ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴜʀɴ

"I never thought I would see him reach that point, ever."

Soleil sat in her room but she wasn't alone, Cassie had decided that she would use her lockpicking skills courtesy of her eldest brother to get into the trailer. She made sure to shove a piece of paper into the lock so it wouldn't fully close. Sol had a show to do today which was unfortunate because her hangover felt like her brain was about to jump out of her skull.

Cassandra held Soleil's hand. "He was completely ridiculous. You're eighteen he can not keep you from doing anything." She looked down. "You're actually going on with the show."

"I need to get back in my...father's good graces. He needs to suspect nothing and I'm still gonna sneak out."

"I'll help you if he finds out again, he's going to do more than blow a gasket."

Soleil sighed. "I may not be strong enough to tell him everything I feel to his face but, I'm not going to let him keep me from having fun."

Last night was only a reminder to Soleil of what her last few months, weeks, or days would be like. Her last moments were gonna be spent her way, not with her dying miserably. It was about the only motivation, that and seeing Eddie. The man who made that possible.

"You remember our plan? If you need to sneak out."

"Course I do."

She reached into her pocket and placed a star magnet in Sol's hand. "Let me run it by you again, put the magnet on your door and I'll check if it's there after each show before Everett gets there. I'll distract him for a good three hours, you have a change of clothes and some other stuff in a bag under your trailer." She placed another star magnet in Soleil's hand. "Put the other one on the door if you need more time, I'll think of something."

"Thank you so much for everything."

"Hey, you've been doing the same thing almost every day of you're life, it's time for a bit of a change. Besides, you want to see Eddie right—speaking of him."

"Oh no, Cassie—"

Cassie turned all the way around to face her. "So, tell me more about Eddie."

The girl was now kind of regretting she told Cassandra about Eddie, but she understood the woman was just excited for her to have a friend.

"He's been showing me around since we got here, he's nice. Yesterday, I was a crying mess and he was there for me."

"Sounds like a keeper to me."

"He is. I just don't wanna hurt him when I have to go."

"Aw, maybe you could get a phone number and we could figure it out."

Yeah, that's not exactly what she meant.

"With the way I first approached him, I'm still shocked he didn't run for the hills."

"How he could run away from that face?" They both laughed. "In all seriousness, we both should get ready for the show before that man has a meltdown." She removed her hearing aid. "Thing's been acting up all morning..."

"Alright, see you after the show." Cassandra got up and slowly exited the trailer. Soleil went over to her vanity and started to do her hair. Her long hair in a sort of Whitney Houston style fell over her shoulders, and she started to fix it into a bun.

This show would be an intense one. A new stunt that Sol hadn't tried too many times was what she had to execute. There were three hoops she had to set on fire then, jump through then do a handstand at the end. That was the whole stunt. She was somewhat confident that it would go fine, she would try her damn hardest not to mess up.

When the time to go on stage arrived, Soleil graced the stage with the biggest smile she could conjure. Strutting in her red and gold bodysuit. As she dragged her hands across the three hoops, lighting them on fire, her fingertips slightly burned. She was slowly deteriorating now, it only pushed her to make the best out of what she did have. 

She stood at the end of the hoops preparing herself for the jump. Soleil had a running start before she leaped through all three hoops landing with a roll across the floor. The crowd cheered then, she bent down and balanced on two hands, she started to walk around till she hopped back onto her feet. She looked at the crowd and it was like a flashback of her first night there, wild hair, jean vest. Eddie was waving to her, trying to get her attention.

He would be at her trailer after the show, she knew he would be.

The show ended after that and no matter how good she thought she did, her dad still pointed out something that was wrong in his eyes.

She had to get out of there. What her father demonstrated last night just confirmed that she shouldn't feel bad about leaving. Soleil couldn't stand up to her father's face, maybe so but, that didn't mean she wouldn't send her message in a more nondirect way.

Soleil barely spent time backstage listening to her father, she only stayed a moment to remove her costume headband and earrings, grabbed her purse, and then, she sprinted to her trailer.

Eddie saw the girl coming from a mile away in her bright costume as he leaned against the outside of her trailer. He put his hands behind his back. She saw a glimpse of a plastic bag.

"You keep surprising me, Munson."

"You know I had to check on you after yesterday. You okay now?"

"Could be better if I'm being honest, but your showing up made my day."

