slut [ eddie munson ]

020

Later that day, after attending the funeral of Chrissy Cunningham and returning to her cousin's house, Talia found herself cramped into the back of Nancy's station wagon. Robin had taken the passenger seat, while Max and Lucas took the middle, leaving Talia stuck in the back with Steve and Dustin.

She sat across from the two boys, awkwardly fiddling with the hem of her black dress as she felt their eyes burn into her. Pop music played lowly through the car's speakers, drowning out the small echo of Kate Bush that Max had blaring from her Walkman. Talia could hear Lucas and Robin speaking about their destination, the Creel house, and all their different theories, Nancy chiming in every so often.

Lips set in a straight line, Talia peeked her eyes up at Steve and Dustin. She rolled her eyes as they quickly looked away, their gazes returning to her once they believed enough time had passed for her to look away.

"What?" She finally snapped, keeping her voice low to not attract the others attention. Knowing they had been caught, both boys glanced at her nervously before beginning to speak over one another.

"It's just that—"

"Where did you—"

They both cut their sentences short, looking over at the other as if to tell them to continue. When neither did, Talia sighed, "Okay, Steve, you first."

"Since when did you and Munson start...you know..." Steve trailed off, ignoring the confused grunt Dustin gave him as he focused his eyes on Talia's face. Her nose scrunched up, slight offense washing over her features.

"How is that any of your business?" Talia said, glaring slightly at the Harrington boy.

"I was just wondering," he defended himself, hiding a wince as the lie escaped his lips, "you did use to tell me this sort of stuff anyways, Talia."

"Yeah, well...that was then. Shit happened, things changed—I have no reason to tell you anything about who I am or am not fucking."

Hurt flashed across Steve's face. The end of their friendship had been abrupt and, quite frankly, seemed out of the blue—to Steve, at least. He could tell by the tone of Talia's voice that she was done with the conversation, but he wasn't.

"Shit didn't happen, Talia. You stopped talking to me—out of nowhere, by the way—and totally ignored me when I tried figuring out what happened."

Talia scoffed slightly, casting a glance towards Nancy that Steve missed. Dustin, however, caught it. His eyes widened slightly as he put it together.

"Don't act like you don't know what happened, Steve."

He stuttered for a reply, bewildered by the girl's claim, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It's a good thing you're pretty, Harrington," Dustin muttered under his breath, eyes flickering back and forth between the two to gage how the conversation was going.

"We were hooking up and then all of the sudden I find out you're seeing my cousin," Talia hissed, her voice low, "what did you think I was going to do when I found out?"

"You were the on—" Steve was cut off by the car pulling to a stop in front of the Creel house, the light pop music abruptly cutting out as Nancy pulled her keys from the ignition.

"Alright, let's go," Nancy said, oblivious to the conversation happening in the back. Not sparing Steve another look, Talia threw the back door open and climbed out. She rounded the side of the car and stepped up onto the path that led to the front door, back to the house as she waited for the rest to join her.