Nowhere girl you're living in a dream,
Nowhere girl you stay behind the scenes,
Nowhere girl you never go outside,
Nowhere girl 'cause you prefer to hide.

Every day, every night

In that all old familiar light
You hang up when I call you at home.
And I try to get through
And I try to talk to you
But there's something stopping me from getting through

Nowhere Girl - B-Movie

"Divide and conquer?"

They hadn't spoken more than agreeing on a hotel, but even that was a very basic conversation. It was about four hours after Eddie had inadvertently indicated he hated everything. Maybe not totally inadvertent. He knew the feeling of wandering lost, as that's how he'd gone through life previously, but this was a whole other level. There was the sort of 'ah, I'll see how these classes go in high school' sort of lost to 'I have no idea what tomorrow looks like for the rest of my life' lost. And that feeling sucked.

And he was angry that he was taken out of conversations about his own well-being. Then again, how the heck could the Party have gotten a hold of him? More than just the money, he wanted a non-moving address so he could hopefully stay in better contact to make sure this wouldn't happen again.

"In what way?" Chrissy asked with a long sigh. The hotel they were in had okay A.C., but she was still sweating through her tee-shirt, the same as he was.

"I'll go scope out possible jobs, you start researching apartments or something?" He asked. He put the cash on the table and spread it out, "I think we can probably afford $50 to $100 bucks a month right now? Until we start putting away some more cash…" He swallowed.

"What?" Chrissy asked, and though there was a slight sharpness, it was clear she was asking genuinely.

"I just…I dunno. I used to have a purpose. Even if I wasn't going to complete it. Graduate this year. Find a stupid job. Win it big with my band. But now…we get jobs and then what?" He asked, frowning, "If we can't go back?"

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure that's what life is at the end of the day, though, right?" Chrissy prompted. She went over to the corded phone by the bedside table, "I'll see what I can scrounge up." She assured.

"I'll grab some food on my way back. Mexican okay? I have a feeling we'll have to eat a bit of that." He said. Chrissy waved him away, so he assumed it was fine.

Eddie spent the rest of the day wandering around the strip, following down ads from a newspaper he'd bought today for jobs wanted.

One good thing about Las Vegas? Lots of jobs. Lots of things moving and going. Didn't like this job? Just move on to another one.

But he did want to do well for both of them. Find a good job for Chrissy.

Somewhere in it, he got a bit lost. Not literally. It was pretty easy to find one's way back with all the big, glimmering, ridiculously gaudy signs in Las Vegas. You'd have to be blind to get turned around.

No, he got lost in the sense of it. He wandered out around 1 pm and watched the city prepare for the night when things got…crazy. Or, so he'd always heard.

He'd never been to a party city.

Being here, standing in the warm air of somewhere far, far away, knowing that he had everything in front of him, a true chance to change everything he was that he hated about himself, he was a bit overwhelmed.

He thought he'd only get to Vegas once in a lifetime, and it would be years down the line.

But here he was.

And now he lived here. Or, was going to live here.

With Chrissy.

Wonders never ceased.

He talked to a few people and loosely inquired around. He had no name to give, just lied and said it was for a buddy. He had no phone or address to forward either and hoped that they could get that settled by this weekend. They'd chosen a cheaper option near the strip, but it was still expensive.

He also thought about what he might want his new name to be. It was a daunting task. He wished that Suzie would have just assigned him one, and he could get used to it like all other names were given. Babies didn't choose their names, they had to hope they grew into things like Eustace or Pearl. He felt like he had fit the persona of Eddie well, and he felt like Chrissy wore her name proudly too. But had he grown to be an Eddiie because he had no other choice or because it was him?

He kicked a rock in frustration. He hated psychology and philosophy.

He tried out some names as he wandered over to a Mexican place that looked between the categories of 'too expensive' but also not 'something that would kill him'. He realized he didn't really know what Chrissy liked to eat. She'd had fearingly little since they'd left, but he had chalked that up to her nerves.

Still, he had no idea what she'd prefer.

He told himself he'd get something safe, like chicken tacos, and if she was displeased, he'd come back. He should have bugged her for a better answer before he left.

On the way home, he pretended he was living with the names he was trying out, rolling them around in his mouth like a piece of hard candy, trying to decide if it was the right 'flavor' for him.

He cycled through some names he felt were the same sort of feeling, like Daniel or David, or John. He tried some weird ones like Juniper or Fleetwood. He tried some familiar ones like Wayne or Dustin or Steve.

So far, nothing was working.

He dropped the bag of food on their little table. It was dark now, and the neon from the strip illuminated their bedroom in a weird futuristic sort of way.

"Any luck today?" He asked, stopping when he realized how…domestic this felt. Weird. He might as well come into the hotel room and put his imaginary hat on the rack and yell, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Yeah, actually," Chrissy said. She was sitting on the bed, reading a magazine they'd picked up two gas stations ago, "Do you want the good news or bad news, though?"

