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1.
The first time Enid runs into Wednesday Addams in the middle of the night is towards the end of freshman year.
Enid had snuck out to go to the big end of the year party that the seniors were throwing. She had spent all year making sure she talked to the right people and carried herself the right way to get invited, and it had worked. Her and Yoko - her best friend since elementary school - had been added to the famed super-secret group chat the night before and were given the address and of course Enid wasn’t going to pass it up, even if she knew her mother would never let her go.
So that’s why she doesn’t tell her mother. Enid snuck downstairs and took the spare key from their junk drawer in the kitchen as soon as her parents had gone to sleep and looped it around one of her hair ties and kept it on her wrist so she wouldn’t lose it as she disappeared out the back door.
But of course she loses the key somehow, somewhere between countless rounds of beer pong and following Ajax from English class around until she finally got his number. Enid’s way too drunk to focus on where it could have gone and Yoko is nowhere to be found and there are just too many people in the way who have zero interest in helping her, the shitty music blasting on the speakers hurting her ears with each note.
So Enid wanders home, only stopping to barf into her neighbor’s bushes twice, preparing herself for the yelling she’s going to have to deal with when she knocks on her front door and has to ask her mom to let her in at three in the morning.
The light from her parents’ room flicks on the moment her shoes step onto their faded doormat. Home Sweet Home, it reads, but Enid doesn’t think that’s accurate at all.
“Enid Phoebe Sinclair!” her mother shouts from up above, and Enid closes her eyes to fight the headache that’s now flared up again, “You should know better than to sneak out to a party!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Enid groans back, “You can ground me for however long you want.”
“Oh, trust me, I will!”
Enid huffs, “Now can you just let me in?” she shouts back, head spinning, mouth dry.
“No,” he mother retorts, “If you want to go out, you can stay out.”
“Just let me in before someone comes and kidnaps me!” Enid yells, teeth gritted as she fights off nauseousness. She can hear her dad trying to reason with her mom, but he never seems to get her to listen.
“You found a way to sneak out,” Enid’s mom shouts, her tone more condescending as ever, “You can find a way to sneak back in.”
The light shuts off and Enid rests her head on the door, frustrated. She’s not going to cry, she’s too dehydrated for that and her mom will just yell at her some more. Instead she tries to swim through her thoughts and think of a way to get in on her own.
There’s a chance one of her dim-witted brothers left the back door unlocked like they always do, because their mom is always scolding them about it, yet they still never seem to remember.
But of course, this time the door is locked tight. Enid twists the knob as hard as she can, like she’s trying to pry it off, but it doesn’t budge and she knows it wouldn’t do her any good to break it. She sinks down with her back against the door and stuffs her face into her hands with a deep sigh.
Thankfully, the sun should be up in a few hours. Enid’s never liked the dark, surprised that she made it home all by herself without panicking. Maybe it’s the alcohol that she is very much regretting or the anger swelling inside of her that makes her feel braver and helps her fight off the midnight chill. For now, she decides she can grab one of the chairs on the patio and just sleep until then so she’s at least a bit rested for whatever awaits her in the morning.
Enid can’t wait until she’s out of the house. Well, out in the sense that she doesn’t live here anymore, because right now she’d really like to be inside her house so she can shower and chug a glass of water and go to bed. But in the future, when she’s an adult and in college and can do whatever she wants, which just seems so far away right now.
She sighs again, shoulders heavy, ready to pull herself up and get comfortable as she can in one of their ratty lawn chairs when she swears she hears the bushes in her yard rustle.
Enid freezes. She was only kidding about getting kidnapped. She hopes it’s just some wild animal passing through and not someone waiting for her to shut her eyes so they can whisk her away in a crusty white van.
She squints through the light from the street lamps, scanning the bushes for more movement. It’s quiet, until someone steps out of the shadows.
Enid knows who the Addams family is. Everyone in town’s talked about them since she was a kid. Growing up her brothers would tell her that their mansion on the edge of town is haunted and sitting on a portal to the underworld and they’re scoping people out to make them human sacrifices and that’s why she shouldn’t talk to them, because they’re going to invite her over and throw her into the pits of hell.
So when Wednesday Addams shows up in front of her, looking ghastly, the alcohol in her head makes Enid immediately assume the worst.
“Please don’t kidnap me!” Enid shouts, jumping up and throwing her hands up in the air in fear, but Wednesday just scoffs at her.
“Who said I was here to kidnap you?”
Enid shrugs, slowly lowering her hands. “Well, you’re out sneaking around people’s houses in the middle of the night.”
“You are also up in the middle of the night,” Wednesday squints back at her, “And it looked like you were trying to get into this house.”
“It’s my house,” Enid retorts, crossing her arms, the fear slowly being replaced by irritation, “I live here.”
“Then why don’t you have a key?”
Enid doesn’t feel scared anymore. Wednesday doesn’t seem like she’s going to kidnap her. Just annoy her.
“I lost it,” Enid groans, “And my mom won’t let me in.”
She glances back at the locked door behind her with a frown, and Wednesday’s eyes follow her.
“I heard,” Wednesday says, and she’s brushing past Enid to examine the doorknob. “I’m surprised you two didn’t wake up the whole neighborhood with all that shouting.”
Wednesday bends down and pulls something out of her pocket. Enid scrunches up her nose, leaning down to watch.
“What are you doing?” she asks curiously as Wednesday fiddles with the door. Enid’s surprised at how quickly she’s found all of this interesting, how Wednesday doesn’t scare her as much as she should.
“Unlocking your door so you don’t actually get kidnapped,” Wednesday mumbles as there’s a click, and the door slowly creeps open.
Enid’s confused. She wonders if she’s fallen asleep in the lawn chair and she’s having some weird alcohol-fueled dream because there’s no way Wednesday Addams has stumbled upon her in the middle of the night and decided to help her out.
