Thank you so much for your patience and encouraging reviews! Here's chapter seven!

El's POV

"Oh, this one is sick! I love it." I exclaimed as I pointed at the drawing in the catalogue in front of me.

"Which one? Lemme see," Axel yelled as he came out of the stockroom and towards me, leaning on the counter. "Nice," he nodded as he looked at my choice. "Yeah, Dottie designed that one. Where would you get it?"

"Uhh, I don't know. Maybe my foreman?"

"You sure your dad would be okay with that?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"It's not like I need his permission," I snapped back. Axel chuckled and called out to Dottie, his girlfriend and co-owner of the best tattoo shop in town. Together, the three of us flipped through some of their new designs in the, seemingly never-ending, search for my first tattoo.

Having known them for a little over a year (and being the only tattoo artists I know personally) I knew I could trust them to ink me for the first time. Having come for both Max and Kali's tattoos, I've gotten close to them and decided to take some time from my very open weekend to see if I can make any progress and/or finally make an appointment.

Another forty minutes or so, and having made no progress, much to their dismay, I decided to head out. As we were exchanging good-byes, I explained to them that Kali and Max were out of town.

"Oh, so then what are you doing tonight?" Dottie asked as she popped her gum.

"I've got nothing going on," I shrugged.

"We're having a party at our place if you want to stop by."

"That sounds awesome. I'll be there!"

"Cool," he nodded. "Come by around nine."

"Sounds good." And then, before I really thought about it: "Can I bring a friend?"


Dottie and Axel's shop is located downtown, which, since I found myself having to run some errands anyway, was convenient.

My final stop was Melvald's mainly so I could stock up on Eggos since I was down to my last half package.

I pushed the cart into the store and walked straight to the frozen aisle, already being so familiar with the layout.

Just as I was rounding the corner, I saw something that nearly made me turn away.

I may have only seen her once but already I felt that I could not forget that face, even in profile. Looking up at that different brands of flour, wearing light blue scrubs, was Hopper's friend he introduced me to a couple of weeks back.

I stood there, frozen and unsure of what to do. I considered turning and looking at the different flavored cans of frosting, pretending to be interested in them so hopefully she wouldn't see me. Turning back and running out of the aisle would only draw attention to myself.

In a last second move, and because I noticed her turn just slightly in my direction, I did just that.

"Hey, I found some." It wasn't a familiar voice, but it was loud enough for me to hear from where I was standing.

"Thanks honey. I knew you guys had a new shipment of these come in," Joyce said to the teenage boy who handed her two packs of what looked to be chocolate chips.

While I may not have remembered his voice, I could recognize his face. He and Joyce shared enough features -plain brown hair, pale skin, short and skinny- to convince me that they are probably related. But that fact that they look alike is not what makes me think I've seen him before.

I've seen him around school.

Looking as intently as I could without getting caught, I realized that he's one of Mike's friends.

The theory I had that they were related was confirmed when I saw her kiss his forehead and he groaned out in embarrassment.

Before I could prepare myself though, he spotted me and the look he gave me was unfortunately, noticed by Joyce too.

"Elizabeth! Hi, I didn't see you over there," she spoke, completely unaware of how awkward this was.

"Hi," I spoke as I approached them, "Umm, it's just El." As I got closer, I clearly noticed that Mike's friend was shying away, a much more appropriate response.

"Oh, okay then." By the way she smiled, I could tell she thought me allowing her to call me El was a bigger deal than it actually was. "This is my son Will," she gestured to him. "you two might have seen each other around school."

"Yeah," I confirmed. "You're Mike's friend right?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied nervously, reminding me a lot of Mike when I first met him.

"Oh, you know Mike! That's great," Joyce explained even though I couldn't think of why that was good news.

"Yeah," I trailed off, no longer wanting to talk about Mike. Instead, I shifted my focus to something else that caught my attention. "I didn't know you had a son." I smiled with a bit of mischief behind it.

It may have been uncalled for but I'm not an idiot.

Whatever relationship she had going on with Hopper, I hoped it was one where she was honest about her and any family she has.

If not, I'm sure Jim would love to be updated on it.

"I have two," she smiled, not even aware of what was going on. "But Johnathan is actually away at college."

So she has an even older son?

"Oh, cool," I nodded, looking at each of them. "Well, I should get going." I spoke, not wanting to be here any longer.

"Oh, okay," she repeated. "Bye dear. Have a good weekend."

"Yeah, you too. Bye Will," I gave a small wave out of politeness.

"Bye."

Without looking back, I pushed my cart around them and headed towards the frozen food section.


"So… any plans for tonight?" I asked as I moved my fork around the lasagna that was frozen a mere twenty minutes ago. It was my not so subtle way of trying to see if Hop would be seeing Joyce tonight so I could have a reason to bring her up. Since he seems to spend nearly every weekend out lately, presumably with her, I figured it's a safe bet.

"I'm workin'", he explained. "We're short staffed since we got the guys keeping watch over the farm."

