Ellie woke up with Eddie snoring lightly next to her, his hair sprayed out on the white satin pillow cover. They had been living together for a few days and she couldn't remember a time she had been happier. She played with his hair last night until he had fallen asleep, he had been angry.
He was kicking a tree in the backyard when she got home. Screaming and cussing as the leaves fell to the ground.
"Son of a bitch!"
"Eds!" She ran up to him. He whipped around to her, she was in a pair of rubber boots and the dirtiest coveralls he had ever seen. He must have lost track of time.
His knuckles were red, the skin scraped off. She hugged him from behind, nuzzling his back.
"What's wrong?" She squeezed him so hard his ribs hurt.
"He was fucking in the shop today," he gritted out, "Mr. Ackley kicked him out but still." She nodded and rubbed his arm. "I had to hide in the back of the store. It was so fucking embarrassing!"
She blinked. "Why was it embarrassing?"
"I shouldn't have to hide from him, Ellie! I'm a grown man hiding from my deadbeat dad!"
"Mr. Ackley did it because he cares about you," she whispered. "No one thinks you can't handle it," she turned him around so he could look at her. "We're doing this because you shouldn't have to." He looked into her green eyes as she looked into his amber ones. "You're such a good person, Eds."
"You're just saying that." He huffed.
"Remember when I called you an angel?" She reached up to his cheek. "It wasn't just me being sexed out and saying shit, Eddie. I fucking meant it."
He bent down and kissed her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
They went inside and she turned on the bath, she removed each article of clothing off of him and herself. The warm water soothed the pain a little. Her hand reached into his hair as they sat together, knees to their chests. She told him everything he did that she loved about him. He looked like a child, small and helpless. His doe eyes pleading with her.
He had worth and she knew it, she would spend every night for the rest of their lives doing this to make him understand what she saw.
She thought about her time at the hospital and tried to share what she had learned. She stood up, got out of the tub and went behind him. He watched as she grabbed a cup and began wetting his mane. He lulled into her touch when she began to work her shampoo into his hair.
"What does it smell like Eddie?"
He sighed and sniffed the air, "it's citrusy and kinda vanilla-y." She could see him beginning to relax. He sniffed again. "It's very soft."
She scratched his scalp and asked him to describe that to her. Firm but relaxing he replied, his head leaning into her stomach. He looked up at her as she dipped down, filling the cup with water, and started rinsing out his hair. She placed a hand at his forehead to shield his eyes from the suds.
They rested in that moment. He wanted to have it etched in his mind so even on his worst days he could sit in this tub and let everything melt away.
They swapped and he washed her hair as she sat in his lap.
The rest of the night she spoke softly to him, helping him get dressed for bed. A pair of too old pajama pants and a tank top. She even began combing out his locks for him, she twisted some of them in her fingers to form little curls. He did the same for her, putting her hair in a braid and helping her shimmy into her baggy sleep shirt. She pulled the satin sheets over him and they laid there, shyly whispering to each other and giggling. He felt at peace.
Late August 1986, A month later
When Eddie got back to Ellie's from work he wasn't prepared for what stood at her front door. She was there in a white hazmat suit, the shield tipped on the top of her head and the hood off with a can of bear mace in her hand, his uncle was there when he normally would've been asleep. They were talking in hushed tones as he walked up to the stoop.
"Oh there he is," she said with a nervous smile."How was work?" Wayne turned to him.
He shrugged, "Fine, dead as always." His eyes darted from each of them, trying to read what was going on. "What-"
"Your girlfriend threatened your dad with mace," Wayne said abruptly. "He came to the trailer the other day and I told him you didn't wanna see 'em."
"I told him I was the only one that lived here and," she clenched her fist, "if he came back I was going to make him a skid mark on the goddamn grass. But-" she sighed and gestured vaguely to herself, "I don't think he took me seriously."
"Yeah, you're short. Crazy but short," Eddie laughed. Wayne placed a hand on her shoulder but pulled away when he remembered that she was doused in Raid.
"So- he's probably gonna be back when he realizes she was lying 'cause he came to the trailer right after and woke me up. Again." Wayne grumbled. "And then she called so your old man might be more determined than last time."
"Oh you mean when he tried to sell me for crack? Seemed real determined." Eddie sneered.
Ellie spent the next minute forcefully pulling her jaw off the floor. "Um, why was he in jail? I don't think either of you ever told me." She said, eyebrows furrowed and she was biting her lip. A nervous tick Eddie had realized.
"Well-" Eddie began, "he drove the getaway after one of his friends shot their dealer so-"
"He's a real winner," his uncle finished. "I don't know what kinda behavior he had but that fucker has never been good."
"Probably ratted out his friends," his nephew added, itching the side of his nose. Wayne nodded in agreement.
She took in a deep breath and sighed. "On that pleasant note, would you like to stay for dinner, Wayne? I've got pizza and wings comin' and I could give you a tour of the freakiest house in Hawkins." She joked.
