About You

About You

(Late December 1984- Early January 1985)

Chapter 3: The Party

Eddie Munson x female!harrington!reader

Chapter summary: You find it harder and harder still to resist the temptation that is Eddie.  Eventually, you let yourself take the leap, but will the plan be executed according to design...? 

Word Count: 7k

series masterlist here

Chapter warnings: +18 mature themes, panic attacks, angst, light fluff, mature language, mentions of sex, mentions of drugs and smoking (weed and cigarettes), partying, drinking (reader being heavily intoxicated), 

If you were in a staring contest with the trees in your backyard, it’s safe to say you won.  Your eyes had been glued on the foreboding lumber for 5 minutes now, daring anything in the tree line to move. Within the trees you saw yourself, weaving in and out of them with Nance, the two of you willing Barb to return with the power of your thoughts and sheer desperation.  

Your hands unconsciously bawled at your sheets, anchoring yourself to your bed- reminding you of your reality.  You are here. In bed.  At home.  Not under the ground or in a cloud of toxic particles or being chased by one of those… things.  You refused to say their names.  You refused to give them power. However, every once and a while, you would find yourself trapped in a feeling- unable to shake the notion that something bad was about to happen.  

That’s how you found yourself frozen in bed, deep in surveillance of your backyard, and on the verge of a panic attack.  

That is also how your brother found you.

Steve rapped at your bedroom door, “Y/n, you up-“

He stopped as soon as he ingested your state. Eyes glassy and panicked, trembling fists- white knuckled on your comforter-, and battling a waking nightmare.  

Your brother rushed to your bed and pried your eyes away from the window, taking your head in his hands and angling your face towards his.  His eyes searched frantically for any sign of consciousness in your eyes, drowning in a memory and needing a lifejacket.

“Y/n! Hey y/n, it’s okay. You’re home.  I’m here.  It’s okay.”

The dam finally burst, and the tears began the trek down your cheeks.  You transferred your grip from your sheets to Steve’s white sleep shirt and collapsed into his chest, a warm embrace waiting for you.  He held you as your body wracked in sobs.  “I know,” he cooed.  “I get them too.  It’s okay. You’re safe.”

He understood, so he just helped you ride out the wave of emotions.  Once your cries had died down, you removed yourself from the safety of his hug and he confronted you, “That was a bad one.”

You just nodded, unable to articulate the severity of the trance you were held in moments before.

“Do you wanna come up town with me?  Mom left a list of errands to run.  Maybe it’ll distract you? Take your mind off everything?” he offered.  You pondered the proposition, eyes darting to the window.  You heart leap at the thought of escaping the forest that threatened to consume you and nodded your head yet again in agreeance.

“Okay.  Take your time and calm down.  Come get me when you’re ready.”  He smiled and patted your shoulder.  Standing up from your bed, Steve made his way to your bedroom door, closing it on the way out.  

Your gaze shifted from your doorway to the phone that sat on your bedside table.  Your fingers almost physically itched to dial the sequence of numbers you knew all too well.  You yearned to hear a voice that would clam you down in seconds and soothe your jangled nerves.  You were almost desperate enough to call him, just to hear him say “Hello?” into the receiver- then hang up.  Almost.

You were desperate.  Not psychotic. So, you removed your gaze from the phone to squash the temptation and began about your morning slowly, still recovering from the involuntary emotional outburst.

________________________________________________________________

This was the best part of Winter Break in your opinion.  Getting to do activities during the day rather than being trapped in a depressing school building for 6 hours.  

What made it extra perfect was the after Christmas calm.  People were no longer making mad dashes from store to store to buy presents for loved ones, traffic calmed down, and there is no longer the crackle of anticipation in the air. The atmosphere of the tiny town was peaceful and content, like taking a nap with a full belly after a satisfying meal.  

You and Steve made your way downtown silently, the only noise filling the cabin of the car was the low drill of the Christmas music that would continue to haunt radio stations until late January.  You still needed time to recover from your meltdown that morning, and Steve understood, so he allowed the silence to swallow you both whole.  

As you reached the outskirts of the town square, Steve informed you of your tasks for the day. “Alright, so I’ve got to get an oil change on the car and pick up some stuff from Mel’s.  How about you wander around for an hour while I get the car taken care of and then we can head to the store together?”

