Your parents decide to relocate after an incident the summer before your freshmen year of high school, one that leaves you irrevocably changed.
But after three years away, you decide to stop running from your demons and return to Hawkins High for y...
"Explain to me why we're going to this party? Whose party is this again?" you say, putting a black streak of eyeliner across your upper eyelid, pulling back from the mirror to take sure they're as even.
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"Max's little boyfriend is throwing it to score points with the basketball team."
You roll your eyes. "Why does he want to be associated with those dickheads anyway? Dustin, Mike and Will are so sweet. The jocks don't give a shit about Lucas. They don't give a shit about anyone but themselves."
"Do you know if Eddie's coming?" Stacy asked, trying to get the underwire of her bra has far underneath her breasts as possible to pick them up and show them off.
"I don't know. I didn't ask him about it," you respond with a shrug. Something inside you was starting to get nervous with Eddie. Being with Eddie felt amazing, effortless....but you were also getting nervous because you know where things would inevitably lead to. Sex. You've become very comfortable with making out with Eddie over the past few weeks, which was huge progress for you, but there's was still a block in your mind and body when it came to anything more.
You still hadn't opened up to him about why you didn't like to be touched. What happened that night. You couldn't bring yourself to form the words. You didn't want him to look at you like you were broken.
He wasn't pushy about it or anything but you knew there'd come a time where he'd try to cross that boundary. It was only normal. He was a 20-year-old for Christ's sake. You were both technically adults. It's not his fault your first time was a traumatic nightmare. And if you weren't going to give it to him, you worried how long he would stay before he'd find it elsewhere...
"Perfect. Some time with my bestie," Stacy says, putting her arms around her. She smells like her Opium perfume and Aqua Net hairspray.
You grab onto her forearm around your chest and give it a loving squeeze. Nights like this, getting ready in her bedroom, reminded her of when they were in middle school, playing dress up and pretending they were getting ready to go to a high school party like this one. Maybe even kiss a boy there.
How much simpler things used to be.
Suddenly, Max is in Stacy's door frame, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Come on, beauty queens. We gotta go!"
"Settle down, little sis. No one is actually on time for a party," she says, continuing to tease her curls even bigger in the mirror.
"Ugh!" Max rolled her eyes again and stormed off. Clearly, she was itching to see her little boyfriend. It was cute. You wondered how things would be different if you could see a high school relationship through more innocent eyes.
*****************************
Eddie sees red as he bursts into Dustin's house. He opens the door so quickly that it smacks the wall behind it, damn near leaving a hole in the plaster.
