CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ PUTTING THE 'FUN' IN FUNERAL
THERE HAD BEEN a lot of funerals to attend the past few weeks. Thanks to Chrissy, Nancy and Jonathan, Barb finally got her justice (at least, in the eyes of the public) and was able to have a memorial service that Rosie was at with her family. Even though she didn't know Barbara Holland personally, she was much closer with Chrissy, anyways, Rosie was still teary-eyed as she squeezed Chrissy's hand as they gathered around her grave. Then, there was Bob's, where she was yet again a pillar of support for everyone there. She had wrapped an arm around Mike, trying to keep a steady face as she heard Joyce's emotional speech. She had done phenomenally well, all things considered, and the reception managed to make a few of them smile.
Yet another funeral was upon them, and by them, I mean Rosie and Dustin.
Rosie and Dustin sat out in the backyard of his home, a cardboard headstone reading 'MEWS, 1980-1984'. Dustin had gracefully kept his word when it came to the memorial, and Rosie had used some of her babysitting money to purchase a bouquet of yellow flowers that she placed on the makeshift cat grave.
"She was a good cat," Rosie murmured, hands absently picking at the grass beneath her.
"She was," Dustin affirmed, glancing over at the cat-babysitter fondly, "Mom was talking about getting another one."
The brunette's eyes brightened considerably, "Really?"
Dustin hummed a yes, "And since you're the most trusted cat-babysitter around...?"
"I'd love to babysit your new cat, dude!" Rosie slung an arm around his shoulders, ruffling his curls, "Name it Rosie for me?"
"Absolutely not."
She laughed, for the first time in what felt like forever, "After all I've done for you."
Dustin bumped her shoulder slightly, "Well... Steve and I were wondering if you wanted to come with us to the Snow Ball. He's picking me up and dropping me off, and there's extra room in his car... I mean, you don't have to—!"
"I'd love to, and thank you for asking, but my Dad agreed to drop me off, and since he doesn't really get much time off anymore—"
"It's cool, tubular."
"Let's not start that again," Rosie scoffed light-heartedly, rolling her eyes, "Sooo, d'you have a date?"
The curly-haired boy seemed to deflate slightly, "Nope. I was gonna ask someone, but I think she likes someone else."
Rosie smiled empathetically, "Well, I'm sure she's missing out. I can be your date— platonic of course."
"But I thought you had another guy in mind?"
The Gry's girl looked to him quizzically.
"...You said there was a guy. From another school?"
Rosie's eyes widened in realisation, recalling the flimsy lie she had strung together weeks ago, "That kinda fell through."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh," Rosie sighed thickly, avoiding his gaze.
The burden of her barely-told secret was crushing before, and since she had told Chrissy (which was totally unplanned), it had significantly lessened. She didn't feel ashamed of the fact she was a lesbian, so to speak, Rosie held more guilt over the fact she hadn't told her closest friends about it yet. There had always been stuff pulling her back, Dustin's hurt feelings if he found out Max was flirting with her (Rosie still wasn't over that, by the way), or the fact that it would definitely be inappropriate to blurt out something so private as sexuality when you were running for your lives. But all of those circumstances had disappeared, so there was really no point in hiding behind them anymore. She needed to do this. Rosie was ready.
"Dustin?"
The boy looked up, adjusting his black cap, "Yeah?"
"I'm..." Rosie tried to search for the proper words. She just had to rip the bandaid off, "I like girls."
Quiet. Very, very quiet. The occasional chirping of birds only heightened Rosie's bubbling anxiety.
"And...you like Max?"
Wait. Hold the damn phone. Rosie's jaw dropped open as the words escaped Dustin's mouth before she felt the blood rush to her cheeks in embarrassment. Was it really that obvious? "I— how could you tell?"
"I felt the electricity between you," Dustin admitted, face suddenly a shade of melancholy, "And...well it was pretty obvious. Max barely even looked at Lucas and me, she was too busy with you."
Rosie bit her tongue, mulling this over, "Oh. Okay. Cool, cool cool cool cool. I don't think she likes me back, though."
Dustin's jaw dropped, "You're joking, right?"
"...No?"
"Look," Dustin started, placing a hand over Rosie's, giving her a small smile, "I know for a fact she likes you. You said she flirted with you, according to Steve's standards, she kept staring at you, you were like, all over each other after we left the tunnels—!"
"Hey!"
