(●'◡'●)

You feel the heat going up your cheeks, he has never called you baby before, that was new. You could totally let him call you nerd everyday if he is going to call you baby too. You've been hiding for so long the feelings you have for him, that him just lying there on your roof looking so pretty has made you totally forget about the sunset. “Wait! What about your costume?” you asked when you noticed you didn’t even get an answer.

♡ ⋆｡˚ — — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —

“I heard the houses here give out huge candy bars” Eddie chuckled as he drove to Robin’s place.  The streets leading to her house were full of kids wearing all kinds of costumes, little and big carved pumpkins everywhere you look, and almost every porch was lit up with Halloween lights. It was quite a nice neighborhood.

You finally convinced him to go as Jack Torrance from The Shining, he was wearing one of his uncle Wayne checkered shirt and his red jacket, so he was pretty much dressed as his uncle instead but with an axe twist. And since you picked his costume, naturally he has to pick yours. You were wearing a black lantern long sleeve dress, plaited right just below your breast and combat boots, he ruffled your hair, made you wear red lipstick and said you were a vampire. 

“If you ever get scared, you can hold my hand, vamp” he tilts his head to the side, offering his arm for you to hold when you jump outside of his van.  

“I don’t think people will get my costume, at least you have an axe” you told him, holding his arm and feeling like his girlfriend for a moment. The truth is, you thought he would pick a much scarier costume for you, but you actually feel cute in it.

“Hey you didn’t want to wear the stockings; they were the most important part!” He grinned and those little dimples appeared on his face.

You smiled and gently nudged him with your shoulder. “Shut up, butthead”.

The house was a little more crowded than you thought it would be, after all it was Robin's party but you quickly connect the dots, people spread the word that Steve Harrington was going to be there. But that didn’t stop you from having a great time at the party, Eddie ran to chase Dustin with his axe around the house the moment he saw him and Robin was the first one to compliment your costume and you told her that hers was the coolest “Thanks I stole everything from Steve” she said. After having a few drinks and sharing small talks with your classmates Eddie told you he was going outside to have a smoke and disappeared for an hour.

Not that you were not having fun anymore, but at some point, you started to miss Eddie, you rolled up your sleeve to look at your watch and saw that it was almost time to leave, so you started gazing at the crowd for a familiar bulk of hair. You saw Robin laughing her ass off with some of her friends from the band, Steve hitting on some girls and not too many feet apart, you even saw Nancy Wheeler kissing the camera boy Byers, but no sight of your friend.

“Hey, Robin, have you seen Eddie?” You asked when you approached the girl wearing the Pete Maverick costume. You took a sip of your drink as you waited for her response.

“Yeah… I think I saw him going upstairs…” She replied, you nodded and turned around to start looking again “Hey, tell him upstairs is off limits please!” You heard her yell at you when you were at the bottom of the stairs about to carefully jump over the little rope with the clear "off limits" sign hanging from it.

You didn’t find Eddie in the firsts rooms, nor in the bathroom, if he was indeed upstairs, he was going to be in the last room down the hall, so you head to the door finally sure he was going to be inside.

“Eddie? Are you ready to…”? You froze in your spot when you opened the door. You finally have found Eddie but he wasn’t alone, he was sitting in a bed and fully making out with some girl dressed as a slutty pirate. Instantly you feel nauseous and a big weight dropping at the bottom of your stomach and Eddie didn’t even notice you there until you dropped the red cup you were holding.

“Oh, Hi Vamps!” He said when he finally stepped aside from the girl’s face. “I guess… Here's someone I want you to meet…”

You slammed the door loudly when you finally regained control of your body but you stood still holding the knob on the other side unable to move again. What the fuck was that?  You felt your whole world turning upside down in what seemed like an eternity, but the truth was that everything had happened in mere seconds. “Y/N?” You let go of the door knob when you heard your name on the other side, and began to run towards the exit.

You were breaking slowly as you ran downstairs, you knew this day would come, someone would eventually notice how delightful Eddie was, how fun he was to be around, and how charming and thoughtful he can be. You just wished it would happen when you were no longer around.

