Author's Note: I wrote this a while back and posted it on AO3. I am just now getting around to cross posting it. My goal is to do weekly updates. This fic is inspired by Harry Styles song Late Night Talking. This is an AU Stranger Things Hellcheer fic. I just love Chrissy and Eddie. This story literally flowed out of me. I hope you enjoy.
From the outside looking in, Chrissy Cunningham was the perfect girl. She was kind, beautiful, came from a good family, captain of the cheerleading squad, and had the perfect boyfriend, Jason Carver, the star of the basketball team. She had it all… but that was last week.
This week Hawkins High was abuzz Monday morning with the news that the school's "it" couple broke up over the weekend. Everyone speculated as to what caused the breakup. There were countless rumors as to what happened. Chrissy heard a few as she walked the halls.
I heard he dumped her, after he proposed to her and she said no.
Definitely not true.
I heard he broke up with her because she wouldn't put out.
Kinda.
I heard she broke up with him because he was super controlling and has rage issues.
Sorta.
I heard that he broke up with her for Carol Carmichael.
Closer.
The truth was Chrissy had been growing sick of Jason. He didn't really care about her. He was always trying to control her every move. She got enough of that from her parents. He never listened to her. Everything was always on his terms. She was sick of it. Then after weeks of suspicion, Chrissy caught him cheating on her. That was the final straw.
Chrissy wasn't big into partying like Jason was and he was constantly dragging her to parties. When they first got together she put up with it because everything with them was new and exciting and she wanted to be around him. But the problem was he was hardly ever around at these parties.
It was always the same. When they would first arrive, he would dance with her for a couple of songs then disappear with his boys to get wasted, leaving her alone for the rest of the night. Then when it was time to go home, he would normally stumble his way over to her, too drunk to walk straight, and try to get her to have sex. When she would refuse, he would get mad, call her a prude and pass out somewhere. It's not that she didn't want to have sex with him, but she certainly wasn't going to do it with him while he was drunk and reeking of alcohol. Not exactly turn ons. Was a little romance too much to ask for?
Eventually she got tired of it and tried to talk to Jason about it. He promised he would do better. They struck a deal, he would take her on proper romantic dates and when there were parties she would go for a little while then leave so he could stay and have as much fun drinking as he wanted. It worked for a while. Until Chrissy heard a rumor that he hooked with someone at some rager over Christmas break. She didn't want to believe it. Jason promised her that it wasn't true and people were just trying to break them up because they were jealous. Then a month later, she saw Franny Franklin flirting with Jason pretty heavily after Chrissy told him she was leaving and kissed him goodnight. All her friends just repeated what Jason had told her before. People like Franny were jealous of them. He would never cheat on her. She was the perfect girlfriend and they were the perfect couple.
Last weekend is when the truth came out. There was victory party at Benny's, Chrissy was pretty tired after the game and told Jason she wasn't going to go. On her way home, she had a change of heart and decided to surprise him. When she got there, she couldn't find him anywhere. Jason's friends tried to convince her he was in the bathroom. But that lie was quickly dashed when a freshman, Lucas Sinclair, emerged from it. She found Jason on the kitchen floor with Carol Carmichael. It wasn't like she was really that surprised yet that didn't stop her from being pissed.
After being caught red handed, the asshole tried to follow after her."Chrissy! Wait!" He yelled. Chrissy was almost to her car when he finally caught up to her. "Babe, it wasn't what it looked like. I swear."
"Really Jason?! I am not that stupid. I know what I saw. You were screwing Carol on the kitchen floor!" Chrissy spat back at him. "How could you?"
Jason hardened at that. "Well what did you expect me to do? You're never in the 'mood.' We hardly ever do it. Our schedules are so demanding we don't have a lot of time to go on 'real dates' as you call them. And you never stay for any of these parties."
"Oh so it's my fault you are cheating on me? You're unbelievable."
"Chrissy!" He whined as he tried to take a step toward her.
Chrissy took a step back and interrupted whatever he was about to say. "Don't touch me. We are so done."
"Chris, come on. Don't do this. We can get past this. I love you."
"No you love you! We have been dating for four months. I know almost everything about you and you know nothing about me."
"That's not true." Jason argued.
"What is my favorite color?" Chrissy waited as Jason thought. She continued. "What about my favorite song?" Jason still hesitated. "See. This is why we are done. This is pretty basic stuff. If you really loved me, you would know these things and you would have never cheated on me." Chrissy got in her car and sped away.
