Love Bites

Prom Night

“Hey… you okay Henderson?”

A voice startled you from your position in the grass next to the parking lot outside of school. Quickly trying to blink the tears away as the figure in front of you came into focus. 

“Eddie..?” Your voice rasps out, heavy from sobbing.

He squats down in front of you, his eyes full of concern. You turn your head, bringing a hand up to wipe at your tear stained cheeks, managing to smear some of your running mascara. You flash a quick fake smile at him, knowing if you admitted you weren’t okay the tears would start to fall again.

“Yeah… just..uhm.. Needed some air I guess.” You pull your knees closer to you in a failing attempt to hide the large stain on the front of your dress. Eddie shifts on the balls of his feet, looking down at the ground.

“You don’t have to lie to me, you know. I sorta saw most of what happened.”

Great. The guy you’d been crushing on for months had seen the basketball team and the cheerleaders make you the laughing stock of the prom. 

“I think that dress needs some more color!” Patrick’s date said as she reached out and jerked your hand that had been holding onto the cup of punch you had been fiddling with as you sat alone on the bleachers. The bright red drink spilled onto your gray dress, the liquid quickly soaking in and leaving a large pink stain down your front. Tears began to prickle at your eyes, but you wouldn’t let them see and give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had gotten to you. You got up and pushed past them, heading towards the door as they laughed, hearing them joke about how you had come with no date. Once outside, the cool air of the night sent a shiver down your spine, tears flowed down your cheeks against your will. Hurriedly walking away from the door and slipping around the corner when you heard the door you had come out of bang open.

“Why are you here anyway…? I thought prom would be too conformist for you” You looked up at him, noting that he was in his regular clothes. Ripped jeans, Hellfire club t-shirt, leather jacket and denim vest.

“Selling, no better customers than teenagers at prom.” He said, looking at you.”What about your date…? Where’s he at…?

You scoffed “What date… I came with a group of friends but… they all had dates and I guess I sort of… got lost in the crowd. I guess I was sort of hoping that maybe someone would have at least asked me to dance.”

“Hmm” Eddie hummed, his tongue stuck into his cheek before standing up. 

“I have an idea, come here” He offered his hand out to you, waiting patiently for you to take it.

When you do, he easily pulls you to your feet, his hand slightly rough in yours as he leads you into the parking lot and out of the grass. You spot his familiar van parked alone. You’d seen it many times when picking up Dustin from Hellfire Club.

“Alright… let’s see what we can do to fix this night for you.” Eddie pulls open the passenger door and starts going through his cassettes. You watch his back, the way the jacket lifts and moves when he reaches further into the van. A light wind blows, causing you to shiver and wrap your arms around yourself. Curse this dress for being sleeveless. 

“Aha! Found it.” Eddie turns around triumphantly to look at you, a cassette in his hand, though you can’t see the title written on it. 

“Oh shit.. You’re probably cold. Hold on.” He turns back to the van and reaches in, producing a black Metallica hoodie from the driver's seat. He turns back to you and to your surprise hands you the garment rather than toss it to you as you thought he would. You offer him a small smile in thanks and pull it on over your head. It’s at least two sizes too big for you but it’s warm and smells like Eddie. Old Spice, cigarettes, a hint of weed and was that… moss? Eddie pops the cassette into the radio and turns the volume up. You can’t help but smile brightly as the sound of your favorite songs starts.