You knocked down the off-limits sign when you ran towards the exit door with your head down. You were a step away when your head hit what could only be a boy's chest, you look up and with the tears about to burst blurring your vision you try to see who it is

“…” Steve Harrington was standing there holding the door knob apparently ready to leave as well. He took a look at your face and sighed as he spoke “Yeah, I couldn’t stand it anymore, either”

You ended up in Steve’s car. You know exactly how Eddie feels about him, “the rich prick who has it all” you could hear Eddie’s voice in your head.  But Steve just offered you a ride home, and you definitely are not going home in the van.

“It looks like I won’t be the only one here crying tonight, huh?” Steve said softly as an empathic smile appeared on his face. “You ok?”  he asked, frowning and tilting his head down trying to see your face.

“I… I just saw E-Eddie with…with…”  With who? Who the hell was she?

“The pirate chick? Yeah I saw them going upstairs a while ago"

A while ago? How long have they been doing that?  

“I feel sick” you speak in a muted tone, covering your face with your hands.

“Yeah, I know exactly how…”

“No! I’m not figuratively speaking!” You barely managed to say those words before you opened the car door and threw up on the pavement.   

“Thank you for not doing that inside” he sighed in relief while putting one hand on his chest and the other on top of the steering wheel.

You shrank in your seat and stared out the window as Steve drove to your house. He knew your address from driving Robin to your house a couple of times. You cross your arms over your chest and try really hard not to sob in front of Steve. You failed miserably. It wasn’t the first time Eddie’s attention was focused on a girl, he is a guy after all, but it was the first time you saw him with someone, and you beg to stop seeing it every time you close your eyes.

You need to let go of this unrequited love and you swear that you’ve tried, but every time he sees you with those big doe eyes, your heart skips a beat. And it’s been like that since the first time he called you sweetheart.

♡ ⋆｡˚ — — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —

“Honey, It’s for you!” You hear your mom's voice downstairs and you get up from your self-pity puddle in your bed and drag your feet to your bedroom door. It's the morning after all the shit that's happened and you don't feel like talking to anyone.

“Who is it, mom?” You ask, heading downstairs. But your mom was already in the kitchen humming Girls Just Want to Have Fun as she does the shores you were supposed to be doing.

“What the hell Y/N? I was supposed to take you home last night! Where were you?” Eddie exclaims, as soon as you put the phone in your ear. You instantly tighten your hand around the handset and feel the bubbling anger going up your throat.

“You were too busy Eddie!” You spat, your voice dripping venom “Steve Harrington gave me a ride, not that it's any of your business by the way” Your head was throbbing painfully, it was too early to be having this conversation.

“That douchebag took you home?” he asks, totally ignoring the first part of what you just said. “And what the hell do you mean? Of course, you are my business, tangerine” He wasn’t mad, he was worried about you. “He didn’t pull any of his bullshit with you, didn’t he?”

“You don’t know him, Eddie!” You yelled at him, and hung up the phone.

Between the hangover and the headache, there shouldn't be room to feel guilty about snapping at him like that but how come that was the first thing you feel after hanging up.

The truth was you didn’t really know Steve either, almost throwing up in his car and a hell of an awkward ride back home was the longest interaction you'd had with him. Although he was pretty kind with you and he's probably not used to having crying girls as his co-pilot.

You spend your weekend cleaning your room, and doing chores and homework, all with a hollow feeling in your chest, and trying just to feel a little better you painted your nails your favorite color. That didn’t help as much as you wanted it to. You were still feeling frustrated and confused by what you saw, was he really that bored with you at the party?

Finally, Sunday afternoon the phone rang again.

“It’s for you again” Your mom says. “It’s the charming boy” She whispers to you perhaps a little too loudly to your liking. She hands you over the handset and when you are about to take it she quickly pulls it back to her “Say hi to your Uncle for me, will you Edward?” You can hear Eddie reply something “Thank you! … Oh? She is fine, a little grumpy… … isn’t she?”

“Mom! The phone please” You ask a little embarrassed.

“Hey” He speaks softly, his voice sounding almost apologetic.

“Hey” You murmur, not sure what to say next.

“So…Can I come over tonight?”

