𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝘼 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆

18

𝑺𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑨𝒀
˚ · • . ° .

After communicating with Dustin through the walkie-talkie, Eddie and I finally understood how and why this song would save me from Vecna. Although I didn't believe much of it, it was still worth a shot, and it was truly the only hope we had.

We were also informed about what happened to Max, and how Running Up That Hill saved her, which made their theory more believable. The story was definitely hard to follow along, but I'm pretty sure I got the message. Eddie however, wouldn't stop asking questions and begged me to re-explain it.

It had been a couple hours since we talked with Dustin, and at this point all we were doing was sitting and waiting for me to start floating in thin air.

Its a depressing feeling, knowing that you have a ninety percent chance of dying a horrific death pretty soon, and there's no telling when.

"Does your mom have green eyes?" Eddie asks out of nowhere, interrupting my thoughts.

"What?" I'm baffled at his question.

"Your eyes, they're green." he says, scooting closer to inspect at my face. "Like really green."

"Oh um, no, hers aren't green." I say, looking down at my hands, unable to take the heavy eye contact. I feel his gaze follow mine, and he witnesses me playing with the cuticle part of my fingernails.

Why is he making me nervous all of the sudden?

"Your dad?" he's so close that I can smell his
scent on his clothes. It's that same spearmint smell that I woke up to this morning.

I look down at his lips as he speaks, watching him produce each word. "No, my dads are brown." I explain, chuckling a little at the thought.

Eddie nods, while looking up at my face.

"You know, you can give up on trying to distract me." I admit, revealing the fact that I know what he's trying to do.

"What gave me away?" he sarcastically asks, the corners of his lips tugging upwards.

I look up at his eyes, and when he does the same, a big grin spreads across my face.

He suddenly lays down, looking up at the sky. I don't know what else to do other than to copy his movements. I can feel our arms pressing against each other as I follow his gaze up and into the sky.

The clouds have a shade of pink painted on them, indicating that the sun is beginning to set, and soon enough it will be night time. A cool breeze washes over our bodies, sending shivers up my neck. I really hope this doesn't mean it's going to be cold tonight.

"Thank you for staying." Eddie's voice breaks through the crisp air.

Instead of replying, I simply turn to look at him, reading his face and realizing that he's being sincere.

"You had a chance to go home and act like nothing ever happened," he quietly explains, turning to meet my gaze, "but you stayed."

The corners of my lips pull up slightly, "Did I just witness Eddie Munson thanking me?"

His lips form a smile, and his arms reach out to shove me, but I stop him with my arms, pushing him away. Our laughter is the only noise heard in the room besides the shuffling of our bodies on the floor.

"Okay! Okay! You're welcome!" is all I manage to get out as I'm trying to block him from reaching me as I'm also laughing.

"All I'm saying is that since I've stayed with you these past few days, I may or may not have realized that you're not as bad as I hoped you would be." Eddie says, out of breath from laughing.

"As you hoped I would be?" I fake a gasp, acting offended, while also slightly laughing.

"Yeah, I was really hoping that I didn't waste all of these years hating somebody that wasn't worth hating." he explains, exaggerating with his hands as he speaks, "Like we could've been really good friends if we weren't rivals."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you did waste those years because I am not worth hating." I joke.

He nudges me with his elbow, silently telling me to knock it off. I just continue chuckling until I eventually calm down, the room now completely silent.

"I'll admit," I take a deep breath as I use a more serious tone, "you suck less than most people, Eddie Munson."

I look him in the eyes when I say this, and I swear I can see something light up in his pupils. I smile at my view, earning me a sarcastic wink back from him.

I'm about to shove him since he just winked at me, but there's suddenly a loud slam from outside of the boathouse.

Eddie and I both shoot up from our position on the wood floor, wondering who could be outside.

Eddie stands up and guards his hand out in front of me, gesturing for me to wait while he sees what's going on. He carefully walks over towards the window. While doing so he's making sure that he's not seen.

Of course I'm not going to listen to him, so I also gingerly stand up, creeping up behind the brunette.

I place my hands on his shoulders, making him jump a bit as he turns his head towards me and gives me a look. I mouth a 'Sorry'  before pointing back out the window, trying to guess who is here at this time of night.

I sit my chin on Eddie's shoulder, trying my best to match my view with his. I feel him tense up as I do this.

We both listen to the muffled voices as more car doors slam shut. Although, I cannot seem to recognize any of the voices, they're so quiet.

We hear the mysterious group knock on the house door multiple times, expecting someone to answer. When no one does, they walk into the house on their own. They must've broken down the door or something.

The faint bodies disappear into the house, and lights start to flicker on and off all around the house. They must be flipping light switches in there.

As multiple rooms light up around the house, the porch lights also flicker for a split second.

The lighting that was suddenly provided reveals the car sitting in the driveway, a car that I immediately recognize.

My breath hitches at the realization.

I can tell Eddie also notices the familiar car when all he says is, "Jason."

⋆·˚ ༘ *