𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚍𝚘?

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢?

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢.

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘?

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚝, 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍.

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 '𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚗'𝚜.

𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚖 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢?

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚖 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚙𝚕𝚞𝚐?

𝙸𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚒𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎.

By Friday, she ran into Argyle who she learned often hid in the back of the school despite the cold weather, smoking and playing games with a handful of other stoners. It was odd that she would rather be seen talking to him than to Eddie. They both technically did drugs and yet Argyle and the people he associated himself with didn't sell nor consume anything more than a harmless green plant.

If people wanted to be close-minded and prejudiced against that, she knew better than to fall into that social trap. But cocaine, heroin, acid, and all the other things Lennon knew nothing about that Eddie hid in his room were bad. She couldn't defend that.

She thanked Argyle for selling her that guitar at a bargained price and going out of his way to accommodate her complicated situation. He didn't have to do that for her and she appreciated the kindness.

She went over the plan for the dropoff and went on her way.

By the time she reached the gym at the end of the day for the team practice, she couldn't avoid Billy and his mischievous but slightly curious stare when the practice was over and Coach needed to switch over to the boy's layouts.

She knew she didn't owe him anything after the drive he gave her home but it still felt unfinished. She didn't want to be seen as the girl that treads on people's toes to get what she wants or be the girl who hooks up with the hottest guys in the school and leaves them just as quickly as she cracks on. She wasn't that girl and she didn't want to be that girl either.

She did something stupid to contradict Steve's snitching and now she was paying for it. Billy was nice and he was hot, yes. But she wasn't what she wanted and she felt like she owed him everything she had because he was the reason she was able to see Eddie. She definitely owed him more than a quarter.

She took a deep breath and walked away, ignoring his reaching gaze and in a way, showing Tina that she wasn't interested in him in the same way that she was. Whether she believed her or not was a different story, but Lennon was going to do her best to make sure the girl didn't hate her for something she didn't mean to cause.

Lennon tried to act as nonchalant and calm as she could, thinking about Brontë and Max in how easily they managed to keep their cool. She found them both to be inspiring it seemed to work because the girls she was walking with didn't seem to catch onto her anxious and frightened stance.

Once outside, she called Brontë to let him know the practice was out and waited in the snow. She was pressed up against the side of the building to stay out of the freshly fallen snow but it didn't make much of a difference because she was still freezing. She had her hands shoved into her jacket pockets and had on a pair of leggings underneath her sweatpants and she was still cold.

She stared out at the nearly empty parking lot as she waited, sketching the image to memory since there was nothing else she could do in the meantime.

Her eyes were drawn to Eddie's van immediately and the crooked position of his parking as he lazily repeated the chore every day. An old Toyota truck was parked underneath a low-hanging branch and the bed was beginning to fill to the brim with snow. There was a silver car parked beside the truck and a red Ford parked near the curb on the opposite side of the property as Lennon.

The silver car in the corner lit up and the rear lights turned red. Lennon watched as it pulled out of the lot and disappeared around the bend towards the middle school only a mile down from Hawkins High.

Getting bored, she then started tracing the tracks left in the snow. The tire marks, the footprints, everything. Her eyes wandered away from the snowy asphalt and she started to look at the sidewalk, making mindful marks of the cracks and breaks in between until a pair of black and white converse appeared around the corner.

Her eyes immediately rushed up to meet the face they belonged to and caught herself stifling a smile when she found a pair of warm brown eyes to warm her from the cold.

"Never fail to find you here." Eddie was the first to speak up.

Lennon slowly shook her head in disbelief and felt her cheekbones lift with appreciation despite her attempt to kill the smile threatening to find its way to her lips.

"It shouldn't be hard to find something that isn't missing," she scoffed, turning away from the warming sight of him and smiling out at the snowy cascade in front of her.

