Dammit. Sam's keys weren't in her purse. She had checked three times, while sitting in a pile on the porch in front of her house, and they definitely weren't there. She tried to remember what she had done with them after school yesterday. Her mind had been elsewhere after Nick had asked her out, but she remembered putting them into the bowl next to the front door like she always did when she got home. Had she picked them up this morning before leaving for school? She couldn't remember. Dammit!

Nick had totally messed her up by asking her out. Why had he done that? Boys didn't do that with her. She was weird. Everyone knew that. Boys didn't ask weird girls out. Especially boys like Nick. He'd have no reason to do it. Unless... It was probably a Carrie situation. Fine, she had dodged a bucket of pig's blood by turning him down, but he had still managed to muddle her mind for the evening. And the next day too if she had forgotten to bring her house keys with her this morning. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

She gave up on her purse and considered how to solve this problem. Long-term was easy, she would change her process. The key bowl was her parents' process. They were the ones who kept keys in their pockets or changed bags day-to-day so they needed a place to put their keys overnight. She followed along with it because they had instructed her to do so since she was a child but she would be eighteen in two months. Nearly an adult. She should have a process of her own. She always used the same purse, so she should just leave her keys in there. She calmed a little now that one part of the solution was in place. The short-term problem was also fixable. Her mother had given a spare key to the Scotts. She would walk to their house and ask for it. There! She had a plan for both the long and the short-term. She returned her purse to her bag, tucked her oversized hardback book under her arm, and started to walk.

Unfortunately, going to the Scotts would involve talking to people. Sam had not been planning to talk to people this evening. It was the main reason that she had stayed so late in the library. She knew her parents would be out for the evening and if she got home after six thirty, there was a good chance that she could spend the night without having to have any conversations. She needed the quiet time to process what had happened with Nick. School was too busy and noisy, and her parents had insisted on a family dinner last night so she hadn't the opportunity to really think about what his motivation might be or whether she should expect any repercussions for saying no. But her evening's plan for trying to understand what was going on and her own feelings was shot to hell now.

It would take her twenty minutes to walk to the Scotts' house. On the way, she practised what she would say when she got there. If it was just Gareth at home, it would be easy. He was quiet and wouldn't ask any questions of her. "Hi Gareth. I forgot my keys this morning. Could I get the spare that my mother left with your parents, please?" she muttered under her breath. He would give her the key and she would thank him and leave. Maybe she would still have enough time to process the past day before her parents came home around ten.

On the other hand, if it was Mr and Mrs Scott, there would be more conversation required. They were friends of her parents and would ask questions of Sam about how she was doing, how school was going, whether she had plans for the weekend. She would need to be polite and interested in the conversation. It would be easiest if she could stick to school. Adults didn't want to hear that you were spending the whole weekend doing homework and walking in the woods on your own. You were supposed to be out socialising with friends. She practised steering the conversation towards academic topics, trying to anticipate the questions they might ask based on her previous interactions with them.

As she neared the Scotts' house, she could see lights on in multiple rooms. It looked like Mr and Mrs Scott were home so she steeled herself for a more involved conversation. She was tired and hungry, and this would take some effort but if she was prepared, she might be on her way soon. She just had to keep her goal in mind. Key, home, quiet time.

She stepped up to the front door of the house and ran her fingers over her hair to smooth it. Looking down at her sweater and jeans, she assessed herself. She looked ok. There was nothing out of the ordinary to draw attention to her. Apart from the library book. It was too big to fit in her bag with her schoolbooks, so she slipped it from under her arm and cradled it against her chest. Front cover facing inwards was safest. That way it was less likely to become a focal point for conversation. Fantasy books were not a totally weird thing for girls to read, unless you were a popular girl. Fortunately, Sam was far from popular. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A couple of sharp raps. Fewer and they wouldn't hear, and she'd have to figure out the right amount of time to wait before knocking again. More and it would be weird. Be as not weird as you can be.

