"Concentrate on the target before you." Sam spoke to herself, looking straight at the bullseye. She had set up her target range in the open field next to her and Eddie's trailer. She set up her arrow and pulled back the string to her grandfather's bow. "Pull the string back and clear your mind of all distractions. When you feel you can make the shot, release."
She released the bow and the arrow sunk right into the bullseye. She set up her next shot and repeated with each arrow, either hitting dead center or a little off to the side. She knew it was time to move the target back further, but she figured she'd stroke her ego first before grabbing the arrows to reset, moving the target back in the process. Before she could reset to take another shot, an unfamiliar car pulled up.
Out of the car came the notorious Steve Harrington, who had always been a massive prick to her and a curly haired kid she'd never seen before and with them was a beat-up looking Eddie. Dropping her bow she ran across the field to them, forgetting to be angry at Steve, he probably completely forgot about her anyway.
"Oh my god, Eddie, what happened?" She said, taking in his bruised face and bloodied complexion.
"Jason Carver happened." Steve explained, "those idiots were about to finish him off when we arrived."
Sam pulled open her trailer door for the two boys to lead Eddie inside, now able to walk, but still looking beat to hell. He sat down at one of the chairs in the kitchenette as Sam rifled through her freezer, the power being magically turned on by a random power company a few hours ago and pulled out a package of freezer burnt frozen peas, pressing them to Eddie's black eye. He hissed a little at the coldness before taking hold of the bag.
"I would've stood a chance if they hadn't jumped me." Eddie explained as he spun the ring on his free hand between his fingers. "Pricks."
Sam headed down to the medicine cabinet in her shared bathroom, shaking out two Advil and coming out to press them into Eddie's palm, stilling his fidgeting, pouring him a glass of water from the sink. She slid the glass across the table to him as the two men just looked on in utter disbelief.
"Holy shit, they are practically husband and wife." Steve muttered to the smaller boy. "It's like we aren't even here."
"Totally." He agreed.
"Thanks." He said, tossing the pills back and shooting them down with the water, finishing the glass in practically one gulp. "Oh, by the way, we're not safe here. Not only did I get my shit kicked in by Jason Carver and His Goon Squad, but the police are convinced Hellfire Club is a satanic cult, so the school shut it down. They interrogated the shit out of me. I'm surprised I'm not in jail right now, but they tried like hell to get me to admit to…" Eddie went silent, tapping his hand on the wood of the table they were sitting at, he looked to be holding back so much emotion as his hand balled into a fist. "They think I killed Chrissy, Sam. They showed me pictures of her broken body and tried everything in their power to get me to confess."
"That's impossible, you don't even kill spiders." Sam said, beginning to pace back and forth, pushing back the thought in her head about possibly cursing her herself by accident. "And we weren't anywhere near her."
"I know." He said with a sigh. "But they kept insisting because we were the last ones to see her alive. Every time I stated I had an alibi that's been backed up by witnesses they came at me with another theory I had to disprove. It was nuts."
Sam took a washcloth off the sink and wet it before pulling away the ice pack off Eddie's eye, trying to wipe off the dried blood. Eddie hissed at her in pain at her ministrations and tried to pull away, but Sam held his head still, wiping the dried blood off of his now bruised black eye, swollen nose and cut lip.
"You think Jason is going to come here?" She asked, eyeing the hunting rifle in the corner of the living room for 'just in case' situations.
"Well, they certainly have an element of surprise." He said with a wince as she touched a sensitive area on his face with the cloth, sitting back in his chair. "That's definitely for sure."
"Stop moving, dummy." She complained, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck to get the last of the blood, pulling his hair and straddling his lap to get him to hold still.