Eddie smiled. "Save the flattery for later." He pulled the bag from behind his back. "Got you something."

She took the bag and opened it, inside was a paper plate wrapped in tin foil. "You got me food?"

He nodded, his hands were behind his back again. "Pizza. It's the best hangover food and it's my go-to."

"I—thank you."

Her eyes were full of gratitude, she was touched by how thoughtful Eddie was, it was like he wasn't even a real person because how could someone like him exist?

"Don't mention it, I know hangovers suck."

"Agreed."

They walked over to a big rock that surrounded the Circus area, soon as they got there Sol sat down to eat while Eddie stood next to her. They talked about random things till Sol was close to finishing eating.

"What are we doing today? The arcade? Wait no—I have an idea for a new D&D character."

Eddie stared at her for a while before he leaned in. "I was thinking you should decide."

"Me?" She took her final bite.

"Mhm, you choose. We can go anywhere in this boring town, and live our wildest dreams!" He took her hand and twirled her around.

"So dramatic." She laughed softly. "I dunno. Give me a second."

"You might have to get creative."

She bounced her leg till an idea came to her. "I got it, c'mon." Soleil proceeded to trash the plate her pizza was via one of the surrounding trash cans and went to retrieve a bag that was hidden under her trailer. She also took out the two-star magnets she held in her handbag and put them on the door. Eddie started to lead her in the direction his car was in.

"What's with the bag?"

"Since my dad found out what I was doing, I've had to get more creative with sneaking out."

"Your determination knows no limits, where are we going anyway?"

"There's a pool in town right?"

"Yeah, but it's closed at this time—you wanna sneak in?"

She patted his cheek. "Exactly. Should we let the pool being closed stop us?" They shared mischievous smiles.

"I always knew I'd like something about you, Sol."

"Sunny, call me Sunny."

Eddie's brain didn't process her words for a moment. "Did I do something special to be able to call you that now? I feel honored."

"You did a lot, you don't even know." She mumbled. They got to Eddie's car after climbing the fence, he hid it in the trees as usual. Soleil started to unzip her costume from the back.

"Wh—" Eddie's eyes widened. "So, you're going to change right in front of me, alright."

"You don't have to look. Not like I won't be in my underwear when we get to the pool."

Right about when she was about to take her costume off, Eddie turned around, twisting his rings to divert his attention—and to fight back certain thoughts.

"Isn't it a little too early for that Sunny?"

"There's no time like the present." When she came out from behind the van, she had her hair in a big bun, the girl also wore denim shorts with a black bomber jacket and white sneakers. 

"Getting very close to stealing my look," The two got in the car, and Eddie started it up. "Keep the bright colors, I like this whole opposite thing we got going on."

"Believe me, I'd look like a disco ball right now if I could get my swimsuit but, you'll have to deal with plain Soleil. Besides, if I'm not careful I could get caught."

"I wanna see that swimsuit." He said under his breath while gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Did you say something?"

"Nope."

                                        —㋛—

Soleil and Eddie talked as they walked along the edge of the pool, looking down at the water. The night was serene and it was a sort of calm for both of them haven't felt in a long, their lives full of different kinds of chaos.

"Well—the last one to get into the pool is a rotten egg." She started to remove her shorts, and Eddie took off his shirt,  jeans, and his watch, a little hesitant at first.

"That's the best consequence you can think of?"

She took her jacket off, leaving her bra exposed then, she set the tiny wristwatch she had on top of it so she knew when she needed to go. "Fine, you can't listen to Metallica for a week." She turned to Eddie to see him zoned out, with no shirt on she noticed all the tattoos on his body. A black widow, puppet, and bats, she froze up when she realized that she was essentially checking him out and that there was a lot of...tension in the air.

On the other hand, Eddie didn't quite know how to react, he just stood there taking in the sight of Soleil and he was pleasantly surprised to find out that she had another secret. On her left side, slightly below her bra, she had a tattoo of a dragon coming out of a top hat, it looked good on her but of all tattoos, he wouldn't think Soleil would get that.

"Um, I like the tattoo, mean anything?"

"...Got it when I was sixteen, snuck out. My eldest sister Adelaide was the inspiration, played five different instruments, had a couple of tattoos, and took cool photos. I never got to meet her but heard stories." She clasped her hands together. "She did illusions for the Circus as a magician and her favorite illusion to do was a dragon."

