This is a sequel to my story, Girl Crush. Eddie did it! '86 was indeed his year! He graduated and now him and Dani are headed off on their grand adventure for the summer. They are heading west in his van and hitting all kinds of stops along the way...
Dani paced back and forth in the motel room, anxiously pulling back the curtains every few minutes to see if Eddie was coming. He'd been gone for four hours, and she was beyond panic at this point. Panic had set in about three hours ago. Now it was left far behind, replaced by blind hysteria.
She moved to the bed, sitting down, only to instantly pop back up and resume pacing. She couldn't stay still but she also couldn't keep moving. No matter what she did, it seemed to make no difference. She took a deep, ragged breath and moved back to the window to check again.
Dani knew he was upset. She knew he was probably a complete mess. How could he not be after what he'd experienced this afternoon? But she wished he'd come back. Every worst case scenario was running through her head, imagining him lying in the middle of the road, beat up in the middle of a bar, or sitting in a jail cell.
He was incapable of being rational right now. Eddie was often irrational, but she knew him. She knew when he felt big emotions, he lost all ability to think things through. He would react, and if he was stewing with all this anger and grief and someone said the wrong thing, he might lash out. Or he might say the wrong thing and someone might lash out at him. Either way, it wouldn't end well and Dani's entire body seized at the thought of him hurt and somewhere and her not having any idea what was going on.
Frustrated, she grabbed a bunch of quarters from her purse and slid the motel room key in her back pocket. Dani headed out in front of the motel, to the payphone. Their room had a phone but she doubted they could dial long distance. Dropping in four quarters, she dialed the number of the one person who might be able to talk her off the ledge she was on right now.
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"Hello? Buckley residence," said a bright voice and Dani almost collapsed to the ground at the solace she found in the sound of her best friend on the other line.
"Robin?" she said softly.
"Holy shit! Dani!" she squealed. "It's about damn time. I thought you forgot all about me on your grand trip all over the country with your metalhead. Too exciting for us boring little peons in Hawkin's, huh?"
"No," she replied, gripping the phone tightly with both hands. "That's not true at all."
"Uh-oh, what's wrong?" she asked. "I can hear in your voice that all is not right in Dani's world. What's happened? Is Eddie okay? Is he being an asshole? Do I need to get Steve to drive me there so I can kick his ass?"
"No. I don't need you to do anything. Yeah, he's fine. I mean, I think he is. I don't actually know," Dani admitted, swallowing back the tears that were threatening to fall. "I don't know where he is right now."
"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" asked Robin. "Did you lose Eddie? I mean, I know he is chaotic but how did you lose a whole man? He kind of stands out in a crowd."
"I didn't lose him!" Dani huffed. "He walked out of the motel a few hours ago and he hasn't come back."
