An outsider type of rebel that listened to punk rock and was quiet and shy at school.  A rebel with a camera that surreptitiously shot candid photos of Nancy.  And when Steve pointed this out to her and busted up Byers’ camera so he couldn’t do it again, what did he get for it?  His face rearranged, out three hundred bucks for a brand-new Nikon, and no more Nancy. 

Okay, so he kinda jumped Jonathan and probably deserved getting his ass handed to him that time and it was only right that he replaced the camera that he broke. And yes, Nancy didn’t break it off with Steve until months later, but she was dating Byers now and Steve saw him the other day taking pictures of her with the same damn camera that he paid for and that stung even worse.

Oh, and there was that other stupid, brash, jock rebel with his fucking loud Z28 who smoked more and drank more and did way more drugs than Steve ever even dreamed of.  That guy also rearranged his face when Steve defended Lucas from that asshole and ended up needing to get saved.  He was lucky that Max and the rest of his babysitting charges had the wherewithal to clock Billy upside his head while he was too busy using Steve’s face as a punching bag to notice them.

And now there’s “the freak”.  Damn Eddie Munson.  He’s so damn sick of that guy.  Ever since school started up, all he had heard from Dustin was “Eddie this… Eddie that…”  “Eddie’s a rebel.”  “Eddie drives a van.”  “Eddie plays DnD with us.”  “I’m gonna grow my hair out and be just like my new hero.”  “Eddie’s a nice guy…” 

Rebels are always out to get me.  They’re my damn nemesis.  Wait, if that’s true then doesn’t that make me the evil empire and on the dark side of the force?  Damnit!  Steve scowled and angrily ripped a VHS tape out of the rewinder and slammed it back into its case because he made a stupid Star Wars reference.  I really need to stop hanging around Henderson…

But that thought didn’t sit well with him because the reality was that he could just stop hanging around Dustin any time he wanted since the kid really liked hanging around Eddie.  Steve knew he should be happy about that.  He should have been rejoicing that he wouldn’t need to babysit those kids at his house on Saturday nights anymore and rent Dragonslayer and Ghostbusters so they could watch them for the millionth time.  He should be ecstatic that he could tell those urchins to go hang out with their heavy metal hero and then he could go out with more girls since those kids wouldn’t be around to cramp his style, but… 

As loath as he was to admit it, those stupid kids had grown on him, like mold on bread.  They’re a part of him, and an integral part of his being.  They’re so much a part of him that removing them from his life would be like tearing huge chunks away from himself. 

This was all Nancy’s fault.  She was the reason he knew any of those kids.  Maybe if she hadn’t asked him to take care of them and defend them then maybe he wouldn’t have cared when they needed help or protection.

Oh, but who was he kidding!?  He would have cared anyways.  He would have stepped in and defended them if he knew they were in trouble even if she never asked him too.  He’d always had a soft spot for kids, but it was still her fault for introducing them to him.  Nancy ruined his life.  God, I miss her…

“Rebels and… non-rebels only interact in the movies,” He tried to keep his voice calm as he checked the next case and set an unrewound tape next to the machine while he pretended not to think about Nancy, “This type of thing doesn’t actually happen in real life.”

“Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Robin said as she put a case in the rewind pile next to Steve, “But it does happen in real life.  Opposites attract and all…”

“That’s magnets,” He smirked as he pulled the tape out of the rewinder, “I’m talking people and people need things in common.”

“Well, they picked out a movie together and—”

“Oh yeah!” He smiled in triumph because ah-ha!  He knew something Robin didn’t know!  He pointed the rewound tape at her and said, “But that movie wasn’t his first choice-”

“Well duh,” Her lip curled in mockery, “They ended up renting Rear Window on my recommendation Steve, so it wasn’t even on their radar.”

“Robin,” He felt a smile form on his face as he shook his head because who sucks now! “Eddie was trying to get Chrissy to rent a porno.”

“What!?” Robin’s mouth gaped open as she threw another case on the rewind pile, “How do you even know that?  Did you follow them around or have you set up Dustin’s walkie-talkies throughout the store to spy on conversations or-”

“Geez Robin, no!” Steve’s mouth gaped open in disgust at the accusation of using any of Dustin’s stupid AV equipment for anything, “I overheard them while I was putting away movies and I was only out on the floor because—” He raised his brow before Robin could accuse him of following them “—you won rock-paper-scissors and decided to sit on your ass up here while I restocked the shelves, remember?”

Robin rolled her eyes as she sighed, and her shoulders slumped at his reminder.

“Anyways, I overheard them…”

Eddie leaned over towards Chrissy; his hand ghosted across the small of her back as he whispered something into her ear.  Right after he said it, she turned and looked at him with her eyes wide and mouth gaping open. 

He bit his lip and smiled at her as he purred out, “Whatta ya say, Cunningham?” and he nodded towards the front counter which was next to the glorified closet where the adult movies were stored with the “No Minors” sign bolted to the saloon-style doors that separated that section from the rest of the otherwise family friendly establishment.

“Eddie,” She whispered with urgency as her cheeks flushed, “I’m using my parents account and—”

“Oh, come on then, we gotta,” He smiled lecherously at her, “The chance of your mom finding out and losing her fucking shit makes it even more perfect.”

“Eddie, I can’t…” Then she said under her breath, “My mom doesn’t know that my dad is letting me use their account.”

“Okay,” Eddie sighed then perked up when he said, “You know, I could get an account and—”

“Nooo!” She whispered back, “You can’t get an account and then have—” She opened her eyes wider and raised her brow to emphases the unspoken word, “—on your video rental record!”

Eddie got a pouty frown that morphed into a smirk when he asked, “Is it just that you’re worried about having a record of renting a—”

“Yes,” she nodded as she quickly interrupted him before he could say what Steve knew would be “porn”.

“Well,” Eddie looked down at Chrissy’s naked arm that he was running the back of his finger up and down on.  He cocked his head and ran his tongue along the edge of his teeth and said with a lusty smile, “I have some at home and we could…” Eddie leaned in and whispered quietly into her ear.

Once he finished whispering, she pulled back and bit her lip.  Her cheeks managed to somehow get even redder at what he had proposed, but she said, “Okay, yes, I’d like to do that… but I wanna get a regular movie too.”

“Blech!” Robin grimaced like she had a bad taste in her mouth, “Okay, that was far too detailed a description for my personal comfort.”

“What!?” Steve shook his head in disbelief at her disgust because it’s not his fault that he could paint a word picture, “That’s what happened.  He wanted porn.”

“Ugh,” Robin shook her head at him, frowning in revulsion before she raised an eyebrow and said, “But you didn’t actually hear him say that he wanted to rent a dirty movie.”

“Hey, I think I know what it looks like when a guy wants to rent porn—”

“Please stop saying that word.”

“What, porn?” Steve grinned as Robin winced at the word, “Porn,” He said loudly as she covered up her ears and started yelling “La-la-la-la-la,” while he said even louder, “Porn-porn-porn-porn-porn. POOORRRN!”

“Well, I never!”  The same woman that Steve had offended before quickly clapped her hands over the now defiled ears of the two young children that were with her before she shepherded them all out of the video store, glaring daggers at him the entire time.

“Sorry,” Steve winced out and added, “Come back soon.”

“Good job, dingus,” Robin snorted out as she shook her head at Steve and then returned to the previous subject, “If they wanted to rent a dirty movie, then why did Chrissy ask for a recommendation for a romantic movie and why did they rent Rear Window, hmm?”

“I said he wanted to, and he’s got porn—” Steve flashed a muppet smile at Robin while she mimed gagging at the word “—at home but she said she still wanted a regular movie.”

He quickly barked a laugh when he wondered aloud, “Oh God, which do you think they’ll watch first!?”

“I’m gonna be sick…”

“But wait, hang on…” His brow knitted in confusion, “They asked for a romantic movie, so you recommended Rear Window?”

“She asked,” Robin clarified then narrowed her eyes and threw another tape on the rewind pile, “And what’s so bad about my recommendation?”

“Isn’t that movie in the suspense section and made by the same guy that did The Birds?”

“So?” Robin let out an incredulous snort, “He can make a suspenseful film with romantic elements.  I mean look at Notorious.  The chemistry between Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant is so wonderful and she’s so beautiful and…  anyways, Rear Window can be romantic, and you know what?” She smiled and waggled her brow, “She agreed with me.”

“Wait, she’d already seen it?”

“Yes Steve,” Robin scoffed out, “People can watch a movie more than once.”

“But it’s an old movie—”

“You can watch those more than once too,” Robin blinked her eyes rapidly at him almost as a warning for him to shut up before he got another mark in the wrong column.  “Anyways, they both agreed with my recommendation,” She paused before she handed him another tape to rewind, “Didn’t you hear our conversation?”

“I was busy,” Steve smirked while he shook a tape case and put it on the counter to reshelve, “Remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Robin smiled back, “Well, Chrissy came up and asked for a recommendation and I said, ‘Rear Window’ and she said, ‘I love that movie’ and I said, ‘Me too and Grace Kelly’s so beautiful in it’ and she said, ‘yeah and her clothes are great in it too’ and I said—”

“Robin, wait,” Steve held up his hands and said, “Wait!  Robin, slow down.  Paint me a word picture, please.”

“What?”

“A word picture,” He rolled his eyes, “Na—” He quickly shut his mouth before he said Nancy’s name and got his bearings before he continued, “It’s like you describe a scene or event with enough detail for people to picture it in their minds.  It’s what good report—” He wince and replaced the description of Nancy with, “Writers, it’s what writers do.”

