Chocolate Button Eyes - Joseph Quinn & Characters Stories

"Save Me A Dance?" - (Part 2) - Eddie Munson

TW- Swearing, alcohol, smoking.
None of the wild shit in the ST storyline happened - they're all pretty average kids.
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The drive to wedding was spent in silence, I couldn't bring myself to speak to Eddie when we were alone at fear of saying something totally stupid after my gawking response to him in his suit. Eddie looked really tense throughout the drive, his jaw was visibly clenched and his fingers grasped the steering wheel so tightly I could see his knuckles flashing white. He turned to me a few times, almost as though he wanted to say something but when his mouth opened, noting came out and he'd quickly withdraw his gaze and focus on the road ahead. After what felt like years he turned to me again, looking me up and down nervously before clearing his throat, "Y-you look, uh, you look nice. I mean, yeah, you look... wow!" his face grew as red as the dress that clung to my form, the same dress he couldn't seem to stop staring at. I let out a coy giggle as I blushed incredibly hard, "Thanks, Eddie. You look very handsome, really gorgeous!" my cheeks were red hot as I desperately stopped myself from biting my lip as I looked at him.

Pulling the van up to a large Manor Hotel on the far side of town, the more upmarket side of town, I gazed in absolute awe at the building before me. Each brick that made up the structure was well weathered as though each one had a story to tell about the history of the building, the walls laced with emerald green streams of ivy, climbing high up the structure. Outside was decorated with white and yellow flowers, small dustings of greenery scattered throughout the pieces - clearly a nod to their sickening meet-cute as the freshmen cheerleader and basketball bench warmer. The lavish Hawkins Tigers colours continued inside the large ceremony room that was peppered with lanterns and the runners making up the aisle were lined with a scattering of white rose petals. I'd never considered myself a "white wedding" kinda girl, and considering my dream guy was still the same sloppy metalhead I'd been scorned by after a drunken fuck, I thought it'd be the last thing I ever fantasised about, but walking into that room arm-in-arm with Eddie... it was now the only thing I ever wanted. Eddie kept a sly watch on my wondrous face as it took in its serene and beautiful surroundings. The sly and undeniable glances continued throughout the days events, even as Jojo walked down the aisle as an angelic vision in white - yeah, okay Jojo... nobodies buying the pureness of that dress - Eddie's glance seldom left me, I watched him in the corner of my eye as he'd sigh through his nose as he smiled at me, his rosey cheeks turning to plump tomatoes as he tried to hide it.

During the meal and speeches we were seated with a few of the old senior class, all still much the same as when we were at school. They all talked endlessly about what they'd been doing for the last 3 years, all of which telling the same story of staying in Hawkins and not doing much else with their lives. I spoke very little about my life in Chicago, even less about Eddie and I when Daisy mentioned how close we were in school, all of which insinuating that we must have been "more than friends" at one point or another. "Hah, yeah. Me and her? More chance of me and Jimmy getting it on, right Jimbo?" Eddie chuckled as he made kissy pouts toward Jimbo seated across the table from us earning a burst of strong belly laughs from those around us - Ouch. Was it really that much of a stretch for him to imagine us as more than friends? I felt that crippling ache in my chest again, that same ache I felt when Eddie dismissed our hookup that night. I thought a lot about just trying to move on, hoping that being away from Hawkins would help, but every single time I saw Eddie again, it still hurt.

The rumble of chatter around the room came to a silence as the gentle clinking of a wine glass grabbed everyone's attention, at the top table stood the best man with a microphone in hand, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please join us at the dance floor for the bride and grooms first dance.". As he finished his announcement, the lights went dim and we watched with hushed cheers and applause as Jojo, escorted by her new husband Peter, made their way to the centre of the dance floor, friends and family now surrounding the dance floor as we watched them dance. They gazed into each other eyes with such love and adoration, the way I used to constantly look at Eddie, still did sometimes. After a minute or two of dancing alone, couples from across the room joined them in their united pairs to share a loving embrace with one another while the soothing voice of Lionel Richie filled the room from the sound system, with his poetic ballad of 'Endless Love'  - how fucking apt for my current situation.