March 13th, 1986

Eddie.

This mix tape was going to be Eddie Munson's magnum opus.

Side one had to be…her. It had to be something she could listen to and say, fuck. That's me Eddie, you got me spot on. He wanted her to know that he knew her. That's what this tape was. Proof of his devotion. He listened to it, twenty, maybe thirty times in its entirety, all 57 minutes and seventy-two seconds of it just to make certain of it.

Side one was as follows:

I'm Eighteen – Alice Cooper

Animal – Def Leppard

Mr Crowley – Ozzy Osbourne

Bela Lugosi's Dead – Bauhaus

Astro Zombies – Misfits

Paranoid – Black Sabbath

New Kind of Kick – The Cramps

What A Way to Die – The Pleasure Seekers

New Rose – The Damned

The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen

Separate Ways – Journey

Wild Child – W.A.S.P

As far as he was concerned it was impeccable, despite the fact he could have filled hundreds of tapes with hundreds of songs that reminded him of her. It was the perfect mix of her favourite bands, genres, and sub genres. Songs that reminded him of late nights in his trailer getting high. The one time they drove just under a hundred miles to Indianapolis because they heard the Misfits were doing some underground show and she had cried with happiness. The first time they had kissed...Eddie had played that god damn song every day after so he could relieve the memory.

The first time they fucked.

Again, he had listening to that song for weeks.

As for side two, he had hit a wall.

It was trickier. Side two was Eddie's love letter to her. Side Two was going to be the slow realisation that holy shit, Eddie's in love with me and I in fact love him too!

Well, that was the grand plan anyway.

Only he was running out of time. Her birthday was in five very short days, and he still hadn't cut down the list to the perfect ten.

He should have just bought her that stupid Danzig poster he had seen downtown.

The blast of the car horn forces him to jump from his bed, grabbing his t-shirt off the chair before opening his bedroom window to see the gremlin hovering outside. She honks the horn viscously again and leans her head out of the window. He can hear Echo and the Bunnymen blaring loudly.

"Can you stop jerking off and hurry the fuck up please, we're going to be late, again!"

Eve Chaney. God, how he loved her.

"You know if you were early picking me up once in a while maybe we wouldn't have this issue." He yells back.

She pushes the blonde hair back from her face, an angry look meets him back. "Excellent point Munson, or..." Eve slams the horn again, holding it down so it blares through the trailer park "I could just do this until you hurry the fuck up?" She yells over the noise.

Eddie tries not to smile as he closes his bedroom window. He can still hear it as he throws on his shirt and grabs his jacket, keys, smokes and lunch box before finally leaving the trailer.

"Shut the fuck up!" He hears someone yell as he closes the door, but Eve doesn't let her hand off the horn until he's finally in the car, and he's not welcome by her usual morning, or even a glance in his general direction. Instead, she just starts the car as she clenches her jaw.

"Jesus Christ, wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" He asks.

"Something like that." She says as she puts her foot on the gas and speeds through the trailer park. Eddie actually puts his seatbelt on for once.

"You know, we are late pretty much every other day, how is today going to make a lick of difference?"

"Because that bitch guidance counsellor has been on my ass for weeks, I'm never graduating at this rate."

"Join the club. You and me at Hawkins High till the day we die, Go Tigers!"

She doesn't laugh like she normally would. He can see the look of utter despair on her face.

"Seriously, what's wrong? Who died?"

Her jaw tightens, he's hit a nerve. Fuck. Fuck fuck fucking fuck.

"Shit, is today – "

"I don't want to talk about it."

FUCK.

He knew it was march. But he never knew when.

"Eve – "

"I said I don't want to talk about it Eddie, so just leave it, ok?"

He hears a tremble in her voice that he's only heard on two other occasions, and it just happened to be about that night. But he remains quiet, slumping into the seat slightly, then he hears a sniff and when he glances over at her he sees her forcefully wiping a tear from her face.

Shit.

Her dad, to put it bluntly, was an asshole. Strike that, had been an asshole, and a topic of conversation that didn't come up very often. In fact, the first time had been the first day they met.

Why did your mom drag you to Hawkins then? He remembers asking her. She had pursed her lips and avoided his gaze. My dad died back in March, so she dragged me to this cesspit. That was as far as that conversation went, and it wouldn't be a few more months until he got the full story.

The song ends on the tape, and they sit in silence, the only sound the tyres against the road. He doesn't know how to make this better. He doesn't even remember his parents to even know what she's going through.

Like his uncle always said, you can't miss what you don't have.

"If you had told me, I would have driven for you today you know, at least then we might have had a shot of actually getting to school in one piece."

Light humour is the only thing he can come up with. Eve immediately puts her foot on the break, slowing down the car "Sorry." Her voice is quiet. "I'm just…I'm not quite here today."

He understands that more than she probably realised.

"Eve – if you want to talk – " He reaches a hand out to her thigh, given it a gentle reassuring squeeze. She glances down but doesn't say anything, so he moves his hand back into his lap. "Can I at least change the tape?"

She nods. Eddie pops open the glove box and starts to rummage through the plethora of tapes in there. Iron Maiden. Black Sabbath. No. No. None of these were right. None of these were – yes! He grabs the tape from the back and waves it close to her. She glances over, and it's the first hint of a smile he's seen all morning.

"You hate that album."

"I do. I hate this album more than I hate any other, BUT you love it."

"Eddie you don't – "

He's already pushing the cassette into the player, and immediately hears that stupid piano playing. I tell myself that I can't hold out forever

Eddie chuckles. "Of course, you were listening to this one."

I said there is no reason for my fear

"You know I love this song."

"I know you love this song because when you first started driving me to school, I had to listen to it on repeat for three weeks because the tape was stuck in your stupid car. I thought I was going to lose my mind!"

She's smiling now and that's all that matters. Stupid Kevin Cronin saving the day.

Cause I feel so secure when we're together

You give my life direction

You make everything so clear

He can't believe he's about to do what he's about to do.

"And even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight"

Her eyes widen, as does her smile as the words leave his mouth.

"You're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night!"

"How do you know the words!"

"Three. Weeks." Is all he says with raised eyebrows. She laughs then and his chest starts to hurt.

And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might

They share a glance and take a big breath.

"And I can't fight this feeling anymore! I've forgotten what I started fighting for!"

Their singing fills the car, and her smile seems to brighten her face entirely.

"It's time to bring this ship into the shore, and throw away the oars, forever!"

He doesn't care that he looks like an idiot, or that he's singing fucking REO Speedwagon. She's smiling, and he did that.

And it wasn't even a song on his list, until now.

Side Two (So far.)

Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon