usually for me I'd pushed myself out of bed before 10am on my day off, with excitement in my chest. This only happened if I had a hellfire campaign idea, if my band got booked, or if there was a sick tattoo idea to work on. Rain had come into the studio on Saturday; I'd heard this was the place Billy made them get branded, so never expected them to come back, even standing there at front desk they looked extremely uncomfortable. That was until Kim shone her spotlights on them - Kim had the kind of eyes that made you feel like you were on a stage in a packed venue under bright lights. Colour returned to Rain's cheeks, a little too much for a casual conversation. Couldn't blame them though, Kim was a very attractive woman.
The moment I'd seen the sketches that Rain had put together, I knew this was going to be the best tattoo project I'd worked on. I already had 2 and a half of the portraits drawn up when my Anthrax tape ended. I replaced it with an AC/DC one, the first track 'For those about to rock' immediately took me back to last night's Hellfire Club meet. Wheeler's campaign actually wasn't that bad. He didn't have the same je ne sais quoi as me but, I guess I could mold him into a worthy replacement. Under interrogation I'd say that I was looking forward to continuing it this Sunday. Hellfire was my baby, had been since my sophomore year. I remember when I saw Wheeler, Henderson, and Sinclair for the first time a couple years ago; they'd walked into the cafeteria looking like lost puppies. Anyone with eyes could see they were being picked on relentlessly. I saw potential in them and enrolled them into Hellfire.
By 4pm I had finished drawing up the sleeve design, and done another copy with colour. Rain hadn't specified which they wanted; man, I hope they want colour. This was going to take a long time and would make me a lot of money. Weirdly, I felt more jazzed about how long it would take rather than how much money I'd come out with. Could I be jazzed about all that time so close to Rain? Damn this was probably going to reignite my crush on them from middle school. I tried calling Rain's house - having grabbed the number off Mike last night - but there was no answer. "They're working today dumbass" I muttered to myself, dialling the number for Family Video Store. "You're through to Family Video Store, my name is Robin, what can I do for you?" My mind blanked for a second, I don't think I'd ever actually spoken to Robin Buckley before. "Uh hey, is Rain there?" I asked, Robin told me Rain was busy and couldn't take a call. "Alright, when do you close then?" I followed up, snatching my keys on the way out.
I had the designs rolled up neatly in my hand and held up high as a flurry of kids swarmed out of the store. With it being the last week of school, the more rebellious kids were skipping and had probably been in here all day. "Hey Robin, is Rain still too busy to talk?" Robin had her back to me as she was sticking videos back on the shelves, "should be in the x-rated section, over there" Robin barely looked at me as she pointed to the area of the shop that was behind a curtain. There was a sign above the curtain that read 'over 18 only, X-Rated'. This part of the store contained the most gruesome and graphic movies; including a porn section. Rain was in the porn section, and once again my big mouth made a move before my brain. "Fancy meeting someone like you in a place like this" I whispered at their ear, so close I felt them jump. "Jesus christ. What are you -" Rain yelled as they turned to me, dropping a bunch of dirty movies on the floor. They bent to pick these up and when they looked up at me I swear I could've pitched a tent in my jeans right there.
"Thanks for the help" Rain said sarcastically, "you shopping for porn Munson?" Rain continued placing movies on the shelf with a straight face. I snorted, "Nah not today Wheeler, maybe tomorrow". I gave them a flirty wink but got nothing back except for an awkward straight-lipped smile. This reminded me why I gave up on that middle school crush. Sure, I didn't know how to talk to people I liked back then, but my efforts to engage with Rain always fell flat. One time I high-fived them because we wore the same shirt, I said "cool shirt" but they just smiled nervously and never responded. Other times when I'd tried to get Rain's attention, before they moved, they were either totally oblivious or too awkward to respond. When Rain came back to Hawkins for Junior year I thought it could be time to shoot my shot - but Billy fucking Hargrove beat me to it.
"When you've got a second, wanna talk about this sleeve?" I waved the rolled up designs at them. "What, you already did them? No way, yeah sure give me like 10 minutes?" Rain said with a real smile on their face. Not wanting to lurk in the porn section, I walked back through the curtain and ran my eyes over the titles. "I don't think you'd like Sixteen Candles, Munson" Steve Harrington mocked, standing on a ladder replacing a light bulb in the ceiling. "Maybe it's my favourite - gets me goin'," I clapped back, tilting my head to look up at him. This was familiar. He felt that too, because he climbed down that ladder faster than a fireman and walked in the opposite direction.