The Devil's Gift/The Bloody Handed

3: Binding to the Dungeons

A couple of days had passed by.

I must admit, after that whole scenario with Eddie, we started off contact kind of awkwardly. After a while, conversations became looser and more individual. I think neither of us really knew how to adapt to a situation where we both acted like love sick puppies eating each others faces off. I couldn't get rid of the waft of beer and weed on my tongue, the scent of cheap shampoo out of my nose's memory, and the sound of the music in the background as we kissed our night away under the stars.

I vividly remember my lips being cracked and sore the next day from how rapid our muscles were moving together. That, or I was sore from his body being directly on top of mine while his hands, handcuffs, and chain dug into my thighs. Tasting his tongue was like tasting honey- and I was addicted.

I remember the way his stone necklace felt as it fell onto my chest. Sometimes when we were out doing whatever I'd catch him slide his hand across my waist as he walked by and pull back the next second. It was like he wanted to get closer to me but he wouldn't allow himself to; I wasn't sure why.

Hopper, Joyce, and Murray headed back to the house with Eleven. It was sad to see them go so soon but they deserved their family reunion and some happiness while it lasted. We were left with our original group minus Lucas. He thought it would be more wise to spend his time with Max and attend Jason's funeral just to pay respects with his old buddies. It honestly saddened me to see such a young boy blame himself for a death he didn't cause.

Surprisingly, Nancy was with us. Nancy had told us that Johnathan had to return back home to Lenora with Argyle. Her and Johnathan tended to stay distant from us. They were probably making up for lost time and I knew Steve knew that much from the look on his face everyday when he saw her. Nancy and Steve still have not spoken a word to one another.

Anyways. No one got word of what happened between Eddie and I. And we decided to keep it that way. We didn't want the unnecessary gossip circling around. Eddie told me that night he just wanted me to himself. Yet he wasn't really showing it much, therefore confusing me where his head was at.

I walk to the front porch where everyone was sitting, standing in my sports shorts and white Iron Maiden Tee. I had given up on my hair and threw it into a loose braid. Steve and Nancy were far apart, Steve talking to Dustin and Eddie, while Nancy talks to Robin.

"Am I interrupting a tension party here?" I say with a finger gesturing at everyone. Everyone looks up at me immediately denying it. Eddie comes up to me and smiles, taking a seat by my side.

"So. What's the next move. Do we know?" I ask. Everyone exchanges glances and shrugs. "Alright, then." I clap my hands together lazily. "I guess that is a fat no. I say we start out with getting a way to move around."

"We can-" Dustin starts but I knew what he was going to say already.

"No to Eddie's van. I don't even know if I can trust that thing to go over thirty."

Everyone laughs and Eddie looks at me dramatically, as if he was shocked. "For your information, she has never croaked on me yet."

"Yet. Yet, being the key word in that whole sentence you just said Munson. And I really don't want to test our luck anytime soon." I say grinning. "I say we try and hit up an impound lot. Try and get Munson to speak up one then and then go from there. They're unclaimed vehicles at this point."

"Hell yeah, I'm in." Eddie says with a fist pump.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Robin says hopping off of the porch ledge and stretching.

"Let's get this show on the road, people! Ándele, ándele!" Dustin exclaims as he walks down the porch.

We all follow after him and pile into Eddie's van, with him in the driver's seat and me in the passenger side. He shoots me a longing look and then looks away almost immediately.

"Where's the nearest impound?" Nancy asks Eddie.

"Uh- um.. down a couple miles. Not too far from here." His eyes dart from me to the rear view mirror.

"Are you ready children?" Eddie laughs almost devilishly as he turns over the car and immediately pulls out of the dirt driveway. I look out of the window and admire the flowers in this area while I could. Red, green, blue, yellow, purple, orange..

"Hey, Gregerson can you hand me that paper right there?" He points at a random white piece of paper in the side of the door.

"Uh, sure." I pull the paper out and look at it. It was blank- I feel something warm place itself on my thigh. His hand was caressing it, pushing his thumb on the inside of it. I feel my fluster and my stomach fly away from me.

"Thank you, Sparky." He gives me a wink and he slowly slides his hand to my other thigh and grabs the paper. He almost did it too smooth like he's done it before. But Eddie Munson was the literal definition of smooth. I feel a pang of jealousy in my heart as I think of him with other girls. It may sound wrong of me, but when I heard he was talking with Chrissy Cunningham, I immediately knew I was just a no one. Who would pick the outcast over the rich cheerleader? No one. But at the time I lived in so much denial I never saw his full potential he had to offer. He laughs at my probably bewildered expression and speeds up the van, the vehicle rattling in retaliation.