"Eddie," I sighed as he nipped at my neck. He continued to ignore me as he fixated on a spot in the crook of my neck, making my head spin. I laced my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer as he wrapped his arms around me tighter.
"God, you smell so good," he murmured into my neck. I grinned and pulled back looking down at him. He turned bright red and shook his head. "Sorry, that was so dorky, I shouldn't have—"
I cut him off by kissing him, melting into him as he ran his hands up my back and around the base of my neck. I smiled and pulled back, pressing my forehead to his. He started playing with my hair and I shivered involuntarily.
"You know, if you keep kissing me, I'm not going to be able to show you off," I teased. He grinned and shrugged.
"Trying to make up for all the kisses I've missed out on," he replied, kissing me quickly.
I pulled back and watched him, taking in every feature I had been so worried I would never been able to be this close to again. He turned red again and smiled.
"What?" he asked. I shrugged.
"You're so handsome," I replied. He turned crimson and buried his face in the crook of my neck, not wanting me to see how embarrassed he was. I grinned and kissed the side of his head, wrapping my arms around him tightly.
"You sure know how to make a guy feel special, princess," he said bashfully. I giggled and brushed his hair out of his face. I kissed him quickly.
"Are you ready for this?" I asked, smiling at him. His grin grew and he nodded, excited. I shifted off his lap and climbed out of his van. He clambered out after me, closing the door behind him. I held my hand out and he took it, his smile brighter than any I had seen on him before.
I felt the nerves in me grow but tried to brush it off. I looked up at him and smiled when I saw how nervous he was. I lifted our hands to my lips and kissed the back of his hand. He smiled at me and kissed the top of my head.
"I can't believe this is actually happening," he said quietly. I leaned into him.
"I'm so excited to parade my boyfriend around," I replied. He flushed, smiling widely, and shook his head. We got to the mall entrance, and he grabbed the door, opening it up for me. Out of habit, he dropped my hand, but I quickly took it back. He took a deep breath and nodded.
"Sorry – force of habit," he explained. I pulled him along and smiled brightly.
"We'll break that bad habit soon enough," I teased. He smiled and pulled me close to him, snaking an arm around my waist. I leaned into him, loving how much more I enjoyed being about to be out in public with him than sneaking around with him. He kissed my temple.
"So, how dressed up do we get for a dance?" he asked nervously. We continued to walk in step together towards the food court.
"Not as dressy as prom, but just as nice as you would for homecoming," I answered, looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow at me.
"Bold of you to assume I know the dress code for either of those events, princess," he quipped. I furrowed my brows.
"Have you never been to a school dance?" I asked. He flushed and I felt my heart soften. I wrapped an arm around his waist and smiled. "I'll tell you – even Old Margot has been to a school dance."
He laughed and kissed my forehead.
"I told you I was the dorkier one in this relationship," he replied.
I beamed up at him, absolutely giddy about being back in his arms and ribbing each other. I looked forward and felt a wave of nerves crash over me as I realized we were coming up on the food court. I knew that there would be hordes of people from school who would see us. I took a deep breath. Eddie squeezed my side, making me look up at him.
"We don't have to do this right now, Go," he said quietly. I furrowed my brows. He shrugged. "I don't want you to feel like you have to rush anything."
"Eddie, you've given me two months. I want to do this," I insisted. His eyes widened and he looked like a kid on Christmas.
"No more sneaking around?" he asked. I nodded and kissed him – our first kiss in a public place that wasn't one of our deemed "safe spots". He was bright red and giddy, stumbling over his words.
"No more sneaking around," I assured. I turned back to the direction of the food court and noticed a group of girls outside of a store who often attended the parties I went to. They weren't necessarily part of the popular group who I called my friends, but they were always on the periphery.
They were confused and shocked as they watched Eddie and I, whispering to one another. I smiled brightly at them as we walked past them, leaning further into Eddie. Some of them returned awkward smiles, but most were just stunned.
We paused when we got to the food court, glancing around at all the groups. Eddie kissed my temple and I looked up at him.
"I'm going to get us some pretzels," he said. He nodded towards all of the tables. "Go find us a spot, princess."
I smiled and kissed him before he dropped me and skulked towards the pretzel stand. I felt my butterflies soar in my chest as I watched him, and I floated to an empty booth. I slid in and looked around again and tried to find Eddie.
"Margot Patterson."
I turned and frowned when I saw Andy from the basketball team saunter over to me, grinning a shit-eating grin. He sat across from me.
"Hi, Andy," I said flatly. He leaned forward.
"Chrissy said you were going to ask someone to Sadie Hawkins at the pep rally," he said casually. I tried not to roll my eyes. Chrissy was incapable of keeping her mouth shut.
"I was," I replied. He smiled wider.
"Who's the lucky guy? Chrissy said it might be one of the guys on the team – I was hoping I might be fortunate enough to get asked," he attempted to flirt. I couldn't help but make a face.
"No, it's not anyone on the team," I answered, looking around and trying to find Eddie.
"Really?" Andy asked, confused. I looked back at him.
"Really," I answered. He furrowed his brows.
"Who would you even ask? You're supposed to ask someone from our group," Andy insisted. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.
