Hello again! I gotta say, as a Texan, and having to look up driving distances in a different part of the country, made me real fuckin' jealous. If I drove five hours in any direction, I'd still be in Texas. Also, this chapter deals a bit in grief.
A very large thank you for the continued support! I appreciate every little interaction with this story.
Casey slept for just under two hours, and she woke up to Eddie dozing. She was used to waking up while Eddie was still asleep, but she almost never woke up still wrapped up in his arms. It was a short nap, and there hadn't been much time to move, and Eddie's grip had been firm holding her in place. She carefully moved against him in an effort to sit up, but he was only half asleep, and his grip pulled her back down.
"Nuh-uh," he whined, opening his eyes a fraction to glare at her, hoping to guilt her back into cuddling.
"I gotta pee," she whispered urgently, hoping he'd deem that a good enough excuse to let go.
"Fine, but make it quick," he relented, his voice a tired rasp. He pulled his arms away and watched as Casey rolled out of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom, her legs not quite as awake as her bladder.
Casey did make it quick, and stopped only briefly on her way back to the bed to turn on the desk lamp. The sun was starting to set and the room was getting darker. Soon it would be completely dark, the only light coming from the glow of the TV that was still on.
"Hurry up," Eddie whined again, now sitting up against the headboard, reaching his arms out, opening and closing his hands like a toddler wanting something just out of reach. Casey chuckled and crawled back into the bed next to him. As soon as she was close enough, he grabbed her around the middle, hauling her into his lap. His hands slid down to her thighs to maneuver her into straddling his lap.
"I just slept on top of you! You still want me close?" She teased, laughing softly at his pleased grin. She brushed his hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ears. His calloused fingers trailed up and down the skin of her thighs.
"Baby, I always want you on top of me," he said, as if that was obvious, and he didn't even mean it sexually. She playfully rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but be endeared by him. She reached back up to cup his cheek in her hand, and sighed when he leant into it, planting a sweet kiss to the heel of her palm.
"Are you hungry yet?" She asked.
"Getting there," he answered, eyes fluttering shut. It just felt so good to have her there, in his lap, her holding his face so tenderly. Eddie's chest felt tight and he had to take a deep, shuddering breath. Yeah, he knew Wayne loved him, and his friends, too. But this was different. She had yet to say so, but Eddie felt so fucking loved, more than he ever had before in his entire life. And if she never said it, if she didn't feel real love for him, whatever this was, was good enough; he couldn't imagine it being any better.
Eddie sat up from against the headboard, and brought his knees up, forcing Casey against his chest, and he hugged her tight. She laughed, but wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed a lingering kiss into his hairline.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Eddie asked.
"Of course I do. I threatened to put gum in your hair," Casey giggled at the memory.
"And you lied about your name. Fuckin' Ashley," Eddie scoffed at the memory, pretending to be offended that she could ever do such a thing.
"Lots of creepy dudes hit on me all the time," Casey laughed, defending the choice.
"And I was a creepy dude?" Eddie questioned, leaning back to look at her expectantly.
"No, you were sweet," she conceded, gathering his hair up at the nape of his neck.
"What did you think when you first saw me?" Eddie asked. Casey wasn't sure why he was being nostalgic all of a sudden, but she indulged him.
"That you were way into a performance for only six dudes. And you had pretty hair," Casey tried to think back to that night in early June. Honestly, she didn't think much of him when she first saw him; she seldom paid much attention to the performers. But when he first spoke to her, she paid attention.
"You didn't think I was mean and scary looking?" he asked, dropping his voice to sound intimidating, but it only made Casey laugh.
"Hardly," Casey answered, no hesitation. She'd never thought that about him, and wondered if that was something he'd heard before. So he was a little alternative, into hard rock and metal, liked an accessory or ten, had some creepy tattoos. Casey knew plenty of people like him, or that at least dressed like him, though they were a rare breed in Hawkins. She didn't actually know anyone that was like him, personality-wise. He was one of a kind in that regard.
"I thought you were funny," she continued. "And cute. You have a cute butt." She was grinning at him, delighted to tell him what she first noticed about him. It was clear that Eddie was feeling off, and she was eager to give him the validation and reassurance that it seemed like he was craving.
"You have a cute butt, too," Eddie replied, giving her own an appreciative pat. "I always thought you were pretty. Like, super gorgeous. My dad had these old posters in the garage when I was little, and I always thought they were like, the pinnacle of beautiful women, and you reminded me of one of them." Eddie looked down while he spoke, staring down at her arm against his. She had been a lot more tan over the summer, and it had faded since then, but her skin was still several shades darker than his own pale skin. Her skin more olive, where his might as well be porcelain. He couldn't help but remember the first time he saw her long, tan legs in those cut-off shorts, the same legs that were currently pressed against his hips.
"They weren't dirty, were they?" Casey asked wryly, a smirk on her lips at the anecdote.
"All the best parts were covered," Eddie assured. They were as chaste as beer and cigarette ads from the early 70's could be.
