delilah pierce's summer was rather... eventful, but how will she cope with her grief and manage yet another possible relationship?
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pls read the notes/warnings in the introduction chapter before proceeding!! 😚😚
(emetophobia warning!! delilah briefly vomits towards the end of the chapter!! there will be another warning beforehand!!)
A FEW minutes after delilah woke up, she found herself sitting with eddie, while he began to treat her wound.
"this is gonna sting a little bit," he warns her. "trust me, nothing is gonna hurt as much as the headaches i've been having for the past week," delilah laughs, making eddie smirk.
"oh, uh. i just want to say i'm sorry for um... running into the wall and screaming." she quickly apologizes, slightly embarrassed that his first impression of her was all of that.
"i actually have an apology of my own... i'm sorry about what happened with jason. after you left, i practically screamed at him," eddie warmly smiles. delilah is slightly taken aback. "oh, you were there?" she smiles back. "yes, and i heard that joke you made about his mom. that shit was comedy gold." the two are laughing at this point.
eddie soon rests his hand on delilah's face to fully get into her cut and dissect it. the touch made delilah stiffen. she did not like it when people touched her without warning, but especially if it was a man. eddie notices this and quickly takes his hand off of her face, giving her an apologetic smile.
"so if you don't mind me asking... what happened with billy? 'cause i've heard people talk about it in school and i wanna hear it from you." the question is delivered innocently enough for delilah to calmly explain.
"well... what have you heard?"
"i've heard that he was a pretty abusive boyfriend... like... physically."
the fact that people regularly talked about her personal business made delilah slightly sad. there is a very obvious change in her facial expression.
"i hate to say it but... they weren't wrong. that's why i was so upset in the caf." delilah's voice began to tremble. she never liked talking about her situation because it was like everything was happening all over again. eddie holds his arms out, offering to hug her. without missing a beat, she accepts the offer and allows him to console her properly.
"it's okay... you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." eddie just talked to this girl for the first time and he already immensely cares for her. soon enough, he is all done cleaning up delilah's wound. he turns his radio on in an attempt to pass the time, and sure enough, lay all your love on me by abba was the first song that played.
"oh my god, i love this song! make it louder!" delilah laughs, making eddie lightheartedly scoff. "you actually listen to this shit?"
"what do you mean 'this shit?' abba is frickin' brilliant, and i will die on that hill," she jokingly slaps his arm. eddie laughs, happy to know that the girl has a sense of humor.
"then i guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, sweetheart!" he continues laughing.
sweetheart.
billy's nickname for her.
even the first syllable of the word made delilah's smile fade. it was like hearing an old song with new lyrics. a bridge between two parts of her life that she never expected nor wanted to intersect. she did not want eddie's impression of her to only be grief or discomfort about her shitty ex, but a lot of days she felt more like a victim than a survivor. in fact, she noticed how people only stopped calling her victim and started calling her survivor because she wasn't talking about it.
not wanting the boy in front of her to get too alarmed, she gives him a fake smile, which was something she was all too familiar with doing.
the two continued to talk about various random topics, and other than the previous usage of the nickname, delilah could not help but feel very safe with eddie. she saw him as a very calming and friendly person, and she felt as if he could be... more than a friend to her. with that being said, she also did not want to get her hopes up, considering how terribly her last relationship ended.
completely lost in her thoughts, delilah did not see the gang barge back into the building until eddie calmly tapped her on the shoulder. apparently there was an important conversation to be had.
there were a few things established.
the bad news; the news is convinced that eddie was 100% responsible for the death of chrissy. this news upset delilah, because in her heart of hearts, she knew he would not hurt a fly.
the good news, which wasn't really amazing, so we'll call it the slightly better news; eddie's name has not been revealed to the public yet. however, it's only a matter of time before it is.
considering that delilah was passed out for the entire conversation about what initially happened, she was trying her best to follow along with what was going on, but she got so lost that she just started nodding every minute or so. she had so many questions. for instance... who the hell is vecna?
eleven was also briefly mentioned in the group's conversation. delilah and eleven were never bosom buddies, but they definitely had their bonding moments.
(emetophobia warning for the following scene!!!!)
it was almost perfectly timed when she began to get one of the many painful headaches this week would bring, but this headache was probably the worst one of all. "um, eddie, would you mind showing me where your bathroom is? or some place i can throw up?" delilah asks, rather urgently. "i've been getting really bad headaches for a while now," she continues.
eddie took her to a secluded area where she could properly vomit. delilah's face turned pale as her body convulsed, and with a sudden rush of nausea, she doubled over, unable to contain the wave of sickness that surged through her. her distress was evident as she emptied her stomach in a sudden and unceremonious release.
and that's when the ticking started. the ticking from that damn clock. "...what the hell?" delilah whispered, wiping her lips of whatever just left her system. "delilah..." a strange voice growled. she looked around, trying to find out where this voice was coming from, but there was a part of her that didn't want to know what was going on. she feared that the true answer would be scarier than the warning signs.
delilah was confused as hell, but all she knew for certain was that there was a specific goal for all of this; to kill whoever vecna was.
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