𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

ELEVEN: you were right.

    

     EDDIE MUNSON STILL admires Rhys Campbell the same as he use to from when he was 15 to when he was 18, the older always impressed him. Even now, when Rhys is talking about how he owns a gas station and an auto shop, Eddie is just sitting there with his chin on the palm of his hand, listening.

"I also still have a band... uh, me, Silas, Avery and Nora. Same band, we--we play a lot at the Hideout, we have the Saturday night spot." He smiled kindly at Eddie who's brows raise. "That's amazing. What's the name?" He squinted his eyes and Rhys smiles, glancing down. "The Ghouls..." He says and Eddie chuckles as he brings his hair in the way of his face again. "What about you? How... how have you been the past four years?" Rhys asked as he stirred a bit of his ice cream around the little bowl, what was left of the ice cream.

"Oh, good! I've been studying to become a music teacher... still debating where. Here, or, uh, somewhere far, you know?" He asked and Rhys nods, staring at Eddie. "I don't know, it'd be nice if it was here, it's home and it's where uncle Wayne is, but... I think it's better I leave... start somewhere new." He says and Rhys softly nods, tilting his head a bit.

"Follow your heart, or whatever, right?" He grins and Eddie looks up at him, smiling. "Yeah." He said and chuckled. "Besides the adorable outfit, why do you work here?" Rhys finally glanced around the clearly-not-a-pizza shop. "Adorable outfit? It's so ugly!" Eddie says and Rhys looks at him, frowning.

"It's cute!" He insisted and Eddie shook his head. "Fine, maybe it's not cute but you make it cute, you make it work. It sort of mellows out your scary metalhead look, makes you more approachable." The Campbell says and the Munson just raised a middle finger up at the blond, making a face as well. "Eddie! Quit flirting and get back to work!" Robin said then tapped on her wrist where her watch was. "You've exceeded fifteen minutes!"

"Oh, my God." Eddie said, sounding embarrassed and Rhys chuckled. "Do you wanna meet later today?" He asked as he slides his phone over to Eddie who sat up quickly, picking it up and nodding his head softly with a smile on his face.

The blond watches the brunette with a small smile on his own face at how excited Eddie had seemed to be exchanging numbers. "There, I texted myself so you can't rid of me, can't back out now." Eddie got up and Rhys smirked, glancing up and down. "I don't see why I would want to..." He says and with a red face, Eddie rushed back to the counter where he gave a stern glare to Robin.

Her jaw is slightly dropped, "did you give him your number?" She whispers as he just shooed her away from the register, not even answering her, before sitting down, letting a small sigh out. He kept glancing over to where Rhys was sitting, playing some game on his phone. It always helps his high whenever he smoked so he just played the game until he felt he was stable enough to leave, and that's when he left and waved at Silas and Avery loading up his vehicle with bags of groceries.

His roommates wave back but look a bit annoyed by their stoned friend who's making his way over. "Did you enjoy your pizza?" Avery asked with a smirk. "Hey! Neither of you fuckers told me that it wasn't even a pizza shop." He said and Silas looks at him.

"I honestly always warn you and you absolutely never listen, dude." He said, shutting the trunk and Rhys just frowns. "Did you guys get my ice cream?" He hops into the passenger side as Silas got into the driver side and Avery into the backseat, also putting on her belt. "You just came from an ice cream shop!"

"I really love ice cream."

Eddie finally looked at James who's been stealing glances at him this entire time. "I wasn't flirting." He said a bit too loudly so James looked up from the section of the counter he was wiping down. "I don't think I care, Edward." He says and Eddie rolls his eyes, looking away. "I just... had to make that clear, you know. I'll flirt off the clock where you don't have to see it." He says and James just rolls his eyes, smiling widely. "I really don't mind, Eds." He said as he stopped in front of the other now, just standing there.

"I think you were right... thinking back to it now, I didn't treat you all that well, I--I didn't put you as my top priority because I was dealing with my own shit." He admits shamefully and Eddie just nods understandingly, leaning against the counter. "For what it's worth, Jamie, you're one of my favourite ex-boyfriends." He says with that signature Munson grin etching across his face and James chuckled, walking away.

After their shifts, they did their closing routine then Steve locked up and turned to the other three waiting by for him. He smiles, joining the others as James sighed. "Three months of working here..." He rubs his eyes in a tired manner as Steve glanced at him. "Tell me about it... almost makes me excited to get to work at that publishing firm. Oh, yeah! Did you print something for me?" He excitedly grabbed James' arm as he walked closer to him and the other two, Buckley and Munson, share a look then glance over at James and Steve. "You... James Hopper Jr., are letting someone read your work?" Robin asks first.

Steve, with a confused stare, looked at Robin and Eddie. "Why wouldn't he?" He asked as Eddie just chuckled. "He never let me look at his book idea journal or his laptop. You'll be the first one, trust me..." He says and the Harrington now looks at the Hopper who just glanced back at him. "This is strictly a business thing, I mean, you're going into publishing." He said and Steve just chuckles.

"I'll hop on with Eddie! I'll see you guys tomorrow." Robin said and basically dragged Eddie away to the vehicle on the other end of the parking lot as Steve and James reach the taller's vehicle. "I couldn't print the papers, my mom said the printer ran out of ink for Will's campaign for that dorky game the boys play--" "Dungeons & Dragons." Steve nods and James just chuckled softly. "Yeah... so, um, you can come over and, uh, read it off my laptop?" He suggested and Steve just slightly raised his brows then nodded quickly.

"Yeah, sure... sounds fun."

authors note
i really want poly stamie but yk rhys is here for lonely lil eddie 🫶🏼

+ i want spicy noodles rn so bad. but like i'm at work and then dinner after work is subs my mom is cooking so like i can't eat them after work. man. i should just quit atp. this job is like so shitty fr. just kidding... i love working here. 😁😁😁 (is that convincing)
also i think i've lost track of time because i got stoned saturday night, monday night, then wednesday afternoon and last night. that's like so much. (too much)
i'm in my jonathan byers st4 era i guess 😍😍😍 just dealing with my own shit 🫶🏼