Casey eventually coaxed Eddie out of bed and back into his pants to walk a block down the street to pick up a pizza; half meat lovers, half vegetarian. Eddie's indignant cry when she sandwiched a slice of the meat lovers overtop a slice of vegetarian had her laughing so hard she dropped the whole thing on the white duvet of the hotel bed.
"First you create an abomination, then you get it all over the bed?!" Eddie cried, helping her pick up the stray mushroom and sausage bits. She had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard that she was hardly any help, but she scrubbed at the red stain with a dampened washcloth from the bathroom. It didn't help much to remove the stain, and only created a big wet patch.
"They won't charge us for this, will they?" Eddie asked her, and she laughed again. He really had no clue; this was the nicest place he'd ever stayed, by far. He didn't know the ways of hotel fees and billing. But he knew enough to assume that property damage usually warranted a fee.
"I doubt it. All the bedding's white so they can just bleach it after gross slobs like us leave," Casey answered. It made sense to Eddie, and also reminded him that they were sleeping in a bed that had seen countless other people, and he could only imagine all the gross things the bed had seen in its lifetime.
"Speak for yourself. I'm not the one that dropped two slices at once." Eddie was just glad he hadn't been the one to drop anything, because he was prone to mystery stains. The carpet in his bedroom, his sheets, and mattress, were all evidence that he was indeed, a slob. He'd gotten pretty good at getting stains out of his clothing, but everything else retained their battle scars.
As if whoever was in charge of programming had heard them, Ocean's Eleven was playing. Casey wanted to take a shower after they ate, but Eddie was being so damn cuddly, dragging her back on top of him once they were both done eating, that she couldn't bring herself to pull away. She planned to indulge him through the end of the movie, content to rest her head on his chest while he got his fingers tangled in her long hair. He'd never put his rings back on, and Casey liked the sight of his naked fingers almost as much as she liked them accessorized. She played with his fingers until she accidentally popped a knuckle and he'd pulled his hand away with an annoyed grunt that just made her giggle quietly, trying to muffle the sound in his shirt.
"Menace," he muttered into the hair at the top of her head, followed by a sweet kiss in the same place.
Ocean's Eleven turned into To Catch a Thief, and Casey was feeling sleepy again. She wanted to stay awake, though. It was barely after 9, and she wanted to enjoy being curled up into Eddie as long as she could.
"Grace Kelly was so pretty," Casey sighed, hopeful that starting a conversation would help keep her awake.
"Totally born to be a princess," Eddie agreed, though she wasn't really his type. She was way to elegant, no edge.
"Do you remember Princess Diana's wedding?" Casey asked, and Eddie hummed in response, prompting her to continue. "My grandma made me get up at 6 AM to watch it. She was obsessed with her. And that fucking dress. She swore that she'd make me one just like it when I got married."
Her tone was thoughtful, lost in another time. The memory made Casey smile, but she felt a little sad. She tried not to think too much on memories like that, where she and her grandmother made plans for the future. She tried not to think about how, when she eventually got married, maybe to Eddie, maybe to someone else, that she'd have nobody there. Sure, she'd have all of her friends. She had great friends, and she felt like an extension of some of their families. A lot of her friends' moms helped her clean the house and dropped off dinners at the end of her grandmother's life, and after. They helped with the funeral and everything that went with it. But none of them knew about the promise of a handmade recreation of a royal wedding gown. None of them would be sitting in the row reserved for the bride's family. Nobody would be sitting in that row. Nobody would walk her down the aisle. She'd have more friends than she could make bridesmaids, but that wasn't really the same, was it? She tightened her grip around Eddie.
Eddie remembered seeing pictures of the monstrous gown slapped on every magazine cover for a month. He didn't give two shits about the royal family of some other country so far away, but that wedding had been inescapable. He could hardly picture Casey in a dress like that. Huge sleeves, an even bigger train. And it wasn't even the fact that it was a wedding dress that was hard for him to picture. It wasn't her, the style was all wrong. He figured she'd like something simpler, no lace and frills, nothing heavy and bulky. He was too busy thinking about how funny Casey would look in a dress like that to notice her misty eyes. That she was squeezing her eyes shut to not cry. It was easy to miss; he could only see the top of her head, the slope of her nose and the hills of her cheeks, her eyelashes fanning out over them.
But he noticed the shaky breath she sucked in, how she tried to take a deep breath but cut it short to choke back a sob. It jolted Eddie. He removed his hand from her hair to smooth down her arm, the hand he'd taken away now seeking her own back out to hold, to stroke his thumb along the back of her hand in what he hoped was reassuring pressure. Casey tilted her head to press her face into Eddie's chest, eyes squeezed shut, taking calculated breaths to keep herself together, to have something to focus on, besides the sudden overwhelming feeling of being completely alone.