“Oh,” she mutters, forgetting every word she knows, “Thanks.”
Wednesday holds the bobby pin she had used out to Enid, noticing how stunned she looks.
“For next time,” she says, and Enid takes it gingerly. Wednesday gives her a nod and disappears back into the shadows.
“Uh, bye,” is all Enid can stammer as she twirls the bobby pin around in her fingers.
2.
The second time Enid runs into Wednesday in the middle of the night is at a cemetery. It’s not unusual for Wednesday to be there, but for Enid, it most definitely is.
She’d never mean to end up at a creepy graveyard at two in the morning. But it was along the way home from Ajax’s house. Enid had snuck over to hang out with him like they’d been doing every weekend since they started dating. He had asked her out at the beginning of sophomore year, and of course she had said yes.
And being the stoner he was, he had asked her to come over and smoke with him after their first date. Enid wanted to say no, especially because she was on the cross country team and she needed to keep her lungs fresh, but she didn’t want him to think she was boring.
Then it had become a routine, her sneaking out in the middle of the night to hangout with him for a little bit, sometimes getting high and sometimes not, just making sure to keep that bobby pin Wednesday Addams had given her tucked in her hair so she could get back into her house before her mom noticed.
And now it’s spring, and cross country season is over, so tonight she figured she’d take a couple of hits and see where things would go. But just like every time, it had gone nowhere, Ajax falling asleep while they watched some shitty movie that he’s forgotten they’ve already seen. Enid’s wondering if she’s doing something wrong, because all of her friends brag to her about getting to third base while all they’ve done is make out.
Enid climbs out of his window as he snores, taking one last look at him and forcing a smile at the sight before wandering down the street.
She shivers as she passes the graveyard, both from the night chill and from thinking of ghosts and skeletons and zombies. There’s a full moon tonight, so she adds werewolves to the list too, but tells herself that they aren’t real and that she just needs to keep her head down and pick up her pace.
As she reaches the edge of the cemetery fence, something catches her eye, and Enid freezes. There’s someone standing over a grave, looking pale in the moonlight.
A vampire, Enid thinks, I forgot about vampires!
Her eyes are wide, and she’s frozen in fear, hoping that maybe the vampire can smell that she’s high and won’t want to drink her blood. Then, the vampire turns around, and Enid gets ready to bolt.
Thankfully, it’s not a vampire. It’s just Wednesday Addams, which Enid thinks might actually be worse.
But Enid’s surprised to find herself breathing a sigh of relief, because she should be more afraid right now. But for some reason, she’s not, not when her feet lead her right up to the fence. Ever since that night after the party Enid had started to think of Wednesday differently. She tried to tell people at school that she wasn’t that scary and that maybe they should lay off of her, but of course they never listened, teasing Enid for trying to convince them otherwise.
“Enid?” Wednesday stares at her, puzzled, and Enid tilts her head back.
“Wednesday?”
Wednesday narrows her eyes. “What are you doing out here?” she asks, and Enid just gives her a lazy shrug back.
“Uh, walking home. From my boyfriend’s house.”
“At this hour?”
“We were just hanging out,” Enid explains, Wednesday watching her closely while Enid hopes she can’t smell the weed lingering on her clothes, “He fell asleep though, and he sleeps like a rock, so no point in me hanging around.”
Wednesday looks unimpressed. Annoyed, even. “How uneventful.”
“Yeah,” Enid agrees. She glances around the graveyard, grabbing onto the bars of the fence as the crickets chirp loud in her ears. “You out here robbing a grave?”
“Not tonight.”
Enid can’t be surprised. She finds it interesting, actually, thinking how there’s a chance that she’s actually telling the truth.
Wednesday can see the bobby pin in her hair, reflecting in the moonlight, wondering if it’s that same one she gave her all those nights ago.
Enid glances around awkwardly, but doesn’t seem like she’s going to leave. “So what brings you out here tonight if you’re not thrifting corpses?” she asks, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
“I enjoy exploring graveyards,” Wednesday tells her, eyes drifting over her shoulder to graves behind her. “I find them quite peaceful.”
“Right. Nobody to bother you,” Enid huffs, “Like me.”
Her hands fall from the fence, Wednesday noticing how she seems to shrink at the comment. And for some reason, she doesn’t like how Enid's eyes lose their spark, how her shoulders droop.
“What makes you think you’re a bother?”
“I dunno,” Enid shrugs, staring at the ground, “Sometimes it seems like everyone thinks I am.”
“It’s no use letting them get to you. As you can see, we all end up the same at the end of the day,” Wednesday’s eyes flick to the gravestones around them, “In a box six feet under the ground.”
Enid nods, a frown on her face as she thinks, and Wednesday wonders what could possibly be going through her mind right now. And then Enid looks up from the graves and at Wednesday with a smirk on her face. “Until you become a zombie.”
She snickers, and Wednesday rolls her eyes, although she’s relieved that Enid’s serious look is gone.
“Are you under the influence of marijuana?” Wednesday groans, and Enid’s look grows even more mischievous.
“Yeah. How’d you know?” Enid tilts her head, almost as if she’s challenging her, and Wednesday takes a step closer, closing the space between the two of them with only the fence in the way.
“The cadence of your words. The slightly red tinge of your eyes. And the faint scent of what smells like skunk.”
“Shh,” Enid snickers, voice dropping to a whisper, “Don’t tell anyone.”
Wednesday sighs, looking around at the plots surrounding them. “There isn’t really anyone here to tell.”
Enid glances around too, eyes darting as she looks at each headstone, and then her face grows serious again.
