𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

ii. busiest day.

"Max." He quickly got up and went to stand behind Dustin. "Hi James." Max says, looking shaken up so James looked at her worriedly. "Is everything okay?" He asked and she glanced between the two. "I need to talk to you both." She tells them so James glanced down at Dustin who immediately looks up at him.

"Chrissy Cunningham?"

James is also confused why a girl like Chrissy, a cheerleader, would be hanging out with a guy like Eddie Munson, the Freak. "You're sure it was Chrissy?" Dustin asked as he walked back and forth as James was leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed. "Yes, she was in her cheerleader outfit. Same thing she was in when I saw her with Eddie." She explains and Dustin looked at her.

"Did you tell all this to the cops?" He asked. "No." She says as Dustin paced by her again. "No, but I--I can't be the only one who saw them together. I mean, they stood out." Max says and James shrugs. "Yeah, I mean, Eddie the freak Munson with a pretty little cheerleader?" James says and Max looked over at him.

"Exactly. You know, his name's not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you Eddie is suspect one now." Max says, looking at Dustin now and the boy looks at him. "That's crazy. Eddie didn't do this. No way." He denied it immediately and James couldn't help but be on his side on that, based off the stories he's already heard from Dustin alone, Eddie just seems so harmless and innocent.

I mean, the dude's repeated Senior year twice and loves D&D. "No way." Dustin repeats when he saw Max's face. "Well, we can't rule it out." The redhead reasoned. "Yes, we can." He says and Max tilts her head. "Dustin!" She says. "You don't know him like I do, Max." He defends Eddie right away. "Okay? When we got to high school, Lucas made all his sports friends. Mike and me? I mean, no one was nice to us. No one except Eddie." Dustin tells her.

James smiles. He's glad Eddie got to be that for them at least, their little saviour from the depths of high school and all its shittyness. "Okay, wel, they said the same shit about Ted Bundy." And just like that, James' smile fades. "Yeah, he's a super nice guy, but then he's murdering women on the weekend." She explains.

"So you're saying Eddie is like Ted Bundy?"

"No, I'm not saying-- I'm saying that we can't presume anything, okay? But it doesn't look good for Eddie." She says and Dustin sat down onto the bed. It's quiet for a moment as James went over to sit by Dustin, crossing his arms. Max sighs as she looked at the two. "Why haven't you told the cops this?" James raised his head to look at the redheaded girl.

"I--I don't know." She crossed her arms and he squints his eyes a bit, tilting his head to the side. "You don't know?" He asked and she just rubs her arm, looking away before walking over to sit between them, staring at the floor. "After I saw Eddie and Chrissy go in the trailer..." She starts explaining to the two males.

"Something else happened."

After she explained when she fed her dog and went back inside to watch tv, the tv started acting up, then so did the lights, all flickering and shit. Then she heard screaming and watched Eddie run out of his trailer and into his van before he drove off in a hurry. "Nothing that weird or anything. I mean... Eddie always drives like a maniac, and the power goes off at my place all the time. It's a piece of shit. But... this morning, I started to think back, and... I don't know." James looked at Dustin over Max's head, his brows slightly furrowed together.

"The look on his face. He was scared. Really scared." She said as she looked at Dustin then over at James who glanced down. "Maybe he was scared because... you know, he--he just killed someone, or... maybe, um... maybe, because... I don't... I don't know, maybe..." She struggled to even say it.

Like maybe she doesn't even want to think of it possibly being back. James gently put his hand to her back as Dustin spoke, "something else killed her." He says, looking at Max who looked back at him. "That's impossible. Right?" She hopes for some reassurance.

"I don't know... it should be." Is all Dustin says before looking at the two as James pulled his hand back from Max's back, sighing. "There's only person who knows what actually happened." He said, looking over at Dustin. "Eddie." Max says, nodding her head.

The three leave the bedroom, "have you talked to anyone else?" Dustin asked Max. "No. I can't find Lucas or Nancy and Mike's in--" "California." James says. "Shit, shit, shit." Dustin says. "Dusty, where are you going?" Claudia asked worriedly as the boy opens the front door. "To see a friend." He tells her.

"You heard the news. It's not safe. Here, take my car, James. Take good care of my Dusty." Claudia says and James quickly nods, taking the keys with a small smile at the woman. "Okay, Mrs. Henderson." He says and Dustin blows kisses at his mom. "We'll be careful. Thanks. Love you. Bye." He tells her.

In the vehicle, James pulls out of the driveway. "Okay... to be exact, where are we going?" He asked and Dustin looks at him with a wide smile. "Family Video where your old pal, Robin works with your ex-boyfriend!" He says and James sighs, glancing at Max who just smiles faintly at him through the rearview mirror.

"Why?" He looks and Dustin gestures around. "Our base of operations. Why else?" He asked him and he just sighs. "Fine." He mumbled. They arrive to the video store, Dustin and Max going in first as James trudged along behind them. "Hey, Steve." Dustin walks over to the counter and it feels like everything slowed down as James walked up to stand behind them and Steve turned to look at them.

"Did you guys see this?" Steve asked, glancing at James for a split second before looking at Dustin again. "How many phones do you have?" Dustin asked him. "Someone was murdered." Steve says and James stands on the other side of Dustin, leaning on the counter. "How many phones do you guys have?" Dustin repeated his question loudly as James just glanced between Robin and Steve.

"Uh, three. Why?" Steve asked. "Technically four, if you count Keith's." Robin says then looked at James, smiling widely. "Hi, James." She says and Steve kicks her shin gently. "Yeah, four works." Max nods at Dustin who tossed his backpack over the counter.

"What are you doing?"

Dustin jumpes up. "My pile!" Robin exclaimed. "No, no, no! My tapes! Dude." Steve exclaimed as James goes around to join at Dustin's side at the computer. "What are you doing, man?" Steve stood on the other side of Dustin. "Setting up base of operations here."

"Base of operations?"

"Get off." Steve says to the boy, glancing at James. "Can you...?" He gestured to Dustin. "We need it." James tells Steve. "Need it for what?" The Harrington asked, glancing at Dustin. "Looking up Eddie's friends' phone numbers." Dustin explained to Steve.

"Oh, Eddie. Your new best friend, Eddie, you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?" Steve asked and James looks at him with a scrunched up face. "I never said that." Dustin looked up at him.

"Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday, you can play around in here like toddlers, but it's Saturday. It's our busiest day." Robin says as she continues to pick up VHS tapes that Dustin had pushed off the counter. "Okay, Robin, I can totally empathize, but this cannot wait until Monday." Dustin says and James glanced over at Steve. "What? Cause calling all of Eddie's friends is an emergency?" She asked.

"Correct!" Dustin said as Steve asked about strangling Dustin and Robin said they could take turns. "Could either of you just fill them in while I do this?" Dustin asked James and Max. "Fill us in on what?" Robin asked and Max looks up at James, sighing. "I--I could." He whispers and she just nods quickly, agreeing.

authors note steve & james didn't speak a single word to each other and it felt illegal so i just wrote the part he asked james if he can help him with dustin pissing off the computer. it also kind of reminded me of two divorced parents struggling to watch their kid together with shared custody or sumn

+ i might make chapters 2,000+ words. also sorry for the late update!!