"Hey, it's ok," Eddie murmured, trying to reassure her. He could easily guess why she'd gotten upset. She hardly ever spoke about her grandmother without getting a little emotional, so she avoided the topic as much as possible. The death was still recent, and Casey missed her, he could tell even though she'd never said as much. He knew she didn't have aunts or uncles, no cousins. She mentioned a great aunt once, but he had no idea if she was alive or close by, or even liked. Casey was alone in her grief, and Eddie wondered how much of that she was hiding. How much of that she was hiding from him, if he'd been oblivious to it or it was intentional.
"I'm ok," she said, once she was able to take a proper deep breath. She'd willed the urge to cry away, but now she was embarrassed. She hated crying, hated doing it in front of people. Usually she could manage it better, keep it locked up, but it had snuck up on her this time. She tilted her head up to look at Eddie, to show him that she was fine. She didn't want to freak him out, to bother him with her sudden grief. It wasn't his cross to bear.
"You don't have to be," he said carefully. "I can cry with you if you want," his offer came with a small smile, a bit teasing but mostly genuine.
"She would have fucking loved you," Casey tried to laugh, but it came out wet and garbled, but she was smiling, and that was a win.
"I'm very lovable," he said, smile widening. The idea of meeting his girl's parents, whenever he eventually had a girl, was something that always caused Eddie undue anxiety, even when he had no prospects and that was a very irrational and unrealistic concern. He knew he wasn't the kind of guy most people hoped their daughter would bring home. But now he felt bad that it wouldn't happen with Casey. He at least had Wayne, who was kind of gruff but not unkind, and who liked Casey right away, but she gave a great first impression. Eddie didn't know what he'd do without Wayne, and then he understood that her grandmother had been Casey's version of Uncle Wayne.
"She'd try to hold you down for a haircut against your will," she added. Eddie laughed, but cut himself short, wondering if now was a good time to laugh or not, but she was still smiling at him. They'd seen so many parts of each other by now, but it was still new to be vulnerable about things like this. It was easy to not ever bring up her grandmother around Eddie because he never knew her, he never knew what Casey was like when she was alive. It was easier to not talk about it, but it just made it harder to do it in the long run. Eddie didn't know how hard it was for Casey to adjust to coming home to a dark, empty house with just the cat that hated her because she wasn't his person. That she got rid of her grandmother's bedroom because it was either that or stand in the doorway every morning and cry. That she was fucking dreading the holidays for the first time in her life.
That was all Casey's fault, anyway. She'd never shared those things with him, she never even shared them with her friends that knew her for years. It was easier to just keep it to herself, to be sad at home and have fun with her friends later. She couldn't bear to mix the two, and just be sad everywhere, all the time. She needed the distraction. But if Casey was going to keep being with Eddie, keep getting closer and closer, so much so that she could hardly imagine a day without him in it already, she'd have to share at least a little bit of the pain. She wanted it all with Eddie, a whole, real relationship that lasted and lasted. She wanted to create history with him, build a rock-solid foundation that would last forever. Like the Great fucking Pyramids.
The second revelation of the night for Casey, was that Eddie was the first person to ever make her feel that way. And it wasn't even scary. It was comforting. She trusted him almost implicitly. The almost would go away with a bit of time.
"What did you call her? Just grandma?" Eddie asked, breaking the silence that had settled. He wanted to know more, he wanted Casey to share. Some kids called their grandparents silly names. He'd barely known his own grandparents, they were out of his life before he'd been given the opportunity to come up with his own version of Nana or Papa. He wanted to hear about someone else's happy family memories.
"Yeah, not very creative," Casey huffed out a laugh, though. She was an older kid by the time she started living with her grandparents, started a real relationship with them, and had grown out of the cutesy names and speech impediments that usually inspired them. "But my grandpa was Grampy." Eddie mirrored her laugh at the name. It was cute.
"Say the word, and we'll have a good cry about it. Whenever you want, I'm there," Eddie had to try again. He had to try and let Casey know that he didn't care if she got sad, that he was there for her. He wanted to be there for her. Casey was tough, though. Eddie didn't know you could make yourself stop crying the way she had. Just willed it away as if it was nothing.
"You're sweet," was all Casey said. Of course she would resist it.
"I'm serious, we'll listen to Jolene, I'll rent Old Yeller, I'll buy the fancy extra soft tissues, and we'll just go to town," Eddie was insistent. He didn't think she'd actually let him do any of that, but she was giggling now. It was a ridiculous thing to suggest, basically a date where the goal was to make her cry.
"We can chop onions," Casey added, and Eddie was laughing with her. He hoped she understood that she didn't have to force herself to not cry, not with him. He hoped that next time she'd just let it out and he could wipe her tears for her, and she wouldn't be embarrassed or feel bad. She'd been so afraid to tell him when her birth control had been making her extra emotional, had hid under his covers and called it a secret. Eddie wasn't exactly the most emotionally intelligent person, kind of far from it, but he knew enough to know that you were supposed to be able to trust your partner enough to share things like that. And he really fucking wanted to. He wanted Casey to share her shit with him, and he wanted to share his shit with her. Maybe she was afraid to do it first, as Eddie hadn't exactly been forthcoming about any of this own family drama. That was easy to do for him, it happened so long ago now. Those wounds had healed over ages ago, the scars still present but faded.