"Hey," a voice said. I turned, beaming. Eddie was holding a giant pretzel and fountain drink in his hands, watching us nervously. I could tell he was panicked. I scooted down the booth and held my hand out, encouraging him to sit next to me. He plopped down and I pulled him close to me, turning to a stunned Andy.
"I'm taking Eddie," I answered, setting my hand on Eddie's thigh and leaning into him. Eddie waved awkwardly with the pretzel in his hand.
"Hey, man – good to see you again," Eddie said. Andy's jaw dropped and he was glancing between the two of us.
"You're taking him?" Andy asked, incredulous. I could feel Eddie shrink next to me. New Margot took over and I squeezed Eddie's thigh.
"I sure am – maybe we can get a big group to go together," I replied, forcing a smile. "But, if you wouldn't mind, Eddie and I are on a date, so we'd like to be left alone."
---
I watched as Margot stared Andy down, playing an unspoken game of chicken with him. This was a version of New Margot I had not seen before – confident and sure of herself, but protective as well. I couldn't help but feel a wave of pride that the protectiveness was over me.
"Does Jason know you're bringing him?" Andy asked, still not acknowledging my presence. Margot scoffed and leaned further into me.
"Bye, Andy – I hope some lucky girl asks you to the dance," she said coldly.
He watched us for a beat and finally stood. He finally walked away, and I tried to watch where he walked off to, nervous about what he was going to do next. Margot nudged me and pulled my attention back to her. She was smiling my favorite smile and immediately melted any anxiety away.
"What kind of pretzel did you get?" she asked, leaning farther into me. I grinned and set an arm around her shoulders before kissing her temple.
"Cinnamon-sugar for my cinnamon-sugar," I flirted. She belly-laughed and broke a piece of the pretzel off.
"You are such a dork," she teased as she took a bite. I grinned and nodded, agreeing with her. She leaned up and kissed me softly, taking my breath away. I pulled back and watched her, absolutely smitten with her.
This was real. We were out in public. Margot Patterson was no longer my secret girlfriend. She was parading me around, telling the popular kids about us, and kissing me in front of the world. And this wasn't New or Old Margot – this was just my Margot. The Margot that flushed at my compliments and loved puppets. The Margot that was effortless and let no one else get to her while overly protective of me.
And we were going to a dance.
Eddie "The Freak" Munson was going to a school dance with the coolest girl in Hawkins.
"So, not to beat a dead horse, but do I need to get a tux for the dance?" I asked nervously. She beamed at me and shook her head.
"Just a suit. And you'll need to wear a tie," she answered.
"A tie?" I asked, surprised by the formality. She nodded.
"So we can match," she replied. I felt my heart soften.
"We're going to match?" I asked, my voice hitching. She grinned wider and leaned into me.
"Absolutely. A knight always matches his princess," she said. I felt my chest ache at her words and kissed her, unbelieving how different life was from twenty-four hours ago. She set her head on my shoulder and sighed. "I missed you so much, Eddie."
I grinned – a very small, terrible part of me was secretly happy with how much she had missed me. It made me feel better about how absolutely heartbroken I had been over the last couple of weeks, knowing that I wasn't alone.
"I missed you, too," I said, kissing her forehead. "This is kind of fun, though."
She looked up and grinned at me.
"I know. I like it a lot more than sneaking around," she said. I smiled at her and placed a hand on the side of her face, stroking her cheek with my thumb. I leaned close to her face and looked around conspiratorially.
"I think everyone is staring at us, though," I whispered. Her eyes crinkled.
"I don't blame them – my boyfriend is pretty cute," she replied. I grinned and closed the distance between our lips, over the moon whenever she called me that. I took a bite of our pretzel and looked down at her. She cleared her throat. "So, I had a thought for this weekend."
"Oh, do you?" I asked. She smiled.
"Yes – so, maybe, um, if you'll, uh, have me, that maybe I, um, could stay the night?" she asked, her face flushing. I grinned and pretended to have to consider the suggestion.
"Hmm, interesting idea, princess," I replied.
"And then maybe if, um, you want to, Jason's having a party tomorrow, and, um, maybe we could go?" she asked. I smiled down at her, my chest swelling with pride.
"Together?" I asked. I knew the answer, but I still loved when she confirmed it. She grinned and leaned close again.
"Only if you want to," she said, her confidence back. I felt my face flush and pressed my forehead to hers.
"I would love to, princess," I replied.
She grinned and threw her arms around my neck, pulling me into a hug, I buried my face into her neck and took a deep breath in of her perfume that I was so worried I would never be able to smell again. I thought back to months ago, when I was finally brave and kissed her after her party. That Eddie would never have believed we would have made it here. She kissed the side of my face and kept her lips pressed to my ear.
"Let's go back to our spot – I've missed it," she whispered. I pulled back and smiled, nodding. I stood and took her hand to help her out of the booth. I looked around the food court, taking in the different stares. A lot of people were shocked by our pairing, but I noticed that a lot of people were watching me with envy. I felt my chest burn with pride.
As we were walking out of the food court, I draped myself over her shoulders, making her laugh as I peppered the sides of her face with kisses. I glanced around and noticed more envious stares.
I was a god amongst men.