THE TOWER ━ stranger things

10.

chapter ten — another one bites the dust

"Jesus, finally you're back!" Dustin Henderson cheered as Irene waltzed into the backroom, a gentle smile on her face as she greeted the boy. Despite the sheen layer of impending doom that cascaded over her, especially after the previous night and her talk with Eddie, she was trying to stay optimistic. She wouldn't let those feelings get in the way of her priorities. What were her priorities exactly? Saving the world, of course.

"I was gone for a day." She laughed as she hung her backpack up. Her hands then made their way to her chest as she carefully clipped her nametag on.

"And yet it felt like an eternity." Dustin responded, placing his hand to his heart, to which Irene playfully rolled her eyes. He, much like Will, was starting to grow on her fairly quickly. Something about the two of them reminded her of Eddie.

"Fill me in, you dork." She said lightly, taking a seat in front of him. He explained how he and Steve made complete fools of themselves chasing after a guy that was just the coordinator of an aerobics class. But then he informed, Robin had cracked the rest of the message and the meaning behind it–how it all tied to the mall. He also disclosed that they had their own detective mission last night and figured something had to be in the drop off area of the mall; they just needed to find out how to get into it.

"So that's where we're at," He shrugged before grabbing his binoculars out of his bag, "I'm going up to the roof to see if I can find anything else." She nodded and watched as he walked out of the back door.

She heaved a sigh as she fixed her cap and placed her scooper at her side – losing herself to her thoughts for a moment. For some reason she was itching to escape to the bathroom and pull out her Tarot cards – to try and make sense of everything that was unraveling before her. There was no more room for naivety...she was in too deep now. She had willingly stepped inside the building of unshakeable change and the walls were quickly closing in on her. It was making its mark – doing the work that needed to be done; she just wished she knew why.

Robin walked into the break room and looked over wearily at her friend, "Hey, you alright?" She asked and Irene snapped out of her daze, her delicate eyes landing on Robin's.

She nodded, "Yeah, just...thinking." She said before moving around her friend and towards the front. Steve echoed the same question as she stood beside him at the register and she threw back the same response before tending to the child that stood in front of her. He asked for mint-chocolate chip ice cream to which Steve murmured beside her that he was "on it," as he began scooping up the treat.

"When you didn't come in yesterday we figured you just needed some time to rest." Steve whispered as he handed her the cone. She gave him a small smile to show her gratitude.

She cleared her throat, "Yeah, shockingly enough, my brother and I spent the day together. Have a nice day, kid!" She responded to him and then to the little boy in front of her. He gave her a toothless grin, and placed a few quarters in the half-full tip jar. She turned her attention to Steve slightly.

"Oh? Cool. You guys get along well?" He asked casually, propping himself against the counter. Irene chuckled, her gaze flickered down to her shoes for a moment.

"We used to," She looked back at him and shrugged. "It's different now. Thankfully, yesterday was a good day, however I don't hold my breath when those come around anymore." She turned her gaze back down and Steve pursed his lips, wishing he understood. He'd take anything to have someone around in his empty home. He was thankful for the kids, despite how annoying they were from time to time, they were the closest thing to siblings that he had. In the moment, he mainly wished he understood so that he could bring her some sort of comfort with his words – give her advice that he knew would be helpful.