"Just take my word for it," Dustin assured her, and Rosie turned her attention back towards Mews' early grave.
"Alright...I'll— I'll ask her to dance at the Snow Ball," Rosie told him confidently, nodding as if to convince herself this was a good idea.
"Atta girl," Dustin patted her back encouragingly, before he moved on to a different conversation topic, "So, for cat names, thoughts on Captain Kirk?"
"Definitely not."
"Darth Vader?"
"Maybe we should do something simple, like Fluffy, or Spots, or Honey?"
"...Spiderman?"
"No."
•. ° . * .·. . ✧:. ·.
THE SNOW BALL. Rosie had been preparing for this event since school started, immediately signing up to help make decorations as soon as it was possible (she had been particularly good at crafting paper snowflakes). The brunette was honestly just very excited. Her dad had gotten the night off so he could drop her off, which was a rarity in Rosie's case, and she'd get to see all her friends in one place again. Plus, she'd hopefully be able to ask Max to dance. Everything had gone swimmingly so far, her Dad had arrived early enough to change out of his nurse's uniform, and was there to help his daughter with her hair.
Rosie looked in the mirror, smiling at the sight of her coiled hair fully out and styled to perfection. She looked back at her dad, before leaping into his arms, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
Xander Gry was a kind guy, with the work ethic of Albert Einstein on meth. He enjoyed the little things in life, a sky full of stars, hard-cover books, the little time he spent with his youngest daughter, braiding her hair and helping her with her math homework. Though he spent most of his time working, people knew his name all around the streets, as the nurse who would bring patients iced coffees, or read to the elderly if they so requested. He didn't have to, he wanted to. Every single bit of his sunshine-like nature was inherited by his daughter, Rosie. He had the same, dark sparkling eyes and a big smile, welcoming and warm.
He wrapped his arms around her, "I missed you, bub."
Rosie giggled at the use of her childhood nickname, "I missed you too, dad."
"Now," Xander pulled back, cupping his daughter's face, "You look beautiful! You take after me, of course."
Rosie looked down at the dress she had managed to snag at a discount price. Thrift stores really did you some good. It was a soft yellow ensemble, reaching just above her knees, with a square neckline and slightly puffed sleeves. She liked it, even if it was a little unfashionable.
"Thanks, Dad," Rosie beamed, smoothing out the creases in her dress, "Can we go? We're gonna be late otherwise."
"Right! Chrissy's driving herself, so we don't have to worry about her. She's helping out with her friend Nancy."
Friend. Sure.
"Cool," Rosie responded quickly, tugging on her dad's hand, "Let's gooooo!"
Xander sighed, giving her a small smile, "Ah, to be a teenager again. It was awful."
He allowed himself to be pulled out of the house and towards his car, a small little black vehicle that blended in with the darkening skies. The two generations of Gry hurried into the car, motivated by Rosie's complaints ("You're so slow, dad!" "Talk to me like that again, and you won't be going!" "Okay, okay, fine!").
The car ride was swift and filled with chatter, mostly on Rosie's end, talking about her excessive excitement for the Snow Ball, and Christmas, pretty much everything that came to mind. Rosie didn't even realise they had arrived at her school, because she was so wrapped up in talking.
"Rosie, we're here."
"We are?" Rosie blinked, snapping her head to look out the window, "Oh. Oops."
"Now, time for the annual father-daughter lecture."
"Woohoo."
"Loving the enthusiasm," Xander cracked a cheeky smile, "Now, Chrissy will be taking you home, No drugs, no alcohol—"
"Dad, I'm thirteen."
"Oh. You are?" Xander asked, feigning surprise, "Huh."
"Daaaaad—!"
"Okay, okay!" Her dad poked her, before gesturing to the car door, "Have fun, bub."
Rosie grinned, kissing him on the cheek, "I will. Love you!"
"Love you too, bub."
She opened the car door, paying one last glance towards her dad, who gave her an encouraging look and slammed it behind her. Rosie watched the little black car go, until yet another car, a dark maroon, pulled up in front of her. Inside, she saw Dustin Henderson sitting in the passengers, Steve in the drivers.
As soon as Dustin stepped out of his ride, adorned in a blue plaid blazer and bowtie, Rosie immediately noticed that something about him was completely different. Namely, his hair.
"Oh my gosh," Rosie gaped, eyeing his mountains of curls. He seemed to have taken Steve's Farah Fawcett advice very seriously, "I...love your hair!"
