Forever (Gareth Emerson)

Come Here

Gareth and Dustin headed towards the lake while I went to put the scrapbook away, along with the pictures of Eddie. I crawled into the back of the bus and left the doors opened. Eddie followed me over to the bus.

E: "Can we talk, please?"

"Of course! You okay?"

E: "I'm sorry I didn't let you put the pictures in there.. I just thought that no one would want it to be known they were friends with the freak."

"Eddie.. you're not a freak. I have a few more polaroids of you too."

E: "Where are they?"

I pulled out my wallet where I had a few extra polaroids. I had two of Gareth, two of Eddie, 1 of Dustin and one of Robin.

"Here" I said as I handed the other two to him.

E: "Why do you keep them in your wallet?"
"Well.. They're my two favorite of you.. and whenever I have them with me, I know you're always there."
E: "That's very sweet, princess." Eddie replied as he smiled. He looked at me and noticed I was looking at the ground frowning.
E: "You okay?"
"Yeah.. I just sometimes wished I didn't have to pretend that i'm okay."
I started crying, and I sat on the floor of the bus, and Eddie sat next to me.
E: "Come here." Eddie said as he wrapped his arms around me.
"I just feel like I have to put on a show for everyone. I just feel like if I were to ki-"
E: "DON'T SAY THAT!" Eddie yelled.
Me and Eddie talked it out, and I wiped my tears away. Gareth came stumbling up as me and Eddie have been away for awhile.
G: "Baby! What's wrong!" Gareth said running to me, and Eddie moving out of the way.
E: "You need to talk to her, man." Eddie replied as he started walking towards the lake.
I explained everything to Gareth.
Luckily, Gareth was understanding. My home life was perfect, but I missed having my mom around. I missed how happy I used to be.. before everything hit the fan. I loved being able to have a mother figure of my own, but Claudia kind of filled that void. However, if my dad and Claudia broke up, i'd lose that mother figure, and could potentially lose my relationship with Dustin. I did see Dustin like that little brother I never had. He was a great kid, full of life and happiness.
We finally headed towards the lake, after I calmed myself down.

*MONDAY*
It was the first Monday of summer break. I was excited not having to worry about going to school, and just being able to focus on myself and my relationships and friendships. I had a lot of plans I wanted to make happen. I had a lot of things I needed to get done.
Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on our front door. I opened it and saw Eddie standing there.
"Hey Eds, whats up?"
E: "I just missed your pretty face."
"You literally saw me yesterday, weirdo." I responded.
E: "Well I have something for you." He said as he smiled his normal shit eating grin.
Great. What could it possibly be.
He handed me an envelope.. was it a fucking letter?
I opened it and saw 2 pictures printed out that Eddie took. Eddie had a digital camera and he took two pictures of me and Gareth and had them printed out.

"Eddie.. When did you take these?" I asked as I smiled ear to ear.
E: "Well the first one was at my house when we came back Sunday and you two fell asleep. The second one I took when we went camping at the lake and you two fell asleep watching the stars. Gareth mentioned how you two didnt have any pictures together, so I thought i'd take some.." He said as he twiddled his thumbs around.
I was still in awe at the pictures.
"Thank you, Eddie. Seriously, thank you!" I said giving him the biggest hug I could. I was so extremely happy I now had a few candid shots of me and Gareth.
Eddie went back home after giving me the pictures, and I went upstairs to hang them up.
I was hungry, and didn't feel like cooking, so I walked over to the Wheeler's.
I knocked on the door and Nancy answered.
N: "Hi, Y/N!"
"Hey Nance! I was wondering if you and Mike wanted to grab some lunch?"
N: "I'd love to. I know Mike is out with Dustin, Lucas, Gareth and Will, and possibly El."
I thought it was a little odd Gareth didn't tell me he was going to be with them.. he always told me what he was doing. But I didn't care, I trusted him.
Me and Nance had a great lunch. We caught up on everything since we hadn't seen each other for awhile. She graduated a year before I moved here, so I didn't see her much. Nancy had the idea to go to the mall with Robin and Steve and do a little summer shopping. She was telling me how this store had a cute swimsuit she was wanting, and how Johnathan desperately needed new swim shorts.
We drove to the mall and met up with Steve and Robin. Steve almost looked like he was in a panic.
S: "Hey.. Y/N."
"Hi Steve?"
S: "You need to probably go to Gareth's house.."
"Why? Is everything okay?"
S: "Dustin called before I left.. uhm.."
R: "Jason broke Gareth's hand and threatened to beat Dustin, and they got really scared so they ran inside and they think that Jason and Patrick are outside waiting for them and we're not sure what to do, and neither are they." Robin rambled on and on, almost making herself out of breathe.
"Uh.. Fuck! Okay. Steve can you take me there? Nancy drove us here!" I said as I was clearly in a rush.
Steve rushed us over to Gareth's and sure enough there was Jason and Patrick sitting outside waiting.
"Listen, douchebags. I don't know what you want, but you can leave Gareth the fuck alone!" I yelled approaching them.
J: "Or what? You're a fucking girl, i'm not scared of you." Jason responded.
Before I could say anything there was a familiar voice.. it was Hopper.
H: "I suggest you boys get out of here, before I decide to do something with you two myself."
Jason and Patrick both darted for Jason's car and sped off.
"Thank you Hopper.." I said looking towards Gareth's house. I saw the boys looking out the curtains, and then rushing out the door.
I wouldn't say Gareth's hand was broken, but it seemed like a few fingers were. Hopper drove him to the ER to get checked. Sure enough Gareth had 2 broken fingers and a fractured wrist. He ended up needing a cast since the fracture was very severe.

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