friendzied | open post

[ it's not a real offer anyway. firstly she doesn't even have shorts — at best maybe she could steal some underwear from frank if eddie wants to see a pair of pale thighs so badly — nor does she particularly want to wear any. similarly she doubts eddie has much to offer, this is just a dumb joke conversation anyway. so when eddie leans toward her like he's got a real good deal to offer, it makes her curious. ]

[ so she leans toward him, head bowed, eyebrows raised. real intently listening. it takes a second for her to even process what he just said, and when she does her laughter comes out in a sudden bark that surprises even herself, and she clamps her hand over her mouth to muffle it as much as she can. ]

Shut the fuck up. [ still laughing, she puts a hand on his chest to shove him away. ] I hate that fucking thing.

[ almost immediately, eddie starts to shush her when she bursts out laughing with a finger held to his own lips - they are, after all, still hiding from the dredge. there's a grin behind his hand though, and he has to work to stifle his own amusement, pleased with himself for making julie laugh. granted, it's at his expense, but that's hardly anything new. and, you know, maybe it's worth it. eddie likes it when she smiles.

when julie pushes at his chest, eddie instinctively closes his hand around her forearm, mostly to keep himself from being knocked over regardless of the strength behind the shove. he doesn't let go though, barely even aware he's latched onto her as he smiles back, a teasing lilt in his tone. ]

Ah, the lady doth protest too much, methinks. [ he raises his brows slightly, tilts his head so he has to look at her through his lashes a bit. ] You like it a little bit. It's okay.

[ julie barely even notices his hand on her arm, too busy letting out an audible groan and rolling her eyes at his little bit. ] It turns me into a middle school bully, I've never wanted to wedgie someone so bad in my life.

[ like a bull seeing red whenever she catches sight of that stupid little cape, and then he does his stupid medieval talk and it drives her nuts. she wants to just push him over like an obnoxious child. julie gives him the tiniest little shake of her head, voice low since they're this close now apparently, refusing to let the amusement dancing at the edges of her expression fully manifest by pure strength of will. ]

You have no idea how much self-restraint dealing with you takes sometimes.

[ does she sound a little frustrated by that? it's probably just because she wants to bully him mercilessly and no other possible reason. ]

[ like almost every other time julie's threatened him, serious or otherwise, eddie appears unfazed. amused, more than anything, the corners of his mouth pulling just the tiniest bit as he works to suppress a smirk. a wedgie is pretty tame compared to her usual taunts, which only makes eddie thinks she's deflecting, and that only serves to amuse him even more.

idly, his thumb rubs a lazy line against her wrist that he's not even really that aware of. the thread of frustration in her tone intrigues him and he takes a second to just look at her. eddie's gaze flits up to the cheap sunglasses perched on her head, down to her eyes, down again for the briefest of moments to the shape of her mouth before darting back up.

he tilts his head, keeps his voice low. ]

No? [ eddie slowly lifts his other hand, reaches and nudges the arm of her sunglasses so they slide down over her eyes. absently brushes a loose strand of her hair back without much thought. ] If I'm so bad, why'd you come all the way out here?

[ two things that are pretty rare for julie happen at the same time; the question leaves her a little speechless, opening her mouth and closing it again when nothing comes out, and it flusters her enough that her gaze darts down to the space between them, even when she unconsciously leans a little into the touch of his hand when he tucks her hair back. ]

[ the thing is she plays the part well but julie's really not as confident or self-assured as she comes across. she masks it well, the bitchy, violent girl is a comfortable place to settle for her, but when it's like this? with nothing to lean on? only one person really knows that about her, and she's pretty fucking keen on keeping it that way. ]

[ it does piss her off a little, the way this has her floundering and unsure of herself all of a sudden, though at least the sunglasses hide the brief flash of panic in her eyes when she realises it. julie makes to move away a little, straighten up again. put some distance between them and make some attempt to save face here. ]

I, um-- [ she clears her throat, turns her head to look in any other direction to hide the fact that she's pretty sure her cheeks are a little pink. what a fascinating branch that is over there. ] I don't know.

[ ... jesus christ. fuck. what if she just jumped out the window right now? he couldn't stop her. ]

Don't you guys go wandering about the realms all the time?

I can come get you if you want.

I DON'T. I don't have those years of desensitization to the concept of creepy FOG full of monsters in a place where literally an entire group's goal is to actually kill you in violent ways! I'm not wandering out there so I can accidentally find a Xenomorph or something equally horrific!!

