Kat abruptly put her car in park. All she wanted was the quiet solitude of her room. The only thing she wanted to do was surrender to a slumber where she didn't have to remember anything that happened in the past two days. Eddie was going to try and talk to her. So many different scenarios filled her head with any and all of his possible reactions. As much as she was running away from him, she longed to run to him too. The hangover she had wasn't the only thing splitting her head in two.
For once her aunt was actually home, which was to be expected as it was the one time Kat wished she wasn't. She went into the house, hoping Linda would be distracted enough to not notice she was home early. "Kat? Is that you?" She heard her call from the kitchen. So much for that.
"Hey, Aunt Linda." Kat hoped her voice just sounded more tired than anything.
"What are you doing home from school so early? Everything alright?" She asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I just have a killer headache. I made it through my English test and there wasn't anything important for the rest of the day, so I thought I'd head home early."
"I'm making bacon cheeseburgers. I'll save you one. It'll probably help when you wake up. Here, have some water though." She said as she poured then handed Kat a glass of water.
"Thanks," Kat said quietly, taking a big sip. She was surprised at how thirsty she was.
"Kat, before you go upstairs, and since you're here, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Yeah?"
"Sherri, you know from across the street? Well, she informed me that there's been a beat up van parking outside the house. Is that a friend of yours?"
Kat tensed up instantly. She already didn't like where this was going. "Yeah, it's my friend Eddie's. We meet here and take my car. Why? Is that a problem for Sherri?" Her tone became increasingly defensive.
"It's just... It's rare for cars like that to appear in this neighborhood. She was concerned."
Kat scoffed. "Oh, concerned? Concerned about what? Having a temporary eyesore across the street? Should just tell her to mind her own goddamn business."
"Kat! What is this about?"
"You know, Eddie gets enough shit from the people in this town. Now I have to hear about 'Sherri' being just as judgemental as everyone else, just because of his stupid van?" The heat started rising in Kat. Her anger simmered throughout her. She needed to get this under control.
"Wait, are you talking about the Munson boy?" Linda questioned cautiously.
"Yes? Don't even–"
"Kat. You can't be friends with him! He is not good company to keep. His family, they are definitely not good people. Can't say I'm surprised, you'd gravitate towards this town's main derelict. Please, Kat, you can't keep repeating the same patterns. I am just trying to look out for you and your own good!" Linda rushed everything she had to say, hoping to get it all out, hoping Kat would understand she was just concerned for her niece.
A quiet stillness befell her and she could only stare at her aunt in shock. She really thought her aunt was not just like everyone else in this stuck up, pretentious town. In reality, it didn't surprise her upon this realization. Linda was her mother's sister after all. Just because she couldn't keep up with the Los Angeles socialites, didn't mean she didn't harbor their prejudices. All the while, Kat was seething.
"Have you ever had a conversation with him?" Kat asked too calmly.
"Well no, but his family has a reputa–"
"Then shut. Your. Mouth. I'll have you know he has been the only person who has stopped at nothing to want to get to know me, for me. I haven't met anyone kinder or more understanding than him in my whole goddamn life. You have no idea of the shit he's been through. You don't know the first goddamn thing about him! Does my opinion mean nothing to you? Do you hold the town gossip that high?" Kat's voice crescendoed more so than Eddie's did in the lunchroom. The storm that had started inside her earlier was about to be unleashed as her anger came to a boil. Her fists were balled up by her sides. She could feel this current of electricity pulsing through her. Linda was absolutely shocked by this outburst.
"Do not ever speak to me that way again. Do you hear me? You are under my roof. It is because of my kindness that you are even here! You do this again–"
"You'll what? Ship off me somewhere else? Oh, because that has never happened before! Figures you'd be just like the rest of them! I ruffle a couple feathers and away I go! Make me someone else's problem, right?!" Kat yelled and then laughed maniacally. It felt like the electric current of fury was radiating off her. She was too enraged to notice that the lights were starting to flicker.
Linda started backing away from her. Her eyes darted around to all the lights as a look of absolute horror became painted across her face. "Oh no. It's– it's happening again," Linda said softly to herself. "Kat, I... I'm sorry. Look, why don't we finish this conversation later, alright? When we're both in a better frame of mind? I didn't mean– I didn't want to upset you. Please, know I would never send you away from here. I couldn't do that to you." She hoped speaking in a compassionate tone would be enough to at least bring Kat down a few levels.
Kat tightened her jaw. At some point, she had relaxed her hands during her last mini-rant, but she eyed a couple soda cans left on the counter. She looked at them, then at Linda, and back at the cans. She brought her hand into a fist again, the cans simultaneously collapsing in on themselves as she did so. This exerted enough energy from Kat that she simply shot Linda a look that could practically kill before she turned and dashed up the stairs to her room. Kat thought she had closed her door as she walked by it, but halfway into her room, she simply waved her hand behind her and it slammed shut.