“You think anyone would notice if I died?” she asks, and it’s not playful at all. Wednesday can hear the worry in her tone, just barely breaking the surface like she wishes she hadn’t asked, like she said something out loud that was only meant to be a thought in the back of her head.
“Of course,” Wednesday reassures her, brow knit tight, “I know I would definitely notice the absence of your presence.”
Enid perks up. Now she seems bewildered. “You would?”
“Well, you’re quite popular,” Wednesday explains, Enid locked onto her, “The school halls would be a lot more quiet without you.”
Enid doesn’t seem convinced.
“How would you know though? I never see you at school.”
Wednesday narrows her eyes. “I prefer not to draw attention to myself unless there's a valid reason to do so.”
“So is there a valid reason for why you’re talking to me tonight?” Enid asks, and Wednesday finds herself stumped, because she realizes not once during this conversation did she find herself trying to stop it.
“It would have been rude of me to ignore you,” Wednesday finally says, finding it hard to keep her eyes even with Enid’s, which seem to glow under the moonlight.
“Yeah, I guess,” Enid shrugs, voice raspy, “Thanks for not ignoring me.”
Wednesday can tell that there’s something more going on in Enid’s head, her thoughts swirling around in her brain and she stares at the ground, thumb tracing circles on her arm nervously. Wednesday thinks it’s strange to see Enid, someone who’s usually loud and confident, look so uneasy and lost and unsure of herself right now.
“I should probably head home,” Enid finally announces with a sigh, “Before my mom finds out I snuck out to a graveyard.”
There’s a smile tugging at the edge of her lips that makes Wednesday relieved, but not because Enid’s leaving, but because she looks like her usual, sunny self again.
Enid pushes herself away from the fence and digs her hands into the pocket of her hoodie.
“Get home safe,” Wednesday finds herself muttering as Enid trudges past her. Enid twirls back around and that smile on her face has grown brighter than the full moon above them.
“You too,” she grins, and then her eyes flick over to the graves, “Don’t let a zombie get you.”
She laughs again as she leaves, Wednesday watching her until she disappears into the night.
3.
The third time Enid runs into Wednesday in the middle of the night, she literally almost runs into her. With her car.
Well, it’s not her car, it’s her brother’s, but he’s been studying abroad this semester and she was able to convince him to let her use it while he was away. There was no way that her parents would let her borrow their car, because it took her three tries to get her license and only then she barely managed to get a perfect score on her parallel parking. She’s taken up babysitting to try and save up for her own car, because she knows her brother will want his back as soon as he’s home in a few weeks.
Enid’s been using it to drive her and Ajax around because he still hasn’t even gotten his permit. She had been helping him study, but he’d failed yet again after showing up high to his exam.
It was one of the many things about him that irritated her. Ajax was not a bad person at all and was never mean to her, but he was lazy and forgetful and had no real motivation to do anything and it was driving Enid insane. She wanted to go to Stanford and he had no plans after high school. She wanted to go out on actual dates instead of smoking in his bedroom and playing video games. She wanted someone who actually cared about her interests and challenged her instead of nodding along aimlessly with everything she said with glazed over eyes.
Which is why Enid decided that it was finally time to break up with him. She had rehearsed the conversation in her head dozens of times on the drive over, right after cross country practice.
It’s not like, I don’t like you or anything, Enid would tell him, I just think we’d be better off as friends.
Simple. Straight to the point. And honest, because it doesn’t feel like she’s going to be more than anything to him than a chauffeur.
He greets her with a kiss on the cheek and she hates how it still manages to make her blush, that it reminds her that the reason why this has gone on for so long is she likes to have someone care about her. He leads her to his room and he sits on his bed and pulls out his pipe, but Enid doesn’t join him. That’s what makes him realize that something’s up.
“Uh, Enid? You okay?” he asks, glancing down at how she’s picking at her nail polish.
There’s a pout on his face and suddenly Enid feels guilty about it all, wondering if she’s even doing the right thing.
“I’m breaking up with you,” she mutters quickly before she changes her mind. The words hang in the air between them for a second as Ajax makes sense of what she’s said.
“Oh. Um, okay,” he mumbles, nodding his head slowly.
“Sorry,” Enid says, and he’s staring at the ground. “I just think this wasn’t going anywhere. It’s not you,” she says, although it is him, she just feels bad. “I just, I just think it would be better for the both of us.”
Ajax looks up and takes a breath. She can’t exactly read the look on his face, but he doesn’t look mad. Just confused, like he always does.
“Alright,” he shrugs, “Uh, sure. Okay.”
He blinks at her and nods again, eyebrows knit as he thinks hard, but he lacks any real reaction. Enid doesn’t know if or if it’s good or bad that he doesn’t seem to care much.
Enid can feel her head spin and her face grow hot as Ajax sighs. He fiddles with the pipe in his hand.
“You okay?” Enid asks, and Ajax nods again.
“Yeah, I’ll be good.” He finally sparks up his pipe and takes a hit, and Enid grimaces, having come to find the smell of weed making her feel sick.
“I’m gonna go now,” she says, and Ajax gives her a smirk and a wave and she rushes back out into the car and drives off as quickly as possible.
Enid hates how her head is a complete mess now, overthinking all of it. She wonders if she did any of it right, that she should have stayed or tried to get him to talk or even attempted to maybe work things out. She rolls through a stop sign and thinks about how at one point she thought she’d marry Ajax and then thinks about how stupid that sounds now. She blinks out tears in her eyes as she wonders if maybe the reason why they didn’t work out was her fault, that she could have done something different, speeding through the neighborhood thinking about how she can’t do anything right.
Her body is buzzing as she tries to focus and figure out how she’s going to explain all of this to her family when they ask where Ajax is, how her mother would tell her how rude it was to break up with someone right before the holidays. She keeps speeding on, now thinking about all of the fun times her and Ajax did have, that there were good times with him and now none of that even matters anymore.
