R̶a̶l̶p̶h̶i̶e̶ Eddie - e.m + s.h

Stay with Eddie.

She takes a second, thinking through her options in their entirety. One side is screaming to stay with Eddie, Have a good night, and avoid a DUI. She could get Steve to forgive her in the morning - if he even remembered. Plus, Nancy and Jonathan are leaving anyway, so nobody would be missing out. But the other took one look at Steve and filled her with worry. What's going on with him? If he found out Nancy and Jonathan took him home, that would break him. He's a sensitive soul. But she was fried out of her mind.

"I'd uh-" Eddie interrupts her thought. "I'd really like it if you'd stay. Y/N"

And so she chooses...

"You would?" she questions, reading the sincerity from his face, Eddie only nodding in reply.

Nancy stands behind, watching as Steve drops her hand. She takes this as her cue to allow Jonathan to hustle the drunken boy outside. Leaving Eddie and Y/N alone. Or as alone as they could be as the party raged on.

"And it's not because I'm high," Eddie continues, a cheeky smile ever present on his face, "or because I'm an ass who wants to see Harrington suffer over Nancy. I don't want you t think I'm doing that."

She giggles heartily, "So that isn't what you're doing?"

He purses his lips together, taking her hand in his. "Maybe a little," he admits, "but only because I really like you."

It's an obvious statement and one that everyone at the party would be able to guess, but unexpected at the same time. She'd arrived with Steve, who could never give her a straight answer, or even tell her himself. But, she felt like she was going to go home with Eddie, who was open, upfront, and honestly, exactly who she felt she needed.

"I really like you too."

"Can I take you home?" he asks, puppy eyes boring into hers, "Not like that, I mean"

The pair laugh again, a mixture of the teenage awkwardness that came along with admitting a crush, and the narcotic high still inhibiting their lungs. Eddie holds a hand forward for her to take, and she does so gladly. He leads outside and towards a roughed-up van. If she didn't wholeheartedly trust the boy, she definitely wouldn't have gotten in. Even when he assured her it was his own. She climbs into the passenger seat, watching as he rounds the front to hop in the other side.

"So much for not driving under the influ-"

He cuts her off with a kiss, deep and passionate. Their first, and most likely the first of many.

"Sorry," he apologises, "I didn't mean to cut you off"

"You can do it again if you'd like?"

And he does, firm lips pressing onto hers, as they lean over the middle console in Eddie's Van. A mixture of long kisses with no room or air, and short pecks as they stutter out words in between.

"I wanna. Take. you. On a. Date" he punctuates, landing a fresh smacker with every word.

"Then do it" she smiles, pulling him in for more.