“Sounds good.”  You softly smiled at your older brother.  You instructed him to drop you off in front of the local coffee shop, swiftly exiting the car with your pocketbook in hand and long plaid skirt swooshing around your knees.  The minute you stepped out of the car, a cloud of cold enveloped you- causing you to zip up your jacket over your large sweater and quickly make your way into the store.

The smell of the brewing coffee welcomed you like an old friend.  And so did Dina.  But that was because she was an old friend.  She worked behind the counter and was instructed to greet everyone who passed through the doorway.

“Welcome to Indiana Brew!” Her voice bounced around the nearly empty café, echoing off the black and while tiled floor.  “It’s Y/n, D!” you alerted her.

A crisp chuckled broke from your lips as her head emerged from below the counter, like an animal peeking out of their hiding spot.  Dina had always been what her mother liked to call a “wild-child”, her mannerisms proving the nickname correct. “Oh, thank God!  I’m so bored!” she rolled her eyes in relief.  

A man sitting a few tables away from the counter eyed the pair of girls.  Dina took notice, “No offense.  Sorry… It’s been truly a pleasure serving you.”  She gave an awkward smile, and the man returned it by scoffing and quickly leaving the two of you alone in the coffee scented shop. “Well fuck you too then.”  Dina muttered to herself as the bell above the door sounded on its journey back closed.  

“Is there buried treasure back there?”  You question leaning over the counter to inspect what your friend hand been doing on the floor before you’d arrived.  “I wish.  Unfortunately, it’s about half a pound of coffee beans I knocked over and proceeded to step on.”  She chuckled and moved into a sweeping curtsey, ducking her head, and raising her apron like a beautiful ballgown.  “The luxurious life of a barista.”  

And the wild child strikes again. 

“Sometimes your innate gift to make every job harder than it needs to be astounds me.”

“I know.  I amaze myself sometimes!”

You both giggled and you proceed to order yourself a large, warm coffee to keep you company on the cold winter day.  You bid your friend a good day and wandered out into the main street of Hawkins, looking for something to keep you occupied while you waited on Steve.  

You passed by the record store and decided the final feat to lift your spirits would be some music. So, you entered the shop hastily and dove into the rows of records closest to the door.  The sound of The Smiths drifted through the body of the store and into your ears, making you tap your foot in time with the song.

A familiar voice emerged from behind you, sounding only a few steps away. “Well, look who the cat dragged in!”

A smile cracked on your face before you even turned around.  “Hey Eds.”

You clutched your coffee to your chest as you faced the brown eyed boy, who was gleaming down at you like you’d just given him a million dollars.  His hands were shoved in the pockets of his signature leather jacket that was thrown over a thin, deep red sweater.  Eddie always ran warm, never needing many layers to protect him from the cold.

“How are you?  How was your holiday?” He questioned, eager to strike up a conversation with you.

“Real good.  Nothing too eventful happened.  It’s just been a nice break from school, especially for Steve.  How was yours?”

“Honestly, it was pretty nice.  I got Wayne a mug as always, and like every year he acted as he had no idea that’s what he would get.  He gave me a few bucks to pick out a new record. So, I’m currently searching for my new addition.  Any suggestions?”

You feigned thought for a moment. “Ever heard of Madonna?  She’s got a bitchin sound I know you’d be into!”

Eddie tossed his head back in boyish laughter, the noise better than any record in the shop you both stood in.  

You then feigned annoyance. “I’m serious!  You gotta get some variety in your collection.  If you keep listening to only metal, your brain is gonna melt out of your ears- and chicks don’t dig that.”

Eddies dimples highlighted his charming smile as we pulled his hands out of his pockets and raised them by his shoulders in defeat.  The silver chain bracelet that sat upon his wrist clanked against the safety pins on his sleeves at the movement; this caught your attention because you had given that to him for his birthday.  It warmed your frozen heart to see it still in his possession.  “Fine! You win. I will spend my Christmas money on an album of your choosing.”  

Eddie was nervous to give you such power.  The boy didn’t come by money like Wayne’s Christmas cash easily, and he knew you were aware of that.  It was quite the sacrifice to turn over his gift to you and for a split second as he proposed the idea, he wondered if he would make you uncomfortable.  

