SWEET CREATURE//steve harrington

ONE

"NO SMOKING," KEITH DRAWLED. Vivian rolled her eyes, taking another long, spiteful drag. "Seriously, it reeks in here," he complained. "As if it didn't before," Vivian countered, but she snuffed out her cigarette and smiled tensely at him. "There. Happy?" Keith shrugged. "I'd be happier if you agreed to let me take you on a date." She scoffed and turned to leave the arcade's dingy break room. "When hell freezes over."

"Have you seen that girl who's been coming in here lately?" Keith asked, and Vivian turned back to face him, grateful for a change in subject. "The red-headed one?" He nodded. "'Madmax'," Keith said ominously, wiggling his fingers for effect. "She's been kicking the Wheeler-Henderson-Byers-Sinclair party's sorry asses for a week now." Vivian raised her eyebrows, intrigued. The boys were faithful regulars, and they valued their respective spaces on the leaderboards. She was sure if they hadn't found out about Madmax yet, they would soon, and they would be less than pleased.

The service bell at the front of the arcade rang cheerfully, and Vivian threw Keith a peace sign before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her. She'd been working at the arcade since she'd started high school. They had their regulars, many of them creepy but fairly harmless. Individuals after Keith's own heart. She had seen a lot of the younger kids grow up coming in here, and she saw lots of them as younger siblings.

When she turned from the back hallway into the front of the arcade, she saw a familiar face. "Hey, Tammy," Vivian greeted her. Tammy's mom was one of Vivian's many babysitting patrons before she started working at the arcade. "Hey, Sweets! I think Ms. Pac-Man is broken. And it ate my quarters." Vivian sighed. At a place this old, there was always something wrong. She detached her hefty key ring from her belt loop and swung it around on her finger. "To the culprit!" she exclaimed, walking around the counter.

Vivian caught sight of Keith making his way toward Dig Dug, where Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, and Lucas Sinclair were looking particularly shocked and pissed off. She chuckled to herself as she knelt next to Ms. Pac-Man. Madmax was giving those dorks a run for their money. Vivian pulled the game's power cord and plugged it back in. It flickered to life, and she heard the familiar blinging and beeping.

"That should do it," Vivian told Tammy. "For now." Tammy shifted her weight. "Oh, right," Vivian remembered. "Your quarters!" She unlocked the front panel of the game and took two quarters off the top of the roll and placed them in Tammy's palm. "Thanks, Sweets."

As she walked back toward the counter, she heard Keith's needling voice pestering the party. "I will exchange information," he began, crunching on a Cheeto. "For a date with her." He looked pointedly at Mike. Mike's face transformed into an expression of disgust. "I am not prostituting my sister!" he protested, and Keith put forth his hands in surrender. "Your call, Wheeler."

    Vivian poked her head around the corner of Dig Dug. "God, Keith, you're a creep." Upon seeing her, the younger boys smiled and waved. She had been their loyal quarter-rescuer since before they could move a joystick. "Sweets, your coworker is desperate," Dustin lisped mischievously. "Do us all a favor, and go out with him." Vivian feigned an exaggerated look of distaste. "You insult me, Henderson."

     Keith grunted and loped back towards the counter. "What a guy," Vivian said at his retreating back. Dustin hit his fist against the side of the game machine. "I can't believe some kid stole my number one spot." "Hey," Vivian snapped. "Don't hit my machine. Besides, you've been slacking. You're getting rusty." Dustin clutched his chest. "How dare you?" Vivian shrugged. "Just saying, I haven't seen you much lately." He looked at his friends, silently sharing some memory unknown to her. "Sorry, I guess I've just been too busy saving the world to twiddle with Dig Dug." She rolled her eyes. "What a creative way to say 'playing D&D in Wheeler's basement.' See you nerds later."