Lover's Lake | Eddie Munson

05

//mention of physical abuse

A couple of days pass before Ann sees Eddie again. They'd talked briefly in the hallway before last period, and they'd agreed that today would officially be "day one" of dating.

So that's why she was walking out of the school to meet up with him at his van. Walking through all the cars, it was easy to spot the thing due to its bigger-than-average size and as she leaned on the driver's side of the thing, she could feel students staring at her.

This was the first time people would be seeing them together, and for the next few days, she knew she'd hear people talk about it. Her friends from the cheer squad would probably stop talking to her in public, at least but she didn't care.

She was doing this for the good of her future.

Pulling out her Walkman and putting it on, she didn't have time to put the tape in before it was snatched from her fingers.

"Huh, Queen," Eddie said, examining the tape as he unlocked his car. "Nice choice"

"Hi, Eddie," Ann said, putting her Walkman back in her bag, snagging the tape from his waiting fingers and stuffing it in the bag too as she zipped it. "a warning would have been nice; do you tend to sneak up on people like that all the time?"

"No, just you I think," he said, climbing in the car. "Come on, this carriage won't drive itself, Cinderella" he chimed, leaning towards the passenger side to open the door for her.

As she climbed in the car, she could see most of the people out in the parking lot staring at her but shrugged it off, shutting the door after herself and putting the seatbelt on.

"So, straight home?" Eddie asked as he drove out of the parking lot "where do you live?"

She put her bag on the floor and looked at where they were on the street. "Take a right there," she said pointing to an intersection "and it'll lead you straight to Loch Nora. Once we're there my house is on Hestrey drive"

Looking at the girl, he whistled "Loch Nora, huh?"

"Yeah, Loch Nora, super fun neighbourhood" she sighed, "it looks pretty but no one gets along. Living there is living hell."

Eddie nodded and tapped the center console "I have tapes in here, you can choose one and play it if you want."

She looked at him and smiled "Oh! all right!" she replied cheerfully, lifting the top and rummaging through the dozens of tape "you have so many you should organize these- oh my god you have some Fleetwood mac" exclaimed the girl, pulling out the tape.

Eddie looked at her as she handed him the tape so he could put it on the radio and raised an eyebrow "Fleetwood mac, huh?" he said, pressing the play button. The chain started playing and the girl grinned.

"I don't know," Eddie said over the sound of the song "felt like you'd be more into like, pop music or something. You feel like the kind of person to jam out to ABBA," he said with a snicker.

"Hey, ABBA's great, ok?" she said, defending the band. "But Fleetwood mac is just special, all right? I can love more than one genre."

Eddie laughed and hummed along with the song. The rest of the drive was spent in a comfortable silence until landslide started playing and Ann gasped, immediately singing the song.

Eddie glanced at her as she sang and laughed. The girl looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Can't a girl enjoy her favourite song?" she said, going back to singing.

"No, no you can, go ahead" Eddie chuckled, turning into Loch Nora and looking at the street signs so he wouldn't miss the right street.

"it's the one after that red house there," she said, pointing to the house on the corner of the street. "it'll be about two minutes down the street when you'll be onto it."

Eddie knew Ann Hopkins was rich, but as he pulled onto the road and glanced at the huge houses that littered the street, the fact really sunk in. and it was cemented when she told him to pull into her huge driveway, right in front of the huge house.

"All right, thanks for the ride!" she said glancing at her the windows of the house, where they could see Ann's parents looking at the stranger's car in their driveway. "My parents are watching, play along all right?" she asked him as she hopped out of the van and walked over to the driver's side, motioning for Eddie to roll down his window.

He leaned on the window and looked down at her. As soon as his head was low enough, she rose on her tippy toes and pressed her forehead to his lips, shutting her eyes and staying there for a couple of seconds before leaving, waving at him from the porch.

Eddie stayed frozen in front of his wheel for a couple of seconds, and when he looked back up at the house's window, he could see her father still staring at him, so he smirked and waved, watching him shut the blinds.

Ann barely had one shoe off when her father came to stand inf front of her, hands crossed over his chest. Sighing, she quickly pulled off the other one and placed them on the shoe rack.

"Ann. Who was that person in our driveway." Said the man, "Why exactly did he kiss you."

Ann gulped and looked around for her mother, but the house was silent, so she was probably outside tending to her garden. "He's my boyfriend, dad." She said with confidence, looking at him.

Her father scoffed and removed his glasses, putting them in his dress shirt's pocket. "You know you're not allowed to date, Ann Hopkins." He said loudly, putting his hands on his hips, "You're breaking up with him tomorrow morning, as soon as you get to school." He told her, walking away from her.

But Ann stayed where she was standing and removed her jacket. "No, I'm not breaking up with him." She said, knowing she was pushing her father's limits.

The man turned around and walked back in front of her as if daring her to continue speaking.

"I'm not breaking up with him, and I don't give a fuck about what you say." she seethed at him "I'm done with you and controlling my life." she continued, but before she could even say anything else, her father's hand flew and hit her on the cheek.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she could feel the bitter taste of blood coming from inside of her mouth. Before he could do anything else, she shoved him out of the way with her shoulder and ran upstairs to her room, closing the door and locking it right after. She walked to her bathroom and spit the blood that was in her mouth.

"Oh my god" she whimpered, wiping tears from her eyes, and wincing as she touched the spot where she'd just been slapped moments ago.

She turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on her face, looking at her reddened face through the mirror.