"You know, our parents probably never shoulda had kids, but thank god for Wayne and your grandma," he said.
"Her name was Camille," Casey supplied. "'Like the hurricane,' she'd say."
"Well, then thank god for Wayne and Camille," Eddie amended himself, and Casey had to agree. They'd probably both be in jail or dead if it weren't for his uncle and her grandmother.
Eddie wished they were home having this conversation. His home or hers, they were both home at this point. He wished they were having this conversation in her bedroom with the Dreamsicle candle burning and her green and yellow floral quilt draped over their laps. He liked that quilt. It was the perfect weight, and it smelled like Casey, sometimes more than she did.
"Do you know what sounds really nice?" Casey turned her head up against Eddie's chest to look up at him, waiting for him to respond.
"What sounds really nice?" He asked. Whatever she said, he'd make it happen for her. But she was sitting up, pulling herself out of his arms.
"A hot shower," she answered, scooting to the foot of the bed to stand up. She was pulling her hair up into a sloppy bun on the top of her head and pulling a scrunchie out of her purse to hold it in place, Eddie assumed so she didn't get her hair wet.
"Go take a hot shower, babe," Eddie encouraged. He pulled himself up, sitting up straighter against the headboard of the bed.
"Alone?" She turned to him, pretending to be both shocked and offended that he was about to let her go by herself. Eddie grinned.
"Shit, of course not, gotta save water," he was up on his feet quickly to follow her to the bathroom.
Shower sex wasn't actually all that sexy. The bars installed on the walls for the infirm were handy, but the water cycled between freezing cold and scalding hot every five minutes because Eddie couldn't figure out the weird controls. It took almost a full two minutes for him to even figure out how to switch the water from the bathtub faucet to the shower head. Casey's foot kept slipping off the edge of the tub, and if they carried on, one or both would end up with a concussion or a broken bone. Which was fine, they laughed it off, content to just let their hands wander and kiss until Casey swore she got a cramp in her tongue.
Casey was probably conflating sex for emotional intimacy. She hadn't had a lot of sex that actually felt all that intimate, but it was easier to be physically naked with someone than be emotionally vulnerable. She'd made good progress, though. And she would've ended up naked with Eddie anyway. That was inevitable. She quite liked being with him. He'd gotten a lot more confident, a lot more bold, and more intuitive since their first time together. Something that started out good between them had only gotten better and better with time, and a shit load of practice. It was a little unnerving that every facet of Casey's relationship with Eddie seemed to be aces. But in a really delicious and exciting way. They just clicked.
After drying off and catching the end of To Catch a Thief, Eddie made a second attempt to properly fuck his girlfriend. Her hands on him in the shower hadn't been quite enough, and he was ready for another round. Casey sitting on the edge of the bed in his Ozzy shirt and girly pink panties with little hearts printed all over, sucking on a lemon drop and watching the end of the movie, her hair still a now slightly damp mess on top of her head; it was the prettiest she ever looked. Eddie couldn't not keep to himself, watch another movie, or go to sleep.
It had been hard for Eddie to get up again the next morning. Though, this time it was because he was physically tired, and not depressed. They stopped outside of Lansing for lunch, and drove on to Detroit.
Casey had been right about her friends. Of course she was, she was right about everything. They lived on the bottom floor of a gray stone duplex. Caroline worked part time at a coffee shop to spend as much time at home as possible with her new baby, a little boy named Oliver. Josh worked in marketing, a copy writer. They were both older than Casey and Eddie. Caroline had gone to Hawkins High, though she graduated when Eddie was a junior. Casey and Caroline connected through mutual friends. Then Caroline moved to Detroit, met Josh, and had a shotgun wedding at the courthouse, an emerald green dress stretched across her six month pregnant belly. Eddie knew, because the picture was framed in silver on their mantel, next to a similarly framed photo of their newborn baby, and a rabbit skull. They had band and vintage horror movie posters on nearly every wall, and more creepy things like a shed snake skin and a taxidermy mouse under a cloche. Caroline and Josh had damn near the same haircut, cropped short, and Caroline had a silver stud in her nostril. They were as alternative as Eddie could imagine any normal person to be. Someone that wasn't a rockstar. And, god bless him, Josh had weed.
It didn't take long for Josh and Eddie to pull their jackets back on to sit in the small backyard and pass a joint back and forth. Caroline was abstaining, as she was still breastfeeding, and that had made Eddie go pale and silent. Casey chose to stay inside to catch up with her friend, cuddle with the baby, and sip on apple cider. It was a good opportunity to talk about Eddie, about how even though they hadn't gone anywhere exciting or even cool, that she was having the best time with him. The best trip she'd ever been on.
