CHAPTER TWO
II. SENIOR PARTIES

September 4th, 1985

                     THE FIRST SENIOR PARTY OF THE SCHOOL YEAR AND STEPHANIE WAS READY TO GO HOME BY 11. She had been ditched by her best friend and the rest of her friends were inside either too drunk to have any kind of conversation or were too busy snogging players of the basketball team. And Stephanie was neither drunk enough or in the mood to make out with a jock. So that was why she was sitting outside on the front steps of the house where the party was taking place.

And that was where Eddie Munson had found her that night. Sitting alone in the baby blue dress she had been wearing, that left nothing to the imagination. And maybe that was why he had stopped to talk to her.

"Stephanie Carter, sitting outside at a party? Has the world turned upside down?" Eddie's voice had caused Stephanie to look up, after staring down at her feet for the past 10 minutes. Her eyes locked with his and she had frowned.

He was the last person Stephanie had been expecting to see. "Eddie Munson." Of course she knew his name, the boy who was repeating his senior year, again. Everyone knew who Eddie Munson was. "I don't need to ask you what you're doing here." Although she'd been surprised to see him, she knew why he was there. To sell.

"No, you don't." Eddie snickered. "So, what are you doing outside alone?" Eddie had been to a lot of parties, doing the same thing at them all, and had never seen Stephanie sitting outside alone. She was always the centre of attention.

Stephanie had expected Eddie to leave her alone after greeting her. The two had never really spoken before and Stephanie hadn't planned to ever talk to Eddie. They were in different crowds, they probably didn't have a single thing in common and she didn't know why he was asking her why she was outside alone. "Why should I tell you?" Stephanie didn't mean to be snarky but she was drunk and had already been in a bad mood way before Eddie had showed up.

"Don't." Eddie shrugged, not being offended by her attitude. "I was only making conversation, sweetheart." Eddie told her before he started to make his way towards the front door. He had reached the door, preparing to open it and leave Stephanie outside but her voice stopped him.

"Jason was my ride home but he left with Chrissy." Stephanie told him, not knowing entirely why but she was speaking without even thinking. "And there is absolutely no way I'm asking Scotty for a ride home." Stephanie would rather crawl home on her hands and knees. "He'll think it's an invitation to sleep with me." And she wasn't joking. Scotty Williams, one of Stephanie's classmates and a member of the basketball team, had the biggest thing for Stephanie. He followed her around like a lost puppy just waiting for her to give him a chance, and had been since their sophomore year. She probably would've found it cute if he wasn't a complete jerk about it, his cocky attitude was the biggest turn off.

Eddie had laughed at Stephanie, seeing why she'd make that comment. He knew Scotty could be a jerk. And he'd certainly seen the way he acted around Stephanie. But he couldn't exactly blame him. Most guys at Hawkins High had a thing for Stephanie.

"It's not funny. He's a pig." Stephanie told Eddie, not understanding why he was laughing. It wasn't funny.

"Oh, I agree with you." Eddie knew Scotty was a pig. "It's just funny because I never would've guessed you didn't like Scotty with the way you act at school." If Eddie had to guess, he would've said Stephanie was just playing hard to get, that she wanted Scotty to work for it. But he never would've guessed she wasn't interested. It never seemed that way to him.

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders "It's what people expect of me, I guess." She knew why Eddie thought that, she did give that impression but she felt like it was expected of her. She was a cheerleader, she was expected to date a jock.

"Conformity." Eddie said, looking at Stephanie under the front porch light. Her blue eyes stared back at him, and he was starting to see why Scotty seemed so infatuated with Stephanie. Those eyes.

A small smile tugged on Stephanie's lips. "Exactly." Eddie knew better than anyone. "Maybe I should take a page out of your book." Stephanie had then told him. Eddie didn't conform, even though it would've made his life a hundred times easier. He didn't care, he was himself and he owned that. Stephanie wondered what it would be like if she did the same thing.

Eddie snorted. "And become the town's Freak? I don't think that's a good idea." Yes, it was nice for Eddie to be himself but he didn't get any points for it. In fact, it just made things worse for him.

"But at least people don't expect you to be something that you're not." Stephanie was so sick and tired of being someone she wasn't just because her peers expected it of her. Yes, Stephanie liked cheer. She wouldn't have joined the team if she didn't. But everything else that came with that. It wasn't her, no matter how hard she tried to make it. It just wasn't.

"And what is it that you're not?" Eddie raised an eyebrow at the girl, interested to know her answer. What was it that Stephanie Carter was not?

