CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ A TOTAL THIRD WHEEL
ROSIE WOULDN'T ADMIT IT, but she still held a myriad of questions regarding Billy and Heather and all that weird shit she had seen in her mind. Even as she clambered into Max's bed, the warm sheets inviting, it couldn't distract her from the fact it had been a freaky night. A really freaky night. She relaxed slightly when Max offered her a soft smile, though. Then again, Rosie was sure her girlfriend's smile could cure even her most severe ailments. As El joined Max and herself in the bed, Max grinned and held up two comic books, raising a questioning brow.
"Which one?" The redhead asked eagerly, and Rosie was about to respond with an equal amount of vigour until she noticed El's noticeable lack of enthusiasm.
"I don't know."
Max must've noticed something was off too because she placed the comic books down and gave El a look of reassurance, "Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?"
"It doesn't make sense," El replied shakily, and despite Max's deadset explanation, Rosie couldn't help but agree with her.
"What doesn't make sense?"
"Heather. The blood. The ice."
"Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now," Max tried to explain, "That has to be it. I don't know where that blood came from, but... we saw her. We both saw her. She's totally fine."
"Yeah, okay, sure, but what about Billy?" Rosie voiced, and the two girls turned to her, "He seemed kinda...off."
"Off is kind of like his default, I mean, you'd know angel. He was a total asshole to you and Chrissy last year," Max sighed, slumping further into her bed.
Rosie sucked her teeth, unconvinced, before wrapping a secure arm around her girlfriend.
In the meantime, El seemed to have been captivated by a certain raven-haired superhero, slid up and pointed to the Wonder Woman comic, "Who... is that?"
The energy in the room returned to a positive one, and it looked as if a burden had befallen Max's shoulders since she smiled and snatched up the comic once more, "See, this is why you can't just hang out with Mike all the time. This is Wonder Woman. AKA Princess Diana."
Rosie smiled softly, happy that the topic of Billy had left, "She's a total badass, I dressed up as her for Halloween! I mean, I literally knew nothing about the comics back then, but Max got me pretty into them!"
Max nodded in agreement, "She looked so good, by the way."
"You're such a melt," Rosie shoved her shoulder and El chuckled.
Max flicked her forehead playfully, before continuing, "She's from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women Amazon warriors..."
•. ° . * .·. . ✧:. ·.
WHEN ONE WAKES UP IN A BED that isn't your own to the deafening sound of a frantic voice emanating from a shitty walkie-talkie, you tend to become quite panicked. At least that's how Rosie was, when the desperate pleas for somebody to answer reached her ears and she shot up in Max's bed, temporarily forgetting she and El had slept over the night before. She could've sworn her heart fell out of her ass, or something, however, her unease settled when she quickly realised it was just that goddamn walkie-talkie.
Rosie rubbed her eyes, watching as Max rolled her eyes and answered, releasing a firm, "Shut. Up."
She frowned, voice deep and crackly from sleep, "What did they want?"
"Don't know, don't care," Max murmured, finding a comfortable place in Rosie's arms as she closed her eyes.
Rosie would've fallen back to sleep too, lulled by the comfort of Max, if it hadn't been for a particularly loud ringing phone blaring throughout the bedroom. Rosie groaned to herself. Max didn't seem too keen to get out of bed, so taking one for the team, Rosie flopped off the mattress, stretching as she did so before she rushed over to the sunshine yellow phone and picked it up.
"Hey, we're trying to sleep right now, so if you could just call us back—?"
"Rosie? This is Mike. Do not hang up. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake."
"Wait, what happened?" Rosie asked, suddenly very awake, "Is everyone okay?"
"Yes, just come over to my house," He responded urgently, "We'll explain everything."
"Are you sure everyone's okay—?"
"Yes! Just hurry." Rosie opened her mouth to speak again however she was stopped by the sudden dial tone. He hung up.
She placed the phone down, turning to meet the confused gazes of Max and El, who were both sitting upright.
"What did he say?"
•. ° . * .·. . ✧:. ·.
ROSIE HADN'T BEEN sure how to explain a cryptic message from El's ex-boyfriend, but she managed, her vague insistence that he sounded urgent eventually winning the two girls over. They all got dressed in a hurry, each of them silently worrying to themselves about what on Earth could warrant that much panic on their end, Rosie donning her new corduroy shorts.
