Two Stores Down

chapter three - shrooms

The sun sets on a grassy horizon, shining over the residents of Hawkins, Indiana. It’s around 7pm when the sun is shining directly through the bedroom window. At first, Steve is thrown out of his sleep from a persistent itching at his nose, nearly causing him to sneeze. Then, the sun beams directly at his face through the one side of the curtain that doesn’t completely cover the window. He creaks open his eyes to see that Eddie is tucked under his arm and that his hair is tickling his nose. Eddie’s left arm is also laid across Steve’s torso, and he’s slightly drooling on his chest. 

At first, he panics. He thinks, ‘what the hell is Eddie Munson doing in my bed?’ Then, he looks around the room at the posters on the wall and realizes that he’s actually in Eddie’s bed. Steve doesn’t really know what to do. He doesn’t want to move in fear that he’ll wake him up and that it'll be awkward. He shifts a small bit and hears the bed creak loudly, so he immediately stops and holds his breath, staring at Eddie for any faltering breaths. 

Eddie simply murmurs in his sleep and rubs his cheek on his chest and continues snoring lightly. This reminds him of when he and Nancy would stay over at each others’ houses a bit too late. Or when Steve snuck into her room and would accidentally sleep until morning and almost get caught. He’d never wake up to her asleep on his chest like this, though. Not with her long eyelashes gently resting across the tops of her cheeks, hair perfectly tangled and framing her face, making a black eye look like art, and with a perfect warmth radiating for Steve, who’s always slightly cold. 

There’s still a slight buzz in his head from the joint, and he wonders if it was spiked or something. He looks at the watch on Eddie’s wrist and it reads 7:32pm. He should probably head home since they both have to work tomorrow despite their injuries. He still has the headphones on, but they’re not playing any more music. He wants to take them off, but again, he doesn’t want to move.

Then, there’s a loud truck pulling up to the trailer. It shuts off and then someone opens the door and walks in, walking towards the room. In pure fear that someone will see them laying like this, Steve roughly shoves Eddie off, nearly pushing him off the bed. He throws the headphones to the side, and stands up right when an old man walks in. Eddie groans, rubbing his eyes. 

“Ed, I bought that book you- Who the hell are you?” The man asks, startled. Steve holds a hand on his hip and uses the other to wave, looking back and forth between a half-sleeping Eddie and a defensive old man. “I, uhm, I just stopped by for this.” He grabs a random cassette and holds it up, smiling. The man blinks when he sees it’s a Metallica tape, “You listen to that?” the man asks. Eddie is slightly more awake now, watching Steve make a fool of himself. He hides his smile, enjoying the scene. “Totally, yeah. He’s my favorite.” He looks at the cover, “best singer I know!” he smiles.

The man just ignores him, “Ed, you know this guy?”

The metalhead chuckles and stands between the two, “Don’t worry, Steve, my old man, Wayne, here knows I sell weed. He came by for a gram, no worries.” He smiles, patting his shoulder. Steve sighs in relief and puts the tape down. The man slowly nods, looking between the two and squints. “Sure.” He says and walks out, closing the door behind him. 

The two just sit there in silence for a few seconds, collecting their thoughts. 

“I should head out.” Steve says, standing there awkwardly. “Don’t forget the tape of your favorite singer.” Eddie quips, chuckling. “Shut up.” he replies, trying to laugh but he fails to do so. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow for some more discs.” Steve says, walking out. He sees the man making a sandwich in the kitchen. He looks up at him, squinting again. “Nice to meet you.” He waves and quickly leaves the trailer.