“…” You were a little surprised, you didn't expect to see him until tomorrow at the school where you were planning to apologize for hanging up on him.

“Y/N?”

“Sure, I miss your stupid face” You finally said with a big relieved smile on your face.

You went to the store on your bike to buy Eddie's favorite snacks anticipating he would bring a movie to watch, it was his time to choose so you were expecting a slasher. You were waiting in your bed listening to one of the many cassettes that Eddie had lent you, when you heard him knock at the front door, your mom welcomed him cheerfully and told him that you were in your room.

“I knew you would like Stevie Nicks!” He chuckled as he entered your room.

“Just this-“

“Just like the white winged dove!” He interrupted you, he was already singing and pretending the VHS on his right hand was the mic. “Sings a song, sounds like she’s singing, ooh baby, ooh said ooh! '' Eddie sang, throwing his head back and clutching his left hand to his chest. He was wearing his denim jacket, a Metallica t-shirt half tucked in a pair of blue jeans torn at one knee, a red plaid shirt tied at his waist, and his usual white reeboks.

You let out a laugh “Please continue” 

“That’s the only part I know” He shrugged and grinned at you. Boy do you miss the dork. You had to resist the urge to go hug him. You didn’t want to think about it, but you figured your relationship couldn’t be the same if he was dating someone.  Was he?

“You ready?” He asks, tilting his head to the side and pointing at the VHS on his hand.

“Freddy? Again?” You complain, trying really hard not to think about last Friday. If Eddie is not going to mention it then you for sure wouldn’t either.

“Oh no sweets, this one is the second part” He told you, then got down on his knees to put the video on the VCR. “This shit is not rewound all the way!” Eddie tsked and ejected the video. “It’s not that difficult!” He mumbled to himself as he reached into his jeans pocket for the Swiss Army knife his uncle gave him for his birthday to finish rewinding the tape.

“Was Steve at the Family Video?” You asked without really thinking, you couldn't remember if you had thanked the guy for the drive when you got out of his car in tears, so over the weekend you had thought about going to the store to do it.

Eddie clenched the knife at the very mention of his name but you didn’t realize it. “Nah, it was some other guy” he answers, finally getting ready the movie.

You heard his vague reply and you climbed down from the bed and sat on the floor with your back leaning against the side of the mattress, as you were staring at Eddie you noticed that his bangs were starting to get in the way of his eyes when he's crouched down in front of the TV.

“Hey, do you want me to cut your bangs this week?” You question him when he was crawling to you to sit at your side.

“Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ll appreciate it” He looked at you over his shoulder and felt a little heat rise to his face, then he grinned when you met his eyes.

When he looks at you like that, what did he expect? To you not to fall in love? Yeah right.

♡ ⋆｡˚ — — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —

You went to school the next day feeling much better, Eddie had not said a word about a girl and he wasn’t at all mad at you for leaving at the party. That part was a little weird for you but you didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t dating anyone without telling you. After all, he wouldn’t do that, the boy tells you everything.

You were late for lunch at the cafeteria because you went to return a book at the library, and when you finally arrived you tighten your grip on the food tray when you looked down at the hellfire table. Your heart aches at the sight of someone sitting in your usual place right next to Eddie. It was her, the pirate chick playing around with Eddie’s hair. You hesitate whether to sit with them or not, but you only have to look around to see that you have nowhere else to sit.

“Great, now that we are all together” Eddie started to speak the moment you took a seat and left the food tray on the table. “I want to introduce you to someone, this is Rachel, I met her at Robin’s Halloween party…”

“Great party, isn’t y/n?” Dustin turned his head towards you to talk to you as Eddie continued talking to everybody. He was sitting next to you at the other end of the table.

“Yeah, great…” You answer full of bitterness as you take a bite of your suddenly super dry sandwich.  Stupid Halloween party, I didn’t even want to go in the first place.

“… she plays bass and she’s even repeating senior year too”

“Shocker” you speak under your breath, luckily Dustin is the only one that hears you. 

“…anyway what I’m pathetically trying to say is…” Eddie speaks as you take a sip of your yoohoo wondering why he is suddenly acting so nervous.