"Hiding," he corrected her with a charming smile on his face as he settled in beside her, pressing his backside to the same wall she had hers against. "Avoiding," he added with a giggle, causing Lennon to turn to him and smile.

"I'm busy," she informed him playfully, smiling and feeling a wave of heat rush to her face.

"Busy staring out into space," he teased, rolling his eyes with a sharp smile spread across his face.

"Busy waiting for my brother to pick me up," she laughed. "Speaking of, if he sees you with me he's gonna raise Hell."

"Well," Eddie said as his face lit up. "I'll be right in my depth then, won't I?"

Lennon scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Seriously though," she turned back to him after hiding her smile. "What do you want?" she lazily lolled her head and lost herself in those eyes against the white background around them.

Those deep, dark, brown eyes of his were capable of consuming whatever fell upon them. The brown was stark against the blanket of snow behind them but it was far more than a color. They were attentive and dark far beyond any shade of black. They were captivating.

"Why do I need to want something?" Eddie asked.

"Why else would you be trying so hard?" she giggled.

"You did not just call me a try-hard," he quickly pulled himself from the wall and furrowed his brows with offense.

She laughed and sniffled from the cold. "Trying to get me into trouble," she exclaimed loudly as a way to reverse any offense she may have unintentionally caused.

"Do I bring trouble?" he spoke with a high-pitched voice and scrunched up his face in disbelief before breaking and joining Lennon in a laugh. "Mmhm," he continued to hum dissatisfied. "I don't know about that..." he drew out sarcastically.

"That's cute," she teased. "But seriously. What is it? You're getting ballsy and Brontë's gonna be here any minute..." she said uneasily as her eyes scanned the parking lot again.

"You wanna know what I want?" Eddie chortled, swinging his leg out and captivating her attention again for a split second.

She opened her mouth slightly with a loose smile hanging off her lips, getting caught by surprise when she found Eddie's eyes glowering and suddenly towering over her.

She didn't expect to find him standing so tall or so confidently when she looked back at him.

She could feel the mood shift and things between we're no longer light and teasing but dark and playful.

The shift was sudden and yet it was so subtle she didn't have time to think before Eddie had her pinned against the wall. All his weight fell onto one hand and an elbow as he trapped her.

The sudden breeze caused Lennon to suck in a sharp breath of icy air that stung when she held onto it. She could feel her bones physically lock either due to the cold or Eddie's intimate initiation, her muscles froze and tensed as she nervously watched his eyes get closer.

"I want you to stop hiding from me," he spoke lowly, tilting his head slightly as his breath wafted into Lennon's face when he spoke.

He was daunting and yet she wasn't afraid of what he might do to her. The sound of his voice and the clothes he wore were everything she needed to look for evil. She searched and scanned and analyzed every crevice of his face and found nothing to be scared of. She didn't see a mean man looking to serve some higher-power demon or take advantage of a girl who was secretly very insecure and unstable. She didn't see a drug dealer or a Satanic worshipper or even a dork.

She just saw Eddie.

She peered into those eyes and all she saw was Eddie.

There was no adjective to describe it. A mixture so potent she couldn't get enough of it.

Given she had a moment to think, unknowingly done deliberately to give her the opportunity to push him away or tell him to fuck off, she expected him to kiss her. She expected him to make a move just as ballsy as the one he made in physics with Gareth who seemed all too innocent and timorous when involved in Eddie's schemes.

However, he didn't. He let his eyes roam across the delicate frame of her face but he didn't move from his position. He kept his face level with hers, breathing the same air, keeping her between his arms, and forcing her to stop thinking about what other people will think and start focusing on what she wanted.

"If you didn't do things like this, I wouldn't have to hide," she utterly coltishly.

"If you didn't hide, I wouldn't be asked to do things like this," he lowered his voice even after Lennon thought it couldn't get any deeper.

"Ask?" she retorted. "I didn't ask you to do... whatever this is," she shook her head and giggled.

