Tough Love: Nelson Muntz x OC

Slim Jim Bouquets

She carefully shut the door behind her as though he'd wake up from the slight sound of her coming inside. Kearney had said that he had passed out as soon as he hit the couch, but after experiencing her first hangover this morning, she decided that she didn't want to risk interrupting his slumber. 

Down the hall, draped across the couch like a cheap Christmas throw blanket in December, was Nelson, still fully dressed and out cold. Eve tried to just walk past him and fall asleep in his bed without eating dinner or showering because she was just that tired, and yet, when she was halfway down the hall to her room, she stopped. The memory of her father passed out on her own couch flashed in her head, and she couldn't fight off the nagging thought that she should treat Nelson the way that she'd treated her drunken father. 

After a few minutes of fighting with herself on whether or not she should look after the boy, she huffed and turned back to the living room. She had her work cut out for her if she was going to make Nelson as comfortable as Ned had been, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't. There was something about just leaving him like this that didn't sit right with her. It was most likely her "do unto others as you would want done unto you" upbringing, but that wasn't the important part of this. 

Eve took hold of one of Nelson's boots in her hands and gave it a tug. The shoe came off with a surprising ease, and she had to drop it to catch herself on the arm of the couch so that she wouldn't fall to the floor. Even with the heavy thud of the thick work boot on the floor, Nelson hadn't budged in the slightest, so she removed the other one being much more careful than the first. 

There was nothing more that she could do clothes-wise, but she quickly moved on from that quickly. She looked around the living room, searching for any sort of throw blanket that she could cover him up with, but unfortunately didn't see one. This meant that she'd have to go on a quick scavenger hunt for a blanket so that she could tuck him in as though he were one of her brothers or a small child. 

She went to his room, but other than the bedding that was already piled up on his bed from their departure this morning, she didn't see any blankets. So, even though she felt a little uncomfortable about it, she carefully pushed over the door to Mrs. Muntz's bedroom. 

It wasn't all that different from Nelson's room, just with a bigger bed, a collection of makeup strewn across the dresser on the far wall, and the room had a much more feminine feel, which is what you'd expect from a mother's room. Across the room, she could see that the door to the closet was stood open, and it was empty. Inside there was only a handful of wire hangers and a single flip flop that was missing the plastic piece that actually went over your foot. 

This confused Eve immensely, but there was no one that she could talk to about it at this point and time. She pulled the door shut, not wanting to think too much on why the closet was empty or why the bed was neat and tidy even though the promiscuous Mrs. Muntz was supposedly coming and going to work and back home every day. 

She carefully picked up the vintage looking throw blanket that was laid across the end of the bed and as she turned to leave, caught something out of the corner of her eye. Laid on the bedside table and littered with cigarette ashes, was a scrapbook with the stereotypical golf foil font across the front of it, spelling out the word: Memories. Eve knew that it was rude to snoop, but she suspected that Mrs. Muntz wouldn't be back to hold her accountable for her actions tonight. 

Tucking the book under her arm, she left the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind her. She sat the book aside so that she could finish up with looking after the unconscious boy. She carefully pulled the blanket over him and he hummed in his sleep, bringing a slight smile to her face. 

It wasn't as though she'd forgotten that he'd forgotten about her to go drinking with his friends, but after the talk with Kearney, she was a lot more levelheaded than she had been when she'd gotten into the car. Nelson had his own life, and he was a teenager himself so she couldn't rely on him to do everything for her. He was already letting her stay in his house without exposing her to her dad, and she was very grateful. So, she decided that she needed to step back and look at this through less clouded eyes.