our last summer. (e.m)

three: welcome home.

i find refuge in the ice cream shop after my futile search.
what's more comforting than this?
the cold air nips at my exposed skin,
the scent of waffle cones and their counterparts find entryway to my lungs and encourage my decision to order.
the boy behind the counter does a double take when he sees me,
like he recognizes me.
"y/n?"
i look at his name tag,
which reads steve,
and recognition falls over me.
"steve harrington,"
i greet with a smile.
he laughs and hops over the counter to embrace me.
i'm taken aback by it,
but i return it all the same.
one of my very old friends.
"when did you come back to town?"
"today, actually."
he pulls back to glance over me while i do the same.
he's grown so, so much.
i once used to tease him for being so short and mousy,
now i'm eating my words.
puberty is a wondrous thing.
"i can't believe it. you've got all your teeth now,"
he teases,
referring to the front tooth i was missing when we first met.
"and you're finally taller than me."
"finally,"
he echos with a grin.
it does not take a genius to hear the flirting undertone of his;
i am a girl become woman,
and he is a boy who's grown into a man.
this is an ample opportunity for flirting,
yet i take no parts in it.
steve is...steve.
that's all he'll ever be.
"mhm,"
i say with teeth sinking into my bottom lip.
"can i order something now?"
"absolutely, y/n."
steve hurries behind the counter and makes my order for me,
then as i go to pay,
he waves his hand through the air.
"don't worry about it. it's on me."
"you're sure?"
"positive. welcome back to hawkins, y/n."
i smile and thank him for this act of kindness and promise to see him around,
though i'm not sure how true that'll be.
if i have it my way,
it'll only be by coincidence.
this town is only so small.
before i turn to leave,
i linger to ask steve,
"do you remember eddie munson?"
he chuckles at this.
"of course i do. you remember him?"
"yeah, we were best friends before i moved...he still live around here?"
steve nods his head.
"i remember now. yeah, he does. just on the other side of town. he lives with his uncle now."
the other side of town.
"okay. i appreciate it. nice seeing you again, stevie. i'll see you around."
i toss him a parting grin and make my exit.
i suppose if eddie and i don't find one another,
then steve might do in filling that void.
stop,
i chide myself,
what a stupid thought that was.
with my ice cream in hand i continue to skip across town,
finding my old haunts and reminiscing.
how has time managed to stay so still here,
yet changed so much in ten years?
the people i once imagined becoming cowboys, princesses, and even the president,
are now people with meager jobs and titles.
i sit on the nearest bench and lean back against it,
feeling the cool press of metal to my sweltering neck.
i sigh out in relief.
i know i should be headed home soon.
the ice cream in my hand is melting and i've suddenly lost my appetite,
the same way i've lost hope in reuniting with eddie.
i was a fool to believe things would be fine after so long apart.
for all i know,
he hates me.
hates me for abandoning him,
hates me for leaving him behind when things were going to turn so sour for him,
hates me for breaking my promise.
on one of our many nights spent with another,
under the stars in an attempt to camp in my backyard,
eddie nudged my foot with his own and said,
"you're my best friend, garlic clove."
he'd taken up that nickname to tease me,
but i secretly loved when he called me that.
it was so imperfectly perfect.
"you're my best friend too, bunson burner."
eddie grinned at our so childish nicknames but appreciated them all the same.
then when we turned off our lanterns,
shimmied into our matching sleeping bags,
eddie whispered,
"promise you won't leave, y/n...i don't want to find another friend like you, 'cause i've already got you."
"i won't leave. will you?"
"no. not if i can help it."
and when the haunted stories we told began to freak me out,
eddie held my hand until i fell asleep.
now here i sit,
a promise breaker.
even though i was a child with no say in where to go,
i cannot shake this guilt.
a man sits beside me on the bench now and i hurry to sit myself upright.
i eye this shaggy-haired fellow beside me as inconspicuously as possible,
trying to gauge how old he could be.
if i had to guess,
i'd say eighteen like i am.
he looks intimidating,
but there's a sense of innocence in the way he anxiously bounces his leg;
restlessness being forced out in the action.
i see his eyes linger up to mine and i hurry to look away.
heat covers my cheeks that i've been caught people watching.
then when his eyes don't leave my being,
i slowly look back.
his eyes.
they're comforting,
warm,
familiar.
