The following week at school, things are more normal. Everyone seems to have moved on much to their relief. They still get looks but not nearly as many as last week. Eddie passed Mrs. O'Donnell's test with a C, thanks to Chrissy. It's overwhelming sometimes how much he cares for her. She is quickly becoming the single most important person in his life. It's weird to think a month ago, they were complete strangers. He feels as though he's known her forever and she, him.
Tuesday night, Eddie is getting ready to go on with the band when he sees Sam and Chrissy walk in. He knows he has a goofy grin on his face at the sight of Chrissy but he can't help it. She makes him so damn happy. Lost in thought, he feels Gareth slap his back. "Man you got to get Chrissy to set me up with Sam."
Jeff laughs, "Like she would ever go for you. Sam is clearly into me, you dipshit."
"In your dreams asshole." Gareth responds.
"Boys, boys, boys." Eddie puts his arms around both of their necks, bringing them in close. "I think we all can agree… that you both… are delusional." Eddie jokes. They all argue for a minute or two more before taking the stage.
As they play their set, Eddie keeps looking over at his beautiful girlfriend. She's smiling, nodding her head to the beat, cheering the loudest after each song, and even blows him a kiss at one point. He's never felt more like a rockstar than he does with Chrissy in the crowd.
After their set, he and the guys meet Chrissy and Sam at their booth. "Hey, you were great out there." Chrissy says to all of them as Eddie slides in next to her. She plants a kiss on his cheek making his face heat up.
"Thanks. Sam what did you think?" Jeff asks.
Sam gives an approving face. "I'm impressed. You guys weren't bad."
Eddie laughs, "What a glowing review." Eddie looks over at Chrissy. "So I was thinking this weekend–"
Sam immediately interrupts. "-Oh no you don't lover boy. You may have full custody, but I still have visitation rights. Chrissy and I have plans this weekend."
Before Eddie can come back with a snarky comment, Chrissy knows he's about to make, she says, "Children. Behave."
Eddie holds up his hands in surrender. "Apologies, Parker. I didn't know. What are you ladies doing this weekend?"
"We are going prom dress shopping." Sam says, enthusiastically.
Chrissy feels Eddie tense next to her at the word 'prom.' Gareth speaks to Sam, "Isn't it a little early for all that?"
Sam shakes her head. "Not at all. Prom is only five weeks away. We have to start shopping now before all the good dresses are gone."
"Do you have a date yet?" Jeff asks Sam. Chrissy doesn't miss the look that Gareth shoots Jeff.
"No, not yet. But I still have time."
Eddie, who has been quiet the whole time, finally says awkwardly. "Well you ladies have fun."
Chrissy gives him a shy smile. "Thanks." She looks over Sam who is watching them very intently, obviously sensing the awkwardness.
Xx
Chrissy and Sam are on their way home when Sam can't stand it anymore. "Okay what the hell was all that about?"
"What was what about?" Chrissy stares straight ahead at the road as she drives.
"Oh don't play dumb. Why did Eddie turn all frigid when we started talking about prom?"
Chrissy shrugs, "I haven't talked to him about going yet."
"You guys haven't discussed it at all?" Sam asks in disbelief.
"No. Honestly, I'm afraid to bring it up. I know it's not exactly his scene. I hate to ask him to come only for him to say no." Chrissy replies.
Sam sighs, "Chrissy, the guy adores you. I'm sure if you were to ask him, he'd go."
"I know. But I don't want to drag him along and him be miserable the whole time. Then that would make me miserable. I don't want that. I want to have a good time. If he wanted to go, that would be different." Chrissy explains.
Sam urges, "Chis, you can't not go. It's our senior prom. We've been looking forward to this night forever."
Chrissy reassures her friend. "I am going to go. I just might be going solo is all."
Sam shakes her head. Chrissy and Eddie haven't been together for two weeks and there is drama between them already. Sam decides she isn't going to sit back and watch all this go down.
Xx
When Eddie gets home, he throws himself on his bed. He can still smell a faint trace of Chrissy still on his pillow from where she stayed over the other night. He thinks back to all the prom talk earlier and kicks himself internally for reacting the way he did. He never even thought about prom coming up. Of course, Chrissy wanted to go. He was an idiot for not thinking about it sooner. Shit she probably thinks he doesn't want to go. She would be right in thinking that too.
In Eddie's mind, prom falls under the long list of school functions he normally avoids. He's skipped his other proms and had planned on skipping this one as well. But that was before Chrissy. If she wants to go then he's going to. Anything to make her happy. He isn't about to screw their relationship up over something so stupid.
