eddie likes to (riddlethem) wrote in repose, @ 2018-09-03 20:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | *log, eddie nelson, stephanie miller |
log: eddie and steph go to the farmers market
Who: Eddie, Steph
When: backdated to before craziness
Where: farmer's market
What: a little not-date
Warnings: none
The next town over was like Repose, only less weird. They had the main street with old shops, they had people vacationing for the week to get away from their awful desk jobs. They even had three full on ice cream parlors and not one of them had a soft serve machine. Every week through the fall, they would have a Farmers’ Market that blew all the Jersey ones out of the water. Not only was everything fresh, the food had a country taste to it. Even the hot roasted nuts tasted like gourmet delicacies. Eddie had never brought anyone with him to this other town’s market. Mostly because he didn’t want Repose’s weird over in another town. But, also because it made him feel like he was normal. No one looked at him differently. Some of the pretty olive oil girls even blushed at his Jersey accent.
But, he was doing the solitary thing for a while now. Cat still hadn’t returned, which mean the apartment was usually way too quiet at night and the silence was begging Eddie to get himself into trouble. He figured Stephanie would like the market, like the break from Repose, and maybe they could get some quality time. She did bear her whole soul for him before, but he wondered how much of it was jumping before looking. He knew there was feelings for Tim, stuff she couldn’t explain, and that had been the root of the problem months and months ago.
They’d figure it out between the apples and the tomato stands. Some kind of progress would have to happen.
Eddie waited by the entrance, wearing jeans and a NASA shirt that was about to go retro once the president scraped it for the SPACE FORCE. He saw her approach and reached into his pocket, waving bright orange tickets at her. “Drink tickets!” He proclaimed proudly. It wasn’t a Farmers’ Market without drinks.
For all her words and longing for time with Eddie, Stephanie found herself nervous to see the riddled man. It was a strange mixture of the butterflies she used to get when they first started spending time together and a fear of what could happen with him today. She wasn’t sure if he’d received her proclamations as well as she expected him to; in fact, he was still adamant about her feelings for Tim. Which, sure, she could say now existed, but she realized that maybe it was just in a particular vacuum of desperation for someone to turn to when she was spiraling low, low, low.
And besides, what she said to Eddie was true: she loved him more than she could think about loving someone else. That had always been true. Even during the times where they fought or abandoned each other or drifted towards others. Eddie Nelson would always be her other half. Her partner. It was only a matter of figuring out how to make it work.
The fear of the unknown and the possible buzzed in her nerves as she approached the Farmer’s Market. She’d never been to this town before beyond driving past it, and she enjoyed the quaint normalcy of it all. Repose without the eccentricities. Stephanie knew that getting out of Repose and away from the Capital would be good for the both of them. Spending time together would (probably) be good for the both of them. They needed it. They needed the time and the effort and a semblance of normalcy to be able to potentially try this thing -- the two of them being the two of them -- for real this time. For good this time.
The blonde arrived in sunflowers and scuffed white Chucks and lion mane curls, and she smiled at the riddled man as she approached. “Music to my ears,” she responded, swiping the proffered ticket from his hand. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You gotta bring me to your favorite stand first,” Stephanie commanded once she pulled back and rocked away slightly on her heels.
Eddie smiled, accepting the kiss to his cheek even though it was already breaking friendship protocol. He held his arm out for her to hook her hand into and nodded. “Well, this is going to be different from the markets we used to stroll in Jersey. No deep fried calzones and the smell of a smashed bottle of beer in the air. This is country living. John Denver dreams.” Eddie panned his other hand out like he was a director setting the scene.
Maybe they’d be more comfortable with the street parties, the bottles in paper bags and the police strolling by to see if there was anyone they felt like arresting that day. But, there was something to be said about this small town living where nothing ever got weird.
He lead her down towards a booth with an artist who made geometric paper craft sculptures such as a fox or a dragon mask. Eddie waved at the artist who was busy with another customer and then turned to Stephanie. “This is the weirdest booth at the market and therefore my favorite.”
Sure, Stephanie should have been more careful about “friendship protocol,” but she’d already poured herself out to him. If he’d given her the chance, she would jump right in, head-first again. Maybe that was risky, and part of the blonde shadow was still scared shitless about doing this all over again, but she was trying to be braver these days. She was trying to let herself love in that enormous, all-encompassing way she could when she was younger. And maybe, finally, it wouldn’t bite her in the ass.
She enjoyed the small town countriness of the market and of the people milling around with them. It was a novelty. It reminded her that sometimes life could be more than just chaos and death and destruction. Life, simply, could be quiet and calm and happy.
