In truth, Demona didn’t expect Eddie to understand why she had Steve’s number without at least a little bit of questioning. Back in high school, the two had never been friends, and he had even participated in some of the bullying Eddie, Demona, and the rest of the Hellfire Club had taken. It was still surprising to her that she considered Steve a friend, and if someone had told her even a year ago that she would now be desperately trying to get him on the phone, she would’ve laughed in their faces. Things were different now, though, than they were a year ago.

Still, his reaction to her stating she was trying to contact him in particular had Demona rolling her eyes, another sip of the disgustingly warm beer being taken before she finally gave up on it, grimacing at the taste as she set the can on the counter. She wasn’t sure why Jessica hadn’t just stuck them in the fridge, and was already planning on bringing it up when she finally felt like talking to the other woman again. She wasn’t sure when that would be, no, but the list of complaints she had against her roommate was slowly growing in size.

“A lot more than you do, that’s for sure.” A slow, deep breath was taken before she turned back towards Eddie, her tone suddenly softening from the unexpected sharpness that had filled her voice with the previous sentence. “Sorry, that–that was uncalled for. A mutual friend of ours lost her brother to what we thought was controlling those things back in July, and apparently he’s been dealing with them for a few years now. He explained the whole thing to me when he gave me that baseball bat I was using earlier. I saw what was controlling them, but to actually see the demogorgon in person . . . I wasn’t expecting that.”

Leaning back against the counter, the blonde crossed her arms, eyes finding the floor. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Eddie, not after their last conversation in that room, and especially not after what she had just said to him. She didn’t even fully understand why she had said it, and while she was tempted to brush it off as her emotions getting the best of her, she had never been rude like that to Eddie before. She was tired and annoyed and scared, and while Eddie had once been a source of comfort for her (something she had hoped would still be true), it was clear that the warmth and safety had been replaced with anxiety and awkward silences filling the space she would rather have been filled with apologies for those words she said seven years ago. It was too late for that now, though. They had tougher monsters to face.