“Ugh, fine,” Robin’s shoulders slumped, “Chrissy came up to the counter and said, ‘Hi Robin’ and I said, ‘Hi Chrissy’ and I put down my book, L’Étranger, which is really good and sad… but still good and I asked ‘Whatcha gonna rent?’ and she said, ‘I dunno, do you have any recommendations’ and I said, ‘sure’ and she said, ‘hang on’ and then called for Eddie because she wanted them to make the decision together and—”

“This isn’t a word picture…” Steve sighed.

But Robin either ignored him or didn’t hear him and kept going, “Can you even believe that I’m friends with like the most popular girl in school?  I mean we have one class together and we probably wouldn’t have talked if we weren’t sitting next to each other and then we wouldn’t have found out that we both like old movies, especially the romantic ones like It Happened One Night and Anastasia and-”

“Robin,” Steve shook his head and sighed, “You can skip over the boring stuff.”

“You asked for a word picture,” Robin scoffed, “And background information is an important part of the narrative and-”

“Okay, but—” He rolled his eyes and shoved another tape into the rewinder “—this isn’t exactly a word picture either.  Maybe skip to the part where you actually recommended the movie?”

“Okay, but that wasn’t until Eddie came over after talking to you and by the way—” Robin eyed Steve as she put a rewound tape into its case “—what were you two talking about?"

“Nothing,” Steve grumbled.  He really doesn’t want to tell Robin about it and get another mark in the “You suck” column.  He doesn’t want to admit that he broke down about Nancy and then Eddie was really nice to him about it.  Well, he started out being dickish… 

Eddie turned and smiled directly at Steve once Chrissy walked away to talk to Robin.  On the surface it looked like a friendly smile, but Steve knew that it hid teeth since he basically had been caught listening in on their conversation.

Eddie sauntered over to the end of the aisle where Steve was replacing the empty video cassette boxes of the newly returned movies.  He leaned up against the shelf that Steve was restocking in an attempting to act nonchalant and not like a weird eavesdropper, then the maybe-rival for Dustin’s friendship grinned out, “Steve, how is the former king doing these days?”

Honestly, kinda shitty,  he thought but he’s not going to tell him that. “Pretty good,” Steve looked up and smiled back at Eddie, trying his damnedest to sound at ease when he asked, “How’s ‘the freak’ doing?”

“Not bad,” Eddie picked up the box for “Strange Brew” and looked at the back, “Actually-” He looked over at Chrissy who was leaning against the rental counter and talking to Robin, “-I’m doing really fucking great.”

He followed his gaze and asked, “So Chrissy Cunningham…” He let the name hang in the air as he looked back over at Eddie, but the guy didn’t bite.  In fact, he just smiled dangerously again, daring Steve to say more and he stupidly took the dare, “What are you guys doing here?”

Steve winced as soon as the words tumbled out of the mouth and Eddie answered in a dead pan cadence with the same exact words that flashed through his own brain, “We’re renting a movie, Steve…”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve looked off to the side and shook his head at his stupid question, “I mean, what are the two of you doing here…  Are you like… Are you two…”

“Are we what?”

“Are you two… you know,” God he did not want to actually ask because if he found out another rebel was happily in love with a girl that was too good for either of them, he was going to lose his damn mind, but he was still kinda curious… “Are you two going out?”

“Why do you ask, Steve?” Eddie grinned maliciously at him, like he was going to rip him to shreds, “Are you jealous?”

“What? No…” Steve slammed a VHS box back on the shelf with a little more force than was necessary so okay yeah… he was a little jealous.  It was yet another rebel getting the girl they wanted and yet all he could seem to do was wallow in self-pity when he caught glimpses of Nancy being happy with someone else…  But he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell this guy about it.

He shifted his jaw as he shook his head no and he planned to tell Eddie he didn’t give a crap who he was dating because everything was just dandy.  He was dating plenty of girls and had it made.  He was going to tell him that everything was just peachy but instead he said, “Yeah, okay…  Maybe I am…”

Eddie grinned out, “Green’s not a good color on you, big boy…” because he didn’t know.  Eddie didn’t understand.  He probably thought that Steve was pining after Chrissy and something in him needed the guy to know, to understand…

Steve moved closer to him and looked around to make sure there aren’t any other people around when he admitted, “I’m fucking jealous—” he whispered out between gritted teeth “—I tried to be good and understanding and patient and all that shit and still—” he shook his head and closed his eyes to keep them from watering too much “—it didn’t matter because in the end, N—” he winced when he almost said her name “—it didn’t matter because I’m single and yeah, I’m dating girls, but it doesn’t matter because I keep thinking about her…”

“Shit,” Eddie said quietly as the grin slipped off his face. 

Steve looked down at the box for “Stripes” in his hand and swallowed hard because he hadn’t said that aloud to anyone, not even Robin.  He had planned to keep it all bottled up inside and didn’t mean for it to fall out of his mouth like so much pathetic vomit that was now a big pile of gross between them. 

He especially didn’t mean to say any of this to Eddie of all people because that guy would probably use it as cannon fodder.  He’d probably stick him in the gut with it.  He’d probably…

“No, I get it man,” Eddie put his hand on Steve’s shoulder.  Steve looked up to see a genuine expression of understanding on this rebel’s face when he told him, “I know what it’s like to see a girl that you…” He let out a long breath, “But she’s with someone else and that someone else is kind of a good guy and you’re just this piece of shit pining after her, but you still want to gouge out your own fucking eyes when you see them together and…” he squeezed Steve’s shoulder, “I get it.  I really fucking do.”

Steve felt his jaw go slack because he wasn’t supposed to get understanding from this guy.  This guy was… well, he was a drug dealing, metal head, burn out.  He wasn’t supposed to—

“And you know,” Eddie’s jaw shifted as he shook his head and said, “Everyone tells you to get over it.  I mean fuck, you even tell yourself to get over it and get over her and then when you can’t you just feel like a fucking loser, so I’m not gonna tell you to get over it.  Fucking feel bad about it for as long as it takes.  Be angry about it, but just don’t take your anger out on her or Byers or your friends.  Just… just allow yourself to feel shitty sometimes and maybe, if you’re lucky, it’ll eventually go away, you know?”

“Yeah, sure,” Steve nodded, “Umm, thanks man.”

Snap! Snap!

Robin’s fingers snapping directly in front of his face brought Steve back to the present.  She shook her head, “Earth to Steve…”

“Yeah, sorry, umm…” Steve shook his head.  He still couldn’t believe that “the freak” said something that made him feel… not better but not like such a loser.  That maybe he could feel okay about feeling bad, but he didn’t want to explain this stuff to Robin… at least not right now, so he told her, “Umm, so yeah, just start there and remember, word picture.”

“Sure,” Robin sighed, “So anyways Eddie comes over and I say, ‘Rear Window?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, that’s a good one.’”

“Wait, he’s seen it too?” Steve handed her a rewound cassette and wondered if he should maybe watch this movie.  But then again, he eventually watched Doctor Zhivago on Robin’s recommendation and it was really long and honestly, really boring.

“Stop interrupting my painting, Steve!” Robin grabbed the tape and shoved it into a case, “So anyways he said, ‘My uncle and I used to go see old movies that the theater on Main used to show’ and I said, ‘cool’ and he said, ‘let’s get it’ and Chrissy said, ‘okay’ and I said, 'okay’ and then they rented the movie.”

Steve looked at Robin with his mouth slightly open because, “That’s it?”

“Yup.”

“That was the most boring conversation ever,” Steve clutched his hands together on the top of his head to keep it from exploding, “Why did you need to tell me about it!?”

“I didn’t need to, and I never said it was interesting,” Robin rolled her eyes, “I only told you because you said you wanted to hear it.”

Steve rubbed the heels of his hand over his eyes and groaned out, “I love you so much, Robin,” to keep from murdering his best friend.  He opened his eyes when he felt a stack of VHS tapes get shoved against his chest and he grabbed at them instinctively to keep them from falling.

“I love you too,” Robin chuckled out before she settled back on her stool.  She opened her book and waved her hand at him dismissively and said, “Now go restock the movies, dingus.”

He smiled as he took the stack out onto the floor and started restocking the shelves.  As he put away the movies, his thoughts turned to Nancy.  Not that any of the films he had in his hands reminded him of her, but it was something that he just did now and again.

He used to try to stop himself from thinking about her, but you know what, he’s just gonna think about her and feel bad.  He’s just gonna feel like shit.  He’s gonna stop worrying about being happy and…

He stopped when he put the last brown rental case on the shelf behind the movie sleeve that had a picture of bunnies on it.  He looked at the soft brown creatures on the cover and wondered if maybe he should try to draw a couple…  Not for Nancy…  Well, yes for Nancy, but not to try to get her back, but just as a nice gesture.  Just to do something unexpectedly sweet, not to get Nancy back, but just to let her know that he could be that type of guy. 

Maybe he should rent a sweet movie about bunnies and try to draw a couple.  He’s not that great at drawing, but he could probably figure something out…

Steve held up the movie case so that Robin could see it and yelled, “Hey Robin, this a good one?”

“Yes!” Robin nodded and smiled, “Watership Down is sooo good!”

Chapter Text

“Autobots!  Roll out!”

Optimus Prime’s authoritative voice boomed out of the TV, but Max barely heard it.  She had checked out of the show almost the moment the TV was turned on even though her best friend was there sitting on the floor in front of her watching it.

This had been normal for her ever since that fateful day last summer.  She had been getting better.  She hadn’t been getting lost in memories as much until a few weeks ago when she started back sliding.

She would get lost in nightmarish memories anytime her mind had the chance to wander.  It didn’t matter if she was at home or at school or even when she was skateboarding.  She would check out and be thrown back to that horrible day so that she could relive it over and over.

