To Hell and Back Again

Chapter Four

Steve stared at himself in the mirror. He grabbed the edge of the sink and sighed. He opened the bathroom door and saw Eddie was asleep. He headed downstairs and grabbed his phone. "Henderson? Hey, I need a favor."

Steve sat on the front porch waiting quietly. He saw Dustin on his bike turn the corner of his street. Steve stood up and walked to the road. Dustin panted and leaned over his handle bars. "What the fuck did you need this for? It's so heavy." Steve took the bags and smiled.
"It's for a good cause." Dustin frowned and held out his hand.
"Pay up, man." Dustin wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Steve slapped a twenty dollar bill in Dustin's hand.  Steve headed back into the house and sat down on his couch. He opened up one of Eddie's bags and rifled through it. He pulled out a suspicious brown bag and sniffed the inside. He coughed a couple times and poured some of the contents into a small paper. He licked the paper and rolled it up. He's never done with before. Steve was proud but something was telling him it wasn't right. He stood up and walked up the stairs. He sat on the edge of the bed where Eddie was asleep.

"Wake up, sunshine." He shook Eddie's shoulder gently. Eddie's eyes cracked open a bit and he stretched out on the bed.
"What... oh shit!" Eddie sat up and took the joint out of Steve's hand. He smiled so big then inspected it. "This is so bad. There's no filter."
"You need a filter?" Steve asked innocently.

Steve and Eddie sat on the back porch with a joint and two beers each. "I really needed this, Steve." Eddie lit the joint and breathed in. He smiled and tilted his head back. He handed the joint to Steve. He had tried weed only twice before. Once at a party when he was a freshman and once when he was a senior but he's pretty sure it was just second hand high. Steve took the joint and inhaled. He let out a small cough with a puff of smoke and exhaled.
"Holy shit, that's smooth," he looked at the joint then handed it back to Eddie. Eddie hit it again. His leg started bouncing up and down.
"Can we talk about last night?" He looked at Steve who was staring at the ground. He handed the joint back to Steve and he took a massive rip off it. He coughed and tried to inhale. He exhaled, still coughing.
"What about last night?" He stared at the ground still. He looked at Eddie who was completely unaffected by the weed. Eddie turned to him.
"Last night? You ran in the room like Prince Charming and kissed me like a half hour after running out of the room because you kissed me." Eddie stared into Steve's eyes then Steve shot his eyes down to the ground.
"I'm sorry but these rocks are fucking hilarious. Look at them." He giggled and went to touch the rocks but instead of the touching the ground he touched the air and thought he was touching the rocks. "Eddie! I cant feel the rocks," he continued to giggle uncontrollably.
"Harrington, you're an idiot." Eddie cracked open one of the beers and took a drink. He put the joint back in his mouth.
"And you're pretty. I haven't realized that you're such a pretty man before." Steve touched Eddie's face and started cracking up laughing. "You're gorgeous. I feel like your eyes are like swimming pools and you could just get lost in them." He ran his hand down Eddie's face. Eddie took his hand off his face and held it in his hands.
"You're still an idiot." He turned to Steve and rolled his eyes. "Weed doesn't sit well with you." Eddie's leg continued to bounce up and down. He stared into the distance.
Steve was definitely not in the right state of mind but he immediately noticed Eddie's leg bouncing. He put his hand on Eddie's knee and held it down so he couldn't bounce it. "What's bothering you?" Steve tried to fight the high and be serious.
"I had a dream last night about what happened in the upside down. I felt like I was stuck all over again." He tried not to look at Steve but instead stared at the ground. Eddie had built up an immunity for weed over his high-school years. It would take two joints to get him high. Only one made him buzzed but not flying.
Steve cracked up laughing. "Do you remember when I bit the head off that bat? I thought i was going to turn into a vampire or something." He smiled and moved his hand from Eddie's knee to his upper thigh. It was a subconscious action and he didn't realize he did it but Eddie did. He stared down at Steve's hand. Eddie knew Steve didn't know what he wanted. He definitely wouldn't admit anytime soon that he had feelings for Eddie- "you know what's weird? I don't feel gay but I think you're so hot. If I wasn't scared of how my friends would react I'd ask you to be my boyfrieenddd!" Steve sang the word 'boyfriend' in a screechy singsong voice. Eddie's eyes were huge. He didn't know what to do. "I'm so tired. I was up all night making sure you were still alive. I checked your pulse like five times! But good news is, you didn't die!" Steve started laughing. He leaned his head on Eddie's shoulder. Steve inhaled deeply, "you smell like weed and cologne." Eddie smiled and leaned his head on top of Steve's. Pretty soon Steve was knocked out. Eddie ran his hand through Steve's hair. He put his arm around Steve and held him closer.