Then, there’s a shadow flashing out of the corner of her eye, and Enid slams on the breaks before she almost hits someone crossing the street.
Holding tight onto the hood of her car is Wednesday Addams.
“Enid?” Wednesday says, squinting angrily through the dark, eyes wide when she recognizes who almost hit her. Wednesday had been wondering about the next time the universe would force them together, and if it would come with the same intrigue the last time had brought.
Enid’s still too shocked to reply, and that’s when Wednesday shakes her head and then steps over to the passenger side door when she sees how frantic Enid looks.
“Let me in,” Wednesday mouths, and Enid fumbles with the lock button until it opens, and Wednesday steps in and slides into the seat next to her.
Enid stares out into the dark, glancing down at Wednesday next to her nervously, not sure what’s happening exactly or why she didn’t even hesitate to unlock her doors for someone who gives off the vibes of a serial killer. Wednesday looks over Enid and her eyes catch a bobby pin sticking out among the pink and blue dye that’s always reminded her of cotton candy whenever she’s seen Enid in the hallways.
“Is there a reason why you’re driving like a maniac right now?” Wednesday asks, tone a bit sharp as if she’s scolding her, but she’s really just trying to keep herself focused.
Enid takes a breath and closes her eyes for a second before opening them back, still locked out into the night.
“I just broke up with Ajax.”
It hits her again when she hears herself say it out loud. She’s single, no longer in a relationship, just one person all on her own, the thought sinking through her like an anchor heading towards the ocean floor.
“It’s about time,” Wednesday scoffs next to her, and that gets Enid to snap her head to her, going from despair to confusion in an instant.
“What?”
“I’ve seen you two at school. He never seems to be all there. Honestly it looked like you were wasting your time with him.”
Wednesday says it like she’s reading from a script, monotone and unimpressed. Not like she’s trying to comfort Enid, whose tears are staining her cheeks as her nose scrunches up in offense.
But Wednesday isn’t wrong in the slightest. She’s clocked Enid’s situation so perfectly that all she can do is sit in silence and accept it.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” Wednesday says after a few more moments, and Enid nods slowly.
“I mean, yeah. But it still sucks.”
“Of course it does,” Wednesday replies, and now her voice is more of a whisper. “You put a lot of time into something that eventually didn’t work out. Anybody would be upset about that.”
Enid sniffles and wipes her face with the sleeve of her jacket and finally turns to look over at Wednesday. She expected her to look upset, but she just looks concerned, and they’re locked on each other until Wednesday clears her throat.
“But my point is that now you can focus on other things. Things that are actually worth your time and actually make you happy.”
Now she sounds more stern again, and so Enid nods once more, swallowing hard as she turns back to stare at the road. She closes her eyes, thinking about how she can’t even think of what she’s supposed to spend all her time on now that she’s not going to be spending it on Ajax.
Then, a drop of rain hits the windshield, and another, until it’s pouring and she can’t even see outside.
“Great,” Enid huffs, “Now it’s raining.”
It’s not like she hates the rain or anything, but she doesn’t want to have to drive home in this mess or make Wednesday walk home in it either. It just seems like some sort of bad omen, that maybe she did just fuck everything up.
“Rain can be a sign of new beginnings,” Wednesday says, as if she had read Enid’s mind, and that makes her change her mind.
“So are you saying me breaking up with him was a good thing?”
“You can interpret it however you’d like.”
Wednesday wiggles an eyebrow at Enid, a silent way of agreeing with her, and finally, Enid cracks a smile.
“It’s funny how you come along and seem to say exactly what I need to hear,” she grins, and Wednesday thinks it’s gotten brighter, “Like some weird guardian angel or something. Or, guardian demon. If that makes sense.”
Wednesday looks away in embarrassment, her skin tingling at the thought. “It doesn’t. But I appreciate the sentiment.”
Enid laughs to herself, feeling better than she had just a few minutes ago. She listens to the rain drumming on the roof of the car, finding the sound relaxing instead of irritating now that she’s thinking about it as a good thing.
“So what were you doing out here anyways?” Enid asks Wednesday when she remembers she’s still sitting next to her, not even making an attempt to leave.
“Going for a walk.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“I’m not afraid of running into any zombies,” Wednesday quips, and Enid snickers.
“I can’t believe you remembered that,” she smiles, and she swears that even in the dark, she can see the edges of Wednesday’s lips curling up.
It’s weird how there’s a buzz in her chest right now, the same kind she felt when Ajax first asked her out but she never felt again. But Enid knows this isn’t what any of this is. She stuffs the feeling back down and figures it’s time to leave.
“Do you want a ride home?” Enid asks, feeling like it’s the least she could do right now, that she doesn’t want to make Wednesday walk all the way home in the downpour even though it seems like something that wouldn’t bother her. She just needs to steer this conversation in a different direction before her thoughts get even messier.
Wednesday narrows her eyes. “Have you seen how you drive?”
Somehow, Enid can tell she’s only half-kidding.
“I promise I’ll drive a lot safer with a passenger,” she replies, and Wednesday nods.
“Only if you promise you’ll get yourself home safe as well.”
Once again, Enid feels that buzz growing inside of her that she just swore to ignore. She doesn’t know what she’s done exactly to get someone like Wednesday to care about her, but she doesn’t think it’s a bad thing at all.
So Enid takes Wednesday home as the rain pours down around them, all the way to her mansion on the edge of town that is supposedly a portal hell, thinking about new beginnings all the way home.
4.
The fourth time Enid runs into Wednesday in the middle of the night, she’s actually running.
She’s spending her spring break getting ready for cross country season, and she’s found herself going running in the middle of the night for a number of reasons.