Images would flood her mind of her stepbrother’s bleeding and broken body.  She would hear the squeal of the tires and brakes and Billy’s death rattle as he took his final breaths.  She would smell the acrid scent of brakes and tires and taste the salt of her tears.  And each time she was brought back, she would go through all of the things that she should have done differently.

If she had only looked before she crossed the street.  If only she hadn’t let Billy get to her, she wouldn’t have run across that street.  If she had only kept her cool, things would have been different.

It was her fault.  He was dead because of her.  He was dead because she ran away from him.

He had threatened her numerous times before and she took it.  He raised his hand to her time and time again and she stayed put and glared at him defiantly even when he hit her.  But this time, this one time she ran. 

She ran because she was tired of getting hurt, but then she ended up hurting everyone else.  She should have stood there and taken it.  If she had, then Billy might still be alive.  And if he was still alive, her stepfather would still be around, and if he was still around then maybe they wouldn’t have had to move to the wrong side of town.

Being on the receiving end of Billy’s slaps and threats would have been a small price to pay to still live in a house in a nice neighborhood instead of a dilapidated trailer in a dingy trailer park on the edge of town.  Max knew she could take a hit; she’d done it plenty of times before and it would have been worth it so that her mother wouldn’t have to work long hours waitressing to barely make ends meet.

Her mother should blame her because Max was the reason that she worked double shifts every night.  She should tell Max that she was the reason that they were where they were at because it was true.  She should tell Max that she should have died instead of Billy because then her stepfather would never have left because that was true too.  But she didn’t.

Instead of blaming her, she told Max that it wasn’t her fault.  She told her that it was an accident and if anyone was to blame it was the driver.  She told Max that her marriage to Neil was falling apart before the accident and a divorce had been inevitable.  She kept telling her that none of this was her fault, but it was, and Max needed someone to hate her for it.

But if anyone blamed her or hated her for Billy’s death, they never said so.  They just kept repeating that it wasn’t her fault.  They all did that, her mom, Lucas, Ms. Kelly.  But maybe they would realize that it was her fault if they knew that right before Billy got hit, she had wished he would die a painful death and that her wish came true.

He had been at it again, threatening to beat Lucas within an inch of his life if she ever talked to him again.  Billy raised his hand up like he was going to backhand her and told her that she’d regret it if she didn’t do what he said, and she had had enough.

Max threw herself out of his car and slammed the door shut.  He quickly got out and stalked to where she was and grabbed her by the arm.  He threatened to smack her if she ever slammed his car door again, so she wrenched her arm free of his grasp and ran.

She heard him behind her, yelling at her to stop, but she kept going.  Then she felt the shove on her shoulders and landed hard against the asphalt on her hands and knees.  She quickly turned her head, eyes filled with tears ready to glare hatred right at him for hurting her again and that was when the car hit him.

At that moment, all she could think was why?  Why did he push her out of the way?  Why did he save her and take the hit when all he ever had was contempt for her?

She ran to where he landed.  She knelt down next to his broken body and took his hands in her own bloody and skinned hands, but her wounds were nothing compared to his and the pool of blood that slowly created a red halo around his head.

Up until that moment, she hated him and wished he was dead but as he lay there dying, she tried to take it back.  She said she was sorry over and over again.  She told him she didn’t mean it.  She didn’t want him to die but she didn’t know if he heard her because he was too busy wheezing out his own apologies while his lungs collapsed.

He gripped her hands tightly and gasped and gurgled out his own set of sorrys.  Sorry for not being a better brother.  Sorry for not protecting her from himself and his temper.  Sorry for everything. 

By the time the paramedics arrived, he was gone, but she was still there.  Her wish had come true.

The paramedics said she did a good thing by staying with him so he wouldn’t die alone, but she knew it didn’t matter since she had wished him dead.  Chief Hopper said it wasn’t her fault and that the driver was going over the speed limit, but she knew if she had only looked, she wouldn’t have run into the street. 

Her stepfather said it wasn’t her fault and that Billy finally did something good in his life, but he still left.  He said that he couldn’t live in that house with those memories, but Max knew it was because he couldn’t stand to see the cause of his son’s death walking around while Billy was buried in the ground.

Everyone said it wasn’t her fault, but if that was true, then why did she feel like this?  Ms. Kelly said it was survivor guilt.  It was something that sometimes happened to a person who survived a traumatic event while another didn’t.  She said that it was like what soldiers sometimes feel when they get home from war.  She said that even though Max felt guilty, she wasn’t to blame for Billy’s death, and it might help to talk about it.

But she couldn’t talk about it to her.  What if she let it slip that she wanted him to die?  What if she told Ms. Kelly that Billy was mean to her and sometimes hit her?  Would she say that he deserved to die?  Because if she did, somehow it would only make Max feel even worse.

She swiped her hands across her eyes and cleared her throat.  She didn’t want to cry.  Things had been getting better up until a few weeks ago, but now she was back to crying and she was so tired of crying.

Max reached for her Walkman.  She knew it was rude to fall into her own world inside her headphones while her best friend was there, but she was tired of crying in front of Jane.  She knew that she shouldn’t hit play and listen to “Running Up That Hill” for the millionth time, but when she listened to Kate Bush and that specific song, she didn’t cry because she didn’t think about Billy. 

She slipped on the headphones because she knew that Jane would understand.  She understood that Max needed to be quiet and alone sometimes.  Whenever she put on her headphones, her friend would just give her a closed lip smile and keep reading or watching TV or drawing and let Max drift away.

She just needed one song and then she’d be okay.  Just one song so she wouldn’t cry…

But before she could press play, a sound caught her attention.  She stopped and listened to the odd sound that was coming from outside.  It was laughter, joyous laughter.

The sound of laughter in and of itself wasn’t odd but it was odd to hear it here because no one laughed at Forest Hills Trailer Park.  There was no joy here.  Everyone was either broke or on their way to being broke.  So, the people that lived here stayed quiet and silently waited for their lives to get worse. 

No, she had to have been mistaken, it couldn’t be laughter.  It was probably a cat or something, but then she heard it again and she wasn’t the only one. Jane must have also heard it because she wasn’t looking at the TV anymore but instead was looking towards the window and then at Max. 

Max shrugged before she peeked out through the curtains in time to see the figures of two people disappear from view behind a trailer.  They had laughed as they bounded through the tall grass towards the meadow just behind the Munson’s trailer and she wondered who they were.

She looked over at Jane who craned her neck to see out the window and asked Max, “Who is it?”

Max shrugged her shoulders because she didn’t get a good enough look at the two to see who they were and that piqued her curiosity.  She smiled at Jane and asked, “Wanna go check it out?”

Jane nodded readily as she smiled and scrambled up from the floor.  Max put her Walkman back on the end table and pried herself off of the couch and they both headed to the door.

When she opened the front door, both her and Jane peeked out like they were Haley Mills and Haley Mills and about to sneak off to scheme a way to get their parents back together.  She rolled her eyes at the thought as she slipped out the door and motioned for Jane to follow her.  They quietly made their way across the gravel road and Max just knew that this was a potentially stupid thing to do.

This wasn’t a Disney movie.  They weren’t plucky young heroines whose shenanigans would somehow solve a mystery and save the day.  Knowing her luck, this was more like a horror movie where their curiosity would get them both killed by some melting serial killer with knives for fingers.

But curiosity also helped at times.  It was curiosity that made Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will look deeper into the abuses that were going on at the government lab where they held Jane and got the place shut down and her best friend adopted by Chief Hopper.  It was curiosity that kept Lucas looking for Will when he went missing.  He was curious enough to break into that abandoned building to find his friend trapped in the elevator shaft and was able to get him out. 

So maybe curiosity wasn’t always so bad.  Maybe they would find something interesting and not horrifyingly dangerous.  Max sighed because that was not very likely…

The pair sneaked their way closer to the Munson trailer and peeked around the corner and got a sight neither of them could have ever expected.  Max’s mouth gaped open when she spotted the Queen of Hawkins High herself, Chrissy Cunningham, standing in the meadow of tall green grass that was dotted with the occasional wildflower. 

Max quickly looked at Jane, who raised her brow to let her know that she saw it too.  They both saw something that shouldn’t be.  They shouldn’t see Chrissy Cunningham there!  It would be like seeing Bigfoot just standing in the middle of the trailer park.  Cheerleaders didn’t come here.  They go to the mall or to pool parties at the rich kids’ houses in the nice part of town.  They don’t come to a crappy trailer park on the wrong side of the tracks.

“Is that…” Jane whispered with her eyes wide, “Do you know her?”

Max nodded because not only did she know the head cheerleader, but they were also kinda friends.  It all started when she heard Chrissy crying in the bathroom.  Max asked her if she was okay and she said she was, but then she quickly fessed up and said she wasn’t and that’s when Max broke down too and said she wasn’t okay either and they both cried in each other’s arms next to the row of sinks and mirrors that lined the bathroom wall. 

Once they composed themselves, they ended up skipping the remainder of their third period classes and sat at the picnic tables outside and talked.  And Max wasn’t sure why she did it, but she told Chrissy all about Billy.  About the abuse and her feelings of guilt for wanting him dead and then him dying.  And Chrissy told her about how her mother constantly monitors her weight and how she brings up every mistake Chrissy had ever made in her life unless she does everything perfectly. 

They continued to meet up like this up until a few weeks ago.  After each one of their weekly mandatory counseling session, they would skip out on the rest of their third period classes and sit at the picnic tables next to the gym and talk.  And it was so good to just get it out and tell someone who wasn’t a teacher or a counselor.  To tell someone who really and truly understood because they were going through pain too.

“Why is she here?” Jane whispered and that was a very good question.

