Haze & Hellfire

Chapter 5: Daisy

Eddies POV:

As the rustle from the tarp catches him in a petrified state of mind, Eddie's heart pounds like a heavy D-beat drum inside his chest, to the point where the band pins on his collar rattles.

He holds Dallas tight towards his chest, for her safety but also for his own comfort. He's scared like hell.

For a brief moment, it's just a matter of seconds while the tarp moves, his mind wanders and his fantasy takes over completely; he's Eddie, the valiant knight.

He's just rescued the shield-maiden from the wicked, mad king of the realm of his own imagination. They're hiding from the guards that've been sent to take her back to the dungeons, where she is to be shackled yet again. They're hiding underneath his cloak as he clings to his sword -the broken glass bottle- and at any second he'll burst out, ready to defend both of them until the foul, evil guards lie in a pool of their own blood. Then he will take her by the hand and they will continue to flee, running for their lives, until they're safe back in his own realm.

Eddie's abruptly torn back to reality, where he's crammed down close to Dallas Haze in the small boat, as the blue tarp is pulled away from them. He flinches, both he and Dallas scream and with impressive speed and without hesitating, she sends off a well-directed fist straight out into the air.

"Ouch!"

"What the heck-"

"Hey hey hey, it's just us!"

It's Steve, Dustin, Max and Robin. Steve's folded in on himself while holding both his hands over his nose, while Robin, Max and Dustin look down at them in the boat. In their hands they're holding plastic bags, filled with stuff.

"Morning!" Dustin greets with a smile, without taking any notice of Harrington and his nose, and holds out a pack of oatmeal creme pies towards them. He shakes the box and it makes a rustling sound, indicating for them to have one. "Don't be shy."

Slowly, Dallas does as she's told, although with a quirked brow. Eddie's heart pounds in his chest and he's still out of his breath with adrenaline.

"Did we... interrupt anything?" Max asks with a raised eyebrow.

It takes a few seconds for Dustin to get what she means by that, whereupon his mouth shapes into an 'O'.

Still rubbing his nose, Steve glares sullenly at Eddie and Dallas, while Robin on the other hand grins wide with rosey cheeks.

From their lying position, still pressed up against each other, chest to back, Dallas and Eddie's eyes meet for a brief moment.

"Eh, not really." Eddie gets up from his lie down position and sits up. His cheeks burn as the sheer sensation of panic subsides.

"What's all this?" Dallas nods in the direction of the bags.

"Food delivery!" Dustin grins triumphantly.

"We brought breakfast." Robin holds up a small brown paper bag, already prickled with greasy stains. "Fresh cream cheese bagels with tomato and lettuce?"

"Oh my god, you're a savior." Dallas groans, presses the oatmeal cream pie into Eddie's hand and grabs the paper bag from Robin. "Sorry 'bout the nose." She says and looks very apologizing at Steve. "Reflexes."

"It's... fine." Steve tries his best to look unruffled, but it's clear that the blow hurts.

Inside his head, Eddie giggles mischievously; his underlying grudge against Hawkins' pretty boy isn't entirely scrubbed away.

While the sound of the water mixes with the crinkling sound of the brown paper bag, as Dallas takes out the bagel, Eddie starts to rummage around the plastic bag. He grabs a hold of a box of Honeycomb and a bottle of Yoohoo from one of them, cracks the box open, snaps the lid off with one hand and digs in.