1985 (Jim Hopper II)

The Sauna

I pulled into the parking lot of the mall and as mean as it was, I couldn't help but laugh at Robin's work uniform.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know. Hilarious." She chuckles, unbuckling from her seat.

"Wanna hear something even funnier?"

"Oh absolutely." I say with a smile.

"I work with Steve."

"Harrington?!" I laugh.

She nods fervently, "daddy cut him off."

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip.

"Called it. Maybe I should... come say hi?"

Robin curled her lip in disgust.

"Don't tell me you have a crush on him like everyone else in Hawkins did."

"Ew, no, I just- wait what do you mean did? He's hot shit. Who hurt him?"

Robin opens her door and shrugs, "some new kid named Billy."

I squint my eyes and can't even fathom how anyone could find a boy named Billy attractive.

"Well I'm going to come say hi to Steve. He's the only person who knew I was leaving, it'd be nice to see him."

Robin gave me a slight frown and I knew why. She wanted that to be her...

"Look, I didn't plan on telling anyone, he was just near the bus stop when I left and-"

"I get it. I'm happy you're back and all but, I opened up to you about some shit I still don't understand about myself. I'm sure you had your reasons but you were one of my closest friends. It hurt when you left. It hurt other people, too."

I snorted, "other people. Yeah right. I was a fragment at best." I end with a sharp laugh.

"Well Hoppers walls sort of kicked in when you bailed. Everyone thought they were scared of him before but," she chuckles, "he got even colder. Meaner... drunker?"

I felt my knee begin to bounce at the sound of his name. It made me anxious to think about causing him any pain.

"Well, we were family." I speak quickly.

I know Hawkins technically had knowledge of me and Hop, but I also wasn't sure who really believed what. I wasn't sure what Robin heard, trusted, so I kept it at that. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't break my heart to hear. I thought he'd be... well... fixed. Not even more broken. Did I screw up?

"Come on. Come say hi to Steve. Oh! There's also a gap here, since you're looking for a bikini."

Steve's uniform might've been even worse than Robin's, and as soon as he saw me approach, he ducked behind the counter and hid.

"I already saw you Harrington." I giggle, smacking my hand onto the counter top.

I watch the fluff head pop back up and grimace.

"Don't say anything. I don't want to hear it."

"That I was right and that you were oh so wrong."

I watch him fidget and pull a classic Steve head scratch before muttering, "yeah, you were right about a lot." His tone of voice a little softer than normal.

"Maybe I'm a fortune teller. OOOoooOOO!" I sing song, wiggling my fingers out to him.

"I'll take a chocolate shake to go. Going to hit up the pool today. This mall is insane." I say in awe.

For real, this place had a movie theater!

I watch as Robin starts to make my shake and Steve rings me up for,

"$2.95."

I hand him some cash and sip down the delicious drink.

"I'll see you guys around. My god this is so good." I say, mouth full.

"He-Hey! If you need like a date or something to your dad's funeral-"

I hear him let out a loud grunt, no doubt getting hit in the stomach by Robin who shouts,

"Dude! Are you brain dead?!"

And make my way to the gap.

I chose out a pale yellow bikini, pretty plain and pretty simple, a rainbow beach towel to go with it. I was excited for some sun. I really forgot how much I liked Hawkins. The weather, the nice people, my friends...

I don't know if I'd like the new Hopper, though. I know he definitely wouldn't like me.

"It's alright, you won't see him." I mumble to myself as I make my way into the locker room.

I notice to the right of me, a sauna, and yeah, it sounded relaxing..

So after I slipped on my bikini, I sat on the bench and felt the sweat drip through my pores. It was around 180 degrees in here and I loved it. My muscles became less tense with every minute that rolled by, until that is, a cool gust of wind broke my peace.

I glance up to see someone had opened the door, and I shield my eyes when I notice it's a guy. Shirtless, beautiful body, curly blonde hair in a perfectly styled mullet and a small strip of facial hair on his upper lip. This guy screamed 1984. Everything on trend, he's probably got an ear pierced, too, right? I didn't look at him long enough.

I can hear as he chews his gum and laughs a bit, saying over to me,

"I think you're in the wrong locker room."

"Right. Sorry." I blush, standing up.

"It's fine. I'd stay put if I were you. The elderly swim team is coming in to dry off and change."

I barf a little in my mouth at the thought of old, wrinkly-

"I've never seen you around before." The guy mentions, sitting down a little too close to me.

"I could say the same for you." I say, finally dropping my hand from my vision.

"Billy Hargrove. And you are?" He asks, his thumb gracing my thigh slightly.

"Uninterested and probably too old for you. Hannah King." I say, holding my hand out to him to shake.

"Alright." He surrenders coolly, holding his hands in the air as if being arrested before shaking my hand in return.

"You're the first girl to say no." He mentions, sucking on his teeth.

"The hottest one, too."

"Flattered, really. You're a good looking guy it's just, you come off a little strong and you look, well... a lot younger than a guy I would generally date."

"Normally I'd be pissed but, I'm nailing a married chick tonight, I feel on top of the world."

I shutter at the bluntness and shake the thought from my head.

"If you can't handle rejection you might want to reevaluate a couple things. No reason to be pissed about it, like I said, you're attractive just... not my type." I smile warmly over to him.

Billy furrows his brows and slips a tooth pick between his teeth,

"I don't have to justify how I treat women to anybody. Big guy coming in. Good luck." He hops off of the bench and heads toward the door.

"Wait, at least lead me out of-"

And his nice, toned, probably 19 year old body is replaced with the body of... well...

"What the hell are you doing here..."

I clench my eyes tightly shut, a towel loosely draped around his hips, an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth, waiting for him to leave the sauna so that it could be smoked.

Hopper didn't move, he just stared at me and kept an unnecessary distance, pressing his back into the wall furthest from me.

"I-in the men's locker room or-or Hawkins?"