𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

008. Like Our Val?

VAL STARED at the ceiling in deep thought as she was laying in the guest bedroom of a house. "Val?" Eddie called out so Val slowly got up, sighing. "Yeah?" He approached the other bedroom. "What's up?" She said quietly and he just sighed, he'd been sitting on the edge of the bed all night and morning.

"Hungry? We should look for some food."

The only food they'd found was eggs and bread, so Eddie toasted some bread for them as Valerie made some scrambled eggs. They then sat in silence, across from one another at the table. "I don't know what we could do, Eddie." She rubs the tiredness from her eyes as she wanted to sleep so badly but couldn't.

"I don't know either..."

As for Dustin and Max, the girl showed up to his front door step. "Chrissy Cunningham? Are you sure it was Chrissy?" Dustin paced back and forth and Max just stood there, by his bed, fidgeting with her walkman headphone's cord. "Yes. She was in her cheerleader outfit. Same thing she was in when I saw her and Val go to Eddie's." At that, Dustin quickly spun around to look at the redheaded girl.

"Val? Like our Val?" He gestured between them with panic and she nods. "Yeah, our Val." She says and he sighs. "Did you tell all this to the cops?" He asked. "No. No, but I... I can't be the only one who saw the three of them together. I mean, they stood out." Max explains as Dustin just paced even more.

"Eddie the Freak with Chrissy the cheerleader and our Val?" He turns to them. "Exactly. You know, his name's not in the news yet or anything, but I guarantee you Eddie is supect one right now." She says. "That's crazy." He immediately shut it down. "Eddie didn't do this. No way. Wait, what about Val? She--she's fine, right?" His voice wavered for a moment, at the thought of losing Valerie. "No. I saw her leaving with him... thinking about it now, she looked so scared." She glanced away, plopping down onto the boy's bed so Dustin sat down by her.

"What?" He says and she looks at him. "After I saw Val and Chrissy go into Eddie's trailer. Something else happened..." She said, the night prior she had been watching tv, it began glitching and while she's fixing it, the lights started flickering then she heard a scream of fright mixed with another voice shouting for Chrissy's name. Then when she went by the window to peer out through the curtains, she saw Eddie rushing to his vehicle and Val rush down the four steps, running to the passenger side, fear struck eyes and clearly panicking.

"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. The look on Val's face. And his... They were both scared, Dustin. Really scared." She said, looking at Dustin.

"Maybe she was scared because he--he just killed someone in front of her, and he was scared because he just, you know, killed someone, or... maybe, um... maybe because... I don't know, maybe--" "something else killed her." He finished the sentence for her and she just softly nods to confirm that's her theory. "But that's impossible. Right?" She needs the reassurance, she doesn't want it to come back.

"I don't know... it should be. There's only two people who know what actually happened." Dustin says and Max looks at him. "Eddie. And our Val." She's clearly teasing him about it and as he gets ready so they can leave, he makes her promise to never mention it to Val or he'd kick her ass, even though he'd actually never, he's just trying to sound tough.

"Is the shower okay here?" Val asked, standing in the doorway of the bathroom. "Yeah, most likely, why?" Eddie asked her. "I wanna take one?" She says, confused why that wasn't clear enough. "Oh, yeah. Go for it. Uh, you can also use some of Reefer Rick's clothes if you want, uh, he's sort of in jail... I also have some left over clothes from whenever I'd crash here." He walked over to the guest bedroom dresser.

"Oh, really? I'd appreciate that..." She stood in the doorway and he neatly folds a Black Sabbath shirt and a pair of light washed jeans he then brings over. "Here," he hands them over and she sighs. "Thanks." She said then headed into the bathroom to take a nice, warm shower. It didn't really last long, the hot water ran out, but it was fine and will have to do as she dried herself off and got dressed quickly.

She tugs her windbreaker back on, unsure what do with her cheer outfit before walking out. "Ed? Can I get a plastic bag?" She asked and he glanced over before breaking into a grin. "Look at you, I think the shirt suits you." He said as he brings over the bag and she just chuckles softly. "What even is Black Sabbath anyway?" She asked him and he looks offended for a split moment. "Black Sabbath? Ozzy Osbourne?" He asked her pretty quickly.

"Doesn't ring a bell, sorry," she apologized and he waves a hand. "That's okay. Black Sabbath is, uh, one of my favourite bands. I love their music." He smiles and she just smiled faintly back before heading back to the bathroom where she put her uniform into the back, tying it up pretty quickly before setting it down. "We should go and stay in the boathouse, just in case someone comes by thinking Rick is home..." Eddie tells her and she nods.

"Yeah, okay..." She says and discreetly, the two rushed out to the boathouse where Eddie rushed over to the corner. "What are you doing?" She asked and he opens something up, "oh, my God, I knew it." He smiled widely, holding up a six pack of beer bottles.

"Want any?" He asked and she sighs. "Yeah, fuck it, fine." She gave in and he pushed a tarp off the boat hanging in the middle above the water, patting the spot by him where he sat down, looking out at Lovers' Lake as she sat by him, sighing as he pops open the beers for them both. "Can I tell you something personal?" She asked, then she sips the beer. "Go for it." He says and she glanced up.

"Robin and I are a couple." She came right out, saying it as she glanced over. "Oh. Cool?" He says, trying hard not to choke on the beer he had also just taken a sip of. "Yeah... Just to put that out there." She says, hoping that he'll say something about the hankerchief, if it was intentional or a mistake he had made without knowing the meaning behind it.

"I, too, take part in liking the same sex, so... you know, safety zone here." He gestured around and she just nodded softly. "Cool. Yeah, no, I just wanted to tell you, I--I don't know why." She says and he looks at her. "I hope it's not because you think I was hitting on you. You're cute and all but not my type." He says and she just rolled her eyes, smiling faintly.

"You're such a dingus."

"You're a bigger dingus."

authors note eddie and valerie: