The next day Alex felt a bit better, turns out actually eating a meal and keeping it down does wonders to your body, especially when it was recovering from the previous night. She was also happy because she was at the pool today, she had a lesson in the morning but the rest of the shift she was lifeguarding.
She looked in the mirror, dry swallowing four pills dry. Two were her antidepressants, one was pain relief and the other an energy booster. She thought she looked better today, her neck wasn't as red, the bruising faded a bit overnight. Her cheek wasn't the same story, she quickly covered it with concealer, hoping the pool water wouldn't wash it off.
She dressed quickly, not wanting to have a confrontation with either of her parents before she left the house. Her clothes were simple, she used her red Hawkins pool bikini top as a normal top as it wasn't a proper bikini, the top's length similar to that of a cropped top, the bottom half was the same, closer to a pair of high waisted underwear as opposed to a thong.
She wore them with sweatpants on top as she biked over to the pool, the cool breeze biting at her exposed shoulders.
She got to the pool in record time and greeted the boy she was on shift with, noting that Heather was absent meaning she had more hours today, instead of leaving at noon she had till mid afternoon
The pool was quiet, it was only ten am but rain clouds overhung Hawkins, At least it would be an easy day.
She started the lesson quickly, only having half a class so she had more time to help the students one on one. However, she did find it significantly more boring without her two best friends, both the boys had to miss out on it, both being on vacation somewhere else in the country for the fourth of July.
Once the lesson was over she swapped out with the male life guard, Heather still hadn't turned up so they agreed to swap on two hourly rotations. She quickly noted only one of the boys from the usual group had turned up today, it was Rocky, the brunette one who was a bit taller than her.
The girl was slowly growing bored, the weather had taken a turn and less people were at the pool, even fewer swimming so she barely had a job to do, just watch over a couple of seniors and elementary school kids.
The hours she was on passed quickly, the girl off in her own head most of the time. Alex jumped down from the chair as soon as it was time to swap, getting sick of the plastic chair hurting her ass.
She sat in the reception area with her feet on the desk for a while before someone walked over and dinged the bell, she looked up to see Rocky. she smiled at him,
"Your friends skip out on you today?" she asked, the boys laughed and trailed his eyes up her chest.
"I could ask you the same thing, but yeah, they all had to stay at home or went out of town for the holiday," he said, sitting on the desk right beside Alex's outstretched legs. Alex couldn't help but look at his defined torso.
"Same thing here, one's gone out of state, the other is just visiting family a couple towns across," she stated, having nothing better to do than talk to the boy.
They were talking for the entirety of the remaining hour, conversation flowing easily between them as they realised they had more in common than they initially thought. Her colleague walked back in, Alex made a move to go outside but he stopped her, "Don't bother, it's raining, no-ones in the pool anyway," he explained, sliding in front of the desk so he could take over, Alex nodded and slid over the desk so she was by Rocky.
"Talk to you in a minute, I'm putting sweatpants on so i don't get cold," she told him, noticing with the storm a cold breeze had come along as well. He nodded, walking into the men's changing room to do the same, Alex assumed he would leave now considering it's probably going to rain for a while.
Alex quickly dried her shorts and pulled her sweatpants overtop, not worrying about tying them up and instead letting them hand low as she was already wearing shorts beneath.
She walked out and was met with Rocky, surprisingly still there. "Not going home Stalker?" she asked, using the nickname she thought of earlier. He raised his hands in mock offense,
"Me! A stalker! Never, i was just enjoying a pretty girl," he said, stepping closer, Alex stepped back, not wanting to give him the wrong message. "And nah, i thought i would stay here for a bit, don't want to make you lonely," he said.
Alex almost blushed but with held it, settling for a smirk, "Oh really," she asked, suddenly feeling the cold again, making her regret having an exposed torso and arms. Rocky noticed this and took his jacket off before sliding off his button up, leaving him in just a tank top and denim jacket. He offered the shirt to her and she took it gratefully, not buttoning it up but using it as a jacket, he helped her to roll the sleeves down.
"Thanks," she said earnestly, enjoying the bit of warmth the blue checked shirt gave her. He smiled back warmly,
"No problem Pretty girl,"
Alex raised her eyebrows, "Pretty girl?"
