Head Over Heels for Eddie Munson

Ch15:Missing Piece in my Puzzle

Eddie turned back to us after taking in the terrifying beauty painted around him. "This place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" He shouted down to us. "Pretty much," I breathed heavily, wiping any extra blood off my hands. Eddie started walking down the rock but stopped as Nancy stated, "Wait, watch out for the vines. It's all a hive mind." He stopped in his place, with one foot hovering over a moving vine, "It's all a what?" He was confused as to what Nancy meant, looking at all of us for an explanation. "All the creepy crawlies around here, dude. They're, like, one or something," Steve explained in a way that Eddie would understand. "You step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, and technically stepping on...Vecna," I intervened, shuddering at the thought. Eddie nodded, moving his foot away and taking careful steps, "Shit!" I watched him carefully as he made his way down and towards me, making sure he was safe. He came up to me and pulled me away from a nearby vine by my good shoulder, making sure I was also safe. "But everything from our world is still here, right? Except...people? Obviously," Robin was creating a plan, I knew it. She looked towards me, being the only one who has ever entered the upside down and knew anything about it. "As far as I understand it, yeah," I answered, thinking back to what I remembered. Robin spoke, "So, theoretically, we could go to the police station, and steal guns, and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate." I started thinking about what we need to get back through the gate, what we could do to escape. "Yeah, I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin," Steve said with some amount of intelligence, "But guns, yeah, sure." The mood lightened and I felt a bit more safe, knowing there was some way to protect ourselves, remembering my stash of knives in my room. Guns were not my preferred weapon, those usually being knives or swords, but I was still good at using them. I remembered my dad taking me to shooting ranges when I was younger right after the concerts we went to. I remembered wearing his jacket, packed with pins and sewn-on patches of the bands we went to see, the jacket that he gave me before he....you know. "We don't have to go all the way downtown for guns," Nancy said, taking me out of thought and scaring me. Home. She was going to take us back to our place to find her guns. "I have guns....in my bedroom." She continued, "And Lori....you have your weapons, right?" I looked up to her, nodding while holding the blood-soaked cloth on my arm. "You," Eddie started, looking at me and Nancy, "Nancy Wheeler, have guns...plural...in your bedroom? And Lori Williams, the cheerleader, has what...some sort of weapon, also plural?! Under your bed?!" His face showed a surprised yet scared emotion as he spoke, interested in our unusual hobbies. "Full of surprises, aren't they?" Robin asked, looking at me and smiling. "A Russian Makarov and a revolver," I said, naming Nancy's guns, "As for my weapons, knives, there's a Kershaw Deer Hunter, a 1970s Machete hunting knife and I believe there should be a Dartmoor Survival Knife." I thought back to what I had taped under the frame of my bed while Steve made a stupid remark as a way to flirt with Nancy. Robin punched me in the shoulder to get me to look at them and we both smirked. We both jumped as we heard the jean jacket Eddie had thrown hit Steve, echoing a loud thump as Eddie said, "For your modesty, dude." Steve's bare chest was showing for quite a while and Eddie had sensed it making me uncomfortable. As for me, my cheer sweater was all torn and had exposed my stomach, but luckily it was soon covered up with the cloth of Robin's t-shirt.

CRASH! The Earth below us shook violently, bringing us all down and pushing us to the floor. We screamed as we hit the dirt, Nancy falling into Steve's arms and Steve protecting her under Skull Rock. My fall didn't hurt too much, not as much as I had expected, when I noticed that I didn't fall on the floor. I lifted my head from the chest of Eddie Munson, but he pulled me back into him and put himself on top of me. He covered my head with his arms, cradling me, and protected my body with his. "Oh my god," I panted into his chest above me as the ground kept shaking. He pulled me in tighter, I felt the buckle of his belt dig into the skin on my hips just below the wounds. We all sighed as the shaking lessened, listening as a creature in the distance screeched loudly. Eddie got up to face me, the necklaces dangling over my neck, his face so close to mine checking for any damages. Our breath intertwined as we heavily took in more air, my heart beat faster as I felt his jeans rub up against my good thigh. However, the snarling of the creature overtook my feelings and drew me away from Eddie. He noticed the sounds now too, but stayed on top of me for a while, his arms on either side of my neck. "Yeah, so guns seem like a pretty good idea to me," He said, panting almost, staring deep into my eyes and then down to my lips. "Yeah, me too," I swallowed hard and my breath started shaking as I looked up towards him. He finally got up to his feet, holding out a hand to help me up and, when he did, shaking off the dirt on my arms and neck. "So, what are we waiting for?" Steve walked in between us again, putting on Eddie's jacket. He turned on a flashlight and started leading the way into the forest, towards home.

