ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ||ᴇᴅᴅɪᴇ ᴍᴜɴꜱᴏɴ

2

"Eddie. Just come in," I said from the porch as he leaned his head against his van. "What's wrong?" I walked down the steps and over to him. He turned to me and had a look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. "Are you ok? Is it about what happened at the bar? Because I'm fine, it happens all the time." He tilted his head. 

"That happens all the time?" He asked and I shook my head. Eddie looked me up and down and a smirk covered his face. I looked down and realized I was only wearing the t-shirt, and I began to feel self-conscious.

"Eddie, why do you care? You're just my drug dealer." He turned away from me, reaching into the van. He pulled out his metal box and opened it. He grabbed out two small pouches of white powder and handed them to me. 

"On the house," He said looking down at me. 

"I don't need your charity." I handed them back to him but he insisted them into my hand. "Stop, I can pay you. Just come in." I walked up the steps and into my trailer and he followed behind. I walked into the kitchen and looked around for my jar of extra money. "How much do I owe you?" I asked as I squatted down to look on a low shelf. I turned back to him staring at me. 

"Fifty," He responded putting his hands in his pocket and looking away from me. I grabbed the cash and counted it before I got back up. I walked up to him and handed it to him.  He grabbed my wrist as he looked deeply into my eyes, his eyes trailing down to my lips and then back up to my eyes. 

"Eddie," I started and he let go. He began counting the money before walking to the door and I followed. He turned back to me as he stepped onto the porch. "How did your friends know my name?" 

"We have been playing at the bar a while, they probably figured it out then." He looked down at his hands as he spoke. "And we graduated together, so there's that too." I shook my head as he walked down the steps. He looked up at me as he got into his van and I smiled before shutting the door and locking it. I poured some of the powder onto the counter before pushing it into a line and snorting it. The bitter taste dripped down the back of my throat as I chased it with some water, before wiping down the counter. I walked into my room and jumped on my bed, before curling under the blankets as the Special K hit. 

I woke up to the blaring sound of my alarm and I turned to stop it. The clock read eight-thirty and I quickly got up and ready for work. I found my red lifeguard swimsuit and put it on as I looked around for my shorts. Once I found them, I put them on with an oversized, white, Fleetwood Mac shirt. I grabbed my bag and slide on my sandals before walking out to my car. I tied my hair into a ponytail as I drove to work, getting there five minutes before the pool opened. 

"Good morning, Rose," Brian, my boss greeted me. 

"Good morning," I rushed into the locker room and put my things away before heading out to the pool deck. People were lining up outside as they waited for the pool to open. I began opening the umbrellas and lawn chairs as people began to trickle in. The first few hours of my shift went by fast. I sat on the lifeguard post as I looked around and saw a few familiar faces sitting in the shade, looking at me. Gareth waved to me and I looked away acting like I hadn't seen them. They were with a few younger children as well as Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Robin, and Jonathon. I did a double take as I noticed Jonathon and he must have seen me as well. He got up and walked over to where I was sitting. 

"Rose, hey, it's been a long time." I looked down at him and moved my sunglasses down my nose a little to see him. 

"Hi, what are you doing in Hawkins?" I asked.

"I'm spending the summer with Nancy," He smiled. 

"That's great, is your mom and Will here too?" 

"Just for the next two weeks. We should get dinner or something." I looked around at the pool before looking back down at him.