"Well you never gave me a name, so i had to think of a fitting one," he said back, now also smirking.
"Alexia, Alexia Summers but don't call me my full name," she says, "You never told me yours either," she countered, she had to get Luke to tell her their names, a weeks or so ago.
"Rocky, Rocky Munson," he responded, brushing the hair out of his face with a smile, "Your name's pretty, Lexi." He said, settling on a shortened version, Alex didn't mind he went for that instead of Alex like everyone else, she liked the way it sounded when he said it.
He looked over to the clock hanging above the lockers and cursed, "Shit, my brother is meant to be picking me up like, five minutes ago." He said, rushing away but not before calling over his shoulder, "See ya, Pretty girl!"
Alex couldn't hide the blush this time as she countered back, "See you around, Stalker!" It wasn't wrong of her to blush right, she was just embarrassed that he kept calling her pretty.
Then she realised she was still wearing his shirt.
~~
Max and El finally arrived at Hawkins pool. The rain was pouring and there had been a few lightening strikes. They were both wearing bright raincoats as they wondered over to the front desk with the fanny pack in hand.
Alex had ditched the sweatpants, the breeze dying off even though it was raining it was still fairly warm. She was still wearing Rocky's shirt though, not wanting to be completely exposed.
Max walked up to the desk where Alex and the other boy she was on shift with sat, talking amply to pass the time. Max didn't even realise it was her girlfriend, the girl was turned to the side, her hair obscuring most of her face. "Excuse me," Max spoke up.
"No-one in the water until thirty minutes after the last strike," Alex started, not even looking up or realising it was her girlfriend and best friend, her voice monotone from repeating the same thing for hours, "And don't try to argue with me." she looked up and realised it was Max and El she was talking to, seems the ginger wasn't paying as much attention, "You wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree, i recommend that big one."
"Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim," Max said, suddenly realising she was talking to Alex, the girl smirking up at her with eyebrows raised, "Or get electrocuted," She finished through gritted teeth, pointing her tongue out at Alex who shrugged, eyebrows raised mockingly.
Alex got up from the desk and left Jackson to deal with the two girls, while she grabbed her water bottle from the units behind them.
"We found this," El says, holding up a bejewelled lifeguard bag.
"Oh, yeah that's Heather's. I'll get it back to her," He says to them, motioning for them to leave it on the counter.
"We could give it back to her," El says, speaking up.
"You could," he agreed sarcastically, "Except she's not here. Bailed on us today." He tells them, expecting them to just leave, but they didn't and just shared a look. Alex was just confused as to why they're so invested in Heather. "What is this? You girls want a reward or something?"
"No," Max pauses as if thinking of an excuse, "We're just good Samaritans," Alex nearly chokes on her water when Max says that.
"They're lying, they were totally expecting a reward. Total Assholes," Alex joked, making Max glare at her making her smile and shrug her shoulders. She turned to Jackson, "Can i?" she points to the girls.
He just nodded, "Yeah whatever, no-ones even here." he responded, looking out to the pool.
Alex hops over the counter and over to the two girls who were looking at the board of lifeguards. "I'm assuming you didn't just find the fanny pack in the street and came here in pouring rain to return it?" she asked, walking closer to the two girls.
"Nope," Max said, looking at the pictures, "You look hot in your picture, seriously do you ever not look like an angel?" she asked, still in awe at how Alex looked in her lifeguarding uniform, she had never seen the girl with it on before, or at least without sweatpants on. The girl blushed at Max's words, why was everyone complimenting her today? "I'll explain everything about Heather in a minute,"
El ripped Heather's photo off the board quickly, not like anyone was watching anyway. "Do you think you can find her?" Max asked El who nodded, Alex really needed to catch up.
Alex went into the changing rooms to swap out her sandals for trainers, having a feeling she wouldn't be lifeguarding again today. The two girls followed her, an idea formulating in their minds. Alex sat on the bench in the back, an area reserved for employees. Max and El sat either side of her, explaining what they were doing last night - excluding the spying on her part- and how they spun Billy and saw him with a girl, then how they found the fanny pack in his trash.
Alex sighed, that wasn't good. At all.
She told Max to turn all the showers on in replace of the static El normally needed, while she went to the back room. Grabbing a pair of goggles and a roll of duct tape. She taped the inside of the glasses you couldn't see out of them. Before walking back out and tossing them to Eleven.
