𝐖𝐂𝐋𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐒

still the same girly bedroom nancy spent her teen years in, the only changes made have been subtle. new wallpaper here, a few furniture changes — but the general feeling of the room remained the same. a wall full of awards and pictures with barb hung next to bookshelves cluttered with mementos and things that should’ve been parted with years ago. to say she’s a bit of a hoarder is an understatement, but everything has a place.

moved in shortly after her parents divorce, monnie is thankful jason had previously bought the place and already started the renovations after it’s damage from the earthquake. with an extra room handy, it was perfect for the girl that could’ve gone anywhere, but chose not to. while monnie was closer to chrissy in school, jason became a big part of monnie’s recovery from patrick’s death because of how close they were. jason has become a brother to her, and thankfully she has never had to think about what it would be like to live alone.

moved to forest hills shortly after susan and neil’s divorce, max has hated living where she does even more so than before. it’s not the trailer parks fault, but more so how shitty the trailer is. when susan must work two jobs with max working her one, even then they can barely make ends meet. although, max would say it doesn’t help when susan spends a lot of her paycheck on beer and cigarette’s. max is the one who helps keep them truly afloat by remembering to pay the bills for a place she tries to avoid as much as possible. the trailer is just a constant reminder of the grief both susan and max still harbor.

     ❝ nancy, ❞ she nodded, realizing the two had no idea what the others names were — just their halloween costumes. which, hey, did help in the long run of what nancy was going to say to get the others attention to begin with. ❝ — and thank you. i’m hoping temperatures don’t drop too much in a few weeks, but you never know. sometimes it’ll still feel like the perfect transition from summer to fall and other times its already snowing and no one cares about getting candy. ❞ nancy shrugged, internally begging for the indiana snow to stay away until at least december. ❝ have you thought about getting a jacket that matches ? your costume was too good for only one wear. ❞

     max grinned at the allowance of the nickname. she never liked her own name, so it was comfortable to max’s little world that everyone else she knew had a nickname, too. ❝ that’s not a bad series to start out with, so i can approve of that. ❞ max then pointed over to where the cassettes and records were on the other side of the store for val. ❝ how about i get you a comic to read, my choice, and you do the same for me with music. ❞ it was probably best max stop listening to the same few tapes over and over anyway before they burn out on her.

      ❝ were you seriously going to hit me with your bat ? ❞ max scoffed as she walked past steve as he held the door open, her feet taking her through the back of the family video and finding itself perched on top of one of the front counters. ❝ plus, wheres the fun in that ? ❞ she added, chewing on the straw of her drink with a wide grin on her face. ❝ i was already out back anyway so i didn’t feel like walking around the building. i knew you’d open it eventually anyway. ❞ swinging her feet up so she sat criss cross on the counter, max looked around at the empty store as the sky grew dimmer and the lights on the street started to perk up. ❝ — and i was hoping you’d give me a ride home. ❞ it wasn’t that she really needed to rely on steve for a way to get home when her board would take her back and forth every other day, but she hated walking around hawkins late at night. especially now.

     ❝ oh, very much pink. the only place in the whole house that’s mine, so i’m thinking of maybe getting two bouquets. ❞ maybe if she bought some for the living room, it would make it smell nice — not that monnie didn’t make sure it did already, but she liked to put her spin on things. ❝ i live with a man, one of my friends, so i’m thinking as frilly and girly as possible. you think that might be available ? ❞ hell, maybe monnie could get jason to give them to chrissy. ❝ do you also happen to do... delivery ? ❞

     seeing that it was steve working that day, nancy walked over to the counter first before roaming the aisle’s like she’d normally do. never one to loiter in any given place at a time if she had her mind set on something. ❝ hi, ❞ she begins with a nod as she presses her lips together in a tight smile, eyes darting to steve’s hair that looked a little more unruly than usual. ❝ scary movie if you’ve got any left, actually. wouldn’t be surprised if there was a wait, though. ❞ she looked around at the shelves then, some spots sitting empty. nancy wasn’t sure how often family video actually got new tapes, and with halloween around the corner, she wouldn’t be surprised if the shelves were only filled with movie meant more for valentine’s day. when nancy turned her head back around was when she noticed something stuck in steve’s hair. her brows furrowed as she moved to get a better view. ❝ can i just — ❞ she began to ask while her hands were already picking at whatever had found its way in steve’s nest of hair. it was giving her insane deja vu. ❝ i’m hoping this isn’t real this time. ❞ her breathy laugh was accompanied by a shrug as she put the cobweb decoration back on the counter.

     ❝ i’ll warn you now, ❞ max began as soon as she heard the ding of the bell and noticed gareth entered the palace arcade, running over to him before he could barely step foot across the threshold. ❝ some kid with the gamer tag of SUCKER beat your high score. i haven’t been able to figure out who this kid is, but they’re nearly up to me in digdug so i’m ready to fight ‘em with you. ❞ 

     roaming the aisles of bradley’s, nancy knew if she didn’t grab some groceries on her way home from work, she’d probably get home to nothing in the fridge anyway. terrible at any typical adult thing, nancy didn’t even know what to grab at the store other than easy to make items and food that didn’t need to even be prepared in any way. she did not have a single recipe in her own head. after grabbing some boxed mac and cheese, nancy headed towards the fruits to find anything nutritious for her, mike, and holly when her hand met someone elses’ reaching for the same apple. ❝ oh, sorry, ❞ she replied, instinctually pulling her hand away before noticing it was jason. nancy felt a bit of deja vu, however instead of shot guns, they were faced between apples.

     ❝ hey, madonna, ❞ nancy smiled at the familiar face from the pumpkin patch, albeit now out of costume, the pair looks very different than they did previously. the mall was still bustling with people like always as the window displays changed from ❛ back to school sales ❜ to everything fall related. some stores had even taken out their winter holiday decor out which nancy could definitely make a few comments about. ❝ i actually wanted to ask, are you thinking of rewearing your costume for halloween, too ? i can’t grasp if people are wearing the same thing or hoping to switch it up. ❞

     the first thing that helps monnie feel better after a stressful week is, oddly enough, cleaning. she reorganized some items in her room and even cleaned the shared spaces between her and jason. the only thing left that she needed were some flowers to truly finish off the place. ❝ i recognize you — you work here ? ❞ she asked valerie after she looked around pretty petals for a bit. ❝ what do you recommend for someone just wanting a fresh bouquet in her room. ❞

     ❝ thanks for letting me come over. ❞ monnie replied as she lounged on taeng’s couch and brought her hand up to her forehead. more problems in hawkins meant even more of a headache, and just another reason for monnie to leave. but she couldn’t. ❝ i think its time we plan a vacation or something. somewhere far from indiana or something. the beach, maybe. ❞

     ❝ you know what, val — can i call you val ? — i truly think this might be the greatest place to exist. ❞ she wanted to add ❛ besides the skate park near my old house ❜, but hawkins didn’t have a skate park to even compare it to. instead, max walked through the threshold to enter the comic book store. she also bought some records there, but with her machine busted, there was no point in wasting her precious earned bucks. ❝ are you into comics ? they’ve got other stuff, too. ❞