Crazy of you {Jopper story}

19. It's a date

January 3rd, 1986 
5:02 p.m. 
Hawkins, Indiana.

HOPPER :

They had finally left the Wheeler's house after a long series of questions to Hopper, first from Karen and then from the kids, a little bit apart.

Joyce turned the keys of her car and the engine started.

"Where do you want to go first?"

"My cabin. Please..." He said, fastening his seat belt.

"All right, let's go."

They arrived at the cabin, which was as small as it was old and now broken. You could see a huge hole in the ceiling, it sure didn't make you want to come up here.

"Stay here, I won't be long and I don't want you to get hurt." He told Joyce who was following him.

"Are you kidding? I'm coming."

"Joyce please..." He sighed.

"I'm coming."

She passed him and went into the ruins.

"Rohhh Jesus, Joyce be careful!"

"I remind you I've been here before..." She said once he had joined her. "It's exactly the same but with a little more dust", she said, coughing at the end of her sentence.

"I'm just going to get something. Don't move this time."

He then went in what was left of his room. He lifted the dusty mattress and fortunately found what he had come for : money.

There was indeed a small pile of bills held by a rubber band, and Hopper stowed them in his jeans pocket.

It was money that he had started to save, thinking that maybe he could buy a real house for him and El. But now she had one and a real family, too.

He found some old clothes that he could surely still wear, took them and left.

"We can go now."

"Okay, so where?"

"I don't know, but a men's clothing store."

"Didn't you want to see Flo?"

"I do, but with clothes that are a bit more... classy than these old clothes. I'm not even sure they'll let me in in that outfit."

"Don't be silly", she said, looking up once more.

6:22 p.m.

"Are you sure you don't want me to hold them?" he asked, preventing her from bumping into someone she hadn't seen because of the stack of clothes she was holding in her arms. 

"No, that's okay. But I want you to try on a plaid shirt because you've been taking them at all the same size and I'm still convinced they'll be too big."

"All right", he said trying on a plaid before Joyce starts again to explain for the fiftieth time why he should try on his items.

"Ah! See, it's too big. Oh, that's great. So we have to take them all with a smaller size now. That's a good one. We would have saved time if you'd listened to me from the beginning."

"But I always used to take this size before."

He didn't know if he was more surprised by Joyce getting mad about it or by the fact that he was swimming in this shirt.

"Yes, but you lost from there", she said, hitting him on the stomach with her thumb so as not to spill his stuff.

"That's right, I did..."