Giving you free reign to a gift like that was something he wouldn’t have thought twice about a few months ago, but now?  Now, things were different.  Would you shirk away from the bold gesture? 

Eddies brain thought up a million different disastrous reactions that could occur in a millisecond.  In even less time, you erased his worries. 

Your eyes lit up and a smile expanded on your face, almost spilling the coffee cup in your hand as you bounced up and down in excitement at Eddie relenting. “Really?  Yes!” you praised ad you skipped off further into the store, in search of the perfect record.  

“Hey, go easy on me okay?” the curly haired boy called from behind you.  “I can do Bowie or the Beatles, but I draw the line at Blondie, okay?”

“Well, you agreed to an album of MY choosing. You really shouldn’t just toss your Christmas money around that carelessly!” you rebutted over your shoulder, finding a shelf to place your cup on and take your large overcoat off.  

A small snort came from the blushing boy, a habit of his that would always come out when it was just the two of you- letting all your guards down.  A habit you found intoxicatingly endearing.  

There were only a few souls in the store, so you placed your jacket and pocketbook on top of a box of records without worry.  

Eddie groaned as he finally caught up with your energetic figure, flittering like a pixie in and out of shelves of music and waist high rows of records.  “Fine, I’m upping the ante then!”  

You eyed him suspiciously, hands dancing across the tops of records, and you listened to his stipulation.

“You only have 3 minutes to pick it out.”  

Your ears perked up. “Wait, what?”  

He gathered the sleeve of his jacket farther up his forearm to reveal is watch, studying it for a split second.  “Yep! And your time starts…”

“Don’t you dare!”  you cautioned.  

“Now!”

“Damn you!”  you cursed, taking off like a bat out of hell, shifting through as much music as you possibly could in your time limit.  

Eddie stood in place amused with his arms crossed over his lean chest, watching you dart around the store as he monitored the time.  “A minute thirty!”

You huffed dramatically and you froze in your tracks, willing yourself to concentrate.  

In the silence of your pause, you caught a melody in your ear that emerged from the record that had been playing when you first arrived in the store. “Ah ha!”

You raced passed Eddie as he counted down from thirty.  A flash of blue caught your peripheral vision.  You turned and spotted the record you needed.  You grabbed it and dashed back to Eddie just as your time ran out.

“And what shall you present me with?”  he cautiously questioned you, holding his palms out flat in front of him.  You pulled the record from behind your back and placed it in his hands, allowing him to carefully study it.  

“Hatful of Hollow?”

“Yep.  The Smiths is like my new favorite band. This is a compilation album of a bunch of their singles and B-sides.  It’s pretty life changing.”  

Eddie admired you as you gushed about the band, waving your hands animatedly around your body as your articulated their impact on you.  His hands itched to wind themselves around your waist and pull you close, and his lips tingled to have them pressed against yours.  He felt himself unconsciously drawing nearer to you as you continued to ramble, beginning to close the gap in between the two of you slowly.

You, however, did notice his drifting, and while this would be welcomed at any other time, you were still too emotionally raw from this morning to try to participate in the dance you and Eddie find yourselves performing every time you interacted.  So, you snatched the record out of his hands and dashed towards the checkout counter to put some space in between you both.

Super smooth Y/n. Totally rad when you run away from the boy you’re in love with like you’re in the first grade.  Not immature at all.

Eddie trailed after you and bought the record, while you beamed behind him at his surrender to widen his tastes.  While he finished the check out, you returned to the shelf and stack of records to retrieve your long-forgotten coffee cup and jacket.  You approached Eddie as he grabbed the bag from the counter and the both of you exited the store.  

“Hey what time is it?”

“Almost 11.”

“I should probably head over to the auto shop, Steve’s waiting for me there.”

“The prince is fixing carriages now?”

You chuckled at his mocking. “Very funny.  The tin bucket needed some oil.  I was just wasting time.”

“You want me to walk you there?”

Your heart hammered in your chest.  The thought of a public outing with your ex-boyfriend, even something as small as walking you across the square, is enough to set your nerves on edge.

This is what you want Y/n.  You’ll never get him back if you don’t get close to him again.  Don’t be a pussy.

“Sure. I’d like that a lot.”  

“Cool. Oh shit, I left my wallet inside. Wait right here.”

