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A SMILE ON HER LIPS, Kali Hopper shook her head. She and Jonathan met eyes across the booth, the two of them unable to stop grinning as their girlfriends planned out yet another day for the four of them. They'd already spent all of Winter and Spring together, but according to their girls, Summer was going to be totally different.
Today, they spent the entire afternoon at the local swimming pool until they eventually dried themselves off and settled down in a milkshake, dessert restaurant. It was their final day off until they all started their summer jobs, which Nancy and Riley were excited for, while Joyce and Jim quite literally had to force Jonathan and Kali to apply for theirs. Unfortunately, since she finished her senior year of high school with non-existent grades, Kali couldn't even apply to The Hawkins Post with the rest of them, and actually had to find a job as a lifeguard at the pool as of tomorrow morning. Nancy teased her about it, but the last thing Kali wanted to do was spend her Summer cleaning baby crap and saving little kids — that was usually an Autumn thing.
"Can you imagine how good our college applications will be with Bruce Lowe giving us a recommendation?" said Riley, her eyes bright and imaginative as they always were.
Riley Minh was Nancyʼs closest friends at school, and they were at the top of their grade for everything together. After Barbʼs funeral, Riley was crushed and she knew her other friend was keeping things from her. So, naturally, after feeling guilty and being eaten up inside about it, Nancy Wheeler crumbled and told her everything. Slowly, Riley joined their group, where she met Jonathan, and the two fell for each other in the space of weeks.
"Right?" agreed Nancy with a smile. "We'll all get into Emerson, stay in shared housing and Kal can visit us on weekends." She turned to her side, her eyes going instantly brighter as she faced her girlfriend of eight months. "Or you can live with us, if your dad doesn't make you stay with him?" The smile on her face was more than hopeful, and Kali wanted nothing more than to promise to stay with her.
"Let's wait and see what happens," Kali suggested, pressing a kiss to Nancyʼs forehead, not wanting to spoil her big plans just yet — Kali knew there was no way she was leaving Cole and Eleven until they were in college themselves.
As Riley and Nancy went back to rambling about their future college lives, which wouldn't occur for another school year, Jonathan and Kali found themselves shaking their heads again. Things were great between the group, greater than they'd ever been before. Kali was set to start community college in September, and the other three were going to finish their senior year together. They were all going to be together — and Nancy and Riley were going to make sure it would stay that way by planning out the rest of their lives, all the way up until they were nearly dead and living in a hospice together.
Once the meals were finished and the bills were played for, Jonathan gently nudged Riley in the shoulder. "Hey, I should take you home now," he said quietly. "Will caught you sneaking out last night."