He decides he is going to ask her. He just needs to figure out how he is going to do it. Thankfully it doesn't take long for him to come up with something good.
An hour later, the phone rings. "Hello."
He expects to hear Chrissy's sweet voice on the other end but is met with Sam's angry one instead. "Eddie Munson. I can't believe you haven't asked Chrissy to prom yet. She is your girlfriend and it is your job to take her. And don't even try to give me all the forced conformity bullshit you're always going on about. It would make Chrissy happy. I can't believe you're being so selfish…"
"Sam." He tries to interrupt but she doesn't hear him and continues on.
"... Chrissy's too afraid to talk to you about it. But I am not going to let you make my best friend go to prom all by herself…"
"Sam!" He says more forcefully, getting her attention. "Don't worry, I am going to take Chrissy to prom."
"Then why haven't you told her that? She convinced you don't want to go."
"Honestly… I completely forgot about prom until you brought it up tonight."
Sam huffs on the other end of the phone. "How in the hell did you forget about prom?"
"I think you're underestimating how little I pay attention to the school's social calendar." He quips. "I haven't given prom a second thought since my first senior year when Katherine Gibbs asked me if I was going to go. To which I responded that there was no way in hell I would be caught dead there."
Sam's voice is understanding but firm when she replies, "Okay fair. But you're going to this one. Otherwise you leave me no choice but to come down there and kick your ass for disappointing my best friend."
"I promise you won't have to. Trust me, I'm going to ask her. I have a plan." He reassures her.
"What is it?"
Eddie debates whether he should tell her. But being that he just came up with it an hour ago, it wouldn't hurt to get her opinion. "Okay, here's what I was thinking…" He explains the plan to her in great detail to show he's really thought it through and that he is putting in an effort for Chrissy. She stays silent when he finishes. "Well… what do you think?"
Sam sighs, "Okay that's actually really cute."
He smiles triumphantly, "See, give Ole Eddie a little bit of credit."
Sam chuckles then asks, "What are you going to do if Chrissy doesn't go for it?"
The question is a valid one. One part of the plan is to keep her thinking he doesn't want to go, so when he does ask her, she's really surprised. The other part relies on her cooperation and she may not want to do what he has planned. He considers this for a minute.
"If two weeks before prom if she doesn't go for it then I'll move on to Plan B. I'll make it seem as though I did it myself, then ask her."
Thankfully Sam seems satisfied with that answer. She raises another valid point. "That's cutting it close for you to find something to wear."
"I won't be renting one of those monkey suits if that's what you're implying." He sasses. Eddie's going to go to prom, but he's doing it on his terms i.e. no monkey suit.
He can practically hear Sam rolls her eyes. "I didn't say you had to wear a monkey suit, smartass. But you do have to wear something nicer than your typical ripped up jeans and band shirts."
She's right. "I know. I have no idea what that will be but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."
"You just focus on the plan. I'll help you with the clothes part, that way it'll be one less thing for you to worry about."
"Thanks." He truly is grateful for any help he can get.
"Don't mention it. We'll have to discreet so Chrissy won't know what we are up to." Sam adds.
"Discreet is my middle name." Eddie jokes.
"Yeah right." Sam says, sarcastically.
Eddie's determined not to mess this up. "You'll see." Sam hums in acknowledgement and doesn't argue with him any further. "So, Operation Prom is officially a go."
Xx
It's Saturday, Sam and Chrissy are at the mall trying on prom dresses. They've been to two stores so far but have yet to find anything. The third store they try is more promising with it's larger selection.
Chrissy is in the dressing room next to Sam trying on her sixth dress. She zips it up and takes a step back to look at herself better in the full length mirror in the small confined space.
Sam calls out. "Ohh I like this one."
Chrissy wrinkles her nose at her reflection. "I don't like this one."
They both exit their respective rooms to look at each other. Sam looks amazing. She's got on a hunter green dress with puffy sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. "Sam… that looks so good on you."
Sam beams at her reflection in the mirror in front of them. "I know right? Yup I think this is the one. Say hello to my prom dress."
Chrissy smiles at her friend. "Hello." She looks back at herself, unhappy yet again with another dress. "Now say goodbye to this monstrosity."
Sam turns her attention to Chrissy who is wearing a shiny, bright pink dress. "Yeah, that one is definitely not my favorite. Why don't you try on that black one we picked out?"
Chrissy agrees and goes into her dressing room while Sam stays in front of the mirror to admire herself some more. Chrissy wiggles out of the pink dress and grabs the black one off the hanger. She slips it on but is having a hard time with the zipper. She comes out holding the dress to herself and turns her back to Sam. "Zip me up will ya?"