"You want to know what I want..." Eddie said in a daze. "You asked me what I wanted," he leaned in slightly.

Lennon's eyes were bound to cross at any moment. His nose was so close to hers and his cool breath kept teasing at her lips.

He had his grasp on her and if he squeezed any tighter she was going to break and there would be no more self-control. She was so close to surrendering. He just kept poking, he kept insisting, he kept creeping closer and Lennon couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you want?" Eddie whispered, flicking his eyes down from her evergreen eyes to her reddened and chewed lips.

She huffed out an obvious breath of amusement. It wasn't loud or sharp, it was something between a laugh and a sigh. She watched how his eyes fell past her eyes, allowing her to do the same and suddenly the world around them didn't exist. They were folded in an encasement of brown hair and radiant warmth. Hints of cold metal and woody scents filled the air between them but Lennon hardly noticed.

"I think you know," she warned him, not able to make the first move to preserve what little self-control she had left.

"You hide and run away from me but save me a kick in the balls when I find you... I'm getting mixed signals," he spoke softly.

"Do you want me to kick you in the balls?" she joked, causing Eddie to smile and the distance between them grew. "Because if you're into that, I can kick you in the balls if you want," she giggled before Eddie filled the space he recently created.

"Please don't," he whispered, wasting no time in kissing her whilst he could. He had practically placed all his weight on his elbow when he pressed his lips to hers and savored the oddly tangy taste she managed to carry with her.

His hand fell from the wall to cup the side of her cheek as she kissed him back. She had no room to pull away so she tilted her head up slightly to loosen Eddie's position over her.

Her hands found their way into his jackets, slithering up his sides and pressing into the dimples on his back. She angled him with the slightest of movements. Like wet clay, all it took was soft, gentle touches to mold him. He was far too engrossed in the taste of pomegranate lingering on her lips and the thin film of spit on her teeth to notice how easily she moved him.

Her back came off the wall and Eddie's other hand was on the back of her spine, reeling her closer. She smiled into the kiss and with the room she made, she slid her heel against the wall, keeping the balls of her feet stabilized on the ground, and leaned back.

"You need to go," she whispered into his mouth before he closed in on her and stole one last kiss. She hummed against his friction and knit her brows together with restraint, pushing him away and sucking on the remnants of him from her bottom lip. "Go; before someone sees you," she said in a hushed tone.

She fixed the bag hanging off her shoulder and moved toward the bench sitting near the red car parked on the other side of the school.

Eddie groaned and threw his head back like a child who was just told to make friends with the cousins they haven't seen in a while at a family reunion. He trudged and dragged his feet but there was a smile hidden underneath his sarcasm as he tried to follow Lennon.

"I'm serious!" she hissed between her teeth, turning back toward the bench and waving her hand as if to shoo him away.

"Will I see you at the Hideout?" Eddie tried to hide the amusement in his voice but failed miserably.

Lennon turned over her shoulder and shook her head. She had a wide grin spread across her face but her feet never stopped moving. "Goodbye, Eddie," she spoke forcibly, leaving him in a state of unknown.

Eddie stopped in his tracks and watched as Lennon walked across the lot before clearing herself a spot on the bench. He chuckled to himself, lowered his head to the ground in thought, then he was off. Slowly stalking toward his van, he saw a pair of headlights filter through the fluffy flakes of snow falling to the ground.

Just as he reached his van, Brontë rode up in front of Lennon, and then she was gone.

Just like that, she was swept away.

The easiness of it infuriated him but taking it for granted drove him mad.

Brontë and Steve and Billy could all just approach her and offer to drive her home and everything would be fine. It was so easy to be a part of her life and yet Eddie was left fighting for it.

The sight made him upset, watching as Brontë the Bitch drove off with Lennon the Endurer. It was almost as upsetting as it was to watch Hargrove the Hag do the very same except now he didn't feel anxious, he just felt cold and lonely not having her in his arms.