A grin spread across her face as they approached the booth, her hand resting in the crook of his elbow. Her time with Eddie and even just back home in Jersey taught her to appreciate the unique and weird. “These are amazing,” she breathed as she leaned in to inspect. She smiled at the artist and tugged Eddie towards a display including an owl that reminded her of a bespeckled boy wizard’s pet. “My place could use a little more weird in it. Flounder’s tufts of shedded fur is about as weird as it gets now.”
Eddie grinned at the owl, not at all surprised by her choice and delighted by it all the same. “I think she’d protect you.” Some people didn’t think owls were a good omen, but Eddie didn’t put much into superstition. A bad omen could protect something as easily as a good one. It all depended on how it felt about the individual. He reached to brush his fingertips on the paper wings and nodded.
“Would you let me buy it for you?” Which, admittedly was walking the line of friendship and romance. “At the very least, it’ll make a great pinata if you ever get angry at me.” Eddie smirked, though the clearness in his dark eyes seemed to suggest that he didn’t plan on playing any games with her. If she was going to offer her heart to him again, he was going to try and do his best. A bad omen didn’t always mean you were cursed, after all.
She too reached out to touch one of the paper wings, delicate fingers grazing the craftsmanship with care. It made her ache for creative pursuits of her own, and she vowed in that moment that she would be better about that, too. Stephanie, truthfully, was back on this path of self-discovery where she needed to allow herself to be the person she actually wanted to be. Not what she thought others wanted. It had been a long journey to return back here, but she could finally feel herself getting there. And having Eddie back in her life in this moment just reaffirmed some things.
Grinning again, her cheeks pinkened a little at his offer and she nodded. “Only if you don’t make fun of me for naming her Hedwig then.” Her fingers squeezed the crook of his arm, and her blue eyes were missing the cloudiness he’d seen months beforehand. Clarity took home in the way she looked at him, and it might have looked something akin to those first few years together when trust and communication and love binded them together.
Stephanie, more than anything in the world, wanted this to work out for the both of them. This was it. Their last chance -- friendship or otherwise -- and the blonde shadow really wanted things to be more than okay for them.
“Oh, I already knew that’s the name you had picked out for her.” Eddie smiled back. “Though, we really have to make sure she doesn’t come close to any dark wizards. I hated that part. We get it, JK, there’s a war afoot!” He was notoriously dissatisfied with the last book. Long, rambling rants were given on how it changed the entire tone of the series. And, naturally, don’t even get him started on Snape.
Eddie turned to get the attention of the artist, who of course recognized him. He pointed to the owl, gave compliments of how lovely it was and gestured towards Stephanie who was just as lovely in his opinion. The artist carefully wrapped up the bird, placing it in a large bag so that the tips of its wings wouldn’t get bent and handed it over to Stephanie. So far, so good. Eddie stepped out of the booth after admiring one of the little dinosaurs and turned to her. “See, the evening just started and we’ve already made some good life choices. Are you hungry? Want to go look at some samples?”
She laughed loudly and genuinely at his frustration, something that they’d had conversations about time and time again while they ate breakfast or curled up together on their couch or walked hand-in-hand at the furniture store. She had missed this. The simplicity of spending time with the man doing normal things. Not jumping off buildings or capturing demons of their past or breaking into corrupt science complexes. Just walking and talking and teasing. The ease of it had some of the nerves release in her stomach, and he could see her shoulders unlock more and the lean of her body into his relax.
The bag was taken carefully, and she turned away from the booth after grabbing a business card to admire the rest of the market. She saw more handmade items, some artisanal jams, and fresh produce a little along the way. She tugged at that direction when he asked what she wanted to do next, and she led him directly to a young woman with crackers and fancy cheese spread across a tray. She picked up one for him without thinking and held it out close to his mouth for him to take if he was okay with it.
Eddie smiled as she took the bag, watching her check out the nearby booths and relax at this country market. He was getting better at relaxing, too. Before going to therapy for a month, he could barely spend a moment without feeling anxious about something. His doctor made him break down what was important, what was out of his control, what steps he could take to change the things within his grasp. These little processes were like stepping stones across a stream. He could focus on putting his foot on one at a time, crossing an anxiety flood with controlled ease. All without the fog that some of the medication had brought him before, one of the early downfalls of their marriage.
He followed her over to the samples and quirked an eyebrow when she offered him the crackers with cheese. A smart man might have taken it from her hand and fed himself, but Eddie leaned in and instead accepted her feeding him. He closed his eyes and considered the smooth texture of the cheese, chewing thoughtfully. “Notes of honey, is that honey?” The cheese girl nodded. Eddie reached for a cracker and picked a spicy cheese, giving Stephanie a teasing smirk before holding it up to her mouth.