"She sounds like my kind of person." Sol turned to him. "You told me about her when you were drunk."

"Oh well, I like your tattoos too," She sat at the edge of the water. "Do they mean anything?"

Eddie tore his eyes away and sat next to her. "Most of them I got for fun, the black widow sorta symbolizes my life...I kinda feel stuck sometimes, in this town. Everyone calls you a freak because you're just a little different, I don't wanna be here forever."

"What do you want to do?"

"Ideally, become a legendary guitar player who also plays D&D on the side and occasionally does things like biting bats' heads off on stage." He looked at her. "Maybe you'd come with me."

"Me?" He was just full of surprises that night.

"Yeah, I'll teach you how to play guitar and you can set yourself on fire while we're on stage. Now that would be metal. Matter of fact, what do you wanna do with your life?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, that wasn't a question she had to answer ever considering her certain short lifespan—the pain was harder to hide every day. "Nobody ever asked me that, haven't thought about it."

"Really? Can't imagine you just want to stay at the Circus."

"I don't but it's complicated."

Eddie looked at her with soft eyes. "Is it because of your Dad? I get being a little protective but he's like overboard protective."

She went quiet. She couldn't tell him the truth not when the moment was this perfect. See, Soleil found it harder to accept her soon-to-come death especially when she had met Eddie. She was both scolding and praising her brain for making her talk to him, it was harder to let go when you had something worth living for. This month was supposed to be about having quick fun but she had found much more than that, a connection was what she found. Eddie was more to her than some person she just hung out with from time to time, he understood her and didn't pity her or judge her.

The young man didn't know what to make of her silence, most of the time he never knew what to make of Soleil's actions. He caught himself wondering why she was still here with him, why she took the time to listen to all his rants about music, D&D, and the life he wished he could live. Any second now, he just wished she would speak, her quietness was jabbing knives of regret into Eddie's skull. He chastised himself for asking her that when she didn't like to talk about her father, from the conversation they had yesterday, he seemed to be the source of stress in her life. But what got Eddie worried was when tears started to roll down her face, ruining her eyeliner. Soleil didn't hysterically cry or anything, she was just quiet.

"Oh God—I'm sorry, did I make you cry?" Eddie felt like utter crap as he wiped the tears off her face.

"No, no. These are happy tears." She lied right through her teeth. "I'm fine, I promise." Eddie sighed, still not buying it but not wanting to push her further. His eyes diverted to the pool, he knew how to cheer her up.

"Aren't we supposed to be in the pool by now?" He looked at the water before dramatically tumbling into the pool. It was so unexpected that Soleil couldn't help but stop her crying. Eddie came back up to the surface, his now wet hair blocking his face. "Water's fine, come on!"

"I'll be the judge of that." Sol jumped into the water after him, it was nice in there. The pool washed away her makeup.

"Now you can't listen to Metallica for a full week."

"Not like I could, Dad took away my tapes remember? Technically, I don't lose anything."

"You think you're so clever, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

She splashed him which made Eddie stare a bit before he splashed her back. The two enjoyed racing in the water, trying to see who could swim the most laps. They did any and everything they could to pass the time and make their time with each other last. It was when they pulled themselves out of the pool and sat near the edge again was when Eddie asked a question that had been bugging him the entire night.

"Why do you hang out with me?"

"What?"

"You could've chosen anyone else to ask to hang out with but why me of all people?"

"Why wouldn't I choose you?" Eddie looked away from her. "Eddie..."

"I just didn't think I would uh, appeal to anyone really."

"I thought I told you already." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you need a reminder, I wasn't lying when I said my mind, and I know it sounds off, told me that I should talk to you. I don't regret meeting you Eddie, I like everything about you."

He slowly turned back to her, only half-believing what she said. "You mean that?"

"C'mon Eddie, you're taste in music is the chef's kiss, you have passion, I'm still having trouble believing that you're a real person, it's just too good to be true." She tilted her head. "You gave outcasts a place to go with Hellfire, you're a good person. If the people in this town think otherwise then they're just stupid."

Eddie wasn't sure before but he was sure now that Soleil was the real deal. He reached to put his arm over her just to see what she would do, Sol didn't move, she just looked up at the sky, pointing at something.

"Look!" Eddie heard the sound of crackling in the air, when he gazed up he saw different colored fireworks bursting in the air, the colors and design graced the night like how an artist could turn a blank piece of paper into a vibrant masterpiece.

