BILLIE JEAN ( eddie munson.. ) ✔

009. Made for Loving You..

All it takes is one memory.

It was early November 1985 when Tom Richie first knew miracles could happen.

Billie Jean wasn't the first person Eddie brought to one of their shows as a form of flirting. Corroded Coffin's gigs were always in the same trash bar the respectable folks of Hawkins avoided at all costs due to its renowned reputation of drunks. It reeked of alcohol, of the decay of lost potential, clinging to the sleeping, knocked out bodies of about five men laying around, hearing from their purgatory state what they put on stage.

No one wanted to sing in a place like this, except from the desperate guys who needed an outlet for their passion. And they were good. Dubiously good. If perhaps Hawkins changed over night and they got lucky, they would have all had a future. But no such hopeful dreams crossed their minds. As long as they played, their nights had the spark which mattered.

And of course, being in a band helped them hook up. Richie, Gareth and Jeff took one look at Billie on the first night Eddie brought her over for the show and their jokes were permanently spiraling lines of teasing. "Didn't know you liked them tame too."

But then she showed up for a second show in a row and the comments changed to what Eddie would laugh off: "So she was that good in bed, huh?"

The third show she attended, the band was already having their theories challenged.

"It could just be a serious relationship for once," Jeff started tuning his guitar, backstage.

"Are you even hearing yourself right now?" Gareth immediately glared. "He's got game, sure, but not enough to fool her into a relationship. The chick lives in the rich side of the town."

"You're forgetting the true flaw to Jeff's theory," Richie sighed, collapsing into sitting on the bench. The wood creaked, far louder than his own leather jacket. Two sets of eyes immediately gave him their whole attention. "Our Eddie would not ever settle down."

"He's chaos embodied," Gareth agreed with a smile full of admiration.

Jeff was simply compelled to nod along, "Yeah, you're right."

Gareth snickered, bringing the conversation right back where it should have remained, "Maybe she's just as much of a freak as him then."

"In bed," Jeff completed his friend's statement.

"Aren't all good girls like that?" Richie's loud laugh joined the symphony on the noise of which Eddie rushed backstage. To this day, Richie remembered the look on his friend's face. They've been through ups and downs, through truly high highs and bottomless pit lows, ever since general school, but not music, not drugs, nothing brought Eddie a smile as bright as the one he had that night.

It took everyone's attention off of their jests. Chuckles turned into silence gradually, leaving room to hear how absolutely breathless he was. Eddie set his guitar down, spun around a few times then dramatically clasped his hands, "If you're all down, I'll need us to change the opening song tonight."

His hurried speech took everyone off guard.

Gareth, especially, got vocal first, through a glare, "Dude, we practiced Wild Child for months."

"And we're still playing it tonight," Eddie reassured him in a heartbeat, gesticulating from his chest towards Gareth, "but not as the opening song."

"Then what are we playing?" Jeff stopped tuning his guitar, disappointed and not shy in showing it.

"KISS, I was made for loving you."

"What?!" The whole band protested in a single voice, forcing Eddie to lift his hands in defense and jump a single step back.