our last summer. (e.m)

fifteen: sweet nights, sweeter mornings.

eddie takes the ring and slips it right onto my pinky,
since it's the only finger that will fit this perfect piece of silver.
a satisfied sigh leaves his lips while he leans back to admire it.
after years of wondering when he might be able to give it to me,
it's finally in my possession.
"it's as beautiful on you as i'd always imagined."
then he takes my hand into his and kisses the skin there.
how i unravel in this action of his.
i will now forever have a reminder of this love.
so much so,
that when the day comes and i hear the grim reapers knock,
this ring will shine in its silver shimmer as i carry it to the unknown with me.
i cannot believe it's eddie munson who's love is so deeply carved into my bones now.
i cannot believe it is eddie munson who holds my heart dearly into his own now.
after all this time apart,
everything i've ever wished for is unfolding before me.
and it's sweeter than my imagination could have ever fathomed.
a thought looms over my mind,
begging to be considered and wondered:
is this what marrying eddie would feel like?
a few tears prick my eyes at this,
all while eddie and i keep our eyes on this very ring.
"hey now."
with a finger beneath my chin,
eddie uses it to lift my head up so that i'll face him,
teary-eyed and full of smiles.
"i'm sorry,"
i say through a laugh,
though the first of my tears float down my cheeks.
"it's just...it's surreal. you're here and we're—"
"together,"
eddie finishes for me with a gentle smile.
his hands have yet to break apart from my being since we've joined,
which is why i find no surprise in his palm curving itself around the shape of my cheek.
what i wouldn't give up to be in his embrace for the rest of my life.
he wipes away my tear then whispers,
"you're too pretty to cry over little ol' me."
a laugh leaves the space of my lungs and brings a smile of contentment to eddie.
"there's that smile,"
he cheers while poking my cheek with the very same hand that once held it.
we laugh together as one until he looks down at his hands,
picking at the skin around his nails.
"but, uh, seriously...i know. it's...it's a shock for me, too."
then he tosses me a look full of ardency.
"i'm just glad i don't have to keep waking up and wondering if you've forgotten me."
"i couldn't forget you, bunson burner. i never wanted to."
he covers his face with his hands while letting out a loud groan.
i can't help but to laugh to myself when he falls backwards onto his pillows.
"what are you doing to me?!"
he asks dramatically.
i inch close enough to him so that i might remove the hands blocking those glittery eyes i love so much.
when i do,
eddie let's them fall to my thighs while his eyes stay locked with mine.
i see now,
what it is he was trying so hard to hide.
"oh, wow. you're blushing,"
i announce.
eddie rolls his eyes at this then mocks the laughter leaving my lips until he, too, collapses into his own fit of laughter.
"do me a favor, will you?"
i ask once we've settled and i'm on my feet,
looking at the posters on his walls.
"hm?"
i ask him to retrieve something from my bag while i smooth a thumb over the ink of eddie's name against his artwork.
eddie finds it and tosses it my way when suddenly, horror strikes.
"oh!"
he chuckles out.
"what have we got here?"
i spin around to see eddie holding the very thing i tried, and failed, to hide from him.
nancy's gift for the night is held between eddie's forefinger and thumb,
matched with a grin so wide,
i could melt in this embarrassment.
"oh, god, no. it's-it's not what it looks like."
"so scandalous, y/n."
"eddie, it's not—"
"at least buy me dinner first before you try to—"
"enough!"
i fall onto eddie's bed with my head in my hands,
trying to shrink away into myself.
eddie's laughter is bright at my expense.
then soon enough,
he's hovering over me to peel my hands away from my face,
only so he can throw my words back at me.
"oh, wow. you're blushing."
"do you just get off on seeing me writhe?"
i ask him,
pushing on his chest though he moves none.
"mm. that, and a few other things."
his fingers are still wrapped around my wrist,
though tenderly,
accompanied with gleaming eyes.
"don't look at me like that,"
i demand as seriously as my wide smile will allow.
"no? how do you prefer i look at you, then?"
when i don't answer,
eddie let's out a soft laugh then leans down to plant a kiss to the spot above my eyebrow.
"i think i'll just keep looking at you like this, if you don't mind."
"and if i do?"
he simply shrugs as an easygoing answer slips past his lips,
"then you're shit out of luck, green girl."
i giggle while i let my hands tangle at his neck,
where they comb through the ends of his hair and trace the skin there.
"eddie?"
"yeah, love?"
i bite the inside of my cheek as the words form their right sequence in my mind.
then i whisper,
"i've never...never, you know..."
"you can say it. come on. repeat after me: sex."
eddie chuckles beneath the coyness that clouds my eyes,
but he soon relaxes to ease my worries,
"we'll go at your pace, y/n. there's no rush."
"you don't care?"
"i only care that you're safe and comfortable. that's all."
though i understand,
i still find myself asking,
"so you don't mind waiting?"
then he raises his eyebrows in inquiry.
"you're sure? you want me to...?"
i simply nod my head before he can finish his sentence.
then a sense of reverence in his eyes now.
"y-yeah. i'll wait as long as you'd have me wait, y/n. if you're sure that it's-it's me you want."
"i don't have a single doubt."
i pull eddie into me and let the truth be told in the steady movement of our lips.
