March 23rd, 1986
Lorraine widened her eyes in a huff, feeling a soft scream leave her lips, throwing itself out of her dreams and into reality. Eddie was sitting in the tiny boat that was docked in the small shack, turning around frantically to see Lorraine gasp for breath, like she had been drowning. He scrambled out of the boat, getting closer to her, brushing the hair out of her face as he saw the look of terror in her eyes.
"Hey," He whispered, cooing his voice "You're okay, babe. You're okay."
She looked up at him, grabbing the hand that was pushing the hair out of her face, gripping it tightly. Lorraine shut her eyes quickly, opening them once more to look into his eyes.
"I thought you died." She said, plainly. Eddie furrowed his brows, sitting down next to her.
"I'm not dead, Lor." He said, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I'm okay."
Lorraine looked into his eyes, with fear and sadness. They had not slept well that night, too many images clouding their mind with what had happened and what could be. The bags under her eyes had flared up, a deep purple running across the small freckles under her eyelashes, the golden flares of her eyes even more fierce with the dim light of the morning coming into the shack.
Eddie bent his head towards her, pressing his lips against hers tightly. He didn't want to feel the fear that he had felt last night, he didn't want her to feel the same either. He wanted to keep the feeling of their lips brushing against each other, the warmth of her breath against his. That was the only thing he could think of.
She took her hands and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him into her, starving for the security that Eddie offered her. His lips parted, deepening the kiss as their tongues wrestled each other, trying to fight off the feeling of near death that both had felt the entire night.
As Eddie reached into her shirt, his rough hands gripping her like there was no tomorrow, they both heard the soft engine of a car outside. Both immediately stopped, holding their pants in their throats so as to make no noise. He shot up, rummaging through the littered trash around the shack for the broken bottle he had used the night before.
He leaned into the window, ducking so no one could see him if they had tried to look in. He saw no one, but shot his hand up to Lorraine to keep quiet.
Suddenly the door swung open, causing Lorraine to jump and Eddie to point the bottle towards those who just came in.
"Jesus Christ!" Eddie mumbled, angrily.
Dustin was smiling, chuckling almost, as he raised his hands showing off the grocery bags in his hand. Robin was behind him, and so was Steve, both waving awkwardly. They both sighed in relief, thinking that someone other than them had found their hideout.
"Delivery service!" He grinned.
Lorraine paced the shack as the others looked at Eddie stuffing his mouth with HoneyComb cereal and a Yohoo. It made her smile softly, as she bit at the skin of her thumb. At least he's hungry, and in a slightly better mood. Better than how Lorraine was handling the situation. She was a nervous wreck, she still couldn't think that all of this was something that was possible, that monsters were real, that so many years reading and writing fantasy books and stories had culminated to this moment. She was now in one.
"So we got, uh, good news and bad news." Dustin said, gingerly. "How do you prefer it?"
"Bad news first, always." Eddie said, his mouth full. He almost looked shocked as if it was a stupid question to ask. He took a chug of the Yohoo, looking at Dustin.
"We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." He said, straightforward. "Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."
Both Eddie and Lorraine's mood changed completely. They were after him, they really thought he did this. She could feel the angry, scared voice in her head shout, wanting to scream at everyone. She bit harder on her thumb, turning on her heel, almost pacing in circles at this point.
"Like 100% kind of convinced." Said Max, the redhead, or she thought, only having heard someone mention her name earlier.
"And the good news?" Eddie's voice dropped, hoping that something good was coming his way.
"Your name hasn't gone public yet." Robin said, rubbing her hands together as she leaned on a shelf. She looked at Eddie but quickly to Lorraine, who couldn't bear to look at anyone at this point. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you"
"Hunt the freak, right?" Lorraine spat, not looking at anyone. Everyone but Eddie seemed to bring their attention to her. Her eyes were focused on nothing, but the anger was growing deep inside her.
"Exactly." Robin said, staring at Lorraine.
"Shit." Eddie sighed, leaning back into the boat slightly.
"So, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin said optimistically.
"That's all Dustin? That's all?" Eddie said ironically, tilting his head towards him.
"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it."
"Listen Eddie, Lorraine." Robin pipped in quickly, seeing as the hope in both of their eyes was slowly going out. "I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. I mean, they have a.. A few times," She rambled on, Steve reassuring Eddie with a quick nod. "And.. and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really think we've got this."
"We usually rely on this girl who has super powers," Steve added, scratching his cheek casually. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so.."
"So we're technically in more of the-" Robin butted in, helping Steve to reassure the two.
"Kinda.." Steve rambled on, not knowing where to go with the sentence.
"Brainstorming phase." Max said, excitedly.
"Brainstorming!" Steve said, snapping his fingers and giving Eddie a smile.
"There.. There's nothing to worry about." Dustin said confidently, whilst Steve chuckled and smiled at Eddie, which didn't give him much security. Dustin and Steve looked at eachother, confirming that everything was under control, as Eddie gave them a look of are you fucking serious?
