𝙾𝚒𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 & 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 (Eddie Munson Fanfic)

THE "BORROWED" BIKE

The following day wasn't like the previous, the news reporting on how Chrissy Cartpenter had been brutally murdered the evening before. While on a stroll around town on the first day of spring break, Nicole ended up at the familiar trailer park which she had been to a few times before. The thing that caught the girl's eyes first was the police cars and tape surrounding one specific trailer; one had to simply be blind to miss such a key detail. Though it wasn't the police or tape that worried her specifically– it was the trailer in which both of those were surrounding: Eddie Munson's...

It couldn't have been Eddie, there must have been some sort of misunderstanding. But from the looks of it– no one had been arrested, most likely meaning that their prime suspect was on the run. While standing there, Nicole decided on not approaching the police and instead turned back around to head home again.

A part of Nicole found the decision to run idiotic, but knowing the kind of things people said about Eddie, the town would probably make up their mind before he even got his turn to speak. There was just no way someone like him would be heard out even though those who knew him were aware of who he really was. Eddie was a metalhead that enjoyed playing nerdy fantasy games, smoking weed and joking around; maybe he looked a bit rough around the edges, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Once Nicole arrived at home she kicked off her dirty boots and began to walk through the house, only to be stopped by her aunt. "Nicole? You're home early. I thought you were going out to paint?"

It wasn't like the girl to come home early, if anything she would come home later than she often said she would. She walked into the living room where she found Helen seated on the couch, knitting yet another pair of socks while watching some quiz show.

"Uh– yeah, I'm going out a bit later. I forgot some brushes and it was too crowded where I wanted to sit." Her aunt nodded, aware that asking further questions like where she had been or what she would be painting would go unanswered. Helen thought that her niece would leave after her statement, but was met with an even more surprising statement.

"I might stay this week with a friend. Hi– her name is Edna. Just know I haven't gone missing!" The last part had been shouted as Nicole made her way up the stairs and into her room before her aunt was able to express her shock by celebrating the mention of a friend.

The friend she had referred to as Edna was in fact Eddie who she still had no idea of where he was. With the door locked, Nicole began to pace back and forth, thinking back about everything she knew about the M.I.A individual. With her limited knowledge about Eddie it took her over an hour of frustration and kicking random items in her room; at one point she even contemplated on giving up and she would've if it wasn't for the tiny painting of a river and boat in the corner closest to the door.

The painting was not of the exact location she had been looking for, but it unlocked the memory of a conversation which led to a lightbulb turning on in her brain. Having finally figured out the mystery, Nicole pulled out her everyday bag and began packing for her very long journey to where she had to go.

The bag was packed to its maximum capacity, being thrown over Nicole's shoulder as she made her way down the stairs and out of the house again. She had bid her aunt goodbye, telling her that she'd most likely come back during the weekend. As the front door closed behind her, the long journey began.

For the first forty minutes Nicole traveled by foot, but with the bag being heavy it began to take a toll on her back. Her adventure would have continued by foot, had it not been for a bike tempting her by laying on the front yard of someone's home. Technically she wasn't stealing the bike– it wasn't stealing if one returned said item, which in this case was a bike.

After deciding to 'borrow' the bike, the eighteen-year-old traveled for a total of one and a half hour; struggling to climb the hills on her way up and enjoying the wind blowing through her hair as she zoomed down them. At one point she thought that maybe she had accidentally passed the dirt road she was supposed to turn off on, that thought had coincidentally popped into mind as said road came into view. Nicole made the turn as watched as the small house and boatshed came into view. The view of the lake was absolutely stunning and could totally be one of her future muses, had it not been for the situation that made her go there in the first place.

Getting off the bike and letting it fall carelessly to the ground, Nicole jogged her way up to the front door of the house and then waited for any sign of human life. Her knocks went unanswered so she began to call out small 'hellos' and 'anyone home's' but was once again met with nothing but silence. Did she have the wrong place or had she remembered the location incorrectly?

At that point the girl was ready to leave, but as she was on her way back to the 'borrowed' bike she made one final attempt to find the twenty-year-old.

"I swear to God if I spent my day trying to fucking find you that I'll personally be the one to execute you, Munson!"

As Nicole was about to ride off on the bike, the sound of an old door creaking was heard and a confused Eddie Munson appeared outside of the boatshed. The two made eye contact and the girl once again threw the bike to the ground before flipping the guy off; frustrated she began to walk over to Eddie while he remained looking confused but with a growing smile on his face.

"Nicky? What are you doing here and how in hell did you find me?" He asked once they stood face to face, motioning for his surprise visitor to follow him back into where he had been hiding since Chrissy's death.

When they had entered the shed and the door was closed, Nicole crouched down on the ground and opened her bag to start unloading its contents. "Well it took me like a good fucking hour to figure it out, but then I remembered that you told me where you'd go if the world was ever out to get you— so here I am..."

"But why–"

"Maybe stop asking so many questions and you'd hear me explain that if I had to hide from the world, I'd like to have some kind of company or at least food." It wasn't that Nicole meant to come off as rude, she simply lacked emotion most of the time she spoke which resulted in her often sounding rude or insensitive.

This was something Eddie had somewhat picked up from the few interactions they had had, not really being affected by her tone of speech; he simply watched her with curiosity as she unpacked jackets, a blanket, food and whatnot. This wasn't some spare of the moment decision Nicole had made and he noticed that by the necessities she had brought with her. The gesture somewhat made his chest clench, appreciating that she spent her first day of spring break searching for him.

"You brought all of this for me?" The older one asked the girl as he sat down across from her, taking note of the sketchbook, pencils, weed and cigarettes in the bottom of her back which she didn't unpack.

Nicole scoffed and looked at Eddie with a smug smile, shaking her head before responding.

"I brought all of this for us."

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A/N:

Had my second last exam of this semester today and all I could think about was how I wanted to write this chapter. Hopefully my neverending thoughts about Eddie didn't make me fail my exams :')