Even as Eddie pulled up to my house on Friday night there was still tension in the air. The voice in my head laughed and listed off the reasons why Eddie wouldn't want to talk to me again. Eddie swung the passenger door open and helped me out of the van, walking me to my door. Finally I cleared my throat, "Tonight was fun. I really enjoyed the music and the axe throwing", trying not to look at Eddie's face but catching a sparkle in his eyes when he responded, "yeah me too, I'm glad we did it." There was an awkward silence. I didn't know whether I should apologise for what happened. The voice in my head sniggered that Eddie was itching to get away from me because he wasn't looking at me and kept glancing around the street. The iron wall around my heart reinforced itself with wooden spikes and I turned to unlock the door. Eddie caught my elbow as I entered my house, "goodnight Wheeler," was all he said with a torn expression on his face as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. Watching him walk back to his van I felt a tear fighting its way to the surface.
Saturday.
I'd barely slept all night, tossing and turning, thinking about Eddie. Annie kept floating through my mind too; I knew she had a crush on Eddie and could imagine her flirting with him at work every day, I wouldn't blame Eddie for being attracted to her. Once I arrived at work though, I didn't have the time to think about Annie or Eddie. From the get go we were extremely busy and barely had time to eat lunch as customers constantly flooded through the doors.
"How was movie night?" I asked Robin during one of the few quiet moments, she pulled a face and sarcastically said "y'know I think Robocop may be my new favourite movie". Steve snorted and chimed in, "yeahhh it wasn't the best movie, definitely a couple hours of my life I'll never get back. The kids enjoyed it though - it was nice to see them all back together again." I nodded, slipping my hands into my back pockets. "How was your night?" Robin asked me, and I felt a knot in my stomach at the thought of trying to lie. Keep it simple. "Uneventful, running on barely any sleep now though." I yawned. "You guys got plans tonight?" Steve looked from me to Robin, I shook my head but Robin nodded enthusiastically. "Vicky and I are going out, date night." A huge smile spread across her face. Steve turned to me asking, "Dinner later?" A group of teens strode in and I tossed my head back to answer Steve as I walked towards them, "Sure - you gotta drive me home though." In Steve's car I sprayed myself with his Deodorant from the glove compartment, trying to alleviate the store smell that clung to me. "I don't think anyone in there is gonna be bothered how we smell." Steve commented as we walked into the diner, he had a point, it was full of smelly hormonal teenagers and lone middle aged men. We sat in a booth by the window and scanned the menus, "Burgers?" I cocked an eyebrow at Steve over my menu, "absolutely, dirty fries?" He asked me back, I nodded and gasped, "Oh my god yes".
As we waited for our food to arrive Steve and I were able to catch up. "I'm just stuck in a rut Rain. None of the girls I take out hold a candle to Nancy - but when I think about making a move with her there's a voice in my head that's like, nah she broke your heart once already." My heart ached for Steve; yeah he was a douche when he was with Nancy, but he cared about her and she definitely crossed the line with her behaviour. The jury was still out on whether what she did was classed as cheating - in my eyes it was but she didn't think so. "I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself - why do you need to be with someone?" I leaned my elbows on the table, linking my fingers together in front of my face, studying Steve across from me. "I don't need to be with anyone. I just - I dunno - Robin has Vicky, Nancy had Jonathan, Dustin has Suzie, Lucas and Max are..whatever they are now. Seems like everyone has someone. I want that too." Steve mumbled and dragged a hand through his tousled hair. "So you're bored of being in the singles club with me?" I lightly kicked his leg under the table and chuckled. Steve looked directly at me, "You consider yourself single?" His voice was low and his brow arched. At that moment our burgers, fries, and milkshakes arrived. I leaned back in my seat mystified by what Steve just said. "What do you mean?" I asked shaking my head. Steve threw a bunch of cheese and BBQ sauce loaded fries into his mouth, smacking his lips together before responding, "You and Eddie Munson are dating right?" I choked on my vanilla milkshake, coughing as I blurted, "what? No...what are you talking about?" Steve just carried on munching on his burger and fries. After a pause he looked at me from under his floppy hair, You both admitted to having wet dreams about eachother and you stayed at his place. Then you drop out of movie night - something you've never done before - the same night that I hear Dustin and the kids talking about Eddie skipping to 'go see a friend outta town'." I didn't know what to say, so I focused on shoving food down my throat instead to avoid talking. "C'mon Rain, everyone's gonna figure it out at some point if you both keep 'coincidentally' skipping on movie night." Steve slurped his shake. I'd finished my meal and shake, and looked directly at Steve whilst trying to sound unbothered, "we went on a date last night yeah. I screwed it up though."