Stephanie knew a lot about losing yourself to anxieties. Delving deep into darkness and festering in it like some sort of twisted life force. She let herself grown for months -- hell, years -- in her fears and pain, self-loathing and resentment. Pollyanna, she had not been for a long time, but after an extended detour, it seemed like she was back on the right parkway to who she wanted to be and what she wanted in life. And, she hoped that Eddie was starting to feel a similar way, too. She had seen him lost and spiraling in the years since they’d known each other, and she had seen him resurface time and time again. But, something about this felt different. She stole a glance at him when he wasn’t paying attention, and a soft smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Comfortable. That wasn’t something she would have thought might cross her mind when it came to Eddie for a long time.
The blonde rolled her eyes, smirk crawling up as he identified the food with ease, and she stuck her tongue out at him. She missed this, the relaxed fun between the two of them. She hadn’t felt anything like this in a long time. “You’re just suuuch a cheese expert,” she teased, grin spreading and eyebrow rising. She took the food into her mouth without hesitation, but didn’t expect the kick hitting the back of her throat. She coughed messy and loud, tongue out and hand waving to fan the spice off. “Eddie!” She thwacked him in the chest, but laughed with a sort of joy that spoke of release and freedom.
The cheese girl laughed at the two, and Stephanie thought she saw something akin to longing for what she was watching unfold in front of her. It warmed the blonde’s chest, and a pinkness bloomed on her cheeks. “C’mon,” she said to Eddie, reaching to tug on his elbow, “if I stay here, I’ll fill up with cheese and won’t stop until I die.”
Eddie grinned and then laughed as she coughed from the spice. “Such a white girl.” He commented, though they were completely surrounded by white people in this town. Eddie was already grabbing another cheese to cool down her burning mouth, handing it to her after she whacked him in the chest. “This will help, this will help.” He promised and then took her hand once the cheese was eaten. Hand holding was not allowed between friends, but he really couldn’t help himself. They were having a nice time, everything was coming together with such harmony, it was difficult to try and keep himself from feeling things and showing affection.
He bought a little bit of the spicy cheese and then lead her away from the food samples and towards the drinks. He bought himself a plastic cup of red wine and then waited for her to order her drink. “I think they have live music tonight by the fountain.” He suggested and figured they could drink and then dance a little after if she was so inclined.
She scoffed as she fanned, rolling her eyes. “Sorry we aren’t all as worldly as you are, Nelson.” She gestured around the space at large, at all the people around them, as if to say yeah, they were all a little homogenous. She smiled and looked slightly stunned, however, when he took her hand. She looked at their hands together, hanging between them, for a moment before messily tangling her fingers with his. He would realize the mistake soon, she was sure, and she wanted to savor these stolen moments she had for as long as possible.
Stephanie waved with other hand, a shuffle of paper structure in a paper bag, at the cheese girl as they drifted away. Pinkness still in her cheeks. Her heart jumped just a little into her throat as she glanced over at Eddie, and she really hoped that things wouldn’t crash and burn tonight. A fondness creeped over her face, warmth in blues and the tiniest curve in her mouth, as she watched him glance at the drink menu. Hyper focus, ambient sounds drowned out. Her eyes followed the sharp angle of his jaw and the line of his lips as he licked them in thought and the peak of his dark hair.
Eddie’s words startled her out of her reverie, and she shook her head slightly to shake it off. “Huh?” She squinted at the menu as if she’d been thinking about a drink the whole time. “Lemme get the same,” she told the bartender. Turning back to Eddie, she smiled. “Only if you don’t mind me stepping on your toes at least once then.”
Eddie liked surprising Stephanie. The jump in her fingers as he took her hand, the warmth blossoming on her cheeks. If he could still manage to surprise her after all the time, then maybe there really was something there. And, that lingering fear of Tim being better for her than he was (no, not fear, truth) started to fade away as he handed her the drinks and looked towards the dance floor. It was on a dance floor that he made the choice to go seek therapy. He remembered that canopy of trees with glittering lights. How happy they had decided to be for a few nights in a row. How he knew that he couldn’t even leave the house without making sure it was locked twelve times. Eddie wanted to be at his best for Stephanie, not run to her when he was at his weakest.
So, what now? He was feeling confident that he could figure life out in Repose. But, he still wasn’t sure if Stephanie really had those feelings for him or if Tim played a bigger factor than she cared to admit. That’s where his heart was, or so he thought.
Stephanie smiled at him, she joked. There was a warmth in his chest that he couldn’t ignore. Eddie closed his eyes and smiled with a shake of his head. “It wouldn’t be a good night unless you stomped on my foot a couple times.” He opened his eyes and handed her the drinks, leaning over to kiss her cheek and then followed her over to the music.