Max walked around the corner of the trailer to get a better look at the sight.  Chrissy had her hands on her hips and was looking down into the tall spring grass that was almost up to her knees.  She had a smile on her face and was wearing her gym clothes from school, green running shorts and a white and green ringer tee with the Hawkins High Tiger printed on the front.

Chrissy hadn’t seemed to have noticed the pair yet and Max was about to ask her what she was doing there, behind Eddie Munson’s trailer of all places, but then Chrissy spoke as she looked down into the grass.

“Are you ready to get up now?” Chrissy asked with a smirk as she used her foot to lightly nudge something or someone that was hidden in the grass.

“I dunno,” A male voice purred from the grass, “Maybe you should come down here and get me up.”

Chrissy huffed a laugh, “How would me going down there get you—” Then her eyes opened wide, and Chrissy’s smile grew as low chuckle emanated from the grass and a hand with heavy silver rings on it snaked up her naked calf to her knee, “Oh!”

Max’s eyes and mouth opened wide when the double entendre hit her, and she looked over at Jane who gasped loudly with an open mouth grin on her face.  But her attention quickly returned to Chrissy when she looked at them and asked, “Max?”

“Umm, hi Chrissy,” Max said through her gaping mouth that she suddenly snapped closed before she asked, “What are you doing here?”

Before Chrissy could answer, the hand disappeared back into the grass and Eddie Munson quickly sat up.  Max’s mouth returned to its gawping state because… was he allowed to do that?  Touch the Queen of Hawkins High’s leg?  At the trailer park?

“I’m umm,” Chrissy bit her lip but then smirked as she looked down at Eddie, “I’m trying to teach someone to do a cartwheel even though that someone is being very difficult and is obviously trying to sabotage me.”

He smirked up at Chrissy, “First of all, it’s not that obvious and second, I told you that I’m just bad at athletic stuff,” Chrissy rolled her eyes, but he ignored her and said as he quickly got to his feet, “And if I really wanted to sabotage you, I’d do something like this…”  He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and threw her over his shoulder as she shrieked in laughter.  He turned around and looked at the other two girls while Chrissy’s butt was next to his face.  He didn’t acknowledge that, but he did tip his head at each of the girls as he said, “Hey Jane. Hey Red.”

“Put me down, you jerk,” Chrissy laughed. Even though she was laughing, Eddie quickly put her back on her feet for her to flash a pouty frown at him while she shoved his shoulder.

Eddie stumbled back dramatically as he rubbed his shoulder and mirrored her pout, “You’re so mean, Cunningham.”

“Poor baby,” Chrissy bit her lip and stepped closer to him.  She put her hand on his chest and his hand moved to her hip and Max wondered if it was time for them to leave.

She looked over her shoulder at Jane, who was grinning madly at the couple while bits of laughter escaped her mouth.  Well, she was probably grinning more at Eddie because Jane’s always been like that, completely enamored by him.  Not a crush, but more admiration of his fearlessness.

It probably helped that on the first day of high school when Belinda Johnson tripped Jane in the hallway and her books went flying, he helped her up.  But not until after he called Belinda the c-word and told her to fuck off and Jane thought that was the best thing she’d ever heard.  Even after she got into trouble with her dad for calling him the c-word, she still told anyone that would would listen that Eddie was the greatest person in the world.

Max didn’t know Eddie nearly as well.  She knew him through Lucas being in Hellfire.  She knew he blasted heavy metal out of his van and sometimes out of the trailer, but only when Mr. Munson wasn’t home.  She knew that he played DnD with her friends, and that Dustin looked up to him as much as he looked up to Steve.  She also knew that her mom told her to steer clear of him because he sold drugs.  But she didn’t know that he was a guy who was allowed to throw the head cheerleader over his shoulder or touch her hip…

Max was about to tell Jane that they should go.  They should say goodbye since they were intruding, but she knew that once they got back to her trailer, they would giggle and gossip about the couple until Jane’s dad came to pick them up for the weekend sleepover at her house.  She lifted up her hand to wave goodbye to the couple, but then Chrissy asked her, “What are you doing here?”

“I umm… live here,” Max stammered because it was hard to admit why she was there.  She used to live in a house, a nice house in Hawkins proper, but now she lived in a crappy trailer, but before her face could start to turn red from embarrassment and shame, Jane asked, “What is a... cartwheel?”

“Oh, it’s a tumbling move,” Chrissy smiled at Jane and quickly batted Eddie’s hand off of her hip while she turned to face the two girls once more, “It’s one of the first ones that you learn in gymnastics.”

Max looked at Eddie’s hand that had returned to Chrissy’s hip after she turned around and knew they were about to overstay their welcome, so they had to get out of there, “Well, we’ll let you—”

“Did you guys wanna learn to do one too?” Chrissy smiled at them as she batted Eddie’s hand away again, “A cartwheel, I mean?”

“Umm…” Max looked back at Jane who had a huge smile and was nodding her head vigorously at the question.

“Yeah,” Eddie smirked, “And maybe with you two here the drill sergeant will get off my ass—”

“Hey!” Chrissy turned to face Eddie with her mouth open in indignation that morphed into a smile as poked her finger into his chest, “You be good.”

Eddie smiled and looked into Chrissy’s eyes as his hands returned to her hips, “I’ll be good…” Then he leaned in and whispered something into her ear and Max just knew it had to have been something dirty with how Chrissy blushed.

“Eddie,” She quickly said as she pulled back, but he leaned in like he was going to kiss her, but she put her hand on his chest, “Not in front of…”  She mouthed the word “kids” before she looked over at Max and Jane with an awkwardly nervous smile.

Max knew that she and Jane probably weren’t helping with the awkwardness of the situation.  She knew that they should have turned away instead of intently watching the couple’s romantic scene play out in front of them. 

But... hey!  We’re not kids!

“Fine,” He groaned as his head fell forward to rest against Chrissy’s shoulder for a moment before it popped back up and he looked over at the freshmen girls and grinned out, “Who wants to learn how to do a cartwheel?”

Jane obviously did with the way she clapped her hands in front of her chest and hopped up and down with a huge grin on her face.  Max sighed out a smile and nodded too because she really did want to learn it as well.  In grade school, she had a friend who had tried to teach her before, but she could never wrap her head around how to do it.

Once Chrissy disentangled herself from Eddie’s grasp, which didn’t look like some small feat, she went over the basics on how to do a cartwheel.  And now that Max was shown the proper way to do it, she immediately knew why she could never do one.

Her friend always told her to fling herself to the side and let gravity do the rest, but that always ended with Max in a crumpled heap in the grass.  But now that she saw that you kinda start to do a handstand then pivot your body so it rolled sideways, she thought she could finally do one and she was right.  On her third attempt, she successfully executed a cartwheel. 

Even though she picked it up quickly, Eddie picked it up faster.  His first cartwheel was nearly perfect which netted him another shove from Chrissy while she laughed and called him, “Big faker,” for claiming that he wasn’t athletic.

Jane, on the other hand, took longer to pick the skill up.  It wasn’t her fault that she really wasn’t athletic.  She tried her best each and every day in PE, but it was almost like she couldn’t figure out how to make her body do things like throw a ball properly or even roller skate without looking like a newborn giraffe.

But Chrissy was patient with Jane.  She walked her through the steps, always with gentle encouragement until finally she was doing a slightly wonky cartwheel, but it still counted as a cartwheel.

Once Jane got the basic cartwheel down, Chrissy came over and stood next to Max and asked quietly, “Hey, you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” She whispered back, which wasn’t a complete lie since she was fine right at that specific moment…

“Well, we haven’t had a chance to meet up and talk for a few weeks,” Chrissy said quietly, “But I still want to do that with you because it helps.”

“Thanks,” Max said curtly and winced at her own tone.  She sighed and shook her head, “I… it’s okay I get that you’re—” She motioned to Eddie who was doing a handstand while Jane clapped and laughed “—busy.”

“Yeah, he’s umm,” Chrissy looked over at Eddie as he rolled onto his back from the handstand and then popped up into a standing position with his arms in the air.  She rolled her eyes and said under her breath with a smile, “God, he’s such a…”

She shook her head and then looked over at Max and said, “He and I have been spending a lot of time together and well… He’s easy to talk to and it helps but,” she sighed, “Well, it helps more when you and I talk because sometimes he doesn’t quite understand because he hasn’t… I dunno…”

“No, I…” Max nodded and smiled because, “I get it.  It is easier for me too.  I mean, it’s easier when we talk.  I try to talk to Lucas or Jane, but they don’t always get it because… I dunno…  Because…”

“Yeah,” Chrissy nodded, "Because..."

They stood in silence and watched as Jane did her wonky cartwheels while Eddie called her a bad ass and Max wished that she could be that again.  She wished that she could just do cartwheels and didn’t need to talk at picnic tables to keep from crying.  She wished…

Chrissy nudged Max's shoulder with her own.  Max looked over at Chrissy and saw her get a small smile, “Sooo, you wanna skip third period with me tomorrow?”

She blinked back at Chrissy and… it wasn’t her wish.  She probably wouldn’t ever get that wish, but still, this was something… hopeful.  So, she asked hopefully, “Picnic tables?”

Chrissy nodded with a bigger smile, “Picnic tables.”

Chapter Text

Mike cautiously pushed open the door to the backstage area of the school’s auditorium where Hellfire held their weekly campaigns.  He didn’t want to alert any school officials that he was still in the building after the allotted time that the school had designated for the club to meet. 

Hellfire was hanging by a tenuous thread lately.  Ever since that news story on 60 Minutes about Dungeons and Dragons, some parents got riled up about the game. Some had even complained about the school sanctioning a club that supposedly promoted satanism and teen suicide.

