A cloud of smoke blows from between Alex's lips. She tilts her head back onto the edge of the bed behind her as she passes the bong to her brother. Her eyes remain shut in a peaceful bliss until a voice interrupts her serenity.
"You seem tense. What's up with that, man?" Argyle says in his typical chill tone.
"She's just nervous about visiting Hawkins." Jonathan says.
Alex's head snaps forward, completely disturbed from her previous calm state. She speaks calmly despite the twinge of irritation brewing in her mind. "I'm not nervous, I mean I have no reason to be nervous."
She was, in fact, nervous, though she would never admit to it. Being nervous was something she used to be very accustomed to, but the past few years had taught her to overcome her fears. She couldn't quite put a finger on why she was nervous, but there was an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach that had been there for a few days. As her trip to Hawkins grows nearer, the anxiety in her stomach only grows stronger. Perhaps traveling back to the place she'd lived her whole life, where she fought monsters and Russian forces, was a bit nerve racking. At the end of the day, she brushes the worries aside. Visiting her friends back in Hawkins is more important than her pitiful worrying.
"Well, you are smoking way more than usual," Argyle says, pointing his finger at her like he made a groundbreaking observation. "I may not be observant, but I sure observed that."
"I just want to chill out before the airplane ride tomorrow," Alex says.
Argyle passess the bong back to Alex. She knows that she should probably stop, but she takes it from her long-haired friend's hand anyway. Alex is pretty small compared to most, and she was honest with herself about the fact that she had a significantly lower tolerance compared to her two smoking buddies.
She takes a deep hit from the bong in the already smokey room. She tilts her head back again, trying to replicate her actions earlier.
"Mom thinks that you're going back to Hawkins to find a date," Jonathan blurts out, ruining the serenity once more.
Alex snaps her head back into place again, giving up on any attempts of peace. "That doesn't even make sense."
"I think we're all a bit confused, man. There's tons of dudes here that are interested in you, yet you show no interest back," Jonathan says.
"Couple dudettes, too," Argyle says.
"Just seems like you're holding out for somebody in Hawkins," Jonathan says with a big shrug.
"Is it so hard to believe that I'm just not interested in the people that have been interested in me so far?" Perhaps Alex's words weren't the whole truth, but she truly hadn't been interested in anyone thus far in California or Hawkins. She just hadn't found the right fit yet, or at least one that was interested in her back.
"Yeah, you're right," Jonathan says, "I mean, does Mom think you're going back to Hawkins to hook up with Eddie Munson?"
Alex, who had just reached for her glass of water off of Jonathan's nightstand, drops the filled glass in a state of inebriation and shock. "W-What?" She stutters, while Jonathan and Argyle engage in a fit of laughter.
At that moment, a hint of paranoia starts to set in for Alex. She pulls her knees to her chest and watches her brother and friend laugh at her. Why had Jonathan brought up Eddie? Once upon a time, perhaps Alex had a crush on Eddie. Hawkins was a small town, so she'd seen him around before, but the first time she had truly met him was her freshman year of high school. She instantly felt a pull to him. She had heard things about him, of course, yet she didn't care. She was among the minority in the fact that she was actually nice to him. They had similar style and interests, but Alex never pursued it. Eddie was cynical and non-conformist. What's more conforming than a relationship with a dumb freshman? Besides, they barely knew each other. She'd been too nervous to join the Hellfire Club at the time. Once she got over her nerves, she figured it was too late anyway. She let her tiny crush on Eddie go unresolved, and she tried not to think about it further.
Jonathan and Argyle's laughter eventually dies out, but Alex remains planted in her spot. She tries to be logical, but her brain remains hazy from the extra hits she definitely should not have taken.
"Wait, who's Freddie Mutton?" Argyle finally says, a perplexed look on his face.
"Eddie Munson…" Alex corrects from her spot on the floor. "He's somebody who we went to school with back in Hawkins."
Despite his inebriation, Jonathan appears to realize that he upset his sister. He stands and pulls a towel off of his dresser and bends down to dry the water Alex spilled. "I'm just messing with you. He was the only name I could think of."
"Yeah, he's just messing with you. That's what twins are for," Argyle says.
Alex and Jonathan both tilt their heads to look at Argyle. "What? We're not twins."
"We've been friends for six months, and you just now realize that we're not twins?" Jonathan asks incredulously.
"Hey, man. I guess I just assumed," Argyle says, taking one more hit.
A loud knock at the door and the unsuccessful jiggling of the door knob cause Alex and Jonathan to jump, while Argyle remains relaxed in his spot on the floor. Jonathan snatches the bong out of an unsuspecting Argyle's hands and stashes it in his hiding spot. "What is it?" He calls out over the sound of the music playing from his stereo while he turns it off.
"What are you guys doing in there? Mom has been yelling for you to come down to dinner for twenty minutes," Alex and Jonathan's little brother says through the door. "She's getting suspicious," he adds in a whisper.