Eddie dashed back through the glass door and into the store, leaving you cold on the sidewalk.  

In that instance, a deafening sound invaded your space- contrasting harshly with the smooth voice of Morrissey that was in your ears only moments before. Suddenly, a flash of blue crossed your vision, and just as quickly left it, as Billy Hargrove’s muscle car raced by.  

You hadn’t seen, more like heard, that car since that night.  The night of the tunnels.  And just like that, you were sucked back into another memory- mirroring the state you were in this morning.  You gazed down the street, long after the car had turned off and out of sight- gaze unfocused and mind lost in thoughts of when you were a passenger in that car. Your beaten brother cradled in your arms as Max drove like a maniac, truly earning her nickname.  

Thoughts of your bloodied brother, of Billy's shouting, of the kids screaming, of the roaring engine, of the chaos of the events in the tunnels, all flooded your mind.  It was a noose of memories and dread, slowly getting tighter, choking you and constricting your airways- suffocating you under the gravity of what happened.  

Eddie reemerged from the music store, wallet in his pocket and bag in hand, when he stumbled upon you in a state, he hadn’t left you in.  

He had been working up enough confidence in the store to proposition you.  “So, I was thinking maybe you’d wanna come listen to this with me. I mean just to make sure I appreciate it correctly...” he trailed off at the sight of you.  When he left you, you were smiling up at him, sheepishly accepting his offer.  Your cheeks had been a shade of pink from blushing and the cold air, but now you face lacked any life- void of expression as you stared down the street.  Your body was tensed up and you seemed on high alert, yet at the same time completely unaware of your surroundings.  He’d never seen you like this before, and he never, ever, wanted to see you like this again.

“Y/n?” he called.

No reply.  Just staring.

“Y/n?” he tried again, moving closer to you.  

More staring.

“Sweetheart?” he reached his arm out to rest of your shoulder, and your face immediately snapped towards the intrusion on your personal space.  However, after snaking your gaze upwards to identify the perpetrator, your gaze softened to find the metal head you loved.  

“Oh, hey.”  You muttered, shifting your weight from foot to foot and readjusting your pocketbook onto your shoulder.

“Are you alright?  I just called your name like 3 times, and you didn’t reply.  You were just staring off…” he spoke to you as if you were a frightened deer, and it irritated you.  

“Yea, I was just lost in thought, I guess.  I’ve been a total space cadet lately.”

“That’s okay.  You ready to go?”

“Um yea, I think I better head over alone.  I just…” you began to tear up again.

Dammit.  This is so embarrassing.

The emotions of the onset of memories hit you like a freight train causing you to well up.  Eddie went to speak but you cut him off.

“Don’t.  Just… it’s okay.” You told him, darting off. You pushed past him, but your arm was caught in a steel grip.  In a moment of instinct, Eddie decided he couldn’t let you leave him like this. Not in distress.  Not in tears.  He wouldn’t allow you to be in agony for some unknown reason and let you go through it alone.  He wouldn’t allow you to be in pain and not do something about it.  So, he did the only thing he could think of.  

His arm shot out and grabbed your wrist, twisting your body back around to his before you could take off. He reached his other arm around to your shoulder and brought you into a bone crushing hug.  This hug felt like a thousand’s words, a million kisses, a hundred lifetimes together, all rolled up into one.  If soulmates existed, the power of this hug proved it.  One of his arms wrapped around your middle like he had been so desperate to do in the store and the other held your head to his chest, while both of your arms reached to secure themselves around his torso.

This was the first true physical contact between the two of you in months and it felt like an explosion had gone off in your chests.  There was no space between your bodies, and you both took the moment to soak up each other. There, in the middle of the street, Eddie held you for the first time in a long time, and he consoled you as he should have done that cold November night. That night when you came to him for support and comfort, and he returned your wish with heartbreak and misery for the both of you.

Eddie might be on his second try of senior year, but he is not dumb.  He learns from his mistakes. So, he just held you.  And you didn’t weep like you both thought you would.  The minute you were wrapped in his embrace, the tears dissipated and only warmth remained.  The blanket of warmth that appeared whenever you two were together was now encompassing you both, wrapping around you like the coverings of a mummy- entombing you both in warmth and emotion.  