"i'm sorry,"
he begins with a nervous laugh.
"you look familiar. do-do i know you?"
i go to say no,
but when i see the corners of his lips turn up and showcase his smile,
i gasp.
i've burned that very smile into my existence.
"bunson burner?"
recognition falls over him and his eyes widen.
"holy shit. garlic clove?!"
eddie brings me in his arms and i waste no time hugging him back.
it feels like nothing has changed between us.
well,
besides his sprout in stature,
the slimming maturity of his facial features,
the muscles in his arms tight around me,
and his lengthy hair.
"oh, god,"
he sighs in what sounds like relief.
"i heard people talking about you coming back, but-but i just couldn't believe it."
i bury myself in the crook of his neck,
reveling in this rejoicing.
he smells just like i remember.
"i'm so glad i was wrong."
he pulls back to garner a look at me one more time,
but his stare is not hungry like a man's might be.
it's innocent,
it's blissful.
"i've been looking for you,"
i say through my stun.
he laughs and nods.
"you found me."
i take my excited hands and run them down the length of his long arms,
pat his shoulders,
graze the ends of his hair,
all to solidify that this is eddie munson.
after all this time.
"you look so different,"
i say through stunned laughter.
"i know, i know. no more buzzcut."
"i like it, though. you look...amazing, eddie."
eddie cups his hands around my cheeks like he used to do when we were children,
then let's the pad of his thumb trace the skin on my cheekbone.
"you. you are a dime, y/n."
a bashful look falls over me and i am left to blink slowly in his stare of admiration.
"i can't believe it. little garlic clove all grown up."
"well, believe it."
i giggle as he takes his hands off of me and i wish they might stay on me for just a moment longer.
"give me a few days. what-what are you back in town for?"
his hands that fidget find stillness in his pants pockets.
"spending the summer with my dad before i head off to college."
eddie nods his head full of hair in understanding.
"decided to take the college route, huh?"
i shrug.
"really the only route. what about you?"
"i haven't figured it out yet, honestly."
i don't make a show of this.
it's perfectly common,
despite the stigma around people who decide to head a different way.
"i get it. you have all summer."
"we have all summer,"
eddie corrects then nudges my shoulder.
"i'm so glad you're here, y/n. seriously. i thought i'd never..."
eddie stops short but keeps the smile wide on his lips.
he doesn't have to say it because i already know:
i thought i'd never see you again.
i once thought the very same.
perhaps he thought saying it would be a reminder of the time of my parents divorce,
but that isn't what covers me in shame.
i frown slightly and say,
"i'm really sorry, eddie. i never wanted to leave. i didn't know they were even thinking about divorcing and-and i didn't mean to break our promise."
eddie furrows his eyebrows together,
takes a moments silence,
then finally speaks,
"y/n...you don't think i've been mad at you this whole time, do you?"
"well, i don't know. aren't you?"
he fervently shakes his head.
"god no! i wouldn't blame you for something like that. there was nothing we could have done, y/n, we were kids."
relief blooms in my chest at the sounds of his forgiveness.
a decade long burden has been lifted free from my shoulders.
"you don't know how much that means,"
i say as i bring him in for another hug.
"i spent all this time so worried you hated me."
eddie's hands find the small of my back,
pressing there to bring me closer in this embrace.
"hate you? no...i couldn't hate you, even if i tried."
we pull back once more but i still find myself wanting just a second longer in his arms.
"besides, you came back."
i laugh and nod my head in agreement.
"i did."
he drapes an arm around me to keep me by his side and we begin walking down the street together.
just like we used to,
back when things weren't so complicated.
does he know how excited i am to be in his grasp?
how euphoric it is to be back where i belong?
now,
i am home.