"Uh… We're working on a school project," Argyle says, a proud smile on his face.
"You're in different grades," Will deadpans from the hall.
"Argyle and I are working on it, and Alex is helping us!" Jonathan corrects. "We'll be down in a minute."
While Will retreats, Jonathan rushes to open the window to let the smoke out, while Argyle helps Alex stand up. When Alex gets to her feet, she realizes that she is way too high. She was always the one who knew her limits and stopped when she needed to, but she screwed up this time. There was nothing she could do now but ride it out.
"Do I look normal?" She asks her brother.
He looks at her and contemplates for a moment. "Yeah," he says, but the look on his face says otherwise.
Once the room is clear of smoke, the three make their way to the dinner table. While taking their seats, Alex falls into her chair unusually harshly. Her mom, who sits at the head of the table, looks at her questionably but lets it go.
"I appreciate your dedication to your school project, but you can at least take a break to eat," her mom says. Alex notices that her plate is nearly empty already.
The three new additions pile their plates with scoops of spaghetti. Jonathan and Argyle dig in, while Alex stares at her plate a bit too long.
"Alex, what's wrong?" Her mom asks.
Alex snaps back to reality and begins to say she's fine, but Argyle speaks first, "She's all nervous about going back to Hawkins. Something about some dude named Eddie Munson."
"Eddie Munson?" Her mom asks, a confused look on her face. No doubt she had heard bad things about him in the past from mouth breathers. But her mom is very kind, so Alex knows she won't judge.
Alex finishes her bite of spaghetti and wipes her mouth with a napkin. "That was just a joke Jonathan made. I'm really excited to go back to Hawkins actually."
"That's great to hear. Are you sure everything is sorted out for you to go to Hawkins High on Friday? And Lenora Hills High is okay with you missing the next two days?"
Alex smiles, feeling the intensity of her high winding down. "Of course. The administration was actually excited to have me back. And I'll definitely be okay to miss a couple days of school." Lenora Hills High doesn't exactly have a strict attendance code, and she is nearly at the top of her class anyway.
"I bet you two are crapping your pants in excitement to see this Mike dude," Argyle says in Will and El's direction.
"That is a weird way to say it, but yes I am excited," El, Alex's sister answers. El was adopted into her family after her dad tragically died in Hawkins the year prior.
The others make small talk throughout the rest of dinner, while Alex remains focused on eating her spaghetti and sobering up. Thankfully, by the end of dinner she feels normal enough and mentally reminds herself to never get that high again.
"I think we're good on the project for tonight, so I'm heading out," Argyle says, making his way to the door. "Thanks for the spaghetti."
Everyone waves to him and disperses. Will runs upstairs to presumably work on the painting he's been methodically working on. El follows after him, likely going to work on sprucing things up for Mike's arrival.
Jonathan leans in and whispers, "I actually do have homework tonight. You good to help Mom clean up?"
Alex playfully rolls her eyes, but nods. She's used to getting stuck with clean-up duty, since she's usually the only one who has her homework done ahead of time. She starts taking the dishes to the kitchen to clean, but she feels her mom's eyes on her.
"So… Eddie Munson? What's up with that?" Her mom finally asks.
Alex inwardly sighs deeply again. It was a tiny one-sided crush that she had two years ago, why does everyone keep bringing it up?
"Like I said it was just a joke Jonathan made. Argyle got hung up on it, I guess," Alex shrugs.
"Okay… I was just making sure you weren't hiding anything." She bumps her hip against Alex's playfully. "I remember you mentioned him a time or two a couple years ago."
Alex shrugs again. "He's cool, but there's nothing there. I barely know the guy."
Her mom hums in response and they finish cleaning up in a comfortable silence. Before Alex retreats to her room for the night, her mom asks one last time, "Are you sure you have everything ready for tomorrow?"
Alex offers her one last smile. "I've been packed for a week."
Once in her room, she checks each drawer, nook, and cranny of her room to make sure she has everything ready for her trip. She convinces herself of her readiness and plops down onto her bed to finish reading her fantasy novel. One-hundred-and-fifty pages and one shower later, Alex finds herself ready for bed. Before she settles in for the night, she glances at her electric guitar resting on its stand in the corner of her room. She moves toward it, bending down and running her black painted fingers gingerly across it. She hadn't played in quite a while, and it made her sad. Every time she had started to play since she moved here her mom was working, or the neighbors complained about noise. Maybe after I get back, she thought.
With one final glance toward the guitar, she tucks herself into bed, wondering what her week in Hawkins will bring.
The next day, Alex walks through the terminal of the Indianapolis Airport with her luggage handle clenched tightly in her hand. It had been a long flight with a fair amount of turbulence, but that was child's play compared to what she had experienced the past few years.
