─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"WHO DOES HE THINK he is? how does he think he can just do that and get away with it?" evelyn complained to robin over the phone. she was referring to the seemingly random romantic gesture eddie had just laid on her that evening.
it had been driving her insane for the whole hour she had been home, cursing him and asking herself why he had to do such a thing! robin was the first person that popped into her mind that could help her. she could've gone to her grandmother, but she was sleeping and evelyn needed to talk to someone her own age.
"there was no flirting before that happened?" her light but raspy voice rang through the telephone.
the girl froze before answering and stared at her reflection in the mirror hanging on her closet door. her hair was a mess and so was she, still in the clothes she wore to hellfire a few hours ago.
"well, not really! just some light banter and maybe he was kind of sort of partial to me and bent the rules in our campaign, but it wasn't anything crazy!" she was talking almost too quickly for even robin to understand.
eve could almost hear robin roll her eyes, "eve, he's a nerd! that's basically him declaring his love for you and it's agonizing how oblivious you are."
she let out a groan and plopped on her bed, "so what do i do, oh wise one?"
"how i see it, you have two options: pretend it didn't happen, or do something about it. your pick." robin had shamelessly become pretty invested in evelyn's little love life. it gave her something else to think about besides steve harrington's annoying love triangle and the fact that she was single, so she hoped she'd pick the latter.
"i obviously have to do something about it! i've already lost four potential years and i don't want to lose more because i'm a scaredy cat."
"then get off the phone and go talk to him,"
"right now?" eve's voice squeaked. she wasn't prepared to see eddie right now let alone talk to him about that! her mind was playing tricks on her, what if he didn't like me like that and he was just playing with me to get my reaction?
but she knew that eddie was far too nice of a guy to do something like that. if anything, he'd think she was playing a joke on him!
her insecurities and general anxiety made for constant trouble in nearly everything she did. evelyn was stronger than that though, she just had to figure that out for herself.
in the end, eve decided she couldn't sleep without doing something—anything about this feeling she had in her gut. she couldn't wait til the morning to talk to him; this needed to happen now.
she called the caretaker so she wouldn't be leaving louellen unattended; she had no idea how long this would take and it was already 9 o'clock at night. she felt bad for such a late call, but grace didn't seem to mind; she was getting paid for it anyhow.
by the time grace arrived, evelyn was dressed and ready to go. the early october weather would be unforgiving, so she was bundled up, eager yet horrified to see the munson boy. she knew it would be detrimental to her thoughts if she didn't. she surely would be pacing back and forth, wondering what could've or should've been said.
so off to the woods she went, well, to forest hills trailer park where eddie lived with his uncle. it was just as scary though. the last time she visited the trailer park was too long ago and the nerves bubbled in her stomach the closer she got. eve wasn't sure if she would even remember which house it was until she got there and the memories flooded back to her like a hurricane.
truthfully, she had been repressing the memories because of the hurt it caused her and especially the pain it caused eddie. she never wanted to disappear like she did, but it didn't change anything. it happened and there was no way to change the past, evelyn knew that. all she could truly do was try her best to fix the present.
eddie's beat up van sat outside wayne's trailer and the lights were illuminating inside, mocking her. part of her wanting him to be out or at least asleep so she could just turn around and pretend like absolutely nothing happened.
evelyn creeped off of her bike, leaned it against the rusty railing and tiptoed her way up to his front door. her small, anxious hand barely made a sound on the white metal, so she knocked louder the second time.
"i'm coming, geez!" she heard eddie yell from inside, thinking that it's not too late to run. if she hid in the bushes, he would just think it was the neighborhood kids pulling a prank, but before her feet could move the door opened.
a surprised eddie was met with an equally surprised evelyn. maybe she didn't expect him to look so charming in his pajamas and wet hair. his ac/dc shirt and flannel pants fit him just right and it left her speechless.
"evie?" he rubbed his eyes, he probably had nodded off prior to her surprise visit.
"hey, eddie," her heart fluttered in her chest as she rocked on her heels.
"what's going on? not that i'm not happy to see you, just didn't expect you so late."
he was right, she should've called, but she didn't think to do so. her nerves had her going nuts, along with the help of her wonderfully spontaneous friend, robin, 'practically forcing her' to do this.
"i'm sorry, i'll go," but eddie wasn't having that, grabbing her wrist gently as his thumb grazed the top of her hand lovingly.
