Chapter 7: The Home Visit

THE June summer break was here. And with it came Mike's incessant need to come over to the cabin everyday, early morning and leave late at night.

With the fact that Jean shared a room with El, it was no secret that the redhead was cramping their style. So she did her best to get out of their hair as much as possible; only spending her time in the living room, sometimes watching TV or playing boardgames with Hop, and by going out to hang with Steve.

Just like today.

"A date?" Eleven's out of nowhere question brought Jean at a stop as she finished getting dressed and about to drape a bag on her shoulder.

"Wait, what?" Jean slightly gasped, incredibility fluttering in her tone. "What makes you say that?"

Eleven coiled back a bit, feeling like she said something wrong. "Mike said it was."

At the small farewell party they'd held for Dustin, who was leaving for summer camp, the topic of the two older teens came up. Dustin insisted that they were just friends- albeit, it was because he developed a small crush on Jean- while Mike said that there was definitely something going on between the two.

Raising her hand and placing it gently on Eleven's shoulder, Jean asserted, "Well you shouldn't believe everything a boy tells you."

She wasn't going to lie, after spending more time with him over the past two weeks, Jean had some thoughts of what it would be like to date Steve. He was handsome, sweet and funny. That almost kiss that happened weeks prior definitely helped plant those ideas.

But she didn't know who she was, literally. So she wasn't about to be a part of two when she wasn't even a whole one. It may sound silly, but it wouldn't have been fair to her or to him.

Plus, Steve never actually said anything about liking her.

He was her friend. The only person her own age that she actually hung out with, and from what she gathered, the same could be said for him.

"Steve and I are just friends. He's a good guy." Jean continued.

Eleven silently agreed to the latter statement. Mike Wheeler had told her of that fateful night she closed the gate; Steve protected them as they made their way to the hub, doused the entire area in gasoline and set it ablaze. He entirely put himself at risk for the group of kids.

And Dustin wouldn't shut up about how cool he was.

Seeing Jean finish styling her fiery hair into a side braid, Eleven smiled softly. "Pretty."

"Thanks." Jean awed. "You're beautiful, too. You know that, right?" She cooed, looking over to the brown haired girl.

"I am?" El said, unsure of her statement.

"Of course!" Jean gushed. As El looked down to her own oversized clothes, she understood where that insecurity was stemming from.

"How about we go shopping sometime? I hear the mall has really cool outfits we could buy." She suggested. A smile rose to El's lips but quickly faded as a cautious look came up on her face instead.

"Too many people, too dangerous."

Jean scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes. "I'll be with you, so don't worry about it. It'll be our little secret." She whispered the last part, prompting El to smile brightly.

Jean 'borrowed' Mike's bicycle to get to Steve's place. Since he was going to be spending the entire day in El's bedroom, she was sure he wouldn't even notice. She didn't want to bother Steve by asking to pick her up, because he'd been doing so a lot lately. And with Jim's police work, she didn't want him to be late. Jean didn't want to be a burden.

Navigating through the beautiful neighborhood of Loch Nora, she admired the fancy area as she pedaled along the road.

Jean enjoyed as the fresh summer breeze hit her face and made her braided red hair flow back behind her. If she wasn't strictly following the specific instructions to Steve's house, she was sure she'd be lost in the moment.

Reaching her desired destination, Jean got off the bike and lead it into the driveway. One observation she made once she'd seen the house was; it was huge.

She ringed the doorbell, hoping to god that she got the right house, and was relieved to see Steve's smiling face when the door flew open.

"Jeez, if I'd known I would've been nicer to you." Was the first thing that came out of her mouth, entering the house when Harrington sidestepped for her to go in.

Steve chuckled, shutting the door behind him. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Humble?" She retorted playfully, seeing that the interior of the house was even more grand.

The two laughed as they maneuvered their way inside the place.

Jean stretched up her arms in the air, her body becoming stiff from being seated on the couch for too long.

Noticing that they needed a change of scenery from watching TV in the living room, Steve and her made their way to the backyard.

Steve slid the glass doors, allowing him and Jean out in the fresh air. A nice warmth encasing the redhead as she went out.

"Aaand you have a pool." Jean exclaimed.

"Yeah.." He answered, almost grimly to Jean's surprise, but she didn't ask why.

She didn't know the horrible thing that happened here in the past.

"Wanna go for a swim?" Asked Steve after seeing the wondrous sparkle in Jean's eyes.

Bending down, she folded up her jeans, intending to just dip her legs into the cool water. "No, I'm good." Jean said, feeling a slight shiver once she sat on the edge and introduced her feet into the pool. Steve copied her actions.

"Why didn't you tell me you were rich?" Jean drawled out in a teasing manner, wriggling her eyebrows at the boy sitting beside her.

A lighthearted snigger slipped from Steve's mouth. She really wasn't letting this thing go. "I thought I did. I always try to tell everybody." He joked.

