Just a fun chapter where nothing major happens.:) Thanks for reading.

Summer break means part-time jobs (for normal kids, not Eddie). Lazy days where it's too hot to move. The air thick and heavy with humidity. The sun, a bright ball of heat in the sky. An oscillating fan offering up an all too brief breeze. Rows and rows of tall corn. If you were unfortunate enough to be a farm kid, you worked all damn day in the heat, baling hay, driving tractor, and not one of those fancy ones with air conditioning either.

No matter what you did, you waited for nighttime and cooler temperatures. Roaming the aisle of Family Video. Driving from one end of town to the other over and over again. Loud music. McDonald's. A party, a bonfire, a keg. Skinny dipping in the creek.

This was summer break in the Midwest.

Except summer break wasn't really summer break when you've finally graduated. Now, you're suddenly catapulted into adulthood. Whatever that meant.

"This is for you, baby," Eddie yelled from his place parked in the middle of the lane that wound around the trailer park. They took up their normal spot at Eddie's place. Which was quickly becoming Chrissy's place as well. The sun had finally set, releasing its heat for a few hours before rising again.

Eddie was sitting on a pink bike that was too small for him. Steve was on an equally small bike but at least his wasn't pink. His was baby blue with plastic streamers shooting out of the handlebars. Eddie didn't have streamers. He did have a nifty plastic basket fixed to the back of the seat though.

Chrissy laughed from where she was sitting near the small fire pit in Eddie's yard sharing a joint with Robin. "Beat his ass," she yelled through the smoke, clapping her hands. As if on second thought she jumped up, handing the joint off to Robin. She ran over to Eddie, barefoot in tiny shorts and a white tank top, and flung her arms around him. Planting him with a kiss. When she pulled back his heart beat so hard it hurt and, just like that, he was hard as a rock.

"For luck," she said with a flirty smile.

"Uh huh, thanks," was all he managed to get out.

"Hey, none of that on the race track!" Steve admonished.

Someone had the idea to borrow the neighbors' kid's bikes that they had left abandoned in their yard to race around the park. It seemed like as good an idea as any at midnight on a Friday when the temp was still hovering around eighty. They took turns racing one another, going one loop around the park. Whoever made it back to the starting line wins. Chrissy and Robin tied. Max and Lucas had wandered over when they saw everyone outside. She had lost to Lucas but only by a few inches. And now it was Steve and Eddie's turn.

Eddie watched Chrissy saunter back to the fire pit before clearing his throat, telling Max, "Alright Red, any time now." She stood in between Eddie and Steve. A bandana held above her head.

"Ready?" She yelled.

"Get ready to eat my dust, Munson," Steve goaded.

"Jesus. Really, Steve? We need to work on your smack talk," Eddie said, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Go!" Max yelled, dropping the bandana to the ground.

"Wait!" Steve yelled as Eddie took off with better agility than expected considering how small the bike was compared to his long body. Steve's feet, too big for the pedals fought for leverage, pushing off of the pavement.

"Take that Harrington," Eddie yelled over his shoulder, soon disappearing around the corner of the lane.

"Go! Go!" Max yelled. Eddie wasn't sure who she was cheering for. Probably Steve, the bo-hunk he was all the girls loved him.

He took the corner a little too fast and thought he was going to eat the pavement but he righted the small bike in just enough time. He slowed around the next bend in the road, feeling a burn in his lungs, his knees hurting from banging against the handlebars.

"Giving up?" Steve asked as he caught up to him.

Eddie flicked the cigarette off into the pebbled medium. "My lungs aren't as young as yours," he said. A cough punctuated his point.

"Well, keep smoking a pack a day," Steve told him with a laugh.

"Aw, I didn't know you cared."

"Ha! Fuck you, man." They idly sat in the middle of the lane, catching their breath.

Steve, wearing a light colored polo, khaki shorts, and flip-flops. Eddie, wearing a plain back t-shirt and ripped-up jeans, and Adidas. As opposite as night and day. As opposite as, well… him and Chrissy. Shockingly, Steve was becoming one of his best friends. They'd been thrown together a lot since he always seemed to be with Robin and Robin was with Chrissy so much. Luckily Steve turned out to be a cool guy and not at all like the other douchey jocks. Not to mention he was closer to his own age than, say, Dustin.

Eddie preferred weed over alcohol whereas Steve didn't like marijuana so much. Said it made him goofy. Eddie thought Steve was already pretty goofy. But he claimed he liked beer more. Eddie had yet to see Steve get wasted. He'd drink enough to get a buzz then he'd back off. Unlike most guys like Steve whose main goal in life was to get obliterated at any given chance.

