Innocent | Eddie Munson x OC

Chapter 23

"No way are you going in there." Nancy insisted firmly, eyeing me down.

I didn't give in, though. "No way am I staying in the RV. I have to check something."

"You tell us, we go in and grab it, bip, bam, boom." Steve tried to mediate, raising his hands at the pair of us.

"I put the handkerchief over my head, go in and use MY dad's credit card line to buy MY shit, you all understand kindly and even offer me your sunglasses," I counter, crossing my arms.

"She's a stubborn one," Eddie shrugged, affectionately proud. He began to ruffle my hair, and I tried to swipe his hand away.

"Are you seriously worried about us stealing your credit card right now?" Robin deadpans.

"Losing my dad's credit card." I correct.

"Right, sorry." Robin responds sarcastically. "What's the difference?"

"My dad is connected to a top secret agency, excuse me if I would prefer to keep an eye on his top secret shit," I snip. Then I sigh, my eyes drifting from their probing ones. "Plus... I wanna call him."

Robin's eyes turn sympathetic. Steve and Nancy give each other a look. I glance back and forth between them, in disbelief that I'm allowing them to have any say over what I do at all. Robin crosses the room to talk with them, and they all turn their backs to me.

"This is kind of insulting, huh?" Dustin muses, leaning in his seat towards me.

"Kind of." I agree. I begin to wrap the handkerchief around my head, before Eddie takes over. "Thank you."

Eddie places a sloppy kiss on my cheek. "Any time, babe."

I scrunch my nose up, wiping off the excess spit he left over. I hop from my perch, squeezing past the three out the RV door before they can block me off.

"There goes the fugitive," Erica points out, and behind me a ruckus begins.

All of them squeeze out of the RV at once, surrounding me and muttering in various volume. One puts sunglasses on me with fervency, another chewing me out, one more adjusting my handkerchief to better conceal my hair. I swipe at their roaming paws, overwhelmed at the group.

"Alright, alright- ENOUGH!" I snarl, slapping Steve's accusing finger out of my face.

They quiet down.

"You're all making a scene- if someone were in this parking lot do you not think they'd be a little suspicious right now?" I snarked. I didn't give them time to respond. "You're gonna blow my cover, not me. Just let me be and I'll be back in the van before any of you."

I stalk away, releasing a huff. I was so lucky I never had any siblings. Somehow, this is what I believed it would probably be like.

I had two goals. Phone booth, and bullet-proof vests. The gang had pooled money for guns and supplies, but somehow I hadn't heard a single thing about protective gear. Knowing what had come of Steve the first time we had been in the upside down, I wasn't willing to take that chance again. I would be willing to bet my dad would be okay with me grabbing the vests without telling him, but I really wanted to keep him in the loop- he was partially why I'd escaped so smoothly last time, and if we got stuck in there, I found comfort in knowing someone knew where I was. I was also- admittedly- kinda terrified. I wanted to be sure I spoke to him again, before I was in an alternate dimension, going after a monster that I'd already had a few fights with. Apologize for not staying in the hotel he got for me to stay safe.

Inside the warehouse was a madhouse. I wasn't sure if it were always like this, or if the crime-surge with "Eddie" had spurred this type of response. Either way, I found myself pushing the glasses further up my nose, a new shakiness in my fingertips. Hordes of all ages were swarming, clearing out shelves before my eyes. I took quick action, trying to recall just how many people were in our RV. 8? 9? I grabbed 9 vests, just to be sure. I wrapped as many as I could over my arm, the process not proving an easy one. As soon as I was sure I had accrued enough, I stumbled my way to the register. At fifty dollars a vest, I would have to basically beg for forgiveness at this point. If it meant the differences between life and death for anyone in that RV, though, I would take a lecture. I'd found myself pretty fond of the whole group, even Nancy Wheeler and Dustin Henderson, two people I thought I had nothing in common with.