"What?" Jean laughed, lips parted in amusement.

With a dip of his hands in the pool, Steve slicked his perfect brown hair back, relishing at the cool sensation. "But for real, my dad's the one who's loaded and he won't even give me a job. Talking about how he was teaching me a lesson." Steve sighed, his hand involuntarily reaching to the back pocket of his tight pants, which prompted Jean's eyes to follow his hand. There was a diagonally folded up paper sticking from his pocket.

"And what is this?" She asked, snatching the item from him, taking him by surprise for a moment there.

"A job application." Steve replied in a manner of fact, pursing his lips after he did.

An exaggerated offended look, that spoke, 'how dare you keep this from me' took place on Jean's face. "You didn't tell me you were applying for a job, either." A playful glare in her eyes, Jean chirped. "You didn't tell me anything, Steve."

A smile graced the brown haired boy's cheeks. "Well, maybe it's because I assumed you already knew." He replied, suggesting at her telepathy.

"So, what are you applying for?"

"Uhh, just a job at the Scoops Ahoy in the mall's food court." Jean noticed how his smile slightly faltered, his eyes dropping to the blue of the water. "It's probably the worst job to start with, but my foot's at the door." He said, attempting to see the silver lining of the job, even though it only paid about three dollars an hour.

Jean sent him a comforting look, raising her arm to gently pat his shoulder. "Congrats. You made the best use of the options the situation provided you, I'm impressed." He glanced up to Jean, her voice was melodious, hypnotizing even, keeping Steve rooted to the spot. She always knew how to cheer him up.

She grinned, and he reciprocated the expression, his eyes dropping at her lips for a split second. On instinct, Jean did the same, imagining what would happen if they'd closed the distance between them.

Damn Mike for planting the thought of this being a date in El's head, and thus in Jean's, as well.

The redhead was completely unaware of how flustered the slick haired boy was by her touch and her proximity. Steve had to control his breathing so Jean wouldn't notice how affected he was by her.

Gulping harshly, Steve broke their eye contact and looked away, eliciting the same reaction from a slightly flustered Jean and she tore her touch away from his shoulder.

"Well, I had to keep myself busy what with Dustin heading off to camp for a month." He said, his voice a bit out of tune at the beginning.

Steve's words made her laugh out loud. And after the laughter died down, a comfortable silence draped over the two.

"Y'know, I wish I could've applied, too. I've just been coasting along." Jean confessed, sighing at her helplessness.

"Why don't you? Maybe we could end up slinging ice cream all miserable together." Steve said.

Jean's green eyes traveled back to Steve's, and he didn't miss the disappointment flashing in them. "No paperwork, remember?"

It's been a month since El found her in the woods, with no memories of her life. And she wasn't proud to say that she made no progress on that front whatsoever. If Hopper hadn't taken her in, she didn't know where she'd be right now.

Jean didn't speak of it, but it was a recurring thought in her head. She had no birth certificate, no legal documentation of her existence, just her. No one was even looking for her; Hop had been on the lookout for any missing persons or searches of people in the adjacent states and there were no results. It meant that she had no family, either.

She was nobody. It was a vexing truth to deal with.

Steve saw the distressed look on the girl's face and instantly felt bad. Here he was complaining about the fact that he had no future while hers was as bleak as it could get.

"Oh, sorry, I totally forgot." He apologized.

Despite the trouble she was in, Jean acted relatively normal - as normal as a telepathic teenager would at the very least- and she barely spoke of her amnesia to him.

She tried to focus on the good in her life right now.

Jean waved a dismissive hand. "You don't have to be sorry all the time."

"I did not know that." He joked while leaning back, making the girl giggle. Now that was a sound he loved hearing.

"Just like with me, you don't have to know anything by now. You could try different things without paperwork. Don't stress about it." Steve declared.

"Ooo like what?" She cooed, but genuinely curious, a look of puzzlement drawn on her face.

Looking up to the sky thoughtfully, realization flashed across Steve's face before he replied in a humorous action. "You could babysit the kids while I'm away."

"Ha ha." The red haired telepath sarcastically muttered.

A good minute passed.

After letting her eyes roam her surroundings, the same warmth from before surged through her again at the scenery before her. "It's so beautiful." She earnestly said with a smile. Her eyes softened as she saw the

Steve gave his crush a heartfelt look. "Yeah." Although he agreed, he wasn't talking about the view.

Perking a well shaped brow, Jean smiled to herself before looking gratefully to Steve. "Hey, thanks for letting me come over."

Steve was taken aback a bit. In all honesty, he was the one who should be thankful for her company, he thought. With his dad away on business again -his mother following suit- and Dustin going away, Steve would have spent most of his summer alone. Without her, he would've been painfully aware of his lack of friends.

"I'm glad you did." He truthfully replied.