A/N - Thank you, Sabrina Carpenter, for releasing a whole album worth of songs that make great fanfic inspiration! This chapter is inspired by the song When Did You Get So Hot? from her new album, Man's Best Friend. For this one, Reader moved away from Hawkins at the start of high school and hasn't seen Eddie since, and this is set in the early 90s. I hope you all enjoy it.
You supposed that since your most recent break-up, you had become a bit of a hermit, hidden away from the public eye and completely avoiding anything that even vaguely resembled a man.
Your friends were acting like you'd joined a convent, or something. As if going 2 months without even a hookup was some huge deal. As if even the mere idea of you abstaining was insane.
But, to be completely honest, you'd needed the time away from dating, and men, and sex. You'd needed the full reset to get yourself back on track and remind yourself of who you were without your ex-boyfriend in your life.
It probably wouldn't have been so difficult if you hadn't been as well-known as you were, but the break-up had practically made national news stations, and you hadn't been able to leave the house without seeing pictures of your face plastered on the front cover of some trashy magazine, picking apart the entire 2-year-long relationship you'd just left.
But now, 2 months after the initial split, things seemed to be calming down somewhat, and you'd finally allowed your friends to coerce you into going on a night out.
It felt completely unnatural now, putting on your makeup and making yourself look all pretty for a night in some club on the other side of town, knowing that you'd end up getting papped at some point in the night. In fact, if the girls hadn't come to get ready at your apartment, you probably would have chickened out and curled up in bed already.
The actual journey to the club had been smooth enough, no nasty interactions with paparazzi or awkward conversations with guys claiming to be fans of your work. And then, you were finally inside, a drink in your hand, taking deep breaths to calm yourself.
"Oh look, there he is," your friend exclaimed, grinning back at you with the most earth-shatteringly beautiful smile you had ever seen. "Come and meet Cole," she pressed, linking her fingers through yours and gently easing you away from the bar. "He really is the sweetest guy. I think he might be my soulmate-"
"This is the guy you met last week, right?" you hummed, drawing a short chuckle out of her.
She shrugged, grinning back at you. "When you know, you know." You fell quiet as you reached the table, letting her pull you to a stop beside her. "Cole," she started, drawing the attention of the whole table.
"Oh, hey, Baby," he started, quickly getting to his feet to press a kiss to her lips.
"Hey," she breathed, all airy and cute, and for a moment, you thought you'd made a narrow escape. You could make a dash for the door whilst she was too busy going all goo-goo eyed over this newest guy, and you could be back in bed within the hour. "This is Y/N," she finally added, dragging you forward.
"Y/N, I think we've met before," Cole hummed, brow furrowing. "Calvin Klein ad last winter, right?"
You hesitated for a moment, trying your hardest to remember. "Yeah," you finally agreed. "You had that gorgeous dog that came to set with you."
"Betsy, yeah," he exclaimed, his smile widening. "Oh shit, you were from that little town in Indiana, right? Hawkins?"
"Yeah-"
"My friend over here is from the same town. Small world," he pressed on, gesturing behind him to the other end of the booth. "You guys were probably at school together, you're the same sort of age-"
