OUT OF (TOUCH) ... eddie munson

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"THAT'S HER!"

the table of boys all looked frantically in the direction of the man child's wagging finger.

"what? where?!" dustin henderson asked, his voice hurried, frantic and low. the table seemed to tense, and they squawked.

he shouted over them with a berserk screech, "there!" his finger had moved more erratically then, fitful and more pointedly.

a couple of surrounding tables would shoot daggers at them, turning their heads and creasing their brows or shaking their heads, nothing short of disgusted. it mattered not to him. he punched the air with his finger pointed, as though he were furiously pressing an elevator button over and over and over again.

mike wheeler had been squinting and muttering nonsense under his breath as he tried to get a glimpse of everyone going in and out of the door of the cafeteria, before spotting the girl holding the door open. his brow twitched, and he nudged dustin. "is... is he talking about lucille?"

there was a moment of quiet realization that dawned on the two, before a chuckle bubbled from the back of dustin's throat. small, at first, before the object of eddie munson's affection unloaded within the poor boy's skull. his chuckles were fruitful, and the table stared at dustin, an array of reactive expressions as uncontrollable howls of laughter puffed from his mouth.

mike watched him with an eye-narrowed concern, licking his lips and glancing nervously between his friend and their dungeon master. danny and gareth, with their double chins, allowed their mouths to droop into a disturbed pair of grimaces. danny had one brow raised, similarly looking between eddie and the cackling boy. gareth, though, kept his concerned eyes on the boy, wide and full of nothing. jeff's braced teeth were clenched, elbow on the table as he stroked his chin and observed the boy with a sort of amusement.

the man at the end of the table, who had been screaming at the boys and pointing at the girl seconds before, was now zeroed in on dustin henderson. there was a sneer on his face, almost. it was subtle– the intense line from the edge of his nose to the edge of his lip, the slight flare of the nostril, the pinch between his brows, the way his jaw had somewhat jutted out. the focus in his eyes as he leered at the boy.

he stared at none but eddie. his laughter stopped, catching in his throat. his eyes were wide, brows raised as he felt a sense of disbelief. his mouth opened. "...lucille?" he rasped out loudly.

from behind dustin, mike tensed further. dustin sighed at himself in realization, a sense of defeat as his eyes shut.

eddie's eyes widened. his head turned in the direction of her. she was looking over there. at their table. at them. no... eddie gulped. at him.

he could have kicked dustin's shins under the table had he not been ensnared by her. he saw as she had held the door open for random people, not yet looking up from the stack of papers in her hand. lucille's gaze was intense, focused on the papers, and eddie felt a strange giddiness as she had let go of the handle, letting it close on a gaggle of boys as she flipped to the next page. she'd absentmindedly grabbed the door again, taking no notice of those scornful boys as they left the cafeteria.

and he looked over at her, and it was different. he still felt that same mesmerized giddiness, but her gaze was now focusing on him. she had yet to look anywhere else. he had caught lucille's eye just as her confused expression was softening, melting into a worldly half-smile.

he was pulled back to the surface of his own little fascination fountain by dustin kicking his shin under the table. he looked over at the boy, whose mouth-corners were pulled dramatically low, a smug upside-down smile. his brows were knitted together, and he gave a shaking thumbs up just hidden by the table. eddie looked at the boy with an unwavering expression. he suddenly kicked dustin's shins under the table with the ardor of a thousand suns, and the boy's jaw unlocked, turning his head in search of something to safely bite down as a high whimper shot from his lungs. his open mouth landed on mike's shoulder, and the black-haired boy accepted it with his eyes closed and his eyebrows drawn together, sighing.