A few moments passed before the intimacy of the moment became too inappropriate for the open street, where people were walking by.  You felt the action overwhelm you, and you became flustered again.  You muttered a soft “thank you” into the soft of his sweater and you removed yourself from his embrace, making the journey to find Steve- without looking back.  

Eddie watched you walk away until you disappeared down the street and around a corner. But he didn’t feel lonely.  You had left the warm blanket with him, a parting gift.  It hugged him and kept him full of love and hope. Eddie clutched the warm spot on his sweater by his collarbone where your head had heated the fabric up with your breath. A remnant of you.  A reminder that he made progress.  

He smiled to himself, proud at his achievement of not only making physical contact with you but cheering you up from your distressed state and sauntered off to his van- feeling like the king of Hawkins.

________________________________________________________________

The shrill ring of the telephone on your bedside table startled you out of concentration.  You had, only moments before, been deeply engrossed in your book- traveling across seas, battling monsters, and saving the world all within the confines of your mind.  

A thought crossed your mind as you lived vicariously through the protagonist. While most people would never know of fighting monsters besides in books and movies, you knew what it was to battle them in real life.  And reality was much less selfless and courageous as the stories portrayed it to be.  You knew what it was like to fight, not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was the only thing to do.  You’ve been presented situations before in which your only option was to fight or die.  

The sound of the phone pulled you from your intense thoughts, grounding you back in reality. The pink device screamed only a few feet away from you, so you discarded your book on the opposite side of your bed and grabbed the receiver.  

“Hello?” you heard your brother say into the receiver.

“Oh, hey Steve!  It’s Tammy.  Is y/n there?”

“Yea, I’m here Tam.”

“I’ll leave you guys to it then.”  Your brother huffed, the receiver clicking as he hung up his line.

“What’s up Tam?” you questioned, twirling the coiled cord of the phone around your index finger.

“Could you do me a favor?  I’m in a bit of a jam here.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m finally going steady with Brad, and he was mentioning how he wanted to go to like a real rager of a New Year’s party. And I was like ‘Well you know I throw one every year right?  Everyone comes to it!’ And he asked me ‘Will there be booze?’ And I was like ‘Um, yea, this is a party not a playdate.’ And he was like ‘Will you have grass?’ And of course I said yes like an idiot knowing damn well I don’t have any grass for the party-“

“Tammy!  Get to the point!” you chuckled as she rambled on in that faux valley girl way of hers.

“Yesh, okay!  Point being, I don’t have Eddie’s number so could you call him up and ask him to come to the party?”

You paused.  

“Y/n?  You there?”

“Yea, I’m here.  I hear you.  May I ask why I can’t just give you his number and you ask him?  It is your party.”

“Let me rephrase.  I don’t want to talk to Eddie after what happened last year. But I’m willing to put it aside because I need grass for Brad.  I need you to ask him for me because he won’t do it if I ask him.”

You rolled your eyes at the thought of the events of last year’s party.  A shiver rolled down your spine as you thought about the feeling of water from your soaked hair rolling down your back- making your shirt stick to your skin- and vomit-soaked carpet underneath your bare feet.  

That was an absolute shit-show.  Never again will I mix beer and vodka.

“What makes you think me asking him will make him do it?”  

“Aren’t you his girlfriend?”

“Tammy, we haven’t been dating for like 2 months now!” 

“Well excuse me!  I have my own things going on, sorry I don’t have time to stalk you!”

“I’m hanging up now Tam.” 

“No, no, no! Okay!  I’m sorry that was like way harsh of me.  But seriously, please?  Can you do this for me?”  

You paused again and sighed into the receiver. You had shifted yourself upside down on your bed, feet resting in the air against your headboard as your hair splayed out around your head at the end of the bed.  You wiggled your toes in contemplation and stared up at your ceiling- finding shapes and patterns on the popcorn ceiling above you.  

“Fine.  But you owe me.”

“Yes!  Thank you so much y/n!  Brad is so gonna have sex with me now!” Tammy gushed as she dragged out the “so” in emphasis.

You gave a hardy laugh at her questionable morals, said goodbye, and hung up the phone.

Suddenly, the aura in your room shifted.  Now, you had a task, and you didn’t know if you had the will power to complete it.  The hour was late, and you were unsure if he would even answer the phone- but in your heart you knew that was just an excuse.  You always used to call Ed’s at this hour and were certain he would answer.

