With and Without You

chapter 2

I weave in and out of cars as I get to the school parking lot. Tonight is also the basketball championship game. I notice a familiar maroon car parked just ahead and a full head of hair standing on the passenger side. I waved to Steve as he opened a door for his new flavor of the week. He waves back. Further down, I see Dustin and Mike waiting outside. They look stressed. They turn towards the doors to the school, so I am able to sneak quietly behind them. I grab Dustin's sides from behind and yell. "What are you doing?!" They both scream. "Ahhh! Jesus!" Yelled Dustin. I laugh.
"So not funny!" Yelled Mike.
"I think it was." I tell them.
"What took you so long?" Dustin asks.
"I'm here. Don't get your panties in a twist." I say, picking up my board and heading for the door. "And don't get lippy. I'm doing this cause YOU asked. I could just go home."
"You missed us, and you know it." Dustin smarted back. I rolled my eyes.

We walked down the dark hallway until we came to doors coming with a warm light behind them. I stop in front of them and take a deep breath. "You ready?" Asked Dustin. I nod gathering my fake confidence. I pushed open the doors and walked in, followed by the boys. Eddie was sitting in his chair at the head of the table. Garth and the rest of the boys in their seats. I used to have a seat next to Eddie that was similar to his, but it is now pushed off to the side. I stand there while he looks me up and down.

"Absolutely not." He says firmly.
"You said find a substitute and who better than someone who used to play with us. Plus, this way, we don't have to teach anyone new. She knows it all." Dustin says, trying to convince Eddie.
"Right, and it not like we begged or anything." Mike adds sarcastically under his breath. Eddie sits quiet. Sensing he is about to say no, I speak up.

"Listen, the only reason I'm here is that Dustin asked me. You can adjust things how you see fit, and at any time, you can ask me to leave, and I will." I try to compromise.
Eddie stands up and walks over to me. I stand with my arms crossed. He looks me up and down and licks his lip. God, why must he look so hot. My body is radiating heat. We haven't been this close in so long. I must focus. A smirk appears on his face. He puts out his hand.
"Deal." He says. We shake hands. It's been about 5 months since we last truly spoke or touched. The feeling of his hand in mine is almost too much. My stomach flips. I was hoping this time away would get rid of any possible feelings I was getting for him, but it didn't. It made them grow more, if anything. I blush at his touch as our hands linger a bit. We stare at each other as everything around us melts away.

We are brought back to reality by Dustin. "Alright, let's do this!"
Everyone went to their seats. I could feel Eddie's eyes on me as I walked to the table. I decided to sit at the other end of the table next to Dustin. Just didn't feel right taking my old seat. Looking at Eddie, his eyes drop. It's like he was disappointed by my decision.

The game was going pretty well. Eddie has always been a great dungeon master. Then, someone made a smart-ass comment. It referenced what happened between Eddie and I. That made Eddie change his tactics and go hard on me. It started frustrating me, but I grit my teeth and keep going. We were battling the main boss when Eddie decided he was done with me and killed my player.
"Are you serious right now?!" I yell at him.
"You said I could do it whatever I wanted to." Eddie said back.
"That's bullshit and you know it! I've tolerated you changing rules and throwing things at me specifically, but this is crap! The party needs my healing scroll to even have a possibility at surving and you just made a random trap that magically appeared where im standing afted 5 rounds go off, leaving everyone around me fine but killing me even though that trap has a huge range." The rest of the guys mumble, agreeing with me.
"She's right." said Mike. "Yea." Added Gareth. "Come on, Eddie. That's shit." Said Dustin.
"Enough!" He says, shooting straight up from his chair. "My decision is final. You're done." I shake my head. We both know that this isn't about a game anymore. This is deeper. We are both still hurting, and it's coming out now. I swipe my dice into my hand and throw them in my bag. I grab my notebook and skateboard and stand.
"Fine! Goodnight, boys." I say, turning and leaving the room. As I walked down the hall, I ended up dropping all the loose papers I had in my notebook all over the floor. "Ahhhh, fucking kidding me!" I say frustrated, throwing my skateboard and bag down. I get on my knees picking up all the papers, my mind flooding with thoughts of Eddie and the past 6 months and how much I've missed him. I thought for a minute tonight that he might have missed me too but I was wrong. Tears begin to fall down my face and fall on one of my papers. I sit with my back against the wall, knees to my chest. I bury my head in my hands and sob, no longer able to control my emotions. It's just all too much anymore. My heart is hurting.