First of all, what she tells her teammates, is that it’s cooler at night. She runs warm and so she can go out without getting sweaty. And she can run wherever she wants, being too impatient to wait at stop lights or hating having to run around people on the sidewalks. And since she can never fall asleep these days, she might as well go for a run that will tire her out, and since they’re on break, she can sleep in all she wants.
There is one other reason, one that she doesn’t tell people and keeps all to herself, is that maybe there’s a chance she runs into Wednesday again. She never seems to be able to find Wednesday in the daytime no matter how hard she’s been trying, how hard she’s been peeking around corners in the school hallways or hanging out in her car after school for a chance to say hi to her.
I prefer not to draw attention to myself unless there's a valid reason to do so, Wednesday had told her all those nights ago in the graveyard, and Enid’s been thinking too hard about it ever since that conversation in her car. Part of Enid had thought that maybe Wednesday just felt sorry for her, that she didn’t actually care about Enid and was just being nice to her out of pity and for a free ride home.
But Wednesday Addams wasn’t known for caring about people. She always requested to work alone on every project she was assigned. She wasn’t afraid to challenge the things their teachers would say. There was even a rumor that she made the principal cry. And the last time her younger brother had been bullied, shoved into a locker that Enid ended up helping him out of, the bullies were greeted with their own lockers filled to the brim with wasps.
Enid laughs as her shoes hit the pavement, remembering all of the commotion when it happened, how those idiots got what they deserved, how realizing it was Wednesday brought a smile to her face.
Her pace slowed a bit as Wednesday crossed her mind once again, just as she always seemed to do when she was out at night as if it would summon her from the shadows.
But no. Enid told herself that she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Wednesday Addams. When people had seen her helping Pugsley out of that locker, they started to talk, teasing her about being possessed by the Addams or about how she would be their next victim to sacrifice or that she was just as weird as them.
Enid had tuned it out for the most part, because she wasn’t going to apologize for being a decent human, but soon she noticed how she was losing followers on Instagram and people weren’t talking to her in class and she hadn’t been invited to any parties.
So spring break had come at a perfect time, because she needed to figure out how to make people like her again and believe that she definitely was not being possessed by a family of demons without throwing Wednesday under the bus.
She checks her watch and sees that it’s almost three in the morning, but she’s not tired at all, so she turns down another street and keeps running, trying to block out all the thoughts of people ignoring her and focusing on not trying to get hit by the lone car that zooms by her, honking.
There’s a split second where Enid wonders if people would care about her again if she did get hit, but then she thinks about how her mom would yell at her for running in the street in the middle of the night and realizes that’s not something she should be fantasizing about.
So Enid keeps running, pushing herself as her lungs burn and her legs get heavier, and that’s when she feels a raindrop hit her on the nose. She stops, peering up at the sky thinking she’s imagining things when another drop hits her in the eye, and soon the rain is coming down all around her.
Enid curses, not remembering seeing anything about rain in the forecast tonight, and starts trying to find somewhere to hide and hopefully wait it out.
Rain can be a sign of new beginnings, Wednesday Addams had told her ages ago, and Enid had been so hopeful hearing that, thinking that she’d start fresh next semester and live her best newly-single life. But now it seems like things have taken a turn downwards and she just hopes Wednesday wasn’t lying to her and maybe it takes a bit for the new beginning to actually begin.
Enid spots a bus stop down the road and picks up her pace, already soaked to the bone. As she ducks underneath, she can’t even breathe a sigh of relief because she’s surprised to find someone else also hiding from the rain.
“Wednesday?” she gaps, and Wednesday’s looking back at her, equally as shocked.
“Enid,” she says, looking her up and down, “What are you doing out here?”
Enid shrugs, running a hand through her wet hair. “I like to run in the middle of the night.”
“That’s interesting,” Wednesday replies, and then she’s squinting her eyes back at Enid, judging her, “And quite dangerous, actually.”
“I don’t listen to music or anything,” Enid shakes her head back, waving a dismissive hand at Wednesday, “I wear bright clothes. And I have pepper spray in my fanny pack.”
She shows it off with a grin, how it’s covered in flowers that match the bright pink shirt she’s wearing. “And I’d ask what you’re doing out here, but at this point it seems pretty normal to run into you like this.”
Enid snickers, and she realizes her breathing’s evened and the worry that was just shrouding her seems to have faded away now that she’s out of the rain with someone she’s come to think of as safe.
She studies Wednesday’s expression, wondering if she’s also glad to see Enid, but she looks a bit hesitant.
“Once is by chance. Twice is a coincidence. The third time is a pattern.”
“So what’s the fourth time mean then?” Enid raises an eyebrow, worried Wednesday’s not going to stick around because she’s going to realize Enid’s not worth her time.
“I’m not sure,” Wednesday ponders, glancing out into the rain as she runs a thumb across her chin, “I never expected this to happen again.”
Enid nudges Wednesday with her elbow. “Guardian demon, remember?”
Wednesday’s nose scrunches up, but not because she’s offended, but because she’s trying to think. “Well, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing here for you right now.”
“It’s just nice to see you,” Enid smiles over at her, and Wednesday’s caught off guard by how bright she looks. “I mean, it’s nice to have a familiar person to talk to right now. While I wait out the rain.”
She glances out at the downpour around them, and Wednesday does the same, ignoring how close Enid is standing to her.
“I’m afraid it doesn't look like it’s going to let up anytime soon.”
Enid lets out a breathy laugh. “So you’re stuck with me then.”
Wednesday finds the sound making her face grow hot despite the night chill. She doesn’t think of being stuck with Enid as a problem at all. It’s quite nice actually, the two of them staring out into the rain while it drums down on the roof of the bus stop.
