Chrissy took the long way to the trailer, looking in the rearview mirror to be sure Jason wasn't following her. Not that he couldn't find her if he wanted, she didn't think he'd be dumb enough to show up at Eddie's. That's why he confronted her at the grocery store parking lot. No one would be around to help her.

The drive out of town gave her the time and space to calm down before she saw Eddie. Coincidentally Running Up That Hill came on the radio and it made her think of Max - her strong, stubborn friend that has gone through more than most at her age. It was a reminder she'd get through this too.

She turned it up as loud as the tiny car stereos would go before they started vibrating and sang along at the top of her lungs. Music soothed her rattled nerves.

Pulling into Eddie's driveway, she parked behind the van. She gripped the steering wheel to steady herself as the music dyed down, taking deep breaths. Eddie appeared at the car door and tapped on the window with the skull ring on his middle finger. A cigarette between the middle and forefinger of his opposite hand. She jumped.

She smiled weakly and held up a finger and said, "Just a sec," through the closed window. She took one more deep breath as she turned away, wiping her lower eyelids of any running mascara, and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat.

He opened the door for her and flicked the half-smoked cigarette away. She stood and gave him a kiss hello. Momentarily melting into him. Momentarily forgetting about Jason. Momentarily everything was fine. He seemingly had this magical ability to make her forget about her problems the second his lips came into contact with hers.

As soon as she pulled back, a line formed between Eddie's brows. His gaze roamed over her face, reading everything she tried to hide. He held her away by her bent elbows, her hands pressed to his chest. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Uh, nothing. Nothings wrong," she said with a bit too much cheer. "Well, I'm hungry. Didn't get to eat lunch. What do you want for dinner?" She said a little too quickly, walking away from him toward the trailer.

He pulled her back by her wrist. "Chrissy."

"Eddie," she mimicked playfully.

"If you don't tell me what's up, I'm going to be forced to hold you hostage, right here in the driveway until you do." He smiled, wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her solid against his chest. He pressed his mouth low on her neck, right where he knew she was ticklish and began to blow raspberries against her skin.

She squealed and she uselessly squirmed against him. The more she squirmed the tighter he held onto her. "Eddie," she laughed breathlessly. "The neighbors are going to see."

"Oh no!" He laughed, burying his face into the other side of her neck. "We can't have that now can we?"

Soon she was laughing to the point of not being able to breathe and he swept her up into his arms. "Eddie!" She screeched. "Oh my God, put me down!"

"Nope. Not till you talk!" He spun her around. Then he tripped and they fell onto the overgrown, half-dead lawn. He rolled as they fell so they'd land with him cushioning their fall. "Oof!" He grimaced and grabbed his back.

"Faker!" She accused. He was healed from the beating and never mentioned his shoulder or hand. Or anything else. He wasn't a complainer. She took advantage of his fake pain and kissed him hard. Two could play this game. Her hand crept under his shirt that had edged up in their fall.

"Emm," he moaned. "If you wanna do it right here in the middle of the day in the yard, keep it up," he mumbled against her lips.

Her hand continued to travel. She liked to push it when she knew she had an out. She angled her head, deepening the kiss, plunging her tongue into his parted lips.

"Gross! Get a room!" They pulled apart, simultaneously looking at the source of the voice.

Max stood on the steps of her mother's trailer, shielding her eyes with her hands. "I'm just a child for God's sake." Lucas stood behind her holding open the door looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Chrissy stood, adjusting her clothes, brushing her hand over her dusty jeans. "Hey, Max. You and Lucas want to come over for dinner?" She asked. "Think we'll just have hot dogs and mac n cheese. Something easy."

Eddie stretched out on the grass, a hand against his temple, elbow on the ground. He pulled at her shoelaces. "Called your bluff. Knew you wasn't gonna do it on the lawn," he whispered up at her.

She absently kicked at him. "Shh! Don't be so vulgar around Max and Lucas."

"Oh, I can show you vulgar," he smiled.

Max shrugged. "Sure. Nothing to eat over here."

Eddie untied her other shoe. Began retying two pairs of laces together. "Would you stop that?" She asked with a laugh. Bending at the waist she shooed his hands away and grabbed her discarded bag off the ground.

"You love me, you know it," he said with a smile. She couldn't deny him that.

As he pulled her close again he was more gentle. Kissing her on the temple before walking with her to the house, Max and Lucas behind them.

Whatever was bothering Chrissy faded to the back burner while Lucas and Max were there. She seemed her normal happy self as Lucas and Eddie made dinner while the girls sat on the floor in the living room in front of the stereo. Playing this song or that record. Listening to the radio. Singing along.

They ate together at the table. Talking D&D and upcoming practice with the band and Chrissy's job at the grocery store. Max was already dreading school restarting in a few weeks. Lucas was considering joining the basketball team again since Jason and his senior asshole buddies weren't going to be there the next year. Eddie told him he could do both D&D and basketball. Forget any unspoken rule that said otherwise.

Chrissy's mood plummeted later that evening after they left. She was busying herself with the dishes and fixing a plate of food for Wayne for when he got home after work. She grew quieter as the minutes ticked by. Not just normal end of the day quiet but a heavy quiet he could actually feel.

