Author's Note: We finally get to the good stuff! And by good stuff I mean Billy as a lifeguard ;)
Here I Go Again
I don't know where I'm goin'
But I sure know where I've been
Hanging on the promises in the songs of yesterday
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
Nathan Lewis was so relieved to see the abandoned laboratory and the gate Eleven had closed with his own two eyes that he had Chief Hopper take him home immediately afterward. Hopper had watched as the man practically sprinted into his own home, leaving the door wide open in his wake. And when Hopper entered the house a few moments later, he found Eleven smiling as father hugged daughter and sobbed with relief.
Hopper had given Nathan the rest of the day off and took Eleven home, and Dani was treated to a father/daughter night. The two stayed up late watching films and just basking in their newly found peace, so it was no surprise Dani or Nathan slept in the following day.
"Dani. Hey, Dani, wake up. You've got a bunch of youngsters eager to speak with you."
She hums as she rolls over, stretching as she tiredly blinks up at her dad. "Wha..?"
"Eleven spilled the beans, kiddo," he smiles down at her. "I figured I'd go into work and get some paperwork done while you entertain your new admirers."
"Joy." Dani yawns before sitting up and then crawls out of bed. Stumbling over to her dresser, she rummages through the drawers and finds herself a change of clothes. "Tell them to make themselves comfortable while I shower. They should be fine on their own for a bit."
Nathan snorts. "Too late. Some curly haired kid with weird teeth made a beeline for the refrigerator as soon as Eleven- er, Jane- made herself comfortable at the kitchen table."
Dani chuckles as her dad subconsciously touches his teeth, she shaking her head in amusement. "Well okay then." Clothes in hand, she starts making her way towards her bathroom. "Tell them I'll be down soon. And play nice with the kid with weird teeth."
Mr. Lewis chuckles as he takes his leave from her room, he then finishing up changing into his uniform. After heading back downstairs to inform the misfit group of children of his daughter's delay, he watches on in amusement as every kid has already made themselves comfortable without his prompting. Several of them have drinks in hand from his refrigerator and the curly haired one has the audacity to compliment him on his choice of sandwich meats before taking a bite out of a sandwich he'd apparently made himself.
Snorting, Nathan tells them all to stay out of trouble before taking his leave. And fifteen minutes later, Dani joins them and she's treated to smiles all around.
"So are you really like El?" Lucas asks, eager to know anything and everything. Max, sitting at his side, rolls her eyes.
"Yep. Different powers though." Dani glances around the room, she smiling and nodding at those she remembers until she lands on the only unfamiliar face she's yet to meet. "Hi. I'm Dani."
The kid smiles.. and then purrs. "Hey. I'm Dustin." His friends and Dani all crack up, the boy having absolutely no shame in his game. As Dani looks to Will who's smiling a bit bashfully, Dustin elbows Mike. "Dude, you didn't tell me she was hot!"
Max scoffs. "Boys are such idiots."
"And it's sad to say they don't get better with age," Dani mumbles.
As the group settles back down and make themselves comfortable again in the living room, they have Dani tell her story from beginning to end. Eleven is there to hold her hand as Dani talks about her own time in a lab and the experiments they conducted on her, and they listen with rapt attention as she explains her powers.
Needless to say, Dustin is the one to ask if she can pull someone into the shadows with her. Dani shrugs and Dustin volunteers himself as her first victim. The kids start getting excited about the possibility of moving through the shadows, so Dani instructs them to make the house a little darker to make things easier for her. They do and the kids are struck speechless as Dani gathers the shadows around her. She grasps Dustin's hands within her own, ignoring the waggle of his eyebrows that send the other boys into a fit of giggles. Then from one moment to the next, Dani walks them into what appears to be a black hole on the wall in the living room and reappears in the upstairs hallway.
"Holy shit!" Dustin exclaims, running towards the upstairs banister that overlooks the living room. "You guys gotta try this!"
