Rosie had promised Dustin. So here she was on a Friday evening parking outside the school under a buzzing streetlight. There were one or two cars in the lot, but otherwise the road was empty. She shivered, winding a scarf around her neck, thinking of the one Eddie had worn. Of his fingers at her jaw, and those brown eyes turning black. She shooed the thought away. She had let her imagination get the better of her, and seen what she wanted. That was all.
She didn't want to come, but sooner or later she had to face him. It wasn't his fault she'd gotten the wrong impression, hurt and frustrated as she was. The only way forward was through hell.
Woods behind the bleachers. Go straight up the path. Right at the burnt stump and on a little while til the ground started to slope, and in to the left. She heard them before she saw them, huddled around a grimy picnic table in the middle of the clearing.
"She's here." Max cheered, flapping her arms.
"Rosie! Right on time." Dustin grinned.
"Always."
Eddie was hunched over the table already, breaking up buds from the bag and dropping them into a grinder. His eyes flicked up as she approached. "Hey."
"Hey." She managed. He looked tired, probably from working extra shifts. Will and Lucas scooted over to let her sit, and she smiled over at the quiet girl they called El.
"Does it burn?" The girl asked worriedly.
Rosie tried to look reassuring. "No."
"But we need to smoke it?"
"It doesn't burn. There's sort of a…tingling? I guess. But it doesn't hurt."
"Tingling."
"You don't have to take it if you don't want."
"Yeah." Mike chimed in, putting his arm around her.
"So how are we doing this?" Max chirped. "Do we get one each or -"
"Fuck no!" Eddie snapped. "I'm making one. Total."
"Just one?"
"One's enough." Rosie agreed.
"For all of us?" Lucas tried.
"Definitely." She caught Eddie's eye. "It's a good thing you're not doing this alone."
He ducked his head, tapping the stuff out onto some rolling paper. "They would've figured it out."
"After throwing up everywhere."
"What?" El squeaked.
"That's not going to happen." Rosie assured her. "You just take a puff, then pass to the next person. Just one puff."
"Will that even do anything?" Will piped.
"Not much." Remarked Eddie gruffly.
"It's better to take it slowly than to go overboard on the first try."
"Totally agree!" Dustin finally exclaimed. "Totally. It's a good thing you came, Rosie."
The lighter clicked a few times and Eddie held it to his mouth. All the kids turned to watch as he took a long drag, inhaled and exhaled loudly. He did the same again.
"He's taking more than one!" Mike argued.
"He's used to it." Dustin reminded him.
It went round the circle. El didn't try, in the end, but Max snatched the blunt eagerly off Mike and took far more than she should have. She choked, coughing hard into her sleeve. The others were careful after that, though there was bit of gasping and hacking. Lucas even started sneezing. When it returned to Eddie there was only a nub left, he took two and leaned over the table to give the last to Rosie.
"Not fair!" Damn it, Mike.
"I want another." Added Max, eyes red.
"I don't really feel anything." Will muttered.
"I'll roll more."
Rosie nearly choked. "No you don't!"
"They'll be fine."
"They've had enough."
Eddie was already adding buds to the grinder. "Just a small one."
"Eddie!" They all jumped at that. Rosie quelled her voice: "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
He dropped the bag and followed.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to have a good time."
"At their expense?"
"Don't be so - "
"So what?"
"Such a mom!"
"Fuck you!"
"Great argument."
"Because you're doing so much better!"
He ran a hand over his face. "I don't think this is what you're upset about."
"I shouldn't be annoyed that you sold pot to my nephew without telling me?"
"Technically, I sold it to Mike."
"They're kids!"
Eddie snorted, then crossed his arms. "Tell me you weren't doing the same thing at sixteen."
"That's not the point."
"Oh? So what is?" He stomped over to her. "Or better yet, why don't we talk about what's really bothering you."
She shrank. "There's nothing to say."
"Isn't there?"
The fact of the matter was, she had so much to say. So many feelings swirling around inside her. She gritted her teeth against them."No."
Eddie backed down too. Went to punch a tree instead, wincing at such a poor decision immediately.
Despite her temper, Rosie mumbled: "You ok?"
Shaking out his hand, he said: "I owe you an apology, Rosie. The other night -"
"Don't."
"I didn't handle that well. At all."
"I didn't approach it well."
"Nothing bad about your approach."
"It was my fault."
"Wrong." His arms fell to his sides.
"No I-I just got the wrong idea." She said. "It was dumb."
He bit his lip. "Wrong idea how?"
"I thought you wanted me."
Why did he do that? Edge so close? Tower over her with that hungry look on his face and regret in his eyes? "I do want you."