They all walked in the house. Wayne looked around. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the floors had been swept and mopped. He could smell wood varnish. There were buckets of cleaner in every room and one of the light fixtures in the living room sat on the floor, wires poking out the top and a book from the library next to it.
Eddie didn't mind the mess, he had even helped over the past couple of days. The kitchen had been finished, he had given it the final paint job and she had hooked the stove back into the gas line.
Narrowly starting a fire that could've consumed the house and neighboring woods.
"Don't judge me too bad. This house had been empty and boarded up for the last twenty years," she joked, unzipping her suit.
Wayne walked up to the chandelier on the floor and looked at the mess.
"I'm not finished fixing that; you can just ignore-"
"Do you have a toolbox?" Wayne asked, looking around before finding it hidden under a tarp. "Eddie, help me with this while she gets cleaned up."
She grabbed a change of clothes from her room and went to the downstairs bathroom, the spider infested one had been fumigated and had been taped up to keep the chemicals inside. As she quietly walked down she heard the boys talking.
She watched for a moment as they worked there, fiddling with the wires and Wayne standing on the table beginning to connect them. They were both laughing and talking. It warmed her heart to see he had at least one person in this godforsaken town who treated him well. She slipped into the bathroom and the water drowned out the noises from the other room as she waited for it to run clear.
"I thought when I stopped dealing," Eddie was whispering. "People would stop trying to come after me. It's been almost three months! Carver nearly drove us off the road! He's been waiting for us to leave every Tuesday- nearly killed us!"
"Eddie," Wayne was twisting a grouping of wires together with a pair of pliers. "They've always been like this, in this town. Mr Ackley and I went through the same shit you and Eloise are going through. You'll get old, they'll get old-"
They continued going back and both as Eddie helped him with a ladder.
"I know," Eddie said," but she doesn't deserve that. She's just so metal and like batshit crazy-"
"Your mother was batshit crazy-"
"No, no, no, Ellie's a good batshit crazy like no one is ever stepping on her kinda crazy. Not like mom."
Wayne nodded. It had only been a few months since this girl had strolled into town and Eddie was wrapped around her finger. Young love, first loves- were just like that. He smiled at his nephew.
"She's a good one, letting you stay here this long. Been what a month now?" His uncle had questions for his nephew. How'd she gotten this house, was it really haunted, about her family-
Eddie answered the best he could without sharing too much information. Ellie could come out to Wayne when she was ready. He knew his uncle wouldn't care but it wasn't his place.
She walked out and Eddie had already grabbed the food from the delivery man. They all sat in a nook in the kitchen after the boys washed up, her and Eddie on one side and Wayne on the other. They ate with little small talk.
"So, Eddie's told me a little about you," he began, " can I ask what you said to that Carver kid?"
Her eyes widened and she looked up at Eddie for guidance. He choked on his pizza, trying not to laugh and nodded for her to go on.
She placed a wing on her plate and wiped off her hands, slowly building up the courage to speak.
This was it. Eddie's only family was going to hate her now. Great.
"Well, Mr. Munson- fuck, sorry, Wayne, I-" She paused again as he leaned over waiting. "He tried to hit me with his car and I said I performed-"
"-I told him I fucking eat out his mom!" She said covering her face with her hands, she could feel the sweat on her face.
He snorted and placed a hand over his chest as laughter erupted from someplace deep. It was infectious and warm. Eddie began laughing too, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"You two are two peas in a goddam pod!" He chuckled at them as he calmed down. "Eddie, do you remember that shit you said to your English teacher?"
Eddie's face flushed red. "I don't really think Ellie would-"
She scooted over to the corner closer to his uncle.
"Oh, I would." She said with her hands under her chin. They laughed at each other until Wayne had to leave for work, sharing stories. Most of it was shit Eddie had done and the one time his Uncle had pulled out 'Edward James Munson Jr' on him in a fit of rage. The two of them laughed and as embarrassed as Eddie was he was happy to see his gruff uncle laughing with his tiny smart-mouthed girlfriend. Ellie and Eddie walked him out and waved to him as he pulled out of their driveway. She locked the door and spun around to Eddie.
"I was really scared he wouldn't like me," she said, "but I think he's really cool."
He rolled his eyes. "That's cause you both just want to gang up on me," he grumbled as he went up the stairs and she heard him start playing guitar. An hour later she began to smell weed drifting through the house and heard Eddie cough.
She ran up the stairs, giggling. "Edward James Munson Jr.! You know my rules!" She tried to mimic Wayne's drawl but it didn't land. Eddie was already laughing at her before she reached the doorway of the bedroom, he knew what was coming. He was trying to hide the smell with an open window. His guitar was slung over his shoulder and a smile plastered across his face.
"In this house we share!" He passed it to her.
"Okay, Eloise Lillian Oliver," he chuckled, sticking his tongue out at her. They joked and smoked in their bed until they finally went to sleep, Eddie snuffing it in a nearby ashtray.