OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Secrets

"Yeah. Superpowers." Eddie stated, finishing the last of his milkshake. "I guess we'll have to believe it when we see it. Or not, seeing as Steve said they went 'bye-bye'." He half chuckled.

"Seems to me like we could do with a little magic." Ellie said, looking out into the lake.

"You're telling me." Eddie said, watching her eyes as they followed birds that were swooping down to the water. "How's your neck anyway?" He asked.

Ellie subconsciously raised her hand to the small scabbed over cut, "Not bad at all. Next time aim for the jugular." She smiled, turning to him and admiring the grin that appeared on his face.

"If I wanted you dead you would be." He told her, his grin turning into a smirk.

"Hey, I can hold my own in a fight." She laughed, "had enough of them after all."

"I do seem to remember seeing you and Carol Perkins having a blowout in the parking lot after school once." Eddie said, raising his eyebrow as a hint that he wanted her to elaborate on what had happened.

"Oh yeah! She said that I looked like I was wearing clown make-up and asked why my mom hadn't taught me to look like a 'normal girl'."

"I also remember her coming out of that fight a lot worse off than you did." He chuckled, remembering the badly concealed black eye that Carol had sported for a couple of weeks after that incident.

"Yeah, well, she shouldn't have brought my mom into it. And she shouldn't have spent the whole time trying to pull my hair and instead thrown some punches." Ellie grinned.

"Do you not have a good relationship with your mom?" Eddie asked, hoping it wasn't too personal of a question this early on, but he was quite looking forward to getting to know this girl as well as he could in what could potentially be a short time together. He doubted she'd want to continue being friends with him after he was behind prison bars for a murder he didn't commit.

"You could say that. She's been gone since I was about 13, took one too many pills and didn't even leave a note."

Eddie didn't know what to say as she spoke those words, her attention once again turning towards the lake. "I'm so sorry." He told her.

"It's okay, I think I'm starting to come to terms with it now, I was young and naive and there was only so much I could've done."

Eddie nodded, not wanting for her to dwell on the subject for too long, "If it's any consolation, I think Carol Perkins is a grade-A bitch and you're make-up looks amazing."

Ellie laughed, the sound playing in Eddie's ears like music, he smiled at her, happy that he hadn't brought her mood down.

"Thank you. I could always do your eyeliner one day if you wanted." She joked.

"You can do anything you want to me." He smiled back, before realising what he'd just said as Ellie was about to laugh, "that's not what I meant! I meant make-up obviously! Sometimes when my band plays we wear eyeliner and other things like that, I just thought it'd be cool for someone who actually knew what they were doing to do it for once." His words came out fast and jumbled as Ellie watched him try to cover what he'd just said.

"You can't blame me for getting the wrong idea after you pinned me against a wall last night." She joked.

"Well hey, you told me to take you out to dinner first, so I guess I can't do that again for a while." Eddie responded, enjoying this flirtatious banter while it lasted.

"Best clear your name quick then." She smirked, reaching into Eddie's boat and opening the crate of beer, taking two out and handing one to Eddie.

They both popped the caps off their beers and took a long swig, the silence being filled by the sound of the water hitting the base of the floor they were sat on.