Eden Bingham

[ samantha logan | female | she/her | twenty-five ] —— it’s just another typical week in hawkins i guess — isn’t that right, eden bingham? huh, guess they can’t hear me over shout at the devil by motley crue playing on their walkman, but it looks like they’re headed to work as a radio host. did you know eden has been in hawkins for 9 months? yeah, they’ve been described as a bit moody, but i suppose them also being a maverick outweighs the negative. i’ve also heard people say they remind them of smoke moving through the sun rays on lazy days, hard rock records laid about on the floor, sneaking out to a party on a friday night… however, that could just be this weeks newest rumor.

On his days off, Gareth did his usual routine of eating his weight in junk and sitting around listening to old records. He was just in the middle of it when he heard the knock through the muffled sounds. He pulled his bag of pretzels up to his chest and opened the door, crumbs falling out as he gave a half grin. “At your service, miss.” He said casually, holding out his arms so Eden could set the bags on them. “Whatcha got planned? Am I invited too? You can say no but I will be in my room weeping.”

x

She grinned as he opened the door and gave him some bags before heading inside putting what she had down in the kitchen. “No, I thought we’d lock you in your room, let you weep, and have a fan blowing at the door so you can just smell the wicked meal I’m preparing.” Eden teased and playfully hit is arm. “Of course you’re invited! I’m used to feeding an army, so two boys aren’t different.” She winked at him. “I’m making us all a roasted chicken with carrots and potatoes, some biscuits, and bought a pie for dessert.” She grinned at him. “Now, please tell me you have a roasting pan.”

Eden got off work and got some stuff to make dinner and wanted to actually surprise Jeff with it since he usually was the one who cooked for her at the diner. She figured he was still at work and she hoped Gareth was home so she pulled up to the building their apartment was in, grabbed her bags, and headed up there; knocking on the door. “Gareth? Please be here. These bags are heavy and I really don’t want to carry them back to my car.”

It was rare for Eden to actually spend money on herself at an actual store instead of a thrift shop, but there was a part of her that wanted something new and maybe nicer than her sweaters that kinda had holes and looked more like it barely survived a Motley Crue tour. However, she was being picky about the whole thing and didn’t want just a solid color (though she may have to settle for it) and the prints weren’t screaming ‘Eden’ at her. Sighing, she grabbed two options and turned to someone nearby. “Okay, do these scream I’m going to a party that my mother is hosting and I have to look nice and then I can wear it to church too or could it maybe pass as I can wear this to a Motley Crue Concert without seeming like Molly Ringwald is my best friend and I don’t belong there?”

       “ i mean, you gotta do whatever you can to get out of the corn maze, right? no one wants to be stuck in there all night. ” sophia smiled, looking at eden before letting out a small giggle and looking back in front of her and walking. she reached up, adjusting her minnie mouse ears before moving her hand back to her side. “ oh, don’t let me stop you from carving a pumpkin — i just didn’t want to ruin my nails, so i didn’t do it. ” she told eden, not wanting her personal preference of not carving a pumpkin to stop the other from carving their own pumpkin. this manicure was too fresh to ruin. “ yes, fun! that must be the line. ” she pointed a finger at the line. 

x

“That’s true. Though, if it came to it, I could’ve pulled out my lighter and maybe burned a way out.” She laughed and watched her friend adjust her ears. “No, I don’t think I’d do it anyways. I’m not sure the parents of the town would appreciate the imagine I’d like to put on a pumpkin.” Eden smirked; knowing full well she’d probably put Freddy Krueger’s face on one and scare the children around her. Her eyes went to the line Sophia pointed to and nodded. “Looks like it to me. Let’s go.” She grinned and moved faster to stand in it.

       “ well, it gives me a little hope to see that you made it out of the maze in one piece. ” sophia exclaimed, letting out a small laugh. “ i told myself i’d do the maze a little later on. ” it was always the small worry of her getting lost and forgotten about in the maze as things went on in both patches. “ well, monnie’s not in costume, but i found out about the whole ‘costume’ thing at the last minute, so it was sort of easy to miss. did most things at the other patch except carve a pumpkin. ” she lifted her free hand to check on her nails and make sure she didn’t break or chip anything. 

x

“We may have cheated a little bit. Well, once. I sat on his shoulders.” She shrugged and smiled at her. “Well, take a buddy because that place is really a maze.” But it was never bad when you were with someone you enjoyed spending time with. “Hey, nothing wrong there. You look cute and I’m sure Monnie does too.” She grinned at her and nodded. “Noted. Everything but carving pumpkins.” She grinned and gave her a nudge. “So fun then?”