Suddenly, they all heard sirens blaring outside of the shack. Steve cursed under his breath, as Robin ordered Eddie to hide himself under the tarp of the boat. Lorraine quickly ran to the window, as the others joined her. They saw multiple ambulances drive past the house followed by many police cars. Lorraine was holding her breath until she saw them all drive by, the sirens fading away as they completely passed the hideout.
She exhaled strongly through the nose. "Okay. What do we need to kill this Vecna guy?"
"Well…" Dustin said, trailing on, standing up straighter. "We'll have to meet with Nancy, see what she's been up to."
"Yeah," Steve said, eagerly, almost jumping out of his shoes at the mention of Nancy. "She'll probably know exactly where to go next."
"Sounds like a plan," Lorraine sighed, not convinced. She started pacing again, but quickly felt someone grab her hands that were placed on her hips. Robin squeezed them, looking deep into her eyes.
"We've got this Lorraine," She said reassuringly. "We'll get him out of this mess. Don't worry."
She gave her hands a final squeeze before following the others out of the door, "We'll update you, okay?"
Lorraine nodded her head, feeling somewhat better that they were all trying to help Eddie out. She turned on her heel, seeing Eddie peak an eye out of the tarp. She couldn't help but laugh, giggling at the look on his face.
"It's fine, they're not coming here anytime soon." She smiled, putting a foot into the boat, carefully, as she sat. Eddie unwrapped the tarp and sat facing Lorraine, offering her some cereal and chocolate milk. She grabbed the bottle and chugged the rest of the drink down, Eddie laughing as she did.
"Hungry, Wallace?" He laughed, causing Lorraine to almost choke on the milk.
"Fuck you, Eddie." She grinned, wiping some of the chocolate milk from the corner of her mouth.
Eddie's eye twinkled, a grin forming on his face as he plopped another honeycomb into his mouth, chewing it slowly.
"Out of everything you could be thinking about," She laughed, tossing an edge of the tarp at him. He held his hand up in defense, laughing. He continued to laugh, lulling to a small giggle.
Lorraine had a smile sprawled across her face, but could see something in his eyes that made her heart beat faster. She tried to act as if she wasn't scared, or confused, although Eddie could notice. Her mind was racing with so many questions, so many images of horrible things that could happen to her, to Dustin, Steve. To Eddie.
"So," Eddie coughed a little, breaking the silence. "What did they tell you?"
Lorraine lifted a brow in confusion, setting her fingers in her lap as she played with her fingers. With everything going on, she had completely forgotten about the book deal, and how they loved it. She smiled softly, looking down at her hands.
"They loved it. They want three more chapters and another presentation." She softly said, grinning to herself. "It looks like, so far, they want to publish it."
Eddie smiled, genuinely, getting closer to Lorraine and taking his finger to her chin. He lifted her face up to look at her, his eyes darting from one eye to another. He gave her another smile, accompanied by a chuckle, as he rubbed her chin with his fingers.
"I'm proud of you." He whispered, as Lorraine laughed nervously, breaking away from his gaze. She nodded, in a way to thank him, but she didn't feel like celebrating anymore. Eddie sat back down in his seat, continuing to chow down on the cereal.
"That means," he continued, his voice muffled by the cereal. "We're gonna head out to Los Angeles. We'll take the van, or your car, I don't give shit."
"Why LA?" Lorraine chuckled, bringing her knees to her chest and placing her cheek on them.
"Well," He said, wiping his hands and placing them on his knees as he stood, shakingly placing his feet on the dock, pacing the floor with a star struck expression. "We need to go to The Sunset Strip." He threw up his hands, like he was placing a poster on the wall. "We'll go to Gazzarri's, or the Roxy Theater."
Lorraine watched him giggling, he seemed excited to go there, imagining them going to concerts and bar hopping. The thought of Eddie riding a motorcycle down the avenue as the sun went down, clutching her arms around him gave her a warm feeling inside. Eddie turned around, eagerly, reaching out a hand for Lorraine to hold. She accepted, as Eddie helped her up and out of the boat, placing her right in front of her, he seemed to be even more excited now.
"We'll watch all the movies there," He started off again, twirling on his foot as he let his arms loose. "We'll drink, party, go to concerts. You'll be busy signing books, of course, being a famous author and all." He smiled, shrugging. "That's okay though, I'll wait for you at the bar." He winked at her, as she took something from the shelves of the shack and flung at him playfully.
She was smiling, laughing at how Eddie was acting, it felt like nothing really was wrong and they were just hanging out. Albeit, in this dinghy shack that smelled like algae and stagnant water. The thought brought a frown to her face, as she furrowed her brows and grabbed her arm with her hand, clenching the denim that separated her from her own skin.
Eddie noticed, and sighed softly, pursing his lips as he came closer to her and wrapped his arms around Lorraine. He let her head fall into his chest, as he placed soft kisses in her hair, whispering words of reassurance.
"Whatever happens." He said, sternly, against her hair.
She looked up at Eddie once more, wrapping her hands around his neck, playing with the sweaty and dirty hair. She whispered to him "Whatever happens."