You Frustrate Me Incredibly

I'm not leaving

We're all in the RV and Steve is driving. We're going to the Creel house first to drop Max, Lucas and Erica. I'm sitting next to Eddie and leaning on his shoulder. I look in space just going over the plan over and over again. It's pretty solid, but still the are a lot of things that could go terribly wrong. I glance over at Max and Lucas sitting and talking and I smile. They're both smiling. I hadn't seen Max smile in a while. It's so sweet, how he can do that for her.

I keep fidgetting with my fingers. I'm so scared. What if it doesn't work? What if he gets Max? What if he snaps out of his trance and finds Nancy, Steve and Robin right in front of him? What if?

Eddie takes my hand tangles his fingers in-between mine. He squeezes my hand. He's obviously scared too. I turn and look at him and he turns his head at me. I give him a reasuring smile. He smiles too. There's something so warm and peaceful about his smile. Damn, if he would smile at me like that before all of this too, I think I would've started looking at him differently way earlier.

"The new vest suits you, by the way", I say

He makes a surprised face

"Compliment by Y/N Y/L/N. Never thought that was possible", he jokes

"Shut up", I say with a chuckle nudging him slightly

He keeps his gaze fixed on me as I look down. I glance at him multiple times and he's always gazing at me.

"Why are looking at me like that?", I ask anxiously

"To make you blush. And it worked", he says looking down at me with a smirk on his face

"I'm not blushing", I say defensively

"You're face is matching your name, Red Empress", he cocks his head at me

"I thought I told you to shut up", I say shooting him a playful look

"I will never", he says getting his face closer to mine and backs up again.

Steve stops the RV. Everyone looks at eachother.

"First stop", Steve says getting up from his seat

Lucas and Erica get up to first and Max goes to follow them. I quickly get up.

"Max", I say and she looks at my direction "Be careful"

She nods and they all get out. I go and sit back down.

"Everyone settled in?", Steve asks looking back at us. We all nod.

"Let's go, then", he says and starts the engine.

...

We arrive at the trailer park. It's dark outside now. As Steve stops the RV Nancy steps forward.

"Okay, I wanna run through it one more time", she says turning to everyone "Phase one"

"We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready", Robin continues

"Phase two", Nancy says

"Max baits Vecna", Steve jumps in "He'll go after her which'll put him in his trance"

"Phase three", Nancy says looking in my direction

"Me, Eddie and Y/N draw the bats away", Dustin say and Eddie pats his head. He then shoots me a smile and I smile back.

"Four"

"We head into Vecna's hopefully newly bat-free lair and", Robin says and waves the molotov cocktail in her hand "flambé"

"Nobody moves on to the next phase untill we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what", Nancy says strictly "Got it?"