Linda let out a heavy sigh once the door shut and the lights stopped flickering. She immediately went over to the phone. "Hank, it's– how bad are things going to get for Hawkins? ... Yes I know you told me not to worry and you had it under control there. ... Hank, listen! It's happening again! She...We got into an argument. Her power...It– It's only grown. She has no idea. ... The lights flickered. She looked at two soda cans and they crumpled! Two of them, Hank! At the same time! Not even 011 could do that. Well, that we know of. The energy was palpable. She had to do something to get it to stop. I told you she should have gone to Lenora! ... I can't for another two weeks. We need to keep the trip as scheduled. ... Hank, I have been working doubles. I have to put my time in, so they don't question it. You know this. ... Alright. ... Yes. Yes, I'll keep an eye on her. I'll let you know if anything else happens." She hung up the phone, casting a worried glance up the stairs.
Meanwhile, Kat immediately went to rapidly thumb through her records until she found the one that would channel her emotions the best. She had yet to stop seeing red. Everything was catching up with her. All the emotions she had repressed to make it through school flooding through all her senses. After putting her stereo at an almost obnoxious volume, she fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. The sounds of Slayer's album, Hell Awaits, blocked out the storm inside her enough to keep her at bay. Eventually, she drifted into a dreamless sleep, exhausted from all of today's events.
When she woke up, the house was silent. It was almost dark. She glanced over at her clock, seeing it was just about half past four. Luckily her headache had mostly subsided, but her stomach was growling.
Still completely dressed, she went downstairs to see if there was anything in the kitchen. Catching sight of the two soda cans she crushed without even touching then, she got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Guilt wrapped itself around her, not because of the way she had spoken to her aunt, but only because of how harshly she had said it. She wished she could have just told Linda how much she loved him, but how could she tell her that when she could barely even admit that to herself? Nevertheless, her point stood still, although she could no longer stand to be in that house. Her backpack had been dropped on the floor earlier, so she reached in, grabbing her wallet, then keys off the table in the foyer, before she headed out in search of dinner.
Winding up at a McDonald's, she scarfed down a Big Mac with extra pickles and extra Mac sauce, fries, and a Sprite. Afterwards, she drove around town. While she knew where she was, she felt completely lost. All she wanted to do was run to Eddie and tell him what had happened, but what if he wanted nothing to do with her? He easily could have been walking towards her to tell her to leave him alone, that she was too much, too forward, or that he already had enough to deal with what people said about him around town and that he couldn't take on the gossip about her too. Deep down, she knew that was not true. He did promise her he would never abandon her; however, that promise was made after a night of partying. The disbelief that someone would stick by their word when it came to her had clouded her judgement.
She looked around, taking in where exactly she was in Hawkins. Upon realizing she was less than ten minutes away from Family Video, she decided since she couldn't run to Eddie, confiding in Robin would work just as well. In the event she wasn't working, she hoped maybe Steve would hear her out, assuming Robin talked to him about everything. Then again, she vaguely knew that Eddie confided in Dustin, and Dustin confided in Steve, so chances were good that if she had to settle for him, he'd have an idea of what she needed to sort out.
Thankfully, at this point everyone had gotten their movies for the evening or had gotten them yesterday for Halloween as the store looked empty. She saw a kid with curls billowing out from under his hat emphatically talking to Steve and Robin. Recognizing Dustin immediately, she let out a surprising sigh of relief that all three of them were there.
"Steve, he was acting insane. He yelled at Nancy. Well, not at her, but he was like 'How 'bout a cover story?' and making this huge scene. I mean he acts up a lot, but never like that."
"Clearly your new best friend really likes–"
"Kat! Hey! Hi! I was so worried about you today. I wanted to check on you, but I couldn't find you anywhere, and then you weren't at lunch, and...How are you doing? Are you okay? Do you need to rent E.T.? I've noticed you do that a lot. I'm guessing it's a comfort movie. Not that I remember in a weird stalker way, just I notice repeats with a lot of customers." Robin interrupted Steve with her nervous rambling as she saw Kat had walked into the store. Dustin and Steve exchanged wide eyed looks at each other.
"Why didn't you tell me she was walking in!" Dustin whispered harshly at Steve who just waved his hands around in an exasperated expression.
"Because I was... ugh." Steve shook his head and dropped his hands to his sides, giving up trying to explain it to Dustin.
Kat laughed for the first time that day. "I know what you mean, Robin. No, not sure I'm gonna get a movie today. I'm, uh... Well, I needed to talk about some things that happened last night, because I'm just...I'm really confused and I don't know if I fucked everything up and..." Kat confessed, almost getting choked up from keeping everything to herself all day. Once she started she couldn't help everything from spilling out.
