𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

FORTY-ONE: of course, mon chéri.

    

     THE TRIP WAS planned on that next Saturday, all of them buzzed as they laid on loungers by Steve Harrington's pool. "No, seriously though, destination?" Nancy asked, glancing around then sighed when no one answered but blankly glanced at one another then she looks over at Rhys.

"Well, you're the one who came up with the idea, where do you wanna go?" The Wheeler asked him and he shrugs, glancing to the others. "Wherever you guys wanna go, I don't mind anywhere." He smiles, some mushy shit about the location did not matter but rather all of them being there or something. "Oh, lame," Eddie tossed an empty beer can at his boyfriend who rolls his eyes, looking at the Munson. "Then where do you wanna go?" The Campbell asked making him glance around.

"Indianapolis? It's not far and has a lot of good places." Eddie shrugs and Steve looks at him, confused. "Name one good place in Indianapolis." For a rich kid like Steve Harrington, Indianapolis was nothing. Motherfucker's been to GREECE. Greece. "Well, for starters, there's a zoo, museums, so many parks, amazing restaurants and clubs! Nightclubs!" Eddie exclaims and James sighs, sitting up straight in his seat.

"I say Chicago. More stuff. More fun." He says and Argyle pointed at him. "Think bigger, maybe California!" He said, a loopy grin on his face. "Argy's originally from there." Jonathan says, in a bundle on top of his boyfriend. "Okay, sure. Indianapolis, Chicago, California... do we vote?" Nancy asked and Robin raised her hand. "I would also like to visit Canada!" She said and Nancy frowns at her girlfriend. "Why Canada?" She asked and Robin's shoulders slump. "For fun." She murmurs quietly. "To meet the author?" Rhys says, raising a brow at the Buckley who just giggles.

"Don't say that." Nancy said, her eyes wide and James laughed at them before looking around. "Let's just vote on it, I suppose." He shrugs and so they did, writing their answers on pieces of papers to toss into the now empty beer box that they brought out with them.

Nancy counted up the tally, with Robin's help only to find out Chicago won, with four votes. "Okay, perfect. With the minimum wage we're all making at the moment, we can definitely go to Chicago for, like, I don't know? A weekend?" James glanced around and Rhys nods. "Totally! Oh, can I already reserve a little date with you, Jamie?" Robin came over to kneel in front of him, grabbing his hands.

"Oh, but of course, mon chéri!" He says, grinning as their significant others just roll their eyes at the pair but couldn't help but smile. "I also think we should all totally go out when we're there and get totally shit faced." Rhys said then clinked his beer can with Nancy's. "Cheers to that!" She smiled widely.

"Oh, come on, Nance, you're a bad drunk."

The rest of the day was spent with friends then Steve and James headed up to Steve's room as Robin showed Jonathan, Argyle, Rhys and Eddie out before heading upstairs to the guest bedroom with her girlfriend. "Are you sure?" Steve is mumbling against his boyfriend's lips as they both sit onto the bed. All he gets is a hum in response before James is pushing him until his back is flat on the bed.

Outside the apartment in Rhys' car, Eddie is staring straight ahead and tapping his fingers gently onto his knees where they rested. "Eds?" Rhys turns to look at him and Eddie hums, turning to look at his boyfriend who reached out and touched his face gently. "Are you okay?" He chuckled and the Munson quickly nods, smiling back at his boyfriend.

"More than okay."

And really, all was well with their friend group, really. Until Monday came and the four workers stood in a line in front of Scoops Ahoy. "What. The. Actual. Fuck?" Steve said as they stared at the ruined building. There was graffiti, the windows at the front were broken and it looked like the whole place was ransacked then burned, thanks to the sprinklers, it was out pretty quickly but no alarm had gone off.

"This is so sad. I'm sad." Robin said but there was a slight tinge of happiness in her voice, probably over these ridiculous uniforms or having to work all day and everyday for five days a week at a place like this, an ice cream shop. "We should call the cops. They can retrieve any evidence that remains after the fire and... not to mention, Chrissy."

James had felt so bad when he saw the look on Chrissy's face, the girl running from her red little car, her hair in a curled ponytail, she has a red tanktop on, a little blue tennis skirt and white vans. She always dressed in theme with her little ice cream shop, it's a little adorable. She brushed past the four, letting out choked up sobs, "this was all I had left from my dad!" She said then turned around.

It's unexpected when she embraced Robin who patted her gently, hugging back as she looks at the three men to her side, grinning widely as if to say hell yeah, hot chick is hugging me, making James roll his eyes then look back at the wreckage of Scoops Ahoy.

"Hey, hey, relax, it'll probably be able to be renewed. Renovated, whatever you call it. It'll be okay, Chrissy." Robin says, rubbing her back gently as she spoke the soothing words. Chrissy eventually pulled back and let out a soft sob, "my mom will be so upset!" She said and Eddie went to her side, patting her back gently. "It'll be fine, Chris. We all know this needs a renovation anyway." He says and Chrissy just pouted as a police officer makes his way over, another following closely behind.

"Chrissy Cunningham? You're the owner of this wonderful and once joyous facility, right?" Officer Callahan asked and Chrissy quickly nods, looking at Scoops with a pained look. "Well, luckily we were able to retrieve the hard drive containing the footage of the main area and the break room, and, uh, well, we'll go over it and for now, you can take it up with insurance what happened." He says and Chrissy nods before turning to her workers.

"Well... I'm sorry guys, but the shop probably won't be up and running for a while." She sighs and Eddie sort of grins sneakily at that. "Oh, that's a bummer, Chris. I know how much this place means to you." James says, frowning and Chrissy glanced up at the sailor themed ice cream shop. "Perhaps a change in aesthetic would be nice." She shrugs, sounding unsure of what to do with the shop.

"Wait. There's a camera in the breakroom?"

The group of four all left in James' car, they had changed into their uniforms before coming here so the Hopper sort of had to drive them all home now. "I say we all find another place to work at, I mean working together has been so fun! Right?" Robin says with a wide smile at them. "Sure. Totally." James said, sending a little smirk towards Steve who just blushed, looking out the window. "Nevermind. I hate you all..." Robin says as the car came to a stop in front of her house. "We'll find a new place..." James said, glancing back at her and she merely nods, saying uh-huh before getting out. James glanced at Eddie who sighed, stretching. "Just drive me back to Rhys'."

The rest of the car ride was a bit in awkward silence and Eddie suddenly cleared his throat, sitting up. "So, like, how are you guys doing?" He asked and Steve glanced back as James perked up, looking at the rear view mirror where his eyes met Eddie's. "Good." He said quickly and Steve glanced at him. "Yeah. Good." He goes along with it before looking out the window and Eddie smiled. "That's great." He said as the car now came to a stop.

"Thank you, for picking me up Jammy James. And, uh, see you, Stevie." He waved as he hopped out of the car quickly, smiling at the pair before walking up to the front door of the building and then James drove off after he was finally inside the building.

authors note
rip scoops ahoy 💔

+ i have been slacking off from this fic which is weird bc i update like everytime i feel like updating and write so much