After a couple of seconds, she heard the sound of the lock turning, and she prepared to greet Gareth or one of his parents. The door opened and Eddie Munson was standing in front of her. Her mind completely blanked. She hadn't prepared for this. What was he doing here? She had no script for Eddie Munson.

Her eyes flickered to his, then to his mouth that was curving into a sneer...? No, a smile. His lips parted, "Hi." It was a soft pleasant sound like an exhalation, and his lips hugged the shape of it. She flicked her gaze to somewhere safer. The logo on his t-shirt was a demon. The edges were curved like his lips, contrasting with the sharp tips of the horns protruding from its forehead.

She realised she had been standing staring at Eddie Munson's t-shirt for the past several seconds without saying a word, let alone acknowledging his greeting, and cursed herself silently. Pushing down the rising sense of mortification because it would do her no good, she forced her eyes back up to his face. She couldn't make eye contact but that was fine because she could just look at his smiling mouth. People didn't always need you to make eye contact with them. Sometimes just looking at their face or close to their eyes would do. "Hi." She swallowed. "Um... could I speak to Mrs Scott, please? Or Mr Scott?"

Eddie turned and yelled over his shoulder, "You've got a visitor, Mrs S!"

A second later, Mrs Scott appeared at the kitchen doorway, a tea towel in one hand as she dried a dining plate. "Hi Samantha. Come on in. Is everything ok?"

Eddie made a sweeping gesture with his hand, indicating that Sam should step into the hallway so she did. Sam calmed a bit. Mrs Scott was nice. She still called her Samantha rather than Sam, which is what she preferred, but that was the same with everyone. It isn't a big deal unless you make it one, as her father would say. This would be fine. She would get her script back on track and ask for the key and she would get it and go home. Just like that. Fine.

"Hi Mrs Scott." She made the effort to smile because adults responded well to polite friendly girls. "I left my house key at home this morning and my parents are out this evening. I was wondering if I could get the spare key that my mother left with you?"

"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. Your mom took it back a couple of weeks ago when your aunt came to visit. She hasn't dropped it back yet." Sam had met Mrs Scott enough to be able to make a decent attempt at deciphering her facial expressions, and she thought that the look she was giving Sam was one of friendly concern. "What time will your parents be home?"

"Oh... Um, they should be back around ten," Sam's voice was barely more than a whisper. She hadn't anticipated this either. What was she going to do now?

"Well, you're welcome to stay here until then. The boys are just putting on a movie, aren't you boys?" Mrs Scott looked over Sam's shoulder.

Sam turned to find that Gareth had joined Eddie in the hallway. "Yeah, a double bill of American Werewolf in London and Evil Dead."

"Well then…" Mrs Scott patted Sam on the shoulder, and Sam tried not to wince. People didn't like it when you reminded them that you didn't like to be touched. Not wanting to be touched was weird. "A bit horrific but I'm sure you have a strong stomach, Sam. Now, have you eaten?"

Sam hadn't but she could see that the Scotts had finished dinner already. Her stomach felt hollow but if she said no, they'd have to prepare something especially for her. She didn't want to inconvenience them. It would make her the centre of attention and she hated nothing more than that. "Yes, I did," she said with what she hoped was a convincing smile.

"Great, let me get you a drink and you can join the movie night. Diet Coke, isn't it?" Sam nodded and Mrs Scott turned to the fridge.

Sam caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Eddie bend over to look at her chest. Why was he staring at her chest? She could feel heat starting to bloom in the same area he was staring at and begged it not to rise past her neckline. Eddie leaned further forwards, bent almost ninety degrees at the waist, his eyes less than a foot from her. What was he doing?! Suddenly he looked up at her with a grin, "I read that last summer. It was great!"

What?!

He straightened up and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, bouncing on his heels. "Better than her last novel. She had a couple of short stories in Heavy Metal that were set in the same universe too. If you like Elven, let me know and I'll dig them up for you." He gestured vaguely towards the book she had been hugging to her chest. The book that he had been reading the back cover of because she had the front turned in towards herself. Not checking out her chest. Checking out her library book. Of course. How stupid was she to think that a boy like Eddie Munson would be checking out her chest?