There was a moment of silence before Stephanie answered. "I'm still trying to figure that out." A small smile appeared on her lips, which could've been the reason Eddie did what he did next. She wasn't looking down on him, with her nose turned up like she thought she was better than him. She was just treating him like any other person. Like he was normal.

Eddie hesitated, before speaking again. Not knowing if it was a good idea to say what he wanted. There was a high chance that Stephanie would take it the wrong way and he didn't want that. "If you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I can give you a ride home." Eddie still needed to make the deal, but he could give Stephanie a ride home if that's what she had wanted. She was outside after all.

"You're offering me a ride home?" Stephanie's eyebrows were pulled together. Why was Eddie Munson offering her a ride home?

"I am." Eddie nodded. "I'm not going to use you in a human sacrifice, don't worry." He cracked a joke, smiling. And that smile grew when he saw Stephanie laughing.

"Okay. I'll wait here." Stephanie nodded at him, telling him she'd wait on the steps for him. It was nice of him to offer and she'd be silly to turn down a ride home. Especially when she didn't want to be at the party any longer. Getting in a car with Eddie was much more appealing to Stephanie than getting in a car with Scotty.

And Eddie was only a few minutes, just like he had said. He came back out of the house a few minutes later, leading Stephanie to his van. It smelt like weed inside but Stephanie didn't mind. One of Eddie's tapes had started to play once he started the engine, the music blasting through the speakers inside.

"You can turn this off if you want." Eddie had told Stephanie once they had reached the end of the road. He hadn't wanted to turn it off himself, not wanting an awkward silence between the two of them, but he also didn't want to force Stephanie into listening to his Iron Maiden tape.

But Stephanie didn't mind. "No, it's fine." She shook her head as she turned to look at Eddie. "It's good music." And she had genuinely meant that.

"G-Good music?" Eddie's eyes darted between the road and Stephanie. Had he heard her correctly?

"Yeah." Stephanie nodded again, head still turned to Eddie. "What?" She laughed at his confused expression.

Eddie cracked a smile at the girls laugh, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't know. Expected you to be into Madonna or The Beatles or something." If he had to guess, that was the type of music he would've expected Stephanie to listen to. Music they played on the radio, music that most people listened to. Not the music that was playing in his car.

"Oh, I am." Stephanie was definitely into Madonna and The Beatles. She couldn't lie about that. "But this is good too." And she wasn't lying. It was good music. "Iron Maiden, right?" Stephanie had recognised the song playing, one she had heard before. Her father had a few of their vinyl's and cassette tapes that he would play at home in his office.

Again, Eddie had glanced at Stephanie sitting in the passengers seat of his van. Her flushed skin illuminated by the street lights, the blue of her dress making her eyes even more piercing than they already were. "Yeah..." Eddie answered her question before placing his eyes back on the road. And the smile that appeared on his face, it didn't disappear till he got home that night. That was the moment he knew that Stephanie Carter had him wrapped around her finger. He was smitten from that very moment.

The rest of the ride to Stephanie's house was in silence, apart from the music and the occasional direction from Stephanie. And less than 10 minutes later, Eddie was pulling up outside of Stephanie's house. Her family's 4 bedroom colonial-style home in the nicer side of town. Eddie wouldn't have been surprised if Stephanie lived on the same street as the Mayor. Her house was 8 times the size of his trailer and Eddie could only imagine what the inside looked like. But there was no surprise as to why Stephanie lived in the house she did.

Her father, Tim Carter, was a corporate lawyer that worked for a big law firm in Chicago. Meaning he was often not even at home, travelling to Chicago to work in the office at least 3 days out of the week. And Stephanie's mother, Eloise Carter, was a paediatric surgeon that worked at their local hospital. So the salaries of both of them combined was more than enough to afford the beautiful house they lived in, and a lot more. Stephanie was always grateful for that.

When Eddie's van had come to a stop at the end of Stephanie's driveway, she had turned to face Eddie. She had smiled at him. "Thanks for the ride, Munson." Her hand had then found the door handle, swinging the door open so she could exit his van.

"Anytime, Carter." Eddie smiled back at her before watching her shut the door and making her way up to her house. Eddie knew he wouldn't be able to get Stephanie Carter out of his head after than night. She was stuck in his head and he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it, about her.

AUTHORS NOTE.
sorry that this chapter isn't very long but i thought it was a cute little flashback on how eddie and stephanie's relationship had started

so as i've said before, i will be alternating between the s4 timeline and when stephanie and eddie started talking/started their relationship. so each chapter will alternate

don't forget to vote and comment! enjoy the chapter and i'm looking forward to writing more of eddie and stephanie's cute little moments together