Eddie laughed, choosing one of the armchairs to lounge on, "Good news, always. I crave those dopamine rushes."

"Okay, well, I found an apartment on the strip for $47 a month." They'd both agreed that they needed to be downtown. They only had one car (and a hardly working one at that) and couldn't afford another. Plus, neither was sure how the bus systems were. It just made far more sense to be central to what they assumed their jobs would be.

Eddie felt his face split into a wide grin, "Fantastic! That's below budget! We're going to be so financially responsible! I already feel like a new person," He said, trying to bring as many positives into this as he could. That was his newly decided rule; no negatives. They both already knew how shitty this was, so why highlight it even more?

He narrowed his eyes as he recalled her choice, "What's the bad news? Is it like out in the middle of nowhere?" He asked.

"No," Chrissy gnawed on her lip, "It's furnished, another plus. Uhm, but other than this one, rent prices are really, really, high. I get it, it's a fun place to be, right? Like…way out of our budget high."

"Okay, so what's with this unicorn?" Eddie tried to run through the possibilities, "Haunted? Share it with an old creep? Just a cardboard box?"

"Well, it's owned by this really sweet old lady. It's above her shop and she lived there for decades until she decided she needed to be on a single-floor house. But she wants to rent it out to…" He saw the way Chrissy paused, "Two upstanding people."

"Alright?" Eddie echoed. Chrissy pursed her lips.

"A pair of Catholics, like herself, and you know, that's probably in short supply here."

Eddie shrugged, "For that sort of rent, I can be religious."

"That's not all," Chrissy said, face bright red, "She, uh, if it's a boy and a girl…they need to be married."

Eddie stared at her, eyes narrowed, sure he heard her wrong.

"Married?"

"Yea, yes. Married." Chrissy confirmed.

"Why do you gotta get my hopes up like that, Cunningham?" Eddie flopped on the other bed in the room, "Okay, what's the damage of the rest of 'em? How many hours of overtime will I have to work?"

"Eddie, I…I think we should consider it."

Eddie sat up, "There are two very bad problems with this plan. I'm not religious and we're not married."

She gave a laugh, motioning outside, "It's Vegas. There's a chapel on every single corner."

"You want us…to get married…in Vegas?" This had to be the plot of some bad movie. His life was a movie and he just couldn't find the cameras.

"No, I want…whoever we pick to be to get married in Vegas!" Chrissy said, "It's not much to think about. We either do this and save money up- I mean, you could start your band back up, I could…I don't know, but we could save, or we could barely scrape by with jobs we don't even have yet." She said.

"I hate that the solution of 'get married in Vegas' is starting to make sense," Eddie said.

"I know, you probably don't want to be married to me-," Chrissy began. Eddie laughed, which was a terrible, terrible response.

"No, shit! I mean, it's a dream! You're Chrissy Cunningham, the desire of every boy at Hawkins!" He rushed to say, "This feels unreal."

"I'm not, though. Chrissy is six-feet under. I'm no one right now." She said quietly. Eddie found himself on the edge of another argument or breakdown, so he switched topics.

"I need food in my stomach," Eddie rolled himself off the bed, "To continue this conversation. Come, get your fill before I eat it all."

"It's okay," Chrissy said, staying primly on the bed.

"Oh, stop being a martyr and eat," Eddie snapped at her, barreling toward a disagreement two seconds ago he'd been attempting to avoid, "I carried it all the way home for you."

"O…kay…" Chrissy said quietly, "Tensions are high."

"I'm not angry, I'm just…mystified. Or uncertain. Or sure I'm dreaming." He explained, "Married by Elvis?"

Chrissy groaned, "No, not Elvis. I don't think any iteration of me could stomach that."

Eddie laughed, "Luckily, I'm in agreement there." He sat down, shoving some food toward Chrissy, "Eat, and let's…talk this out."

Chrissy looked up, "Serious?"

"It seems we're out of choices, huh? But let's just…consider the ramifications of this anyway."

Chrissy gave a weird laugh, "Who would have thought that Eddie Musnon was so logical and like…this?"

He didn't think he usually was. He usually ran. And this would be something he'd be running from if he wasn't already using it to run away.

"I'm not," He said, "But here's to new names, new beginnings, and possibly new legal documents to our names."

"Sounds sexy when you put it like that," Chrissy rolled her eyes, "Okay…so if we get married next Thursday…"

XXX

Eddie had been collecting postcards every time they stopped somewhere that sold them. He imagined sending them to the Party one day. Whether or not he did, writing fake postcards was keeping him sane.

It was like a diary…but not. Because Eddie Munson did not need or want to use a diary.

When Chrissy went to bed, he scrawled a quick one in the light of the neon spilling in through the window.

Dear Party.

I think I've broken her.

Please advise.

EM

He spared a glance over back at Chrissy and thought about the conversations today.

"You ready to be a married man, Munson?" He whispered to himself in the darkness.

No, but hell, what choice did they have?