Casey holding an objectively cute baby made Eddie smile. It freaked him out, too, because it wasn't exactly hard to accidentally have a baby. It happened all the time. Josh and Caroline were proof. But Casey held that baby in a way that looked natural to Eddie, but really it was just practiced confidence. She'd been taking care of other people's kids for years now, and Oliver was hardly the first baby she'd ever held. She wasn't afraid of holding him, the way that Eddie was. He politely declined the offer, mostly because he'd never done it before, partly because he didn't know these people and he was scared to hurt or disturb their baby, and a fraction because he was scared he'd like it.
When it was time for Oliver's nap, Casey took Eddie back to the shop where she'd found his snake ring, the one that always stayed in rotation, even when he changed out his other rings. They had more cool shit, shit that Eddie would buy if he had the money. Casey found a pretty, fluttery dress of indigo, and even though she had absolutely nowhere to wear it, no upcoming special occasions or fancy plans, it was too pretty to leave and never see again. They only got two doors down the street, before Casey decided she had to go back and get it. Eddie promised that he'd find her a reason to wear it. It was a selfish promise, too. She hadn't tried it on, just held the dress up to her body in a mirror, but Eddie knew she'd look fucking great in it, and that was a sight he needed to see.
Next on their walk was a warm, cozy used book store. Casey pointed him to a corner without any explanation, then left him to peruse the mystery section. He wandered into the fantasy section, featuring a shelf of D&D material. Rule books, monster guides, things Eddie had never seen before, a few things he already had. Casey had to bargain with him to get him to leave when the sun started to set. She expected he'd want something dirty.
"You have to promise to make me those peanut butter cookies when we get home," he'd said with little to no thought. Casey just laughed and agreed. That was easy. She'd do it even if she wasn't asking him anything in return.
"And watch TWO movies of my choice," he added when he realized she had agreed too easily. "And cuddle."
"One movie," she negotiated. She knew he'd pick something she wouldn't like. He was on a B-Horror movie kick lately, to prepare for Halloween, he'd said. Casey liked scary movies, but good ones. Eddie was picking some really shitty ones lately. Killer Klowns From Outer Space had been the last straw for her.
"Two and I won't wake you up if you fall asleep," he countered. He took the book she'd picked from her, to set with his choices on the counter. He hadn't been able to buy her a pretty dress himself, but he could afford some books. He'd have to pick up an extra shift or two to take her somewhere that she could at least wear the dress.
"I'll stay awake for two if you can get the screen door back on the track," she said. Casey realized it was pointless to keep negotiating now that they were checking out, watching Eddie pocket his change. He held his hand out behind him as he turned towards the door, waiting for Casey to take it so they could leave. She smiled to herself and grabbed his outstretched hand with both of her hands, holding on to it as she pressed herself into his arm.
"That damn thing won't fuckin' stay on it," Eddie muttered. He'd tried to fix the sliding screen door on Casey's back door before, but it kept popping out whenever it was opened at just the wrong angle. Maybe Wayne would have an idea.
They walked back to the duplex, just in time to help their hosts with dinner. It was mostly Casey and Josh working. Caroline used the baby as an excuse, but she really had no culinary talent. Eddie could chop anything put in front of him, but beyond that he might as well just be ornamentation in the kitchen. Casey drank several glasses of wine, and Eddie had to drink his one glass like a shot. Just open his throat and toss it back. Wine was gross.
The pull out sofa was horribly uncomfortable. Eddie had worried that the baby would be what kept him awake all night, he knew of their reputations to cry all night. But Oliver didn't make a peep, and the springs digging into his back were the biggest annoyance. Usually he could sleep just about anywhere, but not even the second joint before going to bed was helping him fall asleep. If Casey was awake, he couldn't tell. She was still and silent, laying on her stomach but her head turned the opposite way. He considered his options. He could sleep on the floor. The rug was thick, and it would probably be more comfortable. Would it be rude to go sleep in the van? He'd done that a million times before. He could get Casey up, fold the couch back up, and just sleep on the couch. He could sleep with Casey on top of him, he'd done it plenty of times before.
"Casey?" He whispered, just in case she really was awake and she could commiserate with him, or maybe she would know how to help him. But she didn't answer.
"Baby," he tried again, waiting a moment for a response.
"Case," he spoke a bit louder, lightly scratching up and down her arm with his finger. She groaned. Fuck, she had been asleep. Shit.
"Hmm?" She hummed, not even sure if she had been woken up, only vaguely aware that she had heard something, felt something on her arm.
"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were asleep," Eddie apologized, feeling like a total asshole, flooded with instant regret. He shifted onto his side and laid his hand on her back, palm flat against her spine as he moved it up and down. Usually the roles were reversed, and he tried not to be jealous. She lifted her head to face him, dropping it back down to the pillow, her cheek squishing up so that her eye closed.
"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice a quiet rasp.
"Nothing, go back to sleep," Eddie lied. He curled his arm around her to drag her closer, tucking her head under his chin. Maybe a proper cuddle would help him get to sleep.
"You ok?" She asked again.
"Yeah, go to sleep," he avoided the question. Yeah, he was fine. He felt like absolute dog shit for waking her up, and actually considered praying to whomever that she would fall right back asleep. He knew she had a horrible time sleeping in unfamiliar places, and maybe the three nights away from her own bed had finally caught up to her. The wine probably helped. And he'd just ruined it.