Dustin's slightly worried expression softened, mild face suddenly twisting in a big smile, "Thanks! You look great."
"You do too," Rosie offered her arm, "Shall we?"
"Well shall," Dustin snorted to himself, and they entered the school building.
Mr Clarke was sitting at a table, attending to a clipboard, before he looked up and smiled at the appearance of Rosie and Dustin. The two handed their science teacher their tickets, to which Mr Clarke exclaimed, "Looking very snazzy tonight, sir. And don't you look marvellous, miss!"
"Thank you, my lord."
"Thanks, Mr Clarke!"
An arch of blue and white balloons greeted them as soon as they entered the gym, now packed with decorations. The ceiling had dangling fairy lights and streamers, and a big, glittery sign reading 'Snow Ball' was hung from it. Small Christmas trees graced the area around the bleachers, and Rosie even found her paper snowflakes scattered all about the room, making her smile. She had contributed to this beautifully decorated school dance, and she was proud.
"Dustin! Look! Those are my snowflakes!" Rosie excitedly pointed to them, tapping Dustin on the shoulder rapidly.
Dustin laughed, enjoying seeing Rosie so happy after such a traumatic field of events, "Yeah, you did awesome!"
They walked further into the room, where they passed Nancy and Chrissy at the punch bowl. Rosie gave her older sister a big smile and a wave, to which Chrissy gave her a big thumbs up.
"Nice dress, Ro," Chrissy commented sincerely.
"Thanks, Chrissy, hi Nancy!" Rosie quickly greeted the Wheeler girl, who smiled back.
Rosie and Dustin approached a table, filled with familiar faces. She smiled as she saw her best friends stand up for her, all dressed smartly and all appearing incredibly happy to be there. Mike's eyes widened as soon as he saw Dustin, and seemingly his massive head of wild curls.
"Holy shit! What happened to you?" Mike asked bluntly, and Rosie's brow furrowed.
"What do you mean, "What happened"?" Dustin frowned, confidence quickly evaporating.
"What?" Mike scoffed, incredulous.
"Dude."
"Your hair!" Max marvelled, attempting to get a good look at his mane.
"Is there a bird nesting in there?" Lucas joked, attempting to touch it, however, Dustin seemed pretty offended.
"Hey!" Rosie scolded the group, patting Dustin on the shoulder comfortingly, "A, don't touch people's hair without permission. B, be nice! He's worked hard."
"Yeah, there's nothing "wrong"!" Dustin chimed in, touching his hair as if to see what was wrong with it, "There's no bird nesting in here, asshole. Okay? Exactly, I worked hard."
Max just laughed, her melodious laugh that made the brunette feel all warm and fuzzy inside as she sidled up to Rosie, "You look beautiful, Gry."
Rosie's eyes widened, almost choking on the air entering her lungs, "I- uh, thanks! Thank you. You look...really nice. Beautiful! Not just nice. Well, not that you don't look nice—!"
"Rosie."
"You're both, nice and beautiful, of course—"
"Rosie!"
The girl in question paused, cheeks hot and hands fidgeting as she realised how stupid she sounded, "Right. Sorry. Uh, did you wanna...maybe get outta here?"
Max smirked, "Where, exactly?"
"The track field," Rosie answered decidedly, giving Max an awkward, yet genuine smile, "C'mon, I'll show you the best spot!"
Rosie didn't really have a plan for this adventure. She wanted to show Max the track and field practice area, and how pretty it was at night. The stars were out that night, and she thought maybe they could stargaze. Or was that too lame? Would Max like stargazing? The Gry girl nonetheless dragged Max outside the gym, just as a slow, romantic song began playing, and made a beeline for the track field.
"Jeez, Rosie, slow down!" Max laughed, tugging on her hand to try and slow her down.
"Nope, Rosie Gry doesn't stop for anyone!" Rosie quipped, giggling, "Not even for you, Mayfield."
"I see how it is," Max raised her eyebrows, "Look, look, we can walk now! It'll only be a minute 'til we get there."
Rosie reluctantly stopped, though she didn't let go of the redhead's hand. Lucky for her, Max didn't try and pull away, either.
"So, why'd you bring me out here?" Max questioned, swinging their intertwined hands together as they walked.
"Oh, you know," Rosie stalled, trying her hardest not to stutter her words, "Stufffffffff."
"Right," Max snorted, "Stufffffffff."
"Are you mocking me?" Rosie joked, mouth dropping open, "That's not nice, Max."