It was all bullshit.  Hellfire didn’t make him or any of the other members suicidal.  If fact, it saved him.  It saved Dustin and Will and hell, maybe it even saved Lucas too… Well, before Lucas got on the basketball team. 

The club saved them from being outcasts yet again.  Well, they were still outcasts, but at least now they were no longer outcasts adrift and all alone.  They were in a group with their fellow outcasts.  They were with people who don’t judge them for being nerds and into DnD.  And those people had scary enough reputations so that bullies would think twice before messing with the freshmen. 

And right now, some of those scary people were waiting on him to get his butt back out to the parking lot so that they could all head over to Benny’s for a congratulatory feast because they took down a dragon!  A freaking red dragon! 

Well, “took down” might be a bit inaccurate, but they didn’t get barbecued!  Everyone made it out unscathed plus they got loads of cool loot and lots of XP.  Something that great called for a celebration, but he was holding up that celebration because he had to sneak back into the school building to retrieve his Oriental Adventures handbook that he forgot to grab as he left. 

He needed that book.  He and Gareth were going to look through it and maybe begin to plan a campaign while they chowed down on burgers and fries. 

Eddie was sure to graduate this year, so someone had to take over for him next year.  He had been pushing for Gareth to be the club's dungeon master for the first half of the next school year, but Gareth was going to graduate early, so a new DM was needed for the long haul and Mike really wanted it to be him.

He had learned so much since joining Hellfire and specifically from Eddie.  Eddie was the greatest DM he’d ever seen.  He injected so much drama and energy into every campaign.  He was open to a lot of unconventional thinking, but he also knew how to rein people in before they could tank the adventure.

He could do this.  He could put together a campaign that would… well not rival Eddie’s because that was out of the question.  But maybe he’d get a nod and smile from him, so yeah, he needed that book.

Mike heard the door quietly click shut behind him as he silently threaded his way through the theater department’s props and lighting stands that are stored backstage.  He could see that the Hellfire meeting spot was still lit up and he rolled his eyes because someone forgot to turn out the lights and knowing their luck the school would consider it a fire hazard and shut down their club.

Well, it was a good thing I’m here he thought as he smiled heroically but then he stopped because he heard something.  There were voices coming from the area lit up just beyond the huge castle set piece.  He listened intently, trying to figure out who was there because if it was a janitor or some other school employee, he would need to get the heck out of there.

Then he heard a female voice, “Are you sure it was okay?”

He knew that voice.  It was Chrissy Cunningham, the Queen of Hawkins High and now a member of Hellfire, at least according to Eddie, and Mike still couldn’t believe it because… Because she was a cheerleader and the most popular girl in school. 

Girls like her didn’t hang out among the backstage props of the school theater department playing a game where they all pretended to be heroes.  She was supposed to go to parties and dances and the mall.  She was supposed to cheer at football and basketball games and date athletes and make fun of people like him.

But no, there she was.  Just sitting there at the table talking to Eddie when Mike and Dustin rounded the castle set piece at the start of the night.  Sitting there wearing a pink sweater and Guess jeans and a nervous smile while she said hello in a tiny voice.

She wasn’t supposed to be nervous!  She was supposed to set their nerves on edge with her coolness and popularity!  But no, she looked kinda scared of him. 

It probably didn’t help that he just stood there with his mouth gaping open like she was some kind of deadly siren that had befuddled Eddie and wormed its way into their midst.  He looked over at Dustin who should have also been gawping, but instead he was waving and said, “Hi Chrissy.”

Mike looked back to Chrissy who seemed to relax as she smiled and waved back, “Hi Dustin.”

“Chrissy,” Eddie stood up and gestured towards Mike and said with false paternal pride, “This is Mike Wheeler, my Gap kid.”

Mike rolled his eyes because Eddie was never going to let him live that down.  He’d been growing his hair out and trying to phase out the clothes his mom got him at… The Gap…  He’d been using some of his allowance money to pick up an Iron Maiden and a Twisted Sister shirt.  And he was going to add those shirts to his wardrobe along with a pair of jeans that had developed a nice hole in the knee if he could only figure out how to get them past his mom in the morning.

“Well boys,” Eddie grinned as they both sighed at being called boys and then he gestured to Chrissy, “I found you the sixth player you’re going to need if you want to survive tonight’s campaign.”

Wait what!?  The Queen is their sixth!?  Does she even know how to play!?  How would she even find the time to learn how to play between all the school dances and sporting events that Eddie scoffed at!? 

“But…”  Before Mike could get out a second “but”, Eddie had rounded the table and was right up in his face.  Mike gulped and looked up at his dungeon master that seemed to tower over him. 

He looked directly into Mike’s eyes and said in a low growl, “You better think before you say anything stupid Mike Wheeler, because if you recall, I let you bring a fucking 7^th grader to my Vecna campaign.”

“Come on, Eddie,” Dustin whispered defensively, “Erica was really good and knew her stuff and—”

“So does Chrissy,” Eddie said with a smirk as his eyes bored into Mike.  Eddie’s hands landed heavily on his shoulders and gripped them tightly, enough to cause a bit of discomfort that Mike was pretty sure was on purpose to let him know that their brief discussion was over.  The decision had been made and there would be no further discourse on the subject because this was not a democracy. 

Mike heard the door open behind him as he looked over at Dustin, who just shrugged and took a seat across from Chrissy.  The guys from Corroded Coffin filled in, but before Jeff could sit down, Mike motioned with his head at Chrissy.

“He said she knows her stuff so…” Jeff shrugged and seemed unphased, so okay…

Gareth also didn’t seem to care that she was there and instead joked around with her, so maybe she does know her stuff.  Maybe it would be okay.

Mike sat down next to Dustin and gave him a pointed look.  Dustin sighed, “Don’t worry Mike, she passed a test.”

What did that mean!?  He sighed as he got out his character sheet and his dice and okay… maybe just give her a chance.  That’s what good DMs did.  That’s what Eddie did.  He just gave them all a chance and invited them to his first campaign of the school year with no try out required.

And maybe if she does know her stuff then maybe he could get Jane to try to join the group.  He had been trying to entice his girlfriend into playing again after their disastrous first effort with just Will, Lucas, and Dustin, but maybe with another girl around, she would be game, especially since that girl was Chrissy Cunningham. 

Jane had kinda become obsessed with her the last few days.  She claimed that the Queen of Hawkins High had taught her to do a cartwheel, but he wasn’t so sure about that since his girlfriend would sometimes inflate friendships with people who might merely be acquaintances.  Maybe she’d come if there was a shot at actually having a real friendship with Chrissy, but that all was contingent on the head cheerleader actually knowing her stuff.

Well, it turned out that Eddie and Dustin were right.  Chrissy did know her stuff.  She had rolled an elven bard named Eliza, which had Mike worried at first.  Playing a support class could be challenging even for veteran players, but she held up her end well.  She cast her bardic inspiration buffs during the fights and did the occasional flourishing swipes with her rapier to help clear trash mobs as they moved through the dungeon.

But the final test of her abilities came when they found the boss.  A dragon.  A red dragon.  An ancient, intelligent, and very evil red dragon. 

When they huddled to discuss their battle plan, Chrissy suggested that maybe they should try to talk to it first which was met with dumbfounded looks.  Gareth barked a scoffing laugh before he proceeded to explain to her why it would be a very bad idea to talk to an evil, enormous, magical beast that could roast them in a second, then he and the rest of the guys started talking tactics. 

Mike watched Chrissy bite her frowning bottom lip when her suggestion was immediately shot down, but he had to hand it to her, she regrouped quickly and joined in with the conversation on what bardic spells to cast to buff the group.  When they ungrouped from their huddle and returned to their seats, all the guys used their first turns to spread out, cast buffs, and set-up their attacks. 

But on her turn, Chrissy did the unthinkable.  She talked to the dragon.

She moved her marker directly in front of the dragon on the grid map then looked up at Eddie.  He cocked his head and had a look on his face that was similar to the look he had when Erica described to him with gleeful detail Lady Applejack sliding a kukri between someone’s fourth and fifth ribs. 

Chrissy held out her hand towards Eddie for him to shake while she said, “Hello, I’m Eliza.”

The table erupted into a cacophony of dismay and maybe a bit of anger.  Everyone was talking over each other as they demanded to know what she was doing and if she had gone insane and if she knew that what she was doing was going to get them all killed.

Then Eddie’s voice boomed out over them, “Shut the fuck up!”

He looked at Chrissy and smiled.  His voice was soft and calm when he asked her, “You realize you're trying to have a conversation with an evil dragon, right?”

“Um, yes?” She looked at all the horrified faces around the table and then sat up straighter and addressed the table with more assurance, “Yes.  Yes, I do.”

Eddie raised a brow at her as she focused on him again when he asked, “And you know that evil dragons hate elves, right?”

Everyone held their breath and watched in silence for her to reply. 

“Umm,” She bit her lip as her eyes got huge, “Nooo…”

Gareth and that other Corroded Coffin guys all threw up their hands as a whole new set of murmurs and grumbles began.

Eddie held up a finger and hissed a shushing noise.  He smiled at her and then addressed the rest of the table, “Now since Chrissy’s new, I’m gonna give her an opportunity to change her mind.” 

He directed his next question to her, “Do you want to change your opening move?  Do you want to go along with what the rest of the group wants to do?  It’s the safer route.  There’s no shame in going that way, Chrissy.”

She swallowed and looked around the table.  Everyone was silently nodding at her to let her know they really thought she should backtrack and go along with the original plan. 

Mike knew that it was the smart thing to do.  It was the best course of action because there was a 99% chance that talking to the dragon would end up with the party being reduced to ash, but…  but the dungeon master in him kinda wanted to see where she would take this and he also thought Eddie did too, what with the way he was looking at her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she said, “No.” 

