𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

thirty-one

sam raised a brow. "and i'm assuming you're eddie, right?"

he shrugged his shoulders. "the one and only." he smiled. "you know, henderson didn't tell me that you knew about the campaign, you should've joined."

she shook her head. "absolutely not. i only know what dustin tells me. i do not know how to play." sam laughed, looking over to the group staring at the older kids interacting. "looks like you got the cult just fine though."

mike nodded for him. "yeah, and vecna came back!"

sam's brows furrowed. "i thought he'd died?"

"yeah, we thought so, too!" dustin replied, putting his hands on his hips, letting out a proud sigh. "but it was okay, we fought him to the death."

her brows raised. "to the death?"

eddie watched this conversation with amusement. sam had heard all about eddie for weeks; how he'd been there for dustin and his friends when the rest of the school saw them as losers. for that, she was grateful for him. she also knew that, no matter how much steve hated it or how awkward sam felt about the friendship they shared, dustin looked up to eddie.

"i think i figured out why you look so familiar!" the other teen spoke, "you live across from me, henderson has told me all about you."

sam's brows raised again. "is that so?" she looked over to the boy. "all good things, i hope."

eddie smiled. "he says you are the chillest person he's met. that you're brilliant too."

she scoffed. "i wouldn't say brilliant, but i have learned some things from these nerds." sam teased.

"i could teach you how to play, you could join us next time..." eddie began, waiting for her name.

"her name is samantha. we call her sam." dustin said.

eddie smiled again. "sam." he maintained eye contact with her. "it could be a date. what do you say? friday night?" he said, and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"i'll say no. i have a boyfriend."

"a boyfriend?" eddie's brow raised and his smile quivered, and sam internally scolded dustin.

"steve harrington." dustin interjected, moving to stand by his friend. "they've been dating for like two years now, right?"

she couldn't read the expression on eddie's face as he took in this information, as she put a hand in her back pocket. "yep. two years, last october. now, i promised your mom i would have you back before it got too late...so are you ready to go?"

dustin lead the way outside the room, the group following him as they continued to laugh and cheer. "how'd it go? did you win?" steve asked, standing up straight at the sight of everyone.

steve didn't normally care about d&d, and he definitely didn't want to get caught dead playing it. but he did care about dustin, and dustin's interests. therefore, wanted to know about all the details.

"yeah, we won big time!" the boy replied with a smile, turning back to his hellfire club friends. as steve pulled his girlfriend close. "sam got there right after erica rolled the winning twenty! it was incredible, the best match ever. i wish you guys would've been there to see me in action. eddie likes you already, sam, you should come to the next-"