What you were unsure of was if you could handle the intimacy of it.  His gruff late-night voice, the sound of his voice against your ear, the memory of all the nightly phone calls that had come before this one.  

You needed something to anchor you, so you wrapped a quilt around your body, sat up against your headboard, and settled your telephone in front of you. Slowly, you picked up the receiver and let muscle memory take over, using your pointer finger to wind the dial in the order of numbers that you used to every night.

Funny, the first time I work up the nerve to call him is when it’s out of obligation. How disappointing.  

You took deep, steady breathes as the phone rang.

Ring, ring, ring.

Inhale.  Exhale.

Ring, Ring, Ring.

Inhale.  Exhale.

Ring, Ring, - “Hello?”

Your heart pounded so hard you swore Eddie must have been able to hear it through the receiver.  

“Eds?”

It was now his turn to pause.  Eddie couldn’t believe his ears as your voice invaded them.  He must have done something right that day to earn such a karmic reward as this.

“Y/n?”

“Hey there!  Sorry, I know it’s late- “

“No!  You’re fine! What’s up?” he interjected- quick to dispel any worries you had.

“Well, I’d love to say this call is for pleasure, but I’ve been sent here on business.”

“Business?  What kind of business?”

“Your only kind of business Eds.”

His smooth chuckled echoed into the receiver.

“Right.  Stupid question.  So, who needs what and when?”

“Well… you’re not gonna love it…” you trailed off, anxious to ask him the favor.

“Y/n…”

“Dingbat needs you to work her New Years party.”

“What?”

He took a minute to comprehend.  Then he realized, “No!  No way, tell Tammy to find another guy.  Not after last year.”

“Eddie please, I promised her you’d come.”

“Darren can do what exactly what I do.”  

“You know he only does hard shit, and I’m not trying to kill a house full of high schoolers.  Come on, it’ll be different this time!”

“That’s such bullshit y/n and you know it!  I’ll get there, sell for maybe 30 minutes before something goes terribly wrong or somebody starts calling me a freak and tries to kick me out!  It’s not worth the headache.”

You rubbed the skin in the between your eyebrows and slid down to the bridge of your nose, pinching it between your thumb and index to provide relief.

“Eddie I promise you that won’t happen.  I will personally see to it that nobody will bother you.  Andy owes me a favor- he’ll keep an eye on the table!”

“I don’t need a babysitter Y/n.”

You sighed.  “It’s not a babysitter Ed.  It’s backup.”

“Y/n…” Eddie groaned into the receiver.  

“Come on, please?  For me?  Tammy will be a bitch to me all night if you don’t do it.”  You shakily pleaded.  

“Oh, you’re going, too?” 

“Well, yeah.  I wouldn’t be asking you to come to this if I wasn’t going.”

“Fine.”

A pause.

“Wait what? You’ll do it?”

“Yes, but because you want me to do it.  NOT for Dingbat.”

You chuckled, relieved you wouldn’t have to call Tammy back with bad news.

“You are truly a selfless man Eddie.  A saint in your own right.”  

“Yea, yea, keep sweet talking me.  It’s working.  So same time and place as last year?”

“Yep!  God, thank you again Ed’s you’re a life saver.  I did not want to try to find another guy.”

“It’s fine, but you owe me now.  I can cash in one favor at any time I please.”

“Alright, I promise.  Now Tammy can get laid.  Thanks a bunch!”

“Pardon?”

“Yea, don’t think about it too hard.”

________________________________________________________________

The music thumped in time like a jackhammer, slowly splitting Eddies skull in two halves.  

He swore no amount of money was worth working a New Years Eve party, he’d learned a hard lesson last year that involved vomit, a quick brush with the law, and Tammy Thompsons pet rabbit.  Yet, here he was, for the second year in a row, sitting at her laminated mahogany wood dining table with his black, metal lunch box, a solo cup of some drink he had been nursing for the past hour, and a headache to end all headaches.  

Eddie hadn’t been sleeping well lately, his dreams plagued with nightmares of you breaking his heart over and over again, and his late nights seemed to be catching up to him.  

But, he had promised you he’d come.  And a promise to you was like a blood-oath- something he wouldn’t dare to break.

