DANCING WITH MYSELF • EDDIE MUNSON

seven

Eddie ducked as one of your heels came hurtling towards his head—thwack!—and bounced off the restroom door.

"Get out," you snarled, your eyes blazing with rage.

Eddie stayed in a squatting position, his dark brown eyes shifting back and forth anxiously. "Yeah... I kinda can't... See, uhh, security's out there looking for me right now, and I really need a place to lay low for a while."

You started unfastening the buckle of your other shoe, fingers fumbling with the skinny faux leather strap.

"Yeah, well, that's not my problem," you said. "Now, get out!"

Your voice hit Eddie's ears like a clap of thunder, making him flinch. "Okay, I'm gonna need you to keep your voice down..."

"Get out!"

"Well, now you're just getting louder..."

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Eddie cupped his hands over his ears, then swatted the air and whispered hotly, "God dammit, would you stop shouting like that? You're attracting a lot of unwanted attention here!"

You finally tore the strap loose and pulled off your shoe. "Get out, Munson. I mean it. You have until the count of three to get out of here or I'm gonna whip this shoe at you and then scream as loud as I can, and I can scream very, very loud."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that," Eddie said, cracking a tiny smirk.

You raised the shoe over your shoulder. "One."

Eddie stood up slowly, put up his hands like a shield. "Okay, let's just calm down for a minute..."

"Two."

"Aww, come on, don't make me go out there!"

"Three!"

"No, wait! Just wait! Hear me out!"

You began your windup and—

"Y/N, please!"

And his words extinguished the anger burning inside of you, snuffed it out like a bucket of water over the last sputtering flames of a campfire. As soon as they left his lips, your arm stopped in mid-release and your elbow went limp, falling helplessly at your side.

"What?" you said in a quiet, disbelieving voice. "You know my name?"

"Uhh, yeah," said Eddie, still a little wary of the shoe in your hand. "I told you I did, remember? Right before you jumped down my throat and started yelling at me?"

You nodded slowly, vaguely remembering. "Okay... but why did you act like you didn't know me?"

Eddie chuckled, but there wasn't much humor in it. "See that's, uhhh, that's a little complicated, and I'd rather not get into that right now."

"Is that right?" you said, a wry smile on your face.

Then—"You asshole!"—your hand lashed out like a whip, sending your shoe whirling end over end. Eddie jerked his body up and around to avoid the hit, and the shoe clipped his raised elbow right on the funny bone. He yelped in surprised pain: "Jesus Christ!"

You made a fierce beckoning motion with your hand. "Now give me my shoes back so I can throw them at you again!"

"Oh-ho... yeah, no way, sweetheart. I'm confiscating these bad boys." Eddie bent down and picked up the shoe that struck him. The heel was four inches long and sharp as a dagger. "Holy shit, do you see this? You coulda taken my eye out with this thing!"