DEAR EDDIE // a eddie munson story

005; the day veronica met eddie, again

It was a mundane September morning, a bleak Wednesday. It had been raining all morning, and a thunderstorm threatened to break out. It was humid, and she had seen it on the news that morning as she ate her cereal. Her parents didn't care about her watching tv, but she knew of other parents who did. Robin's mother always told her that too much television would make her eyes turn into squares. It was weird, Veronica though, and surely something dumb that parents made up to get their kids to go outside. Her parents didn't care what she did, Robin's mother and father did on the contrary. Robin was sick today, only a week and half into school. She wasn't on the bus that morning, which was odd cause Veronica had gotten on the bus at her stop every morning and Robin had been sitting there in the middle row awaiting her. But not this morning, so Veronica sat alone. She had put a coin into the telephone outside of school the very first minute she had gotten to school, phoning the Buckley household. Robin had picked up, being alone at home, and had shared the news that she had woken up with a burning fever and a sore throat, which sucked for the both of them. Robin was uncomfortably sick, which was terrible, and Veronica was left alone at school. Tuesday the seventh she had sat with Robin in every class and at lunch, they had found an empty table in the back since they got there early. They had watched Eddie and his friends drag their feet into the cafeteria about ten minutes later. Their third day of school, Wednesday the eight of September, had been no different. Neither had Thursday, Friday, Monday and then Tuesday. But today, Veronica walked the hallways alone. No one to talk to, no one stumbling over her feet next to her, no one to laugh with. She sat alone in her first class of the day, and the second. And she considered not even going to lunch, seeing as she didn't want to sit alone there either, but he changed her mind.

"Nicky, where's your partner in crime?"

Eddie came up behind her as she stood by her locker, putting her books away. She turned on her heel, seeing him lean against the locker next to her. "Robin?" she asked, closing her locker "she's sick". Eddie nodded once, his familiar scent of cigarettes and musky cologne hitting her, "that's a bummer". She sighed, dragging her tongue against the back of her teeth "tell me about it". A moment of silence built up in between them, making her a little uncomfortable. That was the thing about Eddie, she didn't know him too well, she didn't even know his last name, so it easily got awkward. Yet he never seemed to show it. He was relaxed, his shoulders slumped and his demeanour kind, making her uncomfortable feelings slip away as soon as they came on. "So you're all solo today?" Eddie asked, blinking his brown deer eyes. She was a little taken aback, staring at him, "are you implying that I don't have any other friends?". A weird and short laugh slipped out of his chapped lips as he stood up a little straighter, his eyes widening a bit "n-no, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, you're cool, I'm sure you have plenty of friends". She laughed, seeing him panic a bit make him feel a little more human. "I don't really" she blurted out, only to panic a bit herself "and I don't know why I told you that". Eddie laughed, pushing himself off of the lockers "it's fine, do you wanna have lunch with me and the boys or do you have the queen of awesome land waiting on you?". He joked, that familiar glimmer in his eyes now present. "N-no" she stammered, tucking a strand of her brown hair behind her left ear "where the hell is even awesome land?". "Oh she swears" Eddie pointed out, raising his hands to his head "the princess of lonesome town swears". She just looked at him, her eyebrows raised as she crossed her arms over her chest, "so I'm a princess now?". Eddie stopped in his tracks, sticking his hands into his pockets as he looked her up and down, "you sure look like one". She did not, in her own opinion at least. A princess was someone pretty, with a tiara and a poofy dress. She was dressed in a patterned dress, a small watch on her wrist and light blue socks sticking up from her sneakers. Her hair laid messily against her back, only being pinned back with a few pins. She looked like any other teenage girl in this small town she though, far from a princess. "Awesome land and lonesome town?" she questioned, wanting to leave the princess topic behind, being sure that Eddie only blabbered on about nothing to keep the conversation going. "Yeah" Eddie shrugged, "aren't you cool like that?". She laughed, looking at him, "definitely not" she answered. "Well good, me neither" Eddie said as he walked off, turning his head to look at her "you coming?"