Eddie had been having a pretty successful night, selling more than enough to make up for the pain of being present.  He’d had the pleasure of meeting Brad- a jock type that wore Tammy on his arm like a drunk monkey.  

“See Brad! Grass!  Like I promised!”  Tammy slurred into Brads face- more like smushed into his cheek.  The towering boy eyed Eddie for a moment before reaching in his wallet and asking about prices.  He forked over some cash and pocketed the baggie of blunts.  

Before they could stumble away, Eddie grabbed the neon pink sleeve of Tammy’s blazer, anchoring her for a moment to pose a question.  “Have you seen Y/n yet?”

The fluffy haired blonde flipped her locks over her shoulder as she rolled her eyes curtly.  “No, I haven’t.  She said she’d get here at like 11.”  She stomped off, annoyed to be talking to the metal head.

He gathered his jacket up his arm and peered at his watch, clocking the time at 5 till 11.  You would be joining the party in mere moments, and Eddie felt a flurry of nerves brew in his stomach.  In an attempt to settle his nerves, he knocked back the rest of his drink in one go- only aggravating his headache with the sudden jerk of his head at downing the liquid courage.  

******

Your heart had been racing and your mind reeling all day- anxious to attend the party and see Eddie. You were determined to make a move tonight, to try and bridge the gap between you two and rekindle your romance.

Only one problem. Your nerves got the better of you and you pre-gamed like a maniac at your house with Dina.  So now you stumbled into the threshold of the Thompson residence, arm slung around Dina as Steve herded you both through the door.  

With a staircase to your left and a doorway to the dinning room on your right, your inebriated brain decided to chuck your thick jacket at Steve and ascend the steps, only for Steve to grab you by the waist and hoist you down from the steps- causing a burst of laughter to bubble explosively out of your chest.

“Oh no you don’t. Party is this way.”  Your brother instructed you, lightly guiding you forward through the house to the living room where the party raged on. Dina had long since left your side in search of a drink. Grace Adler made eye contact with Steve, beckoning him towards her with a silent siren’s song.  This left you alone to shift through the crowd in order to find a group to join.

In mid-conversation with Donnie, Eddie halted his sentence in its tracks.  A laugh sliced through the air; one he would recognize anywhere. He turned his head in time to watch as Steve nudged you deeper into the house, just past the wall that obstructed you from his view.  His heart skipped a beat, and quickly restarted as his friend snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Earth to Eddie, come in Eddie!”  Donnie chuckled.  

Eddie turned his head back to the boy that sat in front of him.

“Y/n just got here.” “I know.  I heard her.  You gonna go see her?”

Eddie picked at the skin on the side of his thumb anxiously- debating his options.

He could either pussy out and avoid you all night in order to not get flustered and say something stupid. Or he could find you and try to win back the girl he loved. The latter was his only option.

*******

The latter proved to be the harder option, but not because he was scared.  He simply couldn’t track you down in the 2-story house filled with seemingly hundreds of kids.  He drifted through the house, feeling like a ghost amongst his peers who would not acknowledge him, being too wrapped up in their own drunken hazes.  

He would spot you in the kitchen, walk towards it, then find the area deserted- only for you to pop up on the living room couch ten minutes later.  You were like a sprite- flittering around the house like you had done in the record store- seemingly everywhere and nowhere all at once.  

In your own mind, you were in deep turmoil.  You yourself couldn’t spot Eddie in the crowd of teenagers, and multiple times that night you had began to believe he wasn’t present.  You would send a little prayer to the universe every so often, wishing he would appear in front of you.  You thought maybe he had decided to stand you up (technically stand Tammy up) and this only drove you to drink and dance harder.  

Eddie made his may back to his lunch box on the dinning room table, about to pack it in for the night and deciding it was not meant to be to see you that night. Somehow, over the booming music and loud conversations, Eddie heard a commotion come down the stairs.  He watched as you descended from the top, trying not to trip over your black kitten heels as you loosely clutched the railing. Your eyes were lazy, and half closed as you swayed from step to step loudly, singing along to the song playing.  

Eddie could sense that it was not a good idea to let you walk down alone, so he raced to the bottom of the step.  His prediction stood correct as you tripped over one of the bottom steps, reaching out to grab the closest thing- Eddies biceps. The boy wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his chest.  You looked up as the adrenaline from the stumble pumped through your body- a temporary moment of clarity occurring.

