The drive to the hospital was awkward, a song (that Lily did not know) had played quietly from the speakers as they sat not talking. When they got to the hospital and parked the van, Eddie rushed to her side of the van before she could get the door open and proceeded to lift her out of the van. Arms wrapped around her back and under her knees again, she felt a flush spread throughout her body and hoped Eddie hadn't noticed how the red rushing onto her face. He carried her into the emergency room and sat her on a chair.

After checking her in and talking to a nurse, they sat in the sitting room and waited for Lily's name to be called. Lily with her head ducked and looking down at her twiddling thumbs sat not really knowing what else to do or say.

It was Eddie's voice that broke the silence.

"So…potentially broken ankle huh?" He asked amusement lacing his words. Lily turned her head to look at him, some of her hair blocking her view.

"The boys scared me with a dumb prank so I figured I would make them feel bad about it." She answered with a shrug looking back at her thumbs, Eddie shifted in his seat reaching out his hand towards the strands of hair that were blocking his view of Lily's face but pulled it back before he could touch them.

"Hmm… I can help you milk this revenge, really make them regret scaring you." He said and raised his eyebrow as she looked up at him.

"How would we do that?" She asked and Eddie couldn't help but grin at the surprise on her face, his heart beating just a little too fast in excitement before he replied.

"Well…"

...

It was around 1:30 p.m., about three hours later, when they showed up at the Henderson house, Lily's foot in a splint and Eddie carrying her on his back to the front door, both grinning and laughing before getting serious as Eddie knocked on the front door.

Claudia answered the door in her nightgown with rollers in her hair and despite being quite the sight for Eddie, she was too concerned for her daughter that she brushed the thought off and rushed the teens into the house.

"Oh! My little Lilypad you poor thing!" She cooed over her daughter as she had Eddie set Lily down on the couch, quick to grab an ottoman and pillow before putting Lily's foot to rest on it.

"Mom it's okay, it's not broken just has a small fracture." Lily comforted her mom, trying to avoid any more coddling.

"A FRACTURE?!" Her mom's voice raised as she worried over her daughter, smoothing Lily's hair down and grabbing more cushions, placing them all around Lily as if to protect her from a non-existent danger.

"I will make some chicken soup, that should help and… oh what else will help this?" Claudia rushed out before looking at Eddie who had settled a few cushions away from Lily on the couch. "Oh, Eddie sweetie! How could I thank you for helping us so late at night! You must be worn out from waiting at the hospital for so long. Why don't you rest here for the night since it is already so late?" She asked worried lines adorning her face in the dim lighting of the living room.

"Oh no-" "Mom he-" Eddie and Lily began at the same time, but Claudia had put up her hand interrupting their rejections.

"No, I will not hear any more about it. It is too dangerous at night for you to be driving back home. I must insist you stay the night, Eddie. You can sleep out here on the couch or you can sleep on the folding cot in Dustin's room." She said with a tone of finality.

"O-okay…" Eddie stuttered out, feeling awkward at the concern and kindness being shown to him. Claudia stood up from fussing over Lily with a nod and headed towards the kitchen to make soup.

"Sorry about my mom, she can be a little overbearing at times," Lily said, a small grimace on her face as she started to shift the cushions around her to get more comfortable on the couch. Eddie watched her face for a few moments, taking in the small changes in her facial expressions as she moved around, a smile crept its way onto his face before he replied.

"It's nice…definitely not used to parents treating me that way." His sentence caused Lily to snap her head up in confusion, her hands halted their movements.

"Oh? Why wouldn't they be nice?" She asked and Eddie thought that the way her eyebrows had creased together was cute as he leaned towards her, his smile morphing into a smirk.

"They believe that I…" He drug the words out in a quiet almost sinister tone and noticed he had her full attention, "will use their sweet little girls as virgin sacrifices." he finished with a loud cackle, making Lily jump a little in surprise. His smirk widened as Lily puffed her cheeks a little and blew a sigh out as she turned towards him, carefully pulling her legs up to her chest.

"I thought we agreed that Dustin would be better as the virgin sacrifice?" She asked with a serious tone and a swat at his shoulder. A guffaw left him before he started laughing causing Lily to giggle too.

"I guess we did agree on that, didn't we? Well, I guess maybe… just maybe those parents are also scared that I will corrupt their daughters." Eddie's eyes were dark as he spoke, leaning a little bit closer to her, her breath catching in her throat as her mind registered his words. He reached out and moved a piece of hair behind her ear, their hearts racing in tandem at their closeness. Their eyes locked in a heated gaze as they moved ever so slowly towards the other.