Chrissy broke up with Jason Friday night and spent all day Saturday thinking about her life. She has always been the good girl. She always does what is expected of her. She made good grades, she didn't drink, she didn't smoke, she didn't do drugs, she went to church on Sunday. She constantly is trying to be this perfect person. And yet what does she have to show for it? She is only a cheerleader because her mom wanted her to be. She only went to those stupid parties because Jason wanted her to. He was so obsessed with appearances just like her parents who pretended they were the perfect family when that could be farther from the truth. Everyone in her life expected her to date Jason because he was popular and rich, become prom queen, graduate, marry someone with money (again someone like Jason) and be a housewife. She didn't want that.
She couldn't remember a single decision she made solely for herself, apart from breaking up with Jason last night. Her mother loved Jason and was so proud when Chrissy brought him home. Immediately after Chrissy broke up with him, her first thought wasn't about how she was sad that he cheated on her or how this would impact her social standing. Her first thought was Well mom's not going to like this. Who does that? She was done living her life the way other people wanted her to live it. To hell with everyone and their expectations.
The problem was Chrissy had gone so long doing what everyone else wanted her to do that she never stopped to think about what she really spent the rest of the weekend making a list of all the things she truly wanted to do and accomplish as the new and improved Chrissy Chunningham. There were simple, silly things like dress more edgy (and less June Cleaver), eat junk food, something her mother never allowed her to do. There were rebellious things such as skip school, smoke weed, get a tattoo. There were serious things like go to college, travel, have a career, get married, have kids. Finally there were scary things like maybe quit cheerleading (that one was still undecided). She knew most of it was pretty cliche but she didn't care. This was her life, her wants and dreams.
On Monday, Jason tried to talk to her at school, but Chrissy wasn't having it. By Wednesday he stopped trying. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Her friends supported her and no one treated her any differently to her relief. Though she was still going through the motions. As her list kept growing, the more overwhelming it became. Determined, she decided she would take baby steps, mark things off one by one.
When Friday came, Chrissy knew what the first thing she wanted to mark off her list. Smoke weed. She knew where to get it. Eddie Munson. Everyone at school called him a freak because he was loud, eccentric, in a rock band, and head of the Hellfire Club. It didn't help that Eddie was a third year senior either. He had long curly hair like Brain May and always wore a denim jacket with patches all over it. Chrissy has never spoken more than a few words to him in the whole time they've attended school together despite having several classes with him. Approaching him seemed very daunting at first. However the more she thought about it, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. They had second, fifth and sixth period together. He sat next to her in second period and behind her in fifth period. She would just pass him a note. Easy peasy.
Second period came and no Eddie. It shouldn't have surprised her because his attendance has never been the best. She knew he was at school today because she saw him this morning in the parking lot. He would often skip classes to do only god knows what. Not ready to give up yet, she decided to wait and see if he showed up for fifth period.
The bell for fifth period rings. Again no Eddie. Oh well. Ten minutes later, he comes barging through the door, startling half the class with his grand entrance.
"Mr. Munson, you're late." Mr. Harmond says disapprovingly.
"Apologies, Richard." Eddie replies causing a few to giggle. Taking his seat behind Chrissy, she can hear him settling into his desk and flipping through the textbook looking for the right page. Ask him now before you loose your nerve. She rips off a piece of paper and writes her message. She folds it and carefully passes it to him.
Eddie accepts it hesitantly. He opens it up and is flabbergasted by what he sees. Written plain as day in her loopy handwriting, Can I buy some weed from you? Chrissy Chunningham wants to buy drugs from him. No freaking way! Then again weirder things have happened in this town. He quickly writes his response, Meet me after school. There's picnic table in the woods behind the football field.
After school, Chrissy is really nervous as she heads into the woods to meet Eddie. She knows this is what she wanted but she's never done anything like this before. It is terrifying. What if they get caught? She finds the picnic table but doesn't see Eddie anywhere. She hears something in the distance. The woods are creepy and she doesn't like being out here alone. She takes a step back and runs into something. She lets out a yelp and turns around to find Eddie.
"Whoa, hey. Sorry." He chuckles. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay." Chrissy says, still a little frazzled.
They sit down at the table and Chrissy tries to calm her nerves. Eddie must can tell she's nervous because he says, "Hey it's okay. We're safe. No one ever comes out here. I promise."
"So how exactly does this work?" Chrissy asks.
"Just like any other old sale. Except cash only and for obvious reasons, no receipts." He pulls out the weed. "I'll give ya half an ounce for a twenty. Plenty of bang for your buck. Should last a while." Chrissy jumps when she hears a twig snap behind her. Eddie puts the bag away. These girls are always the same. "Hey we don't need to do this. Just give me the word and I'll walk away."
"Oh no. I don't want you to go. I-" Chrissy stops to try to find the right words. She looks down embarrassed for being so jumpy. What was she thinking? She can't just change overnight. She's still the same scared goody two shoes she's always been. She remembers Eddie is waiting for her to continue. "Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?"
