Oh, yeah, that makes sense, sure,” Eddie responds, but he’s trying not to freak out at the idea of spending the night at Steve Harrington’s house and seeing Steve Harrington first thing in the morning.

Steeeeeve Harrington, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were putting the moves on me,” Eddie teases, hoping that the Steve he’s gotten to know tonight won’t suddenly get aggressively homophobic at the hint of a flirtatious joke. Is it… almost… o-over?” Mikey begins to recover after a lengthy fit of coughing after finding his fleeting fart freedom. Everyone always says Judith has good rep and strong characters in her stories despite it being extreme horror. And just….. where? I simply don’t see it. Like the stuff that happened to the MCs kids was… absolutely nightmarishly disgusting… and it felt like the MC just watched and had no drive or even thoughts. And when she did have thoughts they aren’t the ones you’d expect from a mother’s perspective. I think for a moment, pressing my toes into Mikey’s ribs, I turn to David. “What do you think, babe? One more chance?”

I don’t have anything against extreme horror. I actually like it when it’s done well. Like ‘gone to see the river man’ by kristopher Triana. That book was MESSED UP. But it was written sooooo so well. He mouths the word “Sorry” to me and shrugs. I feel Mikey struggling much harder now I hope he doesn’t get carpet burn from all the shaking he’s doing. I don’t want to have to explain that to mom. How to handle this? Thank God for Halloween parties. His stash has been cleaned out, and his lunch box is filled with bills instead of weed.

Time? Oh you mean time left. Allie?” I show David the front of the phone. “It’s about 3:00 more minutes, buddy. You got this. I know you can do it.” David encourages. Jesus Allie that one was awful, probably the worst one today,” says David as he covers his nose and mouth with the bottom of his green shirt.Shhh. shhh.” I whisper, scratching his head soothingly as he dry heaves into my ass. I begin laughing as David makes the Catholic sign of the cross. “He’ll be fine, dude. It wasn’t that bad.” I speak too soon as the awful smell that rises up seconds later makes me reconsider. “Oh… wow that is bad. Sorry Mikey. Hey light another match, babe.” I also make the sign of the cross as his retching dies down. And then Steve’s rolling on top of Eddie again, giving him a sweet kiss, slow and soft, all of the urgency from earlier gone.