Sam does it wordlessly. Chrissy turns and looks in the mirror. She loves it. It's a simple black velvet dress that comes off her shoulders slightly with spaghetti straps that go over her shoulders for extra support. The neckline curves low enough to show off what little breasts she has tastefully. It has an apron waistline and a satin full skirt that stops right at her knees. Chrissy feels so beautiful in the dress, she's tempted to cry. She won't though.
Sam gasps. "Oh my god, Chrissy, that dress was made for you."
Chrissy smiles wide. "You think?"
"Oh babe, I know. You're a knockout." She walks over to Chrissy and gathers her hair in her hand. "You could wear your hair curly and up, like this with some loose curls in front."
Chrissy likes the idea. Sam has always been great with hair. "You're going to have to do it for me."
"I assumed." Sam jokes as she lets Chrissy's hair fall. "Now should I get the gloves?"
Chrissy giggles and tells Sam her opinion. They stare at themselves in the mirror one final time before changing into their normal clothes. As Chrissy looks at their reflections, she is overcome by sadness. This will be the last school dance she attends. And she will be going alone.
Her face must give her away because Sam suddenly asks. "He still hasn't said anything about prom?" Chrissy shakes her head. Sam looks at her thoughtfully. "Who knows he might surprise you."
Chrissy sighs. "I highly doubt it."
"It's his loss, Chris." It's killing Sam to keep the plan a secret. But she knows Chrissy will be over the moon when it comes to fruition.
"I know."
Xx
The girls spend the rest of the weekend, finalizing their prom attire with accessories. They pick out jewelry and shoes. Sam spends Saturday night playing with styling their hair in different ways. Sunday they go to church and hang out at Chrissy's house for a while. Chrissy can't remember the last time she had a girls weekend. She has so much fun. Chrissy misses Eddie though and talks to him on the phone each night for a few minutes.
She loves that he gives her space to be her own person. Jason never did that. He always wanted her to be there for him at the drop of a hat. Eddie's not like that. He was perfectly fine sharing her with Sam. Whereas Jason would have thrown a fit and insisted on coming along or something equally as annoying. Now that they are no longer together, Chrissy sees his flaws more and more clearly. She doesn't miss the fact that Jason can be a lot like her mom at times. She's thankful he cheated on her. She feels she dodged a huge bullet there. Who knows what her life would have looked like if she stayed with him?
Monday morning, she hangs out with Eddie in the parking lot before school. He keeps his arm around her the entire time. The bell rings and they head inside. He walks Chrissy to her locker, not bothering to go to his.
They have different classes for first period so she is confused when he follows her toward the direction of her class. Before she can ask him what he is up to, he suddenly pulls her into a room. It's the darkroom. It's on its way to Chrissy's class and it has become their favorite secret makeout spot.
As soon as the door is shut, he has his mouth on hers pushing her up against the door. The kiss turns a little heated and they both part, breathing heavy from the lack of oxygen. His lips curve upward at her. "Hi."
She returns the smile. "Hi not that I'm complaining but what was that for?"
He shrugs, "I missed you this weekend."
Her toothy grin grows bigger. "I missed you too."
"Got any plans after school?" He asks hopeful she'll be free.
"Unfortunately, yes. We have cheer practice every day this week and next week. We have competition coming up next weekend that we are trying to get ready for."
His grin fades at her answer but his face is understanding. "That doesn't leave a whole lot of Eddie time."
She hates the sad look in his eyes. "No it doesn't. We will just have to make the best of the time we can get." She kisses him again as if to emphasize her point.
"After the competition, cheerleading is over right?"
"Yup. Then I'll be all yours." She says making his smile return with a blush.
"I like the sound of that." He leans in giving her another kiss.
She bats her eyelashes at him flirtatiously. "Until then, you best believe I'm sneaking out or you're sneaking in every night so we can hang out. I need my Eddie time."
"As you wish milady." They try to kiss again but the bell rings making them late for class.
True to his word, Eddie sneaks into her room every night to hang out with her. He hates their time constraints but knows it's only temporary. She's offered to sneak out to his trailer and yes, while they have more freedom there, he knows she's exhausted from practice and wants her to go home and relax, rather than worry about him.
Xx
Friday, after school, Chrissy accompanies him to the drama room so he can set up for Hellfire before she has to go practice. They've talked about D&D a lot but she's never actually seen the game itself. It looks interesting. She helps him set up the board and put all the mini figurines in place according to Eddie's careful instructions.
"This game looks complicated." She says as she inspects the dice in her hand.