Eventually Eddie woke up. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. It was still early, so he didn't get that much sleep, but it was a relief all the same; he'd been afraid that he wouldn't sleep at all. And an even bigger miracle was that Casey was still asleep. She was on her back now, the blanket pulled up over her head. Eddie couldn't resist moving back towards her, moving slowly and carefully to avoid waking her up again. He'd practically draped himself over her body in place of the blanket, his head on her shoulder and forehead pressed into her cheek, nose tucked under her ear. The smell of her citrus shampoo was faint now.
The tickling feeling of Eddie's breath on her neck eventually woke Casey up, and it took her a moment to realize that the weight she felt on top of her wasn't a very heavy blanket, but her boyfriend. Another moment to realize that he was awake.
"I can't believe you're awake before me," she rasped, then cleared her throat. Eddie tilted his head back, pulling away from her shoulder to look at her.
"It was bound to happen eventually," he said, his voice perfectly clear and unaffected by sleep.
"You didn't sleep," she guessed.
"A little," he said, taking the opportunity to shove an arm under Casey's back to pull her into him, moving her onto her side so they were chest to chest.
"Want to try to sleep some more before we leave and get home later, or leave early and get home early?" She asked him, leaving the choice up to him. She didn't care what they did, on the last day of their trip. She would be glad to spend more time with her friends, but she knew Eddie was out of clean socks and missing his stash and his own bed. Or her bed; it was basically his now, too. His stubble was starting to fill out, his razor somehow the only thing he'd forgotten at home. They were looking at a five hour drive back home.
"Whatever you want, baby," Eddie conceded. He was kind of dying to get home, which was surprising even to him. He actually wanted to go back to Hawkins. But he was tired, missed his stuff, missed Wayne. He was ready to go home. He would leave the decision to Casey, whatever she wanted was fine with him. And she knew that. She knew he'd say that, she knew he had a preference but didn't want to say so she could do whatever she wanted. What she really wanted was for him to just tell her exactly what he wanted.
"You want to go home," Casey cupped his cheek in her palm, and he couldn't tell if she'd asked a question or made a statement. But he nodded all the same.
Casey took the lead for the rest of the morning. He wouldn't have been surprised if she was hungover from the wine, and if she was she hid it well. She got him through breakfast with Caroline and Josh, and they left the house not long after Josh left for work. The offer of their pullout sofa whenever they were in Detroit next was extended, and Eddie had to keep himself from making some asshole comment about how he'd come back if they got a new one first. Casey had offered to drive so Eddie could sleep. He turned it down, but when they stopped for gas an hour later, Casey took the keys from him. She wanted him to lay down in the back, but he wanted to at least stay up front with her.
She wanted to laugh about how Eddie was a mess after not being able to sleep on a slightly uncomfortable pull out sofa, but he fell asleep within minutes sitting upright in the front seat of his moving van, Led Zeppelin III playing at a loud enough volume that most people wouldn't find conducive to sleep. When the cassette ended, the only other choice available to her was the Todd Rundgren tape in her purse, but she felt like maybe that wouldn't be a good idea, so she started Led Zeppelin again. Eddie had never expressed if the reminder of his mother was a good or bad thing. Casey guessed it was bad, going off of how he acted for the rest of that morning. And he hadn't even listened to the tape.
The tape got boring, the road got boring, Eddie being asleep got boring. He looked uncomfortable, sitting upright, elbow propped on against the door, his head against his fist. But his mouth was hanging open and he was dead asleep. Casey held out as long as she could, but eventually had to pull over. She was getting hungry, all of the leftover snacks were out of reach in the backseat, the music was annoying now, and she needed to pee. Eddie woke up the second she parked the car.
"This isn't home," he muttered, rubbing at his eyes.
"Very astute," Casey laughed, unbuckling her seatbelt and pulling the keys from the ignition. "I gotta pee so bad, I had to stop," she explained as she opened the door and slid out of the drivers seat.
"Don't let me keep you," Eddie smirked at her, and watched her rush into the truck stop through the windshield. He took his time getting out of the van and indulged in a good stretch in the parking lot before going inside to use the bathroom himself. When he was done, he spotted Casey in front of the drink coolers, trying to make a decision.
"I'm seriously considering getting one of those hotdogs," she said once he was at her side. Eddie settled a hand on the dip of her lower back, resting on the waistband of her jeans. He hadn't touched her in a few hours, and he was missing the comfort, the connection.
"What do you want on it?" Eddie asked. "Besides ketchup." He was still groggy, but he could still make fun of her for her overuse of the condiment.
"Relish and mustard. Drink? I think I want grape soda. I haven't had a grape soda in god knows how long," she was mostly talking to herself about the grape soda, but it made Eddie smile anyway.
"Grab me one, too," he said, then left her to snag a bag of Cheetos and make them both hotdogs. She met him at the counter with two cans of grape soda and a bag of peanut M&Ms.