The three of them clambered onto Max's bike (which, seemed to be getting smaller and smaller each time the trio rode on it) and they made a beeline for Mike's house on Maple street, none of them uttering a word.
As soon as they arrived, they were beckoned in by Mike, his pale face pensive, which didn't do anything to calm Rosie's nerves.
The atmosphere was slightly awkward in the basement, Rosie observed, but as they sat around a low table, it seemed to ease slightly. Will was the first to speak, the beginning of a long-overdue explanation, "I didn't think it was anything at first. I mean, I think I just didn't want to believe it. The first time I felt it was at Day of the Dead."
"Power went out that night, too," Mike added, and Will nodded.
Rosie felt her stomach curl in anticipation, sharing a look with Max. They both knew what was coming wasn't going to be sunshine and rainbows.
"And then I felt it again at the field near the Nelson farm the next day," Will continued, and Rosie saw his hands begin to fidget, "Then again yesterday outside Castle Byers."
"What does it feel like?" Max asked, almost hesitant.
"It's almost like..." Will sighed, before thinking of a metaphor, "You know when you drop on a roller coaster?"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
"All too well."
"No."
"It's like..." Will swallowed, seemingly searching for the words, "Everything inside your body is just sinking all at once, but... this is worse. Your body... it goes cold and— and you can't breathe. I've felt it before, whenever he was close."
"He?" Rosie quipped although she was afraid she already knew the answer.
Will looked grim, "The Mind Flayer."
"I closed the gate," El reminded him slowly, though her tone made it sound like even she was doubting her words.
"I know, but... what if he never left?" Will countered, and Rosie felt her stomach sink. That goddamn roller coaster feeling. That horror movie feeling, "What if we locked him out here with us?"
Will stood up suddenly as if noticing the group's confusion and hurried over to the table near them. He snatched what looked like to be charcoal and a piece of paper. He began scribbling a messy drawing of what Rosie assumed to be the Mind Flayer, "This is him. All of him. But, that day on the field—" He swiped his hand across his illustration, leaving a black mark on his palm as he showed it off, "—a part of him attached itself to me. My mom got it out of me, .and Eleven closed the gate." He flipped over the page roughly, "But the part that was still in me, what if it's still in our world? In Hawkins." Will slammed down his hand, leaving a smudged, yet traceable outline of his palm.
"I don't understand. The Demodogs died when El closed the gate," Max stated, her confidence wavering, "If the brain dies, the body dies."
"She's right, I mean, we killed them ourselves," Rosie reasoned, biting the inside of her cheek.
"I know, Ro, but we can't take any chances. We need to assume the worst," Mike responded gravely, "The Mind Flayer's back."
"Yeah," Will agreed, and Rosie resisted the urge to curse under her breath, "And if he is, he'd want to attach himself to someone again. A new me."
"A new host," Lucas nodded, and Rosie froze.
Billy fucking Hargrove.
"How do you know if somebody's a host?" Rosie questioned quickly, leaning forward against crossed arms, "Because I'm pretty sure we've found our guy."
"Rosie, I told you—!" Max began to argue, but Eleven cut her off.
"No, Rosie is right," El turned back to the boys, who looked as though they were trying to guess who Rosie was talking about, like some screwed-up Guess Who, "Billy was acting weird."
"Yeah, but he's Billy," Max reminded the group, but Rosie shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Max, but come on!" She sighed, before quickly explaining to the guys, "Look, El saw Billy with Heather's, whose lifeguarding stuff was found at Max's house, but when we went to see her family, they were all having dinner like the Brady bunch or something, and Billy was acting all nice. Have you ever seen him being nice? It was like watching Johnny Lawrence feeding the homeless."
"He works at the pool, right?" Mike intervened, glancing around at his friends, "We should check up on him. If nothing's up, we'll leave it alone. Okay, Max?"
The redhead seemed apprehensive, but she nodded, clearly pissed at Rosie for throwing her brother under the bus.