She emerges from the terminal, scanning the open area for the familiar face that is supposed to be picking her up. After a moment of searching, they both notice each other at the same time. Alex jogs over to her friend and envelopes him in a big hug.
"You were actually here early!" She says pulling away and collecting her luggage that had fallen over.
"What, you didn't think I would stand you up, did you?" Her friend Steve Harrington says. He takes her luggage from her and begins wheeling it behind him as the pair walk toward the exit of the airport.
"No, just thought I would have to wait on you is all." Alex smiles.
The two friends catch up on the long ride back to Hawkins, talking about life in both California and Hawkins. Steve talks about his many failed dates, while Alex talks about school life, though there isn't too much the pair need to catch up one. Alex is particularly good at both writing and calling her friends.
Alex and Steve arrive at Steve's house, which is where Alex plans to stay over break. "Where are your parents?" She asks when they walk through the familiar door and no evidence of Steve's parents can be found.
"Away on business, again," Steve says, his face unsmiling. Steve and his parents have always butted heads, but it seems that Steve is lonely in this house by himself. He changes tone, "We have a few hours before it's time to pick Robin up from school, what do you want to do?"
"First step is definitely food," Alex says.
"Uh… you can check the cabinets and the fridge," Steve says. He grunts while he lugs Alex's suitcase up the stairs to put it in the guest room.
Alex obliges and checks through the various cabinets and fridge drawers before settling on making sandwiches. She gathers lunch meat, condiments, and vegetables and arranges them on the counter before her. Being sure to cater to her friends' likings, she produces three sandwiches, two of which she places on plates and one that she places in a paper sack.
"Hey, sorry I was…" Steve starts while entering the kitchen after being gone for quite some time.
"Talking to a girl," Alex finishes his sentence for him with a laugh.
He nods, knowing he was caught. He leans against the counter top, changing the subject. "So what's for lunch?"
Alex finishes putting the last of the ingredients and the extra sandwich in the fridge before proudly handing Steve his plate. She takes the other bright red plate in her own hand. "I made us each a sandwich and one for Robin when we pick her up after school, I imagine she'll be hungry."
"You are the greatest friend of all time."
Alex smiles with a hint of a blush. "Oh, don't mention it. Bad news is we're now out of bread, which means I can't make anything to take for lunch tomorrow."
"We could go buy more tonight?" Steve offers.
"I'll just eat after school, no big deal," Alex says. "So, you got any movies?" Of course she knows that Steve has movies.
"Duh," Steve answers, rustling through a basket of movies.
Alex sits in the front seat of Steve's car in her old high school's parking lot, her leg bouncing up and down. The end of day bell is expected to ring out at any moment.
"Someone's excited," Steve mutters.
The sound of the bell spreads over the parking lot and infiltrates the car. Within thirty seconds, Alex sees none other than Eddie Munson rushing out of the school ahead of everyone else. He jumps in his van and speeds away just as others are starting to stream through the doors of the school. Alex's heart speeds up for the slightest of moments, but she pushes everything aside when she sees Robin enter the parking lot. Throwing open the car door, she runs to her friend and propels her body into hers. They release from the tight hug just as Alex sees a few people from the corner of her vision whispering with their eyes locked on the pair. She figures they are shocked to see her back in Hawkins, but most people are passing by her without even noticing her presence.
"How was your flight?" Robin asks.
"There was some turbulence, but it was nothing compared to fighting the Mind Flayer," Alex says, whispering the last part.
The two friends make their way to the car and meet up with Steve. Alex hops in the back seat to leave the passenger seat for Robin. Steve starts the car up and starts heading toward Family Video to make it in time for their shift.
"For you," Alex says dramatically, handing the brown paper sack to Robin.
She snatches it from her hands and unfurls the bag to produce the sandwich. With the sandwich clasped in her hands, she turns to Alex with wide eyes. "You are the best!"
Robin scarfs down her sandwich just as they arrive at Family Video. Before the three can enter the store, Alex stops Robin and swipes the crumbs off of her shirt.
"Oh, yeah, thanks," Robin mutters as they enter.
Once inside, Keith comes out of a door in the back after presumably just arriving himself. "What are you doing here?" He asks Alex.
"Visiting for spring break. Figured I would hang out with these two and help out."
"Okay," he says with suspicious eyes. "But you're not getting paid."
"Aye-aye, captain." She salutes him as he retreats to the back of the store.
Alex spends the rest of the evening working with Robin and Steve, though the store remains mostly empty for the night. The work shift consisted mostly of sitting around and talking, but Alex didn't complain. It was better than sitting around alone at Steve's house. Alex did, however, spend some time organizing messy displays and even got to recommend some movies to a couple customers.
After the shift ended, the three of them stopped for slushies before dropping Robin off at home and turning in for the night. Exhausted, Alex headed for bed early in preparation for her day at Hawkins High.