"You don't have to say that."
"I do, Rosie!" Eddie was bending forward now, hands pressed to his chest. "Do you know how hard it was to push you away?"
"Then why did you?"
"Because you're…you're you! You're smart and funny and beautiful - and you deserve to be happy in Boston with someone who can give you everything you want." He punched a tree, then swore, holding his fist. "Not stuck in some no-name town in the middle of nowhere with some freak!"
Words like rocks, striking her. Beautiful. Had he really said that? She would have preferred he said the opposite. But at least she thought she understood where he was coming from. She closed the distance between them, taking his injured hand. He looked frightened, like she had him trapped, but he was the one that pressed his forehead to hers. "I like freaks."
Eddie licked his lips. "Y-you do?"
"Mm-hm. Normal folk are so boring."
"Boring. Yeah." His breath was warm, eyes inescapable. "So boring."
This kiss was different. Much different. His mouth covered hers, moving slowly, sloppily. Rosie had to hold on to his coat for balance, making a little noise as he pressed her up against the tree. She was suffocating, but in a good way, breath catching with the heat of his lips and tongue, his hand pinning her to the bark, the other grasping the back of her neck, his thumb stroking absently. This was how it should have happened before. Both of them in sync. Entangled. Pawing at each other. He was stronger than he looked, Eddie, and with the trunk at her back she couldn't escape him, even if she wanted to.
"Oh! Gross!" Max's yell cut through them, and they sprang apart. She had ventured off, probably to relieve herself, and was now squinting her red-rimmed eyes in revulsion.
Eddie immediately tried to act nonchalant. "Max! H-hello. Um…Rosie and I were just um…j-just talking about… uh…"
"You were making out!"
"I know what you think you saw."
"I'm high not delusional. Blech! So gross."
"No! No! Wait!" He stumbled on a branch, but she was gone. Sprinting back to the clearing. "Shit!"
Rosie tittered. "Oh well."
But Eddie was fuming, storming back and forth, slapping himself back to sobriety. "Shit! Shit! Shit, shit!"
"It's not that big a deal."
"What are you talking about? You think she's going to keep her mouth shut?"
"Who cares?" She shrugged.
"I care!" He boomed. "And so should you!"
"Why?"
"If she talks, everyone will know."
"Aaaand…?"
"And! You don't care if we're found out?"
"Nope. Should I?"
"YES!"
"Why?"
"Because you have a boyfriend, Rosie!"
She blinked. "No I don't."
"Huh?" Eddie tottered mid-pace.
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"What?"
"Single."
"Boyfriend?"
"None."
He slapped a palm to his head. "Y-y-you don't-?"
"Nope."
"Henderson said -"
The expression that took over her face must have been something, because he backed away. It all made sense now. His weirdness. The flirting and the looks followed suddenly by cold indifference, rejection and even rage. His hands reaching out and then jerking back every time she tried to get closer. Eyes that were sad and aroused and distant all at once.
"Dustin."
"He mentioned that he thought -"
"Dustin?"
"Or maybe you mentioned someone in the past you were involved with?"
"DUSTIN!"
"I-I-I mean he didn't exactly say that!" Eddie floundered. "More like implied."
"DUSTIIIIIIN!"
He tried to stop her, but she plowed past, into the clearing where her nephew had most definitely heard her.
"Rosie?"
"In the car!"
"What?"
"NOW!"
He felt floaty. Looking out the window, things blurred past. Dustin wondered when the pot would kick in, and if he would know. One thing he didn't know was why Rosie was so mad. She had just pushed him into the car and started driving, but he could tell she was really mad.
"Rosie? What's wrong?"
"Why did you tell Eddie I had a boyfriend?"
Dustin looked around for Eddie, then remembered he wasn't there. "I did?"
"You did, Dustin. That's why…" Oh no, she looked sad again now.
He sat up, trying not to feel so tired. "But you do have a boyfriend, remember?"
"Who!"
"Charlie! The finance major! The one from Illinois. You had Christmas dinner with his family!"
Rosie growled, then inhaled carefully. "Dustin. Charlie and I broke up over a year ago."
That was enough to sober him "You did?"
"We did."
"Oh." Realization, cold and stark. "Oh nooo! I really fucked up!"
"Yep."
"I told Eddie you were still dating Charlie."
"Yep."
"Is that why you two were fighting?"
"We weren't fighting. Eddie just didn't want to get involved with someone else's girlfriend."
Dustin grinned to himself. "Awh. Eddie's such a good guy."
For some reason, Rosie laughed. "Yeah. He really is."
What's the likelihood of Rosie murdering Dustin for this, do you think? (lol)