"You got my keys?" Eddie asked once they were outside, somehow holding two hotdogs and the bag of Cheetos in one hand, the free hand extended out to Casey.
"I can keep driving," she said instead of an answer. Eddie just wiggled his fingers, and Casey rolled her eyes. She had to gather the two cans and bag of candy into one hand to fish the keys out of her pocket to hand them over.
They were so close to Hawkins, just less than two hours to go. Eddie had to fill the tank again before they left. The van got shit mileage. He was eager to get home, to take a shower in his shower, to wear clothes that hadn't been shoved into a duffel bag that smelled like moth balls, to be in his bed, to fucking shave because his face was fucking itchy. He missed Wayne, and was looking forward to getting home in time to have dinner with him before he went to work and Eddie went to bed. But that would mean dropping Casey off at her house and going home alone. Which didn't sound too bad. He'd barely had a moment to himself in four days. He was used to being alone more often than not. Or he was before he met Casey.
When they finally got to Hawkins, Eddie was surprised by how nothing changed. He didn't know why, but he kind of expected to come back after some time away and for everything to look and feel different. It had only been four days, but it was the longest he'd ever been away form Hawkins since he moved there as a small child.
"I have to spend my day with Emma Dorsey tomorrow, and she can be such a little demon," Casey started as Eddie turned onto her street. He could tell what she was gearing up to. "She's only six but I think she's been marked by the devil."
"Mark of the Beast, huh? Big accomplishment for a little girl," Eddie joked, making Casey giggle.
"Her parents pay really well, though, so it's almost worth it," she said.
"They must know she's an eldritch terror," he said, and Casey snorted.
Eddie pulled into Casey's driveway and killed the engine. He'd at least get her inside. Though, he knew once he got inside her house, he'd never want to leave.
"Are you going home for the night?" Casey asked, meeting Eddie at the side of the van, taking things from him as he unloaded.
"Um, I think Wayne is expecting me to, so yeah," Eddie said lamely. He felt lame. He thought he sounded lame.
"You're working tomorrow night, right? I'll come visit and keep you company," she said. She didn't normally like to go to the Hideout on her nights off, but she'd do it for Eddie. She didn't want to go a whole 24 hours without seeing him, since he was going home for the night and her day was already booked.
"You're gonna get me in trouble," he grinned. He didn't actually care if he did get in trouble if Casey distracted him at work. He actually kind of hoped for it.
"I'll be sure to order really annoying drinks. You can make a mojito right?" She returned his grin.
"No, and I won't learn how. But I'll make you a really nice bottle of beer," he countered. Eddie helped Casey to the front door, carrying her bag and the half a gallon of cider left. All that remained of the pie was Wayne's apple still sitting in the floorboard of the van's backseat. Once the door was unlocked, he left her bag on the couch and put the cider in the fridge. Casey was looking for Charlie, who she found asleep on one of the dining chairs tucked under the table.
"I actually missed you, you little shit," Casey cooed to the elderly cat, gently stroking the top of his head, until he had enough and hopped off the chair to go down the hallway, far away from affection.
"Hey, c'mere," Eddie stood in the opening to the kitchen, his arms outstretched to Casey. As soon as she was close enough to grab, Eddie pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her back and pressing a lingering kiss to her ear. "I had fun with you," he said into her hair. Casey snuck her hands up the back of Eddie's shirt, palms pressed flat against his bare skin, and she took in a deep breath through her nose against Eddie's shoulder, getting her fill of his smell.
"Thank you for going with me," she said, suddenly very worried that she'd miss him the second the door closed behind him. She knew she would.
"You planned a good trip. Next time, desert," he kissed her ear again. He'd take her wherever she wanted to go. She'd been a good travel partner. It kind of felt like they'd just gotten a passing grade on a big test. A test of their relationship. Wayne had warned Eddie that traveling together could be one big stress test for a couple, and Eddie felt confident that they'd passed easily.
"I'll find somewhere cool. We can get you a cowboy hat," Casey pulled her head back from Eddie's shoulder to smile at him. The thought of Eddie in a cowboy hat was funny, and she could just picture it so well.
"It'll go great with the banjo I'm sure you'll make me learn how to play sooner or later," Eddie joked, and Casey giggled, the movement tickling Eddie's chest.
"So you really had fun with me?" she asked. Eddie picked up on the note of apprehension in her voice, like she thought maybe he had been lying when he originally said it.
"Are you kidding?" he scoffed. "I had a great time with you. I always do." Eddie had never spent a moment with Casey where he wished he was somewhere else, and his resolve to go home and see Wayne was starting to seriously crumble. He didn't need to shave, or wear clean socks, or see his uncle. Casey had a washing machine, if he didn't already have a couple of pairs he'd left behind somewhere in her dresser. Maybe she'd let him use her razor. It was pink and meant for legs but it could get the job done. He could just call Wayne.
