When my alarm trilled at 7:30 am for the last time after three rounds of either me or Eddie smacking it onto snooze, I groaned and peeled my eyes open. I could smell the BO from my pits immediately after the warm night and tried to covertly untangle myself from Eddie's arms to go for a shower. "Nope, not moving" Eddie mumbled sleepily, slinging a leg over my thighs and tightening his grip around me, pulling me backwards. His messy morning hair fell around my face as I turned to look at him. "C'mon I stink!" I whined, his lips twitched a little, "Sounds like a you problem sweetheart." Shaking my arms free, I lifted them and pressed my pits to his face, making him physically recoil and pull a face, "Gross, you do stink!" I laughed, "see! I can't be sitting in my mom's car for the entire ride to college smelling this bad." Eddie dramatically sighed and released me, remaining in my bed whilst I dashed to shower. Eddie took less than 20 minutes to get dressed and tie his hair into a low pony tail, using one of my dark pink scrunchies, then proceeded to watch me intently do my own make up and hair, his head resting atop his folded hands as he lay on my bed fully clothed. "You nervous?" he asked when I'd been standing in front of my wardrobe for a solid 10 minutes without pulling anything out. I sighed and wiped my hands down my face, one hand resting on the pic at my throat, "Yeah, a little." Eddie rolled off the bed and came to stand behind me, his strong tattooed arms wrapping around my waist, "That's okay - it's good to be nervous. I'm totally shitting myself already and I'm not even goin anywhere for another week!" Resting my head against his chest, I let my eyes drift closed. "I just...don't wanna show up looking like shit on move-in day, but I already packed all my good clothes so all I have left is...this." The gang had helped Robin and I pack up our stuff a few days ago, the bags and boxes had been stuffed in my mom's car since. Eddie placed a soft kiss on my cheek before pushing away from me, I semi-turned to see him tugging off his Hellfire shirt. "Wear this with those stripy shorts and your converse, you'll look perfect." My heart started melting, I chewed my lip, "are you sure? you're not gonna get it back until you get to Canada, i know you've got one last night with the guys too, don't you wanna wear it?" Eddie rolled his eyes and tossed the shirt to me, "the world won't end if I turn up to hellfire outta uniform, one time." I gasped in mock horror, "who are you and what have you done with the real Edward Munson?" Eddie shook his head and shrugged as I pulled the shirt over my head, inhaling his thick scent sticking to it. "see - perfect" he said quietly, rubbing my hip gently. I took his face into my hands, smoothing my fingers over his facial hair and pulled his head closer for a deep kiss. Eddie consumed me like a black hole, cradling me tightly against his bare chest whilst his rough lips travelled from my mouth to my clavicle, making my knees go weak. I automatically whimpered his name and he smiled against my skin.
"RAIN GET YOUR ASS IN THE CAR IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES OR I GO WITHOUT YOU!" My mom's voice boomed up the stairs, shocking us. "C'mon Raindrop, can't be making you late." Eddie said softly and turned to my wardrobe to pull out one of his hoodies I'd stolen and shoving it over his head. When I bent to pick up the last of my bags, Eddie jumped over to grab it first, "let me." I rolled my eyes at his chivalry but let him carry it anyway. I'd carefully covered the hickeys on my neck with makeup but my cheeks still burned a little when we met my mom outside, conscious of anything that may give away what we got up to last night. "I was so conked out last night i didn't even hear when you guys came in - what'd you get up to?" she asked us, taking the bag from Eddie and squishing it into the trunk. Eddie choked on his own saliva, I racked my brain, "we uhh caught a drive in movie, went to the diner, hung out a little." My mom raised an eyebrow at me, "yeah I'm sure all you did on your last night together for a week was 'hang out'." My cheeks burned even more and Eddie rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding looking anywhere near my mom. "C'mon kid lets go get Robin and hit the road." she said and climbed into her car. I turned to Eddie, stroking a lock of hair from his face, "I love you weirdo." Eddie's eyes sparkled, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles, "I love you too doofus." Before I got into the car, I shot Eddie a cautionary glare, "When you head on up next week, you better take good care of my baby." Eddie laughed, "I promise I'll drive your car extra carefully. Now get, or your mom will explode." he playfully slapped my ass as I ducked into my mom's car. Driving away from my house, a wave of sadness hit me, not about leaving hawkins, but about (temporarily) leaving Eddie. "Next time you're trying to cover hickeys, use a green concealer as the base first, works better." My mom winked at me, making me blush like crazy, "thanks for the tip" I managed to cough out, making her laugh at me.
