Wrapped Around Your Finger - Eddie Munson

Chaoter Eleven: The Prom

"Oh, I love this one!" Chrissy squealed, running up with dress and showing it off with a twirl.

"Chrissy, pink and sparkly really isn't my style." I groaned.

"Ugh, fine." She said, putting the dress back. "What are you looking for? We've gone through the whole mall already."

"I just want something simple! No sparkles, no bows, no excessive frills. Just simple!" I cried, flipping through racks of dresses. Everything was either too flashy, too bright, or too big for me.

"Hey, what about this?" Chrissy called. I walked over to see what she had. She turned around and showed me a stunning black lace dress. There were some gold trimmed frills around the collar and towards the bottom of the floor length skirt. A satin belt wrapped around the waist, giving the dress some shape.

"It's perfect." I gasped, holding it up to myself in the mirror. "Chrissy, I owe you my life."

"I know." She smiled, skipping away to the cashier with her own dress.

I was staring at myself in my bedroom mirror. I felt amazing. I loved the dress Chrissy found, it matched perfectly with my usual makeup. I wore a pair of black kitten heels, not trusting my own balance in anything taller. I twirled around in front of my mirror, feeling like I was Chrissy for a moment. She just might faint if she saw me right now. She might faint later when she sees me pull up to prom with Eddie.

"Hannah, your boyfriends here!" My dad called from downstairs. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and ran downstairs.
"Holy- I mean, wow. You look... really pretty." Eddie was staring wide eyed, a goofy smile stuck to his face.

"My kid, all grown up." My dad smiled, his eyes already watering. "I wanted to give you this." He dug around his pocket and pulled out a necklace chain with a ring attached. Mom's wedding ring.

"Dad... Are you sure?" I gasped, shakily reaching out and taking the ring from him.

"Your mother would have wanted this. The gold band matches your dress too." I hugged my dad tight, mumbling thank yous to him.

"We should get going." I sniffled, turning to face Eddie.

"One more thing." Eddie reached into his pocket and pulled out a corsage. I held out my hand as he gently wrapped the flower band around my wrist.

Eddie took my hand as we walked into the Hawkins High gymnasium. People were staring, most likely because they were surprised to see Eddie here. The music was loud, pressing the limits of the cheap speakers. The dance floor was already crowded with couples trying to have their special moment.

"We should find a place to sit!" I shouted over the music. I saw Chrissy, but she was sitting with Jason and his friends, which was a hard no. None of Hellfire Club was here, so we were out of luck on that too.

"Is that Robin Buckley?" Eddie asked, pointing at an empty table. Empty, all except for Robin.

"Why don't we sit with her? I have history class with her and I know Dustin, Lucas and Mike know her." I suggested.

"If she's a friend of those buttheads, she's a friend of mine." Eddie smiled, hugging me with the arm he wrapped around me.

"Hey Robin!" I smiled, "Do you mind if we sat with you?"

"Oh, yeah! I mean yeah you can sit not yeah I mind. I wouldn't say yeah if I minded I would say yes or something, not that I would ever mind!" She rambled.

"Is Nancy not coming?" I asked. "I figured she, of all people, would be here."

"Oh no, she said she's too busy with the newspaper to come. Steve is here though, I took him as my date. Not that we're dating! We're strictly friends, just a couple of best buds! He's over there, getting punch." I looked over to see an incredibly uncomfortable looking Steve standing near the punch bowl. He saw us all looking and gave a confused wave.

"Steve 'The Hair' Harrington?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, it's me, don't cream your pants." Steve grumbled, setting down two cups of punch.

"I think I'm gonna follow Harrington's lead. Want me to grab you a cup?" Eddie asked and I nodded. He kissed my cheek as he sauntered off to the punch bowl.

"Never thought I'd see Munson act like such a softie, but I stand corrected." Steve said, raising his eyebrow as he watched Eddie walk away.

"Everyone says stuff like that, but I just don't see it." I said. "There's nothing scary about the guy. He's like a big, confused puppy." Robin laughed hard at that.

"Hannah!" Chrissy squealed, running up and hugging me.

"Chrissy! You look gorgeous!" She wore a sparkly emerald green, knee length dress.

"Me? Look at you! That dress was made for you!" She made me stand up and do a twirl, which she cooed over.

"Uh, is Jason here?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he's drunk already. Apparently he and the guys snuck flasks in after drinking for two hours beforehand." She sighed. "I should get back to him, he's gonna get upset if I'm away too long."

"Poor thing." Robin watched her sadly.

"Yeah, I remember Jason from when he was an underclassman. He's always been a major asshole." Steve grumbled.

"Who's a major asshole?" Eddie asked, sitting down with two cups.

"Jason." Steve answered and Eddie tensed up.

"Yeah, real asshole." He huffed.

We drank our punch and talked with Robin and Steve for a while. Robin talked about band and Steve was going on about some weird theories Dustin was spouting at him. Steve and Eddie seemed to get along well, though there seemed to be a slight unspoken rivalry over who was Dustin's favorite. Total Eclipse of the Heart began playing over the speakers. Eddie looked at me and smiled before offering me his hand.

"May I have this dance?" Eddie asked, bowing to me with a cheesy grin.

"You flatter me, my lord." I replied, putting on my best terrible posh accent.

He lead me out to the dance floor, which was just an area of the gymnasium that everyone seemed to collectively agree was where to dance. There were yellow and green balloons tied to the DJ booth, accompanied with matching streamers. Christmas lights hung between bleachers and backdrops as a cheap disco light sadly flashed around. Eddie wrapped his arms around my waist as we claimed our spot.

Our dancing was terrible. It was less dancing and more stumbling and swaying around. Eddie kept stepping on my toes, which he'd apologize profusely for as I laughed. Someone nudged my arm as we danced, Chrissy. She winked at me as she and Jason danced together.

"Chrissy's very excited about this." I laughed, looking up at Eddie.

His eye glistened under the twinkling lights hanging overhead. His thick, dark hair tied up, leaving some curls loose to fall near his face. He'd rented a tux and had to have his Uncle teach him to tie a tie. He looked adorably out of place dressed up like this, but I'd be lying if I said he didn't look good.

"About the dress? Or you being at prom?"

"Both, but also just in general us. Us being together, I mean."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's probably our biggest supporter."

"I'm... surprised. I know she's your best friend, but I never thought she was a fan of me."

"She likes you! It's Jason that's the problem." I sighed. "I wish she'd leave him already."

"I don't know how anyone sees anything in that douchebag."

"You and me both babe."

"Did I tell you already that you look beautiful tonight?"

"You may have mentioned it."

"Well, just in case. You look absolutely beautiful tonight, Hannah."

"You're not so bad yourself, Eddie." He faked being hurt, clutching his heart and pretending to fall backwards.

"You wound me, Princess."

"You're a dork, Eddie." I laughed, "And I wouldn't have it any other way."