change of pace

sneaking

chapter eight

I wake up gasping. We fell asleep. Dad's going to be so pissed. I turned to Eddie who was lying facedown with his head under the pillow.

"Eddie, wake up." I whisper lightly tapping him. He doesn't budge. "Eddie!" I whisper a little louder this time shaking him. He groans and turns over on his back. "Wake...Up!" I try pulling his body upwards.
"I'm, I'm awake!" he says rubbing his eyes. Eddie looks over at me realizing that someone else is in his bed. "Oh shit." realizing the situation.

Eddie jumps out of bed and opens his door a crack to peek if his uncle was home. "God dammit!" he whispers having seen him sitting on the sofa chair reading the paper.
"Okay, you get your shoes on and I'll go talk to him." he says slowly exiting out the door. I rush to find my shoes, which were pushed under his bed and put them on as fast as I can. Their voices are barely heard from his room. My things were scattered around the floor so I stuffed them in my bag quickly. Footsteps start slowly making their way closer and his uncle's voice becomes more clear. I sit there in panic. Just then, I hear the bathroom door shut and Eddie's face busts open the bedroom door to tell me to hurry. I run out and he grabs his keys from his jacket pocket.

"I hope that wasn't as obvious as I think it was." I say buckling my seatbelt.
"It wasn't. He asked what I did last night and I said band practice." Eddie says shifting the car into gear and quickly backing out of the parking space.
"My dad is so gonna kill me!" I started pounding my head. Eddie leans over and sets his hand on my leg as comfort.
"Is there a screen on your window?"
"No, why?" I say and he looks over at me smirking.

We pull up, a few houses down from my own, and start sneaking over to my window. Eddie pulled out a thin plank from his van and started pushing it under the window to push it up. Once it finally lifts slightly, he pulls it up as quietly as he can and tells me to climb in.

"Thank you." I say peaking my head out the window. He kisses me.
"Anytime." Eddie smiles slowly lifting the window back down.

I watch him sneak back to his car until I hear footsteps headed to my room. I jump under my covers and pretend to be asleep. Dad peeks his head into my room, sighs, and then closes the door. The clock reads 6:30, which means he probably sat in the living room watching TV when he came home from work, not suspicious of where I was until he heard sounds. I ended up just falling back asleep.

My body woke itself up around 9AM. I rolled out to get some food from the kitchen but saw I was still wearing my pants from yesterday and Eddie's shirt. Clothes were thrown around on the floor as I looked for a pair of sweatpants quickly. Once putting them on, a knock came at my door.

"Can I come in?" Dad asks, waiting by the door.
"Uh...one second!" I throw the clothes into the closet and grab my dirty sweater from a few days ago and put it on. "Come in!"
"I was wondering..." he makes his way into my room, "what happened after school?" he says taking a seat at my vanity.
"What?" I ask confused.
"You didn't come home after school yesterday. Usually I see you before I go to work but I only saw you when I came home this morning in bed."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I joined a club!"
"A club?" he smiles, "what kind of club? Drama club? Science club?"
"It's, um, Dungeons and Dragons club..." I say looking down.
"Dungeons and...Dragons?" he asks confused.
"It's a fantasy game! It's really fun actually."
"Okay, well, please leave a note or tell me beforehand. I want to make sure you're safe. Especially after this summer." he rises from the seat. "What's your Saturday plans?"
"N-nothing. Why, did you have some ideas?"
"I was thinking of getting a screen for your window there. Don't want people breaking in."
"Oh, for sure! I'll get ready."

The bathroom is always ice cold in the morning. I turned the knob on the shower to let it heat up while I undressed. Eddie's shirt smelled just like him. My mind drifted off to thinking about laying right next to him. The safest I've felt since Mom died.

Clamoring into the truck to take off after I finished getting ready, Dad turned they key in the ignition to start driving. It was a silent car ride, what they're usually like since I pushed him away.

"So, that friend of yours..."
"Yes?" I say scared.
"That your boyfriend?"
My jaw drops.
"Eh, you're not busted." he says seeing my shock.
"He's...I guess, kind of?" I said being honest. He technically wasn't.
"But you like him?"
I look down at my feet.
"I do. A lot." I smile. Dad slightly smirks.
"What's his name?"
"Eddie."
"Eddie." he repeats thinking, "he good to ya?"
"Yes, Dad. He's very sweet."
"Well, why don't you invite him over for dinner tomorrow? It is my day off anyway."
"If you want to. I'll walk over today and ask him." I say and Dad smiles.

He purchased the supplies for the screens and stuffed the measurements back in his pocket. I helped him set it up and place it in my window. Afterwards, we went to a diner for lunch nearby.

Our conversations were usually very awkward, almost forced. I love Dad, but the time we lost together should have been spent grieving and understanding. Now we're just slowly trying to make up for lost time. He asked me about school and I asked about work. His hours might be changing to longer due to more and more people moving out of Hawkins and quitting their jobs.

By the time we got back, it was cutting it close to the time he was supposed to leave for work. We said our goodbyes and I watched the truck pull out of the driveway. I went to my room and found the picture I took of Eddie and stuffed it in my jacket pocket. I began my walk to Eddie's home. Many cars were on the highway, probably because it was a Saturday. Walking that close to the woods sent chills down my spine. They've always scared me, but after the amount of missing people and deaths that have happened the last few years, it made me almost ill thinking about walking through them. I arrived to the trailer park and saw Eddie's van messily parked. I walked up to the door and knocked three times.

"Can I help you?" an older man answered the door, presumably his uncle.
"Hi, I was wondering if Eddie was home?" I asked the tired looking man.
"I got this, Uncle Wayne." Eddie makes his way over to the door hearing my voice. His uncle smiles walking back to his chair. Eddie steps outside. He's wearing black sweatpants and a stained gray shirt.
"Did you walk here?" he walks me over to the bench on the other side of the trailer.
"I did. I had a question to ask you." I say sitting down next to him.
"I'm intrigued. Go on." he says stretching his arm around the back of the bench.
"My dad invited you over for dinner tomorrow and I was won-"
"You told your dad about me?" Eddie says smiling.
"Well, kind of. He asked, and I told him." I say and he grabs my hand.
"I would love to come to dinner." Eddie smiles.

Naturally, he didn't let me walk home by myself this time so he walked home with me. Before leaving, he ran in to change his shirt and grab some sneakers.

"You did this every day?" he says panting from tiredness.
"It's usually quieter." I say glancing at him.
"So, what's your dad like? Is he gonna try and intimidate me?" Eddie lifts up his long hair from his neck.
"He might. Just don't try and intimidate him back."
"No promises." he jokes. A car races passed us, almost knocking us down. "I bet your dick's so big!" he yells at the speeding car.
"Let's get go through the trees, it will be a quicker, safer, walk." Eddie stops.
"But...there's no trail." I say concerned."
"It's okay, I know my way through." he grabs my hand and leads me with him. I grip his hand to not lose him.

Every little noise that happened, whether it be an animal in the trees or the wind blowing the leaves, made me jump. Eddie pulled me close to make me feel safer, but something about these woods was extremely unsettling. Our walk was fine, but I have never been happier to see civilization in my life. I guided him to my house and invited him in to have some water before heading back. He stayed for a little over an hour before embracing me and kissing me and taking off, back to his home.