TW! sh, drugs, mention of SA/killing
ik the trigger warning sounds gruesome, but it's not lol. i've been busy with my family, but I'm writing at night!
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The next two days passed by in a blur. You chilled with Eddie during the day, and fought your thoughts at night. Which mainly ended up with you getting high, or with cuts. You truly hated yourself for it, which only made everything worse. Eddie tried to comfort you, but with him not knowing, there was nothing he could do.
Today is Steve's party. You were so excited to have the whole gang back together. With all of the upside down stuff over with you were able to enjoy each others company. "Guess what!" Max says as you both are eating cereal. "What?" you say with milk dripping down your chin. "El and Will are coming down for spring break!" "Really!?" you shout. "Yeah," she says excited, "they should be here in time for the party! It's a surprise for Mike and Nancy, so don't tell them!" You close you mouth like a zipper. "Well, what should we do in the meantime?" you ask, putting your bowl in the pile of dishes in the sink. "Let's wake up Eddie! He could take us somewhere." she suggests. "Sounds pretty solid." you say, and she pulls you to his trailer. You knock on the door. His uncle opened the door. "Oh, hey," he gestured inside, "come on inside!" You and Max stand there awkwardly inside the trailer. "I was just about to leave for work. I know you Max, but you are the girl who's dating my Eddie." You nod. "You know," he says softly. "I'm kind of glad you two are together." "Why?" you ask. "I don't know, something about you just makes him happier. He was really struggling earlier." "Oh," you say unsure of how to address that. "What's your name?" he asks. "Oh, it's Ellie." "Call me Wayne." he says holding out his hand. You shake it and he begins to walk out the door. "Goodbye, Wayne." you and Max wave. You and Max creep over to Eddie's door. "Good morning, Eddie," Max opens the door. She instantly closes it and turns to you and laughs. "Max?" you hear Eddie shout. "What?" you whisper to her. She whispers in your ear and you begin to laugh. Eddie opens the door and sees you and Max standing in front of it. He's only wearing boxers and a t-shirt. "What the hell are you doing in here?" he asks. "We were going to wake you up." Max says holding in her laugh. "According to her, you were definitely awake." you grinned. "Get out!" he shouts. "Can you take us to the mall?" Max asks and you both give puppy dog eyes. "God, okay, let me get dressed." he slams his door and you wait by his van. "Did you actually see anything?" you ask. "I saw his hand under the blanket, that's all I needed to see." You just smile and Eddie walks out. He's wearing his jeans with chains and a Dio shirt. "Let's go!" he says, opening your door. Eddie was silent the whole time there, and you and Max chatted the whole way. "They just finished the mall, since, you, know it burned down." "Wow," you say, "what should we get?" "We should go skating!" Max says. "Is there a rink in there?" you ask. "Yeah!" she says, "don't you remember?" "No..." you say sadly.
When you walk in, all the memories come flooding back. Although it wasn't the same, it still had the same design. You felt so happy all of the sudden. "You ok?" Eddie asked again. "I'm perfectly fine, Eddie!" you say running into different stores. As you are going on your rant, Max and Eddie begin talking. "How is it going for her?" Max asks. "I'm not sure, she's not opening up. Sometimes she's completely fine and independent, but others, she having hallucinations." Max frowns. "I know you're helping her, don't give up." "Baby!!!" you shout. "Yes, sweetheart?" "I forgot my cash..." you say looking down. "That's fine, sweetheart, I'll pay." "I think she's out of money." Max whispers to him. "I gave all my money to him," you say. "Why?" she asks. "Drugs," you whisper. Eddie looks kinda confused and shrugs to Max. You run off like an excited toddler. "Have you been selling her drugs?" she asks worried. "We only got high like, twice!" he says, "I swear on my life." He puts his hands up.
You walk around the store for a while just looking at cute stuff. "Want matching bracelets?" Eddie asks. "Sure!" you say and you both. You choose this one with a blue stripe on it. Eddie chose two, one that said 'freak' and one to match yours.
Max walks you over to the skating rink. "Wow," she said, "it's bigger than I remember." You all get skates. You and Max used to go rollerskating all the time. You learned tricks together and were pretty good. When you and Max got on, and you held hands while skating in circles. Eddie watched from a distance. "Are you coming?" you ask. "I have only skated like twice," he smiles nervously. "Come on," you skate to him holding his hand. He finds his balance, "here I'll pull you and you try to stay up!" He eventually falls on the ground because he didn't keep his knees bent. Max laughed at him and helped him up. But he was a lot heavier than her wheels were prepared for, she slipped underneath them and crashed. You laughed so hard you lost your balance and landed on Eddie. "Jeez," he says sorely, "am I a pillow?"