"That's weird, never seen fireworks like that in Hawkins."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, they usually only have them when it's time for the annual fair. Probably some kids messing around."

They watched as the last firework, a red one in the shape of a mythical dragon. If it were a couple of kids lighting those fireworks, that one must've cost them money that they didn't have. The two of them gasped as the firework died out leaving them with nothing to marvel about—except when Sol realized she had placed her clothes too close to the pool so they got soaked.

Soleil snatched the watch that was over by her jacket and silently cursed herself. "We got a good hour and a half before I gotta run also, I don't have any more clothes in my bag." She facepalmed, what a dumb idea to put only one outfit in her bag, now she was wet without a clue of what to do.

"We could go to my place that is, if you're okay with that?"

"Eddie, we're both in our underwear, I'm very okay with going to your house at this point."

He got up, cheerful as ever, extending a hand to Soleil. "Let's go then, you can hear all about my campaign." She took his hand.

"What? Is it gonna be something crazy like, Venca lives?"

"You never know."

—㋛—

"So this is my humble abode, it isn't fit for a queen but, it works." Eddie wouldn't dare to admit that he was scared to see how Sol would react to his trailer like how she's acted all this time wouldn't give him his answer.

"Looks cozy and it's just you and your uncle right?"

"Yeah, just us."

Soleil rested her bag on the kitchen floor, next to a chair, dying to get out of her damp jacket and shorts. She always wanted a comfy home with Cassie and maybe her dad if he got his act together, something just like Eddie and his Uncle had.

"I'll go get some clothes for us, you can change in the bedroom." Eddie rushed off to his bedroom and Sol followed him. Once he finished going through his drawers, he gave her an AC/DC  t-shirt and a pair of boxers while taking the same for himself but wearing a Dio t-shirt instead.

"Band shirts, nice." She looked around his room and spotted a few particular things, handcuffs, tiny bags full of...weed? Eddie quickly noticed her curious eyes and tried to divert her attention.

"So uh, I'll go in the bathroom—"

"You're a dealer."

There was no getting out of this one.

"Uh-huh." His tone of voice was meek. "Mainly just weed. I'm not like Tony Montana or something."

Soleil was thinking back on all the times she had seen countless tiny clear bags of the stuff in her father's office, backstage, almost anywhere he went. It was safe to say he grieved pretty hard and that thinking of her father now made Sol want to drop the subject immediately after bringing it up.

"I'll get changed then."

Eddie nodded and proceeded to his bathroom while Soleil removed her clothes, putting on the dry ones Eddie gave her. She looked at the mirror, at her clean face and her hair that was now dry. She had never stood in someone's home before unless you could count the other trailers. Soleil stood in the mirror for a while, she felt like she was a different person, she didn't feel like the Circus performer Soleil whose sole purpose was to be on stage, she felt normal, she felt like Sunny the girl whose nickname matched her mood.

She wouldn't mind living a life like this if she could.

"You alright over there?" She turned to see Eddie leaning against the wall by his door.

"I'm good."

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"To tell you the truth, everything."

He approached her, standing behind her in the mirror. "I feel that. I try not to stress over it though."

"How come?"

"Because I'm here for a good time, not a long time."

She smiled in the mirror. "I guess I am too."

"There's a smile now, what do you wanna do?"

"Oh no, I'm not getting stuck with that decision again, you pick this time."

Eddie tilted his head back, groaning. "My head is empty."

"Think harder."

Eddie looked around his room for anything for them to do, something they haven't already done in the past week but there was nothing. He then looked back in the mirror, and there it was.

"Why don't you teach me how to do something for once like, like acrobatics?"

Her eyes lit up. "You sure you wanna do this Munson?"

"Okay, I don't like how that sounded."

"Get ready Eddie because there's gonna be a lot of stumbling and falling."

About a few minutes of stretches and a truckload of failed attempts later, Soleil had finally taught Eddie how to do a handstand. Even when he failed, it was all in good fun and they laughed after.

Through it all, the two were better together even with the short time they had spent together. Just a few weeks shy of their initial meeting, they had built a connection they never saw coming.

There they were, two lonely teens, in similar mind frames. And as they sat on the ground next to each other, their intuition humored them and for that time being, Eddie and Sol felt they were better together.