Prom After Party for Two

Chrissy brought with her the smell of perfume undercut with alcohol. She had climbed silently into the van with Eddie's help, only nodding confirmation when he asked if she was okay. Now he drove aimlessly through Hawkins while she sat quietly in his passenger seat.

"I think I'm still a little drunk," she said softly about ten minutes into the drive. "I didn't eat today."

"Like, at all? Chrissy!" Eddie admonished, barely pausing at a stop sign. The streets of Hawkins were empty, anyway. It was late; past midnight.

"Please, I don't want to be lectured right now." He hadn't snapped at her, or hadn't thought he had, anyway. Still, he could hear the tears in her voice.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he backtracked immediately. "Okay? I didn't mean it to be lecturing. I…let's find you something to eat, okay? Soak up the alcohol and help you sober up."

"Okay," she agreed quietly. Chrissy was picking at something in her lap. The faint smell of roses filled the cab. Under the glow of a streetlight, Eddie just barely caught sight of the rose petals she was plucking off her corsage.

They ended up at a twenty-four-hour diner. If the waitress had any opinions on the discrepancy between their appearances—Eddie in his hastily thrown on, wrinkled t-shirt and ripped jeans, Chrissy in her done-up prom finery—she kept them to herself. Despite the night she had had, Eddie still thought Chrissy was beautiful, never mind the pallor of her cheeks and her smeared mascara.

"I looked better, earlier." She said, with a rueful smile, as if she could read his mind. "I'll show you the pictures after my dad gets the film developed."

"You're always the prettiest girl I know, Chrissy," he told her softly. With the rose picked apart, Chrissy was left with only the ribbon to worry at on her wrist. Her mood was obviously raw and fragile, but she still tried to smile at him. Both of them graciously ignored the way her chin wobbled with the motion.

Eddie drank coffee in anticipation of staying up most of the night while Chrissy ate French toast. Just as he had teased her, she drenched the toast in both powdered sugar and maple syrup before tucking in. He let her sit in silence as she ate, trying to give her as much space as possible to process her emotions. Well, as much space as could be given with the two of them sharing a booth.

"Were you asleep?"

"Huh?" Eddie had been paying more attention to his coffee and his thoughts than Chrissy.

"When I called," she clarified slowly. "Were you asleep?"

"Oh, no, you didn't wake me up."

"Liar," she smiled softly, reaching across the table to touch his cheek. "You still have sleep lines."

"Well." Eddie shrugged and took another sip of coffee, leaving it there. Chrissy pointed to her plate with her fork, raising her eyebrows, but Eddie shook his head at her offer. "I think you deserve to eat all of your favorite food tonight."

So, she ate on, letting the sugar on her tongue sweeten her sour night. Across from her, Eddie waited ever patiently. She knew he wouldn't pressure her to talk about the night she'd had, wouldn't even ask. Just like he hadn't probed for specifics when she told him about going to Ms. Kelly for counseling. Still…

"He wanted to take me to a hotel room," she said to her French toast.

"The absolute bastard." Chrissy almost laughed but shrugged instead.

"I'm sure it made sense to him, it being prom night and everything. It's, like, dumb tradition, you know? And Jason didn't know… I mean, I wasn't gonna do it tonight. Break up with him. I thought we'd go to someone's after party, drink some more, go home by curfew and I could tell him tomorrow. I just… I couldn't do it. Go to the hotel room. I couldn't lie to him anymore than I already had tonight."

There was silence from the other side of the table. She peeked up from beneath her lashes to find Eddie watching her with the oddest expression on his face. Tenderness, sadness, anger. All mixed together in such a way that had Chrissy's hand stilling on her fork. Eddie shook his head, sending his hair fluttering about his cheeks.

"I hope Jason Carver falls into a sinkhole and it takes him straight to hell."

"Me, too." Using her last bite of toast, Chrissy mopped up as much maple syrup as the bread would hold before eating it. "But the worst that came of it all was getting left alone in the parking lot, and I did that to myself. I got out on my own, its not like he kicked me out or anything."

"But he did throw a fit because you didn't want to sleep with him," Eddie pointed out. "Still a super dickish move."

"It was," Chrissy admitted and nodded toward his coffee mug. "Can I have a drink of that?"

The food and coffee did wonders for her. Color returned to Chrissy's cheeks, and not just the rosy hue of her blush. She was steadier on her feet, too, and her eyes were bright again. While they waited for the check, Chrissy pulled a compact mirror from her little purse and touched up her makeup. Still, despite the perk from eating and the makeup, she was obviously tired and worn from the events of the night.

She let him take her hand and lead back out into the night, helping her back into the van.

"What's your curfew tonight?"

"Three. It's usually one, but… Daddy said I should get to stay out longer, that senior prom is special." The last bit was said with an irony that made Eddie's anger toward Jason Carver flare anew.

