9 July 1985
Music Shop
Joan had dreamt about that night over and over again wondering if she could have done anything to save anyone. From Billy's mind invasion, she had known that Heather had already been... absorbed gruesomely into the Mind Flayer. She got to watch through Billy's eyes as Heather's body was forced to move forward towards that beast, her bones cracking in unimaginable ways and her skin flaying from the bone as she was murdered to become part of something horrifying. Joan would never forget the little scream she had head in the distant corners of Billy's mind.
What if Joan had just gotten help that night at dinner?
And what if she hadn't ran at the mall that night? Could she have done anything to save at the very least Billy who had apparently fought the monster off?
If he had been strong enough to fight it, why couldn't she have been there to pull him away in the first place or get the kids out of there safely?
Why did she run when things got hard?
All of the coulds, shoulds, and woulds plagued Joan's dreams along with a certain blonde hair freshman with blood dripping from her nose and flashing lights illuminating the horrific face that left an imprint on in her mind. Part of Joan wanted to tell someone that she was from the future for the main reason being that there was something wrong and now that she knew what flashing lights meant...
She needed to get back to 2022 and save her friends.
But first, Joan had decided after waking up one morning dripping in sweat and breathing like she had participated in a marathon that a trip to the local music store was in order. It had been one of the very few shops that managed to stay open through the mall's takeover, struggling to stay up, and thankfully the little shop on the corner lived. Mr. Turner sold instruments, music books, and everything you needed to fix your musical instruments, and would even fix them too. Next to his store was Mr. Davis' record shop, followed by the Family Video store that Robin and Steve worked at.
The Henderson piano was just out of tune and it was driving her insane. It wasn't by much, but she had snapped at Dustin a little too harshly when he had said "it's not a big deal" and she knew what it was like trying to hide tears. It was a big deal for Joan because that was all she could do to calm the feeling of pure anxiety rushing through her veins like a shot of heroin.
The walkman only did so much to placate her emotions.
All she could do was pray that Mr. Turner could tune pianos, knew someone who could, or at the very least had the tools to do so herself. She had only helped her teacher do it once before and that was a few years ago, but fuck it.
Joan needed that piano.
The familiar parking lot came into view and Joan turned on her turn signal, before slamming on the breaks with a gasp. The vehicle behind her came to a screeching halt and Joan was left with heaving breaths coming from her chest as she stared wide eyed at where she had thought she had see a familiar blonde-
"Oi! Henderson!" The annoyed voice woke Joan up from her head and the taps had her snapping over with horror on her face to see a very familiar sight, but with a twist. Once again, there was Eddie Munson tapping on her window, but this time his face was twisted into a scowl and he was definitely unhappy. Joan hurriedly rolled down her window half way. "What the fuck, Henderson?!"
"S-sorry! I thought, I thought I saw..." She trailed off, glancing back at where she had seen Kaleigh just seconds before and shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Joan didn't know how to explain anything of why she almost caused a wreck and her hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I..."
"Is this about the fire?" He was soft, so soft that Joan had looked over at Eddie with wide eyes and examined the kindness on his face with incredulity. Eddie cleared his throat, understanding passing over his face, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I'm sorry you had... that you were there..."
"Y-yeah..." Joan agreed quietly, swallowing down and letting the 'fire' take blame for whatever hallucination decided to invade her brain. "What... what are you doing here?"
"Oh, uh, besides watching out for lunatic drivers like you?" Eddie joked with a grin, bringing a strand of hair under his nose playfully and playing with it. "I was headed to the the music store, need a new string for my babygirl."
"You got a girlfriend?" Joan asked in surprise, before her face went warm in embarrassment. Never before had Joan said something so bitchy, but the worlds blurted out before she could even thing about what she was saying. "I-I didn't mean... i-it like that, uh, I-I meant-!"
Joan was interrupted by a loud laugh. Eddie had stood up all the way, hands on his stomach while he let out a rather contagious laugh that had even Joan giggling even if she didn't know why. He took a step back, eyeing Joan with a smirk that sent her face further red, and chuckled some more with a shake of his head.
"Let's get outta the road, Henderson. Before one of us ends up killed."
They stood side by side at the small counter and Joan could smell the weed and cigarettes from Eddie. His interesting choice of denim vest over leather jacket both covering a worn Black Sabbath t-shirt had Joan glancing down at the patches every few moments in curiosity.
She had her own vest at metalhead vest at home made of leather. It had been filled with patches from her bands or stupid phrases her friends loved to but for her as a gag gift. I love boobies and fuck fascists were her two favorite.
"I don't have a girlfriend, by the way."
