fast car | STEVE HARRINGTON [2]

20. fonzie's aversion of tom cruise

"Adopt don't shop," Jessica tiredly mumbled, rubbing her reddened eyes.

"Let's adopt a dog!" Ringo cheered with glee.

"What would we call him?!"

"How about Loke? Cos it's our thing?"

"How about Loki? Like that Norse God?" Jessica offered her input when Steve had scrunched his name up at the name suggestion.

The trio jumped in fright at the sudden sound of the house phone ringing. Groaning with the effort, Ringo rolled onto her knees and pushed herself into standing before proceeding to answer it, clearing her throat and trying her hardest to focus and not give away through her speech that they had been indulging in any illicit activities.

"Yello!" She answered cheerily.

"Ringo, it's your mom," Julia greeted from the other line, likely having called the home phone from the Wheeler residence where she had been visiting that day.

"Hiiiiiii mommy!" Ringo beamed, catching eyes with Jessica and Steve who were giving her a shake of their heads as a hint to tone down the happiness and not raise suspicion. "I mean-" she cleared her throat, "hello mother."

"I'm just calling to remind you that you told Uncle Tommy you were going to visit today."

Ringo's expression immediately fell. Uncle Tom.

Tom Wheeler was the great uncle of herself, Nancy and Mike and was - for lack of a better description, not exactly the most mundane man in Hawkins. The aged man had never married or had children, and instead had dedicated his life to apocalypse preparation. This meant he more or less lived in the bunker beneath his house, which was stacked with enough canned food and bottled water to last him four years into a supposed apocalyptic event. Despite this quirk, he had taken a great shining to his nieces and nephew and had been asking them to visit now for weeks. Ringo had agreed, offering to bring Steve to introduce the two.

"Shiiiiiiiit," she swore, clapping a hand over her mouth and desperately meeting Steve's curious gaze.

"Please tell me you didn't forget," Julia reprimanded, "Nancy is on her way there now. Will I tell her to pick you up on the way?"

Ringo pondered their current inebriation, and determined that they were absolutely in no fit state to drive. They were in no state to be seen either, but she would feel too guilty to abandon the plans altogether.

"Yeah tell her to pick us up, please."

When the call ended, she returned to the other two with a sheepish expression, only explaining when Steve raised his eyebrows for an explanation.

"So you'll finally get to meet Great Uncle Tommy!"

✵

"Nancy! Ringo!" Tommy greeted with glee, wearing a camouflaged jacket and shorts along with a beaming grin. "And this must be Steve?"

"Hey Uncle Tommy," Nancy smiled tightly in return, leaning in for a hug. She had spent the entire car journey ripping into her cousin and ex boyfriend for the state they were in and the group were still a little tense upon arrival.

"Tommy!" Ringo cheered when Nancy returned, leaning in for a hug of her own. She was biting the insides of her cheeks in an attempt to focus and could only hope it was paying off. However the second the uncle and niece had hugged, Tommy had taken one sniff of her jacket and gave her a knowing look.

"How ya' doin' man, you've raised two amazing girls right here," Steve spoke rapidly, shaking his hand desperately and for a moment longer than socially acceptable. Tommy quirked his brows at the mention of 'raising' his nieces, but ultimately said nothing except a greeting in return.