Her eyes look up to meet his. He looks very intrigued. "Uh you know, just… on a daily basis." He smiles at her. "I kinda feel like I am losing my mind right now doing a drug deal with Chrissy Chunningham, the queen of Hawkin's High." He stops for a second, then his tone is shifts. "You know, this isn't the first time we've… hung out?"
Her brow furrows. "No?"
"You don't remember?" Eddie asks. Of course she doesn't.
"I'm sorry." She shakes her head apologetically.
"That's okay." Suddenly he plunges a fake dagger into his heart and falls off the bench into the leaves. Chrissy gasps, taken aback by his sudden outburst. Eddie rolls and pushes himself up. "I wouldn't remember me either, Chrissy." She laughs as he brushes off his arms. He looks at her and asks playfully. "Honestly, do I have something in my hair?" He brushes the leaves out of his wild mane making her laugh even more. "You don't remember me?" He asks one more time in disbelief.
She chuckles feeling really bad she can't remember him. "I'm sorry!"
"Middle school. Talent show. You were doing this cheer thing." He unenthusiastically pretends to wave pom poms making her giggle. "It was pretty cool actually. And I was with my band…"
"Corroded Coffin." She blurts out. "Oh my god."
He claps his hands victoriously. "You do remember!"
"With a name like that how could I forget?"
"I dunno. You're a freak."
Chrissy gapes at him, no one has ever called her a freak before. She knows he was just teasing though and says, "You looked so…"
"Different." Eddie finishes her sentence. "Yeah. Well my hair was buzzed and I didn't have these sweet old tatties yet." He pulls down his collar to reveal a tattoo on his chest.
"You played guitar right?"
"Yup still do, still do. You should come see us. We play at The Hideout on Tuesdays. It's pretty cool. We actually get a crowd of about five… drunks." Chrissy giggles. "It's not exactly the Garden, but you gotta start somewhere right?"
"You know, you're not what I thought you'd be like." She admits with a smile plastered onto her face.
He covers his face with his hair. "Mean and scary?" She nods. He makes his way back over to the picnic table. "Yeah, well, I actually kinda thought you'd be mean and scary too."
"Me?" Her voice high like she doesn't believe him.
"Terrifying." He plops back down. "So in other good news, flattery works with me, so twenty-five percent discount for the half. Fifteen bucks. You're robbing me blind here."
She giggles more. "Okay…" She hands him the money and takes the bag. She thinks for a second, feeling self conscious again, says, "I don't know if this is normal or not. But uh… would you maybe… want to… smoke it with me?"
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "What about your cheerleader friends? Or that asshat that you call a boyfriend?"
Chrissy chuckles. Who knew Eddie Munson was so funny? She matches his playfulness from earlier. "Didn't you hear? The king and queen broke up last weekend."
Eddie is genuinely shocked by the news. He hadn't heard. Then again he's not very intune with the Hawkins High rumor mill. Majority of the time he could care less but gossip about his arch nemesis is always interesting. "First, congratulations, milady. Second, he is not our king. He is more like a duke… or an earl… or some shit like that. But definitely not our king." He pauses for a moment, thinking. "Yup… he's definitely a duke of some kind… let's call him… the duke of dicktown, shall we?"
Chrissy giggles, absorbing everything he just said. It's no secret that Eddie and Jason can't stand each other. "Well if I am the queen, then who is the king?" She asks very curious to know his answer.
"Isn't it obvious?" He says stretching out his arms as if he's clearly referring to himself. "...Our mascot, Tony the Tiger." Causing her to burst out in laughter. He is making her laugh so much, her cheeks are starting to hurt. Eddie finds he likes making her laugh. "Although he is more of a silent, supportive king. Everyone knows the queen is the one who calls all the shots anyways."
She smiles at him. He is kinda cute the more she looks at him. "Well thank you. And I guess you're right. I should probably smoke it with my friends. But… I don't think I would have as much fun as I am having now."
Pride swells within Eddie at her words. He is fascinated by her. She keeps surprising him. He's not sure this is the best idea. But it is awfully tempting… What the hell. He leans a little bit. "Well we can't have that, can we? Your humble servant," He stands and bows, "is at your service. When would you like to do this?"
"We have the championship game tonight. Maybe after? If you're not busy?"
Eddie nods, "Sure. That works out kinda great. It's the conclusion of Hellfire's campaign tonight. Meet me after the game in the parking lot."
"Sounds good. See ya then." She waves at him and walks back to the parking lot leaving Eddie completely awestruck at what just happened. Not only did he just do a drug deal with Chrissy freaking Cunningham, he now has plans with her to do said drugs. He pinches himself to make sure this isn't some crazy dream he's having. He feels the sting. Nope this is definitely real.