Everyone around the table groaned and lamented the assured death of their characters.  Gareth looked like he was actually going to cry with the way his hands covered his face while he shook his head.

“No,” She said again before she looked at Eddie and held out her hand and with renewed confidence as she said, “Hello, my name is Eliza.”

Eddie cocked his head and smile slowly formed across his face as took her hand and kissed her knuckle before he said, “You can call me Lux.”

Chrissy bit her lip and her cheeks flushed before she made her impassioned plea for the group.  Mike and the guys listened as she told Eddie, or rather Lux, that she didn’t think that they should let old grudges keep them from talking to each other.  Old grudges that were formed a long time ago by elves and dragons that were probably long dead.  And even if they weren’t dead, they and the reasons for their grudges were probably irrelevant today.  She also explained that since they were both intelligent creatures, they should cast aside those old prejudices and not be beholden to the past.

Eddie for this part, smiled and looked into her eyes but occasionally rolled a die behind his DM screens and then told her to continue after she would pause for the outcome.  He rested his head against his hand, seemingly spellbound as he listened to her, and he wasn’t the only one.  The rest of the guys also listened to her.  Dustin even spoke up and said that she had made a good point when she mentioned that good and evil are social constructs that shouldn’t keep people from talking to each other.

“And yeah,” She bit her lip before she finished her summation, “I would like us to talk more and maybe see if we wanna be, umm, friends and stuff…”

Eddie still rested his head against his hand and said dreamily, “Roll.”

She picked up the 20-sided die and shook it in her hand before she released it and let it roll across the dungeon board.  Everyone held their breath as the die turned over and over.  This had been a huge chance to take because even with her modifiers, she needed to roll at least a 19 to keep the dragon from bathing the room in fire.  When the die finally landed, it stopped on 20.  Critical success!

“Oh!” She squeaked and grinned at everyone at the table before she softly clapped her hands and quietly yelled, “Hooray!” 

The rest of the table erupted in cheers and high-fives.  Mike watched Eddie lean back onto his throne.  Eddie smiled at her as she bit her lip and smiled back at him while everyone on her side of the table threw their arms around her in an overwhelming group hug.

“You did great.”  Eddie’s voice broke Mike out of his memories and back to now as he continued, “They all got some gear and a fuck-ton of experience, plus you got that ring that’ll let you call Lux to help you in battle—”

“Yeah, but…”

Mike moved closer.  He was still in the shadows and obscured by the huge castle set where he peeked out from, but he could see both of them now.  Eddie was slouched on the throne that he DM’d from and she sat on the table in front of him with her back to Mike.

“But I was being bossy and—”

“You know I like a bossy girl,” Eddie grinned, but then he got a more serious look on his face, “And standing your ground and doing something… unconventional… It isn’t a bad thing, Chrissy.”

“I know, but…”  She sighed and he could see her slump a bit, “I jeopardized the party and the whole campaign on something that had a slim chance of succeeding.”

“No, you didn’t,” He snorted a laugh, “Trust me, I was gonna wipe the floor with those fuckers.”

She laughed and looked up at the lighting rig above the stage then Eddie asked, “Why did you wanna talk to the dragon anyways?”

“I guess…” She looked back down at him, “I meant what I said about good and evil.  It’s… it’s like with DnD.  The people at my church say it’s evil, but it’s not.  They just haven’t bothered to actually learn about it.”

Mike watched Eddie as he cocked his head at Chrissy.  His eyes had this look of longing and now Mike felt like he might be intruding, but he really needed that book.  He wondered if he should maybe make his way back to the door and then loudly stomp towards the table so that they would know that he was coming, which would be much more preferable than getting caught clandestinely listening in to their conversation.  But then Chrissy continued, and he couldn’t help but want to see how the scene played out.

“Just because it’s different doesn’t make something bad or evil.  It’s just different,” She shifted her shoulders a bit.  “And anyway, sometimes evil is just…”

“Misunderstood?” Eddie asked softly.  A smile playing on his mouth that was slightly open as if in awe of her.

“I was gonna say sexy, but…”

Eddie huffed a laugh and held out his hand to her.  Chrissy slid off of the table and took his outstretched hand.  He brought her hand up to his lips and brushed a kiss across the knuckles like he did during the campaign.

Mike let out a quiet sigh because that was so sweet.  He should do that with Jane.  She would love it and… W-wait as sec, hang on…

Chrissy kept moving towards Eddie who had a crooked smile on his face.  When she reached him, she climbed onto the throne with him and straddled his lap.  Her free hand cupped his cheek, and he raked his fingers through her hair to grasp her head as their mouths crashed together in a passionate kiss.

Mike quickly hid behind the castle set because holy crap!  What the hell was happening!? 

How long had "the freak" and the Queen of Hawkins High been making out because that really didn’t look like their first kiss.  He knew he had been out of the loop for a while since he had been hanging out with Jane a lot more but come on!  How did he miss this!?  Did Dustin or Lucas or Will know and if they did, why didn’t they tell him!?

Then he remembered last Saturday’s movie night at Steve’s house.  He had only been half listening when Lucas bragged that he got Eddie a date with some cheerleader and Dustin asked if they were actually going out because he heard that they were only friends, but then Steve interjected, “Oh yeah, those two are definitely going out.”  Mike had heard them, but he hadn’t really been paying attention since he had been too busy giggling in the overstuffed chair with Jane but now he realized that the cheerleader they were talking about was the one currently locking lips with Eddie while she straddled his lap!

But you know, him being out of the loop didn’t really matter right now because he had to get the hell out of there!   He was absolutely intruding and if Eddie caught him there…  Well, Mike didn’t like his chances to make it to 10^th grade if he did.   

He looked back towards the door that he came through to begin with, but he couldn’t see a thing in the darkness.  He had been looking too long into the light, so now the rest of the room was pitch black.  His eyes would need to adjust before he could move but he needed to get the hell out of there and quick because now he could hear the sounds of kissing and some low groans.  Crap!

Then suddenly it was quiet except for some rustling sounds, so maybe they’ve stopped?  Maybe they’re gonna gather their things and leave and make-out somewhere else?  He decided to sneak a peek to check because if they were leaving and they headed in his direction, he was gonna need to hide because he wanted to live. 

He peeked around the corner and his mouth gaped open, Oh no!  He looked just in time to watch Chrissy pull her sweater up over her head.  One of Eddie’s hands splayed across her lower back while the other quickly unhooked the closure of her bra with practiced ease...  No! No-no-no-no-no!

Mike quickly looked away.  They’re not just gonna make out, they’re gonna do it!  They’re gonna do it right here!  I’ve gotta get out of here!

He looked back into the pitch black of the room and tried to remember the route he took through the maze of set pieces and lighting rigs because he really needed to get out of there now!  The one thing that he wanted to see even less than any of his friends making out was any of his friends doing it! 

You know what, screw it!  He threw himself into the darkness and stumbled through the backstage area trying to be quiet.  He bumped into a wooden, two-dimensional bush and hoped that he didn’t make too much noise, but it still was tipping over.  He grabbed at it and breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to quickly right it before it could fall over. 

He looked up and let out a quiet, “Yes!” when suddenly his salvation appeared.  He could have cried when he spotted the line of light along the floor, a glorious light that shined through the crack at the bottom of the door from the hallway beyond.  It created a beacon of hope that he could head towards.  It didn’t look that far away so he was just gonna make a break for it. 

He took two steps and immediately tripped over a lighting tripod.  Both he and it crashed to the ground.  He groaned and hoped that it didn’t make too much noise, but when he turned over to check he saw a figure looming above him.  Gulp!

“Mike Wheeler.”  Eddie’s face was shrouded in darkness, but he didn’t need to see his friend’s face to let him know exactly how annoyed he was.  Even though Eddie’s voice was calm and steady, hearing him say both his first and last names was still one of the scariest things that Mike had ever heard. 

“Whatcha doin’ out here in the dark, Mike?”  Eddie’s question felt a lot less like question and more like a threat…

Mike took a deep breath, “I-I came back for my book, you know the new DnD one I got last weekend, ‘cause… ‘cause…” He swallowed, “Me and Gareth want to look through it when we’re at Benny’s and umm, are you gonna go to that or are you busy?” Eddie’s head cocked to the side menacingly which sent Mike into full panic mode and started to babble out, “Not that you’d be busy or… or not busy or… or that you and Chrissy would be busy together or… Or alone—”

“You should stop talking now, Wheeler.”

Mike nodded and took his friend’s advice as well as his hand that he extended to help him up.  After he was pulled to his feet, Eddie said, “Go get your book, Mike Wheeler.”

Mike nodded again and really wished that Eddie would stop saying his first and last names like that.  Each time he did, it was like an indictment that he knowingly spied on them, which he didn’t.  How was he supposed to know that those two would start doing it after the game!? 

He opened his mouth to tell Eddie that, to plead his case, but then he remembered the advice that he shouldn’t talk, and he decided that he was going to follow it.

Mike made his way around the castle set piece to see Chrissy seated at one of the chairs around the table and thank God she had her sweater back on.  She looked up and finger waved at him.  He waved back and noticed how flushed her cheeks were, probably from embarrassment or…  He really didn’t want to think about it.

He grabbed the book from the table and looked at Eddie as he backed up.  Now that he could see his face and he knew he was right to be scared because his face was devoid of expression, like a mob hitman who would kill him and bury him in the woods behind the school without a second thought.  Mike smiled and hoped that they couldn’t see how scared he was right now, “I’m just gonna go now…”

He stumbled and landed against the castle set piece and it shook alarmingly.  He held onto it until it stilled and then looked at them again, “I guess I’ll see you later?”