"Oh, right," and I knew he wasn't lying either. Ever since the robbery at the farm last week, there's been a couple of cops guarding the place every night, causing Jim to fill in when needed.

Since it seemed I wouldn't have an easy way in, I thought about forgetting it altogether. After all, it would be really weird if I just randomly brought her up.

"What'd you get up to today?"

Bingo.

"I umm.." I cleared my throat, knowing I needed a surge of confidence for this. "I was at the store picking up a couple of things-."

"Guess that explains the dozen boxes of Eggos in the freezer," he mumbled though I still heard him completely.

"And I uhh," I continued on as if I hadn't heard him. "I ran into your friend. Joyce."

"Did ya?"

"Yeah, it was on my way to the freezer section," and then, because I didn't know how else to continue, I spoke. "So did you know she has a son?"

"Yeah, Will. He's your age, I think."

"Uh, yeah," To hear him confirm it, let alone know his name and his age threw me off a little, since I hadn't expected it. I was planning to surprise him with the news after all. "So isn't that kind of weird? Since you're like, always hanging out and whatever."

"What are you saying?"

"I guess… how much has she really told you about herself? Since you're… seeing her and everything, what do you actually know about her?"

"Where do you get that from?"

"Huh?"

"That I'm seeing her," he used just as much emphasis on the word as I did.

"You- well you… you're with her all the time. You've brought her to the house. And she's weirdly nice to me so I just figu-."

"Why don't you just let me handle that? It's probably better if you stay out of it."

"I'm just saying. I mean, she kind of came out of nowhere. And she has a son my age so that's kind of strange."

"Drop it kid. That's my business."

"She has another son too you know."

"EL," he said in the stern voice I hear way too often.

"Fine. Just- shit, sorry. I didn't know it would bother you so much."

He must have seen or sensed how bad I felt for him to say what he said next.

"Look," he sighed, putting down his fork. "If it starts… going that way with Joyce, you'll be the first to know."

"I'll be the only one to know," I said with a smile, teasing him for his lack of friends.

"Yeah, okay," he chuckled. "Alright, I gotta get going," he announced as he reached for my plate.

"No, it's okay. I got it."

"Yeah? Got nothing better to do tonight?" I knew it was a jab at my usual unwillingness to wash dishes.

"I do. Just… not for another couple of hours." Once I saw his eyebrows raise, I knew I needed an explanation. "I'm going out. With a friend."

"I thought you said Max and Kali were out of town?"

"Yeah, they are," I spoke as I stacked my plate over his and placed the silverware on top. "I can have other friends."

Putting his hands up in surrender, he answered. "Just don't be home late." He gave his usual semi-warning he used nearly every time I said I was going out.

Jim left for the station a few minutes after that. A couple of hours later, I was also heading out the door to Axel and Dottie's place. There was just one stop I had to make first.


I guess it was good that I was parked out on the street instead of on his driveway because I don't want anyone to see me from their window.

As I exhaled another deep breath, I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel, wanting to delay my next move for as long as possible.

Damn it, I knew this was a bad idea.

It's not too late to turn back. It's not like I would be at this party alone. I know the hosts and I've met some of their friends at the shop before.

Besides Mike's probably busy.

Okay, maybe not. But there's no guarantee he'll want to come. It doesn't really seem to be his scene, as far as I can tell.

But I guess I won't truly know until I ask him. And I might as well. I mean, I'm already here.

Come on El. Just open the door, get out of the car, and go.

What's the worst that could happen?

Before I knew it, I was at his front door, pushing my index finger against the doorbell, and waiting what seemed to be forever for an answer.

Once the door was wide enough, I spoke.

"Hi!" I immediately noticed how unlike myself I sounded. It only added to the awkwardness at seeing that it was not Mike who answered the door.

Instead a thin girl of average height who looked like she couldbe a few years older than me stood at the door. She wore pink pajama bottoms with black polka dots and had an unzipped blue sweater on. I figured this had to be Nancy.

The curious look she gave me did nothing but confirm it.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah," and for some reason, being confronted by Mike's older sister, even though she didn't at all look intimidating, made me slightly nervous. "Is, uh, is Mike home?" Before she spoke again, she gave me a quick once-over that was hardly subtle.

"You want to see Mike?" she asked it as if I hadn't already said that.

"Yeah. If that's cool." I realized then, that if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't allow this stranger standing at my front door to see my brother either. "Sorry, I'm El. I'm a… friend of his. From school."

"From school?" she repeated. I knew she was judging based on her narrowed eyes.

"Yup!" I figured amping up the pep might make her believe me.

"Uh, sure," she nodded. "I'll go get him," she pointed back towards the house.

"Great, thanks," I gave her a small smile as she closed the door.

Well, I guess we know who El's plus one will be to this party. Let's just hope he's up for tagging along…. A reminder to please follow me on Twitter for fun little features and sneak peeks. I'm at D13Tribute and I DO follow back!

Thanks so much for reading! If you're up to it, please review!