“so, you’re totally into all the creepy stuff and all that?” valerie inquires curiously, wondering if she knew the secret behind hawkins and all of the weirdness going on. “it’s all fun and games until they start chasing you, now that shit is scary.” she laughs, shaking her head at the thought. “like one of those killer clowns.” 

x

“I am. It’s against everything my family believes and I really got into them hard.” She smiled as she looked around them at everything they were going through in the hayride. “They’d hate all of this.” She did truly appreciate her adoptive family, it was just the religion stuff she no longer agreed with and would defy that for the rest of her life. “It is, yes, but a good scare. We all need that kind of thing sometimes.” She grinned before shaking her head. “Okay, that may be a little scary. Or Leatherface.”

      sophia was almost certain that the person standing near the petting zoo scaring people was not a volunteer, only because that was the tame part of all this — it was supposed to cater to those who didn’t like jumpscares all that much. it was a simple case of people getting bored and deciding to take matters into their own hands.       “ sure, come on! ” she linked arms with eden, starting to walk in the direction of the line for the haunted hayride. “ have you seen anyone else here, yet? ”

x

She grinned as they linked arms and headed towards the hayride. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few people. Jeff and I did the maze earlier before it got dark.” Eden told her and smiled. “Then a few here and there. I feel like I should’ve held a radio broadcast from here or something.” She laughed as the hayride came into view. “What about you? Anyone interesting over at the other place?”

        the scare was just a result of extremely poor timing on eden’s end. this ‘minnie mouse’ was already sort of bracing herself for something after that, leaving her a little bit prepared for eden’s jumpscare.         “ yeah, it was crazy! ” sophia exclaimed, letting out a small laugh as she shook her head. at the question, she shook her head yet again. “ no, i just got here from mccorkle’s. start off tame before i get into the jumpscares, you know? ” she was sure there’d be a few on the hayride alone that were sure to get her. “ where’s the line? is it this way? ” she asked, pointing in the direction she was about to go in. 

x

"Sad I missed it." She said with a smile, and honestly she was. She wished she was part of scaring people and thought about next year volunteering or maybe offering to put a radio booth out there. "And here I went hard first." She said before looking around. "Yeah looks like it. Want some company?"

she never seen someone so happy to be on the hayride. most of the people are terrified – her being one of them, but she must admit every time she got scared she would end up bursting in laughter. it was funny after all. shaking her head, she focuses her eyes on the female seated across from her. “if i didn’t know better i would say you’re the one who mapped out everything since nothing seems to faze you at all.” 

x

She shrugged and smiled over at the other. "I didn't, but I think it's mostly from a deep dive of all things scary the last ten years and now I'm desensitized." Eden had done a lot in secret until she moved out then really did a jump into more things since she had more freedom. "I love seeing what they have done here. It's entertaining, even if not scary.”

“You can, if you’re cold,” Jeff says, without even having to think about it. Manners aside, it would be immediately obvious to anyone with eyes exactly who Eden got the jacket from, and the idea isn’t… unappealing. Though he’s loathe to let go of her hand (and wouldn’t even consider letting anyone else sit on his shoulders), after a moment of consideration, crouches down in front of her. “Alright, come on - I don’t want anyone to see me doing this,” he grumbles, gesturing for her to climb aboard. “Be careful, okay?”

x

She smiled at him as he said she could borrow his jacket if she was cold, but shook her head. "I'm fine right now in mine, but I'll let you know." She always appreciated how much of a gentleman he was with her. It was sweet and made her smile. As Eden waited for him to decide if he'd let her in his shoulders, she gave him a pleading look before be agreed. "Yes because it's gonna ruin your reputation." She teased as she moved on leg over his shoulder and then the other. "I will be. Just don't drop me." She laughed as held onto him as they stood and she looked over the corn to try to see. “Ummmm... okay. I think from here we can take a right and that’s all I see.” It was hard to tell with the corn. “Oh! Right then left. Then... straight for a bit? Or maybe to the left again.” She looked down. “Worst thing we end up freezing her like Jack Torrance, huh?”