Yes.
Come get me.
Hold my hand.

You know what, when you say it like that it makes sense.

I'll walk you here and back. Be about fifteen minutes?

[A girl date. Corey can’t believe this. It’s never happened before. Sure he’s tried asking girls out, but the attempts never really went anywhere. They’d either say yes and then ghost, actually make the plans with him but not show up, straight up laugh in his face, ignore him entirely… Corey Cunningham, always the butt of the joke no matter what tactics he tried.

Then there were the times he couldn’t even get the words out to bother asking in the first place. Just fumbled and said forget about it. After being rejected so much the spirit gets beaten down. There’s no point in trying anymore. So he stopped.

But now he has a date. An actual one. He made sure it was clarified. Just in case. She asked him out and he’s still reeling from that. The week was so odd after that. Imagine - having something to look forward to for once. Sure he saw her at the garage every day but he’ll get to see her outside of work too. Friday. 8pm. How crazy.

To say he’s nervous would be an understatement. But then again - he’s always nervous. Or at the very least a bit on the anxious side. It’s his default setting nowadays. Can’t be helped. The closer Friday gets the more his anxiety spikes. But it’s not all crippling fear for once? It’s… excitement? That’s different. Not used to that feeling at all.

He said he’d pick her up. No problem. It’s a chilly evening out there, so he pulls his leather jacket on over his sweater before leaving the house. Was Joan upset? Absolutely. Joan’s always upset. But Ronald had his back. He’s a good guy like that. Just let the kid go out for once. He’ll be alright. Have fun, Corey. Corey just mouths his thanks, looking sheepish about it, and runs his hand through his hair. Messy is best he’s found. Oh, and he pockets his glasses. For some reason he doesn’t seem to need them much as of late, but bringing them along isn’t a bad idea. Always prep for the worst case scenario.

He shoots Julie a text letting her know he’s on his way, putting his phone away before any response comes back. And he takes a moment to breathe before revving up his bike and heading out.

For a Friday night, Haddonfield sure seems quiet. The roads anyway. This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger the longer he stays. One day he’ll leave. He keeps telling himself that. His mind wanders - but not too much, being safe is important - on the ride over. And that makes the time go by faster.

Before he knows it he’s standing outside her place and knocking. 8pm on the dot. Super prompt. That’s him.

God he better not fuck this up.]

[ originally julie just spoke to corey because he was one of the only people in this whole fucking town who was any kind of nice or helpful to her, because apparently nobody cares if you move to haddonfield unless you're a couple looking to settle down, maybe start a family. a few people actively gave her shit for moving here on her own, even. or they did until one of them got a black eye and a bloody nose. ]

[ there's something about him that fascinates her though, keeps her interested enough at least to keep her attention until it's time to move on and finally see her friends again. every now and then when someone shoots a shitty comment at one of them at work, or when she sees him at a bar, something that sits under the surface that she desperately wants to dig her fingers into. ]

[ also, he's cute. she's allowed to be a bit shallow. ]

[ she hasn't been on a date since, well. since frank. (who promptly made fun of her in the group chat, but it's fine. susie was helpful.) doesn't really have clothes for it, but it's fine. she has a nice enough shirt, and after deliberation she puts on some eyeliner. smiles when she gets that text and comes out to meet him. ]

Hey. [ she's pulling on her leather jacket as she comes over to his bike. ] Fancy seeing you here.

[Haddonfield’s a pit, sinking in upon itself more and more as time passes. Certainly no place for people like them. One of these days the ground will open up and swallow the diseased place whole. And hopefully they’ll be long gone by then.

…Unless he’s getting way too far ahead of himself in that regard. He can’t blame himself for getting attached so quickly. It’s just a Thing that happens. Always. Impossible to avoid. His track record is disastrous, but nothing she needs to know about.

There are a lot of Things that Julie doesn’t need to know about.

He tries to be cool, tries keeping his utter elation at seeing her at the door on the inside. Yes, he’s excited. Relieved. A jumbled mess of feelings he can’t pinpoint. But he goes with cool. It kinda fits the whole image he’s trying to go for.

He smiles at her hey, forces himself not to stare at her for too long as she approaches. She did something different, can’t quite put his finger on it presently. He’ll figure it out soon.]

Right? I was just passing by and figured - oh. Wonder what Julie’s up to. [He smiles again, relaxing some in the seat of his ride, but then looks concerned. His arms cross.] Thought you had a hot date tonight? [Real concerned, borderline pouting.] He didn’t stand you up did he?

