DESOLATION [ 1 ] ↠ STRANGER THINGS

7. SOMETHING WICKED

DESOLATION
CHAPTER SEVEN

➝ SOMETHING WICKED

         COLLEEN AWOKE WITH TIRED EYES, HER NECK WAS CRAMPED UP AGAINST THE HEADREST IN HOPPER'S POLICE TRUCK. The two of them had slept outside of the Byers' house last night to make sure that Joyce was okay. And Colleen had been worried about Jonathan, knowing how close he had been with his younger brother. She couldn't even imagine what he was going through right now. She looked over to see that Hopper was no longer inside the truck, but her eyes caught Jonathan walking out of the house. She climbed out of the front seat and jogged over to him, which caught him slightly off guard. He looked around in confusion, "What are you—"

But she cut him off nonchalantly, "Hop wanted to make sure that your mom was okay. If you ask me, I think there's some old chemistry between them that they don't like to talk about. They went to high school together didn't they?"

Jonathan turned around to find his mom walking out of the house with Hopper right beside her, his hand placed on her back gently. The boy turned back around to find Colleen with raised eyebrows in an "I told you so" way with a matching smirk.

"But why did you stay?" He asked in soft voice. Which made Colleen's brown eyes dart up towards his and she crinkled her nose. He cleared his throat nervously, "I understand why Hopper did it, but you could have gone home. Or went over one of your friends' house. You didn't have to stalk outside the house all night with Hopper."

She let out a light breath and shook her head, "Is it so crazy to believe that maybe I wanted to make sure that you were okay?"

"Colleen, Jonny, let's go! We have places to be," Hopper shouted, and Colleen noticed the cringe that Jonathan made at the nickname.

Jonathan headed over to his car while Colleen stood back. But once he opened his car door and realised that she wasn't standing across from him on the passenger side, he turned around to her. "Hey, are you coming with me or what?"

Colleen looked over her shoulder to find that Joyce was climbing in Hopper's police truck so Colleen scurried over to Jonathan's car. She opened the door and climbed in, pulling her seatbelt on and immediately opening the glove compartment to sort through his tapes. She could feel his eyes on her so she glanced over at him, "What?"

He chuckled, "You have a real act for making yourself feel at home, you know that? First my camera, and now my tapes? What's next?"

She bit down in her bottom lip, "You could let me drive next time? I've only practiced in empty parking lots but I'm sure I'd catch on."

Jonathan put the car in drive and started to follow Hopper out of the driveway. The Clash began to blare through his speakers and he laughed lightly, "Yeah. I don't think that's going to happen."