“We are dating!” Rachel interrupts and puts both of her hands on top of the hand of Eddie, while showing all her perfect teeth in a big smile.

You choked with the chocolate milk and started coughing loudly trying to understand what she just said and trying to breathe again. 

“You ok, tangerine?” Eddie stretches his neck trying to see as far as where you were sitting.

“Tangerine? That’s a silly name, isn’t it?” She laughed covering her mouth with one hand.

“Uh… yeah, it’s just a dumb name I came up with” Eddie teased with her.

That right there was your cue to leave.

“You are an asshole, you know that?!” You shout at him when you stand up and storm out of the cafeteria.

“Shit…” Eddie mutters when you go away. Your other friends at the table just stared at you with surprise and shared awkward glances with each other once you left.

You spend the rest of the classes zoned out and not putting attention at all to what your teachers are saying. Did you just make a scene at the cafeteria? That wasn’t a surprise for the school, coming from the hellfire table, of course, but you never thought you'd join that specific club.

After class you stayed at school to watch the band practice at the field. It was a little chilly but you figured your sweater was thick enough. You sit in the bleachers and watch from a distance as the band marches on. We are dating! her high-pitched voice echoes in your head and you feel the jealousy in your gut. Just a dumb name I came up with, you heard his voice next and just hurts. You thought you knew him better than that, why didn't he mention anything to you last night?

You put your face in your hands and sighed with exasperation.  

“Alright, who am I beating up?” The familiar voice pulls you out of sinking back into the cave of sadness, you look at her through your fingers.

The girl with the band uniform was standing in front of you with her hands on her waist.

“Is he being a dipshit again?”

“A total dipshit” You mutter cleaning your face with the sleeves of your sweater. “You got time?” She nods, you sigh and begin to tell her the summon version of what happened that weekend from the party and up until this morning.

“That dingus! You don’t deserve that shit!”

“… I thought I was his best friend” You tried to smile at Robin, she smiled at you too and reached her arm to grab your hand. “You’ll be okay with time, believe me, I know”

“Thank you, Robin” You put your other hand in hers and gently pat it before letting go.

“Oh shit, Steve! Just give me a minute to change…!” She did a little jump when he saw Steve coming to the bleachers.

“C’mon Robin, we’ll be late again” He complained, and took a seat at your side, resigned to wait.

“Sorry I got a little distracted… just wait!” She turned back and began to run through the field “both of you!” you heard when she slowed down to get some breath.

Robin left you alone with Steve before you could say anything. You immediately felt a little embarrassed and shrugged your shoulders and smirked at him. “Hi, Steve”

“Hey, Y/N are you feeling better?” He gently puts his hand over your shoulder.

“Erm…” You struggle to reply “Honestly? Everything sucks right now…” You sigh “But hey… I was meaning to tell you thank you for the ride the other night, I am so sorry for making it that uncomfortable for you” You talked looking at the grass in front of you, arms crossed and shrugging in the cool autumn breeze.

“Don't worry about it, believe me I've had worse rides in my car” He answers, while rubbing the back of his neck. "Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?"  He offers it to you nonchalantly, Robin never told you how nice Steve was, maybe things would be a lot easier if you fall in love with a guy like him, but instead you longed for a guy who smells like smoke too often and sells weed to high schoolers. But also, can soothe you with one word of him and makes you feel safe and above all understood whenever you are near him.

You hesitate but finally accept the jacket. He takes it off and hands it over to you, still warm. Its scent was very different from Eddie's jacket as you can tell immediately. Steve smelled like some expensive cologne and something else that you couldn't quite tell what it was.

“It suits you” You look at him, he looks pleased and puts his hand through his hair. Hairspray, it was hairspray.

“Thank you” The two of you saw Robin rushing to get to you. You both get up and start walking towards the parking lot.

“Y/N, are you going to work at the shoe store this afternoon?” Robin asked once she caught up to you. “Want a ride?”

“Shit, I totally forgot! I wasn’t supposed to, but they are doing inventory and they need all the hands…. Shit! Shit!” You cursed, tapping your temple with your fist.

“What is it?” The girl raised an eyebrow. “We’ll take you…”

“No…My mom's car is in the shop… she can’t pick me up after! I was going to ask… Eddie…” There it was the hollow feeling in your chest again.

