idiot - steddie

Five

Robin and Eddie continued on rowing down the deep abyss that is Lover's Lake, the moonlight slowly devouring us as we descended into to the mouth of the lagoon the harder their oars slapped the black water.

Well, that was what we were doing up until Nancy yelled at us to slow down and stop the half-broken motorboat.

The hunk of metal we were all sitting in tipped up and down in sync with the small waves that seemed inevitable to avoid out here as Eddie slammed his paddle down into the water, and Robin struggled to maneuver the boat into a dormant position. Nancy heaved out a grunt as she stood up from her seat next to Robin and looked down at the piece of equipment, showing her— well, Dustin's compass— to all of us. Eddie shot me an odd glance as we both stood up, and his grip on the oar tightened with his rings clacking against the wooden pole.

The compass needle was going crazy, sprawling out in all different directions and shaking violently inside of Nancy's twitchy palm. I looked at Eddie, who looked back at me with an unreadable expression. His brown eyes twinkled under the shine of the bright moon above us, causing his pupils to illuminate a light blue, and his mouth to curve into a tight smirk as he saw my eyes trail down to his lips, and he set his mouth open a few inches to say something, but our heated eye contact and almost conversation ended with a sharp radio interference from no other than Dustin Henderson.

"Guys, what's going on?" His voice came from the other side as we all gathered around Nancy's outstretched hand, holding the compass in the crook of her palm. "Come on guys, talk to me. What's going on?" He asked again, more persistent than the last time. Robin leaned over Nancy's shoulder, her chin brushing against the fabric of her striped shirt as a red coating of blush brushed against Nancy's pale cheeks. Eddie did the same as her to me, holding his head just above the yellow hemming of my crewneck. His hair fell onto my chest, swallowing me in that same vanilla-weed-beer scent that always lingered on him. He placed a gentle hand on the metal just beside my leg, and his middle finger was brushing right against the denim material of my jeans. His thick metal rings accompanied that small touch, and I couldn't help but hold back the same blush Nancy was.

I gulped, focusing on the spazzed-out compass instead of Eddie's warm breath pounding against the small sliver of space between my hair and my skin. And trying my best to ignore the sideways glance he was giving to me as we spoke.

God, he was hot.

Robin looked up from the compass and up at me, holding the large black radio Eddie had stolen from a construction site up to her chapped lips. "Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital.. Aah!" She said, and something clicked inside of me. We were above the gate Dustin had talked about. We were talking about a compass right above a gate to another dimension. And nobody was doing anything about it.

I began slipping my shoes off of my tired feet, that had been lined with blisters and callouses from our long time spent walking along that long hiking trail from the crime scene that morning, all the way towards Lover's Lake. Robin took notice at the speed of sound, and her eyebrows fell into a tight knot above her eyelids. "Steve what are you doing?" She asked, and everyone turned to me, including Eddie, who had since pulled his head away from where it as resting on my shoulder. Though, his hand was still a little too close to my thigh than I had hoped.

I popped off my sock, and copied the two movements on the other side of my foot. "Someone's gotta go down and check this thing out." I replied simply, balling up my socks and setting them inside of my discarded shoes; the shoes that were set right next to Eddie's beat up Reebok's. "Unless one of you can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain, and a certified lifeguard for three years, then.." I took a breath, looking around at everyone for a quick second. Nancy had a distressed look on her face, Robin was looking at Eddie, and he— the long-haired freak I had somehow gotten close to— was staring at me like a dog in heat. I tore my gaze away from him as the silence thickened, and looked back at Robin with a stern face. "It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?"

Robin shined a flashlight up at me as I stood up from the uncomfortable sitting position I was in, removing Eddie's touch from me in the process. Robin held up her hands in defense, chuckling. "Hey, I'm not complaining." She said, cocking her head to the side and looking sideways at Nancy. "I do not wanna go down there." She said in a shaky tone as she yanked a plastic bag out of a space in between her and Eddie's seat, dumping out it's contents onto the floor of our boat. I grabbed the bottom of my shirt, slowly rolling it up in my hands until I ultimately pulled it over my head, causing my hair to spur out and my shoulders to get a massive wave of cold air hit them like a tsunami strike.

I knew by the sudden crane of his neck and change of mood that Eddie had looked up at me from the seat beside me, his eyes attached to the sight of my bare body. Nancy looked over at him, her eyes glued to the side of his well-sculpted jawline that was freckled with dirt. I threw my shirt aside into the pile of whatever Robin had spilt out of the bag beforehand, and when I looked over I saw her wrapping a black flashlight in the remnants of the bag, seemingly very focused on it. I knew she was just trying to avoid my chest hair.

Eddie's eyes stayed glued to me as Robin finished tying the plastic coating around the flashlight, and she set it in my hand, causing the plastic material to rustle around in the sudden act. "Hey, good luck." She said simply. I nodded at her and smiled. "Thanks." I breathed out, turning back to my original direction where Eddie was facing me. Robin sighed and took a small joint from Eddie's tin he left her, holding up another black lighter we had bought him, lighting the spark for only a second before the fire rekindled under Nancy's grab and she flicked the blunt behind her into the deep lake where it would soon diminish. "Gross." She spoke, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the two.

I tightened my grip on the loose plastic-covered flashlight, sighing as I turned my body towards the water with a quick side sweep of my chest. The water seemed to pick up more speed in the time being, causing the water ripples to quicken under the small boat. "Steve?" Eddie's voice came from behind. I turned, still breathing heavily under the pressure being shoved down my throat at the sudden moment. His gaze tore from my chest and met my eyes warily, "Be careful." He finally spat out, his glistening brown eyes reflecting off of mine. I searched for a look other than admiration on his face, but found none through his wavy brown curls. I nodded slightly at him, giving everyone a quick farewell glimpse before turning my attention back to the water, that was begging for me to hop in— and taking a leap of faith into the lagoon, delivering the ending with a dive that sent me deep down into the vast lake below.

Yet, even as I searched for something off in that lake, the only thing I could think about was the way Eddie looked at me. The way he stared at me longer than he had to, the way his breath felt pressed against my neck, and god.. the way his lips curled and a smile rose everytime he caught me staring.

Did I have a crush on Eddie Munson?