I've Seen Stranger Things

A Daydream Away - Eddie Munson

A Daydream Away - All Time Low

Eddie looked around the room at the papers strewn about the girl's kitchen floor as she leaned back against the oven door, attempting to catch her breath while still laughing.

"Stop it! We have to focus, Eddie!" She yelled through her laughing, eyes bright.

"Fine! Fine! I'll do my work, you win!" He smiled at her, wide and teeth shining bright. "What's the day? We need it at the top of the poster."

"Today? Tuesday afternoon."

"No, no the day!"

"The day is Tuesday! Do you mean the date? It's the seventh." She slowly started to giggle.

"Oh." And that one simple word made the pair bust out laughing once again. Sure, it wasn't that funny, he'd admit it. But her laugh was heaven and he'd do anything to hear it more and more. Even tell a million corny jokes or a make a million tiny mistakes.

"Seriously! This is due tomorrow!" She spoke through her laughs.

"Okay, okay, what do we need for it?" But the necessities for the project were the furthest thing from Eddie's mind. He was focused on her grin as she started writing down everything they needed to collect.

He couldn't help but stare. Honestly he didn't care when they got to do the project, he just wanted to be there, with her. He could spend the rest of his life right here, sitting in her kitchen floor, if it meant he was with her.

He knew whatever happened today wouldn't matter tomorrow. Soon as this project was over, she would go back to her stuck up friends. The ones that hated him, called him a freak.

"I promise you, if we finish this on time I will buy you ice cream. But we have to focus!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say, love. But I'll do it just for you." He gave an over exaggerated wink. She laughed again, reaching over to push his shoulder.

He smiled brightly at her, but couldn't help the nagging feeling that it would be a bad idea. If her friends found out, he would be gutted. He's lucky Jason wasn't babysitting them during the assigned project.

He threw a fit in class when Eddie was originally paired with his girlfriend, Chrissy, after all. So instead, he was partnered with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Who happened to be good friends with Chrissy, and therefore Jason as well.

——

"Look at that one." Eddie pointed to a guy following around a girl, repeatedly asking for her number until she turned around and slapped him. She busted out laughing at the scene. Eddie smiled too, but his eyes were trained on the girl next to him.

They had been sitting on the bench outside the ice cream parlor for nearly three hours, talking and people watching. Laughing at the crazy guys and the stuck up girls. She took a minute to catch her breath before looking down at her watch and sighing.

"It's starting to get late and unfortunately tomorrow is Monday. I've got to get home before my mom has a heart attack. Thanks for coming with me!"

"Of course! You know, I didn't think you'd talk to me again after that stupid project was done." Eddie laughed, playing it off like he didn't care one way or the other. When in reality, he was over the moon she invited him out this weekend.

"I promised you ice cream if we got it done on time. I don't back out on my word. Plus you're really cool! And funny, I think we'd be great friends." She smiled again before standing from the bench. "But I really do have to get going now."

"Here, let me drive you home. We don't need anything happening to you, now do we?"

The ride was filled with smiles and laughs, it seemed to only last a minute before they were pulling into her driveway. She looked around, her brows furrowed.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "it's just my mom told me she wasn't working nights anymore. But she's not home. And my brothers car isn't here, so I can only assume he's with his girlfriend for the night." She frowned and started unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Let me guess, you don't like being here alone, do you?"

"Not at night, no. Do you, maybe want to come in for just a few minutes. You can judge me all you want, but I get paranoid coming home to an empty house." She looked away from Eddie, avoiding his eyes.

"Of course."

Together the two got out of the car and walked up to the front porch of her house. She unlocked the door and led Eddie up to her room. She began looking through her closet, before stopping and turning to him.

"I hope you don't feel like you need to stay. You're welcome to leave whenever you want, or stay if you'd prefer. I don't mind." Eddie grinned like a fool, plopping down onto her bed.

"I can spare an hour or so." He tried to keep his voice level, not wanting to let her in on the excitement he felt.

"Great! I'm just gonna shower real quick, and then we can grab something to drink from downstairs. With everyone out for the night, everything's available." She winked and grabbed her towel. "Be just a few minutes!" And ran out into the hall.

Eddie looked around her room, the pictures of family and friends spread around the walls, a few horror movie posters, and a bunch of house plants. He thought it to be an interesting collection.

It didn't take long for her to come back out, or for them to ransack the drinks downstairs. Or for Eddie to get a little too tipsy to drive home safely.

So she grabbed a pair of her brothers sweats and set Eddie up in her bed, with a pillow and blanket on the floor for herself.

"No. Not happening."

"Come on Eddie, it's fine. You're the guest, you take the bed. Besides, my carpet is really comfy, I've fallen asleep down here so many times!"

"Well not tonight. You better get up and switch with me or I'm fully prepared to carry you up here."

"You wouldn't." She squinted her eyes, sinking further into the makeshift bed.

"Try me." He stood up slowly, making his way toward the girl. He lifted her up as she squealed and grabbed hold of his shoulders.

He set her down softly on the bed. She huffed as he went to go sit down on the ground next to her.

"This is not how you should be sleeping, you're the guest." Eddie rolled his eyes and reached for the lamp.

"Goodnight, love." The light went out. There was a bit of shuffling heard and then silence.

"Goodnight, Eddie."

——

It's been quite a few months since the stupid history project, and Eddie still hates that class. But, he's couldn't have been happier that it brought him his best friend. She's incredibly kind and adorable, he's crushed on her for months, how could he not? But he always kept her at an arms length, too afraid of getting hurt.

But that arms length didn't help when he was walking past the ice cream parlor and saw her arm linked with Steve Harrington's. Both holding ice cream, walking down the sidewalk with huge smiles on their faces.

His heart almost broke right then and there, but they never would have stood a chance anyway. Not with her best friends being Chrissy and Jason. 

The two started walking his way and he almost turned around and walked into the bar across the street. His drink would need a bit of salt and a bit of lime.

But he should have seen this coming, because she's just a daydream away. And he wouldn't even know what to say if he had her. But he didn't. And it hit him like a truck.

"Eddie! Hi!" She pulled him out of his trance and pulled Steve over by his hand. She gave him a quick hug, and then gestured to the boy next to her. "This is Steve! My boyfriend."

And so he'll keep her a daydream away, and watch from a safe place so he never has to lose her.

It's not like he had much of a choice anyway.