The Ballad of Eddie Munson

Lessons in Tension

Eddie carried his lunch tray through the cafeteria, Dustin in toe, prattling about dungeons and dragons.

Lissa looked up from her meal to respond to a friend sitting across from her, but Eddie caught her attention.

Feeling a gaze upon him, he looked to his side, their eyes meeting.

“Three Thirty.” She mouthed with angry, narrow eyes.

Eddie exaggerated a feared look and kept walking.

“Ew, Lissa, what are you doing with that freak?” her friend asked.

Lissa sighed, “Higgins is making me tutor him to make sure he passes.”

“Okay, but like Valerie couldn’t do it? She’s the valedictorian after all.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence in my intelligence, Becky.”

Becky frowned back, “God, what’s your problem lately.”

Lissa rolled her head, trying to relieve tension in her neck, “I’m just stressed out, okay?”

“Okaaay.”

Lissa maneuvered from the table, attempting not to flash anyone. Why do I wear these stupid clothes? “I gotta get something from my locker. I’ll see you later.” She left her meal and walked out of the lunch room.

Keeping an eye on her, Eddie stood up as well. “Cool, man. Let’s talk about it later, okay? I gotta go do something.”

Eddie turned the corner towards a corridor of lockers and immediately spun around seeing Lissa accompanied by a jock. It’s cool, I’ll see her later.

---------

Lissa sat at Mrs. O’Donnell’s desk. Skimming through material, she tapped her foot, anxious about her upcoming final grades and college applications.

Eddie stepped through the classroom door, his boots loud on the tile floor.

She looked at her watch. “It bodes well that you can actually take direction.”
He gave a challenging grin, “Or it was a happy accident that I was near the door at the right time and remembered to walk through it.”

Lissa looked up, her glare sending shivers down Eddie’s spine.

“Woahkaay,” he pursed his lips.

“Take a seat.”

“Yes, ma’am.” he obeyed.

She stood and walked to the blackboard, a fresh piece of chalk in hand.

The blackboard accentuated the silhouette of her thick curves. Eddie’s breath was slow and steady as he walked her, noticing the way her skirt shook as she wrote rapidly across the board.

Lissa shifted to her tiptoes, reaching for the ring of the projector screen, her fingertips just touching it. I’m gonna need her stupid stick.

She attempted to elongate herself one last time before fetching Mrs. O’Donnell’s projector stick when she felt Eddie move behind her. “I got it.” His denim vest brushed against her back, she froze. He reached over her and looped his finger around the ring, pulling the screen straight down. She kept her hand awkwardly in the air until he stepped away. “Bonus points for being teacher’s pest?” he jested as he sat back down.

Lissa gently cleared her throat, regaining her composure. “If it were anyone else, I would correct them.” She walked to the projector, already set up halfway through the classroom and flipped on the light. “On the left, I listed punctuations and wrote out their names. Using the projector, I’m going to write out some sentences and you’re going to tell me which of those punctuation marks is missing and where it should go.” She started writing on the projector film.

“Uh, teach, that’s a little hard to see.”

She looked up. “Oh.” Lissa quickly turned the lights out and went back to the projector. Stay in your seat. For the love of god.

“Okay, here’s the first sentence. What’s missing?”

“A comma.”

“Where?”

“After ‘lastly’.”

“Good job. I’m going to turn the projector off while I write, this thing is hot. Then I’ll flash the next sentence.”

“You can flash me all day.” His grin grew wider at the change in her breath and the squeal of the marker. “You okay, teach?”

“Uh, yeah. I just gotta wipe this mistake off real quick.” Get it together.

Satisfied for the moment, Eddie followed her lesson.

—

They completed the last scenario. “You did better than I thought you would.”

Eddie chuckled, “I’m not smart enough for Lissa Bradley? I guess that’s why you only talk to guys like Chad Stewart.”

She scoffed, “Chad Stewart? It’s like talking to a brick wall.”

“And what’s it like talking to me?” he stood up and watched her re-organize the projector supplies on the cart.

“A child.”

“Oof, always right to the feels.” he stepped towards her, the classroom lights still out. It felt quieter as the day grew.

Lissa watched him get closer and stepped to the side of the cart.

“You’re high strung.”

“Maybe I should just be high.”

A boisterous laugh, “Lissa Bradley, high? On drugs?” He quieted, standing almost against her, she looked up, slight confused and stepped back. He followed until she backed into a desk.  “No no no, you need stress relief.”

“Relief?” She leaned on the desk and pressed her fingers onto the top to hold herself still.

“You need a dig ol’ bick between those thighs to get high.” He bent his knees with a small hip roll, his jeans brushing her bare knees.

Oh my go-

“Lissa? Is this fucking freak bothering you?” Chad flipped the lights on.

Eddie threw his hands up and stepped back. “No, man, we were just joking around.”

Lissa looked at Chad, cheeks red. “No, he’s just being his version of hilarious.” she looked back at Eddie, “Clear the board.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Lissa spoke low, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for you, I wanted to know if you wanted to go out tonight.”

She hesitated. “Oh, I don’t know, Chad. I kind of have a lot going on.”

Eddie interrupted, still erasing the chalk from the board. “I would go if I were you. Sounds like the stress relief you need.”

“Shut up, freak. What’s he talking about?”

With a shaky voice, “Oh, you know, I’m just super stressed out and he was saying how I needed to go out more and have fun.”

“The freak is right, though. Let me take you to the movies, get your mind off things.”

“Yeah, okay,” Lissa looked away sheepishly.

“I’ll pick you up at 6.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Grinning, Chad walked out the classroom.

“Good choice.” Eddie spoke against the back of her head.

She jumped, not expecting him to be so close. Did he put a fucking mute on his boots?

He leaned and whispered into her ear, “Sounds like you’re going to get the stress relief you need after all.” the depth of his voice tickled her ear and she clenched her jaw. He bumped the back of her shoulder with the front of his as he walked passed her and towards the door.

“To-”

“Tomorrow at 3!” he called out before disappearing.