i let him feel how genuine my promise is,
and eddie replies with the soft caress of his hands.
your pace.
he soon pulls back on behalf of his vow then falls to my side,
only waiting a few seconds to wrap me up in his arms and pull me right into his chest.
the rain is beginning now.
i can hear it tiptoe across the roof of eddie's home while it kisses the pavement outside.
"come here,"
he whispers,
though i couldn't possibly come any closer.
i still try in hopes we might suddenly become one.
eddie grabs a book from his bedside and shows me the cover.
"ever read it?"
i scan my memory for a moment then answer as best i can recall.
"will you read it to me?"
he answers by kissing my forehead and opening to the first page.
"when mr bilbo baggins of bag end announced that he..."
the world around me drowns out and becomes absolute nothingness under the steady, serene voice of eddie munson as he tells these tales.
i fall a little deeper into him,
i fall a little harder for him.
i nestle my head into his chest and whisper,
"i love you so much."
into his collarbone.
eddie molds the palm of his hand around the curve of my neck,
pressing me closer into him,
while he pauses his storytelling to say,
"i love you, garlic clove. more than words can say."
i kiss the soft spot under his jaw and watch his eyes close under the action.
eddie brings me in for one more kiss.
it's as sweet as it's always been,
but this time a sense of devotion is proven in the curve of his lips.
"what was that for?"
i ask through small breaths,
having them taken away by his influence.
"i need a reason to kiss you?"
"to kiss me like that, yeah."
eddie chuckles while he smooths a hand down my cheek.
"i'll never tire of kissing you. it's the sweetest thing i've ever felt. and i don't know if i'll ever get used to it."
"might as well try,"
i tease.
"might as well,"
he agrees as he leans into me once more,
kissing me numb.
this is the greatest sleepover i've ever been invited to.
what had i been so worried for?
eddie has made this the most exciting night of my life.
"come on, continue. what happens next?"
i ask as i wipe eddie's lips free of my chapstick.
he laughs,
plans tiny kisses to the tips of my fingers in the effort,
then brings his attention back to the book in hand.
"bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the shire for sixty years..."
***
i wake up to the feeling of gentle lips i know so well being pressed against my closed eyelids.
when they slowly flutter open,
i see eddie munson hovering above me with bed head.
the look is enough to make me smile,
considering i'd spent so much time wondering what exactly that looked like.
now i know and i know it well.
his abdomen is bare of a shirt,
though the sweatpants i remember from the night prior are still worn well.
"what, did smegal take your shirt in the middle of the night?"
"yeah, i bet you'd like that, huh?"
i slap his chest playfully and turn away from him,
but eddie is quick to wrap me up in his arms.
"you kept me up late! let a girl sleep."
"is this all you do? sleep?"
i close my eyes again while i let out a mocking laugh.
"oh, hush. like you don't sleep past noon."
"not when there's a pretty girl in my bed,"
he sings as the well-known caress i love so much is cast down my cheek.
"flattery won't get you anywhere, munson."
"nowhere?"
"nope."
how could i fool myself?
the moment the word leaves my lips,
i open my eyes again to revel in the morning glow that is cast into eddie's room.
how serene he looks.
i ran a hand through his hair then let my touch fall down the curve of his neck,
stopping at his shoulder to rest there.
"okay...maybe it'll get you somewhere."
"i've heard my words have a way of persuading."
"mhm. i'm not getting out of this bed until you play me a song."
eddie chuckles,
presses a kiss to my temple then says,
"well...why didn't you just say something?"
he's out of the bed before i can reply,
throwing the guitar strap over his shoulder in preparation of playing.
the moment his fingers strum the chords and notes float in the air to settle within me,
i laugh out in surprise.
"no you did not!"
eddie nods his head and through his concentration,
says,
"oh, yeah. better believe it."
waterloo by abba comes alive in the motion of eddie's quick, clever fingers.
all i can do is look at him dumbfounded;
mesmerized by his talent and his learning of this for me.
when he's finished,
he sets the instrument down in its place of resting then turns to me.
"yeah? you totally amazed yet?"
eddie lays back on the bed beside me when he asks.
i don't hesitate to reply,
"eddie munson...you are the hottest man i've ever laid eyes on."
i bring a hand to his chest and make a dramatic proclamation of my devotion for him.
he only laughs,
though i see the pink hue grazing his cheeks,
while he takes my hand and entwines it with his own.
"i don't think anyone has ever learned to play abba for me."
"i'd learn anything for you and i'd do it until my limbs stopped working."
i smile at his words and become tangled in the very limbs he's dedicated to me.
"when did you become such a man of words?"
"i don't know. you must have done something to me."

after spending the entire morning together,
eddie eventually walks me home that evening and has to practically pry himself away from me.
though we said goodbye time and time again,
he would pull me back by the tug of my hand and kiss me just once more.
i giggled until i possibly couldn't anymore.
only then was i allowed to walk inside.
he gave me his jacket again.
he said it didn't feel the same on him anymore,
that it would forever belong to me now.
so i wear it proudly and revel in his warmth,
even when he's gone.