Eddie respected that Steve knew his limits. He was no caretaker and he'd been in plenty of situations where some jackass smoked or drank too much and it killed his own buzz. Steve wasn't like that.

"So. You all are getting close, huh?" Steve asked out of the blue.

"Close to what?" Eddie asked.

"Retirement," he said dryly. Eddie stared at him blankly. "I mean you and Chrissy!" He clarified.

Eddie was glad it was dark because he was sure his cheeks flared. The street light above them gave everything a yellow glow, canceling out his blushed face. "Oh. Uh, yeah. I guess."

"You guess? What's that mean?" Saddled in the seat, Steve walked the bike in circles, arms casually flung over the handlebars.

"Is this one of those games of telephone?" Eddie asked. "Robin asked you to find out how I really feel about Chrissy so she can relay the information back to her?"

Steve rolled his shoulders neutrally.

"Well, hate to bust up your game but Chrissy knows how I feel about her." Didn't she? He wondered to himself. "So yeah, I'd say we're close. I don't know what to make of it."

What Eddie had been holding inside, wondering about, questioning himself about, came barreling out. There weren't too many people he could talk to about this kind of stuff. The guys in the band were all about the band and not big on personal things. And sure, he might be able to talk to the guys from Hellfire. Like his bandmates, they were mostly interested in Dungeons and Dragons. There was Dustin but he didn't feel comfortable talking about relationships with him. He was like a kid brother to him.

And now, since Steve asked, it felt good to get it out. "Her stuff is in my bedroom. Her clothes, a pillow. She keeps a bottle of her shampoo in the bathroom and a spare toothbrush. Sometimes she comes with to watch the band play. Sometimes she doesn't. But she's always waiting for me when I get home and you know what? That's the best part of my fucking day." He sighed. "I feel like I'm going crazy."

Steve had stopped walking the bike and watched as Eddie talked quickly with animated hands. "That's the good kind of crazy, my friend." He swung a loose fist in solidarity at Eddie's shoulder.

"I never expected any of this. Me and Chrissy Cunningham. Her toothbrush in my bathroom? No fuckin' way." He took another cigarette from the pack he'd tossed into the basket. Smoking used to be a casual habit. Now he used it as a coping mechanism for when he became overwhelmed by what he felt for Chrissy - which was more often than not.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"What the hell's that mean?"

Steve laughed when Eddie looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "It means you got lucky. You found it, whatever the hell it is. Ya' know… what you see in movies and read about in books 'n shit. Don't question it. Just go with it."

Eddie nodded, understanding what he meant now. Chrissy was his it. The one. "But is it possible to find it at twenty years old?"

"Why the hell not?" Steve asked.

His optimism was contagious. Since Eddie's mother's visit, he'd felt this heaviness in his chest. She was a reminder of who he was and that he shouldn't expect anything good in his life. The good being Chrissy. Talking to Steve, that heaviness began to lift.

"I think I already found it. And lost it. Listen to me when I say don't let it go," Steve cautioned.

Eddie looked up at the globe of the street light, small bugs careening themselves into it. He blew smoke up into the air and nodded his head, "Yeah. You're right. Thanks."

"No problem. Now go on, I'll let you win just this once because your girl is watching. Wouldn't want her to find out what a loser you really are."

"Yeah, yeah." He steered the bike back in the right direction. Before he took off he said, "Hey Steve."

Steve jutted his chin expectantly.

"Don't worry, you'll find it again."

For the first time since Chrissy started high school, she had nothing to do. And she didn't like it. In summers past she had a part-time job and kept up her volunteer work. Now she did what, she supposed, the average teenager does… or is supposed to do. She slept in. She spent time in her parents' pool, swimming, sunbathing. The sun kissed her skin, tanning it a golden brown, bleaching her hair more blonde than strawberry blonde. She was letting it grow out instead of trimming it every couple of weeks to keep her bangs out of her face.

She spent time with her newly formed small group of friends.

There was Robin. And Robin's friends quickly became her own. Shockingly Robin was close with Steve Harrington. The Steve Harrington that every girl at their school had a crush on at one time or another, including herself. He and Robin work together at Family Video and are inseparable when they aren't working. Steve is goofy and fun to be around. Always up for the next adventure. He also had a different pretty girl at his side on any given week - trying to ignore what he still felt for Nancy no doubt.

