Playing Pretend

The Cold

"Tell me right now," Eddie ordered, pinning my arms as he hovered above me on my bed. I shrieked with laughter, shaking my head.

"Let me go, Munson!"

"Not until you tell me!"

"You just want to embarrass me!"

"Of course, I do!" he teased, kissing my neck and making me laugh. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he gripped me tighter, threatening to tickle my sides.

"Fine, fine!" I conceded. He grinned and let me go, rolling onto his side as he pulled me with him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked down. "It was one other time. You dragged me to Hellfire, and you and Jeff got into an argument about some rule about some dumb spell, and you got so mad that you stood up and slammed your hands on the table."

He scrunched his face, his brows furrowing.

"That was the only other time you thought I was attractive?"

"Eddie!" I whined, burying my face into his chest. He laughed and kissed my forehead, pulling me closer to him.

"That's just so dorky. You are so dorky."

"Big talk coming from you, dungeon master."

"Oh, big talk from me? You're the one who apparently wanted to bone the dungeon master!" he teased.

"Like, one time, and I realized how lame it was immediately!" I quipped. He raised his eyebrows.

"You think I'm lame?" he joked, taking my face and peppering it with kisses while making me laugh. We settled down and got quiet, Eddie tracing designs on my back while I listened to his pounding heart. I wanted to ask Eddie the same question but was too nervous.

"For me, it's anytime you wear that flowy green top. Or when you study and pull your hair up into that hideous scrunchie," he said, reading my thoughts. I looked up at him, smiling.

"Flowy green top?" I asked. He nodded wildly.

"The one that doesn't button up very high. You wear it to trailer parties all of the time."

I smiled, remembering the blouse he was describing. I nuzzled back into his chest, enjoying limbo.

We had moved from the living room to my room when we heard my parents get home. Eddie leapt off of me when my mom came through the backdoor, calling my name.

"Eddie Munson is here!" she had exclaimed, always excited to see him. She hugged him and then looked at me, trying to decipher something. I smiled at her, desperately hoping she wouldn't ask us anything.

"Mr. Munson! It's been nice seeing you as much as we have lately," my dad commented, slapping Eddie on the back. Eddie flushed, not knowing what to say in response to the fact that we were hiding in plain sight. He grinned nervously and nodded his head.

"Same, Mr. Cadman – sorry, Henry."

My parents grinned, asking more questions as I grabbed Eddie's arm.

"Parental units – Eddie is my best friend. We're going to hang out upstairs."

Once we got to my room, Eddie had wanted to play a game, asking questions about feelings before limbo. I think this was his way of satisfying his desire to talk about this without pushing me.

"So, you thought about me a lot before all of this, then?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I think that if I think about it now, yeah. But back then, I thought I was being crazy."