Robin could see the tears welling in her eyes and gave Steve a panicked look. "Oh, um, oh no. Crying. Kat's crying. I don't do well with heavy emotions. Um, yeah, just... We'll listen. We can talk about it, um, it'll...be...okay?" Robin and Steven both moved from behind the counter to attempt to somehow console her. Dustin, seeing as he was the closest to Kat, rushed over to give her a hug. This snapped her back to the present moment, keeping the tears at bay for now. "Aw, Kat, don't cry!" She smiled and returned the hug as she really needed some comfort.
After the hug, Steve said, with concern in his voice, "Alright, Kat, tell us what happened. Because from what I heard they were out for blood today."
"So, these girls were talking shit about me and Eddie outside of the bathroom. Maybe I had too tight of a grip on their shoulders and told them to keep our names out their mouths. Like, there are totally worse threats I could have made. So then, Eddie and I left. I was drunk, like really drunk."
"Yep, we saw that," Steve nodded.
"Right. Also, sorry Steve if I was mean to you defending Eddie."
"Wait, what did you say about Eddie?" Dustin questioned Steve.
"It doesn't matter. What else happened, Kat?"
"Ok, well, I might have been a little...touchy? Not in a gross way. Just...I cried a little. And sort of begged him not to leave me? I guess. I don't know. I have abandonment issues. Anyway, then those girls with their stupid boyfriends saw us and one fell into a bush. So like, that's all fine. Um, but, it was really hitting me when we got back to my house. I sort of... I kind of kissed him? But he broke away and I don't remember if he said we couldn't or shouldn't, because then I ralphed and he held my hair back and then I passed out. So, um, yeah. And I couldn't face him today, because what if he wants nothing to do with me anymore? And he's like my best friend here and I just– I don't want to be miserable anymore." Kat exhaled after getting all of that out in the open. She looked worriedly at the others, hoping that the fact she had used some kind of jedi-mind-power tricks to get the jocks to shut up for once wasn't that pertinent to the whole story.
"So, do you like him?" Steve asked her.
"What? I didn't say that. I–"
"Kat. You cried telling him not to leave you and then you kissed him when you were drunk. I know for a fact you, sober, would never do that, but clearly after some drinks your true feelings came out. And I told you, he is so into you." Robin reiterated to her.
"Well, does it even matter now?! He probably just wants to be friends and I made it weird."
"Do you wanna know what happened at lunch today, Kat? Do you wanna know what Eddie did?" Dustin asked, leaning back on the counter, putting his hands together.
"Oh no. What did he do?"
"First off, he was in rare form today. He was extra snappy. Almost thought he was gonna slap Jeff for saying...uh, assuming things about last night. I talked him down from that ledge, until some girls were saying something about you. At least, I think that's what set him off. He got up in front of the whole cafeteria, basically yelled, asking if anyone would like an interview to talk about what actually happened. That was when he brought up Nancy, asking about putting it in the school paper. Then he just stormed out of there. From the time I've known him, he would not do that for just anyone. So, you, Kat, mean a whole hell of a lot to him. I mean there's that and the fact he talks about you all the time. I can't even tell you how long he's been trying to figure you out."
Kat's eyes filled with adoration at Dustin's retelling of today's lunch. "So, it's okay if I remember everything from last night? He won't... You guys don't think he'll push me away?"
"You mean, like you're doing to him? No, he won't. There is no way. Kat, seriously. Steve and I have barely spoken to the guy. We know he feels something for you." Robin reasoned.
"Seriously. Seeing you two at that party, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you two were an item." Steve revealed.
"Please, please trust me on this Kat. You guys are fine. If anything, he's probably pacing around right now worrying about you! Just go see him." Dustin encouraged her.
Kat looked at her new group of friends. She threw her arms out and enveloped them all into a group hug. She was becoming a lot more affectionate lately. "Thank you, guys. So much. I really needed this." She said as she hugged them tighter.
"Well, what are you waiting for! Go!" Steve waved his hand towards the door with a smile on his face. Even if he wasn't the greatest at love, he sure was a sucker for it when he saw it.
Kat waved goodbye and turned to hurry back to her car.
"I expect a full report on Monday! Be safe! Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Robin called after her.
Feeling much better, she reached into her box of tapes, shuffling them around and blindly picked one out. She tried to open it without looking and let fate decide her music. It started playing right in the middle of "Die Hard the Hunter" by Def Leppard. Kat, content with her mystery selection, hummed along as she made her way to Eddie's trailer. Before she knew it, the tape flipped. She froze when she heard the opening chords to track six off Pyromania.
"Foolin'," was one of her favorite songs, possibly of all time. "Oh, I just gotta know, If you're really there and you really care, 'Cause baby I'm not, F-f-f-foolin'." It touched on her past abandonment, the uncertainty of her future, and the struggle she had within – was she fooling herself into thinking Eddie cared? Or was she fooling herself thinking that he didn't? Hearing the song's outro, she finally had a realization that hit her like a Mack truck to the heart.
She needed to stop fooling herself that she wasn't irrevocably in love with Eddie Munson.