He looked at Chrissy and he wanted to tell her, “You did really good tonight, especially with the dragon thing.  It was good.  Not bossy at all…”  Oh my God, shut up! was all he could tell himself when he watched her eyes go wide and her cheeks flush even further when he revealed just how long he was there, which was not long at all, but also entirely too long.

Mike looked at Eddie and saw his jaw tick and he knew he needed to leave, “Okay, bye.”  He turned and rushed towards the exit then he heard a voice behind him.

“Hey Mike,” He looked back to see Eddie leaning up against the castle set.  He was back lit and just a dark silhouette outlined by a halo of light, “Make sure you lock the door when you go.”

Mike let out a nervous laugh and nodded before he stammered out, “S-sure.”  He hurried through the door, making sure to lock it behind him, and before it closed, he heard Eddie.

“Fuckin’ kids…”

Chapter Text

Fuck this day!

Eddie sighed as he leaned against the kitchen counter.  He scrubbed the heels of his hands across his eyes before he ran them through his hair.  This had been one of the worst fucking days of his life. 

Fuck, why did I run that goddamn stop sign!?

If he had only stopped then fucking Callahan wouldn’t have pulled him over.  And if he hadn’t gotten pulled over then his van wouldn’t have been searched.  And if no one searched his van, then no one wouldn’t have ever known about the fucking paper bag full of freshly rolled joints and knotted-closed sandwich bags holding carefully weighed out buds.  But Callahan found it and Eddie ended up in cuffs before being thrown into a holding cell.  And the worst part was that if he had just fucking stopped at that damn stop sign, then Chrissy wouldn’t have seen the worst of him.

It wasn’t like she didn’t know he was a dealer.  He’d never tried to hide it, but he didn’t advertise it to her either.  He just kept up his low profile to keep authority figures from looking too closely at him.  She never asked about it, so he never talked about it, and she never saw it.

But fuck, now she absolutely saw it because she fucking went into that fucking police station and lied for him.  She told him the whole fucking story as they drove back to his place.  She told him that she told Hop that it was all her personal stash and that she was addicted to pot. 

Her, the little rule follower.  The good girl addicted to anything other than being a beacon of hope and a light in the darkness would have been fucking funny if it wasn’t ripping his guts out.

Fuck and it wasn’t just her.  Jeff almost got busted too because he just happened to be in the van with him.  Fucking Callahan was almost fucking giddy to bust the two of them even though Eddie told him that Jeff wasn’t part of it.

Both him and Jeff got so fucking lucky when Officer Powell showed up.  At least that guy knew a scared and innocent high school student when he saw one and let Jeff go.  Well, he not only let him go, but also let him drive Eddie’s van away instead of having it impounded.

Fuck he got lucky, and he had to be good and not push that luck, so he was gonna have to wait to go see Rick for a bit.  He had to wait for things to cool down because Hop did him a real fucking solid by not only letting him go but also letting him keep enough of his product that he could sell and break even on expenses.  So, he can’t disappoint Hop because that fucking guy will probably post up on the turn-off to Lover’s Lake and rip Eddie a new one if he so much as drove by the fucking place.

But as much as he had been feeling fucking lucky, all of that came crashing down around him when he saw Chrissy.  Saw her with her arms around her waist, hugging herself as she waited for him outside of the station.  Seeing her like that ripped his heart in two because he didn’t want to remind her that she shouldn’t be around him.  He didn’t want to remind her that he’s his father’s son.

His goddamn shitty father… 

That fucking piece of trash used to do shit like this after Eddie’s mom died.  He’d shack up with some girl barely out of high school who was desperate for some older man to love them and fucking corrupt them.  They’d lie and steal and be a look-out for that sack of shit and he’d just use them up.

He didn’t want to be like his father.  In fact, he swore he’d never be like that fucking human cesspool, but he still ended up that way.  He still ended up in a fucking cell with a girl lying to get him out. 

Chrissy shouldn’t be around him.  He was bad for her.  He was corrupting her.  She was a golden ray of sunshine, and he was shrouding her in darkness.

But even though he was the fucking worst, he couldn’t tell her to go.  He couldn’t tell her what to do because her mom gave her enough of that shit in her life.  He wouldn’t ever make decisions for her, but he also didn’t want to drag her down into the gutter with him.

He winced as a fresh round of self-loathing hit him.  Maybe he should just do the fucking honorable thing and commit seppuku.  His guts already felt like they had spilled out onto the floor, so why not just make it real and then she’d have to go. 

“Eddie?”

He opened his eyes and there she was.  Chrissy was standing in front of him.  He was so deep in his own head that he didn’t even hear her move from the couch to stand in front of him in the kitchen, biting her lip.

She looked nervous and scared and she should be.  She’s good, too good for him.  She doesn’t do bad things.  She was a good girl who followed the rules and that was one of the many things that he found so appealing about her.

After Hopper yelled at them to go home, she followed the Chief of Police’s instructions to the letter and drove them straight to the trailer to hang out with Wayne.  When they got there, she insisted that they sit on the couch with his uncle and watch his ‘70’s cop show with him.  So, they sat together with her thigh pressed up against his as they watched fucking Ricky Nelson lure girls into his web with a pied piper act before he’d dispose of them when they were no longer useful to him. 

Wayne must have seen his anguish because he pulled him aside before he left for work and asked if he was okay.  So, Eddie lied his ass off and said he was fine, but his uncle still put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze and told him to get Chrissy something to drink and then left for his shift.  Yeah, Wayne knew something was wrong because he called her Chrissy, not his “friend”.

And that was what he was trying to do, get the too-good-for-him girl something to drink, but he ended up just standing there wallowing in self-pity.  But now she was in front of him with her arms wrapped around her waist like she was giving herself a hug. 

“Eddie?” She asked again and this time her lip trembled, and her voice got quieter, “Are you mad at me?”

“What!?”

Holy fuck!  Why would he be mad at her!?  It should be the other way around.  She should be pissed at him.  She should slap him and storm out of the trailer and never look back.  She should realize that he was dragging her down and tell him to never speak to her again.

“No, no you…” He shook his head and told her, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She sighed, “I did lie to the chief of police…”

“Okay yeah, technically that was wrong but…” He huffed a mirthless laugh before he shook his head again, “But I’m not mad at you.  I’m only mad at myself and… Okay, maybe I’m a little mad at Jeff…”

“Don’t be,” She looked down at her hands that she was now wringing in front of her, “He only told me about this because I kept hounding him…”

He shifted his jaw and rolled his eyes, “Okay fine.”  Jeff only ended up in that situation because of him so maybe he won’t murder his best friend this time…

‘…And because he knows,” She swallowed and looked up into his eyes, “He knows how I feel about you.”

Any other day, any other time Eddie would have rejoiced at any suggestion that she liked him, but not today.  Not right now because right now he just felt like that fucking pied piper on the show.  Playing his song and luring the girl to her doom. 

“Chrissy, you shouldn’t…” He stopped himself because he couldn’t tell her what to do.  “I’m not…  I’m a bad person, Chrissy.”

“No Eddie—”

“Yes.  Yes, I am,” He shook his head and smiled bitterly, “Shit, I fucking got arrested for—”

“Okay, that wasn’t good, but,” She reached out and touched the back of one his hands that was sticking out of his jean’s pockets that they were both jammed into, “You do so many good things.”

He snorted a derisive laugh, “Yeah, I’m the fucking drug dealer with the heart of gold…”

“Eddie…” She shook her head and said, “You’re not bad.  You do good things like how you’re kind to all of your friends, and you accept them for who they are.”  Somehow her hand had pulled one of his out of his pocket and she was looked down at it and rubbing her thumb across his palm, “You help them out and you protect all those freshmen from the jerks at school and they know that you have their backs.”

He let out a long breath and looked up at the water stains on the kitchen ceiling and okay fine.  Some of that was true…

“And you care about your uncle so much,” She pulled his other hand out of his pocket and was holding both of his hands now, “And he loves you and I don’t think he’d love a bad person.”

Okay, so only half of that was true.  He knew for a fact that Wayne still loved his brother.  Eddie might have cut that cancerous piece of shit out of his life, but he knew that his uncle still visited Eddie’s father in prison at least once a month.

“And I care about you,” Her head was still down and looking at his hands that she held in hers, “So I know you’re not bad.”

“Chrissy, no… I’m—”

“I mean it Eddie,” Chrissy looked up at him and said with so much conviction that he halfway believed her, “You’re not bad.”

He sighed, “Chrissy… Okay fine but…” He shook his head and took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, “Even if I’m not bad, I’m not good either.”

“I know,” She said as her eyes bored into his soul, “But you know, Jason was good.  I mean he is good…”

He nodded and closed his eyes to hide his resentment because as much as he fucking hates that prick, fucking Jason Carver is good.  Mr. Captain Basketball.  King of Hawkins High.  Mr. Drives-a-new-Jeep-Cherokee.  Mr. My-family-has-a-summer-home.  Mr. Perfect-who-would-never-be-a-drug-dealer… 

She should be with someone who was good.  Fuck, he wished he could be good. 

“But being good isn’t always good,” She whispered, “Because he wasn’t good for me.”

He opened his eyes and looked into the deep blue pools of her eyes.  He could feel his mouth gape open a bit because he wasn’t sure what he was hearing.

He watched her bring her hand up to his face and said, “But I think you are…” as her hand brushed along his cheek, fingertips stuttering along the day-old stubble, “…I think you can be good to me.”

His heart pounded in his chest, and he quickly nodded, “I want to…” He rarely touched her because he never felt worthy, but he couldn’t help but to mirror her and run his fingertips along her soft cheek, “I wanna be good to you.”