"Right, sorry angel," Max responded, gripping her hand tighter.
"Uh...what did you just call me?" Rosie spluttered, feeling her face go hot.
"Um....angel?" Max replied though it sounded more like a question, "If you don't want me to call you that, then I'll stop—!"
"No, no no no!" Rosie interrupted, shaking her head hurriedly, "I like it. I like it a lot."
Max visibly reddened, before she turned her face away, "That's...great."
The pair of girls, continued walking towards the track field in silence, Rosie going over the speech she had prepared the night before over and over, fixing any words that sounded awkward and attempting to find the perfect tone. She could've sworn there were butterflies doing a tap-dancing routine in her stomach, or maybe it was just the nerves, Rosie honestly couldn't tell anymore.
Soon, the big track field was in sight, the big, green oval with small remnants of snow on it. The air was chilly, though not completely freezing, rather good weather for the awful winters of Indiana.
"So, care to elaborate on stufffffffff?" Max asked her, before being pulled towards the bleachers, "Uh, what are you doing?"
"I told you, I'm showing you the best spot!" Rosie remarked, before arriving at the very back of the bleachers, "Now, care to dance?"
"But there's no music?"
"So?" Rosie gave her a smile, "We can make our own music."
Max fake gagged, "That was so cheesy."
"You love it."
"I do."
Rosie placed tentative hands on her waist, while Max wrapped her arms around her neck. And although there was no music, no tune to dance to, they didn't seem to care as they swayed together. The only melody in the hearing distance was the occasional hoots from onlooking owls in trees. But that didn't matter, not to Rosie. All she was focused on was Max and her beautiful blue eyes that were staring right into her brown ones.
"Max?" Rosie began, not before twirling the redhead around.
"Yeah?"
"So, uh, I've been trying to prepare something," Rosie continued, "But everything I came up with kinda sucked, and totally embarrassing, so I'm just gonna wing it. So, if anything sounds stupid, I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologise," Max told her encouragingly, "Go on."
Rosie smiled nervously, trying to will away the sweat forming in her hands, "Cool. When we met, I'm pretty sure I died? In a good way, of course, because you were definitely the prettiest girl I've ever seen. Still are...I don't know why I said 'were'. Anyway, when you asked me to go trick or treating with you, I think I died a second time, of shock. But I'm so glad you did! You've become one of my best friends, Max, I love talking with you, spending time with you, and I'd really love to go on that arcade date with you. Because you're awesome, Zoomer."
Max grinned, pulling her closer, "Yeah, you did blow me off on that arcade date."
"A cat had just been eaten, love."
"Still," Max chuckled, eyes glancing at Rosie's lips, "You owe me one."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," She nodded briefly, "Listen, Rosie, I know you said that we're best friends...and that means a lot to me. I came to Hawkins with nothing, but my shitty family, and now I'm not sure if I ever wanna leave, because of you. I really like you Rosie, and not in a 'best friend' kinda way."
Rosie felt her cheeks warm-up for what felt like the tenth time that hour, "Really?"
"Really," Max whispered, and Rosie only just realised the fact she was just inches away from her face.
The brunette swallowed, "Could I...?"
"Yeah."
Rosie placed a hand on the redhead's cheek and kissed her. Did she have any idea what she was doing? Absolutely not, it was her first kiss. Chrissy had told her first kisses were seldom perfect, and this one wasn't. But did that matter? No. Rosie's stomach had previously been filled with dancing butterflies, but it felt as if they had all flown away when Max brushed a strand of her curly hair behind her ear. All she cared about was the fact her lips were warm, and her hair smelled like an array of pretty flowers.
"I really like you, too," Rosie whispered, running a hand through Max's hair, "Your hair smells really nice, by the way."
Max laughed hoarsely, "You're such a dork."
"You love it."
The Mayfield girl smirked, pulling her closer, "I do."
"You know I would literally spend the entire night with you," Rosie told her earnestly, "But I promised somebody a dance."
Max sighed sarcastically, "Of course. Shall we head inside?"
"We shall."
•. ° . * .·. . ✧:. ·.
ೃ⁀➷ NINI SPEAKS !
damn broskis, i can't believe season 2 is over. it's kinda weird?? also, this update was very much overdue, but it's australian summer holidays, and i had no inspo. anyways! tysm for 900+ reads on wattpad, that's super cool :) also! comments and votes are very much appreciated, if you wanna <3