One by one, Dani travels with each kid through the shadows. She takes a break after every other kid because travelling with a passenger is pretty new to her, and before the kids leave for the night they make sure to jot down Dani's personnel cell number in case they ever need to get a hold of her.
After a few tiring, kid filled days, Dani decides to take a day for herself thereafter. She sleeps in nearly to noon and then makes herself a late lunch. The heat isn't too unbearable when she chances a trip to the supermarket, so after making a call to her dad to let him know where she's going to be Dani digs out her bikini. She puts it on underneath her clothes, packs a bag of snacks, and drives to the local pool.
When Dani gets to the pool, she shoulders her tote bag and heads to pay her entrance fee. She smiles at the rambunctious kids playing in the pool, smiles at all the house mom's primping in their lounge chairs, and then finds herself her own chair just a ways down from the elder women. From her spot she can hear them chatting and giggling, and realizes with a secretive smile that they're primping for some hot lifeguard who's about to start their shift.
As Dani places her tote bag on the chair and rummages through it for a scrunchie, she then finger combs her hair into a topknot. She kicks off her flip-flops and shimmies out of her jean shorts which leave her in her black high waist bottoms with white polka dots all over them. And just as her hands go to the hem of her shirt to drag it up and over her head, the house mom's giggling and greeting someone catches her attention.
The lifeguard they'd been waiting for is here and Dani has got to hand it to them- the house mom's have good taste. A tan, fit bod is on display with red shorts hanging low on his hips and doing the guy wonders. But as Dani's gaze travels up to his face, an almost all too familiar face behind the dark shades, the corners of her mouth fall into a frown.
"Aw hell."
Billy Hargrove is staring right at her, smirking. The smug moron saunters right up to her chair after greeting the ogling house mom's, and Dani just knows that his eyes are looking her up and down behind the safety of his sunglasses. "Danielle Lewis," he drawls. "Or should I call you Dani?"
Her eyes roll. "Bully that out of your sister, did you?"
"Step-sister," he corrects, eyebrow twitching. Dani merely raises an eyebrow back at him in response. "And can you blame me? It's not every day a kid like Max hangs out with an older girl like you. I had to make sure you weren't a perv."
"Mhmm. Keep telling yourself that to make yourself feel better about asking about me." Without further ado, Dani strips out of her shirt and lets it fall onto her chair, she fixing the straps to her red halter neck bikini top that tied at the back of her neck. She notices Billy is still standing right next to her, his face angled a little more downward than before. She glances down at herself and huffs when she sees what he must be staring at. Her cleavage. "Hey, idiot, eyes up top."
"Oh believe me. I'm looking up top." He smirks again and Dani can't help it. She snorts in amusement.
Billy is momentarily surprised that she didn't chew him out, but he quickly schools his expression into something akin to his earlier arrogant persona. Dani then shakes her head at him. "You're funny, I'll give you that. Now stop ogling the goods and go plant your ass in the lifeguard chair. According to the house mom's who perfected their hair and make-up before you got out here, you're on the clock."
"Aw. Jealous already, Lewis? This bodes well for me."
"In your dreams, Hargrove. Now get to work. You're wasting my precious tanning time."
Somehow Billy manages to saunter backwards, he never taking his gaze off of Dani. She flips him off before moving her clothes and bag aside, she then sitting on the lounge chair and reclining into a relaxed position.
- X -
Dani's lounging quite peacefully in her chair, the noise of the locals having fun oddly soothing her. She can feel herself dozing off, she then jerking when someone touches her shoulder.
Eyes snapping open, Dani pushes up her sunglasses into her hairline as stares up at a woman. She recognizes her as one of the house mom's ogling Billy earlier. "Sorry to disturb you, sweetie, but I just wanted to warn you that if you don't turn over soon you're going to burn."
"Oh. Thanks!" Dani's quick to get up, she smiling at the woman before she rearranges her chair to lay it out flat. Seeing as the woman is still there, she takes the moment to introduce herself. "I'm Dani, by the way. Me and my dad just moved here recently."
"Karen Wheeler," the woman then says.