"don't go, you must've come here for something. it's at least a ten minute bike ride from your place." his eyes met hers and they both smiled like the silly teenagers they were. her heart fluttered again when she realized how much attention he truly paid to her.
it made her think maybe she wasn't all that crazy for falling for him so soon.
but then evelyn suddenly remembered that she came here to yell at him, not to play nice. "you know why i'm here."
this challenged eddie because he really didn't know in that moment. the kiss he laid on her hand was something that came natural to him, but it didn't take long for him to figure it out. the look eve had on her face was one of confusion and hopefulness, but the boy didn't see the latter.
"do you want to come in? you must be freezing." he said, trying to be as sweet as he could. the girl nodded and eddie stepped to the side with a bow, allowing her to bask in the warmth of his living room. the tv was buzzing with a horror movie and the yellow lights felt welcoming. she took a moment to look at all of the hats on his wall, thinking they must be his uncle wayne's ever growing collection.
it had been so long since she'd been here; so long since she'd last seen wayne too. she missed him dearly.
"go ahead and sit down, sweetheart. there's a blanket if you're cold." he motioned to the brown fuzzy blanket beside her. she thought about it, but didn't grab it.
it was sickening how nice he was to her, but she still melted at his words. how could anyone ever think he was bad?
while eddie went to the kitchen, eve sat carefully on the edge of the couch, not wanting to mess it up even though eddie had obviously been on it.
he came back with a cup of instant cocoa, handing it to the girl. her hands warmed up the second it came into contact.
"thank you," she laughed as he plopped onto the couch too, nearly making her spill. eddie sure had a knack for buttering someone up. it made it nearly impossible for anyone to really stay mad at him.
"are you going to tell me what's going on?" he nudged, leaning into her.
evelyn looked at him like he was stupid, she knew that he knew! no one just randomly kisses someone's hand, no matter how charismatic they think they are. it just didn't happen—especially not to her. this was the girl who had never even been in a real relationship at eighteen.
"you kissed my hand, you weirdo!" she half-laughed-half-scoffed. "i haven't been able to wrap my head around it."
eddie wasn't quite sure how to respond because he really didn't think when he did it. he saw her looking irresistible and felt the need to kiss her and he knew that he couldn't just plant one on her! so her hand had to do.
the metal head didn't consider himself to be smooth or charming or anything of the sorts, but eve definitely did. the fact that such a simple gesture drove her this amount of crazy just proved it!
eddie's face softened, immediately starting to apologize because he thought he had overstepped. "i'm sorry, i won't do it again."
his heart clenched thinking that she wouldn't want him to kiss or touch her. it's all he ever wanted to do when she was around. he just wanted to show her how much he cared about her and physical affection was something he lacked ever since his mom passed. he hasn't really cared for anything besides his club and his uncle wayne.
eve made him want to care again.
try to be normal. or at least partially normal and that was saying something for him. he didn't want to condone to the normalities of society, but he could see himself buying a house with this girl. maybe even having a couple kids, but that was crazy talk! it was way too soon to be thinking about those things and eddie knew that, but he couldn't help the feelings that he had.
yes, it could've been because he was instinctively attaching himself to evie because she was the light that had suddenly come back into his dark life, but who gave a shit?
eve wanted to tell him to hold onto her and never let go, but she barely knew him anymore and for all she knew, he had no desire to rekindle what they had.
she was being ridiculous though. the internal battle in both of their heads made the silence deafening.
she looked at him with a blush rising to her cheeks. am i really that into him already?
"i-it's not that i don't want you to," she closed her eyes tight and ran her fingers through her hair. the scared girl was racking her brain to muster up the courage to say what she did next, "it's that i do want you to!"
eddie's chocolate button eyes widened in disbelief. did he hear her correctly or was he imaging things for the sake of his sanity?
the lack of a response made eve panic, so she stood up and headed towards the door, running away from her problems like she always did.
"sweetheart, wait!" he yelled, making eve turn around hastily.
"what, eddie? i get it, i thought you were flirting with me and i was wrong. i may be desperate, but i can take a hint!" she was embarrassed and a little bit annoyed that she wasted her time and his and now, on top of it all, her friendship was ruined!
"i was... i was flirting with you. don't run away, please?" he carefully walked over to her and reached his hand out.
"come back and talk to me, or we don't have to talk at all. we can watch this lame horror movie i rented and just enjoy each other's company."
the girl's lips parted and eventually curved into a small smile. she was still very confused, but she didn't want to think on that in that moment. a cheesy scary film sounded perfect and watching movies with eddie was quickly becoming one of her favorite things to do.
she would worry about the details tomorrow.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
a/n:
things are picking up soon! they'll be worth the wait
❤️❤️❤️❤️
thank you for supporting me!
-cass