Sam nodded and Eddie disappeared down the hallway as Mrs Scott retrieved a can of Diet Coke from the back of the fridge and handed it to her. "The last cold one. I'll pop a few more in there for you, sweetie. Just grab them whenever you want one. And tell the boys to knock it off if they start getting rowdy. You know how they can be." She winked at Sam as if they were sharing some deep secret. Sam had no idea how boys could be. Just like girls, she guessed.

Sam whispered "Thanks" and Mrs Scott directed her to the den at the end of the hall.

She paused outside of room for a moment. Gareth and his friends hadn't invited her to spend the evening with them, his mother had. What if they didn't want her there? What excuse could she come up with to leave? She bit her lip and considered her options, before raising her head and consciously adjusting her posture. Maybe if she acted more confident, like she was meant to be there, she would be ok. And if they were watching movies, then she didn't have to talk to them. She could maybe even relax a bit.

She pushed the door to the den open. The room was almost pitch black except for the fuzzy grey light coming from the TV. As her eyes adjusted, she saw Gareth kneeling in front of the TV unit, switching channels to the VCR player. Jeff was sitting on the armchair and Jim was lying on the floor, his head propped up against the base of the sofa. There was a can of soda next to the beanbag so she guessed that was Gareth's seat. Eddie was sprawled across the sofa, but he moved his legs as he looked up at her and nodded his head towards the end of the sofa nearest the door. Ok... breathe... this is fine. You can sit and watch and zone out. She placed her bag and book out of the way against the wall and sat down on the sofa. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she could see Eddie watching her. Had she gotten it wrong...? Did he not mean for her to sit down there?

"Is this ok?" Her voice was low. He nodded at her. Ok, she was imagining things. Constantly having to second guess yourself made it easy to do that. She popped the top on her can of soda and sipped it. Her stomach gave a weak rumble. She closed her eyes... Shut up, just shut up. She opened her eyes again and glanced around the room. No-one seemed to have noticed. But Eddie was still staring at her. She drew her legs up under her trying not to take up too much space. It was a three seater sofa so there was a seat between them but he was sprawled across half of that and she didn't want to constrain him further. He had had the entire sofa to himself before she had joined the group and stolen half of it from him. He had indicated that it was ok but people did that sometimes. They implied or outright said things were one way and she was just supposed to magically know that they weren't.

"I need popcorn!" Eddie hopped up from his end of the sofa suddenly.

"Fucks sakes, man. You already ate enough at dinner to feed a small village! Where the hell are you going to put popcorn?!" Jeff rolled his eyes at Eddie.

"What can I say? I'm a growing boy!" Eddie stepped over Jim.

"Salty!" Gareth shouted over his shoulder as he settled back into the beanbag.

"Guest's choice, I reckon," Eddie turned at the door and leaned over Sam. His lips were inches from her ear when he spoke, and she could feel his warm breath against her skin, "Sweet or salty, Sam?" She shivered.

At least the question was easy. She liked salty popcorn and that was what Gareth wanted anyway. It was his house. He shouldn't have to put up with something he didn't like just because she was a guest. "Salty, please."

"Because you're sweet enough..." Eddie's voice was low.

What?!

"Jesus Christ, Eddie!" Jeff threw a look at him. That one was easy to decipher... disgust. She was used to that look from people in school.

Eddie raised his middle finger at Jeff and pulled the door open to the hallway before disappearing through it.

"Sorry about him." Jeff stared at her.

"He's a dickhead." Gareth looked over his shoulder at her.

She wilted under the attention from the two boys. Jim was the only one who wasn't staring at her, likely because he couldn't see her from where he was lying on the floor. She nodded at Jeff and Gareth and dropped her head to stare at her soda can while the movie trailers played. Why had Eddie said that? It was the type of thing that people said in romance films. Flirting. Guys didn't flirt with her. They didn't ask her out. They didn't stare at her chest. Her head reeled from the past day. She still didn't know why Nick had asked her out... and now she didn't know why Eddie was saying flirty things to her. Were they all in on something? A big joke at her expense? She could imagine that of Nick. He was one of the moderately popular boys at school. More popular than Sam anyway. But Eddie...? As far as she could tell, he hated most of the popular kids. On the other hand, she could be wrong about that. She often struggled to read people, to understand why they did things. Maybe there was a variable here that she wasn't aware of...