"Nah, I promise you it's not. Basically your DM," He points to himself, "lays out a scenario before you," he then points to her, "and you choose an action and roll the dice to see if your action is successful or not while role-playing in between."
His eyes have a playful gleam to them as he takes a step toward her. "For example, say you are a beautiful elf called Lady Love. You see before you a devilishly handsome rogue, Eddie the Banished. He flashes you a charming smile and says, "Milady." What do you do?"
He looks at her expectantly. Unsure how to respond, she wants to please him by playing along but she literally has no clue. She giggles nervously, "I don't know."
"You can do whatever. Make something up." He says trying to help her.
"Like what?"
He tries again. "You could walk up to him and boop his nose." He boops her nose making her giggle again. "Or you could slap him across the face because he did you wrong long ago." He grabs the side of his face dramatically as though she slapped him. Her giggles turn to laughter at his antics. "Or you could simply ignore him and walk away. Whatever you want, it's up to you."
Chrissy thinks she understands now. "Okay… I walk up to him and… kiss him."
It's his turn to chuckle. "You're so cute. Okay now roll the dice to see if he kisses her back." She rolls the D20.
Five. That seems low to her. "So what does that mean?"
"Well your DM determines the action you're trying to do and it's difficulty. The more difficult the action, the higher the roll. Lucky for you, Eddie the Banished is easy." He grabs her face with both hands. "Unable to resist such beauty, Eddie the Banished returns her kiss with such passion causing Lady Love to go weak in the knees." She awaits for a kiss that never comes. He simply lets her go and leans against the table behind him. "Hell you could have rolled a one and Eddie the Banished would have kissed you back."
She grins and teases. "Oh I see, so he just will go around kissing anybody."
"No, Eddie the Banished is only easy for Lady Love. She can get him to do just about anything."
Even go to prom? She wonders to herself. She glances at the clock. "I have to go to practice. See you after?"
He gives her a hug and a quick kiss. "Yeah. See you later milady."
She heads towards the gymnasium and sees Dustin going to Hellfire. "Hey Dustin."
He smiles at her. "Hey Chrissy." He pauses, then speaks again. "Would you mind doing me a favor?"
Xx
When Hellfire is over, Eddie cleans up and starts walking to the gym to meet Chrissy. He sees During wave to Mike and Nancy as they drive off. Eddie looks around but doesn't see Harrington around to pick the freshman. Dustin then turns and starts walking towards the gym too. Where is that kid going?
"Henderson, wait up." Eddie calls after him.
Dustin smiles. "Hey Eddie. What's up?"
"I'm on my way to meet Chrissy. What are you doing? I figured Harrington would have come got you by now."
"Steve's working tonight. I'm on my way to meet Chrissy too." Dustin says casually.
Eddie stops in front of him. "Hold it. One, do you need a ride? And two, why are you on your way to meet my girlfriend?"
Dustin stares up at Eddie completely unwavered. He answers in a very snarky tone. "One, no I don't. Two, your girlfriend is giving me a ride home. And three, you might want to tone it down with the whole possessive thing. Chrissy may not like it."
"I swear, you little-" Eddie threatens with no heat behind it as he swipes at Dustin who barely dodges Eddie's attack. "Come here "
Dustin takes off running frantically towards the front doors of the gym screaming at the top of his lungs as Eddie chases him. Dustin almost runs right into Chrissy. He stops himself in just enough time causing Eddie to nearly knock him over when he runs into Dustin with an oomph. They both stare at Chrissy with deer in the headlights expressions all over their faces.
Chrissy watches them both, amused. "What are you guys doing?"
They reply, "Nothing," at the same exact time making her feel like a mother who just caught her children with their hands in the cookie jar after she specifically told them no.
"You are terrible liars, you know that, right?" She shoots back looking at Dustin then Eddie. She chuckles and starts walking towards her car. "So how was Hellfire?"
Dustin responds enthusiastically, "It was awesome." He launches into telling her all about the campaign. She does her best to comprehend everything he's telling her. Eddie gets on the other side of her, takes her bag, and holds her hand as the freshman continues to speak. Eddie's impressed Dustin doesn't leave out a single detail. However, Dustin finally stops yapping when they get to Chrissy's car, Eddie jumps at the opportunity to talk to her in private.
"Henderson, give us a minute, will ya?" He walks them a couple of places from the car. "How was practice?"
"Sucked. Coach scheduled a 12 hour practice for tomorrow."
Eddie huffed. "Seriously?"
Chrissy sighed. "Yeah. From 7am to 7pm, if you need me, I'll be in cheerleading hell."
