The Break (An Eddie Munson Story)

Chapter 4: Hot Chocolate and Bologna Sandwiches

A/N: Right, here we are. Day 4 and back again with another chapter. I'm not sure how long I'll be able sustain the daily updates, once I get writers block but let's enjoy the constant stream of narrative for now, eh? For the content warning, I would again say general themes of depression and neglective parents.

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Street lights passed above in hazy blur, illuminating your early morning drive, as you rested your head again the cool glass of the truck window. This vehicle was older than your own but the familiar struggling of the engine reverberating throughout the interior, was a comforting sound that lulled you into a more relaxed state.

I can't go home. Four words that had been uttered not even half an hour prior, that had changed the course of your night. Eddie had been kind enough not to ask any more questions but instead insisted that the trip to the gas station could wait a few more hours, which was how you had ended up in his truck, driving towards the trailer park he called home. At school, the kids always referred to it as the 'wrong side of town' but you disagreed, it was the rows and rows of suburban houses, with their neat laws and picket fences that were the eyesore of Hawkins. The people that lived within those candy-coloured homes, with their stepford wives and American Apple Pie lives were brainwashed to believe that conformity and status quo were more important than individualism and anything short of perfect was to be discouraged and scorned. No, there was nothing stranger that the 'right side of the tracks', you mused in silence, as the world remained shrouded in darkness.

You had always loved Eddie's trailer and not long into your friendship, it had become like a second home to you. When you had started dating, the brunet had even discussed you having your own draw, since you practically spent all of your free time within the four walls. You felt a pang of sadness as you recalled that conversation, that had taken place during a time of endless possibilities. Now you felt so limited in your options and yet so aimless, without a place if permanence to call your own. Sure, you could stay with Eddie tonight but after you went to buy gas and retrieved your car, you would be on your own again. He was a good guy and there was no way he deserved to be burdened with your problems. Clearly, he was trying to turn his life around and finally escape the clutches of Hawkins High, he needed to be able to focus on himself and not have you stealing his attention because you could not stop being a major fuck up.

At least tonight you would have a roof over your head, after that, well, that was up to fate, destiny, God, some omnipresent deity- whatever was out there governing the Universe- to decide what happened to you.

Eventually, Eddie pulled into the trailer park and killed the engine, once he was parked outside his home. Your body screamed in protest at having to move again so soon and once out of the truck, your joints begged for you to collapse horizontal onto a surface and remain comatose for several hours.

"Come on you," he gently guided you towards the open front door, with his hand resting lightly on your lower back. "Let's go inside, we've both been in the cold enough tonight."

The trailer was just as you remember it- cosy, cluttered and undoubtedly welcoming. The complete opposite to the home you had always lived in with your parents. Setting your bags down on the padded bench that acted as a replacement for kitchen chairs, you found yourself beginning to wonder around the cramped space, re-familiarising yourself with your surroundings. How long had it been since you had last visited, last sat at that same bench drinking too sweet hot chocolate? It felt like a whole other lifetime ago, a completely different version of yourself, that had lived your memories.

"You hungry or thirsty?" his question interrupted your trailing thoughts, bringing you back to the present. "I've got bread and bologna. I even be able to also rustle up a hot chocolate, if you like?" he smiled, acting as if this were like any ordinary visit and not you invading his life like a parasite, keeping him awake when he should have been sleeping. He had to be up for class in less than four hours, not offering to make you a sandwich.