She then walked over to Max and pulled her into the empty shower stall and pinned her against the wall, pressing their lips together. Max could feel her smiling as they kissed. The blonde girl pulled back making Max look at her.
"that was abrupt Alexia," she said, emphasising her point by using Alex's full name.
The girl just smiled, she had been in an exceeding good mood all day and that was just elevated by Max. "Guess I'm just enjoying my happiness, maybe i missed you Maxine," she smirked back, "It's been what? like fourteen hours since we last saw each other," She joked.
They turned back to El, switching on the last shower as they left.
She sat on the floor as she puts the goggles on, the picture of Heather in front of her
Max and Alex sit down and watch her as she enters the void.
They sit in silence for a few minutes, before hearing El make a noise of confusion.
"What do you see?" Max asks softly.
"A door," El tells them in just a whisper, "A red door."
Alex and Max look at each other confused, Alex linking their hands together wanting contact.
They watch as the girl slowly begins to hyperventilate, until she suddenly rips of the goggled and lets out a cry, coming back to reality.
Alex dropped onto the floor beside the girl, "What happened?" she wrapped her arms around the girl, "El?"
El didn't say anything and held onto Alex as she let out a cry, whatever she had seen in the void had scared her half to death.
El explained what she had seen as Alex pulled her sweatpants back on, not wanting to wear just her swim suit when going to return the fanny pack to Heather.
That was their plan, Alex knew where the girl lived, thanks to them living near each other so she would drop it off and see if her family dropped any clues as to her whereabouts while Max and El would go to where El had seen in the void. Then they would all reconvene at Max's.
"Hey Jackson, do you want me to take Heather's bag, she literally lives across the road from me, my brother is friends with her." She offered, having already been cleared to go by the older boy.
"Yeah, if it's no problem. Be careful in the rain kid." He said, as she unchained her bike from under the shelter. "Hope you can give the Stalker his shirt back!" he winked, making Alex laugh as she grabbed the Fanny pack and left.
~~
By the time Alex reached the Holloway residence she was soaking, having not brought a coat and the only protection she had being Rocky's shirt.
She left her bike on the street and walked down to the door, knocking a few times and waiting for an answer. A slightly older woman answered, Alex recognised it as Janet, Heather's mom.
"How can i help you dear?" She asked, looking down at Alex, overly cheerful.
"Uh sorry, I work at the pool with your daughter, Heather, someone dropped this of earlier and i thought i would bring it back as i live over there," she said, pulling out the small bag and pointing across to her house.
The woman smiled fondly and invited her to step in, leading her though the halls and into what she assumed was the dining room where much to her surprise Billy was sat at the table. "Alexia Summers, what a surprise." she said, that was definitely out of character for him, greeting her like a normal person.
"Just wait a second, Heather is busy in the kitchen," Mrs. Holloway said, Alex nodded, stood there awkwardly. Luckily the tension was relieved by Heather walking in, smiling sweetly at Alex as she passed her fanny pack across.
"Thank you, i was wondering where that had gone, who turned it in?" She asked, Alex wasn't sure whether to lie or not. she decided against it, if Billy really was connected to the mind flayer like El suggested then he would be able to tell.
"Uh, it was Billy's little sister Max and her friend El," Alex said, making it sound like she wasn't friends with the pair.
Heather turned to Billy before addressing Alex again, "Oh, your sister is like you, a real angel." She turned to Alex, "Please pass on my thanks," Alex just nodded, still dumbfounded. Mrs. Holloway walked her back out, Alex thanked the woman before pushing her bike across the road, wanting to change before she went to Max's.
She ditched her bike in the front yard and opened the door, slipping her wet shoes off and making a move to run upstairs. "Alexia Summers!" Her mother called from the kitchen. Alex sighed and walked over to the woman. "You have been gone all day and didn't call or leave a note." she said, Alex was surprised she even noticed.
"Yeah, i had to go to the pool, i was meant to get out at noon but someone didn't turn up so i had to work extra," she explained, offering her mom a smile as an apology.
Her mom clicked her tongue but sighed, "Fine, Call next time though i know there is a phone at the pool," she said, letting Alex walk away. "Make sure to put your clothes in the dryer!" She called up the stairs.