He swallowed and his head cocked to the side as his thumb moved caressingly across her bottom lip.  He didn’t mean to get so intimate and would have pulled away if she hadn’t opened her mouth and if her tongue hadn’t delicately licked the pad of his thumb.  Then she took his thumb into her mouth to the first knuckle and sucked and now he couldn’t pull away.

He panted as he watched her, not sure what to focus on.  Her eyes that were blown out pools ringed in blue or her mouth that was wrapped around his thumb making images of her mouth wrapped around other parts of him invade his mind.

He had to kiss her even though he had been waiting for her to do it first.  He didn’t want to kiss her only to find out that she only wanted to be friends with him and that he ruined what they had.  So, he waited for her invitation, and this seemed like a pretty fucking obvious invitation right here.

He pulled his thumb out of her mouth and cupped her cheek.  He wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her body against his as he leaned down to press a kiss against her parted lips.

Then it was like a dam burst.  Passion exploding in a tangle of tongues and teeth.  Mouths battling each other for dominance brought on by weeks of held back sexual tension.  God it was ugly, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. 

But he still made himself slow down, let her lead the kiss.  Let her tongue invade his mouth.  Let her suck on his bottom lip until it hurt and then let her do it some more.

Then she hopped up and wrapped her legs around his waist.  He smiled against her mouth as he stumbled backwards into the fridge.  He wrapped an arm around her ass to support her and groaned when his hand touched the skin of her naked thigh just below her cheer shorts.

He quickly turned them around, so her back was pressed against the appliance to help hold her tightly against him.  She gasped when he pressed her hard against the fridge and he smiled as he thrust his tongue into her mouth to explore every inch.

Then her lips wrapped around his tongue and sucked, and he was back to imagining other parts of him she could do that too, but he can’t do that right now.  They’d been kissing for less than a minute, so he had to get his filthy fucking head out of the gutter.

He pulled back and broke the kiss to get his mind back to where they were now.  He panted, tried to get back some of the air he was missing. He smiled while he watched her do the same.  Sucking in air through kiss swollen lips.  Air that they had been depriving each other of in their desperation.

His eyes roved between hers and her lips, not sure what to look at when he said, “Fuck, I wanna be so good to you.”

She nodded and grabbed a handful of his hair to pull him into another consuming kiss and that was what she had been doing.  Consuming him.  Enthralling him so that she dominated his every waking thought for weeks now. 

She was doing it now too.  The only thoughts in his head were of her.  How her lips and tongue were so fucking soft, and her fingertip were so cool on his cheek.  How it felt like she was going to rip his fucking hair out by the roots in an effort to keep his lips against hers.  And her moans, fuck the way that she moaned when he pressed his body against hers. 

But he needed to break the kiss, they had to breathe again.  He had to let her breathe, so he pulled back just a bit to move from kissing her lips to sucking kisses along her jaw before lavishing his tongue against her neck.

“Oh, fuck baby,” Eddie moaned into her ear between kisses to her neck, “I’ve wanted you for so fucking long.”

“Oh God, me too,” She moaned her reply as she tipped her head back to give him better access to her neck.

“S’it okay?” He asked and she tipped her head forward with a questioning look, so he clarified, “That I called you ‘baby’?”

She quickly nodded and panted out, “Yeah, you can call me whatever you want when we’re alone.”

He grinned and bit kisses along her neck, reveling in the way she squirmed against him each time her skin was between his teeth, “Okay princess.”

She moaned headily as he bit the junction of her neck and shoulder and grinned out, “Cheer Queen.”

He groaned out, “Sweetheart,” and he pressed himself against her so she could feel exactly how much she excited him as he dipped his tongue into the divot at the base of her throat.

“I like that one,” She gasped out and pulled his hair so that his head tilted back for her to plunge her tongue into his mouth.  He moaned as she caressed his entire mouth before she broke the kiss to say, “I like ‘baby’ too.”

He nodded and could feel a goofy crooked smile form on his mouth as he said, “Okay baby, sweetheart, lover…”

“Lover’s good too.”

“Oh, fuck yes!” He growled out before he plunged his tongue back into her mouth making her moan and shimmy her body against him.  Fuck he wanted her.  He’d never wanted anyone so much as he did her, but he still pulled back from the kiss because maybe she wasn’t ready for this.  He sure as fuck was, but he could control himself if she doesn’t want to…

“Do you have any condoms?” She breathed out between panting breaths, then said, “Lov-ver,” in a stuttered whine that went straight to his crotch.

“The bedroom,” He breathed out through what he knew was a stupid looking grin, “I have some in the bedroom.”

He had got a new box months ago, right before all this started.  But ever since she ripped him a new one in in the hall between classes, he hadn’t thought about any other girls…  No wait, it was even before that.  He hadn’t even thought about another girl ever since that day in the cafeteria when he asked her if she would cheer at one of the Hellfire campaigns, so the box had remained unopened.

“I need you, Eddie,” She nodded, and he mirrored her, “I need you to be good to me.”

He huffed a laugh as he held her tight against him while he walked them into his bedroom, “I’ll be so fucking good to you,” and kicked the door closed with his foot.

Chrissy tiptoed her way back into Eddie’s room from her visit to the bathroom and quietly shut the door behind her.  She slowly climbed back into his bed and slid under the covers, trying not to wake him up.  Dawn was just breaking and casting a glow into the room, but it was still too early for them to get up, especially after the night they had.

After they had got back from the police station and after Wayne left for his shift, they talked and well…  They did other things too and probably would have spent the entire afternoon and night wrapped up in each other if she didn’t have a game to cheer at and he didn’t have a DnD group to lead.

So, they giggled and smiled knowingly at each other as they got dressed and headed back to Hawkins High.  After each of their games ended, she found herself pressed up against his van with her legs wrapped around him, leaving her to wonder if they would be forced to return to the police station with charges of lewd behavior against them. 

But they somehow made it back to the trailer and into his bedroom where they spent the night together.  And it was…  When she had sex with Jason, it was nice and okay and… not bad but with Eddie, it was different.

With him it was exciting and breathtaking.  Her toes curled and her eyes fluttered, and her body did other things that she thought was a bunch of hyperbole that they put romance novels.  But no, her body did those things because of him.  And afterwards, he held her tightly.  In fact, when she woke up, he had wrapped himself tightly around her as if to keep her from being stolen away in the night, and it took her a bit of effort to untangle herself from him so that she could use the bathroom.

She slowly pulled up the covers and laid down on her side.  While she liked being held by him, she didn’t want to wake him up, but it didn’t seem to matter.  She heard him take a heavy breath behind her before he pressed himself up against her back.  His arms and one of his legs wrapped around her like an octopus and she couldn’t help but giggle quietly.

“Wha’so funny?” He asked sleepily into her hair.

“You,” She smiled and laid her head down on his right arm that he somehow managed to snake under her head, “I never knew you were such a snuggler.”

He breathed a sleepy laugh into her hair, “Yeah well, you’re just so snuggly, so...”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” She smiled.

“Nope,” His arm wrapped around her tighter to pull her even closer against him, “You’re the first girl I’ve slept with.”

She snorted a laugh, “Okay now that’s just-” She turned to lay on her back and looked at the crooked smile on his face, “-horse pucky,” and she pointedly ignored his grin at the word.  She smirked at him and dared him to make fun of her for not cussing, but when he didn’t, she told him, “Because there’s no way that was your first time…”

“I could just be naturally talented…” He smiled as he traced his finger along the letters of his Hellfire Club shirt that she had wiggled her way into for her visit to the bathroom.

“Was it your first time?”

“No,” He chuckled and then laid his head down on the pillow.  The smile faded from his face as he stroked her hair and he quietly admitted, “I’ve never… actually spent the night with anyone or slept next to anyone.”

“Me either.”

“Oh yeah,” He grinned, “Not even with Mr. Basketball?”

“No,” She rolled her eyes as she turned onto her side to face him.  He might have grinned, but there was a neediness in his eyes.  Like he needed this moment to be purely theirs, and it was, so she told him, “I never wanted to be with him like I want to be with you, and I think it’s because…”

She bit her lip as she thought about Jason.  How quickly after he asked her out that she thought she loved him even though they barely knew each other.  And how quickly she realized she didn’t because they never really had enough in common to even like each other that much. 

But this was different.  She and Eddie talk all the time.  They find commonalities all the time because they talk all the time and hang around with each other and she missed him when he wasn’t there.  She liked Eddie.  And not only liked him, but… 

Her heart started to race when she said, “Because I didn’t feel…”  She never felt nervous when she told Jason all those times that she loved him.  Probably because, “I didn’t love him…”

She looked into his eyes that were still dark in the low light of the early morning and felt so scared as she told him, “…Like how I love you.”

“You love me?” He looked quickly between her eyes and his jaw kept working even though no other sounds came out.

“It’s…” She swallowed and wondered if maybe he didn’t feel the same, “It’s okay if you don’t because—”

“No,” His eyes brightened as a smile formed on his face, “I just never thought that…”  He swallowed quickly and said, “Fuck baby, I love you so much,” as his mouth crashed against hers in a wet and ugly kiss that she couldn’t help but smile at.

He pulled back and peppered kisses on her cheeks and lips as he babbled out, “I’ve been in love with you for so fucking long.  That day you gave me shit in the hallway, I just knew and—”  He pulled back and cocked his brow questioningly, “Is that weird?”

“No, not at all,” She smiled back and cupped his cheek, “I think I felt the same way, even though I was yelling at you.”

He huffed a laugh, “You know, I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid of scaring you away.”

“Yeah, me too,” She nodded as she pulled his head closer to hers, “But now I realize that I should have told you sooner.”

“Yeah, me too but that doesn't matter 'cause,” He smiled and leaned down and before he kissed her, he said against her lips, “You’re worth the wait.”