Billy's gone.
Ruby Buckley's world ended with him.
But Hawkins isn't done with her yet.
When strange deaths begin again, Ruby is pulled into the heart of the storm. Between shadowy nightmares, the town's newest outcast, and someone she was never s...
( songs for the chapter ) dreams // fleetwood mac sweet creature // harry styles
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For a long time, there was only the sound of breathing, steady, quiet, human.
It wasn't awkward, the silence between them. It was soft, almost weightless. The kind that settles in when words would only ruin the moment.
Ruby's head rested against Eddie's shoulder, her nails tracing slow patterns across his chest. His hand rested loosely against her thigh, their legs tangled in a way that said they hadn't quite decided whose was whose.
When she finally spoke, her voice was small. "That was... yeah. That was something."
Eddie laughed under his breath. "Yeah. Definitely something."
Neither of them seemed to know what came next, and for once, neither felt the need to figure it out.
"You hungry?" he asked after a moment. "I can, uh... I don't know, steal some canned peaches from the apocalypse pantry or something."
She smiled faintly. "Water's fine."
Eddie nodded and stood, pulling his boxers on, the motion casual now, like routine. Ruby grabbed his Hellfire shirt off the floor and slipped it over her head. It fell past her thighs, brushing her knees. She padded barefoot after him to the kitchen.
When she hopped up on the counter, Eddie turned, holding out a glass of water with a mock formality. "For the lady of the house."
She accepted it with a grin. "Wow. Such service. You spoil me, Munson."
"What can I say? I'm a giver."
"Yeah," she said, meeting his eyes, "I noticed."
He smirked, stepping closer, his hands finding the edge of the counter beside her legs. "You're terrible."
"I've been called worse."
His thumb traced the inside of her knee, not pushing, not asking, just there. It wasn't romantic, not exactly. It was something else. Familiar now. Comfortable in its wrongness.
And then her expression shifted. A thought hit her all at once.
"Shit." Ruby pushed herself off the counter. "Shit, shit, shit."
"What? What's wrong?"
"Yesterday was the twenty-second."
"Okay?"
"Okay?! Eddie, the twenty-second! I forgot- damn it, I forgot Will's birthday!" She was pacing now, running her fingers through her hair.
Eddie blinked. "Will... Byers?"
"Who else?" She scanned the kitchen like it owed her an explanation. "Where's the phone?"
