slut [ eddie munson ]

023

The next morning came quicker than Talia liked, the girl's rest being cut short as her alarm clock blared throughout her room. Reluctantly she cracked her eyes open, hand flailing out as she attempted to turn the shrill sound off. After pressing the buttons randomly, it did.

It was another fifteen minutes before the Wheeler girl actually managed to crawl out a bed, a tired scowl permanently etched onto her face as she staggered into her bathroom. She was in desperate need of a shower—covered in a thin layer of sweat, dust, and grime from her adventure to the Creel house the day before. She definitely would need to clean her bed sheets and blankets when she got time.

She washed herself quickly in the shower, cursing in her head that she couldn't enjoy the warmth of the water like she usually did. The shower was a sacred place for Talia, and having to change her routine make her skin crawl. It was worth it though, she had to remind herself—they were going to see Eddie.

After her painfully short shower, Talia threw her hair up in a towel before changing the bandages on her upper arm and brushing her teeth. She then reentered her room, trailing over to her closet where she picked out a simple outfit for the day. She slipped on a pair of black biker shorts and a dark gray hoodie, a faded band logo plastered on the front of it, then shoved her feet into her usual shoes.

The Wheeler girl pulled the towel from her head and gently scrunched her hair with it, hoping to get out a majority of the excess water that still clung to the dark strands. Satisfied, she threw the damp towel into her laundry hamper. Talia then grabbed her keys and exited her room, calling out her departure to her parents before leaving the house and getting into her car.

The trip to her cousin's house seemed shorter than usual that day, Talia's mind busy with worry. She couldn't help but overthink everything that had occurred within the last few days.

They say grief has five stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Talia supposed that perhaps she was still in the first stage, after all none of this felt real. It all felt like some sick joke or something you'd read in a book or see in a movie. Part of her desperately wanted to hide, escape the madness that had become her life and ignore it until it went away—but she couldn't. Not because the others needed her, because she knew that they didn't, but because Eddie did.

Eddie Munson was just as lost and confused as Talia was, perhaps even more considering he had been mostly locked away by himself in that boathouse. At least Talia had been able to regularly speak with the group and form somewhat of a deeper understanding of what they were all facing. It made her sick to know just what all of them had experienced in the past few years.

When her black impala pulled to a stop next to the curb in front of Nancy's house, Talia wasn't surprised to see Steve's car already parked in the driveway.

She walked straight into the house, the front door unlocked, and followed the sound of voices to the living room. The six teens were scattered around the room, some sitting and some standing. At her entrance, they quieted down.

"Hey," she muttered, approaching her cousin and joining her behind the couch. Talia leant her side against the back of it, the rest of the group beginning to chat amongst themselves as Nancy turned to her.

"We're going to leave in a few minutes," Nancy said, "we were going to leave when you got here, but somebody decided they wanted waffles." Talia caught the small glare she sent Steve.

"Of course he did," Talia muttered, rolling her eyes and laughing.

——————

After stopping at the store—and having to wait for Steve's waffles—the group was just a few minutes away from Reefer Ricks. They were all piled into Nancy's station wagon again, this time Talia had claimed the middle seat and left Lucas to slide into the back with the other two boys.