Then there was Nancy. Something you'd think might be awkward since Steve and Nancy used to date but strangely, it really wasn't. Nancy was almost as serious about school and college as Chrissy had been. Counting down the days until freshmen orientation at Emerson. Though she was happy for her, seeing Nancy worked up and nervous, as well as simultaneously excited, made Chrissy relieved it wasn't her.

Nancy's boyfriend, Jonathan, is quiet and kind and, as it turns out - small town and all that - Joyce's oldest son and one of Eddie's recurrent customers.

Lucas and Max hung out with them often because of Lucas' D&D affiliation and Max living next to Eddie made it convenient. Dustin, Will, Mike, and Mike's girlfriend El bummed around with them occasionally especially if Steve was with them. Will less often. He was quieter and more withdrawn.

Rumor had it, Will hadn't been the same since he ran away two years ago. There were also rumors that he hadn't run away. That he'd been kidnapped. They said he ran away because they didn't want to panic the town. Either way, she doubted you could bounce back from something like that. Chrissy remembered when he went missing. Remembered how afraid she'd been for him, someone she didn't even know. When she thought about it, she thought about her own little brother and how she'd feel if he went missing.

Will going missing is what essentially brought their little band of misfits together.

They came together to help Jonathan search for his brother. To help Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Max search for their friend. (El hadn't been a part of the picture yet. She showed up shortly after Will returned.)

And then there was Eddie. They spent most evenings and the occasional night together. He hadn't implemented his plan to quit selling and find a straight job just yet. He said he was working on it. Half the town relies on him for their supply. In a strange way, he didn't want to let them down. Plus he made a killing selling. The idea of getting a job and working long, hard hours for minimum wage was less than appealing.

After about three weeks of loafing around, much to her mother's chagrin, Chrissy got a job at the local grocery store. There was only so much sun a person could soak up before they went entirely mad.

"You have so much potential. But you're just going to waste it hanging out with that boy and working at a grocery store?" Eddie was referred to as 'that boy' by her mother and not acknowledged at all by her father. "Why don't you apply to the other colleges you wanted to go to?" Laura asked.

Chrissy was too embarrassed to say out loud that there were no other colleges. She had only planned on going to MSU with Jason. She didn't think she would need a backup plan. "Because I don't want to go to college," she said but her mother wasn't hearing her.

"Is it because of him? That boy wants to keep you here."

"Oh, Mom. No he doesn't," was her reply. She didn't have the energy to apply to other schools. Didn't think she could handle their rejection. It had nothing to do with Eddie.

"He's not a good influence," her mother nagged. "I don't know how you can go from someone like Jason to someone like him.

"Someone like Jason?" She asked incredulously. "Jason… the one that put Eddie in the hospital. Gave me a fat lip. Jason that was arrested for assault. That Jason?"

"You know what I mean," Laura dismissed. "I just mean he's more your type."

Chrissy wasn't sure she knew what her mother meant at all. "Jason's a monster. Besides, you don't even know Eddie. You have no reason to judge him," Chrissy replied, trying her best not to get angry. "I thought you'd be happy I got a job." Laura had been nagging her about not being lazy all summer long.

Eddie was the most supportive person in her life, other than Robin. He'd back her no matter what she chose to do, whether it be going to college or working at a grocery store, or doing nothing at all. Equally, she did her best to support him. Even if he was doing something dangerous or wild or just plain stupid. And yes, he could be all three of those things but he was her safe spot in this world.

"Hey! What happened to your hand?" She'd worked a double and was exhausted. Bypassing her parent's house completely she went over to Eddie's. Immediately she noticed that his sling was missing.

He looked down at it and flexed his fist, opening and closing. "Well, I broke it on someone's face…"

"That's not what I meant." She set the bag of groceries she'd bought on the counter, taking his hand in hers. Looking at it as though she had X-ray vision and could see if it was healed.

"I'm sure it's okay by now. It feels fine." He pulled her to him, squeezing her ass with his new useable hand. "Just think what we can do now that I have two hands." He smirked, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

She fought a smile. "You need a doctor to determine that."

"It's fine. The doctor said the sling could come off in six weeks. It's been about that."

It's fine seemed to be his mantra. "Yeah, the sling could come off… at the doctor's office. And then they'd x-ray your hand and then the doctor would determine if it was safe to be without the sling." She sighed knowing she sounded like a scolding wife. "I just don't want you hurt again."

"Baby, I'm…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know you're fine."

He bent his head and placed a kiss on her collar bone, hugging her tight. "So, what are we having for dinner tonight? I could get used to you working at a grocery store…"