“I can take you home again”

“Really?” Said robin and you in unison, turning to look at Steve.  

“Sure, the shoe store isn’t that far from the family video, I’ll be there once your done” Said Steve like it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Oh, thank you thank you thank you! You are such a good guy Steve! I promise I won’t cry this time” You praised and they both laughed.

♡ ⋆｡˚ — — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —

Doing inventory was so boring but at least it keeps you distracted from your intrusive thoughts about Eddie and whatever he was doing with his girlfriend. “Rachel” you mumble, doing a grin of disgust. What is it about me that isn't good enough?  There have been days when you were almost sure Eddie shared your feelings, but then he would do something like make you sniff his armpit and reduce you to being just his friend again, in fact maybe just “one of the guys”.

The manager gave you the task of closing the store while he retired earlier, justifying himself by saying he had a life. "Yeah, enjoy it for me," you replied when he left you alone in the store.  You were still wearing Steve’s jacket when you step out of the store, good thing you did because outside it was too cold for your liking. “Stupid keys!” you murmur, struggling to lock the front door.

“Need a hand?”

You froze, clenching the keys. His honey voice never failed to comfort your heart, even if he was the reason your heart ached in the first place.

“What are you doing here, Eddie?” You confronted him once you turned around.

“I called and your mom told me where you were…” He was standing leaning against the front of the van with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.  “Y/N, what happened?” He stops looking at your face for a second and notices the jacket you are wearing. "Wait, whose jacket is that?" he asked frowning, but he knew well whose it was, he had seen him wearing it on several occasions.  

"My mother shouldn't have told you shit... … I'm tired Eddie, just go home..." More than tired you were worried you’d snap at him like you've been doing recently. You can’t handle jealousy without also being angry at him for not telling you anything.

 “C’mon, Tangerine” He leaves the van behind and walks towards you.

“Don’t call me that!” He stopped his walk dead in his tracks when you shouted out “I hate your stupid pet names; I've always hated them!”

“I-I thought that...”

“You thought wrong!”

Your soul ached to see Eddie so confused, his brown eyes staring at you almost without recognizing you. You saw that he was about to say something else when you heard a different voice next to you.

“Is everything okay?” Steve was standing on the sidewalk for God knows how long and looked at you a little concerned.

“Yeah, Steve… we're done… so done” You pronounce and walk over to Steve, leaving Eddie behind.

Once again you ended up in Steve's car, trying not to break your promise and cry on him one more time. Your whole body was tense and you rub your palms on your thighs trying with all your might to focus only on your breathing.

“Did I ever tell you the time I was pulled over for speeding?” Steve's voice pulled you out of the spiral of self-loathing into which you were about to sink.

“What?”

“Well, it wasn’t the first time but this particular time…”

“Is it the time you were about to shit yourself?”  

“What! Robin told you?! I- I wasn’t even going to tell you that story!”

Surprisingly to you, you were laughing with him. In fact, it hadn't been Robin, it had been Dustin but you let Robin take the blame this time. You sigh, leaving the laugh behind and put your hands together while fidgeting with your thumbs and breathe in slowly, you are pretty sure you’ve fucked up big this time and you’ve just ended your friendship with Eddie. He won’t talk with you like nothing happened tomorrow at school, hell, he probably won't talk to you at all again. Without realizing the tears starting rolling down your face. You try to hide it by turning your head to the side to put your belt on but for your bad luck it gets stuck.

“Here, let me…” Steve leans into your seat and reaches around you to pull the belt and loosen it. "There" he says as he buckles it for you.

Steve didn't try to make you laugh again on the way home, instead he drove quietly to your house giving you time to recover.

He knew well what you were feeling and sympathized with you.

When you get home, you go straight to your bedroom window and open it all the way. There you realize that you didn't return Steve's jacket, you take it off with disdain and throw it on your bed. You wish hard that it was Eddie's leather jacket, the one he was wearing when you went to see him for the first time at the Hideout, the one he wore when he gave you a taste of your first joint, the one he wore when he defended you from the bullies at school and the one he was wearing tonight when you said you were done with him.