Dani's brow furrows. "Wheeler. You wouldn't happen to have a son named Mike, would you?"
Mrs. Wheeler sighs. "What'd he do now?"
Dani laughs, shaking her head as she lays out on her stomach on the chair, angling her head towards the older woman. "Nothing bad I assure you. My first day exploring ended up with me at Starcourt mall. He and his friends saved me from sitting alone at the movies, and then they attempted to set me up with some guy named Steve who was dressed like an adorable sailor."
Mrs. Wheeler rolls her eyes, chuckling. "That sounds like my boy." Dani grins in response. "So does that mean you're my daughter's age? Nancy will be a Junior this year."
"Close. I'll be a Senior."
"Oh. How lovely."
Mrs. Wheeler surprisingly takes a seat next to Dani, the woman casually reclining in her chair as Dani lays out to get some sun on her back. They talk a little bit more, the conversation mostly being carried by Dani as she speaks of where she previously lived, where her dad is currently working, and what she plans to do before school starts back up. Mrs. Wheeler offers the companionship of her daughter, but Dani politely refuses to have her force her daughter to hang out with the new kid.
"You know he can't keep your gaze off you, right?"
"Excuse me?"
Mrs. Wheeler smirks and leans her head back against her chair, shielding her eyes with a sun visor she had placed atop her head. "Billy the lifeguard."
Huffing, Dani looks towards the lifeguard's chair and crosses her arms beneath her chin. "Of course he is."
"He's very easy on the eyes."
"He is, but.."
"But?" The older woman wheedles, her gaze darting between the girl and Billy who's seductively biting on the tip of his whistle while staring right at her.
"He seems like a one time ride."
Mrs. Wheeler gasps, and momentarily forgetting she's speaking with someone's parent, Dani immediately tries to apologize. But before the words can leave her mouth, Mrs. Wheeler is laughing. "Oh I do hope you and my daughter become friends. She needs a little fire in her life."
Dani laughs herself and then pushes up on her seat, she sitting sideways in her chair and facing Mrs. Wheeler. "Come on. Lets get in the water."
"Oh no. I couldn't possibly," she says. "You don't want to be seen spending any more time with me."
As Dani tugs the scrunchie out of her hair and ruffles her dark hair so the waves messily frame her face, she grins. "I don't give a crap about what anyone thinks. You've been kind to me, it's hotter than balls all of a sudden, there's a pool of cool water, and a hot lifeguard that keeps ogling us. If he's going to stare, we might as well give him something to stare at."
"I don't know," Mrs. Wheeler muses, her expression torn about what to do.
The decision, however, is taken out of house mom's hands as Dani suddenly grabs her hand and pulls her up to her feet. Then walking to the edge, Dani hops right on in as Mrs. Wheeler takes her time to sit on the ledge and carefully lower herself into the water. The two immerse themselves in the water and then break the surface to tread water. Sharing a look that has them breaking off into a fit of giggles, Mrs. Wheeler and Dani then leisurely swim back and forth across the small portion of the pool that had been unoccupied. Every few moments they take a beak to tread water again and Dani can't help but snort in amusement at every piercing ring of the lifeguard's whistle.
"Slow it down, fat ass, or I'll ban you for the rest of the summer!" Billy shouts.
"Charming," Dani deadpans, shaking her head at Billy when he looks back to her and nods as if he'd done that for her benefit. "God he's lucky he has such a nice body."
Mrs. Wheeler laughs, she then swimming to the pool's edge. "I hate to cut this short, but I should be going. Motherly and wife duties call."
"That's fine." Dani follows and pulls herself out of the pool, she sitting on the edge and ringing out her hair of the chemical laden water. "It was nice to meet you and ogle Hargrove with you."
"Same," Mrs. Wheeler laughs. "I'll see you around, Dani."
"See you."
