The Learning Curve - Jim Hopper x Reader

i. Trouble

Rain pelted down against the cracked and worn sidewalk, thunder rippling in the distance as wind picked up speed. A mother and daughter grabbed the last of brown cardboard boxes from a silver minivan before running into the nearest residence hall, known to the students of Indiana University as Elkhart Hall. The fall semester was about to commence; thus, hundreds of students continued to file into various buildings with their belongings. Those who were freshmen were partnered with their emotional parents who were to be separated for the first time.

Holly DelMonica pushed through her dormitory room's wooden door, her dark brown hair pulled tightly in a high ponytail as she blotted rain water away from her forehead. Her white sundress was sprinkled with drizzled patterns, the material clinging tightly over her torso as her father's silver medallion dangled from her neck.

She heaved as she placed the last of her belongings down onto the linoleum tiled floor, "Well, I think that's everything."

"Are you sure you don't want to grab a quick lunch or coffee or-" her mother continued to yap before her daughter chuckled, resting an assuring hand on her shoulder.

"I love you, mom, but I should probably get started unpacking," she sighed, looking at her mom with sad and glassy eyes.

They both stood in silence before she wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders, inhaling her perfume one last time before her eyes began to water. Holly knew that the next time she would see her would be over Christmas break, but it would be the longest she had ever been away from her. After graduating high school four years ago, her father was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, resulting in a glue-like bond between the mother and daughter throughout the patriarch's painfully dragged-out illness. After he finally passed, her mother convinced her to apply to an out-of-state university, insisting that she needed to fly the nest in order to move forward with her life. No looking back, she said.

Sure, being a twenty-two year old freshman was less than ordinary, but Holly believed that it was better to start later than to never begin at all. Though she had no idea of the career she wanted to pursue, she was determined to make her late father proud. At the end of the day, that was really all that mattered to her.

Her mother parted from her embrace with a soft smile, cupping her face with withered hands. Her eyes were watery as she searched over Holly's face, "You know where to find me. I love you, okay?"

"Okay okay," she tilted her head playfully, repeating the familial phrase shared between the two of them.

She pressed a kiss to her daughter's cheek, patting her shoulder before quickly turning around and walking out of the room. Ms. DelMonica had always been a fan of ripping things away like a bandaid and this would be no different. Quick and painless, she would say, but nothing in their lives was ever as simple as that.

Holly watched her mother waltz down the fluorescent-lit hallway, her shoulders shaking slightly as she began to cry. It broke her heart to see her mother so torn up about something, putting her pride before her desire to be comforted. The line between mother and confidant had been blurred in their relationship to an unmeasurable degree, but, that's what sudden death can do for a mother and her daughter.

As she exited the dormitory hallway, two other students with drenched umbrellas passed by giving her wide eyes and painful expressions, sympathizing with her as she ventured back out into the rain. The girl, who was sportily thin with shoulder-length dirty blonde hair, wore a pale blue buttoned blouse and a pair of white shorts patterned with bright yellow sunflowers. Her counterpart, a boy around the same age, wore a loose-fitting black polo and khaki shorts, his brown hair flowing over the top of his head like a waterfall. They approached Holly, who stood glued to the floor in the middle of the doorway.