“So, how have you been since the last time I ran into you?” Wednesday asks, because as much as she enjoys the silence, she can feel Enid growing anxious now that she’s stationary.
“Actually, I ran into you, remember?” Enid laughs again, but it’s a bit more nervous, a bit more uneasy. “But uh, yeah. I’m good. A bit stressed out about some things, but totes good.”
She doesn’t sound so sure of herself. Wednesday tilts her head back at Enid.
“What are you stressing about?”
“Pfft. So many things,” Enid groans, crossing her arms and glaring out into the rain. “School. My mom. Gas prices because of course they have to go up once I get my own car. And getting a good time at my next cross country meet.”
“Does your mom know you’re running in the middle of the night?”
“Oh no, my parents are in Greece for the week,” Enid huffs, “Def not worried about getting scolded for being out late.”
Then she turns to Wednesday, lowering her head a bit.
“And I still have the bobby pin you gave me in case I lose my keys.”
Enid taps her hair, and though it’s soaked, Wednesday can see the bobby pin sticking out between the dye.
“I’m surprised you haven’t lost it,” Wednesday replies genuinely, because she thought someone as preppy as Enid wouldn’t care about some cheap bobby pin from three years ago.
“I mean, same. But it’s important to me.”
Enid’s smiling at her again this time, but it’s much more softer than earlier, and Wednesday has to take a breath and look away, jaw clenched tight to try and stop herself from thinking too hard about a silly bobby pin.
Wednesday doesn’t say anything else, and Enid’s smile fades away.
“I can leave. If I’m annoying you,” she says quietly, and now she’s fiddling with her fingers, leaning away from Wednesday, “I don’t live to far from here, I’m already wet anyways-”
“You’re not annoying me,” Wednesday snaps back before dropping her voice, “Why do you always assume that?”
“Because. I can tell I annoy people,” Enid’s voice is barely above a whisper. “But they don’t want to be mean and say it. Well, except for my mom. But the rest of them, they stay quiet. Like you do.”
Wednesday’s offended that Enid would take her silence as a sign of irritation.
“I promise I wouldn’t be afraid to tell you if you were annoying me,” she says, and Enid’s glancing down at her curiously. “It’s a shame you feel that way around people who are supposed to care about you.”
Wednesday’s stern, and Enid seems to shrink away, crossing her arms again tighter.
“Well, I don’t want to be alone,” she shrugs, “I’ll put up with it if it means I have people to hang out with.”
“That’s foolish,” Wednesday says, growing more and more upset by the second, not believing how someone like Enid would think that way. “You deserve much better than that.”
Enid’s quiet, brow furrowed as she lets the words settle. Wednesday wonders what goes in such a colorful mind like hers, why she tries to seek validation from people who don’t seem to even deserve to be in her presence. Enid’s still quiet, biting her lip, Wednesday feeling the tension radiating off of her.
“I never got to properly thank you for helping Pugsley,” Wednesday says to break the silence, “It was much appreciated.”
Enid smiles, but it’s not as strong as usual. “Of course. It was the right thing to do.”
Except Enid wonders if it really was the right thing to do, at least for her, because that simple gesture has created this domino effect of her precious social standing crumbling to the ground. She wants to regret it, but it seems terrible to think about, because doing the right thing shouldn’t make her feel that way.
“You have a good heart Enid,” Wednesday says, every word heavy and serious, “Don’t forget that.”
And Wednesday finally turns her head back to Enid with a glare that tells her that she means it. And Enid’s staring back at her hard, noticing how her bangs are plastered to her face and how freckles dot her nose like stars, and she’s realizing that no, she doesn’t regret being a good person at all.
Enid also notices that buzz in her chest is back, the very same one she felt in the car when they were also stuck in the rain and she feels just how close the two of them have gotten in a few short moments.
But none of that makes sense. Enid’s only talked to Wednesday three times before this for probably a grand total of thirty minutes. There’s no way she should be feeling like this, and there’s no way someone like Wednesday Addams would feel the same. Enid knows better than to assume that just because someone says something nice to you once it doesn’t mean they’ll do it again or that means anything serious.
“The rain’s stopped,” Enid says, taking a step back and peeking her head out, “Guess that’s a sign to go home.”
Wednesday blinks and nods back, and Enid can see she looks confused. A bit disappointed even, but Enid tells herself that she’s just seeing things in the dark.
“Thanks for uh, keeping me company,” Enid mutters, and she runs off before the thoughts in her head grow too loud.
5.
The fifth time Enid runs into Wednesday in the middle of the night is when she’s in the middle of a panic attack.
The past couple of months had been anything but enjoyable.
First, it started with her getting waitlisted by Stanford despite spending all of her time in tutoring to get her grades up. She thought she’d rather just be straight up rejected than be stuck in limbo not knowing about her future and how it was her chance to get out of her stupid town.
And then, her car had gotten hit by some idiot running a red light, who turned out to be Xavier from school who’s dad was a lawyer which meant he never got into any trouble. Enid’s babysitting job was on the other side of town, but without a car her mother didn’t want her working late hours so she had to quit.
And since she was so bored, she would go running because that seemed to be the only thing that calmed her down. Until she tripped on a curb and sprained her ankle and was forced to stay off of it for a month, subjected to her mom’s nagging all day instead.
And to top it all off, Yoko had let it slip that there was a Fourth of July party that Enid hadn’t been invited to. Even if it was at Xavier’s house, the same Xavier that had wrecked her car, Enid was offended that her best friend hadn’t thought to tell her about one of the biggest parties of the year.
Enid still shows up anyways, just wanting to prove a point and hope that getting wasted might quiet her mind for at least one night. But it doesn’t take her long to see Ajax there with his new girlfriend and she freezes. And that’s when Xavier bumps into her and spills his beer all over the both of them.
