Joan turned around on her heel swiftly, looking over at a concerned Eddie Munson dressed in a Metallica T-Shirt and usual jackets holding onto a record.
Records?
Right.
The 80's.
"Oi, prissy pants. Are you all there?" Joan flinched back at the snaps in her face and swatted the hand away, Eddie sighing dramatically. "Oh good, you're awake. First you run in here like you're running from cops and then you zone out? What's got you in the clouds?"
Joan opened her mouth but was interrupted by an aggressive door chime and snapped around to watch Steve Harrington burst through with a large stick followed by Robin Buckley holding up copies of The Breakfast Club and The Nightmare on Elm Street as if they were weapons.
Steve examined outside once for danger, before coming in and looking at his ex in heavy confusion. "Ags?" Steve lowered the stick and walked over to Joan, eyes flickering up to the high school drug dealer with a newly formed scowl. "Is he bothering you?"
"Who?" Joan's brain was not measuring up to her mouth right now, all too cluttered with the knowledge that she had totally seen Kaleigh headed towards her, same as she had all those nights ago in the future. She licked her lips at the look of incredulous on Steve's face as he gestured behind her.
Joan looked back to see the familiar head seemingly glaring down at Steve with a gaze that reminded her of their first meeting more than a month ago. "I-oh, him."
"Yes, him!" Steve sighed sharply, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along. "I-I don't know what Dustin was thinking when he ran into our store saying some weird shit that you had lost it, but I see why. That freak is not good news."
"Brynnyn, listen. If you keep hanging out with a weirdo like her, you're going nowhere in life, okay?"
"Oh God, Hannah. You forgot something."
"What? What are you-?"
"You forgot that I don't give a damn."
It wasn't right, what Steve said about Eddie when the guy was right there and obviously heard what he was saying. Steve hadn't stopped there, continuing his mini-scolding about the drug dealing super super-senior who lives in the trailers. She looked back over at Eddie who was no longer glaring at Steve but looked at her.
Expectantly.
"U-uh Steve, maybe you-."
"What? What is it?"
"Hey, don't be mean to Eddie. Why are you treating him like this?"
But she didn't say that.
Instead her eyes flickered to a disgustingly hopeful Eddie holding a familiar Motörhead album and swallowed. What would Agatha do? She wasn't currently Joan the Rebel, she was Joan the Cruel which meant playing the part.
Right?
"I-I know." She agreed, painfully quiet but not quiet enough. Robin had frowned her way and Joan ignored the disapproving look, choosing to allow Steve to guide her protectively out from the music shop.
"Oi, Ms. is that fucking weed?" But Joan only paused, didn't even turn around. Eddie had already put down her favorite album and stalked over to the door, elbowing Steve as he walked out and gave her an evil eye, fists in his pockets. "I hope you cleaned out your console. Shitty conformists don't deserve their ears blessed."
And he left.
It was a kick to the gut, sending Joan reeling with guilt and self-hate, but Joan would have to deal with that later.
She needed to figure out where Kaleigh was, why she was here, and why she sent Joan to here.
Joan sighed, shrugging off Steve's hand and looking outside for Kaleigh carefully. She must have looked like a psychopath because there was literally no one besides the sound of Eddie's vibrating van skirting out of the parking lot violently and a few birds pecking at some forgotten food left on the grass of the parking lot.
"So, are you going to tell us what happened or just let us think your concussion is still bothering you- ow!" Robin smacked her best friend in the head and Steve rubbed it with a glare, but softened at the look on Joan's face. "I-I'm sorry. I forget that, uh, not all of us deal with... it with sarcasm and pitiful jokes."
"N-no, it's fine." Joan's voice was a whisper and nearly hollow, shifting on her feet and glancing across the high way where she had once been. "I-I just thought that I saw a monster and I..." she what?
Ran away?
Again?
"Hey, it's cool." Robin said softly, throwing an arm around Joan and ignoring the snort from Steve with a middle finger hidden to Joan. "Sometimes I see it too. All the horrors. The Russians, Billy Hargrove without a shirt on, that weird human soup spider... out of the corner of my eye and I still can't stand fireworks. I don't think I ever will. But I just tell myself it's only my imagination. It's over. Done. Completed. Signed and sent for review. Cross that box off and-."
"I.. yeah. You're right." Joan cut Robin's babbling off with a sigh. She wrapped an arm around Robin's waist, giving the girl a firm hug and walked towards the video store to retrieve her brother. If that's what they wanted to believe, then that was good for her. It meant less questions and she could hide behind the terrors from over a month ago - even though it wasn't really hiding.
Pulling away from Robin, she gave her the softest of smiles, ignoring the way Steve cleared his throat and snickered when Robin seemed to shift uncomfortably. "Thanks guys really. I-!"
