The house is already loud before you even step inside.

Music pulses through the walls, bass thumping hard enough that you can feel it under your feet while voices and laughter spill out into the warm night air. Someone yells from the backyard, another person nearly runs into you carrying a red cup as you and Robin squeeze through the crowded living room.

Robin grins over her shoulder at you, already energized by the chaos.

“See?” she says, raising her voice over the music. “This is exactly what I needed.”

You laugh, shaking your head as you follow her further into the party. Robin had insisted on coming tonight, claiming she needed a break from work and school and the general weirdness that seemed to follow Hawkins around lately. You hadn’t needed much convincing.

A party sounded like a good distraction.

Especially if Eddie Munson might be there.

You’d known Eddie for a while now. Not close, exactly—but you talked. Ran into each other around town, sometimes hung out when the same group of people overlapped. He’d always been friendly with you, always quick with a joke or some dramatic comment that made you laugh.

Still, you never assumed it meant anything.

Eddie Munson had a way of being charming with everyone even if he didn’t know it.

Robin nudges your shoulder suddenly.

“There he is.”

You follow her gaze.

Across the room, Eddie is leaning against the arm of a couch, dark curls slightly messy and a grin on his face as he talks animatedly with a few people gathered around him. A guitar pick spins between his fingers absentmindedly while he laughs at something someone says.

Like he feels it, Eddie glances up.

His eyes land on you.

And he grins wider.

“Well, well,” he calls out, pushing himself upright. “Look who decided to show up.”

You roll your eyes as you walk over, though you can’t stop the small smile pulling at your mouth.

“Relax, Munson,” you say. “Don’t get too excited.”

Robin immediately gets dragged into another conversation nearby, leaving you standing closer to Eddie than you expected.

He tilts his head slightly, studying you for a second before gesturing toward the floor in the center of the room.

A small group has gathered there in a loose circle, people sitting cross-legged with empty bottles scattered around them.

“Perfect timing,” Eddie says, voice playful. “We’re starting a game.”

You glance down at the bottles.

“…Spin the bottle?” you ask.

Eddie lifts one of them dramatically. “The classic.”

Someone nearby scoots over to make room, and before you know it you’re being pulled into the circle while people laugh and settle into place around you.

Robin gives you a quick thumbs-up from across the room before disappearing into the crowd again.

The bottle moves from person to person as the game starts, people spinning, laughing, teasing whoever ends up being picked.

Then finally—

The bottle gets passed to Eddie.

He rolls his shoulders slightly, glancing around the circle with a mischievous look.

“Alright, let’s see what fate’s got planned tonight.”

His taps the glass once with one of his rings before he spins it.

The bottle whirls across the floor, glass catching the dim light as it spins faster… then slower…

Then slower still.

Your heart is pounding for absolutely no reason until the bottle stops and the neck of it points directly at you.

The room erupts with noise.

Someone whistles. Another person laughs.

But Eddie isn’t looking at them.

He’s looking at you.

One eyebrow raised, that crooked grin slowly returning to his face.

“Well,” he says lightly, voice low enough that it almost feels like it’s just for you.

“Guess it’s you.”

The entire circle is watching now.

Waiting.

And Eddie hasn’t looked away.