"You sure you don't want to quit?" He is joking, sorta. He knows she decided to stick it out for the rest of the year to finish. He respects that, he's just not a fan of having to share her.
She rolls her eyes. "Eddie."
"I'm kidding. I guess I'm not going to get to see ya again tomorrow huh?"
She adverts her eyes sadly. "Probably not. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He looks over his shoulder at Henderson. "Hey, since when do you give the shrimp rides?"
He can tell she is grateful for the subject change when she smiles at his question. "Since today, he asked me when I left you to go to practice."
Eddie nods knowing he needs to tread lightly with his next question. "No offense, but why did he ask you over me?"
She smiles wider for some reason. "Because he needed to talk. Apparently he's having some girl problems and needs some advice."
Eddie's eyebrows furrow at the information. He turns to look at Dustin. "Hey Dusty-bun! You and Suzie-poo having problems?"
Dustin's cheeks turn red. "It's none of your business and I told you, don't call me that!"
Chrissy gives Dustin an apologetic look then pushes her boyfriend playfully. "Leave him alone. And you wonder why he didn't come to you."
Eddie smiles at her warmly. "You gonna be okay to take him? It's getting late."
"I appreciate the concern, but I'm a big girl, I'll be fine." She wraps her arms around his neck.
His hands on her waist hold her to him. He shrugs, "I just want you to be safe."
Instead of answering with words, she presses a kiss to his lips. He knows it's time for them to go. He walks her back to her car and opens her door for her. Dustin climbs in the passenger seat. She promises to call him later and they take off leaving Eddie in the abandoned parking lot trying to figure out what the hell he's going to do all day tomorrow.
Xx
As mean and scary as Eddie may seem, he's really all bark and no bite. Something no one would guess about him is that he is a homebody. He goes out here and there to hang out with friends, but he likes being at home. Which is how he finds himself at Home Video the next day perusing the horror section.
"Hey man." Steve says to him, as he drops his movies down on the counter. Harrington rings him up. "So… uh, you and Cunningham… nice."
Eddie looks at Steve cautiously. They aren't friends and usually when he comes in they say the bare minimum to each other. "Thanks. How'd you hear about that?" He asks even though he already knows the answer. The familiar pang of jealousy chimes through him like a gong.
"I had a feeling during spring break and then Dustin confirmed it. He actually hasn't shut up about it. He freaking loves Chrissy."
Eddie's lips quirk up in amusement. "Oh I know. Last night, he asked her for a ride home because he needed her advice."
Steve leans in on the counter. "That little shit said he didn't need a ride." He says in disbelief.
"He told us you were working."
"No, I was, but I was going to get him during my break. What did he need advice about?"
Eddie shrugs, "You know, he's having girl problems."
"Him and Suzie are having problems?!" Steve exclaims, completely baffled. "And he didn't come to me?"
"Or me." Eddie adds sounding a little more bitter than he meant to. But Harrington being in the dark as well definitely helps him feel better.
Steve's face contorts. "He didn't tell you either?! The kid worships you!"
Eddie's shocked. He knew Dustin looked up to him but he didn't think about Henderson talking to Steve about him. "Are you kidding? The kid worships you!"
Steve stands back up straight and puts his hands on his hips contemplating everything. He shakes his head. "And he didn't tell us. Damn Munson, we've been replaced."
They look at each other and laugh, the movies long forgotten. Eddie ends up staying for a while and shooting the shit with Steve. Who knew Steve Harrington was actually… a good dude. At first they just talk about Dustin. Bonding over stories of how the little shrimp has wormed his way into their lives and they don't say it and probably never will but their hearts. Eddie tells Steve about the night before and Henderson's smart ass comment/advice about Eddie being possessive.
"Jesus, that kid needs to get his ego in check." Steve says.
Eddie agrees. "It's his tone, right?"
"Yeah, exactly."
The conversation morphes from there from Eddie's band to Steve's failed love life. When Eddie finally leaves the video store, he feels like he's made a new friend.
Author's Notes: This was a really fun one to write. All the interactions with Eddie/Sam, Eddie/Dustin, Eddie/Steve, Chrissy/Dustin, Chrissy/Sam were so much fun to play with. I feel like Eddie has natural chemistry with everyone and this chapter really highlights that. I had to add a little tiny bit of tension between our two lovebirds. But I love them and hate conflict so the tension will remain tiny. LOL. Also, apologies for any real DnD players. I have never played before so I hope the little scene I wrote is accurate. If not, cut me some slack and suspend your disbelief. =] I hope you all enjoyed this one. The next one has some fun scenes between different characters as well.
As always, I love to hear your thoughts/comments/feedback. Until next time, loves.