86' Baby - Eddie Munson

5.

Sunday, February 23rd

Alex lay in her bed fast asleep. Tangled up blissfully in her blankets, completely worn out from the night before. After prom, everyone had headed over to Jason's house for an after-party, where they drank, danced, and bitter-sweetly celebrated their final Hawkins high dance well into the early hours of the morning. The afternoon sun peaked in through her window, its rays falling upon her face. Her eyelids fluttered open, squinting against the light her eyes adjusted themselves to the brightness as she rub ed the sleep from them. She sretched her stiff body. Her head felt like some had taken a jackhammer to it, the price of one too many drinks and not near enough sleep. Relaxing back against her pillow, she recalled the events of last night. Most of it was a blur, but she remembered small things like holding Chrissy's hair back when she'd gotten sick, winning at beer pong, and how Andy (to her relief) had spent most of the night pretending she didn't exist. Her mind wandered from thought to thought until it landed on Eddie Munson, and her stomach fluttered. She could still feel the way his hand felt in hers, slightly calloused and rough but still gentle and warm... not hot or sweaty but just warm, like sunshine on closed eyelids. She remembered how his jacket smelled faintly of cheap shampoo, cigarettes, and cologne. Dragging her thoughts away from the boy, she looked over to check the time. A quarter till two.
"SHIT!" She threw her blankets off and jumped out of bed. With only fifteen minutes to get to work, she grabbed whatever clean clothes she could find and ran to the bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth, washed off the make-up from the night before, and got dressed. Grabbing her bag and Family Video vest off the hook on the back of her door, she headed to her car. She hadn't had time to put on make-up before she'd left the house so at each stop she frantically applied mascara, and blush, hopping it'd be enough to distract from the bags of exhaustion under her eyes. She pulled into the store lot, ignoring her poor parking job as she got out of the car and jogged to the door. The bell chimed as she walked in. "You're late." Steve Harrington stood at the counter, loading newly rolled change into the register. Alex glanced up at the dusty clock on the wall. "By like five minutes." She pulled on her vest and joined him at the counter.  "That's still late dingus." Wasting no time, he grabbed a tall stack of VHS tapes and shoved them into her arms. "Go reshelve these, and when you're done, I have another stack that needs to be rewound." She struggled to keep the tower balanced. "Right away, sir." Steve rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. As Alex turned to start her task, the door chime sounded. Robbin Buckly shuffled in with two fast food bags and two drinks in her arms. She almost dropped it all as she kicked the door closed behind her. "Sorry, I'm late! the line at Moe's was crazy." She plopped the bags on the counter. "You're good. Did you remember to grab straws?" Steve asked, already digging through the bags. Amazed at the hypocrisy, Alex cleared her throat. Steve looked up at her, and she gave him a face as to say what the hell he shrugged. "Well, next time you're late, bring me food." Picking up on the tension, Robbin gave a grimacing smile and held her cup out to alex. "Milkshake?" Unable to conceal her smile, Alex snatched the cup from her hand and headed off to begin her assigned job. She enjoyed working with the two. They were an odd pairing of best friends, but their sarcasm and dry sense of humor made shifts entertaining and quick. She began working through her pile of movies, sorting them first by genre and then by alphabetical order. She was about halfway done when Robin joined her, dragging a cart of returned tapes to be shelved behind her. "Were you at prom last night?" Alex asked, feeling guilty for not already knowing the answer. Even though she considered Robin a friend, they never really interacted at school. It wasn't intentional. There just wasn't much overlap with their respective circles, other than sporting events. "Yeah, I just went with some friends from the band." Alex smirked. "Was Vickie there?" Robbin dropped the VHS she was holding. "Mmhmm, y...yep, yes, she was, in fact, there." She rambled as she picked up the tape and placed it on the shelf. Robbin had never said anything, but based on the stuttering and fidgeting that followed anytime the cute redhead was mentioned, Alex was pretty sure that she had a crush on the girl. "You and Eddie seemed to have had a good time last night." Robbin remarked in a cheeky change of subject. Alex's stomach tightened at the mention of his name. Steve's head popped up from behind a shelf. "You went to prom with freak Munson?" The shock was prevalent on his face as he rested his forearms against the top of the shelf. "No, I didn't go with anyone, and don't call him that... it's mean." Steve rolled his eyes. "Alex, the dude is weird. He's like twenty-four, and he still hangs out with kids." She looked up at him as she set the last of her pile in its place. "First off, he's nineteen, and Steve, you hang out with kids." He opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut immediately. Robin laughed. "Well, I think he's funny... weird, but funny." Alex began to help Robbin sort her cart. "He's actually kinda... sweet." She could feel her cheeks starting to get warm, so she turned her attention to the shelf behind her, hoping no one would notice. "Sweet? The guy looks like a walking Halloween store." Robbin glared at Steve, who threw up his hands. "I'm just saying."
"Ignore him. He's just pissed that Dustin likes Eddie more them him." Robin teased. Steve flipped her the bird. "Look, it's not like it is a big deal. we danced together for like one song." Alex was unsure why she felt the need to explain herself. Robbin crouched to place some tapes on the bottom shelf.  "Totally... and then snuck off outside together." She looked up at Alex with a smirk painted on her lips. Steve's eyes widened, snapping his head to look at her. "How do you even know about that?!" She stood back up, lifting her shoulders toward her ears. "I hear things." Alex turned back around. "Jesus Christ, can't anybody in this town mind their business?" Robbin scrunched up her nose. "Yeah, no, not really." The bell on the door sounded, notifying them of the customers that had just walked in. "We're going to talk more about this later." Steve clarified, pointing at alex before turning around. "Hey, welcome to family video." He greeted as he headed to the front of the store. "So, do you like him?" Asked Robbin, with the same kind of casualty someone would use to ask for the time. Alex's face scrunched up. "What?...no, I barely know him." Robin smirked. "If you say so."
"I do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pile of tapes waiting for me to rewind them." Eager to end the conversation, Alex left her friend to finish sorting on her own. She sipped through the curtain that separated the shop from the backroom, pulling the cord that dangled from the bulb hanging in the middle of the room and illuminating the room in a warm glow. It was hardly larger than a closet, with no windows and a single light bulb that hung in the center of the room. An old wooden desk took up a whole wall, strewn on it were all the things needed to maintain and repair tapes. Robin hated the backroom. She said it was creepy like something out of a horror film. Alex disagreed. She thought the small space was weirdly comforting, plus there were no annoying customers to bother her back there. She pulled the tub full of newly returned tapes out from under the desk and began the process of rewinding them one by one. It wasn't a difficult job, but it was a ridiculously boring job. She'd load the tape into the machine, wait for it to rewind, eject the tape, and then place it back into the case.
Load, rewind, eject, case, repeat.
Lowering herself into the desk chair, she kicked her legs up on the desk and settled into where she'd most likely be spending the rest of her shift. The hum from the VCR doing its job was soothing. As she started to relax, she thought back to Robin's question, did she like Eddie? Sure, she found him interesting. He had a way of making her nervous, but did that mean she liked him? Even if her "no" had been truthful, she'd be lying if she said she didn't at least want to know him better.