Love Is..?

Chapter 24

When she walked into Scoops Ahoy!, Nova frowned. It was busy as all heck, and it was just Robin. Where was Steve? Nova decided to help her out and went to the back to grab a spare apron, seeing Steve with Dustin, "Steve!" Said male jumped and looked behind, "Oh, hey..." "Don't you 'hey' me! Get off your ass and go help Robin, she's swamped." Steve, afraid of Nova's wrath, got up quickly and ran to the front to help Robin. Nova sighed, "Honestly." She saw Dustin looking at her with wide eyes and she sighed with a small smile, "Hi Dusty. Welcome home." Dustin relaxed and got up to give Nova a hug, "Hi, Nova."

Nova hugged him back and they soon separated, "How was camp?" Dustin sat back down, and Nova joined him at the little table as he animatedly talked about all that happened. She was surprised at Dustin getting a girlfriend, but she was happy for him, nonetheless. "It sounds like you had a great time at camp." Dustin nods with a smile but frowned, "Yeah but everyone ditched me on my first day back. Can you believe that?" Nova frowned, "Really?! Max never mentioned that last night when she got home. But seriously, why would they do that? How rude."

Dustin gave you a look, "Are you being serious or are you mocking me?" Nova gave a look back, "I'm being serious Dustin. I would never mock you... to your face." Nova grinned as did Dustin. "So, why are you back here with Steve... Is that Russian?" She pointed to the white board. Dustin suddenly got all quiet which made Nova bust out her 'mom' look. Dustin cracked, "I intercepted a Russian transmission last night and Steve is helping me with translation." Nova blinked, then blinked again. "You... did what?" Dustin repeated himself. "Oh... and you went to Steve for translation? Well, Udachi s etim." Dustin looked shocked, "Was... was that Russian?" Nova just grinned, "I speak six languages due to my late father's business. Russian is just one of them."

Dustin looked happy, "Can you help us? We really could use your help." Nova was about to answer when Steve opened the shutters, "No, we got this. Plus, Eleven and Max are looking for you, Nove." Nova looked at Dustin, "Sorry buddy, but from what I can tell, it's a code of some kind." She then proceeds to say in a Russian accent, "The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly." Both Steve and Dustin look at her in shock as Robin laughs, "Have fun boys." She gets up, leaving the back room and meets up with Eleven & Max. They all leave and head towards the entrance.

As they reach the entrance, Eleven and Max spot Lucas, Mike and Will putting their bikes up and chaining them. Eleven gets this angry look on her face and walks over to the boys. Max and Nova follow, and Max speaks first, "Well, well, well... Look who it is." The boys jump and see the girls with Nova. Will walks over and hugs his cousin as Mike talks to Eleven, "What are you doing here?! You know you can't be here! It's too crowded." Eleven frowns, clearly upset, "Why aren't you with nana? You said nana was sick." Mike's eye widened and he stammers, "S-she is! We... we were.." Lucas chimed in, "We came here to get her a present."

Max scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Yeah right." Eleven steps up to Mike, "I dump your ass." Max snorts out a laugh and Nova, who had been petting Will's head while she hugged him froze and let out a little laugh. Eleven turned away and looked at Nova, "Can we go now?" Nova nodded and stopped hugging Will, "Of course we can sweetie. See ya later Will." Will nodded and walked back over to the boys. Nova led the girls to the car and helped them get in since they each had an ice cream and drove off.

It was silent in the car for a little while until Nova broke it, "Hey, how about we have an old fashioned sleepover? You can sleepover at our house El." Max grinned, "Ooh yeah! That sounds like fun!" Eleven looked confused, "A sleepover?" Max explained to her what a sleepover was and Eleven smiled, "Yeah! Can I?" Nova just smiled, "Of course. Shall we head home then?" the girls cheered 'YES!' and Nova laughed again, heading for home.

At the Varlineau/Hargrove House~

Both Max and Eleven were laughing and listening to music in Max's room as Nova spoke with Sheriff Hopper, "Yes, she's here. They're having a sleepover. No, Mike is not here. She dumped him at the mall. Yes, she went to the mall. They were having a girl's day! Yes, I know it's dangerous but she's also a teenage girl, Hopper. They need some level of freedom. Trust me, I know from experience.  Yes Hopper, I will watch over her. Relax and enjoy your date with my aunt." Nova rolls her eyes, "Oh really? Cause it sounds like a date to me." She giggled as he denied it and hung up. She hung up the phone and smiled as she dialed the Hawkins pool.

"Hello, Hawkins Pool office, May I ask who's calling?", A random female voice answered. "Hi, my name is Nova and I'm looking for Billy Hargrove. I'm his girlfriend." "Um... Billy left earlier with Heather Holloway." Nova's heart stopped, "I'm... sorry?" The girl on the line repeated herself and Nova closed her eyes, "Um, okay. Th-thank you." Nova hung up and just stared at the phone in shock. Billy... He wouldn't cheat. She frowned softly as the girls walked up to her, both frowning. Nova looked at the girls and Eleven spoke, "Something happened with Billy." "I think I know what but I'm hoping I'm wrong." Nova grabs her keys and ushers the girls into the car, driving towards the Holloway house.

She knew Heather from high school and had been to her house before so she knew where to go. She pulled over and parked when she got to Heather's parents' house. She walked up the steps and knocked on the door, Max and Eleven hot on her heels. To Nova's pain, Billy answered the door wearing a nice shirt. When Billy saw Nova, he frowned but kept silent as Heather's Father joined him, "Oh hello, Nova! It's certainly been a while since we saw you." Nova gave Tom a watery smile, "Hey there, Mr. Holloway. I um..." Max decided to speak, "Billy, what the heck? You're supposed to be home with us not... Are you cheating on Nova?" 

Billy froze before he looked at Max then Nova and shook his head, "Of course not. I only brought Heather home when she injured herself and they invited me to dinner as a thank you." Nova frowned, "Why don't I believe you?" Tom could sense the tension between them and cleared his throat, "Why don't you girls come inside? It looks like it's going to rain." Nova bit her lip, "No, it's ok Mr. Holloway. Um, we're just going to go home. Billy, you can stay or go, I don't care... just don't come home tonight. You won't be welcome." Billy gave Nova a pained look as he watched her leave with the girls, get in the car and drive off home. He mouthed that he was sorry before he shut the door.