"You can be honest if you got sick of me," she continued. Casey had her face pressed into his neck now, hiding herself from him if he had to guess. He couldn't read her, not without looking at her face. Surely she wasn't suddenly feeling insecure, right? What the fuck could there be to be insecure about? They'd just spent four awesome days together.
"Baby," Eddie sighed. "It's taking a fuck ton of willpower for me to not just sit down on that couch with you and watch TV until we go to bed. I'm not sick of you yet. Don't think I will be any time soon."
Casey pulled her face away from Eddie's neck, and she was smiling. A pleased little grin that gave him a great sense of relief.
"You gotta go home and see Wayne. Gotta give him his pie," Casey twirled a chunk of his hair around her finger, confident that his curls were made just for her to wrap around her fingers. "But I'm gonna be so annoying tomorrow night. Not gonna leave you alone the whole shift."
"I'm gonna hold you to that. I won't be happy until Craig writes me up for being so distracted," Eddie smirked, squeezing his arms around Casey to pull her ever closer. He settled a hand in the back pocket of her jeans, the way she liked to do to him. He couldn't blame her, it was a great place to rest your hands.
"Well, keep this and we'll both get in trouble," Casey said, her hand coming to rest on Eddie's jaw, stroking the stubble with the pads of her fingers. It tickled and itched at the same time.
"You like the scruff, huh?" Eddie asked rhetorically. "You won't like it in a couple weeks when it's patchy as hell and won't fill out," he warned. He'd tried before, to let his facial hair grow, and it hadn't been a success. He wasn't a very hairy person to begin with, not like Steve Harrington. The guy may as well be half Wookiee as far as Eddie was concerned, and he just couldn't compare to that. Maybe when he was Wayne's age, Eddie would be able to grow a similar beard, hopefully without sacrificing the hair on his head, too.
"I think it suits you," Casey ignored his warning. She liked Eddie's face, it was a good face. But something about the added scruff was attractive.
"So you won't mind this," Eddie pressed the side of his face against Casey's soft cheek and rubbed vigorously, making her squeal and laugh. It was scratchy and actually kind of hurt, and Eddie planted a big wet kiss at the red patch he left behind.
It took another twenty minutes for Eddie to get out the door, and the moment he was gone, Casey regretted letting him leave. She should have asked him to stay, she should have gone with him. Because now she was alone again, just her and the cat.
Casey was waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was usually the point in the relationship where it all goes to shit and she scratches the guy's name and number out of her address book. But Eddie showed no signs of ending things, of losing interest, no wandering eye or unexplained absences, no running late but smelling like women's perfume. No backhanded comments about her looks, interests, or sense of humor. For once, everything was going right. Everything felt right, and that was completely new. Nothing had ever felt so comfortable before.
She was jealous that Eddie got to go home and see his uncle. Jealous that he had someone to go home to, to tell all about the trip and would genuinely want to hear every little detail in the way only a parent or parent figure would. Casey was jealous and sad that she couldn't tell her grandma about Eddie. Normally she'd keep boy stuff to herself unless it was semi-serious so she wouldn't get her grandma's hopes up for nothing. But she would have told her about Eddie from the beginning, he was too exciting not to talk about. So in her grandmother's place, Charlie heard a lot, curled up on the foot of Casey's bed while she put things away.
Eddie recognized that he was lucky to come home to Wayne, to anyone at all that gave half a shit about him. His uncle was in the middle of his dinner when Eddie came through the door. He sat down at the small table, recounting the trip's activities while Wayne ate, leaving out certain details. He didn't think Wayne would appreciate a story about attempting to fuck in a hotel shower. But he did appreciate how happy his nephew seemed, he appreciated the easy smile on the boy's face while he talked fondly. He appreciated that Eddie had landed somewhere good. Wayne had been worried that once he graduated, Eddie would just flounder and spiral, that maybe he'd repeat the sins of his father. He'd never had any real, concrete plans for his life. He didn't have goals. After all, what the fuck was a guy like him, a guy with his background, supposed to do with his life?
After his trip, Eddie was starting to get a pretty good idea. Maybe not be a copywriter, whatever the fuck that was. But Casey's friends had given him a lot more than just a shitty pull out sofa to sleep on. They'd offered a glimpse at a life Eddie didn't think was possible. They were weird, like he was. Maybe even weirder. But they had a house, jobs, each other, a baby. Maybe Eddie didn't want a baby, not any time soon, but he still felt inspired. He'd only ever seen guys like the Steve Harrington's of the world enjoy that kind of life. Eddie had never seen someone like himself enjoy a happy, domestic life. Yeah, in theory he knew it was possible, but it was so different to see it in real life, to see someone else doing it, kind of like role models.
Not to say that Eddie was suddenly dreaming of a duplex in Detroit with a wife and a baby. But his ideas for the future had suddenly been expanded. He didn't have to settle for some blue color job like Wayne, live in a trailer park forever, alone and bitter and resort to a life of crime like his father, fall into an abyss of substance abuse like his mother. There was a life outside of Forest Hills, and goddamnit, Eddie was gonna have it someday.