You sit down on the floor and lean against the window sill, silently yearning to hear the familiar sound of the engine of the van you adore.

You fall asleep on the floor and wake up in the morning feeling a little under the weather so you decide to skip school, you wanted to go see Eddie but you weren’t feeling ready just yet.  You went down to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and stared at the muffin pan a little too long when you opened the kitchen cabinet to grab the glass.

“Hey, sunshine! What are you up to?”  He said as he walked through the kitchen door. You were at the counter next to the kitchen sink, mixing batter with a wooden spoon. “Sorry to intrude but my shitty neighbors were cursing at each other again and got tired of it” He added when he walked towards you and leaned his arm on the sink to support his body on it and be closer to you.

“You know you don’t have to apologize for coming Eddie” You spoke, turning your body towards him. “I’m making your favorite, double chocolate muffins, I am almost done”  

“You are gonna make me gain some weight, tangerine!” He beamed and reached out to grab the spoon from you and lick the batter of it.

“Don’t worry about that, just make sure you share with your uncle this time” You grinned at him, remembering the last time you made him brownies and he told you he ate the whole batch without realizing it while he worked on his d&d campaign.

You turned your back on Eddie and looked for the muffin pan near the oven and started putting the cupcake liners on it, you finished your task and realized your friend was oddly quiet behind you. You turned your head towards him and saw him sitting quietly on the counter still eating the mix.

“Hey! Quit eating the batter, or well have no muffins at all” You demanded while rushing towards him to grab the spoon from him.

He smirked at you. “Wait! You… sorry, you just got a little something on your face” He gently holds your chin up while he wipes your face with his other hand. You stood there unsure of what to do, he had brought his face unnecessarily close to yours and you can feel his breath on yours. His big brown eyes looked into yours and for a moment his gaze lowered to your lips. “A-All good!” He stuttered when he felt his face getting hot, he sat up straight and brought his arms to his waist while avoiding your eyes.

“T-thank you” You mumbled getting back to finish the muffins.

Sometimes you think you imagine things, that you exaggerate your memories making them seem better than they were, fooling yourself sometimes. But what if it wasn't that way? What if he was as scared as you were to step forward with you? With all the feelings that have been haunting you these past few days, you wish you could ask him, but it was a little too late, now he's with that cute girl and you're about to cry over a muffin pan.

Robin called you to check on you in the afternoon and you made sure to tell her you were just fine as you don’t want to bother her again with your sad girl pity party. She was such a good friend to you. A friend. Wait, you could still be his friend! So what if he was with that girl? you can bite the bullet and carry on with your friendship. You are more than willing to let your feelings die as long as you still can be near him.

You made up your mind to go to his trailer before school but you remembered it was Tuesday, so he’ll be at Gareth’s getting ready to go to the Hideout at night. You figured you couldn’t go to the bar since your mom’s car was still at the shop, and it was way too far to bike there at night. Fuck

You made up a thousand plans to get there but none of them were good or even realistic, calling Steve and asking him to give you a ride was the best one of all, but you couldn't force yourself to pick up the phone and call Robin to ask for his number, you decided it was better to let the poor guy rest from you.

“Ugh, c’mon…” You grunted, letting yourself fall heavily on your bed, and you didn't know at what point you fell asleep.

A little clicking noise wakes you up from your sleep, you slowly straighten up in your bed and half asleep you can't figure out what it's, but it sounds like hitting a glass with something metal. You jump out of bed quickly and wipe your cheek with your forearm before going straight to your window.

It was dark, you couldn’t see his face, but there he was kneeling over your window.

“Hey, Tan… I mean Y/N” he softly speaks.

“Eddie come in, what’s going on?”  you stepped back to give him space to jump inside your room. “Let me turn on the lights…”

“No, wait!” He suddenly grabs your wrist to stop you from doing so. “Just your night stand lamp, please”

You nodded and did as he told you, and you loudly gasped when the light from your lamp hit his face. He was injured, his left eyebrow was bleeding and the blood was running to his eye forcing it closed, his lower lip was swollen and also bleeding a little from the corners of his mouth.

