Realisations

1 0 0
                                    


The next morning, I woke early, I left Eddie in bed and headed across to Max and Susan's. I knocked on the door and a sullen looking Max answered "yeah?" she said taking one headphone off her ear. I felt awkward, I hadn't really seen much of her since that night in Starcourt. "Hey, how have you been?" I asked, she frowned at me "why?" she replied. I didn't really know what to say to her, "I just wanted to check in with you and see how you're doing". She gave me a sarcastic look "well let's see, a monster turned my step brother into a murderous psycho, only for him to come back and switch sides just before it killed him. My stepdad spiralled and walked out on us, leaving my mom to crawl into a bottle, so we got to move here, where I get to make sure she doesn't burn the place down when she falls asleep smoking!" she glared at me "but other than that, I can't really complain" she ended spitefully. I wasn't sure what to expect when I knocked on the door, but even I was surprised at the level of venom coming from Max. "I get it, stupid question. I just wanted to check in with you, to offer support". She scoffed "why?! You and Billy weren't even a thing at the end!" I raised my eyebrows "nice!" I said as I grimaced and nodded. She scoffed again "whatever!" and slammed the door shut. I stood looking at the closed door for a few seconds, analysing what had just transpired, I sighed and started to walk back over to my place.

When I stepped inside, I was greeted by Eddie, "where have you been sneaking off to?" he joked. I puffed out my cheeks and breathed out heavily, "I went to see Max and Susan, see how they're doing". Eddie, nodded, "how'd that go?" I slumped down next to him and sighed "let's just say it wasn't well received. Eddie placed his hand on my back "She's probably just pissed at the world" he tried to comfort me, I looked at him "Yeah.." I replied. I couldn't help but replay her face in my mind, the anguish, that turned into numbness as we all got escorted away by military personnel.

Eddie must have sensed my uneasiness, "hey, she will be ok!" I looked at him helplessly, "I hope so!". I felt so shitty. I had been so preoccupied with my own hurt and coming to terms with what happened, I had completely lost sight of Max and what she must be going through. She lost everything that night. Warranted Neil was bully, that constantly targeted Billy, which is why he acted out the way he did at times... but to Susan and Max he offered stability. I don't know if losing Billy, finally made him realise what a piece of shit he had been to his son, but he lost it and left Hawkins. Eddie put his arm around me "you ok?" he asked attentively I smiled meekly "yeah, I'll be ok" he caressed my face "you sure? You seem very low since last night". He brushed some of my hair behind my ear, not too dissimilar to how Steve had the night before "what happened?" he asked. I leaned into his touch and sighed, "we took a trip down memory lane... and it wasn't..." I trailed off, looking into his brown eyes, "it opened some old wounds?" Eddie asked. I nodded "yeah" the word barely audible. Eddie wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me. We sat in silence for a while, until Eddie said "let go get something to eat" I was feeling hungry so thought why not! As we got into my car I noticed Eddie holding the pictures of me and Billy in his hand. He didn't say anything, he just sat looking at them. I couldn't read what he was thinking, eventually he looked at me and handed me the pictures "you have a talent for bringing out the best in people" I didn't know what to say that, so looked at him curiously and then looked at the pictures of me and Billy. It was from a photo booth, we were pulling various faces, smiling and just being happy. A far cry from the Billy Hargrove the rest of the world got to see. I smiled as I recalled the day in my mind "he wasn't what people thought, you know?" Eddie didn't say anything, "he wasn't a reckless, aloof arsehole all the time" I went on. Eddie smiled "I've no doubt!" the tone of his voice intrigued me, it was more of a knowing tone, I shot him a look. He rolled his eyes and turned to face me "there was a day you were both at the lake, I was at a friend's" he smiled nervously "you were both at the lake, just fooling around, having fun and laughing" I was surprised as I couldn't recall seeing Eddie that day. He went on "You looked happy...the way you were smiling and laughing, I thought he can't be all that bad!" he shifted back in the seat. I smiled and looked at him momentarily "we weren't boyfriend and girlfriend you know?" he looked at me inquisitively "what?" he asked in a disbelieving tone. I laughed "I know everyone presumed we were a thing... but we weren't..." I began to struggle to think of the right thing to sya "We had a complicated relationship... but he was never my boyfriend" I explained. "More fool him" he muttered, which made me laugh. "I get it though" he added, "he meant something to you" I looked at him and smiled "yeah" I said softly. I took one last look at the pictures and then placed them in the glovebox.

The ConcertWhere stories live. Discover now