The end of May quickly came around since we returned to Canada after the funeral, Robin and I had been swamped with college work and spent our free time hanging out with the small group of new friends we had made; Eddie and Adam completed the record and had been playing shows all over Canada and a couple other nearby places; and Max called me every Tuesday evening, although she didn't talk much, and I could always hear 'Running up that hill' by Kate Bush playing in the background on the stereo. Robin's alarm clock woke me up at 9am, but truthfully I'd been lying awake with my eyes closed for maybe two hours already, my mind bouncing between thoughts about going back to Hawkins for the summer. Would Gareth and Annie be there? Would Steve be different around us now, since we've been gone? Is Robin gonna be safe staying with her mom in her house? Where am I gonna sleep - like I don't mind at all that Max now lives in my bedroom now, but I'm gonna be there for three months and Eddie and I definitely need privacy. Robin's eruption of yawning disrupted these thoughts, she sprang up and wiped sleep out of her eyes, looking at me from across the room "Mornin' you ready for the drive today?" I did a few stretches, still sitting up in bed, and nodded with a yawn of my own, "Yeah, Eddie's gonna take the second leg because of how late the show finished last night." We both tumbled out of our beds and grabbed our shower caddies, heading towards the dorm bathrooms. "How was it? I thought you'd be staying over at his place to be honest" she asked. We reached the bathrooms and found that for once they were pretty much empty. "It was amazing, as usual. He's got such amazing chemistry with Adam on stage, and all the other guys too. It's so fucking cool watching him up there in those tight pants and when he wears that crop top? holy shit I go feral everytime, like a goddamned groupie." Robin laughed and stepped into a shower cubicle next to mine, shouting over the steaming water, "So why didn't you stay over and ravage him after the show?" I bit my lip with a smile, remembering last night, my insides twisting with delight. "Didn't need to - dragged him back to the van straight after and jumped his bones. Adam was having a few guys over for Eds last night here so I thought I'd leave them to their bro time."
The hallways were loud and packed with other students lugging their things to their cars or taxis, eager to get home for the summer. We'd packed our stuff up days ago in order to get outta there fast and with as little trips back and forth as possible; my mom had offered to make her own way here and help us out but Max needed her more. After lugging all our shit to my car, filling it dangerously to its limits, we drove to Eddie's place. The door opened as soon as we pulled up, a hungover looking Adam rubbing his blonde beard and wearing his scruffy pjs stood there with a cigarette in his hand. "Sup dude" I greeted him, Robin following me entering and Adam nodding at us in greeting. There were six other guys splayed out on the floor, some smoking, some sleeping, some eating leftover pizza, all very obviously hungover from their farewell party for Eddie. "Hey you guys, want some pizza?" One of the older looking ones asked us, Robin blanched at the thought of cold pizza at this time of day and shook her head vehemently. I also shook my head, baring my teeth "Nah man, we're good." Another guy named Tom bellowed, "MUNSON YOUR GIRLF-PARTNER IS HERE!" I smiled at him appreciatively for correcting himself - out of all the guys here he was the only one I really knew because he played the drums and both Eddie and I were totally in love with his neon green mohawk. Eddie scuttled into the room with his bags and guitar case - the rest of his stuff was staying here until Eddie came back in the first week of august to help move everything to the new apartment - Robin and I would be joining them a week later. Out of them all, Eddie looked the least fucked up after last night, he'd actually showered and tied his thick hair into a bun, wearing black sweatpants with one of the t-shirts they sold at their shows. His chocolate eyes quickly flicked up and down my body - also wearing sweatpants and a baggy WASP shirt - remembering our little party in the van last night. Robin and I helped him squeeze his bags and himself into my overflowing car, the guys all came out to wave us off too.
~A couple of weeks later~
Since we'd returned to Hawkins, I had been spending my days working at the video store with Steve, Robin, and two of the kids he'd hired when we'd left, and when I wasn't working I was either helping my mom redecorate my old bedroom so that it was more suited to Max, or I was with Max trying to get her to open up to me. Ever since her mom had died, Max had blamed herself and isolated herself from the world, except for when she had therapy during school each week. At school she totally withdrew from the gang, barely even spoke to them, and spent all of her free time at her mom's grave, always with her headphones on listening to the same song. Every night, Eddie and I would lay tangled together in his bed in Wayne's trailer, planning out how we would decorate our bedroom In our apartment. During his days, Eddie got his spot back in the tattoo studio and then spent three to five hours every evening with the Hellfire Club. The look of pure joy on Eddie's face when the new and old members of Hellfire Club applauded his return, was something I'd never forget. They immediately began a campaign he had been planning for months, he was so elated to be taking the reigns again, although he was pretty gutted that Mike is going to California in a few days to be with Will for the summer. Also back in Hawkins for the summer was Jason and his sheep, Nancy, Vicky, and Chrissy Cunningham. Since that night in the woods, when I'd discovered the true reason Eddie and Chrissy were spending so much time together, Chrissy had gone travelling for the rest of that summer before going back to college where she now and then would call Eddie for a quick catch up. As far as I knew, Nobody was aware of her abortion last year, and she wasn't in a relationship, but Eddie told me a while ago that she was dealing with a lot of stress and pressure, and had started sleeping with Jason again.