As the opening credits of Evil Dead started, Eddie reappeared with a big bowl of popcorn. Jim waved his hand towards the popcorn as Eddie sat down on the far end of the sofa. Sam's stomach clenched. The smell was delicious and she was more aware than ever that she hadn't eaten since lunchtime. Eddie held the bowl out to her, "Ladies first." Jim waved more animatedly. "Fuck off, Jim! You weren't raised by wolves." Sam took a handful of the warm popcorn and popped a few bits into her mouth as Eddie passed the bowl around to the rest of the group. Once it made its way back to him, he placed it between them on the sofa after taking a small handful for himself.

Sam tried not to devour the popcorn too quickly. It wasn't the same as having dinner but it was filling some of the void in her stomach. She had mostly zoned out from the movie. Evil Dead was one of her favourites movies but she found the start too slow. It would pick up soon when the curse started to take effect and she could focus again on it. She finished the popcorn in her hand and glanced over at the bowl, debating whether to take another handful. It was still more than half full and the guys seem to have forgotten it was there. As she debated, Eddie nudged the bowl towards her with the back of his hand. She risked taking a look at him. He was apparently watching the movie but as she looked at him, his eyes flickered back to her.

Ohhh... She took a handful of popcorn while she reconsidered his actions. He must have heard her stomach rumbling and realised she was hungry. That was embarrassing but he hadn't made fun of her. Had he gone to get the popcorn specifically because he knew she needed food? That was... kind. It was the type of thing that people did for friends or younger siblings. That was it! He was treating her like a little sister! Maybe Gareth's sister since their parents were friends, even though she was a year older than him. Sam felt a little ache of disappointment in her chest, offsetting her relief at having identified the motivations for his actions and words. She ignored it. Logically, it made more sense that he viewed her like Gareth's sister than... well, it was ridiculous to think that he could be attracted to her. There was no universe outside of her own head where Eddie Munson could be attracted to her. The 'sweet enough' comment was still a bit odd but she could just about imagine that it was the type of thing that someone might say to a very young sibling. As far as she was aware, Eddie was an only child like herself so maybe he just didn't have much experience of how to treat younger sisters. She knew that she wasn't the only person who said embarrassing things from time to time. Other people did it too and that was probably just what Eddie had done. And then Jeff had corrected him on it. It wouldn't happen again...

Suddenly something on screen startled Jim and he let out a short scream of surprise. The other three boys jumped and swore. Jeff reached over the side of the armchair to swat at Jim's leg. "Jesus, are you trying to give us all heart attacks, you idiot?!"

Sam smiled. She hadn't jumped. She knew this film like the back of her hand. There was nothing in it that could startle her. Eddie leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Nothing scares you, does it, Sam?"

She turned to stare at him with wide eyes. Did he not realise...? Everything scared her. Talking to people terrified her. Trying to navigate their emotions and responses exhausted her more than trying to formulate an escape plan from a hoard of zombies. A guy she had no interest in asking her out scared her so much that she had been able to concentrate on nothing else for the past day while she tried to figure out why he had done it. Until she found herself sitting on the other end of the sofa from a guy that she was interested in, who was saying and doing confusing things to her, and then that was the only thing she could think of. The thought of admitting to anyone how she felt caused her stomach to drop. She was so scared that anyone would use that to hurt her. And she'd never see it coming because she didn't understand people like everyone else did. The part of her that should be able to see how other people would likely act in a given situation was broken, and without that she was defenceless. By comparison, horror movies were easy to navigate. They had plots and easily understood character motivations. They advertised their scary parts. Other people didn't do that. Other people struck like unseen monsters and what Sam couldn't see, she couldn't defend herself from.