Hey Jude (Eddie Munson)

sunglasses at night

—
Jude was convinced Max and the other kids were up to something. She hadn't seen them in days. Wondered what it was that the group could be up to at seemingly all hours of the day. She'd gotten frustrated trying to come up with alibis for not only Neil when he asked questions, but her own mother as well. When confronted with 'where is your sister?' Jude responded 'a friend's'. For another sleepover with 'Jane'—El's adopted name from what Jude understood of the increasingly confusing situation—which had satisfied them enough. When it came to Billy, she'd gotten a little more creative. Double shift at work. Date with a girl. Stayed over a friend's. Or simply put—she didn't know. Because she didn't. Because he hadn't told her. That was the weirdest part of the whole ordeal: that ever since the day after her birthday party, her brother had been out of sorts and seemingly nonexistent.

It wasn't like him at all. The man always had something to say. Be it to his father or sisters. Something rude, crude, or outright filthy was always being spewed from that mouth. It seemed all too quiet now. Eerie without a blame to pin everything to. But Jude knew it had to be something to do with the girls rooting through his things. Her most recent hypothesis being that Billy was in trouble with someone. Owed money or had done something illegal and was now being blackmailed. Was now trying to hide it and shutting everyone out around him to do so.

And yet, the more and more she stewed it within her mind...the more and more she questioned if her thought process was even remotely in line. She'd been distracted, to say the least. By her sister and brother being missing, the darker, nefarious plot she imagined he might be facing presently, and the mounting pressure of holding it all together while her siblings completely disregarded her own sanity within their family home.

Lost in her thoughts, Jude failed to realize her trajectory had her slamming squarely into an unsuspecting bystander of her stupor, nearly falling backwards onto her rear in the process. Stopped only by the hand which curled around her forearm and hoisted her upright. Swaying momentarily, Jude rasped out an apology, hands coming up in front of her face in embarrassment.

As her gaze trailed upward, heat burned in her chest. Because of course it happened to be him again. He seemed amused by it, regardless. Grin slowly sliding into place as she took a giant step back to distance herself, crossing her arms across her chest.

Eddie Munson.

He wore a simple white tee this time and a pair of equally tight jeans from the last time she'd seen him. Bare, tattooed arms fully on display to her now. Those newly familiar rings spanned across multiple knuckles, chain hanging from one pocket, keeping his wallet in place.

"You're really making this a habit, aren't you?" Eddie mused, moving about in a slow circle. "I'm about to think you're stalking me."

"I am not stalking you," she muttered vehemently, waving her hands in the air in exasperation.

His cheek ticked. She wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. "Hey, it's okay to admit you're a freak. You're in good company here, after all."

"I will have you know I resent that statement." The grin tugging at her cheeks told a different story. She asked suddenly, "What are you doing here? I work here and I've never seen you come in."

She pointed to her cheery green shirt with the store logo printed across her chest. Had paired the shirt with shorts and tied her hair back in a messy ponytail. Suddenly felt very conscious of that. And then immediately stamped down the thought of even caring what she looked like in front of him.

"You see, sometimes people get hungry but realize they ran out of food. This was one of those times." He pointed to the shopping basket dangling from his arm.