"Then I'll have you home by three," he promised. It was forty-five after midnight when they left the diner; ten till one when he pulled into the driveway outside his trailer.

He brought Chrissy inside to his bedroom, motioning for her to sit atop his mattress. The night had so obviously exhausted her. Even as she protested the idea of a nap, she was interrupted by massive yawns. The lure of sleep won out in the end. Chrissy slipped of her heels and laid down on Eddie's bed.

"Will you lay down with me?" Her voice was small and quiet in the shadows of his bedroom. Eddie retrieved a blanket, an old quilt given to him by his grandma before she passed and laid it over Chrissy. Then he did as she asked, coming to rest on the bed behind her, carefully on top of the blanket. Carefully not touching her.

But Chrissy reached behind her, finding his arm first. Her hand spanned down it, leaving goosebumps in its wake. When she found his hand, she used it to pull him closer to her, so that his arm was around her. Eddie held his breath and closed his eyes, willing himself to stay calm. The last thing Chrissy needed that night was more inopportune male excitement.

She took his hand and cuddled it to her chest. He could feel both the silky satin of her dress and the soft warmth of her skin. And then he felt the press of her lips on the back of his hand, a silent, sincere show of gratitude before she fell asleep. Only then did he exhale, breath sinking into her curled hair. He could just see the green, digital glow of his alarm clock over Chrissy's shoulder. I should have set it, just in case.

Eddie was loathe to leave Chrissy even in sleep, so he kept his eyes on the alarm clock and fought off his own waves of sleepiness to make sure he kept his promise to her.

Oh, Chrissy. She was a small thing, curling easy into the hollow of his body wrapped around hers. And she smelled nice, and she was warm, and Eddie couldn't spend too much time thinking about any of those things. He focused instead on how much he would like to punch Jason Carver's teeth in, even if he had previously told Chrissy he wouldn't.

He was glad there hadn't been time between Jason's coming home and prom for him to ask Eddie for any weed. A mental note was made to ask TJ, his supplier, for something janky to have on hand just in case the occasion arose to give Jason a small bit of karma for tonight.

Chrissy sighed in her sleep, rolling to her other side, so that she was curled up against his chest. Eddie bit his lip and reminded himself of how, exactly, he had come to have Chrissy Cunningham in his bed. He kept his arm carefully around the middle of her back, paying attention to the ridge of her spine under his palm and not her breath washing over his neck.

At around 2:30 a.m., he woke her carefully, rubbing her back and murmuring to her until Chrissy joined the world of the waking once more. With sleep-hazy eyes, she watched his face while he reminded her that they had a curfew to meet. Her head bobbed in a nod and she slowly extricated herself from him, bending over the edge of the bed to find her shoes.

The night had turned chilly and dewy; dawn was only a few hours away. He lent her his leather jacket for the ride home. It just about swallowed her up, but she just pulled it close around her shoulders and tucked herself into the passenger seat of the van.

They didn't talk much on the ride home, but they didn't need to. The quiet was companionable and understanding, for all that it was fragile around them. He pulled up to her house by 2:40, cutting the headlights. They sat in that quiet for a few minutes longer, Eddie studying the dull silver glint of his rings and Chrissy staring at her house.

"I'll pick you up for school on Monday?"

"I'd like that." Chrissy finally turned toward him, gratitude shining from her blue eyes.

"Don't you dare thank me for tonight, Chris," he warned her, smiling despite himself. "Unless you're gonna thank me for not committing felonies tonight while you slept. I think I deserve a damn Nobel Peace Prize for that."

"Don't you dare go starting fights on my behalf," Chrissy countered, a tinge of her usual playfulness bleeding into her tone before she sobered again. They held each other's gaze for a few beats, regarding the other, and then Chrissy smiled. "I'm sure everyone's asleep, so you might as well walk me to the door."

"Well, yes ma'am." Eddie opened her door for her, holding his hand out for her as if she were descending an old timey carriage and not his van. Still smiling, Chrissy let him help her down and lead her up the walk to her front door. "Got you home by curfew and you have both of your shoes. Go get some more sleep, Cinderella. I'll be here bright and early Monday morning."

Chrissy dug in her clutch until she found her housekey, but rather than unlocking the door to let herself inside, she turned to Eddie and hugged him tightly for a moment. "Thank you."

"Stop it. Go to bed." But he didn't release her to go fulfill the request. A handful of minutes passed where Chrissy listened to the beating of Eddie's heart and he inhaled the Chrissy-perfume-hairspray smell of her hair. Eventually they parted and Chrissy slipped inside the house and Eddie made his way back to his van.

He sat, watching, until an upstairs window flickered to light. It wasn't until he was sure Chrissy was safe in her own bedroom that he drove away.

I know it got heavy last chapter, so enjoy this Hellcheer fluff to make up for it.