Eddie eventually insisted he stay near the wall and practice. However, he mainly admired you and Max doing spins and leaps. You skated backwards over to Eddie. "How's it going?" you ask. "Pretty good. I love watching you." You smiled. "Max!" you yelled for her to come. You whispered in her ear and she smiled. "Come over here, Eddie." "I'm not sure I trust you." "Please you'll be fine," you push him towards the middle. You grab one of his hands and Max grabs the other. "Bend your knees and lean forwards, keep your skates straight, okay?" You and Max start pulling him, skating as fast as you can. Once you get to a peak in speed, you let go of his hand, and he goes flying across the floor. "That was so much fun!" he yells, "let's do it again!"
Eventually your ankles hurt, and you turned in your skates. "Hey," Max said, "I'm going to go to the food court and get some food." You and Eddie nodded and said you would meet her there. You both walked around the mall looking at jewelry and clothes. "Which one would you choose?" Eddie asked. "Hmm?" you say confused looking at the rings. "If I proposed," he said smiling at the case, "which one would you want?" Your heart skipped a beat. You hated thinking about the future. "I don't know," you looked at them. "Maybe this one?" you pointed to one that was beautiful, but wasn't a million dollars. "Nice choice," he said smiling. "What do you want for your birthday?" you ask him. "You," he kissed you. "Like for real!" you say as he kisses your neck. "This is for real." he looks at you. "Eddie," you grin. "I don't really want anything. I hardly had a birthday as a kid." he said looking down. "I'm sorry," you say hugging him.
"I'm going to go to the restroom," he says sitting you on a bench, "stay here." "Ok," you say glaring at your shoes. He walks in, and you instantly feel a pair of eyes. An older man was staring at you. He licked his lips and began walking over to you. Gross. "Hey, baby," he says standing in front of you. "Excuse me?" you say, standing up. "You're pretty," he looks you up and down. "I don't care, you don't get to call me that." you kick him in the shin. "Fuck!" he shouts. People starts crowding around you. "Let's go home now," he grabs your hand firmly. You protest, but his grip was to strong. "Hey! Let me go!" "I'm sorry, she's a little mental. We have to go home now." "HELP!" you shout, "EDDIE!" But, Eddie didn't show. He starts pulling you out of the crowd. "EDDIE MUNSON!" you yell as loud as you can. Eddie comes out to the scene to see you being taken away. "Help me!" you yell to him. "HEY!" he shouts running up to us. You ducked, knowing his next move. As the old man turned around, Eddie punched him in the face. It made the guy confused and he let go of your hand. You fall to the floor, about to cry. Eddie continues beating the man up. You give him a second, and then pull him off. The man has blood on his face and on Eddie's hands. "I'm sorry, Ellie," he says and you hug him. "Don't apologize, you saved me." you tear up. He wipes the blood on his hands on his jeans. Security shows up and takes all of you to a private room.
"I was sent up here," Max says, with hot dogs and french fries. "Yeah, Eddie got into a fight," you say, shook, staring into space. "Oh course he did," Max rolled her eyes. "He saved my life, Max." you look up to her, "I was about to be kidnapped. Max, if that man walked out of that store, you might have never seen me again." She stopped breathing for a minute. "Oh," she stopped to hug you, "I'm so sorry." You let her have her moment and you stare at Eddie, who is yelling at the security guards. "Is Eddie different?" you ask Max. "What do you mean?" she asked you confused. "Like, since I got here. Everyone is telling me he is happier. But that for sure, does not look happy." you point to Eddie. "Ellie," Max says staring you in your eyes, "I can not describe to you how much Eddie loves you. He has something to work for, something to love, someone who loves him. Of course he is happy. Ellie, you might not remember him then, but he is more than happy, he is loved." You have never seen Max this heartfelt. She's always talking about Lucas or school. Who is she to know how much Eddie loves you. Unless, they have talked together about you.
Eddie walks out, and the other man is in handcuffs. "We have watched the surveillance camera's. You all are free to go. If it wasn't for your boyfriend, you might not have made it home." Eddie looked at you worried, but all you could think of was what Max just said. He sits there and stares at you, not mad, not worried, just a pitiful stare. "Are you okay," he asks you. That was exactly what was going to break you. You reach to him, stuffing your face into his stomach. "No." You begin to cry. He wraps he arms around you. He rests his chin on your head. You hardly even knew why you were breaking down. The pressure of bad things happening was too stressful. "Thank you, Eddie." you sob into his shirt. "For what?" he says rubbing your back. "Saving me." "Ellie, it was nothing-" You pulled back your face to look him in the eye. You grab his chin so he would look at you. "You wouldn't be saying that if that man walked out with me, would you? What if he was going to rape me? And what if he was going to kill me? And one day you see my body in a ditch. It's nothing until I'm gone." The words sank in, and he felt a little proud. But more proud that you were safe. He hugged you tighter. Max had walked out of the room a few minutes ago. You both meet her outside, she's stuffing herself with a hotdog. "Want some?" "Yes please," Eddie says reaching out for a hotdog.