Dani gives herself a moment after Mrs. Wheeler leaves, she kicking her feet back and forth through the water. Minutes pass and then Dani stands, she heading over to her chair and rummaging through it for the small bottle of shampoo and conditioner that she'd brought along with her to wash the pool water out of her hair. Then taking that and her towel, Dani heads towards the shower room. And even though Dani thrives in the dark, the dimly lit shower room gives her pause. She doesn't know why she hesitates, maybe it was the talk about demo-dogs and demogorgons the kids subjected to her these passed couple of days, but she eventually shakes her head clear and walks towards the very back of the room for the last stall.
Humming to herself, Dani drapes her towel on a hook on the wall and then sets her small bottles on the ledge where a bar of soap sits. She doesn't bother closing the curtain after she turns on the water and adjusts the temperature, and steps under the spray with a content sigh. After letting the water run down over her head for a few long seconds, Dani then pours some shampoo into the palm of her hand and starts lathering up her hair. Once it's nice and soapy, she turns around and tilts her head back to rinse.
Eyes closed, Dani runs her hands through her hair to get the shampoo all out. A rather deep hum of approval has her eyes snapping open and Dani groans at the sight of Billy leering at her. His gaze follows the suds as they travel down her body. "Shouldn't you be making sure the kids aren't drowning, Hargrove?"
"You look really good in red," he says instead. "Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Don't change the subject, asshole." Dani gives him her back just as he smirks at her, she now working conditioner into her hair. "What are you doing in here?"
"The hottest girl walked into the showers. I wanted to see if I could sneak a peak." A bar of soap goes flying at him and he barely dodges it, laughing.
"Fuckin' pig. Don't you have kids to terrorize?"
"There'll be kids to terrorize all summer," he grins. "I just wanted to talk to you some more."
"Bullshit. You were hoping to at least get to second base or further."
"Well if you're offering.."
Dani snorts. "Not a chance." The water shuts off and she slowly rings out her hair as she keeps eye contact with Billy. "So what are you really doing in here?" She runs her towel over her hair and rubs it mostly dry. As she wraps the towel around her bikini clad body, she quirks an eyebrow at him. "Well?"
Billy's grin falters. "I'm on break. No one out there was worth my time."
"Is that meant to flatter me?"
"Maybe. Is it working?" Rolling her eyes, Dani walks out of the stall and back towards the main door. She doesn't have to look over her shoulder to know that Billy is following her and once back at her chair she plops down and gestures to the chair next to hers. "Knew you couldn't resist me."
"Slow your roll there, stud. I'm just gonna eat my lunch and figured I'd share since you can't seem to keep your eyes off me." He huffs, but still takes a seat and watches as Dani rummages through her bag before pulling out sandwiches and chips. "Did you know Mrs. Wheeler realized you were staring?"
"That was the point. I wanted to fluster you." He takes the food, surprised to find it still cool after sitting in a bag under the sun.
"Well you ended up flustering the wrong person," Dani tells him. "The mom's around here have got it bad for you."
"What can I say? I'm irresistible."
Dani's nose wrinkles as Billy takes a bite out of his sandwich, she then tucking into her own food. Apparently swimming worked up an appetite. Billy polishes off his sandwich pretty quickly and then he's up and walking away with a muttered I'll be back. Dani watches him go, she shrugging and continues to eat. Moments later Billy returns, two sodas in hand.
"You're being nice," she muses suspiciously. "Why are you being nice?"
Billy cracks open his drink after Dani takes hers and shrugs. "You're interesting, Lewis. I flirt and talk shit, and instead of falling to your knees you rather bitch back at me instead. It's.. refreshing."
Cracking open her own soda, Dani takes a sip before asking, "You already going soft on me, Billy?"
"For you I'll always be hard, sweetheart."
"Jesus you're something else," Dani laughs, shaking her head in amusement. She finishes off her food fairly quickly afterward, she putting all the trash into her bag. Billy stands just as she does, she smiling weakly at him. "Well.. it's actually been fun talking to you, dumbass. Maybe I'll see you around."
Billy watches Dani walk off, he putting his sunglasses back on with a smirk. "You can bet your sweet ass you will."
