𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

EIGHTEEN: parent trap.

   

     JANE HOPPER was merely just a fourteen year old girl, trying her best. She kind of grew up from birth to age 10 only knowing little stuff, how to take care of herself and to cook, all thanks to her mom and Aunt Becky. But life wasn't so simple as it used to be. Things get far more difficult as you get older.

That's one thing she learned when she danced at the Snow Ball with Mike Wheeler and witnessed her first ever crush, Max Mayfield kiss one of her close friends, Lucas Sinclair. She tries to understand. And empathize. Like when she rejected Mike's advances on February when it was Valentines' day, she was just honest and told him she didn't like him that way. He took it kind of badly and ignores her now, but she's still in their D&D party... for some reason. She tries not take it so personally when he rolls her eyes or scoffs at stuff she says. But just like James had said, he's just being a teenage boy.

Jane concluded that since James gives her so much advice, she should return the favour, by setting up a plan to get him and Eddie to be friends again, she's hoping for them to start dating but she keeps telling herself even just friendship would be okay with her.

The plan was set into motion that Friday night, James got off work at 9:30 and promised El they can have a movie night, Eddie also got off around 9 from work and promised El he'd be right over for the movie night, both men thinking it'd just be the two of them. They weren't completely wrong. It was just the two of them, the little devil named El had lied to them about having a "friends' movie night" and a "family's movie night", this James realizes when he plopped down onto the couch and waited, thinking El is in her room.

Meanwhile Eddie had just gotten to the Hopper residence, they had moved to a cabin in the woods over the Spring, he's still quite unsure why since he showed both James and Hopper that house and where it was located, a nice safe neighborhood and just down the road from Eddie's trailer park home. He walks in, as he always does, uninvited.

James looked over right away and just stared. "Um, El is in her room." He says and Eddie nods. "She told me she'd be waiting for me at 9:30." Eddie says and James knows as soon as Eddie says it so he sighs. "Eds?" He says and the way the Munson looks at him makes his heart melt, "yeah, Jay?" He says and Eddie just glanced down. "I think El did this on purpose, a parent trap thing, we watched that movie last week." He tells the older.

"Oh, the one with the identical twins who were separated at birth because of their parents' divorce then years later, they meet at a summer camp?" Eddie asked and James nods. "Funny because El actually asked me if I've seen it and when I said yes, she said I can bring the tape for her because she's never seen it." He said as he walked over, holding up the tape he then sets into James' hands. "It's Wayne's copy, he claims I loved it when I was little." He says and James chuckled quietly.

He looked up at Eddie, "I'm sorry..." He says and Eddie just looks at the VHS tape. "For planting this parent trap idea into your younger sister's head or for... what you did?" He asked as he sat down next to James who looks down, chuckling. "Um... everything, I suppose." He said as he looked back up at Eddie then sighed. "I don't know why I messed up so badly with you and keep messing up." He says.

Eddie pulls his hair in front of his face again, turning his head away, his signature move. James smiles faintly. No matter how much he's messed up with Eddie, made him mad, or upset, or petty with him, he still has the same affect as he always does on him.

"Do you wanna watch the movie?"

So, the two sat side by side and watched the movie, actually enjoyed it with some popcorn and soda. About halfway through the movie, James' eyes slowly divert from the screen, instead focused in on Eddie. His side profile, his hair, his bangs, his cute nose, his perfect pink lips and most of all, his eyes.