“You need to watch where you’re going,” he scoffs, and Enid glares back at him.
“Says the guy who blows through red lights.”
Xaive rolls his eyes. “Would you just get over it?”
“Get over it? My car got totaled because of you! I had to quit my job!” Enid shouts back at him, and people are starting to gather around them.
“Yeah yeah. Well, more time to spend with Wednesday Addmas now, right?” Xavier teases, and Enid’s eyes go wide.
“What?”
“I saw you two hanging out at a bus stop at three in the morning,” he’s smirking now, “What were you even doing?”
“None of your business,” Enid spats back at him, not noticing her hand has slowly turned into a fist.
“I get it. If I was hooking up with that freak, I wouldn’t tell anyone either-“
Suddenly Enid’s swinging her fist at Xaiver’s face, and he’s tumbling backwards into the crowd. That’s when Yoko appears and pulls Enid away.
“Jesus Enid!” she shouts, everyone staring at her and then back down at Xavier whose nose is bleeding.
Enid shrugs Yoko away and darts out of the house at the speed of light, running all the way home as fast as she can. She fumbles with her bobby pin as she picks the lock to the back door, ignoring how she slams it so hard it’s sure to wake her parents up.
She goes straight to her room and changes out of her beer-soaked shirt into an old cross country shirt and grabs her headphones and her running shoes and storms back out.
“Enid Phoebe Sinclair-“ her mother shouts, catching her in the hallway, but Enid goes right past her.
“I know I’m in trouble,” she replies angrily, “Just yell at me tomorrow.”
She slams the front door too, slipping on her headphones and running as far away from everything as she can.
Her ankle hurts with every step, remembering that she’s not supposed to be cleared to go back to running until next week. She cranks up the music loud in hopes it’ll help drown out her thoughts, not caring how dangerous it is, how she’s in the middle of the road.
She runs through a puddle and thinks about how getting caught in the rain was supposed to mean things would get better. But she should have known better than to listen to Wednesday Addams.
Of course, that’s just who shows up as Enid turns down another street. She’s walking in the opposite direction, and they both stop at the same time, Enid feeling like she’s seeing a ghost.
“Wednesday,” she breathes, and she wants to be mad . But the sight of Wednesday calms her down and she doesn’t even notice. She slips her headphones off of her ears and blinks, wondering if she’s seeing things.
But Wednesday doesn’t look interested at all. She looks almost upset. “Headphones in the middle of the night? Are you trying to get kidnapped? Hit by a car?”
“Yeah, maybe I am,” Enid stammers, and suddenly Wednesday’s eyes are wide, filled with worry when she sees how dark Enid’s face is, how her blue eyes are clouded.
“Enid, are you alright?” Wednesday asks, taking a slow step towards her.
“Honestly?” Enid chokes out, taking a moment to think, “No.”
That’s when Enid starts crying, hot tears running down her face realizing that she most definitely not okay, and that she’s embarrassed for Wednesday to see her like this, even if she has before, because she’s afraid that she’s done this to her so many times she’s probably grown tired of having to console Enid every time they meet.
But no. Wednesday’s wrapping her arms around Enid tight, pulling her in and letting Enid bury her face in her shoulder as she sobs, Enid not even thinking about how unusual this is because she’s just so stressed out.
Wednesday lets her hold her for as long as she wants to, and then she guides her to the curb to sit down, the stars twinkling bright above them.
And then Enid tells Wednesday everything, and Wednesday hangs onto every word, not looking away from her once, not caring that she has to stop to wipe away her tears or catch her breath or swear up into the sky.
When Enid’s finished, it’s silent as the two of them stare at the faint glow of pink on the horizon.
Enid wipes her face on her sleeve, taking a deep breath after the silence starts to feel suffocating. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Wednesday replies, eyes focused on the sunrise.
“Why do you keep talking to me when you don’t have to?”
Wednesday’s jaw clenches next to her. “Perhaps I want to.”
“But you only talk to me when we stumble into one another in the middle of the night,” Enid replies, and there’s a bite to her tone even if her voice is quiet. “Why not try and find me some other time?”
Wednesday can feel her palms growing sweaty. She runs them along her pants and hopes Enid doesn’t notice. “I see how others treat you when you associate with me. I didn’t want my reputation to make things worse.”
She’s still for a moment, Enid watching her closely. “Besides. It is an anomaly to feel so strongly about someone who you hardly know.”
This time, Wednesday’s tone isn’t stern like it has been when she would call Enid out. She’s avoiding looking at Enid instead of giving her a death glare to show that she’s being serious. Her fingers are picking at the seam of her jeans when usually she’s stoic and unwavering.
That’s how Enid can tell that Wednesday isn’t trying to offer her advice this time. She’s talking about herself. At least that’s what Enid hopes as she turns to look at Wednesday, thinking about how she wants to get to know her better, and she doesn’t care who sees.
Wednesday finally turns back to her, seeing how the morning sky behind is bright and pink and blue just like Enid, and she’s frozen.
Enid’s chest is buzzing more than ever seeing how Wednesday is looking at her like she’s the only person in the world. So that’s when Enid reaches a shaky hand out to Wednesday’s cheek, leaning in to kiss her.
And to her surprise, Wednesday kisses her back, but only for a second before she pulls away, looking stunned.
“Sorry,” Enid quickly stammers, wiping her lips in embarrassment, “I just thought that’s what you were, um, nevermind.”
She feels like she’s about to explode. “I should get home.”
Enid pushes herself up in a hurry, Wednesday watching her disappear into the sunrise, and then her eyes dart down to a bobby pin laying on the ground at her feet.
+1
The first time Wednesday runs into Enid in the daytime is on the first day of senior year.