[ I could go with an elaborate set up but you know I'm doing this 100% because it's funny, so really, it's Valentine's Day, that's all you need to know. And that's why Julie gets this text at like 5am. ]

Hey, babe, got a little something for you.

For me?

[ she's half asleep, turns over in bed like frank's gonna be there but obviously he's not if he's texting her, and squints at her phone. ]

What is it?

Total no-show.

[ julie rolls her eyes, huffs as if to say 'can you believe it?' as she idly rests a hand on one of the handlebars, gives the bike a thoughtful look — she knows plenty about cars, not much about bikes, but she knows he fixed this one up right? that's cool — and when she looks back up at him with a hint of something playful in her eyes that usually only shows up when she leans over and says something absolutely devastating to him about someone who was a total asshole to one or both of them. It's not that this time, though. ]

Oh, woe is me. [ completely deadpan as she looks at him. ] What's a girl to do?

Damn… really? [He tuts, shaking his head.] Guy must be out of his mind… [Corey don’t giggle. You’ll ruin the game. He’s trying really hard but asksjahkaf, you know?

He sits upright, leaning in closer to catch her gaze and keep it as she rests against the handlebar.]

Could always hang with me instead. If you want. I’d sure love the company. [She might be deadpan but he can’t stop the little smirk that creeps across his face. He’s bad at this but definitely trying not to be. (Is it working?)]

[ eddie watches her closely. watches the way her mouth opens and closes with nothing to say, notes the subtle shift toward his hand moving her hair out of the way. for as much as eddie thinks he knows julie, he also knows that he knows nearly nothing at all when it comes to the things that matter. when it comes to reading her beyond the surface, though he likes to think he's gotten past the first couple layers she likes to hide behind.

but he doesn't know what she's thinking. he doesn't know if by putting her on the spot, he's managed to dig under another layer of skin. what he does know, though, is that the moment's been lost, whatever the moment may have been, and that's - fine. julie clears her throat and pulls away and eddie doesn't hesitate to let go of her wrist so she can put however much space she wants between them. does he catch the new color in her cheeks? it's hard to tell.

eddie doesn't say anything right away. lets the silence hang for a few seconds after her i don't know. he looks at the random assortment of stolen knickknacks he's unloaded from his pockets, then starts to pick them up at a slow pace, filling his pockets back up. ]

Sure you do. [ he says eventually, only briefly glancing over at her. he picks up the disposable camera, considers giving it to her for her to keep, then sets it back down. ] I do all the dangerous dirty work, and you profit by undercutting my earnings.

[ or, you know. stealing his pilfered cigarettes. ]

Very capitalist of you.

[ julie watches him out of the corner of her eye, a brief frown of concentration on her face as she tries to figure out what he's thinking now that she's gone and embarrassed herself. unthinking, she pulls her knees up, wraps her arms around them with a snort at eddie's assessment. ]

[ she can still feel the ghost of his hand on the side of her face, but shrugs it off, turning her head to look down at the pile of stuff he's putting back in his pockets. still pointedly not looking at him, but that's no big deal. ]

Yeah, that's me. [ light, sarcastic. maybe lacking the punch she usually has, but maybe not. ] Big cigarette baron.

[ he's such a dork. and she doesn't usually go for that, but you know what, this time it's kind of endearing. ]

Yeah? You got time?

[ julie doesn't bother asking permission, just walks down the side of the bike to seat herself behind him and puts her arm around his middle for stability. ]

Let's go then, Cunningham.

[Just gonna keep laying it on thick then! Seems to be working out just fine.]

For you? All the time in the world.

[And his eyes follow her as she rounds to the back of the bike. He ends up looking straight ahead as she climbs on behind him, swallowing nothing. Her arm around his middle - he flinches, but it's so subtle it could be anything really. She just went for it didn't she? Okay. That's fine. He can handle this. What did he think was going to happen?

He nods, starts it up. And then they're off soon after. Destination? Well, he knows a place.]

[ eddie's used to julie's sarcasm by now, but it hits a little different here, feels a little... empty in a way he can't quite put his finger on. enough to make him pause in the middle of gathering all of his stolen junk up, enough to make him glance her way again, only to find her with her arms cradling her knees.

it makes her look young, he thinks. not in a bad way, because it's not as if she's not young, but she just looks... like a regular person. like someone eddie could know outside of a place like this. he shoves a pen into his vest pocket, picks the camera back up and carefully balances it on the peak of one of her knees. she'd probably get more use out of it than he would, and besides - where the hell is he going to develop pictures in the middle of the woods. sure, nancy's boyfriend might know, from what he's heard, but it's still... doubtful. ]

Lucky for you, [ eddie says quietly, starting to shift up onto his feet, staying in a low crouch for now. he dusts his hands off on his haunches, then rests his arms on his knees. ] I kinda dig powerful women.

