Welcome To Hawkins

11

I wait for what feels like an eternity on the living room couch. What could he be doing that takes this long?

"Do you mind picking up a few more things than I originally asked?" Mom walks into the room, a piece of notepad paper in her hand.

"Just at Bradley's?" I take the list from her, reading her small, perfect handwriting.

"Yes, Bradley's should have it all."

Sighing, I nod, "Yeah, we can."

Mom smiles, "Eddie's lucky your father isn't home. He's been in the shower for well over ten minutes now."

I laugh, "Should I go check on him--?"

"It wouldn't hurt," Mom shrugs, returning to her romance novel in the kitchen.

I make my way to the bathroom door, knocking lightly. When he doesn't respond, I knock louder, "Eddie?"

"What?" He yells back.

"Are you almost ready?"

The sound of the shower is all I can hear for a moment before he yells back, "Give me a minute."

"Two more tops! There's a whole list now."

He curses as the shower turns off. Another twenty seconds go by before he's opening the door, watching dripping down from his hair across his chest, hand grasping the cotton towel closed around his hips.

I blink at him, trying hard to keep eye contact, not letting my eyes drift any lower.

I quickly mutter, "I'll be in the living room," racing back towards the couch before I do something ridiculous like kissing him again.

Minutes later, Eddie comes into the living room fully clothed, "Ready?"

I snort, "Am I ready? Mr. takes a lifetime to get ready? Yeah, I think I'm ready."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go before you reach eighty," he sasses back. The banter feels normal, feels like how we've always been. It's comforting to see it hasn't been lost.

Shouldering past him, I grab the keys to the Cadillac off the key rack, "Let's go!"

Eddie grins mischievously, "Stealing daddy's car, are we?"

"He won't mind," I make a nonchalant hand motion walking faster towards the front door so he can't see my expression.

"How'd you know I like a bad girl?" He chuckles, closing the door behind him.

Electing to ignore that particular comment, I climb into the Cadillac, handing Eddie mom's list.

"Mrs. (y/dn) (y/ln)?" Eddie reads off the top of the floral notepad paper.

I shrug, starting the ignition, "The insurance guy sends my mom personalized notepads once and a while. You've never seen them?"

He grins down at the paper, "Nah. I lived with my uncle, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot..." I look over at him apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. You know I don't."

Uncomfortable silence comes over the car for a moment before I speak, "You've never talked about your parents with me..."

"And you never talked about Nancy or Steve," Eddie shoots back, his face having fallen flat.

Shrugging, I try again, "We don't have to talk about it, but if you want to ever... You can," I tack on a quick, "With me," in case that wasn't obvious. Eddie doesn't speak for several minutes, and I keep my eyes on the road.

"I know," his voice is soft, "Maybe someday."

Glancing over at him, I see his expression has mellowed. Letting the conversation die, I turn the radio up to counter the silence.

"How do you want me to act?" Eddie suddenly asks, "When we're in public but not with your family?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're going to the store. Am I going as Eddie, your boyfriend, or Eddie, your best friend?"

I'm about to say my best friend, but remember that a family member, Steve, or someone who could be introduced to Eddie eventually could be at Bradley's. The town was too small to let the deception fall even a tiny bit.

"My boyfriend," I sigh, parking the car in a spot towards the front.

"Sounds good," Eddie climbs out of the car, and I follow.

Eddie stops me before I can escape him with a whiny, "Aren't you going to hold my hand?" He stretches his arm towards me, pushing his bottom lip out in a mock pout.

"My god--" I huff under my breath, accepting the hand and pulling him towards the automatic doors into Bradley's before he can find a new way to annoy me.

"Gotta play the role, darling. We don't know who's watching." He squeezes my hand before intertwining our fingers.

"Yeah, sure. Do you have the list?"

Eddie pulls the paper from his jeans pocket, "Right here."

"Read it to me quickly," I tug him towards the cart corral.

"Uh... Watermelon, apples, milk, coffee filters, ketchup, dill pickles, potato chips, pretzels, and ice."

"We're shopping for more than the party, I see..." I glance over at Eddie.

"We'd better get started then," He takes hold of the cart, steering us towards the produce section.

Reverting to his normal self, Eddie holds up two small watermelons at chest level, "These look good, don't they?"

"You're a dork," rolling my eyes, I pick up a medium-sized melon, setting it into the cart.

"And you love it," he crowds into my space, leaning in to brush his lips against mine.

Those pesky butterflies overcome me once again. "We're never going to finish if you don't let me--"

"Oh, c'mon. It was a small kiss to show the people of Haskins--"

"Hawkins," a grin tugs at my lips at his continued mispronunciation.

"Hawkins," Eddie corrects, "that we're in love."

Redirecting us towards the apple stand, I suggest, "How about you go get the coffee filters, ketchup, and pickles and meet me in the snack aisle."

Eddie grins goofily, "Are you trying to get rid of me, (y/ln)?"

"Is it working?"

"I know when I'm not wanted," he turns around dramatically.

"Oh my god, you're such a pain in my ass--"

"You love it," he holds his hand up as he walks away. I watch him until he disappears out of sight.

"He really does look good in those jeans..." I mutter to myself before tearing my eyes away from the grocery aisles.

Get a hold of yourself, (y/n)!