He came up behind her, placing his arms around her waist, dipping his head into her neck. Breathing her in. Before dinner, she had changed into a bright green halter top and shorts that barely covered her thighs which drove him a little crazy.

"I love this shirt on you."

"Oh yeah?" She asked. Her voice far off like her mind. She dried the last dish and placed it in the dish drainer.

"Not as much as the Hellfire shirt and nothing else. But yeah, this is a close second. Your shoulders are bare and easily kissable." He leaned in and did just that. She sighed as she always did when he kissed her.

"You're giving me goosebumps." She breathed out a laugh, pulling the plug in the sink so the water could drain out. She turned around, drying her hands on a towel. He blocked her in, an arm on each side with his hands resting on the lip of the counter.

"Goosebumps are a good thing. Aren't they?"

"When you give them to me, yes." She smiled. The kind of smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

He was opening his mouth to ask her what was bothering her when she maneuvered out his arms, yanking him by the wrist to the small hall that separated the kitchen and bedrooms.

"Where we goin'?" He asked as if it wasn't obvious.

"Well, I'm not doin' it in the yard. The bed is much more comfortable don't you think?"

He couldn't very well argue with that.

To say he wasn't tempted was to call him a liar. And not just because it'd feel good. To start a new life, quite literally, with Chrissy was the best possible outcome to all the excess drama they'd been through the last few months. A substantial embodiment of their love.

But…

When she asked him to come inside of her, she was on top, riding him and he was buried deep within her. His hands traveled her body from her hips to her breasts. "Eddie," she moaned. "Please come." Her voice was little above a whisper. Head bent toward the ceiling, her hands resting on her bare thighs.

"I'm working on it, babe." He was close, so close. She'd already came twice and was growing tighter with each thrust. The friction was almost unbearable.

"No, I mean come inside of me."

Instantly he crashed back to earth. His hand clamped down on her hips, stilling her movements. "What?" It was more an expletive than a question.

She leaned over him, her pert nipples brushing against his chest. Her lips a breath away from his, she sucked in his bottom lip, biting lightly.

"You heard me," she purred. She intertwined their fingers together, pressing their hands into the mattress. Her hips moved up and down, up and down. His hard cock entering and exiting. He didn't want her to stop but this seemed like one of those important things you talked about before doing it.

Before he was sucked down into the depth of her warmth again, he shook his head. "Whoa, whoa. Hold up. You've got me just a little freaked out right now."

"We can start something new together. You and me." She sat up and began riding him again and it felt way too good.

"Chrissy, hold on a second." He grasped her hips and without sliding out of her, he shifted until she was laying underneath him. It about killed him when she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, lifting her ass to bury him further. Deeper.

He was almost silenced into giving in to her. Part of him wanted it too. He was shocked at that part. He never knew it existed before Chrissy. "What's going on?" He asked instead.

This is an interesting turn of events. He'd never been the responsible one before.

Her face, glowing in the filtered light from the window, fell. She looked like she might cry. "Nothing. I'm sorry." She nibbled nervously on her lip. "I love you and…" She sighed. "I want to start our own life together."

He knew he couldn't do that to her. Saddling her with a baby at the age of eighteen - nineteen by the time the baby would be born. It wasn't fair to her. Or the baby. Not that she wouldn't be a good mom - because there was no doubt in his mind she would be. And he'd try his hardest to be a good dad starting out by doing the opposite of what his own parents did.

"Don't be sorry. I'd love nothing more than to have a baby with you. And someday we will. Just not now. Not like this. Not when everything's so up in the air." He smoothed her hair back off her face. Traced his thumb over her cheek. "Hell, I don't even have a job. Can you imagine that at the pediatrician's office or signing him up for preschool? Fathers occupation? Drug dealer."

He was relieved to hear her giggle and see the shadow of a smile cross her lips.

"Hey, I don't think you should be high off your ass for dinner with your parents," Eddie said, plopping down on the bed next to Chrissy. He snatched the joint from her hands, taking a toke before putting it out by licking his fingers and squeezing the tip.

"Maybe it'll make the visit a little easier if we were both high off our asses." Chrissy scrunched up her face, grabbing the stuffed bear that appeared in his bed at some point over the past few months. She scooted down further in the bed, closing her eyes. "Maybe we should just cancel."

"You've already canceled on them twice," Eddie reminded her. He wasn't in any hurry to go over to her parent's house and have an awkward dinner but maybe the invite was their olive branch. Maybe they were trying to get to know him better after realizing he was sticking around. If that was the case he didn't want to mess it up.

Yeah, he doubted it. But he could still hope. He didn't want to come between Chrissy and her family. He saw how her mother treated her, he witnessed the change in Chrissy's mood when she was around them or after she'd been with them. And recently she seemed extra stressed though she refused to tell him exactly why.

She was going through something and all he can do is catch her when she falls and she'd been falling a lot lately. If he was there at dinner, at their house, maybe he'd be able to run interference between her and her mother.

At least Kaleb was a cool kid and seemed to like him.

He walked two fingers up Chrissy's thigh and over her hip. Leaning into her neck, he breathed deeply. "Let's go. On the way back home we can stop at Tastee Freez and get ice cream." Because Laura Cunningham never had desserts or any sweets to speak of in her house.

She peered at him through heavily lidded eyes. "With sprinkles?"

"Uh-huh. Double scoop of sprinkles."

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