"Ahhhh!" Dustin let out a war cry from the wall beside the door as he jumped out and whacked his sister with a broom. All too late he had noticed who it was he whacked and his eyes widened, dropping the broom with a loud oh shit! and taking some measured steps away from the teen holding her head in pain. "I-I thought we were under attack and you guys were gone for a long time so I assumed that I was next and so I got-"
"Dustin?"
"Yes?"
Joan took a deep breath in with her eyes squeezed shut. Her head was now throbbing and both Steve and Robin had the decency to stay silent, nearly frozen in shock as the girl took her time to calm herself down from imagining suffocating Dustin and not being born.
"You know I just got cleared from a concussion, right?"
Dustin nervously fidgeted with his fingers, looking nervously around the store. "U-uh, yep. I was there. F-for the concussion and uh doctor just in case you forgot that-."
"If you're not in the car and quiet for the next thirty minutes then I'm going to give you the same concussion with my hands round your annoying fucking throat."
Her little brother wasted no time clumsily grabbing their bags of movies, candy, popcorn, and soda before running out the door with a bye Steve! Bye Robin! and tripped over a parking spot, but caught himself. Eventually he landed himself in the front seat of Joan's car.
Joan let out a sigh of relief and Robin let out a hiss of sympathy. "Yikes, that looks gnarly."
"Thanks Robin." Joan replied sarcastic at watching the two store employees walk back into their workplace with a sigh and groan. "God, that hurt." Her hands grabbed the bar of the door to push it open and leave. "Alright, gotta get home. Bye guys."
"See you Ags. 10:30. The diner, Saturday!"
"Better not wear anything nice, Harrington." Joan joked with a wave behind her, letting the door close with another breath leaving her while the door jingled. Briskly she walked to her car, pausing to stare into the line of trees that seemed to glare back at her.
Even as her and Dustin watched the movies they picked out with their popcorn concoction, Jade couldn't help but glance at the front and back door constantly to ensure that they were both locked. Hopefully it would keep them safe enough from Kayleigh and whatever nefarious plan may follow her in the shadows.
"Remember that time in fourth grade we were at recess and you shoved me off the play set, breaking my arm?"
"What?!" Joan cried out in disbelief, looking at a grinning Steve trying to hide his humor behind the straw of his drink. "Absolute, lies. ...And if it is true, you probably deserved it."
Steve chuckled and nodded. "Oh definitely. I took Heather's hot pink scrunch-thing and threw it on the roof. And she started crying." His eyes seemed to glaze over in the memory, nothing but fondness on his face as he went sent back to a time Joan would never fully understand. "You were already in time out, but you had this, like, sixth sense or some shit for when Holloway started crying or someone picked on her."
"Well, yeah. Heather is..." Joan's throat hitched at the present tense and swallowed her sadness back down. It was quiet for a moment and Steve allowed her to mourn in peace. something Joan was grateful for. "Heather was always super fucking loud. Of course I could hear her from a mile away!"
"Yeah, well you ran over like a bat outta hell, ignored the teachers yelling at you to come back, and then you looked at me with this stupid scowl on your face." Steve imitated an angry look, sending Joan into a fury of giggles at the way his face scrunched up, his shoulder's full and rigid, and his arms crossed over his chest. "You told me that I was dumb, ugly, and that people only liked me 'cause I was a fifth grader. Then you shoved me off the play set, over the slide."
"Damn, I was brutal." Joan let out a low whistle and shook her head slowly. "I was a violent child."
"I mean, only when there was cause." Steve admitted, stirring his drink with the straw and shrugging his shoulders. "You weren't just, like, oh let me go beat up Steve today 'cause his hair looks funny."
"Are you sure I never did that? Because, well,..." Joan teased, looking up at Steve's hair pointedly. The boy only huffed, running a hand through it unconsciously sending Joan into another round of giggles. "Sorry, sorry."
"You're just jealous that my hair is softer than yours." Steve snapped half-heartedly, straw between his grinning lips. Watching Joan let go was a treat for him, something that he had realized when they were dating she never truly did. He sighed, realizing they both were trying to put off talking about what happened back in May. "Look, Joan... about May..."
Joan held in her breath, freezing in place as the words started building around them from Steve's lips. He was hesitant, unsure where to begin, and so was she. All Joan knew was that he broke up with her and that was it.
She bit her lip, played with the gold ring on her finger, and smiled nervously at Steve. "Why don't we start from the beginning?"
Steve leant back in the booth and crossed his arms, his foot bouncing up and down as he tried to throw together the right words. "The beginning, Ags? Really?" His eyebrow quirked up in question and Joan's cheeks flushed. "Well, if you want the beginning, I guess I should tell you th truth." He sighed and leant forward, Joan following him so she could absorb every single word that fell out of his mouth.
"It started as a dare."