[ and that's all he says before he straights up a little and moves toward the window to peek out, looking for that freaky mass of... frozen meat, or whatever the hell the dredge is today. ]

I think we could probably make a run for it.

[ julie's still got her head tilted, watching the pile of stuff as eddie gathers it all up, so she catches the way he pauses after she speaks. luckily him balancing the camera on her knee distracts her, and she picks it up. inspecting it to see how many pictures it's even got left. ]

[ how would she even develop it? maybe byers knows, but she doesn't want to ask him for anything. better him than ghost face though, she supposes. ]

Shut up.

[ she snorts at his little comment, powerful women, sure. tempted to push him over when she sees him pull himself into that little crouch, but she doesn't. winds up the camera instead and pushes up the sunglasses so she can look through the viewfinder. ]

Wait a sec-- Smile.

[ that's all the warning eddie gets before she snaps a photo. ]

[ julie snorts, maybe there's a quiet murmur that sounds a little like dork, but the way she's pressed to his back, he'll feel the brief tremble that comes with silent laughter too. the way he flinched when she got on the bike, when she put her arm around him didn't escape her, but julie decides to chalk that up to corey being the anxious basket case that he is and leave it at that. ]

[ she thinks about asking where he's taking her, but she stays quiet, enjoying the ride. there's a kind of symbiosis to it, she finds, learning to understand what his body language means. having to lean with him, make sure she's not a distraction. it's... nice. ]

[Whatever anxiety that’s there at first seems to disappear as they ride off, left behind in the dust. Corey’s proud of his bike and all the work he put into it. It doubles as a source of confidence he so desperately needs lately.

He doesn’t pull any maneuvers on her - it’s too soon for that. Just keeps things safe, silently enjoying the way she holds onto him and leans into all the turns without much prompting. Okay well maybe he goes a touch fast on the main road to be a show-off. He just likes how the engine sounds once it really opens up. But nothing more extreme than that.

It’s a nice, quiet night and the wind feels nice in his hair and maybe - just maybe - this is going to work out. Maybe he has absolutely nothing to worry about after all. He almost wants to ditch his initial plan and end up riding around some more instead. But - they can figure that out later. It’s her choice after all. He’s just here to facilitate.

They roll up to the diner and he ends up parking around the back. The lot is a bit on the full side and no one needs to know where he’s leaving his bike. If they do, there’s gonna be problems.]

Not bad, huh? [He looks back at Julie once the kickstand is down and smiles.] Used to run like trash but I think I figured it out. [Look at him being all proud of himself.]

[ against his back corey can probably feel the soft, quiet chuckle that slips out of julie when he speeds up, but judging by the way she lifts her head a little to get more wind in her hair she's clearly enjoying it. ]

[ when they're parked, julie gets down off the bike and smiles back at him, looking down at his little pride and glory there. ] Nice. [ she shoves her hands in her jacket pockets. ] I don't know shit about bikes, it could be a total piece of shit and I'd have to believe you when you said you totally fixed it up nice.

[ she's joking... ish. she does believe him, because he strikes her as someone who'd be fucking awful at lying, but she'd probably only know if it was in bad shape if the engine sounded real off or something. ]

[Corey waits for her to climb down first, because the gentlemanly thing to do. Also he's rather enamored with her opinion. Because what Julie thinks is most important - about him, about his whole deal, about his bike. So he's studying her, waiting for her verdict, hanging on her every move and word.]

It's not a mega impressive model or anything but I worked on it myself and it hasn't fallen apart yet so I'd say that's the best thing I could ask for. [Just take the compliment, dude!] Thanks. [There we go. He's sheepish when he says it, but it's something.

Yeah he's terrible at lying, how did you ever pick up on that? Was it the way he gets all fidgety and nervous-looking, the way his eyes can't just focus on one thing... all things he's doing right now...

He gets down from the bike and shoves his hands into the pockets of his own jacket - making sure to extend the elbow closest to Julie for her to take if she so chooses. It's cold out, they have to use their pockets. That's the smart thing to do. The cool thing. But she can have his arm on the way inside the diner.]

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a girl date.

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finally get to use the appropriate icons yes yes yes

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🥰

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