Eddie had leaned down to whisper teasingly to Joan, reminding her of her rather brash outburst earlier, and Joan's face once again went red. Apparently, babygirl was the name of his guitar and Joan just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
"So, a piano tuner, you say?" Mr. Turner let out a hum of though as he entered back from his office in the back and Joan's stomach dropped. "Well, I'm sorry, I can't really help you there, sweetheart. That's not somethin' I got the skills for and my old tuner Dr. White passed away last year."
Joan sighed and smiled weakly at the old man. "I-I figured, its hard to find someone talented enough... but, uh, do you have the tools? The lever, some mutes, a-and, a, uh, strip?"
"Well, yes I do, but do you know what you're doing?"
"...Enough to make it work." Joan offered with a smile and Mr. Turner chuckled with a shake of his head, heading off to go grab the equipment.
"You can tune a piano?" Eddie asked dubiously, looking down at Joan with a raised eyebrow. Joan shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh of frustration.
"I know how, the problem is I'm not good at pitches... I know when something is off, but I can't hear how much. Most tuners have perfect pitch, but I do not have that..." Joan smiled politely at Mr. Turner, trying to keep her inner dread from showing through while she paid for the retro looking tools. "Thank you, sir."
Honestly, she had forgotten about Eddie after being trapped in her head with plans. She'd walked out the door and stepped over to her car thinking about how she'd need to go find a book on tuning from the library just in case and borrow a tuning fork from somebody to get that perfect middle and-
"Henderson! That ready to leave the freak are you, prissy pants?" Eddie joked, walking quickly over to her with a grin that had Joan smiling back, but not nearly as bright. He bounced in front of her looking at her with a plan in his eyes and mischief on his lips. "I've got a deal for you."
Joan's smile dropped a little and she rolled her eyes. "No, Eddie. I don't want to smoke wee-." His free hand covered her lips with a frown on his own. Eddie made a show of rolling his eyes, pointing at his face seriously.
"Not that kind of deal." Eddie's lip twitched a little and his eyes seemed to sparkle. "I'm never letting you see weed, much less hold it while I'm still living." Joan stared, unimpressed at Eddie's humor. Eddie stared back and for a few seconds there was a calm where even Joan felt still in the world.
Slowly she lifted a hand up and guided Eddie's hand off her face by the wrist, an eyebrow peeking up in question. "So what's the deal?"
"What deal?" Eddie's head tilted in confusion and Joan rolled her, letting go of Eddie's wrist. Recognition replaced the confusion, and a sheepish grin spread across his face while his hand scratched the back of his head. "O-oh yeah! Right, sorry. Brain decided to go on a vacation without me, it does that sometimes."
"Munson!"
"Right, right!" He shook his head rapidly and then his body, as if he was trying to shake off any other thoughts, before staring down at Joan with his hands gesturing from himself to her. "What if I help you tune your piano?"
"...you know how to tune a piano?"
"Well... no."
Joan nodded, turning towards her car and opening it, but Eddie shut it with his hand and his face closed in on her own. "But, I have perfection pitch." His other hand tapped his temple and he popped his 'p's to exaggerate his talent.
"Uh huh." Joan narrowed her eyes in disbelief, eyeing briefly the rings decorating his fingers, before giving Eddie a light shove on the chest. He allowed the movement, taking a step back and playing with his rings. "And let's say you can help me, what do you want in return?"
"Sing a song or two with my band."
Joan's eyebrows shot up in surprise, she had been expecting literally anything else but that and it showed with how she spluttered for a response. "You want me to sing with your.. your band?"
"Uh, hell yeah. You got some wicked chords on you." Eddie danced over to stand on top of the sidewalk, jumping up and miming a guitar in his hands furiously and head banging. He jumped around for about, before pausing and pointing at Joan with wide eyes. "Plus, you got this woman-body that would raise our viewing from 4 drunks to at least 6 drunks."
"Six drunks?!" Was the first thing Joan blurted out incredulously, but her brain was stuck on the entire sentence.
"Okay, plus like, maybeee, two normie sober dudes who just come for the cheap bear." Eddie amended as if that helped the shock holding up two fingers and hopping down from the side walk. He shrugged and put a piece of hair under his nose. "It's a lotta fuuun."
"...Where do you guys even play?"
And that was all Eddie needed. He grinned victoriously, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. Joan felt like she had been pulled into a dragon's den as he started rambling about where and who and when - meet at Gareth's house on Thursday - and Joan could only nod along with wide eyes, the weighted feeling on her shoulders invading her thoughts.
Eddie was chaos - the embodiment of nonconforming and what she imagined it was like to look at Sun. He was warm and wild, yet there was a feeling surrounding him that screamed yes I support life but I can hurt you if you get too close.
He was extraordinary and he invaded her senses more than just the pungent smell of weed and cigarettes - something deeper - and she stayed in a daze exchanging addresses. He'd come over tomorrow around noon while the Henderson household was empty, save for Joan.
The drive home was a blink and the night a blur waiting for tomorrow to come.