“Eddie! What happened?! Did you have an accident?!” You exclaimed as you examined your friend looking for another injury or trace of a car accident.

“No, relax… it was a fight…” He stated rubbing the nape of his neck.

“What? With who?” Your thoughts immediately went to the hard looking guys and drunks that used to hang around at the Hideout a lot.   

He hesitates “Rachel dumped me…”  

At first you thought it was a lie.

“She did this to you?!”

“No way!... turns out she wanted to make his ex-boyfriend jealous and who better than the loveless freak, right?” He said without making eye contact with you, instead he kept his hand on the back of his neck and shifted his weight between his feet.

“Oh, Eds… wait here…”

You rushed out of your room to go to the bathroom to get the first aid kit, you didn’t consider yourself as a violent person but right now you swear if you ever see that little pirate brat near Eddie again you will slap her in the face, with a chair.

When you returned Eddie was sitting on your bed, you approached him and dragged the chair from your desk to sit in front of him and began to clean his wounds without saying a word. You were wiping the blood from his injuries trying not to stare at him, although it wouldn't have mattered because he, with his eyebrows frowned, was staring at the floor.

Eddie didn't know where to start, he felt he had to tell you so many things, but also that he had lost the right to say them. He didn't even care that much about the whole thing with Rachel, he was more upset that he was being used in such a pathetic way. Besides, to be honest with himself, she herself was a distraction for him. A distraction from how you were making him feel, even now with you cleaning his wounds and trying to make him feel better, he felt something in his chest. He felt a heaviness ever since you called him an asshole in the cafeteria and a bitterness on his tongue when he saw Steve bend over you in his car. That prick. He clenched his hands on his thighs as he remembered the image and looked over his shoulder, there's that damn jacket on your pillow again!

“It's not enough that he has it all, now he's actually stealing you!” He tsked with anger when he quickly stood up.

“What? What are you talking about?” You said looking up totally confused, the bloodstained cotton still in your hand.

“I am talking about Steve! You are with him now!”  

“I am not…” You stated while slowly getting up from your chair.

“Don’t lie to me! I saw you in his car last night!” He shook his head and his hands tightened into fists again.

“What? You followed us to his car?!”

“Of course I fucking did!” He exposed, totally frustrated.

“And what if I am? You started dating Rachel first, you know?” There was jealousy and  anger again stuck deep in your throat.  “What was wrong with you all of a sudden? How badly had you been hit? What does it matter if I am with Steve?”

“Because…you!... Because I can’t compete with him!!”  

“What?” Your heart skipped a beat, could it be?

“I mean, shit! … he can take you places I can't afford to go…” he mumbled the last part as he settled down on your bed again. He ducked his head and looked down at his empty hands through his bangs. “You deserve so much better than me… Everything I touch I fucking ruin! and what If I hurt you?”

“Eddie, can you look at me, please?”

You had to blink down your tears when he lifted his head to you, those big eyes gazed back at you, he looked like nothing more than a wounded puppy, with his hair in a mess and traces of the fight still on him. You covered your mouth with your hand when he suddenly stood up and leaned closer to you.

“If I could be a different person, I promise, I would be” He said “but I can't bear the thought of losing you because I've been a stupid selfish jerk and wanted you all to myself…” He had finally pulled that plug and was telling you everything whether he had the right to say it or not. “Cause I rather go fucking blind, than let you down Y/N”  

You looked at him not believing what you just heard, he wanted me all to himself, you smiled underneath your hand still in your mouth but he couldn't see it. He was looking at you with his lips pressed together and not sure if he wanted any response from you.

“Eds…would you go on a date with me?” You said calmly as you removed your hand.

“Wait, what? Did you not hear what I …”

“I hear, so, would you?”  You were more than sure that he was more than enough for you, so from now on you had to let him know.

“Shit! I’d love to!” He shrugged his shoulders and for the first time since he came through the window you could see the hints of a smile on his face. You smiled back at him and wrapped your arms around him slowly, trying not to hurt him.  “Y/N, one more thing…” He said into your ear as he held you tighter.

“Hmm?”

“Can I go back and call you my tangerine?”

*✧ — Epilogue! —✧*