For once, Rosie wasn't squished onto a bike with El and Max, instead taking to riding behind Lucas, since Max didn't seem very keen on being near her. But honestly? Rosie wasn't going to apologise for mentioning something suspicious that asshole did. She did feel bad, particularly when Max shot her an icy look that felt like a literal knife to the heart, but if it meant helping the greater good? Rosie was fine with it. She totally didn't feel like crying whatsoever.
Rosie hid her face behind Lucas, so nobody would see her fighting back tears. God, she was so dramatic. She hated herself for being so emotional when it came to Max. Every emotion felt so heightened around her, so whenever something bad happened, it felt extra bad. Lucas must've noticed something because every so often he turned and gave her an encouraging smile. She'd try and smile back.
She didn't participate in any of the brief conversations that occurred between the rest of them, they were all discussing Billy's strange behaviour, because she didn't want to aggravate Max even more. Lucky for Rosie, they soon arrived at the public pool, this time with clear skies and a hot sun beating down on them as they made their way straight to the car park, taking refuge behind a bright blue car.
Lucas had brought his binoculars, ones that Max immediately snatched away and used until she found Billy.
When Rosie's eyes landed on the tall lifeguard's chair, she had to stop herself from snorting in shock. Billy 'Bad boy' Hargrove, Billy 'never shuts up about being fit' Hargrove, was wearing some kind of long protective gear, a piece of clothing normal Billy would've avoided like the plague because it didn't show his abs. On top of that, he was wearing a rather mom-like visor, looming over his shades as he watched kids play in the pool.
"I don't know. He looks pretty normal to me," Max shrugged, pushing down the binoculars, to which both Lucas and Rosie frowned.
"Normal? He looks like he's in a poncho-wearing folk band," Rosie frowned to herself, surprised at how mean she sounded before she saw the questioning eyes of her friends and elaborated, "I mean, when have you seen him with a shirt on?"
"I mean, it's a little weird," Max supposed, and Mike shook his head.
"More than a little," Mike argued vehemently, "He was in a tub with ice. The Mind Flayer likes it cold. Plus everything else—!"
"—But he's lounging at the pool, which is, like, the least Mind Flayer thing ever," Max fired back, but Will cut through them.
"Not necessarily," Will told them, "The Mind Flayer likes to hide. He only used me when he needed me. It's like... like you're dormant. And then, when he needs you, you're activated."
"Like...a volcano?" Rosie asked, and Will nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, like a volcano."
"Okay, so we just...wait until he gets activated," Max concluded, but Mike obviously wasn't done.
"No. What if he hurts someone?" The raven-haired boy put forward.
"Or kills someone," Will added.
"We need to find out if he's the host," Mike stated before he almost jumped away from the group and started heading towards the building, and Rosie made puzzled eye contact with El.
"Where are you going?" El called after them, exasperated.
"I have an idea. Boys only!" Mike yelled back, gesturing to Lucas and Will to follow after them.
"Seriously?" Max gawked incredulously.
"Just trust me on this one!"
Max scoffed, rolling her eyes. Rosie sighed heavily, leaning on the blue car in front of them, the redhead quickly joining her.
"Hey, I'm sorry for hurting you," Rosie told her quietly. It technically was true. She didn't mean to hurt Max's feelings, or make her angry, "I just...wanted this thing that's been in my mind 24/7 to be...sorted, y'know? He might not be the host, but either way, we need closure, right?"
Her girlfriend was silent for a moment, taking to staring at a spot on the car with chipped paint, before she responded, "It's okay, Rosie. I shouldn't have gone all... weird with you."
She took her hand, a silent way of accepting her apology.
Girl and girl sat together in their own unadmitted love for each other, accompanied by one of their best friends.
Who, by the way, was feeling like a total third wheel.
•. ° . * .·. . ✧:. ·.
ೃ⁀➷ NINI SPEAKS !
slay i'm baaack. i may have just finished writing this at 1am but!! the point is, it's the end of australian first semester meaning i have much more time to write (school has been kicking my ass and not in the kinky way), so yay!! also i haven't written until after stranger things 4 vol1 is out, so lemme just say i adored it and i already have so many ideas for s4 rosie! thanks for 5.7k reads! also this accidentally updated before i finished it... oops? lmao bye.