change of pace

hellfire

chapter eighteen

The scar skidded into the school parking lot and Dustin swung to the back, slamming into the doors. "Ow!" he announced in frustration, which Eddie could care less while blasting his cassette still.

"Could you drive any less completely fucking mental?" Dustin says after we clamor out of the car.
"Find yourself a different ride next time." Eddie responds grabbing his belongings. He stuffs them in his backpack and wraps his arm around me. I hold the hand that rests above my shoulder. Dustin attempts to keep up our fast pace beside me.

The "something the discuss" that Eddie so politely put it earlier consisted of Dustin trying to explain his devotion to the party but protect Lucas and Mike's placement. It made me think Eddie said something rude about Lucas wanting to try out for basketball.

"I think Lucas trying out for basketball is a good idea." I say after Eddie bickers with Dustin.
"What?" Eddie stops to stare at me.
"Think about it. Maybe he really likes it? Why keep him from something he enjoys? No one is keeping you away from the campaign." I tell him.
"Okay...let's just start setting up." Eddie says staring at me weird before rushing ahead of Dustin and I. I look at Dustin and shrug.
"I agree, Jess. Lucas needs this." Dustin whispers and I smile.
"Just be sure to support him."

Eddie looks frustrated as he opens the door to let us in. I give him a look and he stares to the ground.

"Henderson, start setting up. Jess and I will be back in a bit." Eddie says gripping my hand and pulling me out of the room. We walk out to a little spot in the woods. A chill goes down my spine.
"What's wrong?" I say angrily.
"What's going on with you? First agreeing with him about Steve and now this riot for Sinclair?" Eddie crosses his arms.
"Eddie, it's not worth being so mad about!" I back away from him.
"No, Jessie, you do realize what we talked about? The same fucking people that hurt you are drawing him in."
"Are you forgetting what I fucking told you? Look at those three! These kids aren't going to transform into fucking assholes after one touch from a basketball! You're being ridiculous..."
"I'm being ridiculous?! Why are you fighting this so hard?"
"Because I was one of them, Eddie."
"What?"
"I was popular! I did cheer! I went to parties every weekend! Harrington went to those parties and now look at him. Look at me! You're so quick to judge without looking at how you talk about them, asshole." I say immediately regretting it.
"And now look at how they treat you." he said still arguing.
"It was before my mom fucking died, Eddie. I had that perfect high school dream and after she died I just alienated myself from everyone. My fault. I did it to myself. If Lucas wants to be who I once was, let him. And don't discourage him. You can't judge them based on who they aren't yet."

Eddie stood in silence looking down at the ground.

"You're right. I'm sorry." he says sighing aggressively.
"We're going to his first pep rally."
"The fuck we are."
"Eddie."
"Fuck! Fine, we'll go to his stupid little fucking ball rally bullshit." he stomps on the ground and whips out a cigarette from his jacket pocket. The little stick gets shoved in his mouth angrily as he whips out his lighter to ignite it.
"Thank you." I sweeten my tone. He stares at me and starts calming his breath down after taking a few hits.
"I love you, I really do. But, if anything fucking happens and Sinclair, or any of those little fucks, gets taken over by the dark side, I'm beating the holy hell out of them." Eddie pulls me into him with his cigarette still hanging in his mouth. His hands travels down to my ass and he keeps them there.
"Alright, Ed, let's get back to Dustin." I roll my eyes and pat his chest.

Upon arriving back to the Hellfire room, we found Dustin frantically trying to set up the table.

"Are you two done fucking around?!" Dustin says slamming himself in a chair.
"Someone missed nap time." Eddie jokes pulling out his DM screen. I take a seat next to his.

The boys carefully finish setting up the table with everyones character sheet, a map, and the minis. Gareth, Jeff, and Grant all arrive together and take a seat at the table. Dustin sits next to me and talks to me about his character that he's so excited to unveil. Nancy dropped Mike off and Lucas got a ride from his mom after she took his sister to a friends house, they both explained.

Everyone sits anxiously around the table, waiting for Dungeon Master Eddie Munson to start the session. This being my first time playing, I was scared for what might happen. Eddie's demeanor changes almost instantly into a sort of creepy narrator-esque voice. He lays out the visual for where our heroes story begins and introduces the enemy, the Cult of Vecna. For the most part, I was just following along with the others and their turns until it had gotten to my first turn. Due to a specific ability that I wasn't aware that I had as a paladin. Eddie explained it to me and how it could benefit the party, and then asked me to roll the dice, handing me a triangular looking one. He smiled at me once I told him what it rolled on, and apparently it was good because he continued on to describe what happens. Despite my confusion the entire time, I really enjoyed it. Eddie used different voices when another character apart of the story spoke and the other guys also used funny accents when it came to their turn. Hearing the arguments between Dustin and Eddie during the session was really entertaining.

It ended with us being lost in a forest and the last thing we saw was a group of dark cloaked figures chanting and Eddie concluded the session. Everyone gathered their things and discussed amongst each other about the events from the introduction to the campaign and I helped Eddie pack up his papers. We left the map on minis on the table but gathered the dice back into their respective cases.

"Did you have fun?" he says grabbing my hips and pulling me closer to him.
"That was so much fun!" I say excitedly.
"Ugh! Get a room!" Grant says rolling his eyes and Eddie flips him off.

Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin walk ahead talking about band practice coming up so I stayed behind with Dustin, Mike, and Luke.

"Is this your first time playing?" Mike says awkwardly.
"Yeah actually."
"How'd you like it?" Dustin says smiling.
"It was really fun! You guys were so cool..."
"Oh," Dustin says smugly, "well, we certainly try!" he jokes and everyone laughs.

Eddie leans his hand against the exit door of the building waiting for me staring. The other guys walked to their cars already.

"Oh, Lucas, good luck with basketball." I smile at him and he beams up at me.
"O-oh, thank you Jessie." he says smiling.

Eddie grabs my hand and I wave with the other as the three of them walk to their carpool driver. We walk to his car and he watches as I buckle my seatbelt in not starting the car.

"I'm sorry about earlier." he says quietly and I stop to look at him. I take my hand and move his hair from his face.
"It's okay, babe." I weakly smile at him. He smiles back before taking out a cassette and shoving it in, taking off towards my house.