Wednesday had sat there under that pink and blue sky for way too long, twirling the bobby pin in between her fingers until a car passing by jolted her out of her thoughts.
She doesn’t know why Enid Sinclair had fascinated her so much. She was one of the popular kids, she always had been, but she was never rude like the rest of them. Enid always smiled at everyone in the hallways. She always helped freshmen find their way around school. She volunteered at the animal shelter and tutored kids who needed help and wasn’t afraid to call people out on their bullshit. Wednesday had always silently admired from afar but knew as polite as Enid was, even she wouldn’t risk her reputation by talking to an Addams.
The first time they had met in the middle of the night was a pure accident. Wednesday had heard the shouting and went to investigate and found Enid sitting outside, drunk and freezing and figured it wouldn’t cost her anything to help. She thought that would be the first and last time they’d ever talk, and that she didn’t care if Enid never thought of her again.
The second time at the graveyard was an accident too. And so was the third, when Enid had almost run her over with her car, and the fourth when they had gotten stuck in the rain. All of their encounters were never planned, always random, and Wednesday Addams hated random.
She hated that she could never plan on running into Enid, that she could never prepare herself to have to act neutral when in fact, just standing next to Enid would drive her haywire and keep her up for the rest of the night.
So that’s why Wednesday spent the next month wandering around past midnight, hoping to find Enid again and tell her how she felt so she wouldn’t be caught off guard again. She’d walk by Enid’s house and sit on a bench in the nearby park and hope she’d hear the sound of someone running by, but nobody ever came. Wednesday was growing worried until she found out from Pugsley that Xavier’s dad had requested she be put on house arrest and in therapy for anger management until school started because she had broken his son’s nose.
Wednesday would work on a way to get back at Xavier soon, but right now her priority was getting through to Enid. But there was no way Enid would risk leaving her house, not with the legal system breathing down her neck and no bobby pin to help her sneak back in.
Wednesday knew her next chance would be at school, if Enid even showed up. She knows Enid probably wouldn’t risk skipping, but she’d also probably not want anyone to see her after what had happened that summer.
Luckily, Wednesday spots Enid sitting in her newly-repaired car, staring at the front doors to the school as she grips the steering wheel tight. For a moment, Wednesday’s afraid, worried Enid won’t want anything to do with her.
The first bell rings and that gets Wednesday to move, her hand running over the bobby pin in her pocket as she makes her way to Enid’s car. Enid’s so zoned out that she doesn’t even notice Wednesday standing outside of her door until she’s knocking on her window.
Enid looks like she’s seen a ghost. Wednesday’s afraid Enid isn’t going to let her in until she nods down at the handle and then over to the passenger seat. Wednesday gets in quickly and slams the door, Enid still staring at her in shock.
“What do you want?” Enid asks, tone sharp.
“You forgot this,” Wednesday holds out the bobby pin in between them,” I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”
Enid doesn’t take it. She just leans back into her seat and stares at the ceiling.
“I did, actually,” she huffs, “Looked everywhere for it. But then I thought it was probably a sign from the universe that kissing you was a mistake.”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” Wednesday quickly tells her, but Enid’s expression is still sour.
“You didn’t look happy.”
“I was in shock,” Wednesday explains, “And then you took off before I could properly react.”
Enid sighs. “And how were you going to react exactly?”
“By kissing you again.”
Wednesday can see how Enid’s moved to look at her, brow furrowed in confusion. Wednesday takes a breath so deep it makes her dizzy.
“I never understood it at first. How someone I barely knew could have such an affect on me,” Wednesday explains quietly, “But then I realized I did know you. I saw how you cared for others. How hard you worked. How you pushed through despite the world seeming to go against you.”
Her tone is stern but soft at the same time. “It would be hard not to fall for someone like that.”
Wednesday’s never felt so vulnerable in her life. She always thought feeling like this about anybody was foolish until it happened to her. She can see that Enid’s eyes are watery, and that’s when she takes Enid cheek in her hand and Enid’s melting into her as she pulls her in for a kiss.
This kiss isn’t much longer than the last, but this one actually has meaning to it, both of them still getting used to one another.
“I really don’t get it either,” Enid breathes as they pull apart, her eyes finally filled with light again, “How we have chemistry.”
Wednesday’s face scrunches up in confusion. “I already took chemistry. Last semester.”
Enid breaks into a laugh, and Wednesday’s never felt so exhilarated.
“No, not the class,” she giggles, “But like, together. We shouldn’t get along. But we do. We’ve hardly spent any time together but it just feels right. I want to keep hanging out with you Wednesday.”
“But I don’t want to ruin your reputation-“
“I don’t care,” Enid retorts, “It’s already ruined anyways. I want my senior year to be enjoyable before I ditch all these losers for California.”
Wednesday’s eyes go wide. “You got into Stanford?”
“Yeah,” Enid smiles nervously, “I guess I at least have that going for me.”
Wednesday feels pride overcome her, remembering how Enid had sobbed about getting waitlisted a month ago, saying how she had hoped to get in so she could start over and finally be free of everyone who pissed her off.
“We should celebrate,” Wednesday suggests with a wiggle of her eyebrows, “Perhaps with coffee after school? I can tell you’ve been up all night.”
Enid blushes. “I’d like that.”
“Alright,” Wednesday says with relief, until she realizes she doesn’t know how dates work, “I would ask you to drive us, but you drive like a maniac-“
“Not when I have someone pretty sitting in the passenger seat,” Enid cuts her off with a wink, and Wednesday thinks she might faint.
Then, the second bell rings, and Enid’s reaching for her backpack in the back seat.
“Shit,” she exclaims, rushing shoving her door open, “I can not be late to class. C’mon.”
And as they step out of the car, there’s a drizzle of rain falling down onto them as they run inside, and Enid smiles.