Chapter Twenty Nine
Shopping was exactly what Jaime had needed. For just over two hours she had dragged Max around all the shops, buying her a few things that caught her eye with some of the money she had saved up, and as much as Jaime wanted to continue her spree Max couldn't keep up. Caving into Max's complaints of foot ache and hunger Jaime put her shopping on hold to get her sister something to eat and shut her up.
"Where is he?" Asked Jaime as she stepped up to the counter in Scoops Ahoy, barely able to keep herself from laughing. "Come on, Robin. Get him out here, I want to see sailor boy."
"Hey, dingus!" Robin called out. "The only non-child you know is here!"
The laughter that Jaime had been holding in erupted into uncontrolable fits when Steve stepped out from the back of the store, an unimpressed look on his face, she would never not find his uniform hilarious. "Oh, Steve!" She gasped. "It never gets old."
"You've seen me like ten times since I got this job!" Exclaimed Steve. Since Jaime had discovered where he worked, and the uniform, she had made it her mission to go and mock him when ever she visited the mall and so far she had yet to not laugh. Had it been anyone else Steve might have minded, and despite Jaime being the bitchiest person he knew, all the laughing and mocking was harmless and had the shoe been on the other foot Steve would have done the same. "So what do you want? Mint choc chip?"
"I'll have coke float!" Max yelled out as she went to find a seat to rest her tired feet.
"You heard her, Sailor Boy." Jaime grinned at Steve, leaning on the counter making herself comfortable, not letting him off the hook so easily. "You see what gets me them most, Steve, is that she looks hot in your little uniform but you look tragic. How do you manage that?"
"Ha ha, very funny." Handing the cone of mint choc chip over to Jaime, Steve looked between the two girls with confusion. Robin and Jaime were complete opposites, Robin was in band and Jaime was once a cheerleader, but from day one of meeting in Scoops Ahoy the two seemed to be getting on well and genuinely liked each other. Ever since the night in the tunnels Steve was holding out for Jaime to show her true self like she had that night, so far she hadn't and was still playing the cliche mean girl, even so he was happy that she had found another girl in Hawkins who she seemed to stand to be around. "What ever this weird friendship is between you two, it gives me the creeps."
As Steve turned his attention to making the coke float, trying his best to ignore the two girls, Jaime managed to get her laughing under control enough to talk to Robin while she waited. "He still striking out?"
"Spectacularly. It's getting a little sad actually. I have a theory that the sailor uniform has sucked all the his charisma, and left us with the loser we see here today."
It was a good job that Billy hated shopping, otherwise Steve Harrington's life would have been hell, the uniform alone would have made Billy's day and really he was lucky neither Jaime or Max had mentioned it around him. The kids would never do anything like that too him, and for a time Jaime would have but she'd found that despite standing her up the year before she quite liked Steve. Not that she'd ever tell Billy. As far as Billy was concerned she didn't even speak to Steve any more and that was exactly how Jaime wanted to keep it. It was for that reason that for the summer Jaime had been living two seperate lives, one with Billy and her secret life at the mall whenever she was away from him. Under normal circumstances she would have rubbed Steve in Billy's face, more than enjoying the jealousy it caused, but they had plans and she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that, not when they were so close.
"Lets see the board."
From under the counter Robin produced a dry erase board and propped it on the surface with a bang. "See, it's sad. He officially sucks."
"Again with the board? Really?" Placing the coke float on the counter, Steve grabbed the offending board and shoved it back under the counter away from prying eyes. What he really wanted to do was break it into as many pieces as he could, but truth be told Robin scared him a little so hiding it was the next best thing.
"Did you know he stood me up?" Jaime asked Robin, ignoring his outrage at the board and only wanting to further embarrass him.
"You stood her up?"
"It wasn't...that's not exactly..." Steve stuttered, his arms gesturing in frustration. God he hated girls. "Jaime tell her that is not exactly what happened."
"Oh it's exactly what happened." Smirked Jaime, stranding upright so Robin and Steve were both able to see her better. "I mean look at me, Robin. He couldn't do better. Think I dodged a bullet there though, the sailor suit doesn't really do it for me."
Handing over the cash to Robin, satisfied with the hard time they had given Steve, Jaime said her goodbyes and went over to the table Max was waiting for her at. Billy was going to be picking them up in less that an hour and Jaime wanted to go to a few more stores before he did, so they needed to finish up as quickly as possible because Billy wouldn't wait for them.
"I still don't get you and Robin." Said Max after taking a large gulp of her coke float. As she had been waiting for Jaime to get their order Max had watched the three teens trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Robin was the last person on earth that Max would have though Jaime would actually like, she knew her sister though and every interaction she had seen between them didn't seem false.
"What's there to get? She likes picking on Steve, I like picking on Steve, it's as simple as that."
It was definately true, that didn't make the friendship any less weird though. In school Jaime wouldn't have so much as given a girl like Robin a second glance but now she was talking to her like they were best friends, and Max couldn't help but wonder if Jaime was messing with Robin like she and Billy had done Steve. "So you like her?"
"Sure." Jaime answered between licks of ice cream. What was with Max's interogation? Yes, Robin wasn't exactly the kind of girl that Jaime usually associated with and if Steve wasn't working at Scoops Ahoy that more than likely was exactly how it would have stayed, but he did and Robin was okay. "Billy's going to be here soon and I want to do more shopping before he picks us up, so speed it up."
Groaning Max threw her head back in defeat. Her feet hurt, they had been in every store, she was done. "You go, I'll wait here. Maybe get an ice cream?"
Jaime should have known there was no way Max would be able to keep up with her, it was a stupid mistake on her behalf, she wasn't about to cut her spree short because Max was tired though. Throwing her cone into the trash, Jaime reached into her purse and threw some cash down onto the table. "Get whatever you want, I'll be back in about thirty. Come get me if I'm not!" She called over her shoulder as she made her way out of the parlour. "I am not getting a fucking bus!"
A/N/ Another short chapter, but it does have Steve and Robin in :) Billy will be back in the next chapter ;)
starsandrockets: I'm trying to keep the roll going! This chapter was shorter than I would have liked but I wanted to get something up today and keep to my schedule, so I hope you liked it. And their plans had me sad too :'(
Sara: Hope you like this update :)
Cam: So happy you love Billy and Jaime, I love them so much!
MulishaMaiden: Her friends are exactly the reason why I figured Jaime would be kind of okay with leaving her, if she didn't have them I don't think Jaime would leave. They could still get caught by their parents you never know, they're not exactly sneaky lol! Hope you liked the first trip to Starcourt Mall :D
KlarolineCinderella: I'm going to try hard to keep this upload schedule! Hope you liked this one :)