We started making our way into more open land after about 10 minutes of walking and Eddie and I were somewhat farther behind the rest. He broke up the silence, "So....Steve. He's...uh...pretty cool, huh?" I stopped walking for a second, but continued with a scoff, hoping I wouldn't blurt out anything about what happened between us. "Yeah...he's great! Good guy." Eddie stepped closer to me, his jacket rubbing on my shoulder. "You two aren't like a thing or whatever," He said, grabbing his neck and messing with his hair, "because I kinda heard that you and Andy were a thing." Now I fully stopped, a jaw dropping and hair grabbing stop, "Andy?! Like Andy from basketball? Who said that?"

"I don't know, I just overheard it when I was walking past them," He said, startled by my screaming, "...Chance was saying something about you two....ugh...hooking up or- y'a know, just forget I said anything, it's none of my business anyway." He walked forward a bit and I caught up to him with my head fuming, grabbing his arm. "Chance! Chance said that? Oh my god! Eddie... I swear, I would never do anything with Andy or anyone from the basketball team at all!" I shouted, taking in all of what has been said to me, "And no, Steve and I aren't a thing either. I am completely single and clean!" I regretted saying that, but it flowed out of me so easily. Now I know why Jason thought of me as a slut, it's because his team members were lying and spreading rumors about me and them. How could I have been so clueless? The stares of disgust from other girls and the way the boys would look at me, it all became very clear all of a sudden. I felt sick. "Sorry, I thought you knew," He said, placing his hand on my back and trying to lighten the mood with his humor after noticing the pale look on my face. After a while of him joking about classes and stupid things he did as a kid, I began laughing so much that Steve started flashing his light in my eyes to make me stop.

"So you like DIO?" Eddie said with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes, "And AC/DC, Ozzy, W.A.S.P, Iron Maiden, and Metallica?" I nodded as I went through the songs I had in my mix. "My dad was the one to introduce me to that, you know. He was a big fan of rock. Even had a jacket with all the pins and patches he collected throughout the years of concerts he went to. It actually kinda looks like yours, but it has way more stuff on it, practically filled with different things from different bands." I thought back to the jacket, how many times I wore it just a year ago, and how I left it in a box at the end of my closet. "What about, Motley Crue?" He asked turning towards me, "You know: 'Cause I'm alive, I'm a live wire!'" He started singing and playing an air guitar, making me laugh out loud. "Doesn't ring a bell, no. But I'm intrigued to hear it now," I laughed again as he stopped head banging. He laughed too and continued talking about all the songs he had learned to play on the guitar and listened as I told him about the stuff I could play on the drums, "Master of Puppets?! You gotta be kidding me! That is my favorite Metallica song. The first song I ever learned to play on the drums," I turned towards him, grabbing his jacket and pulling down on it. He chuckled lightly and blushed , "Pretty metal, huh? It takes a while, but its worth it, huh?" I hadn't realized we were so close to the Wheelers' when Nancy called me over to her. I ran up to Nancy and Robin, leaving Eddie behind with Steve. It's crazy to me because over the last few days Eddie and I became so close. It's almost like he's the best friend I had been looking for, the missing piece in my puzzle.
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A/N: Guys its been like 9 days since I've posted and I am so sorry!!!! Ive been so caught up with moving and school and just been so tired that I hadn't had time to write, but I'm back and better than ever baby! Ill try and get a new chapter up every DAY as a little apology but school is starting soon for me so I apologize in advance for any updates I miss. Love yall so much THANK YOU FOR 1K that is incredible ur actually the best! Enjoy. Let me know if u have any comments, I tried setting up some things that will be of use later in the series and I hope it all makes sense!