“Am I really drunk or are you Eddie?” you slurred out at the beautiful boy in front of you.  Eddie chuckled and held your hips steady, as you swayed in his grasp. “I am Eddie, and you are very drunk sweetheart.”  You giggled and rested your arms on his strong shoulders, draped in his leather jacket.  

“Your always so funny, Teddy.  One of the things I like most about you.”  You tucked a curl behind his ear and trailed your finger down his jaw, neck, collarbones, to settle on his chest.

This took Eddie by surprise. Teddy was a nickname of endearment he hadn’t heard in months, and the sound of it on your lips combined with the feeling of your hands was enough to stir something within his core.  He gapped at you; face flushed.

You looked up to the ceiling and whispered a small thank you with your eyes closed.  Eddie flashed his eyes to the ceiling to try and peer at what you saw, only to eye a cream-colored ceiling.  

Numbers began to be screamed around the pair of your as you clutched onto each other at the bottom on the staircase.  Midnight was approaching and your face was getting frighteningly close to Eddies.

“Y/n, what are you doing?” Eddie demanded as he removed his grip on your waist in favor of one on your cheeks and jawline.    

“I’m gonna kiss you at midnight.” You spoke to him in your drunken stupor as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

As the final countdown began you leaned your face forwards again, determined to complete your plan. However, Eddie had other ideas. He couldn’t let the first time you kiss since the breakup be when you are plastered on a holiday where you are expected to kiss someone.  If this is going to happen again, it will happen privately, a moment solely belonging to the two of you and not the hundreds of strangers surrounding you currently.  

While winding your fingers around his neck, your nose brushed his, and Eddie revealed in the contact. But before your lips could make contact, Eddie maneuvered his thumb to press over your lips just as they came close enough to his own that he could feel your hot, alcohol ridden breath fan over them.  

Ironically, it was the vodka on your breath that sobered Eddie up, pulling him from the moment of ecstasy he lost himself in from your closeness.  He pulled his face back from yours, leaving his thumb against your lips, and moving the other hand to find purchase on your waist again.  Your eyes shot open and welled up, pulling your face back from his own so fast that the movement threw you off balance, causing you to step backwards and catch yourself on the railing that started at the bottom of the stairs.  Eddie stepped forward to catch you and simultaneously cage you, desperate to explain his actions.

He took your face in his hands again and brought his mouth to your ear.  “The next time we kiss, I want us to both be sober for it.”  He brought his face around to ghost his lips across yours once more, muttering a final sentiment that surely would have brought you to your knees if you weren’t gripping the handrail.  

It’s a shame you were too drunk to hear what he said.

The alcohol in your system, the music and shouting in your ears, and the feeling of Eddies hands on you were so all encompassing and overwhelming, that you simply didn’t process what he had said.  All you could comprehend was that you tried to kiss Eddie, and he stopped you.  And you couldn’t hear his words over the blood pumping in your ears, but it sure felt like he was making fun of you for it now.

Oh god.  What have I done.  I’m so dumb.  So very, fucking dumb.

You pushed your way out of his embrace and staggered to the front door only a few feet away.  Eddie let you, hoping the moment of separation would allow you to think.  He went back to the table- maneuvering around the bodies of kissing teenagers- to grab his lunchbox and hopefully meet up with you outside.  

The night air you stepped out into only further added to the feeling of drowning that was swelling up in your throat.  The few tears that blurred your vision burned in the crisp air- yet you managed to not fall down the porch steps and trudge your way to where your foggy memory recalled Steve had parked.  

Steve had already been in the car for 20 minutes.  His desire to socialize had disappeared around a quarter to 12 o’clock, right along with the girl he had been chatting up who suddenly “needed a smoke break” and did not want company.  

You fell into the passenger seat and the warmth of the car enveloped you like a warm hug.  You haphazardly shut the door, not caring to check if it had closed all the way, before turning your tear-streaked face to gaze at your equally drained brother.

“Home?” he pleaded.

“Home.” You agreed.  

Eddie stood on the dark porch steps and watched as Steve’s car pulled out of it’s parking spot on the grass and barreled down the street.  It seemed the Harrington's could not get away from the Thompson residence fast enough, and a horrible feeling of dread filled Eddie.

Shit.