𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 | steve harrington

001| summer of '85

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BRIAR REEVES WANTED TO RUN AS FAST AS SHE POSSIBLY COULD. She wanted her legs to burn and her heart to race, she wanted to sprint until she was out of breath but she couldn't. She walked at a brisk pace, arms by her sides as she held tight to the material of her long summers skirt.

Home a week early with a freckled face and skin that was actually tanned. If she'd been radiant before it was nothing in comparison to how she looked now. Her hair was lighter, in waves down her back and still tinged greenish from chlorine. Spain had been a dream full of white sand beaches and hot weather that wiped sun cream from her arms and left her sticky with sunburn. But it had been beautiful and considering that Briar very rarely travelled out of the country it had been an experience that she would never want to forget. At least, most of it had been.

But quickly her three week holiday (payed for by her dad's retirement package in the travel agency) had been cut short which left her dreaming of deckchairs and lemonade with ice. She missed the sweet turquoise of the pool, the air conditioning in the hotel and the warm summers breeze that cast palm tree shadows for the stray cats to curl up beneath.

This left Briar in a place she'd never before visited, only heard about. Starcourt Mall was Hawkin's newest attraction with a high domed glass ceiling and so many shops that the neon signs made her eyes hurt. It was full in the summer days with families, teenagers and children. Briar had to push past many groups of people as her heart danced in her chest.

When Steve Harrington had failed to graduate, he'd been stuck in applications for summer jobs that Briar had helped him fill out. She'd called him as soon as she returned home only to hear from his mom that he wasn't at home and instead at work. Of course by that point Briar hadn't even been aware that he had a job. Two weeks had past and he was already slinging ice cream somewhere called 'Scoops Ahoy'.

Briar hadn't unpacked, she'd driven to the mall with a smile on her face and a burning desire to run. Steve didn't know she was back, she wasn't supposed to be there and that made anticipation follow her like an abundance of footsteps lining the cork soles of her sandals.

The beginning of summer had been anything but perfect. Steve failing to graduate had lowered his spirits and left him confused for what his future could possibly mean. It didn't help that Briar did amazingly, although she never bragged about this. Steve hadn't been the only one to fail. Eddie Munson was stuck as a senior for another year and Oliver... well Oliver was another story. But Steve was supposed to graduate and wish his strict parents and general nervousness of failure it left him down-heartened in a way that made Briar want to cry.

She hadn't wanted to go away for the sole reason that three weeks without being able to talk to him felt horrible. If they'd been able to afford it, Steve would've been in Spain with them. Unfortunately their package deal with her fathers work didn't include close family friends/ daughter's boyfriends. Alas, Steve didn't really have much to do without Briar but she was happy he'd found himself a job even if this was at an ice cream parlour that sounded as though it was nautical themed.

Briar rounded the corner and saw it immediately, the large store was bright lights and hungry children. It beamed with anchors and boat music, glass shutter windows and to her utter amazement, Robin Buckley. Briar gawped at her friend as she paced inside the parlour. Robin looked incredibly bored, sailors hat perched on her head as she leant against the counter. The uniform looked scratchy, probably polyester. It was cobalt and bright scarlet, stripes and shorts.