Eddie's POV:

"Fine! Goodnight boys," y/n says as she turns and walks out the door. I stare at the door hoping she will come back in to fight more. Anything as long as she's here. But she didn't. She never gives up that easily. She really is done. I look at the table.

"Eddie. What the fuck dude?" Said Dustin. I look up at him. "Are you really that dumb? Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"What?" I say confused. "She said...."
"No!" He interrupted. "Why are you letting her go? Be a man and go get her!"
"Excuse me? Henderson you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about." I say.
"You two have been best friends a long time and lets be honest, you are a jackass without her! Work your shit out and fix things." The rest of the guys sit silent. I've always liked Dustin for that. He has balls. The little shit. "We aren't finishing this unless you bring her back so....." He adds crossing his arms.
I roll my eyes and can't help but smile slightly. I get up and walk towards the door. I hope I can catch her. I hope she will talk to me.
I walk out the doors and see her. Y/n is sitting on the floor against the wall crying. Her stuff thrown on the floor. I take a deep breath and sit next to her putting my arms on my knees. I leave a gap between us to make sure she has her room. I don't know how to even start.

~ I sense someone sit beside me. I try to compose myself. Peeking through my hands I see the familiar white reeboks and black jeans. I can't believe he followed me.
I don't think I can do this right now.
"Go away Eddie." I say in my hands.
"No." He says with a deep stern voice. I look up and am taken in by his brown eyes. My heart beats faster. "We.....we need to talk."
"Hell of a time to want to talk. Just go back and leave me alone." Staring at the lockers ahead of me gathering myself to get up. He stands up.
"You know what never mind." He starts to walk off.
"Yea run off. It's what you're best at. Avoiding the problem." I mumble without thinking. Eddie must have heard me cause he stopped dead in his tracks.
"What? Are you kidding me? You are just as guilty for this." He turns back towards me. I stand up.
"Me?! I wasn't the one with trust issues. I wasn't calling you a whore. All I did was stand up for myself which is nothing new. Its what you used to like most about me."
"God, Will you stop being so damn stubborn all the time?" He says sounding a bit annoyed.
"You're one to talk." I smart back.
"Listen, we need to figure this out. Not talking to my best friend for 6 months is overkill y/n. Even for you." I'm surprised by what he said. I can't help but smile. I look back at him. "Best friend?" He looks at his hands and smiles. His cheeks turning red.
"Well yea. It was a fight. You can't get rid of me that easily." His tone shifts softly. "I just couldn't bear to see you hurt, especially by him. After Billy.....just why do you have to like him. You deserve so much better."

It can't be that easy, can it? To go back to the way things were between us. "I truly love that you want to protect me. For the longest time I never had that but it's going to take a little time to get back to where we were. Having you not trust me......" I look back at my feet as a single tear fell.

"What can I do.......to start to fix this?" He asked taking one of my hands in his. I stand quietly for a minute.

"We need to talk and work things out. I cant pretend things didnt happen and things werent said but we can start fresh from here. If you're willing....." I say with hesitation. I look at him with a small smile unsure of his reaction. He brings our hands to his lips and kiss the back of my hand quickly. Goosebumps run up my spine.

"I would like that." He pulls me into him. I my hands wrap around his waist and one of his goes around my back and the other gently holding my head. I bury my face into his chest, inhaling deeply. I take in the smell of cigarettes and his cologne with a hint of pine. I closed my eyes. It was intoxicating. My stomach flipped being like this with him. It's been so long and the feelings, I've tried to ignore, have been broken free from their cage. I would give anything for him to take me here and now. "I've missed this." He says quietly with a moan. God I'm glad he can't see me blush. I smile. "Me too." I say back. He kisses the top of my head. I wish we could just stay like this but we have some stuff to work out still. I can't let myself ignore what happened. Finally we pull away.

"Ready to head back? The guys said they wouldn't finish unless I brought you back."

"Looks like you're done for tonight then." I smirk. I gather my stuff.

"What?" He asks confused.

"You really think I'm going to come back after you were a dick. Really? What would that say about me." I say walking off.

"Oh come on y/n/n." He says.
I turn to face and start walking backwards.

"See you later, Munson." I say to him.