“Are you gonna make fun of me if I say ‘yeah’?” He asks, nudging her back. Eden’s really pulling off the look - there’s surely no harm in saying so. “Thanks. He’s not exactly my bag either, but you have to admit there’s something weirdly compelling about this jacket.” And, as far as costumes go, it has the added benefit of not being especially controversial The events of last year are still fresh in Jeff’s mind, and he isn’t looking to repeat them any time soon (or ever), so it just seemed like the right decision to keep things kind of… tame. “Looks like another dead end up ahead. Think we ought to turn back?”

x

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I’ll take the compliment first.” She grinned at him, ignoring the fact that hearing him say yes made her heart flutter a little. “Weirdly compelling indeed.” She did like the jacket on him. “Maybe I can borrow it sometime.” She winked at him before a pout came over her face as she noticed that they were heading towards another dead end. “I guess.” She said before sighing. “Lift me up on your shoulders. I’ll see if I can’t see the way.”

@edensbingham​​

“christ,” jonathan says, sitting down next to the first familiar face he’s seen, he leans back as much as he can, stretching his arms and then taking the heavy camera off his neck and setting it next to him. “i need a drink or something,” he says with a small chuckle. “i’ve been on my feet all day and having to talk in a voice that doesn’t sound like me,” he rolls his eyes. they should be grateful, they would be getting a pretty big check for having come as early as they have been but they were tired and still healing their body. “what have you been up to? seen any of the little snots running around?” 

x

Eden was eating some of the popcorn she got from one of the booths when Jonathan sat down by her. A smile crossed her face and she passed the bag of popcorn. “I don’t have drinks here, but I have this and something a little fun.” She smirked and pulled a joint out from her popcorn and waving it around to offer it to them. “Welcome to the wonderful world that is customer service where you have to be nice in order to get paid.” She smiled. “I’ve spent most of the time over at the haunted barn and corn maze. And yeah I’ve seen them all running going about but haven’t actually talked to them. How about you? They go and get their pictures done?”

↪ closed for @edensbingham​ location: haunted hayride 

it took a lot to scare valerie, but as she was on the hayride looking out at the dark abyss, she didn’t know what was going to pop out. she felt that her soul left her body multiple times on the ride already and they didn’t even get through half of it just yet. “don’t look now, but there’s someone running up behind you with something.” she informs eden as she wraps glances behind her to make sure nobody was doing the same to her. 

x

The hayride was definitely a hit with Eden as this was her second go through of the weekend and she was loving every jump scare that was through it. It made her laugh and appreciate each moment of the ride. So when the girl next to her informed her of someone sneaking behind her on the ride, she turned around and saw the familiar actor. She grinned as they ran off and she looked back over at Valerie. “They tried that last time too and they probably figured the second time would actually work.” She laughed.

       “ where am i even gonna put this costume? ” sophia muttered, making her way towards the hay ride. tonight had been a fun night. she had been to both parts — the tame part ( mccorkle’s ) and the scary part ( wright’s ), which she was just about to experience now. sophia was completely oblivious to the fact that eden was behind her and, yet, even with how oblivious she was, she simply turned around to look at eden. “ nice try. ” she reached up, adjusting her minnie mouse ears on top of her head. “ someone hiding out near the petting zoo was getting a lot of people good earlier, and they really caught me off guard. this, however, didn’t scare me. ” she stuck her tongue out playfully, before letting out a small laugh. “ you joining me on the hay ride? ”

x

Eden pouted a little as she didn’t end up scaring Sophia, but ended up smiling anyways. “Hey, you can’t blame a girl.” She said and listened other talk about someone scaring everyone at the petting zoo. “Damn, now that is hard core. I should’ve thought about that.” She teased, but wasn’t sure if she could ever scare little kids. Her siblings? Sure. Other kids? Maybe not. “Hell, yeah. Have you been yet? Or did you just get here from McCorkle’s?”

“I don’t know if I consider being lost fun, E.” But Jeff’s grumbling is quickly put to rest when Eden takes his hand, and he follows her down the path she’s chosen, knitting their fingers together to make sure he doesn’t lose her in the oncoming darkness (and for that reason only). He supposes they must make quite a picture, Joan Jett and Michael Jackson wandering through a corn maze in the middle of nowhere. “Did I tell you I like your costume yet?” He asks, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile, “Because you look good.”

x

“It’s an adventure, Jeffy.” She teased as she squeezed his hand and walked down the new (or maybe new) path with him. She couldn’t admit that she liked this too much; to herself or even to him. They were friends and that was it. Even if she liked spending the most time with Jeff these days and it always made her smile when she was around him, but that was also things she didn’t admit or think about. Instead, she pushed hard on just making the most out of this time. At the compliment, she grinned and looked back at him; seeing that smile she loved to see (more so when she was the cause). “Yeah? These leather pants doing it for you?” She teased, nudging his arm with her elbow. “I like yours too. Michael’s not really my thing, but I’ll make an exception.”