Eddie's hand slid from Lily's hair to her rest along her jaw, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her lips, licking his lips he looked back up into her eyes to see she was looking at his lips too. He moved closer to her, tilting his head and using his hand to pull her slightly closer, noticing that she had closed her eyes he followed suit, their lips just centimetres away from each other.

"Lilypad! Do you want noodles in your soup?" Claudia's shout from the kitchen had the two teens jumping apart from each other, faces heating up in embarrassment, their breathing quick as they turned away from the other.

"Uh s-sure mom!" Lily yelled back, trying to keep her voice steady. Her heart was beating rapidly as she fanned her face quickly, not daring to look back at Eddie, too embarrassed at the interruption to their almost…kiss?

OH MY GOD! Eddie wanted to kiss me? She thought as she turned her head slightly to peek at Eddie's back, her face felt even hotter now that the realization of what almost transpired crossed her mind. She had to admit she thought Eddie was attractive and that she was developing a small crush on him, she knew that already, but she never really thought he might actually feel the same. She thought the time in the library was a fluke because he never had said anything about it or made any other moves after that day, he would maintain a respectful distance across the table and the conversation didn't stray too far from small talk and the topics they were studying. A throat clearing snapped Lily out of her thoughts, and she looked up to see Eddie had turned back towards her, he was playing with his hair, his eye not meeting hers.

"I-uh-I didn't mean to take it that far." He said, voice wavering a little bit and Lily felt her heart sink.

It was a part of his joke.

Her cheeks burned in humiliation.

He wasn't actually trying to kiss her. Oh god, her thoughts turned sour. He doesn't actually like me, it was just part of his joke about corrupting daughters. She felt so stupid for getting giddy at the thought that he might like her.

How stupid could she be? She wasn't anything interesting to look at, why would he want to kiss her let alone like her? He probably only thought of her as Dustin's older sister that was a bit nerdy because she liked fantasy books.

Willing her voice to be steady she choked out, "it's okay…um I am going to see if Dustin is still awake" before standing up unsteadily, Eddie rushed to stand and help her, but she put up her hand.

"I can manage this, I mean I have to make him feel bad somehow, right?" She said before hobbling her way to Dustin's bedroom.

Any words that had come to mind had died on Eddie's lips and he smacked his forehead with a groan as he watched her limp away. Falling back onto the couch he opted to just sneak out and apologize to Mrs. Henderson the next time and make up some kind of excuse.

It had been a few minutes before he heard the youngest Henderson's voice drifting into the living room.

"Eddie's here? He didn't leave after dropping you back?" Dustin asked his sister as they walked into the living room.

"Hey Henderson, uh she needed help getting out of my truck…and your mom kind of insisted I stay the night." Eddie had answered Dustin's questions, rubbing the back of his head as he stood up again.

"You bet your bottom I did! Now everyone to the dining room, soup is done and Eddie? Can you be a dear and help Lily?" Claudia's voice rang through the room as she poked her head out of the kitchen.

Lily suppressed a groan.

"Mooom, I can walk." She said and limped towards the dining room, Dustin rushing to support her by wrapping her arm across his shoulders. Eddie stuffed his hands in his front pockets as he followed behind them.

The three of them sat down in the dining room with bowls of chicken noodle soup filled to their brims in front of them, Mrs. Henderson leaving to retire back to her room after bidding goodnight to the kids.

Dustin rattled off questions regarding Lily's injury while they ate and despite the awkwardness, Eddie and Lily worked together to try to make her fracture worse than it actually was. It wasn't long before the three teens retired to their respective beds, Eddie opted to sleep on the folding cot in Dustin's bedroom.

As Lily settled into her bed, she replayed the night's events back in her head. Getting scared, fracturing her ankle and almost kissing Eddie freaking Munson. She groaned again and rolled over and buried her head into her pillows.

In a room opposite from hers, Eddie was laying on a springy cot, long curly brown hair splayed out across his pillow as he looked up towards the popcorn ceiling of Dustin's room. His cheeks were warm as he remembered the way Lily's eyes had fluttered shut, her eyelashes dark and long and her lips parted ever so slightly as they inched towards each other. Pulling the pillow over his face he groaned at his idiocy for saying it was a joke.