We pulled up to Robin's house soon after and found her and Steve sitting on her porch steps, I clenched my jaw and tried to remain totally calm, not expecting to see him. My mom got out of the car and shot me a weird glance when I remained seated, I quickly jumped out, trying to act casually. "Hey - what're you doing here?" I asked, almost a little too accusatorily. Steve had his arm slung around Robin's shoulders, "I'm here to say a proper goodbye to my two best pals, obviously. It would be rude to leave without saying anything at all." I was the only one who caught what he really meant by that, I shot him an apologetic look, feeling bad about not waking him to say goodbye last night. "Lemme take that" My mom reached for Robin's last bag, lugging it to the car and successfully cramming it in, then getting back into the car to give us some privacy. "Your parent's not coming out to wave you off?" I asked Robin, looking around for them. "Nah they left already." Robin said with a pissed off tone. Steve's arm tightened around her shoulder. Sensing something was up I crept closer, putting my arms around the both of them and creating a little circle, "What happened?" Robin shrugged, eyes on the ground as she spoke, "Last night was kinda okay at first - we had pizza and watched a movie together without any issues. Before I headed to bed my mom gave me a hug, like really tight, and told me to enjoy college. My dad gave me a one-arm hug too but he'd had a couple beers with his pizza and snorted when mom said that. He said to me 'don't be expecting many calls from either of us, and don't call here asking for me, I won't be here'." Confused, I looked to Steve for an answer, he raised his brows and looked at Robin, her eyes still fixed on the ground. "I was confused, and then mom started screaming at him about not telling me yet and it turned into a whole thing, y'know. Basically they've filed for divorce - finally. I don't know why mom wanted to keep it secret from me, I've literally been waiting for this my whole life." With a little more understanding I rubbed my hand up and down her back, supportively. "Even so, its okay to still feel shit about your parents divorcing, Robs." Robin laughed in a strange way, "I'm not sad about that. I'm mad, but not about that. I'm mad because my dad said I'm the reason they're divorcing; not like they've absolutely hated eachother this entire time or anything. Nah they're divorcing because what's the point pretending to be a family if I'm not interested in sticking around and putting the effort in myself? The only reason they've stayed together in such blissful harmony all these years is to raise me - and because - get this it's a real barrel of laughs - my mom threatened to go to the police with some info she supposedly has about his shady work dealings if he left her after they found out I'm a lesbian, because she didn't want to be in a house alone with me in case I corrupted her, but she couldn't exactly get rid of me." White hot anger bubbled within me, I swung towards the front door ready to kick it in and unleash said anger onto those two mouth breathers, but Steve grabbed my arm and dug his nails in, "They're not here, remember."
I clenched and unclenched my fists, breathing slowly in and out, then turned back to robin and wrapped her in my arms. "Fuck them. They don't deserve you, they've never deserved you. I'm your family - we're you're family. Not them. And we're gonna have the best fucking college years ever, promise." My mom had been watching us the whole time, she instinctively knew something was going on and had crept towards us, hearing the whole thing. She came to rest her hands on Robin's shoulders, "I'm your momma now hon. Yours too Steve - never met your mom but given how little I've ever witnessed her pay any attention to you - you're my kid now. C'mon we're running late, gotta hit the road." She headed back to the car after Steve gave her a bear hug, towering over her. Steve inhaled deeply when he hugged us both, then walked us to the car, "Can't believe you're leaving me here with the kids - always the goddamned babysitter aren't I?" We both flashed him wicked smiles and climbed into the car. "You love it and you know it" I shouted out of the window. "Don't forget to call us, dingus" Robin called out too. My mom pushed in her Madonna tape and immediately started singing along with Robin, windows rolled down for everyone to hear their terribly out of tune singing. I joked around, slamming my hands over my ears and rolling my eyes dramatically before giving in and joining them. "Alright, the next tape is my choice and you're not allowed to argue" I said, lifting a Black Sabbath tape from my pocket that Eddie had given me a while ago. They both immediately groaned in protest. Surprisingly Robin fell asleep two songs into it and didn't wake for the rest of it, her head resting on my shoulder and her hair tickling my chin as I slouched down too. My mom caught my eye in the mirror and winked at me, turning the music down low, "Didn't even remember to say goodbye to Hawkins when we officially passed the line, bit late now." I laughed, "damn what a shame."