They stopped and looked at each other for a half second, Sam could feel Eddie tensing as she practically sat in his lap. Her hand was wrapped around the back of Eddie's neck and tangled in his curly mop of long hair. He hummed a little at the sensation of her pulling at the strands as he willed himself not to get hard, but he was failing, his dick was twitching. He wanted nothing more than to reach up and kiss her, but he knew Harrington would probably say something. She then noticed their lips were inches apart and looked down to see Eddie's eyes fluttered closed slightly from the touch before she felt something else entirely growing in his lap. She dropped her washcloth and blushed deep red, getting off of Eddie. She turned to see Steve and the curly haired boy just gawking at them.
"Uh, sorry." Sam said with a blush. "I'm…"
"Sam Monty, I know, we graduated together." Harrington said.
"You still hang out with the assholes who threw my favorite tarot deck into Lovers Lake freshman year?" She asked, her tone was guarded.
Steve's face went pale. "I completely forgot about that, fuck, sorry. No, no I don't hang out with them anymore. I've somehow gotten sidelined with a bunch of children. This is Dustin Henderson, by the way."
"Hi." She said with a small wave.
"Hi." He waved back, a big grin on his face. "How long have you and Eddie been dating?"
"I… er… dating?" Sam didn't know how to answer the question, looking to Eddie who was blushing red. "We're not…."
"So how long have you known Eddie?" Steve asked, cutting her off, he had an amused look on his face as he crossed his arms. "If I remember correctly, you dated Fred Benson. A little bit of a contrast from Eddie over here."
Eddie was staring daggers into Steve's head, but Sam didn't notice.
"Fred broke up with me." Sam said, almost robotic. She hated being asked about Fred. "After the car accident, right before prom last year."
She remembered it like it was yesterday, all set to go to prom and Fred had canceled on her last minute and dumped her. Eddie found her down by the tree line to the forest shooting arrows into her dress, her makeup she spent a good hour perfecting was smeared down her face from crying, and she was wearing his favorite Metallica sweatshirt she borrowed from him months ago and never bothered to give back. He offered to take her out for milkshakes because fuck fucking Fred, he hated him. He brought along a flask of Kahlua and poured it into their shakes, and they had a party burning all her mementos that reminded her of Fred in the communal fire pit. Eddie seemed overjoyed to help her. She always wondered about that but chalked it up to Eddie being pissed off at Fred smashing her heart into tiny little pieces and ruining her prom because fuck fucking Fred.
"And I've known Eddie… forever." Sam said, looking over at him with a smile. "Since we were kids."
Eddie had come to live with his uncle shortly after his father had been incarcerated for drug trafficking and grand theft auto at the ripe age of seven. He had no other family to live with after his mother was a recovering drug addict living in a woman's home and both sets of his grandparents were dead. Wayne was his last stop before foster care, and he was determined to never let Eddie see that kind of life. He gave up his bedroom to him and treated him like a son he never had. Soon after he introduced him to his good friend Wanda's daughter, the little girl next door, Sam.
Sam and him two formed a quick bond with each other being one year apart. They acted out dramatic Star Wars lightsaber duels, poured over Lord Of The Rings books together and Eddie was the first person Sam told about her gift from her grandmother. Eddie never totally understood it, nor did she totally understand his D&D campaigns, but they grew up defending each other. Eddie would beat up the kids that would call her racial slurs for her native heritage and she would make voodoo dolls of the kids that wanted to suggest Eddie's real father was Charles Manson and he changed his last name upon arriving at Hawkins wanting to form another cult like his "dad". The two of them would stomp on them to the newest rock cassette Eddie would buy that week with his allowance.
She was snapped from her thoughts by a commotion outside, an unfamiliar station wagon drove past Eddie's trailer.
"What is Nancy doing here?" Steve said, as he looked out the window, opening up the door to the trailer to jog up to the car. "Nancy!"
She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see Eddie, concern written all over his face.
"We can't stay here; I can't have anything happen to you." He said in a low whisper. "They're out for blood."
"So, what's the plan?" She asked him.
"I have a favor to call in." Eddie said, heading for the trailer door. "Let's hope he says yes."